Spiritual Experiences (Buss) n. 1592

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1592. Evil spirits make no account whatever of such a man, and so speak of him, nor do they know otherwise; they hold him as a kind of dead instrument [for effecting their purposes], which they deduce from the fact that they suppose themselves to be the man; on other related points they are ignorant because they are not in true faith, for they believe no otherwise than that life is the special prerogative [proprium] of a spirit; and when this is affirmed, they suppose that the Lord is the cause of evil, when yet this comes from their form, which is properly theirs; but the form is merely organic, being in itself destitute of all life, and merely fashioned that life might actuate it, - and because forms are such, they cannot, although they would, think otherwise, for faith is the gift of the Lord alone, consequently the perception which is of faith.)


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