I endeavoured to clear up this fraud to my man Friday; and told him that the pretence of their old men going up to the mountains to say O to their god Benamuckee was a cheat; and their bringing word from thence what he said was much more so; that if they met with any answer, or spake with any one there, it must be with an evil spirit; and then I entered into a long discourse with him about the devil, the origin of him, his rebellion against God, his enmity to man, the reason of it, his setting himself up in the dark parts of the world to be worshipped instead of God, and as God, and the many stratagems he made use of to delude mankind to their ruin; how he had a secret access to our passions and to our affections, and to adapt his snares to our inclinations, so as to cause us even to be our own tempters, and run upon our destruction by our own choice.
Qui entrai seco in un lungo discorso intorno al demonio, alla sua origine, alla sua ribellione contra Dio, all’odio suo verso l’uomo e al motivo di tale odio, alla sua usanza di cercare i luoghi bui della terra per farsi quivi adorare invece di Dio, e come Dio; ai molti stratagemmi finalmente posti in opera da costui per deludere e trarre a perdizione il genere umano. Gli spiegai i segreti accessi che sa procurarsi per entro ai labirinti delle nostre passioni o affezioni, e la sua abilità di acconciare a queste le insidie che tende, arrivando persino a far sì che noi diveniamo i tentatori di noi medesimi, e che la nostra rovina sia un’opera di nostra scelta.