powerful word of the Lord Jesus were cast out of Mary Magdalene or any other creature spoken of in Holy Writ were onely all maner of filthy diseases or violent fiery distempers in man that hurried him about any desperate wickedness whatsoever oftentimes increasing so powerfully as you may read in Mark the fifth that it did not onely occasion him to rend his own body and break iron chains but also he is ready to tear any one in pieces until the Lord of Glory shined into his distempered soul with that golden Grace of true Faith through which that imaginary devil is chained up whereby all his fleshly goods were spoiled of ever having power in him as formerly and being now in his right minde at the glorious feet of Christ Jesus through his own pure light leading him into heavenly raptures in reference unto his eternal glory at his visible appearing in the clouds with all his mighty Angels Therefore seriously consider that if Cain or Abel were both begotten by Adam upon the body of Eve as for the most part all men vainly imagine from one bare Scripture-record which they understand not I would know of that man that is offended with me concerning this point why Cain was nominated in Holy Writ to be of that wicked one aforesaid and branded as an out-cast fugitive vagabond and cursed from the divine presence of the Creator and cast out of the natural presence of his parents for ever and condemned with Balaam and Core as a perishing cast-away This I am sure of that no spiritual rational man that is sober dare say that either Adam or Eve was that wicked one from whence the cursed spirit of Cain sprang why because there is no such opprobrious names attributed unto them through the sacred Scriptures Moreover you may know that yea that wicked one from whence Cains spirit proceeded could not possibly have any relation to Adam or Eve though Cain was conceived in her womb and born of her body and that because there was an absolute curse denounced upon the Angelical Serpent and his seed in her womb as aforesaid without any after-promise in Holy Writ for ever being redeemed by the Creator but on the contrary you know there was a gracious promise by the Creator himself of the Redemption of Adam and Eve after their fallen estate with their whole generation of righteous Abels Seths or Abrahams in that glorious hidden saying The Seed of the woman shall break the serpents head Now one Scripture more which shall be against all gainsayers interpreted which is this Matthew the fourth beginning at the first verse Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights he was afterward an hungred and when the tempter came to him he said If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread then he answered Man shall not live by bread onely but by every word of God or that word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God then the devil taketh him up into the holy City and setteth him on a pinacle of the temple and saith unto him If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written He hath given his angels charge concerning thee c. Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory thereof and saith unto him All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me c. In that these hidden sayings hath their dependence on the precedent Chapter I must from thence make way to this divine Secret As if thou couldst but understand what thou readest thou shalt finde that as soon as ever Christ was baptized by John the Holy Ghost fell upon him that did impower him to encounter with the devil in which Dispute we must observe these two particulars 1. Who this tempter or devil was 2. The nature of this temptation First take notice that this tempter was one of the wisest and soberest yet subtilest Disputant amongst the Pharisees and Sadduces and therefore appointed by them to have conference with Christ as by and by you shall read for if you cast your eyes on John the third the fifth sixth and seventh verses you shall finde there went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan and were baptized of him in Jordan confefsing their sins as touching these John used no words of reproof or dislike in the least but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadduces come to his baptism he forthwith upbraided them with a sad yet just sentence saying O generation of vipers who hath forewarned you to flee from the wrath to come c. as if he should have said Ye are the children of that wicked one that onely comes to dispute and to cavel therefore John cuts them short with these words Bring forth fruits meet for repentance and think not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our father Then John proceeds further and tells them I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier then I whose shoes I am not worthy to bare he shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire Now when the Pharisees and Sadduces heard this they forthwith commissionated one of the wisest and subtilest devil amongst them which by experience they found was best versed in Scripture to see if this man-devil could perswade the Lord Jesus to baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire Now that you may no longer doubt but that this tempter or devil was onely a man as aforesaid cast thy eye into Deuteronomy 6. and the sixth verse where it is thus written Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God as ye tempted him in Massah so read Heb. 3. 9. Now tell me friend who those were that tempted the Lord were they not the people of Israel men and women So this tempter or devil that I am now treating of was onely a wise subtile man as you have already heard and will in this temptation be made more apparent 2. To the nature of the temptation beginning at these words Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil First minde the Spirit that led Iesus up into the wilderness was the Holy Ghost which came upon him at the baptism of John a little before the tempter came as you may read in the last verse of the third of Matthew I have found it true by experience that whosoever hath received the Holy Spirit cannot be free from the temptation of the devil that is the cavelling contentious disputes of unreasonable and unmerciful men But Secondly in the next place I shall give you to understand that this wilderness here spoken of was not a wilderness yielding fruit for the supporting of life where nothing
that he hath done that he cannot make good that God is a tyrant a Cock and a Bull a Horse and all such like cursed terms also that devil man hath said That if God did damn him he would damn God nay it hath been spoken That God durst not damn him and that God was more beholding to him then he was to God Also a man hath said That the blood of Christ was of no more value then the blood of a dog if these be not the seed of Cain and at the great and terrible day shall be raysed devils then let them say the Lord spoke not by me nay there is a swarm or brood of this cursed seed of Cain that deny a God or at least they make him a cloak for all their lascivious lust running after the steps of their father Cain in all manner of wickedness And what is their saying If I can but have my Money-god let it come right or wrong its all one to me I will not put it forth to usury but I will spend it freely upon my lust and as for this glorious personal God I own no such God for what say they Our God is an infinite formless spirit or an infinite nothing or an infinite all that is to say all in beasts all in fish all in fowls all in herbs trees and plants all in men and their wickedness too even thus this cursed seed do believe that just holy glorious God to be the Author of all their uncleanness so that true is that saying Psal 50. 21. Thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thy self but at the mighty day of my account thou shalt then have all thy sins set in order before thee and the sentence of this despised God pass upon thee And whereas thou saith The devil is a murthering persecutor of Gods precious ones Well what devil was that think you that from the beginning to this day persecuted the people of God was it a devil without man or in man Surely the Scripture with our experience can to any sober man make it appear it was no other devil but man As instance who persecuted the Prophets of the Lord of old was it not the Priests and Elders of Israel Who was it that persecuted Christ Jesus was it not their children the holy devout Jews that murthered the Lord of glory Who persecuted the Apostles was it not the same generation of the cursed seed of Cain Who put the Martyrs to the fire was it a devil without a form or was it not a devil in Queen Marys form Who is it now that persecutes the substantial light or life of the seed of faith is it not the devil in man or man-devil Nay had it not been for the late Lord Protector whose soul was merciful to tender consciences O had it not been that God had honored him before and above all in wisdom to go in and out before Parliaments and the Priests of this Nation what a bloody persecuting day had here been in England and yet you cry out of the devil for a persecutor when it is the devil in you so that you see there is no other devil but what is that cursed seed of Cain O therefore look about you for the devil that you fear is in you Now to the last and greatest appeal the seed of Can can make for himself is this If there be no other Devil but what is in man or woman then Kings may be devils Magistrates devils Lawyers devils Merchants devils Soldiers devils Doctors devils and Preachers devils and so at the day of judgement few other but devils shall arise Answ What a Catalogue of great men is here recorded thou supposing such men as these its pity to damn them or at least God will have more mercy on them then on the poor ragged seed of Cain and that because of their greatnes Surely if possible thou wouldst turn God from being God and that because he saith He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy And with our God there is no respect of persons So that mark what is said What is a King what is a Magistrate what is a Doctor what is a Lawyer what is a Soldier what is a Merchant what is a Preacher though their houses be full of gold and silver and their body richly clad with Jewels and raiment What is all this to the Judge of Justice its but as filthy raggs no nor the persons of such men are no more esteemed then the dunghil begger Nay what doth the Lord say Not many wise not many mighty not many noble men shall be saved but the poor persecuted for his names sake are his beloved Again he saith It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven Do you hear will ye believe or understand that these sayings needs no interpretation however you may slight it take notice that what I now say you shall finde it that since God became flesh there is no promise in Scripture to those that truly knows him and so professeth him shall be rich in this world As find me out ten among ten thousand from the first of Matthew to the last of the Revelation that were true believers so living and so dying I say thou canst not find out half that number that were really of the seed of faith and rich in this would so few they were then and so few now that I think it should make the rich of this world to tremble for though you can pass the Scripture with some evations of your own and defer the application of them as concerning your selves yet from my Seed-spring this you shall know that those sayings It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enjoy in his own soul the eternal truth there being such antipathy betwixt them that they accord like two contrary elements viz. fire and water no society till one hath conquered the other As instance the riches and glory of this world it elevates the soul beyond its bounds it finds so much content here that that truth that will not maintain this perishing fleshly glory with all its lust and pride Oh it is as hard a saying as that of Christ to the young man in the Gospel when truth presents it self to a rich worldly man and yet this man a great professor of the letter and makes a great flutter in vain repetition to a God thou knows not yet I say when the eternal truth tenders it self to thy soul in a poor persecuted distressed condition and tells thee I the Lord of glory had not a bed to lay my head on and those that will raign with me in that endles glory to come must forsake all take 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
though they might proceed from his loins according to the flesh through mixtures of seeds in marriages the sons of God saw the daughters of men to be fair and they took of them to be their wives Again though the blessed Israelites and cursed Canaanites are mixed together by carnal copulation since the prince of devils became flesh yet you that are spiritual may know that the Lord Iesus that made them both knew how to separate them for all their close union and to call them by names answerable to their own natures As consider did not the glorious Creator and blessed Redeemer himself make a clear distinction between two worlds or generations when he said I pray not for the world but for them that thou hast given me out of the world can you therefore that are sober imagine or think that there is any spiritual salvation for these men or women which the Saviour of the world excludes in his petition Moreover it is wtitten that the Apostles said We know that we are of God and the whole world lyeth in wickedness Behold ye redeemed ones of the most high God is it not as clear as the light it self that there is two distinct whole worlds according to that saying Then all Israel shall be saved a redeemed world of elect Israelites and an unredeemed world of reprobate Canaanites that were never truly lost in themselves and therefore never capable of being found in Christ accordding to that in the Epistle of Jude where it is thus written For there are certain men crept in which were of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men which turn the grace of God into wantonness and denying Christ the onely Lord wo unto them for they have followed the way of Cain and are cast away by the deceit of Balaams wages and perish in the gainsaying of Core Thus is it not clear unto all such that have in them any faith in the truth of the Scripture that there is two distinct whole worlds to distinguish between the divine glory of Election and everlasting shame of Rejection a cursed Cain a blessed Abel a subtile serpent and a simple Saint a scoffing carnal Ishmael and a spiritual Isaac a bloody minded Esau and a merciful minded Jacob a persecuting Saul and a prophetical David a treacherous Judas and a gracious and glorious Jesus from the beginning of the world unto the end thereof yea and a blessed Seth born in the stead of righteous Abel to bring forth the generation of the just that the Lord of eternal glory might according to the flesh as well as the spirit spring from a spiritual line of his own light of life eternal and not from a rational or carnal line of eternal death in chains of utter darkness which if it had power according to its cursed desire it would destroy God elect men and angels heaven and earth and all in them and it self also rather then be subject to any or might not onely it self bear rule over all But now to the matter in hand and withal consider what you read for it highly concerns you to look about you that if there should be any evil angels or devils living in the air and a devil amongst them called Beelzebub the prince of devils then I say what need any man trouble himself with the least fear of eternal death what wickedness soever is committed by thee why because if a man is tempted by any devil but what is in his own nature onely that evil spirit is to be eternally damned and the man set free nay moreover if sin or evil issued not from mans unclean reason or lying imagination within him is it possible think you that any man should be tormented as some men are with an inward burning through a secret fear of eternal sufferings rising in them from the guilt of former evils committed against the light of their own consciences furthermore seeing all men which live after the flesh must die or perish and that mans own lust is that imaginary devil from whence proceeds all sin or evil Without controversie though men or angels should gainsay it there are no other evil spirits angels or devils but unmerciful men and women onely Again if envy pride covetousness hypocrisie lust and such like be the devil in man then are not men and women those devils that are under the power of those evils I would fain know from the learned men of this world whether there are any other evil angels or devils besides mankinde that lust after women or silver or honor or revenge or any kinde of evil whatsoever truly if those supposed wise men that talk so much of the sublilty of the prince of the air that rules in the children of disobedience could possibly know that their own imaginary Reason was that evill spirit or prince of all their airy disputes concerning God angels devils Heaven hell eternal glory or shame to come which they know not of according to truth then in stead of their reioycing in the approbation of many men in relation unto their natural gifts their own spirits would immediately become the principle of all those howling groaning serpent-devils spoken of in Holy Writ even in the sight of elect men and angels in this mortal life Again is it not against all spiritual or rational sense that any man angel or devil should suffer eternal damnation for the sin of another or for anothers tempting him to sin or evil Moreover doth it stand to very good sense that yea that creature that is left to himself to be tempted unto sin or evil and overcome thereby and remains under the power of it to their lives end its requisite at the great day he should suffer for his own sin and not for anothers iniquity wherefore judge you is it not one of the vainest things in the world for any man to think that there is any other evil spirit angel or devil that tempts him to any motion imagination thought desire word or action of rebellion against God or man but the proud lying envious devil living in his whole man as aforesaid Therefore let no man that professeth spiritual light or life in him for very shame say that God can be tempted or tempt any man unto sin or evil neither let him say that any evil spirit angel or devil in the air or earth or in the water or in the fire tempts him to commit any sin or evil but that airy watery fiery lustful fleshly devil dwelling in his own body I say let him know that yea that is the prince of the air which thorow the absenting vertue of the holy Spirit begets those legions of devils or lusts in the soul of man and it is the true light of the Lord Jesus Christ in all his new born babes that crusheth the Cockatrice eggs before they become serpent-devils to sting the whole man with fear of eternal death So that understand what I say those devils which by the
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 〈◊〉 â—…at 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