in as much as Noah did obey the commandment of the Lord according as the spirit of the Lord did reveal unto him Noah may be said to be a Preacher of righteousness and he doing all things by inspiration of the spirit of Christ which was not at that time made of flesh but in the fulness of time became pure humane flesh and suffered the pains of death And the same spirit that suffered death that very same spirit that quickned was that spirit that preached to the spirits in prison in the days of Noah as aforesaid And the making of the Ark by the inspiration of Gods spirit in the sight of the people who were in prison in ignorance and darkness of mind is called by the revelation of faith A preaching to the spirits in prison so that the spirit of God in Noah may be said to preach unto those spirits in prison in the days of Noah and that there was but eight persons saved from the Floud So that this place of Scripture doth no way prove that the spirit of Christ did ever preach to spirits in prison without bodies neither did Christs spirit preach in the days of Noah without a body for he always preached with a body himself or else chose men that have bodies and gave them power to preach to spirits in prison and to deliver the captives and to set the prisoner at liberty and the bound in prison to go free So that the Reader may see how and in what manner the spirit of Christ did preach unto the spirits in prison in the days of Noah and how their spirits may be said to be in prison and how their unbelief in the days of Noah was called disobedience to the preaching of Noah all that while the Ark was building And being built by the inspiration of the spirit of God it may and is called the preaching of Christs spirit to them that were in prison in spiritual darkness in their minds for their minds being darkened they did those things that were unseemly yea unnatural as the people of Sodom did Now were not the spirits of these people in prison and led captive of those unnatural lusts I think no sober man will deny yet these were those spirits in prison that Christs spirit preached unto in the body of Noah in the days of Noah and that there was but eight persons in the days of Noah that were saved from the destruction by water by the preaching of that spirit of God in Noah This is the true interpretation and meaning of those words of Peter the Apostle aforementioned and how the spirit of Christ went and preached unto the spirits in prison in the days of Noah CHAP. XIII AGain there are some other places of Scripture which several people have objected as if the spirit or soul of man might go out of the body and subsist in bliss and happiness or in misery and a tormented condition without its body it always lived in from that place Luke 23.43 Jesus said to the Thief on the cross Verily I say unto thee This day shalt thou be with me in paradise Now observe this no way proves that the Thiefs soul went out of his body into a Paradisical place and so escaped suffering death or did not die for if the soul of Christ did die at that time as is clear by Scripture it did then the soul and life of the Thief did die also Then where was the Paradise the Thiefs soul and Christs soul that was heavy unto death where did they go To this I say they went to a place of rest where all righteous souls go which is to the sleep of death for there was nothing did die but the souls of them both and the Paradise Christ and the Thief went into that day they suffered death I declare it was this that Christ was sure in himself that he should rise from the dead the third day and afterward should enter into eternal glory and this assurance in Christ that he should rise again the third day it was Paradise and Peace to his soul that he should pass through that death he was now to suffer that very day into a new life that should not be capable to die any more So likewise when the Thief did truly believe that Jesus was the Christ the Saviour from eternal death to those that did believe as it is certain he did when he said Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom for he did really believe that Christ would rise the third day and that he would raise him to eternal joy and happiness at the last day and the Thief dying in this faith he entered into peace of mind and had rest and freedom to die in hope and full assurance that Christ would raise him up soul and body to eternal happiness at the last day And this was that Paradise that Christ and the Thief were in that very day they both suffered death for the assurance of everlasting life in a mans self here in mortality is the Paradise of peace in this life This I know to be true and this was the Paradise Christ did mean the Thief should be in that very day he believed and not that either of their souls went out of their bodies to any other place or Paradise then what was in their own bodies as aforesaid In like manner people do imagine that the soul of man goeth out of the body at his death from that saying Acts 7.59 from those words of Stepher when he was stoned to death he said Lord Jesus receive my spirit The meaning is this that when any man dieth in the true faith of Christ in the hope and full assurance that Christ will raise him up to eternal happiness at the last day he commits his spirit into the hands of Christ knowing that though he doth lose his life for Christs sake here that Christ will raise it again and save his soul hereafter and so Christ may be said to receive his spirit For this I must tell the Reader that there is not a quarter of an hours time to the dead to his rising again no not a minute for there is no time to the dead not a minute of an hour though a man have been dead 5000 years yet it is not a minute of an hour to him that is dead For all time belongs to the living for after death there is nothing but eternity on the other side of death either eternal happiness or eternal misery so that when men die they may be said to go immediately to Heaven or to Hell to joy or torment to be received into Christs hands of mercy or into the hand of Christs wrath where they shall be tormented with the Devil and his Angels yet shall never see the Devil nor his Angels nor themselves to eternity as they did not know the Devil here neither shall they know or see him hereafter yet be tormented with him And in this sense a faithful
he may see how men have enquired of the Lord by motional voices in the minde by that spirit of faith which is gotten by revelation which is called the Spirit of God In the time of the Law of Moses the Ephod was a standing Rule for to enquire of God for good or bad success Now there was no man could tell what the event would be that looked upon the Ephod but such men as had the spirit of revelation and prophesie in them as David and the High Priest assoon as ever they looked upon the Ephod they could tell whether they should prosper in battel or not but if any other man which had not the spirit of revelation and prophesie should look upon the Ephod they could tell nothing by it Though the Ephod was appointed of God on purpose to enquire of God yet none could find out Gods minde but such men aforesaid for as soon as ever David or the High Priest looked upon the Ephod they could tell what the event would be as may be seen 1 Sam. 23.6 9. how David called for the Ephod and Abiathar the Priest to bring it to enquire of the Lord. Yet God never spake to them by voice yet they had motional voices in themselves in their hearts assuring them that they prosper or not prosper yet God never appeared himself nor any Angel neither did God speak by any voice yet they are bade to go prosper as if they had heard som voice by looking upon the Ephod so that those voices that bade them go and prosper they were motional voices that did arise from the revelation and spirit of Prophesie within them by that skill they had in the Ephod which was appointed of God for that purpose so that all Davids voices and the High Priests voices that were motional voices yet called the voice of God because they did arise from the seed of faith in David and others which is the divine Nature of God therefore called the Spirit of God For this I say if Saul had not lost that spirit of Prophesie by his disobedience as he once had when the good spirit departed from him he might have enquired of the Ephod and have been answered with a motional voice by the Ephod as he was by enquiring of a Witch For the spirit of Samuel did speak no more to Saul then the Spirit of God did speak to David they were both motional voices that did arise from their two seeds the one voice spake peace and deliverance and the other spake wrath and destruction the one did enquire in the way that God did appoint even of the Ephod or of the Lords Prophets the other did enquire of that which was forbidden and forsook the Lord and his Prophets and went to a Witch to enquire it was because one was the seed of Adam which is the seed of God and so chosen of God in mercy even David and the other was the seed of the Serpent even the devil who was chosen King in Gods wrath even Saul This is the true Interpretation of those voices that Samuel spake to Saul and of his being raised by the Witch of Endor Therefore you that can understand these things aforementioned you may see how the whole world lieth in darkness and are cheated of their sense and reason by this lying and vain imagination to believe that spirits can be without bodies or that spirits can be raised without bodies or that spirits can speak without bodies or that spirits departed can assume any shapes afterwards these things and many more are produced by the dark imagination of the heart of man and if the Reader hath any true light of faith in him he may understand the Interpretation I have given of the Witch of Endor and how a familiar spirit is produced or begotten in them and be satisfied in his mind as to that matter so much concerning those words in Samuel aforementioned CHAP. VI. AGain it is said Isa 8.29 the Prophet speaking there to unbelieving Israelites that did not believe the Word of the Lord through the Prophets mouths concerning the destruction that should come upon Israel this judgement did the Lord threaten by the mouth of his Prophet Isaiah to bring upon Israel for their unbelief and this Prophet seeing the people would not hearken unto the voice of the Lords Prophets nor inquire of them but altogether persecuted them as false prophets deceivers and liers and the inclination of their hearts was more willing and desirous to enquire of a Witch or Wizard who had a familiar spirit then of the Prophet of the Lord as you may see chap. and verse aboâ—e-written the words are these as followeth And when they shall say unto you seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and that mutter should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead the meaning of these words is this that unbelieving men do think and believe that Witches and Wizards who hath a familiar spirit can rise out of the ground where dead men were buried living spirits without bodies that can reveal things unto them by that motional voice that doth proceed from these familiar spirits which doth peep and mutter That is the whisperings that proceeds from this familiar spirit that is begotten by the imagination of reason the father and the seed of reason the mother as I said before is that motional voice all Witches and Wizards have whereby they peep and mutter in themselves as if they did hear voices and see shapes and living spirits arise out of the ground as the Witch of Endor said to King Saul She saw Gods ascend out of the earth Whenas there was no spirit nor shape came out of the ground at all but the gods she saw ascend out of the earth came out of her own imagination even that familiar spirit begotten in her it seemed unto her as if it did ascend out of the earth but those gods she said she saw ascend out of the earth they ascended out of her own imagination and Saul beleeved her and so was partakers with her and he did believe that she had raised Samuels spirit out of the earth as the Witch had said And this is to be minded by the Reader that when spirits are to be raised by Witches her familiar spirit always ariseth out of her own self even from the seed of reason and imagination of her own heart whereby she doth hear voices within her whispering low voices as if some other spirits without her did speak with a low voice unto her and present shapes unto her dazled eyes which seemeth to the Witch to be real voices of a spirit without her and a real shape without her when as in deed and in truth it ariseth out of her own self even from the seed of reason and imagination of her own heart whereby she doth hear voices within her whispering low voices as if some other spirit without her
did speak with a low voice to her and present shapes to her dazled eyes which seemeth to the Witch to be a real voice of a spirit without her and a real shape without her when as in deed and in truth it is nothing else but a motional voice begotten in her self and shapes begotten in her self by the imagination in the Womb of reason as aforesaid which is that familiar spirit Which is that familiar spirit she doth deal with she thinking it is from some spirit without her she not knowing it is begotten in her and this familiar spirit begotten in her it whispers within her with a low motional voice as if some spirit did whisper out of the ground According to that saying of the Prophet Isa 28.4 concerning the destruction or Judgement of God upon Jerusalem the words are these And thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground and thy speech shall be low out of the dust and thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust As if the Prophet should say Seeing you have refused to hearken to the voice of the Prophets which hath declared the mind of the God of Israel openly with a loud voice you have heard them speak plain words with your ears but you have not believed they spoke truth unto you therefore you have reâ—ected the word of the Lord by his Prophets and have persecuted and slain some of them as false Prophets because they spake unto you in the Name of the Lord as it was revealed by the spirit of revelation in them They spake plain words unto you as might be heard to the outward ear by the standers by they were visible men that spake unto you so that you need not to enquire after any that hath a familiar spirit who speaketh so softly and so low that no standers by can hear this familiar spirit speak but he or she that hath it But as for plain words openly declared by the Prophets and publickly heard by the outward ear these you have rejected despised persecuted and counted them lyars deceivers false prophets and such like Therefore God hath given you over to strong delusions to enquire of a Witch who makes you believe that spirits may be raised out of the ground and that spirits do come out of the dust and whisper to the Witch with a low voice that none can hear but her self So those that enquire do believe as King Saul did that a familiar spirit can enter into the dust or ground and bring up another mans spirit that is dead without its body and so their two spirits whisper so low together that none can hear that stands by nor tell what this spirit that is raised did say nor whether the spirit so raised is gone into the body again or into the ground from whence the Witch said it was raised which spirit that is said to be raised or said to speak out of the ground I say it was raised out of the Witches own body and no where else and those low voices and whisperings were both within her and not without her CHAP. VII NOw how a man may be said to be brought down and shall speak out of the ground and their speech shall below out of the dust The meaning is when a particular man or woman or a people or nation be in the same distress and condition as King Saul was that is in danger of losing his Crown and Kingdom his natural life and not onely so but his Soul is tormented with the fear of eternal death this maketh the heart of man to melt in him it makes his speech to grow weak and feeble so that his speech can hardly be heard it is even as if a man did speak out of death or out of the ground A man with the extremity of outward and inward trouble he becomes speechless yet he speaks in his thoughts but so low that none that stands by can hear or tell what he saith This many can experience that have seen their friend or relation in this condition this is like speaking out of the ground and low out of the dust And the voice of every such troubled soul who hath the plagues of this life and the horrour of conscience as to the life to come as King Saul had the voice such people have is as one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground and their speech shall be as if one did whisper out of the dust This place of Scripture hath the same meaning as the place before mentioned Isai 8.19 where such as King Saul was are bade to seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and mutter that is that whisper out of the ground for whisper peep and mutter signifies all one thing These things did Manasseh 2 Kings 21.6 he dealt with familiar spirits and did great abominations he made his sons to pass thorough the fire in offering them up as a sacrifice to an unknown Devil which he thought was God and this he did by the whisperings of the familiar spirit within him and being acquainted with others who were known to have familiar spirits also And so did several other Kings of Israel deal with familiar spirits and had those low whispering voices in themselves as if spirits had risen out of the ground or from the dust to speak unto them and this they did attain unto by industry in that they forsook the words of the Prophets and would not hearken unto them but gave themselves up to follow the imaginations of their own hearts imagining they might as well know God and what worship would please God as well as the Prophets therefore why should we being Kings hearken to such mean inferiour men as these may not we by our familiar spirit as well know God and what worship will please him by our familiar spirit as the Prophets do by the spirit of prophecy why should we be in such bondage that we can do nothing but what they say the Lord commands us to do so the imagination saith Come we will not be tied up thus we will see what our familiar spirit begotten in us will do we will erect and build altars in several places and sâ—crifice bullocks and lambs to an unknown God and so by this means they procure in themselves low motional voices which whisper in themselves which becomes in them a familiar spirit is produced in themselves and there is a more increase of low motional voices which doth whisper in the mind moving them to a further degree of knowledge and endeavour after more voices so that to attain to this diabolical wisdom in a more high measure They are moved by this low voice within them to offer up their own children in sacrifices to their imaginary God which they believe is an invisible spirit without a body which reveals these things unto them and whispers
and speaks those voices unto them They count nothing too dear for this their imaginary God no not their own sons and daughters as Manasseh and others did that made their sons and daughters pass through the fire as a sacrifice to their imaginary God that had spake so many voices to them and had whispered to them But all these whisperings and low voices and peeping of spirits out of the ground as they thought I say they were all within them for when they came in any trouble their familiar spirit departs from them and will not comfort them any more let it be either in poor or rich nay Kings that have dealt with familiar spirits when they have been in trouble all their comfort hath been lost as the poorest Witch that is as may be seen by Manasseh and other Kings spoken of in Scripture Now observe when God doth bring upon a people nation or partitular person some great judgment and destruction let it be either outward or inward in the mind when it comes upon a people nation or particular person for their sins and wickedness they have committed in forsaking the Lords Prophets and dealing with Witches and familiar spirits as Sâ—ul forsook the Lord and went to a Witch and Manasseh and several other Kings of Israel who ought onely to have obeyed the Prophets of the Lord but they forsook him and enquired of Witches and Wizards and dealt with familiar spirits themselves and caused the people to worship the Devil whom they imagined to be God instead of the true God whom the Prophets would have had them to worship But when this punishment for sin is inflicted upon a people nation or particular person for dealing with familiar spirits and worshipping of devils when punishment comes it makes the heart or hearts to fail for the spirit is brought down by this judgment even to death and so goeth to the ground so that the very fear trouble and sorrow of heart shall speak as it were out of the dust or out of death for sin will speak out of the ground and the speech of death will below in them that have escaped the destruction which others did go through for there will be a resemblance in those that have escaped how their friends and relations are fallen to the ground or dust of the earth for their wickedness so that sorrow and grief will speak in the mind of those that have escaped with a low speech even as one doth who hath a familiar spirit Or as if their friends and relations the remembrance of their destruction being taken away in wrath for sin it speaks a small low voice of grief and sorrow in the heart of those that are alive even as one thâ—t hath a familiar spirit even a low motional voice of sorrow and grief and it cometh as it were out of the ground or out of the dust That is the very influence of grief and sorrow for their dead friends and people it causeth where grief is to hear as it were low voices and small speeches even out of the ground or out dust of the earth just as it was with Cain in another case the Lord said to Cain Thy brothers bloud crieth from the ground for vengeance and so the bloud of those that were slâ—â—n under the altar did from the ground cry for vengeance as in Rev. 6.10 it crieth for vengeance in the consciences of all bloudy persecutors So in like manner doth the death and destruction of a people who are destroyed for wicked idolatry as those were the Prophet Isaiah speaketh of they spake from the ground a low speech in the conscience of those that were concerned grief sorrow and fear of the same punishment and such like CHAP. VIII FOr where grief and sorrow is rooted and settled in the heart it speaketh with low motional voices in the mind that is the thought of fear in the mind both of temporal losses and the loss of eternal peace The fear moves to and fro in that mind as if it were a speech out of the ground for the thoughts of the heart are low voices which cannot be heard by any but themselves So is it with those that have a familiar spirit their voices and speech they hear from spirits without them as if spirits did speak to them out of the ground which speech they say they hear is nothing else but the thoughts that pass to and fro in their own minds a low motional voice in themselves as if spirits did speak to them with a low voice out of the ground or out of the dust For their faith is strong and above all those that come to enquire of a Witch they do all believe that spirits may be raised without bodies out of the ground as the Witch doth so they both do believe that the spirit come out of the ground that spake those low voices to the Witch and she tells it to the other that enquire of her and they believe her as King Saul did So they are wholly departed from the Lord and believe a lie to think that spirits can be raised out of the ground without bodies after men have been dead it is a thing God never did we never read in Scripture that God or his Prophets did ever raise any spirits out of the ground without bodies after they were dead but we read in Scripture that God and his Prophets have raised some from the dead with bodies as that of Lazarus being raised out of the ground by Christ and the Child that was raised from death by the Prophet Elijah and another Child raised from death to life by the Prophet Elisha and several others come forth out of the ground at the rising again of Christ from death as those Saints that did arise out of the graves and appeared to many that were alive these all did arise out of the graves with bodies after they were dead and Lazarus came forth out of the ground after he was dead but his spirit came not out of the ground without his body but body and soul came out of the ground together For it was always Gods practice to raise soul and body together and because the imagination of reason in those that have a familiar spirit cannot do so nor those that enquire of them therefore they do imagine that spirits may be raised out of the ground without bodies or assume a shape and appear like a body yet it shall be of no substance a shape that can neither be felt nor handled by the hand of man Now mind all those God doth raise out of the ground after they were deâ—d they may be handled and felt though they be spiritual bodies yet they may be felt and handled as Christ said to Thomas Feel me and handle mâ— after he was risen from the dead and Thomas laid his fingers in the print of the nails and on his side Yet Christ was at that time a spiritual body that was risen from the
for it was always quick and alive For the spirit quickening doth imply a sensible life is quickned out of an insensible life as a child in the womb before it is quick it feeleth no pain neither doth it stir in the womb and the midwife doth not care to destroy it to save the womans life because the child was not quick it was an insensible life no more capable of pain then there is in death or a dead lump of earth but when a child is quick in the womb it is capable of pain though it hath not strength to express it to us that are strong yet it is capable of pain because it is quickened into a sensible life that is a living soul a living spirit and so may be called a quickened spirit of life out of that which was dead yet by the appointment of God in his creation and the warmness of the womb there is a new life or spirit doth quicken in the womb in its season according to the appointment of God when he created all things and placed a law of generation in them So likewise the spirit or life of Christ was put to death in his own body of flesh as aforesaid and in its season he himself had appointed before namely three days and three nights this spirit of Christ so put to death it quickened again in the same flesh a new and glorious life which made that flesh that suffered glorious also And this is the true interpretation of Peters words and the faith of all true believers that the spirit life and soul of Christ did die and was put to death in the body of his own flesh that was crucified on the cross by the Jews and that the same spirit that was put to death it did quicken again out of death into a new and glorious life by his own power therefore called a quickening spirit So that here is no ground at all for that vain conceit in people who do believe that spirits may be raised without bodies or appear without bodies but altogether to the contrary And as for that saying of Peter By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing These words do seem to carry some shew as if the quickening spirit of Christ after he was risen from the dead or in the time he did lie in the grave as if his spirit in that interim of time went into some local place where spirits were in prison without bodies to preach unto them who had been disobedient in the days of Noah this is the vain conceit of most people from those words of Peter who saith By which he went and preached unto the spirits in prison as if the spirits of the disobedient people in the days of Noah had been in prison in some local place in the earth without bodies who had been departed in the days of Noah in the destruction of the world by water This the imagination of reason in man doth imagine that spirits may be shut up in prison without bodies and that the quickening spirit of Christ might preach unto them without a body But the true light and revelation of faith doth know to the contrary that no spirits can have any being at aâ—l without bodies neither of God Angels nor Man nor no other living creature who hath the breath of life in it But to give the interpretation of this Scripture that the Reader may understand it is thus the spirit of Christ that quickened from the dead to life again I say is the same spirit that preached to the spirits in prison in the days of Noah and the spirits of the disobedient world were in prison in their own bodies in the days of Noah as they were when Christ came upon earth for then he opened the prison to them that were bound by preaching glad tidings of freedom to those that were bound and liberty to those spirits that were in captivity Now as I said before this captivity is spiritual captivity and to be bound and in prison it is meant a spiritual imprisonment in the mind and not a natural imprisonment of the body And this I say the very same spirit of Christ that preached to the Jews when he was upon earth did preach to the old world in the days of Noah though in a twofold manner And as the spirits of men were in prison in their own ignorance blindness and darkness of understandings in that they were led captives and prisoners by their wicked and unnatural lusts in the days of Noah so were both Jews and Gentiles in the days of Christ when on earth their spirits were led captive and into the prison of unbelief and persecution of the Lord of Life in that their fathers persecuted the Lords Prophets and Messengers he did send so did these Jews persecute the Lord himself when he preached to their spirits that were in prison and led captives by their wicked murdering wills into the prison of unbelief for he did preach when on earth that whosoever did believe in him should be saved And as many as did truly believe in him their spirits were brought out of that captivity of unbelief and out of the prison of darkness in the mind into a glorious liberty and light of life eternal And thus did the preaching of Christs spirit deliver many spirits of men and women out of prison in the days when he was upon earth So likewise this quickening spirit of Christ it preached unto the spirits in prison in the days of Noah And why were their spirits in prison in the days of Noah Because they were disobedient And how may they be said to be disobedient Because they did not believe that good man Noah who was a preacher of righteousness And how did he preach righteousness unto that wicked people In that he prepared the Ark and being so many as a hundred years in building all that while God is said to wait for their repentance and that they might believe that God would destroy the world by water But instead of repentance and believing they hardened their hearts and mocked at Noah and the Ark so that while the Ark was preparing God waited for the peoples repentance and all that while that Noah was building he preached to the people that the world would be drowned And the spirit of Christ which is the spirit of God which was put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit by which he went and preached unto the spirits in prison in the days of Noah it was the same spirit that instructed Noah to build the Ark so that the building of the Ark by Noah he being a Preacher of righteousness in that he believed God and built it as the spirit of God had commanded and instructed him as God did Moses shewed him the pateâ—n of the tabernacle in the Mount And