Confutation of Unwritten Verities, Chapter 4
¶That nothyng can be proued by oracles of Angels / touchynge relygyon.
¶The. iiii. Chapter.
GEnesis .3. Sathan / beyng chaū ged into a serpēt / disceaued our first parentes: & in them cast al mankynde hedlynge into damnacion.
REgum .3. Vlti. I wil go furth / and bee a lyinge spirite in the mouth of all his Prophetes. ¶Reade the whole Chapter.
GAlat .1. Thoughe an angel from heauen preache any other gospell. &c.
THe .2. to the. Cor. ca. 11. Sathā himselfe is chaunged into an Angell of lyghte.
COlossi .2. Let no man make you hote at a wronge marke / by the humblenes and holynes of Angels.
THe same .4. Cap. The spirite speaketh euidently / that in the latter tymes some shal depart from the fayth / and shall geue hede vntounto spirites of error and deuyllyshe doctrine /
IOhn .4. Beleue not eueryevery spirite: but proue the spirites / whether they are of god or not.
ACtes .16. A certayne damsel / possessed with a sprite that prophesied met vsus: which brought her master and mistres much vaū tage wyth prophesieng. The same folowed Paule and vsus and cried / saying: these are the seruauntes of the moste high god: whiche shewe vntounto vsus the waye of saluacyon. And thys dyd she many dayes: but Paul / not content / turned about / and sayd to the spirite: I commaunde thee / in the name of Iesu Chryste / that thou come out of her. And he came out the same houre.
CIprian of the simplenes of prelates. The enemye (after the woordes of the Apostle) chaungeth hymselfe into an Angell of lyght / and setteth forth his seruauntes / as ministers of righteousnes / affirminge nyghte for daye / death for health / desperacion vnderunder the cooler of hope / false fayth vnderunder the pretēce of faith / Antichrist vnderunder the name of Chryst:The deuill deceueth man, because he wādereth from the word written, and is not cōtēt therewith. so that whyles they counterfete the like things / thei make voide the truth with subtiltie. Thys (dearly beloued brethren) commeth to passe by thys meanes / that we resorte not to the original of the trueth / nor seke the head Chryst / nor kepe the doctrine of oure heauenly master.
CIprianus in his .4. treatesse of the vanite of Idols. Filthie spirites wanderyng abroade / beeīg drowned in worldly vices… after they hauehave shronken from heauenly vertue through worldly corrupcyon / beeynge them selfs destroyed / cease not to destroye other / and beyng infecte wyth euill / infecte other wyth the same.Spirites worke no good but euill. These inspire the hartes of the Prophetes / euer lappyng vp lyes with the truth / they trouble mens lyues / dysquiet their slepes / drawyng their mē bers awry / hurt their health / prouoke diseases / to force mē to worshipping of thē:The deuils miracles ar… to worke mischief. & this is the remedy of them whā they cease to hurt:Thei hurt most of all, when thei cease from hurtyng. neither hauehave they any other study but to cal mē backe frō god / and turne thē frō the perceauīg of true religiō / to their superstitiō / & seyng they be in paine thē selfe / to seke those to be companiōs of their paine / whom they hauehave made / through their error / partakers of their synne.
LActātiꝰ institucionū li. 2. ca. 15. corrupt & dāned spirits strey ouer al the world / & seke for ease of their destruction / thorough the destructyon of men.The deuils vexe both bodye ct soule, to cause mē to seke to them for help, and so to be worshipped as god. They therefore fill al the worlde wyth snares / fraudes / and errours / the whiche because they be fine spirits / and can not be perceaued / conueye themselues into mens bodyes / and beyng secretlye hyd wythin the body… trouble health / bryng sickenes / fraie men with dreames / vexe mens myndes with sweate / that thorow these harmes they may force mē to runne to them for helpe. The cause of all whych discea…es / is darke to thē that be ignoraunte in the trueth: for they thynke they profyte whan they cease from hurtynge / which can doe nothyng but hurt. But they / whych hauehave shrunken backe from godes seruice / because they be enemyes and trāsgressours of the trueth / goe about to chalenge to themselues the name and honour of god: not because they desier any honor… (for what honour can the damned hauehave) nor that they shold hurt god / who cannot be hurt: but to hurte men / whom they goe aboute to draw away from the worshyppe and knowledge of gods true maiesty / least they shoulde attayne immortalytye / whyche they hauehave lost thorowe theyr own malice. So they couer all wyth darknes / and compasse the truth with claudes:Sathan worketh miracles by Images, and hereof springeth the worshipping of Images. so that they can not knowe their lord / nor their father. And that they maye easely allure menne / they hide themselues in the churches / and are at hande in al sacrifices. Yea many tims they work miracles / through whiche men / beyng astonyed / do geue to Images the fayth of the godheade. Here of it commeth / that a stone was cut in sander with a rasure by a sorcerer: and that Iuno of Ve…a answered / that she woulde goe to Rome: & that a shyppe folowed the hande of Claudia: and that Iuno beyng robbed / and Proserpina of Locrēse / and Ceres of Milet / toke vengeaunce of those / that had commytted sacriledge: and Hercules of Appius / and Iupiter of Atimus and Minerua of Cesar. Hereof also it commeth / that a serpente delyuered the Citie of Rome from the pestilēce / beyng brought from Epidaure.The deuils speke in Imags as thogh thei wer gods. But chefely they deceaue men in their oracles and answers / whose Iuglynges vngodly men cannot discerne frō the trueth. Therefore they thynke / that Empiers and victories / ryches and lucky chaunces of thinges / are geuen of them:thoughe deuils prophesi truly of thynges to come, yet all is but dysceite, to make mē to worship thē. and to bee shorte / oft tymes common welthes to be deliuered frō present daungers at their beck / which daungers they both declared by their answeres / and beeyng pacyfyed wyth sacrifice / turned away. But all these be but deceites: for seyng they knowe before the disposicion of god / because they were his ministers / they thruste them selues into these businesses / so that what so euer thynges eyther be done / or hauehave bene done of God / they mighte seme cheflye to dooe or hauehave done it.
And so ofte as any goodnesse is cō mynge at hande to any people or Citie / accordynge to Gods appointmēt / they promyse that they wyll doe it / eyther by miracles / dreames or reuelacions: if churches / if honours / if sacryfices / be geuen to them. The whyche thynges beeyng geuen / whan that chaunceth that nedes muste bee:Sathan vnderunder pretence of dead mēs soules de ceaueth thē, that lyue: and leadeth them into Idolatrye. they get to themselues greate worshyppe. For this cause bee temples vowed / for thys cause be newe Images halowed. And so ofte as perilles be at hande / for some foolyshe and lyghte cause / they fayne themselues angrye: as Iuno towarde Varre. But these be the deceites of them / that lurkynge vnderunder the names of the deade / intende to plague them that be aliue. Wherfore / wheras that daūger / that is at hand / maye bee auoyded: they woulde seme that they / beeynge pacified / hauehave turned it awaye.
And if it cannot be eschewed / thys they doe / that it myghte appeare to chaunce for the contempte of them: and so they purchase to thēselfes great authorite, & feare amōg mē that know them not. Some men wil saye / why doth god then suffer these thynges / neyther doeth he succoure so euill errours? That euil thynges may fighte wyth good / that vices may be contrari to vertues / that he may hauehave some / whom he may punish / and some whō he may honour.
STapulensis vponupon the .2. Epystle to the Thessa. 2. Ca. Maruayle not of counterfayte Aungels / and of the subtilty of Sathan / resemblyng hymselfe to Christ:Subtil Sathan sayneth himself to be Christ ct worshipped as god. seing we read a like thīg in the historye of Heraclides / of a Moōke called Valēt. The deuil (saith he) chaunging himselfe into the lykenes of our sauiour / came to hym by night with a company (as he fayned) of a. M. Angels: holdynge burnynge lampes in their hādes / and with a frery charet / in the which he fayned oure sauiour to sit.How shal we then knowe any certayne trueth by apparicions. Then one of them stept forth and sayed thus vntounto hym: come forth out of thy …ell now / and doe nothyng els but when thou seest him cōe a farre of / make hast to bowe downe thy selfe and worshyppe hym / and so strayght way returne againe to thine own house. Then he went forth oute of his house / and beleuing that he had sene that godly offices of heauenly ministers / and all shininge with fierie lampes / and Chryste (as he thought) hymselfe not past a furlong of / fel flat vponupon the grounde / and worshypped him / whom he beleued to be the lord.Thei that beleue visions often worship Sathan for Christ. See here howe this fearfull and folyshe Moonke Valēt / leauynge very Chryst / worshipped Chrystes enemy: and in steade of the trueth / a counterfet Antichryste and Sathan.