lice, because he is the father of
falsehood. He deceives men, and rejoices when he sees them doing
wrong; but not to lose his credit amongst those who consult him
directly or indirectly, he lays the fault on those who undertake to
interpret his words, or the equivocal signs which he has given. For
instance, if he is consulted whether to begin an enterprise, or give
battle, or set off on a journey, if the thing succeeds, he takes all
the glory and merit to himself; if it does not succeed, he imputes it
to the men who have not well understood the sense of his oracle, or to
the aruspices, who have made mistakes in consulting the entrails of
the immolated animals, or the flight of birds, &c.

We must not, then, be surprised to find so many contradictions,
doubts, and difficulties, in the matter of apparitions, angels,
demons, and spirits. Man naturally loves to distinguish himself from
the common herd, and rise above the opinions of the people; it is a
sort of fashion not to suffer one's self to be drawn along by the
torrent, and to desire to sound and examine everything. We know that
there is an infinity of prejudices, errors, vulgar opinions, false
miracles, illusions, and seductions in the world; we know that many
things are attributed to the devil which are purely natural, or that a
thousand apocryphal stories are related. It is then right to hold
one's self on one's guard, in order not to be deceived. It is very
important for religion to distinguish between true and false miracles,
certain or uncertain events, and works wrought by the hand of God,
from those which are the work of the seducing spirit.

In all that he does, the demon mixes up a great many illusions amid
some truths, in order that the difficulty of discerning the true from
the false may make mankind take the side which pleases them most, and
that the incredulous may always have some points to maintain them in
their incredulity. Although the apparitions of spirits, angels, and
demons, and their operations, may not, perhaps, always be miraculous,
nevertheless, as the greater part appear above the common course of
nature, many of the persons of whom we have just spoken, without
giving themselves the trouble to examine the things, and seek for the
causes of them, the authors, and the circumstances, boldly take upon
themselves to deny them all. It is the shortest way, but neither the
most sensible nor the most rational; for in what is said on this
subject, t