thinks he is lord on earth. For though he is a
prisoner, yet the animal-men perform his office
well; and accordingly he holds men in derision,
that they are and do worse than he himself can do.
19. These are, then, the four elements of the
dark world,, in which the devil opines to be a God;
and therewith he rules on earth by his faithful son
Falsehood. This latter is the smug kitling, who
before gives good words, and yet always has the
mouse in view. Can it but catch it: Oh, how
brisk and jocund it is when it can bring the roast
meat to the devil! With these four elements man is
surrounded, and lodges in the country of the false
king. They shoot him at all hours to the heart,
and would destroy his noble image. He must always
be at war against them, for they lodge with him
and in him; they make thrusts continually at him,
and would destroy his choicest jewel.
20. If but one of these four elements obtain
in man power to qualify, this one enkindles all
the others; and they straightway rob him of his
noble image, and make of him a mask of the devil.
And no man who allows to these four elements
power to qualify can with truth say of himself,
that he is a man; for he qualifies into the devil's
property, and is an enemy of God. And though
the devil clothe him with the hypocritical coat, so
that he is able to give good words and knows how
to be elegant in his manners, that men think he is
a child of God, yet he is not a man as long as these
four elements have the upper-hand in him; but
he is a diabolized man, half devil and half man,