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We believe that the Father
created heaven and earth and all other creatures
from nothing,
when it seemed good to him,
by his Word--
that is to say,
by his Son.
He has given all creatures
their being, form, and appearance,
and their various functions
for serving their Creator.
Even now
he also sustains and governs them all,
according to his eternal providence,
and by his infinite power,
that they may serve man,
in order that man may serve God.
He has also created the angels good,
that they might be his messengers
and serve his elect.
Some of them have fallen
from the excellence in which God created them
into eternal perdition;
and the others have persisted and remained
in their original state,
by the grace of God.
The devils and evil spirits are so corrupt
that they are enemies of God
and of everything good.
They lie in wait for the church
and every member of it
like thieves,
with all their power,
to destroy and spoil everything
by their deceptions.
So then,
by their own wickedness
they are condemned to everlasting damnation,
daily awaiting their torments.
For that reason
we detest the error of the Sadducees,
who deny that there are spirits and angels,
and also the error of the Manicheans,
who say that the devils originated by themselves,
being evil by nature,
without having been corrupted. |
