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| Chapter XXII. On the fact that the power to hurt does not depend upon the will of the devils.
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Chapter XXII.
On the fact that the power to hurt does not depend upon
the will of the devils.
But that they have not
the power of hurting any man is shown in a very clear way by the
instance of the blessed Job, where the enemy did not venture to try him
beyond what was allowed to him by the Divine permission; and it is
evidenced by the confession of the same spirits contained in the
records of the gospel, where they say: “If Thou cast us out,
suffer us to go into the herd of swine.”1487
And far more must we hold that they
cannot of their own free will enter into any one of men who are created
in the image of God, if they have not power to enter into dumb and
unclean animals without the permission of God. But no one—I will
not say of the younger men, whom we see living most steadfastly in this
desert, but even of those who are perfect—could live alone in the
desert, surrounded by such swarms of foes of this kind, if they had
unlimited power and freedom to hurt and tempt us: and still more
clearly is this supported by the words of our Lord and Saviour, which
in the lowliness of the manhood He had assumed, He uttered to Pilate,
when He said: “Thou couldest have no power against Me at all,
unless it were given thee from above.”1488
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