hypocrisie and cheat of thy heart laid naked before thee for what ever woes thou their readest against them that wo concerns thy self As wo unto thee moderate heaven-like Saint for thou art like unto the whited sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward but within are full of dead mens bones and of all uncleanness even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men but within ye are full of hypocrisie and iniquity wo unto thee for now thou wilt make a trade of Christ and his Apostles yea garnish the sepulchres of them as righteous men and yet at this day will speak evil imprison if not put to death the true prophets and righteous of the Lord so that ye be witnesses to your selves that ye are the children of them that murthered the Lord of glory Ah wo wo as thou with the rest in the next Chapter shalt hear thy doom and endless torment CAP. IV. The devil or seed of Cain the place and nature of his torment IN that the face of the Creation is vailed with darkness and ignorance of Christs coming to judge both the quick and the dead therefore I shall treat of this most needful point from certain sayings of himself as read Matth. 24 where you shall finde As the light cometh out of the east and shineth even to the west so shall also the coming of the Son of man be and as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days of the Son of man they ate they drank they bought they sold they married and were given in marriage until the day that Noah entred into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all so in the days of Lot they ate they drank c. but in the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained down fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed them all So the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works tbat are therein shall be burnt up then shall all the seed of Cain mourn tremble and shake when they see the Son of man in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory yea at the sound of his coming the devil or seed of Cain will cry to the rocks and mountains Fall on us yea ye will run into Caves and Cellars to hide your selves from the presence of that glorious personal God whom in your life time ye despised and rejected yea scoffing and walking after your own lusts saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers and the Apostles fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning and so ye swear whore and be drunk yea cheat oppress imprison and destroy the Seed of Faith not in the least laying to heart that the day of Christ Jesus that glorious God is at hand and will come as a thief in the night yea as swift as lightening in the air insomuch that two shall be in the bed two in the field two in the mill or wheresoever two or more are together they shall not have time to separate themselves till the Lord of glory take to himself the Seed of Faith from the seed of Cain As sure as the Lord liveth thus it will be very suddenly with this proud covetous lustful bloody world that sport themselves about the resurrection of the dead and the day of Judgement saying it is already past or there will never be any such day I say before ye be aware of it Christ the King of Glory will open the firmament of Heaven and stand in the air with his mighty angels surrounding his person and then by the power of his word speaking as he raised Lazarus out of the grave so will he raise all the Seed of Faith both dead and alive in the twinkling of an eye as he did Elias yea in a moment changing our mortal bodies to immortal like himself for you read in that day that Lot departed out of Sodom the same day it rained down fire and brimstone and destroyed them all Oh what a dreadful and sudden desolation fire maketh in a mortal world in one day so swift the Lord will appear that he will make a quick dispatch and after all the Seed of Faith that handful or little flock are safely arrived with him in the air then the Man Jesus with a flood of fire will burn all the beauty and glory of this world to ashes or dry sand leaving behind the souls and bodies of the seed of Cain then living with the souls and bodies of their dead seed raised up burning together like fire and brimstone upon this earth in utter darkness Having in brief by Reason Faith and Scripture proved to all sober-minded men that a day of Judgement will come the maner and nature of its coming now I shall shew thee the place where that seed of Cain shall be tormented which yet from the beginning till this last Witness could never be found out nor any true infallible description given as touching the place called Hell though most of the Learned have attempted yea stretched the line of reason to the utmost yet all to no purpose for thy father before thee and thou his learned son art not in the least satisfied and that because thou hast not the seed of Faith which is the evidence of things not seen therefore being out of the bounds of reason thou writest of it thou knowest not what and so to finde it thou knowest not where and therefore it is by thee recorded that place called Hell will be under the earth in the sea or in the bottom of it if not thou supposest Hell shall be in the air or a place thou apprehendest not therefore from my seed-spring I affirm and that thy own experience shall finde that place of thy torment shall be even there where thou tookest thy pleasure that shall be the place of Hell even here in this world on this earth where now thou walkest shall be the place of thy endless misery For if you observe your own rule in the execution of your Law when a malefactor is apprehended for wilful murther or some such hideous crime when he is brought to his Tryal and by your Law found guilty then the Judge of the Law passeth Sentence that his body shall be burned or hanged even in that place where he committed his bloody filthy act and that justly where he spilt blood his blood should be required again even so the Lord of Glory Christ Jesus the Judge of the quick and dead when he comes to Judgement all you that have been guilty in the blood of the Prophets Christ Jesus and his Disciples that have put to death imprisoned or any way persecuted the Witness and righteous of the Lord that blessed Seed of Faith I say where you executed your oppression and cruelty against the sons of the
most high God even there will the righteous Judge execute his fury to take vengeance of all his bloody enemies in this world in this earth where thou committedst thy wickedness thou shalt receive thy sad and dreadful portion and that world without end and therefore deceive not thy self with the vain imaginations of thy spirit of reason that though it be as I affirm yet thou hopest it doth not belong to thee but what is the cause of thy hopes thou art neither satisfied in thy self nor doth it appear to any other onely thou hopest with the rest of thy seed but hast no assurance in the least and that because thou findest within thee that thou art guilty if not of publick yet of private filthiness so that mark what I say believe it whether thou wilt or no thou shalt by woful experience finde that this beautiful world wherein now thou hast thy pleasure shall at the day of Christs next appearance be as aforesaid burnt to ashes or dry sand where all the seed of Cain which in his qualification I have branched forth into four particulars shall not need to trouble themselves about Heaven and how they shall come to it for as sure as God is a chrystal glorious holy righteous personal God thou that desirest with Balaam to die the death of the righteous and not to live the life of the righteous thou with all thy pretended holiness and unrighteousness shalt be raised no higher then this earth that now thou treadest upon for as here thou hast taken thy pleasure so here shall be thy sorrow as here thou hast been a persecutor of God and his people so here thou shalt have the vengeance of God upon thee and in thee as here thou hast cheated and burned in thy filthy lust towards woman so here shall those lustful actions burn in thy soul and body for ever as here thou hast sworn and been drunk so here thou shalt have nothing to quench thy thirst but even here upon this earth where now thou walkest thou shalt howl burn fry to all eternity when then none shall pity thee 2. Having shewed thee the place where the seed of Cain shall be tormented now I shall shew thee the maner and nature of thy torment and therefore attend give ear That after our Redeemer hath called up the Seed of Faith which are but few in comparison of what shal be left behind yet I say after he hath taken that little Flock to himself then will our long looked for Christ Jesus the God of Glory immediately yea in a few hours burn all the riches beauty and bravery of this world to dry sand as aforesaid insomuch that there shall not be left the least appearance of a house herb tree or plant for the Stars Moon and Sun that gave light and motion to the fruits of the earth and moving of the sea shall become nothing yea be put forth as the snuff of a Candle and this world shall be as dark as the land of Egypt was for three days for if you read Exodus 10. 22 23. you shall finde there was a thick darkness in all the Land of Egypt three days they saw not one another neither rose any from his place for three days so that after all is burnt to ashes and that which gave life and motion to the earth and sea is put forth then shall the earth bring forth no more fruit nor the waters run no more but become a dark standing stinking pool as it was in the beginning and all the seed of Cain then both dead and living shall be left behinde with bodies as heavy as lead and as black as pitch which then their bodies shall be their hell and their spirits or souls shall be the devil shut up close prisoner together for ever and ever without end and that fire and brimstone that will burn shall be those wicked thoughts words and actions which in thy life time where now thou art thou committedst against the Seed of Faith yea with a great hand of pride acted against them shall be the fuel as wood and coal is fuel to the natural fire so thy wicked lustful actions shall be the onely fuel that shall burn yea flame more hotter then any natural fire in the hottest furnace whatsoever and yet it shall give no light at all but the flame thereof shall be of a durty scalding burning envious nature which shall smoak and fry through thy mouth thy nostrils thy eyes thy fundament insomuch that there shall not from the crown of the head to the sole of thy foot be one part free but tormented throughout thy whole soul and body And no sooner hath our God caught up his blessed Seed of Faith but this beautiful world becomes dark dust or sand as aforesaid but then yea even then begins thy kingdom of darkness wherein thou must continue either sitting lying kneeling or standing not being able to move one foot from the place where thou art raised but there being lockt up to all eternity never to see thy own dreadful face nor the frightful faces of others their wailing and lamenting for ever Considering First as in relation that thou hadst so many warnings by such poor despised ones as I that hath hazared our estates our liberty yea life and all by publishing such writings and declarations from the Lord that there was no other Devil but such as thou as now to thy eternal wo thou caust set to thy seal is too too true that if thou hadst not shut thy eyes and stopt thy ears thou mightest have foreseen what now thou feelest and not onely that but thy remembrance shall flame in that thou didst not onely slight scoff and scorn such testimonies of truth but thou persecutedst it to death this is one thing that shall burn and never be put out Secondly the remembrance how thou hast spent thy time in this perishing world shall quicken and rise afresh within thee as though they were but then in doing for from my seed-spring I speak it as there is no remembrance of any thing in the dust so there is no time to the dead in the grave for the death of Adam to his resurrection though it be thousands of years in respect to the living yet to the dead so long sleep shall be but as one nights rest I say when thou art awaked it shall be unto thee as no time at all for though thou hast lain in the grave a thousand years more or less yet then it shall appear unto thee as though it was but the last night and as thou in relation to thy thoughts words and actions died here so afresh they shall rise with thee either to thy condemnation or justification O then thou light ranting Devil that died in the living lust of thy soul to deceive the poor innocent virgin or virgin-wife and was never better then when thou hadst opportunities to deceive thy own soul in the undoing of others perswading thy self and others it was no sin but at this day thou shalt know it was a sin and that personal God which thou in thy life time despisedst will now leave thee to thy lustful dealing god within thee where thou shalt be damned to all eternity O then thou dark ranting Devil that died in the pride and ambition of thy heart spending thy time in all wanton wicked sports and pastimes thy eyes have stared with fatness of the earth thy belly swoln with drunken healths yea thy tongue blisterd with cursed oaths and yet thou knew it to be a sin but would not leave it till it was too late where now God hath left thee to be damned to all eternity O then thou coveteous worldly minded Devil that regarded no other God but thy bags of gold silver and so died in the love and delight of thy riches not in the least laying to heart how many thou hast beggered to enrich thy self how many thou hast murthered to make thy self great all this thy oppression by deceit and extortion shall rise afresh with thee yea flame as a hot fiery furnace and shall eat your flesh as if it were fire where nothing shall quench it and that world without end yea damned to all eternity O then thou moderate Saint-like Devil that carried thy self so holy and heaven-like under which pretence thou didst privately backbite yea bear false witness against thy neighbor through thy Pharasaical prayers and large supplications with reading and singing of Psalms yea sighing and groaning and lifting up thy hands and eye to heaven thou didst conzen cheat and defraud thy fellow creature thinking by thy hypocrisie to blind honest hearted simple souls and so with thy cloak of Religion thou didst privately and subtilly enrich thy self in this world and yet got a name for a good chapman and a great professor when all this while thou art ignorant of a true Church and that glorious personal God nay if thou be a Priest or a Ruler thou wilt persecute both God and his People that knows him as he is therefore then thou with thy seeming holiness shall be damned to all eternity So to conclude Let all the seed of Cain look about them and while it is called to day seriously lay to heart and that because as sure as he will come it will be very suddenly and that such an hour that thou knowest not therefore watch and be ready for such an hour as you think not for blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall finde well doing which none shall be thus found but onely the Seed of Faith for as I have told you all the seed of Cain shall be taken unawares yea committing one sin or another saying This day will not be in my time and therefore I will not leave the pleasure of this world not the lusts of my flesh but I will one year more refer it so that Christ will take thee in thy wickedness and give thee thy portion with the hypocrites on this earth clothed with darkness in which thy soul and body shall remain with thy sins kindling and flaming more and more of a dark envious nature through which it shall burn perpetually as aforesaid causing a howling with hideous doleful sighs and groans yea weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth for evermore crying Wo wo wo that ever I was born to see this black tormenting day of which there is no END
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
me for their pattern and as for the riches here make as good shift as thou canst provided thou doth as thou would be done to Oh saith the rich soul This is a hard saying indeed for let me be of what Art or Calling soever if in that Art or Calling I do righteous things I shall be poor enough in this world for I finde in my Art and Trading that all men that grows rich hath got it by cheat and deceiving those they have to deal with for if a man deal justly he shall have much ado to maintain his family therefore well might the God of all knowledge say Not many rich not many noble but the poor shall enter in at the straight gate for the way the path the gate to the possession of the real durable truth is so narrow that the soul with its body must enter in pure and undefiled not laden with cheats and deceits as thousands at this day strives to enter in and are not able for want of their certificate that golden Rule In doing to others as thou would others should do to thee Now if thou say Where is that man or how is it possible for any man to perform this I answer I can both show thee the man and affirm it is possible for since I have known the true God and been made obedient to the rule thereof mark what I say I have not to my knowledge done that to another which I would not the same party should do to me and for the possibility thereof it lieth in thy power to do minde what I say It is as possible for thee to do justly as unjustly As instance thou having a friend that reposeth confidence in thee and declareth the truth of his business unto thee concerning which he entrusteth thee to do for him as if occasion require thou would have him do the like for thee now the occasion upon which thou art imployed is a business of great advantage as a bargain of Land Merchandize or otherways which if thou deal with him as for thy self sufficient benefit will acrue thereby but now in the managing of this his affairs thou findst thou canst gain for thy self twenty pound more or less and yet thy friend shall accomplish his desire cheaper then if he had aggitated the business himself and as touching this thy pretended plain-dealing and seeming honesty thou hast contrived a way that he shall never know of it but account himself as much obliged to thee for this thy great kindness and just dealing with him as if it were really so Now speak for thy self was it not in thy power to give him all or no and deal plainly was this any kindeness or just dealing in the least or hath it any relation to that Golden saying of Christ Matth. 7. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this the Law and the Prophets No no thou wouldst never imploy him more but judge him and so look upon him as the ungratefullest man living upon the earth therefore look to thy own soul how it stands related to that golden rule aforesaid that whether thou finds in thy self a desire of revenge towards him or if ever occasion of such an account be tendered to thee thou wilt serve him the like I say be thou what thou wilt thou maist shake hands like Simeon and Levi brethren in cheat and deceit as thou may call to minde one remarkable cursed rule betwixt buyer and seller as thus Suppose thou be the seller and I the buyer I come for such a Commodity which thou hast I ask thee the price that thou canst afford it to live by thou doth protest as thou intends to be saved it cost thee so much I having no experience and believing thee gives thee thy price when thou knows thou hast cheated me both in the goodness of the Commodity and the price now judge thou if this be as thou would have another serve thee or dost thou think for all thy long prayers and heaven-like carriage that these ill gotten riches by which thou art grown great on the earth that such as thou shalt enter the straight gate or that thou shalt rise a rich glorious Saint at the day of judgement then I may say in vain was it for me to forsake a hundredth pound a year and expose my self and children to strayts because I couldnot cheat for I tell thee if to do just and unjust be all one then I say with Paul Of all men we are most miserable when we might be rich to live poor here and be damned hereafter Oh no no as sure as God is God thou shalt know that so continuing and so dying as a cheat shall have all thy heaven here and everlasting torment hereafter therefore wonder not why it is a hard thing for Kings or great men to be saved but rather wonder that any is saved As take account from Saul the first King of Israel to the coming of Christ and observe seriously how many of them shall arise Saints also take notice from Christ to the raign of the Lord Protector thou shalt find it is a hard thing to deal justly and be rich in this world certain it is from experience I find it so far different yea so contradictory that from the seed of Faith I speak it to deal justly thou cannot be rich but poor in this world and yet what striving here is to be rich yea wise and great in this perishing world not in the least laying to heart that saying of James 5. 1. c. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you your riches are corrupted and your garments moth-eaten your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped treasure together for the last dayes ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter ye have condemned and killed the just and he doth not resist you Now look about you the seed of Cain and tell me to whom was this spoken or whom doth this concern if not the great men of the earth or rich men of this world and yet how few of you do consider that destruction will be the end of this thy fleshly perishing glory Alas what though thou live thirty fourty fifty or eighty years this know thy glass is a running thy brave time will have an end and to thy bed of sickness thou must be brought when then all thy rich robes and precious Jewels may hange by thee but thou canst not make use of them and in room of them death prepares a garment for thee O then even then is a believers joy which now is thy sorrow for in stead of speaking peace to thee they will be a witness against thee yea a
read but 1 Cor. 2. 4 5 and 6 verses and there you shall hear Paul shew the vast difference of the wisdom of Faith from the wisdom of flesh for the wisdom of Cain is a meer cheat yea leads him forth to nothing but pride oppression and cruelty for by that wisdom they put the Lord of Life to death as in the eighth verse therefore you that have eyes may see what this learning and knowledge is the seed of Cain are tutored in that it is no other but the wisdom of this world which is foolishness with God and that is the cause they come to tempt or dispute with the Seed of Faith whose wisdom is given him by inspiration or revelation in the demonstration of the Spirit I say because the wisdom of Cain cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God given this precious soul O how they rayl with tearms of a fool an ass a dunce a coxcomb a heretical blasphemer an ignoramus one that hath no sense these and such like tearms this cursed Brood will brand the Seed of Faith with the onely wise men in Christ for which cause the Lord in 1 Cor. 1. 19. saith I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe Where is the Disputer of this world hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world and all because the foolishness of God in the Seed of Faith is wiser then that great knowledge in the seed of Cain for take this infallible truth along with you which is this that the Scriptures in the life and power of them were never given to the wise learned men in those days For saith Christ to you it is given to know the mystery to you my Disciples or elected Seed of Faith to you and for your sakes did I speak this and therefore it was the wise learned Priests and Rulers did imprison and put to death not onely the Disciples but Christ also as Blasphemers for publishing this Scripture which now their wise children do make a Trade of and will not onely imprison but if possible put to death the onely Witnesses and true Interpreters of this Holy Writ which was given by inspiration for the proper use of his blessed Seed of Faith Again the seed of Cain are educated in the fulness and plenty of this world insomuch that there is no novelty delicate or dainty that by the spirit of reason can be invented but for their belly it is prepared as also no new antick fashion can be imagined either of silk gold or silver but their backs are adorned with it nay there is no attendance of men and maid-servants that this their kingdom can afford but the seed of Cain enjoys it yea they are so tenderly and princely brought up at home and abroad and so hurried in their Coaches and Sedans that if possible the cold wind should not blow on them nor the glorious Sun with his beams should scorch them so careful are they of their beauty and comely streight proper persons that if possible there shall not be a wrinckle on their hands nor a spot on their faces unless it be of their own making for the more grace of their comely persons thus what by art in their wisdom can be invented shall not in the least be wanting if it can be had for gold or silver and whatever Science Pastime or Pleasure their soul can desire as Hawking Hunting Bowling Shooting Gaming at Dice Cards or Tables or any other delight of Musick Dancing Courting of Ladies with the satisfaction of their greatest lust and that with the greatest pomp and state this their heaven can afford and then in the last place for carriage and behavior none in this world like unto them as observe how proud and Lucifer-like their father they carry their heads insomuch that they know not what fashion or coloured Perriwig to hang upon it and when they meet any of their brethren O what congeying and bowing with Cap in hand to the ground saluting each other with these and such like complementary tearms as Your servant Sir or Your servants servant Sir or Madam and fair Lady I am yours to command by night or by day and that with so much stateliness and comely behavior that I wonder thou shouldest be affrighted at the name or person of the devil considering what a glorious proud majestical creature the devil is as aforesaid But now if you ask me Are all the seed of Cain thus educated Answ No for you may understand some are brought up to one Calling or another that some of them do undergo hard labor and great pains to maintain themselves with their families in this their perishing kingdom so that they have neither gold nor silver the dust of this earth to mannage such a fleshly glorious education as aforesaid And others there are that are educated yea brought up servants yea slaves to the great Rabbies of their seed which none of them have that attendance fulness delights pleasures as aforesaid but on the contrary are deprived of all that their happiness the other enjoy insomuch that in stead of giving relief they beg relief in stead of a Bed of Doun they lye on a bed of straw in stead of being clothed with silk they are clad with rags yea many times ready to starve for want of food so that you may behold there is not onely rich but poor miserable ragged devils that shall rise at the day of our eternal Gods appearance so that I say these of all the tribe or generation are to be pitied if pity did belong to them to consider what affliction they undergo in this their heaven and yet be eternally damned hereafter Question But now you may say unto me and that seemingly affirm both from my writing and the Scripture in that I have before treated much of the rich men of this world how hard a thing it is for them to walk in the ways of God they being so educated in the pomp and glory of this world which I say and your experience findes it is the greatest thief that steals away the heart of man and so makes that soul as difficult as a woman in travail to enter into the life and power of the Gospel therefore we being poor and the Scripture saith the poor receives the Gospel we much marvel how your writing will be found truth in Scripture that any poor should rise devils when the Scripture saith it is onely the poor that receives the Gospel Answer From this thy curious Query I shall answer thee in those words of James 2. 5. where it is thus written Hearken my beloved brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in Faith and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him Now if you intend these poor I affirm what you say yea from my Seed-spring I declare not one of these
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 iâ—â—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 â—â— 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