112. Nor is this my natural will, that I could do it by my own small ability; for if the spirit were withdrawn from me, then I could neither know nor understand my own writings; and I must on every side fight and struggle with the devil, and lie open to temptation and affliction as well as other men. 113. But in the following chapters you will soon see the devil and his kingdom laid naked; his pride and reproach shall suddenly be discovered.
THE FOURTH CHAPTER Of the creation of the Holy Angels. An Instruction or open Gate of Heaven. 1. THE learned, and almost all writers, have very much encumbered and mightily troubled their heads, to search, contrive and conceive in nature (and have brought forth many and sundry opinions) concerning how and of what the holy angels were created: And on the other side, what was that horrible fall of the great prince Lucifer, or how he became so base a wicked and fierce wrathful devil, from whence that evil quality should spring, or what drove him to it. 2. And though this ground and great mystery hath remained hidden from the beginning of the world, and that human flesh and blood is not able to conceive or apprehend it, 3. Yet God, who created the world, will reveal himself now at the end; and all great mysteries will be manifested or revealed, to intimate that the great Day of Revelation and final Judgment is near, and daily to be expected. 4. On which will be restored again all that which hath been lost through Adam, and in which the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of the devil, in this world, shall be severed asunder. 5. But how all this will be done God will reveal in the highest plainness and simplicity, so that no man will be able to oppose him. 6. Therefore every one should lift up his eyes, for his redemption draweth near, and not seek after riotous living and vain show, supposing it to be the best life here; whereas in their arrogance they sit in the midst of hell, to wait upon Lucifer as his guard. 7. Which they themselves shall suddenly be sure to see, with great terror, anguish and eternal despair, as also to their shame and scorn: of which the devils are a terrible example, who were once the fairest and brightest angels in heaven, as I shall reveal, write and manifest here following. I will suffer God's impulse, I am not able to withstand it. Of the Divine Quality. 8. Since thou hast perceived, in the third chapter, the ground of the Ternary in the divine being, I shall here shew plainly the power and operation, as also the qualities or qualification, in the divine being; or from what the angels were properly and peculiarly created, or what their body and power are. 9. As I said before,* all the powers or virtues are in God the Father, and no man with his sense and thoughts can reach to apprehend it. But in the stars and the elements, as also by all the creatures in the whole creation of this world, a man may clearly know it. * Lit., " as I said before, all virtue is in God the Father, which [virtue] no man can, with his senses, reach to apprehend. But in the stars... this can be clearly known [or recognized]," or "one may clearly know [or recognize this]." In the original the two " its " do not appear to refer to the same antecedent. The first is a feminine, and refers to "virtue" (Kraft); the second a neuter, which grammatically must refer to the whole statement, "all virtue is in God the Father." St M., too, takes Kraft to imply a plural meaning, " powers "; and then, for Sparrow's " it,". " it," writes " them."
112. Nor is this my natural will, that I could do it by my own small ability; for if the spirit were withdrawn from me, then I could neither know nor understand my own writings; and I must on every side fight and struggle with the devil, and lie open to temptation and affliction as well as other men. 113. But in the following chapters you will soon see the devil and his kingdom laid naked; his pride and reproach shall suddenly be discovered.
THE FOURTH CHAPTER Of the creation of the Holy Angels. An Instruction or open Gate of Heaven. 1. THE learned, and almost all writers, have very much encumbered and mightily troubled their heads, to search, contrive and conceive in nature (and have brought forth many and sundry opinions) concerning how and of what the holy angels were created: And on the other side, what was that horrible fall of the great prince Lucifer, or how he became so base a wicked and fierce wrathful devil, from whence that evil quality should spring, or what drove him to it. 2. And though this ground and great mystery has remained hidden from the beginning of the world, and that human flesh and blood is not able to conceive or apprehend it, 3. Yet God, who created the world, will reveal himself now at the end; and all great mysteries will be manifested or revealed, to intimate that the great Day of Revelation and final Judgment is near, and daily to be expected. 4. On which will be restored again all that which has been lost through Adam, and in which the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of the devil, in this world, shall be severed asunder. 5. But how all this will be done God will reveal in the highest plainness and simplicity, so that no man will be able to oppose him. 6. Therefore every one should lift up his eyes, for his redemption draws near, and not seek after riotous living and vain show, supposing it to be the best life here; whereas in their arrogance they sit in the midst of hell, to wait upon Lucifer as his guard. 7. Which they themselves shall suddenly be sure to see, with great terror, anguish and eternal despair, as also to their shame and scorn: of which the devils are a terrible example, who were once the fairest and brightest angels in heaven, as I shall reveal, write and manifest here following. I will suffer God's impulse, I am not able to withstand it. Of the Divine Quality. 8. Since you have perceived, in the third chapter, the ground of the Ternary in the divine being, I shall here show plainly the power and operation, as also the qualities or qualification, in the divine being; or from what the angels were properly and peculiarly created, or what their body and power are. 9. As I said before,* all the powers or virtues are in God the Father, and no man with his sense and thoughts can reach to apprehend it. But in the stars and the elements, as also by all the creatures in the whole creation of this world, a man may clearly know it. * Lit., " as I said before, all virtue is in God the Father, which [virtue] no man can, with his senses, reach to apprehend. But in the stars... this can be clearly known [or recognized]," or "one may clearly know [or recognize this]." In the original the two " its " do not appear to refer to the same antecedent. The first is a feminine, and refers to "virtue" (Kraft); the second a neuter, which grammatically must refer to the whole statement, "all virtue is in God the Father." St M., too, takes Kraft to imply a plural meaning, " powers "; and then, for Sparrow's " it,". " it," writes " them."
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