Against Celsus 7.70

Also, “each has been appointed over something, having been allotted a power by the greatest God, whoever has been judged worthy of any work” needs a far deeper knowledge, one able to show whether wicked demons are appointed over certain things by God the Word who administers the universe, as executioners are in cities and as those appointed over grim but necessary tasks in states; or whether, as robbers in the deserts appoint one to rule them, so the demons, forming bands, as it were, in various places on earth, have made themselves a ruler to lead them in the deeds they have chosen for stealing and plundering human souls. Whoever means to speak well on this, in order to defend Christians, who refuse to worship anything but the God over all and his Word, the firstborn “of all creation,” needs to explain also “All who came before me are thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not listen to them,” and “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” and anything else like these in the sacred writings, such as “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you,” and “You shall tread on the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample the lion and the dragon.” But Celsus knew nothing of these things; for if he had known them, he would not have said, “And whatever there is in the universe, whether the work of God or of angels or of other demons or of heroes, these have a law from the greatest God, and has not each been appointed over something, having been allotted a power, whoever has been judged worthy? Will not the one who worships God justly serve this being who has received authority from there?” To this he adds, “For it is not possible for the same person to ‘serve’ many ‘masters,’” which we shall discuss in the next book, since the seventh volume of our work against Celsus has reached a sufficient length.