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| Concerning the devil and demons.
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Chapter IV.—Concerning the devil and
demons.
He who from among these angelic powers was set
over1670
| 1670 πρωτοστάτης. Cf. Chrysost., Epist. ad Ephes., hom. 4,
&c. | the earthly realm, and into whose hands
God committed the guardianship of the earth, was not made wicked in
nature but was good, and made for good ends, and received from his
Creator no trace whatever of evil in himself. But he did not
sustain the brightness and the honour which the Creator had
bestowed1671
| 1671 Text, ἐδωρήσατο.
R. 1986, ἐχαρίσατο. | on him, and of
his free choice was changed from what was in harmony to what was at
variance with his nature, and became roused against God Who created
him, and determined to rise in rebellion against Him1672
| 1672 See
Iren., bk. iv. c. 48, &c. | : and he was the first to depart
from good and become evil1673
| 1673 Greg. Nyss.,
Orat. Catech., cp. 6. | . For
evil is nothing else than absence of goodness, just as darkness also is
absence of light. For goodness is the light of the mind, and,
similarly, evil is the darkness of the mind. Light, therefore,
being the work of the Creator and being made good (for God saw all
that He made, and behold they were exceeding good1674
) produced darkness at His
free-will. But along with him an innumerable host of angels
subject to him were torn away and followed him and shared in his
fall. Wherefore, being of the same nature1675
| 1675 See Greg.
Naz., Orat. 19, 38; Chrysost., In S. Babyl. Or. 2; Basil,
in Jesaiam, ch. 1, &c. |
as the angels, they became wicked, turning away at their own free
choice from good to evil1676
.
Hence they have no power or strength against any
one except what God in His dispensation hath conceded to them, as for
instance, against Job1677
and those
swine that are mentioned in the Gospels1678
. But when God has made the
concession they do prevail, and are changed and transformed into any
form whatever in which they wish to appear.
Of the future both the angels of God and the demons are
alike ignorant: yet they make predictions. God reveals the
future to the angels and commands them to prophesy, and so what they
say comes to pass. But the demons also make predictions,
sometimes because they see what is happening at a distance, and
sometimes merely making guesses: hence much that they say is
false and they should not be believed, even although they do often, in
the way we have said, tell what is true. Besides they know the
Scriptures.
All wickedness, then, and all impure passions are
the work of their mind. But while the liberty to attack man has
been granted to them, they have not the strength to over-master any
one: for we have it in our power to receive or not to receive the
attack1679
| 1679
VideIambl., De Myst., ch. 11, sect. 4. | .
Wherefore there has been prepared for the devil and his demons, and those who
follow him, fire unquenchable and everlasting punishment1680
.
Note, further, that what in the case of man is
death is a fall in the case of angels. For after the fall there
is no possibility of repentance for them, just as after death there is
for men no repentance1681
| 1681 Nemes., De Nat.
Hom., ch. 1. | .E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
