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A33367 Look about you, for the devil that you fear is in you, or, The right devil unfolded in his descent, form, education, qualification, place and nature of torment : with many other divine secrets, never from the beginning yet extant till this last witness, so beneficial both for the seed of gain, and the seed of faith / written by Laur. Claxton. Claxton, Laurence, 1615-1667. 1659 (1659) Wing C4579; ESTC R32621 55,901 151

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in that Chapter that treats of the seed of Cain his education or bringing up Again It is by the Seed of Cain believed man is not the devil in that saith thou the devil can transform himself into any form and appear how where and when he pleaseth Answer If this were true as it is not it were nothing advantagious unto thee in that I can in truth and reality instance one remarkable Devil-man now living whose name is John Robins that did more devilish exployts then any conceited devil without thee Sometimes he did present the form of his person riding upon the wings of the winde like unto a flame of fire also he did present unto some in their beds a great light like unto a flame of fire over all the room that they have been compelled to hide their faces in their beds fearing they should be burned but when they hid their faces in their beds the light did appear more brighter then before also he would present unto them Half-moons and Stars and sometimes thick Darkness darker then any natural darkness whatsoever also he did present in the day time his head onely without a body to a Gentlewoman in her chamber presenting unto her to deceive her the forms of strange beasts as namely dragons and such like much more might be spoken of his deceits in this kind how many great lying signs and wonders this prince of devils was acted forthfar beyond all his cursed seed though a great many more hath assumed to raise various appearances yet notwithstanding all this the fundamental was in themselves as thus A real devil within them but an imagined devil without them and thus their consciences being seared they seek to make others in faith with them that they can raise a devil without them which at the great day they shall finde it to be a cheat that shall burn in their souls and bodies more hotter then any fire and brimstone Again thou sayest The devil is in hell tormented and torments all that he can captivate in his bounds but we are on the earth not tormented c. Answ This thy plea thou hast received from others as wise as thy self that knows no more of a hell without man then of a heaven within man for alas poor deceived soul thou apprehendst a devil thou knows not what and a hell thou knows not where for the learned or the proudest of his seed little think or can believe that their body shall be their hell and their spirit or soul shall be their devil shut up close prisoners on this earth tormented to all eternity neither shall you the seed of Cain believe that your cheats oppression adultery swearing drunkenness and persecuting this infallible truth with all other of your filthiness shall be that fuel that shall burn more hotter then any natural fire in this world And as touching that whereas thou saith We are upon the earth not tormented Alas pititous soul though all the seed of Cain are not tormented alike by reason of long habit and custom through which thy conscience is seared that no small sin will torment thee but there are thousands of thy brood that have an earnest peny of that they shall be hereafter otherwise what causeth the hideous doleful sighs groans and cries of many of your seed in health but much more on thy bed of sickness concluding in thy self I am damned I am damned to all eternity finding in thy self no peace in that thou knows not the God of peace neither hast thou walked uprightly in doing to others as thou would they should do to thee but have either publickly or privately transgressed the Law by which thy sin is strengthened for the strength of sin is the law and so death which is the sting of sin arraigns thee at the bar of thy own conscience reading within thy own soul all thy private evils against God and man nay from my seed-spring I speak it many of this cursed seed are seemingly Saints and do live as a people that doth righteous things and in gifts of nature heaven-like praying and preaching to the admiration of all that hears them and yet they find in themselves if they would speak the truth what sad torments they undergo while they live on this earth yea so great in some that their torment cannot cease till the soul make away it self As touching this I shall remind you of one remarkable accident which many in London this day can witness the truth of what I write Thomas Gun by name was the man who for gifts and parts in the Ministry as also for a civil life did equalize all the teachers of the Baptists if not excell them and yet at that very same instant was guilty of adultery and that for a long time deceived his own soul and the poor woman his torment for which could not be satisfied till he took a Pistol and shot himself to death thus it was with him and so with many more little or much are in hell yea on this earth tormented though nothing comparable to what thou shalt be at the day of Christs next appearance Again thou sayest The devil is a wicked cursed blasphemer against God and all that is good yea the devil is a lying murthering persecutor of the people of God therefore man is not the devil because he is a true worshipper of God c. Ans If thou understoodst what thou sayest I could set to my seal that whosoever is a true worshipper of God is no devil for indeed none can worship him or be reverent of his name but those that are of the seed of Faith those that are eternally preserved in peace here and glory hereafter for it is life eternal to know thee the onely true God without which knowledge none can worship him or be reverent of his name thus far I agree and set to my seal that this man is no devil but alas how many of these are in this perishing world though millions of thousand thousands make a show and a talk of a God yet very few there are that knows him as he is a glorious personal God so that true was that saying from the Lord in Isaiah 10. 22. For though my people be as the sand of the sea yet a remnant of them shal be saved Fear not my little flock it is your fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdom One of a tribe two of a City so few are those that knows the true God that they are but a handful to them that knows him not But now to the Query in hand The devil saith thou is a wicked cursed blasphemer against God and all that is good from whence thou concludes man cannot be this devil in that man is not so wicked as to curse and blaspheme God what if I can find out such men that hath and at this day will curse God to his face is not this sufficient to convince thee there is no other devil but what is
thou abhor a drunkard or any that is given to hospitality and that because his quality is quite contrary to thine for thou art all for toyling and moyling rising early and lying down late neglecting no opportunity wherein thou mayest enrich thy self when as the other riseth up early and lyeth down late in drunkenness spending and making away that portion which was given thee so that thou being covetous he is no companion for thee for thou hast so much care in thee and upon thee how to make thy self great on this earth that unless thou canst advantage thy self thou wilt not spend a penny but when thou hast got five pounds or more or less then whatsoever shift thou and thy family shall make that shall not be diminished in the least but to usury it must go and then thou pinchest thy belly and the bellies of thy poor wife and children by living so long upon small Beer and flet Cheese and such like stuff that thou increasest thy estate to a vast sum at last that now the greatest care and thought of thy heart is how thou shalt secure thy riches from some of thy seed that if they should break into thy house they may not plunder thee of it and to that end thou inventest all maner of subtilty to deceive the deceived that thou hidest some in the earth and some on the house-top and some in hollow trees one place or another that thy brother serpent may not steal it from thee or the Law of this thy kingdom impose great Taxes upon thee I say thy care is so much upon this thy perishing earthly treasure that thy heart thy soul is wholly wrapt up in it insomuch that thy sleep and meat goes from thee that now having what thy heart desireth after thou art more tormented now then when thou hadst little or nothing therefore remember that of Christ Luke 12. 15. where he saith Beware of covetousness for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth and where thy treasure is thy heart will be also so that what will all this thy greatness in this world and plenty of gold or silver avail thee when the tears of the poor are laid naked before thee and starved for want of bread which thou hadst in abundance and not onely this but it is read in thy soul that thou hast enriched thy self in the ruine of others and thy conscience tells thee thou never got this justly but by fraud and deceit by grinding the faces of the poor and keeping back the hire of the laborers As touching this look about you ye Tradesmen of all sorts yea from the highest to the lowest examine your own consciences how often ye have cheated and remember this ye Landlords that oppress the poor Tenents as also ye Brokers that grinde the faces of the poor in lending upon usury or commodities and that after forty or fifty pound in the Hundred I say remember this that no cheater oppressor nor extortioner shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven and therefore against you I cry wo wo wo for this shall rise up a witness against thee and shall eat thy flesh as if it were fire as it is in James the fifth the first second third and fourth verses and then even then when thou thinkest all is well and that thou hast setled thy estate to thy hearts content that now thou fearest no want but canst without trouble cherish up thy soul with the fruits of thy wits and endeavors and to take thy pleasure for the time to come then comes the messenger Death and deprives thee of all the happiness of thy riches and saith unto thee Ah fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided Luke 12. 20. Now thou hast brought thy covetous heart to perfect what it longed after and now must thou leave all and knowest not what will become of thy soul on the other side of death and so in terror and fear of death thou diest and in torment thou shalt rise at the great day as in the next Chapter thou shalt hear and read at large So that I cannot but admire the wonderful wisdom of my God that notwithstanding the pleasure and pomp of this world belongs onely to the seed of Cain yet he gives them a bitter cup to drink at last which potion makes the devil afraid and to tremble at the thought of that day by which they are not onely bridled from their great cruelty and tyranny they would i●●ose upon the Seed of Faith but also the thought of death doth in some measure out-top their pleasures and greatness so that their life in this their onely heaven is not much better then our life in this our onely hell for though they have fulness and such as we have want yet we have peace and they have war yea oftentimes sad torment to think what will become of their souls when as the Seed of Faith knoweth what he is here what he shall be in the grave and what he shall be at the resurrection even glorified with his Savior So if you seriously lay to heart the vast difference of the Seed of Faith and the seed of Cain upon their bed of sickness or hour of death it would cause admiration as thus The departure of the seed of Cain out of this world is as much as if a Prince should depart not onely from his loving wife and pretty children but be banisht from his Crown and Kingdom never to enjoy it more and also where he is banisht he is shut up prisoner all the the time of his life even so is ●● death in this world he must leave not onely all his society but the pleasure of this his kingdom where he had delight as much as heart could wish and in the grave his soul and body lyeth uncapable of either joy or sorrow and then at the great day of our Saviors appearance thou shalt be raised up thy body thy hell thy soul thy devil shut up close prisoner world without end Now death is unto the Seed of Faith as a Messenger of glad tidings in that it frees him from the cruelty and oppression of the devill the seed of Cain and take him from all his hardship and wants that he hath undergone by living uprightly in this strange kingdom and then he knowing that all the time he is in the grave there is no remembrance of good or evil and as soone as ever his God comes he shall be raised to meet him in the aire with his mighty angels where he shall have a kingdom that one hours enjoyment of that will be more then ten thousand times ten thousand the greatest substance of glory could be attained unto for ten millions of years in this perishing world Thus in brief you have the difference of the two Seeds what triumph the Seed of Faith have in death over the seed of