N00620:230
Angelographia, or A discourse concerning the nature and power of the holy angels, and…
Angelographia, or A discourse concerning the nature and power of the holy angels, and the great benefit which the true fearers of God receive by their ministry: delivered in several sermons: : to which is added, a sermon concerning the sin and misery of the fallen angels: also, a disquisition concerning angelical-apparitions. / By Increase Mather, president of Harvard College, in Cambridge, and preacher of the Gospel at Boston, in New-England. ; [Two lines from Hebrews]Angelographia, or A discourse concerning the nature and power of the holy angels, and the great benefit which the true fearers of God receive by their ministry: delivered in several sermons: : to which is added, a sermon concerning the sin and misery of the fallen angels: also, a disquisition concerning angelical-apparitions. / By Increase Mather, praesident of Harvard Colledge, in Cambridge, and preacher of the Gospel at Boston, in New-England. ; [Two lines from Hebrews]
printed by B. Green & J. Allen for Samuel Phillips, 1696
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
4 All those TEKMERIA or signs to judge by, which are found in the Writings of some Learned men, are fallible. ⟨p. 35⟩There are many things mentioned by Carthusianus, Gerson, Tyraeus, Malderus, & others, by which they suppose that Angelical Apparitions may be discerned from those that are Diabolical. But I have met with no marks to judge by, either in them or in any other Authors, that are infallible. To instance here in some particulars.
4 All those TEKMERIA or signs to judge by, which are found in the Writings of some Learned men, are fa•lible. ⟨p. 35⟩There are many things mentioned by Carthusianus, Gerson, Tyraeus, Malderus, & others, by which they suppose that Angelical Apparitions may be discerned from those that are Diabolical. But I have met with no marks to judge by, either in them or in any other Authors, that are infallible. To instance here in some particulars.
1. Some say, That the Devil cannot appear without some deformity or other. That as he could not appear in the shape of a man before man had sinned, and therefore came to our First Parents in the shape of a Serpent; so now though he can put on Humane Shape, yet that it must be with some defect or other, a cloven foot, an ugly countenance, or the like. See Mr. Mede's Works▪ fol. 282. Psellus supposeth not only that Angels have airy or fiery Bodies so subtle as that they are to us invisible (of which opinion were many of the Ancients) but moreover, that the Angelical Body sends forth rays and splendours which would dazzle mortal eyes, but that the Body of an Evil Angel is obscure and squalid. But the notion of Evil Angels always appearing with some deformity in their shape is a vulgar error contrary to the Scripture, which says expressly, that Satan can transform himself into an Angel of light.