A TREATISE OF ANGELS. OF THE NATURE, ESSENCE, PLACE, POWER, SCIENCE WILL, APPARITIONS, GRACE, SIN, AND ALL OTHER PROPERTIES OF ANGELS. COLLECTED OUT OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, ANCIENT FATHERS...
Book Details + Condition: Printed by T.S. for Nathaniel Butter (London). First Edition, 1613. Small octavo in worn vellum. (6.5" x 4.5") Pagination: 24 + 365pp. Firm binding; normal wear to vellum; original ties are mostly cut (save one); Wisconsin Consistory Library plate to ffep (and a bit of old tape), with sticker number to bottom spine; staining or age-spotting to upper text block, which does not affect the pages; interior is clean and free of markings. A very scarce work on the nature and influence of angels, demons, and the Devil. Includes content on angels’ corporeal composition, angelic or demonic appearances, their manner and movements, comprehension, powers, abilities, and hierarchies. John Salkeld also examines whether angels and demons can perform miracles, whether they are prophetic, read human minds, watch over specific people as ‘guardian angels,’ and whether they can turn away from God, commit sins, or die.
John Salkeld was a Roman Catholic, who converted to Protestantism under King James I. The book’s dedication is to King James, who Salkeld calls “the angel who had rescued him from the dungeon of popery and enlightened him by the beams of his reasoning.” Salkeld found the lack of a theology surrounding supernatural beings in Protestantism lacking in the realm of Biblical and historical Christianity. (This was, of course, a response to the abuses and extravagancies of the Roman Catholic church at the time.)
