Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	believe_v	faith_n	revelation_n	3,045	5	9.5466	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

in man for I 'le assure thee there is some this day in London and Country also that in my hearing hath said God is a devil and 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 feed 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

was the moderate wise and high read Consultations in the breasts of the Rulers given into a particular moderate wise high learned man much read in the Law and the Prophets to tempt and if possible to perswade Christ to yield to this his high and learned Position but you may read this man-devils mountain was too weak and too low for the high immortal God to rest or cast himself down upon for to that end he came not into this kingdom to be King but to fulfil his own determined will in destroying him that had the power of death even the devil yea that devil-man that would if possible have deceived God himself and so returns his positive Answer Get thee hence Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve that is thou oughtest to be ruled by me and not I by thee therefore depart my kingdom is not of this world but of that world which is everlasting immortal and to all eternity Upon which that man-devil leaveth him tormented for not prevailing and Christ refreshed by his Messenger from his glorious Kingdom above the stars Question If this be infallible what you have here written then may you ask me How comes it the Learned of this world could not as well as this Witness make known this hidden divine Secret seeing they give themselves wholly to finde out the true interpretation of the Scriptures Answ What ever the Learned of this world dream of finding out the invisible things of Eternity by searching into Scripture Records and comparing them together yet know this the Divine Majesty hath locked up all the principal Secrets of the Scriptures in his own spiritual breast that he by an immediate inspiration may dispose of them into the spirits of elect men and angels most advantagious for his own glory and their consolation therefore minde what you read and seriously observe that the Scriptures runs not in the line of Reason but in the line of Faith Inspiration or Revelation according to those sayings in the Hebrews and other Records By Faith the divine Work of Creation and wonderful Mystery of Redemption was and is known with the immortal eternal Glory and everlasting shame of mens persons in the end of the world but of the contrary you shall never read in any place of Scripture that any man in the least knew the things of eternal Glory by any kinde of rational comprehension wharsoever I confess the natural Reason of man is a very good handmaid if it be well qualified with the spiritual dame of divine Faith for illustrating of the things of God unto weak comprehensions but as for truly understanding the invisible things of God by the highest reason that ever was in man or angel it is utterly impossible as beforesaid and that because though the spirit of reason were never so pure yet you may know reasons nature is but a desire after the knowledge of the divine nature of that Spirit from whence reason had its living being but of the contrary spiritual Truth or Faith is of the divine nature of God himself and therefore in what soul soever that Heavenly Seed is sown it springeth up in that spirit all variety of divine knowledge with glorious raptures in reference unto life eternal by vertue of an intercourse with the eternal Spirit from whence it came Moreover I confess a man that is indued with a Solomon-like gift of natural reason may be able to comprehend all words whether they are spoken in a good form sense or language or no yea and such a man may be mighty in disputes about the glorious things of Eternity but as for thy real understanding whether there were or be any such eternal things or no thou hast no certain knowledge of that at all but thy bare thoughts onely which if equally weighed in that balance it may be true or it may be false and all this is for want of an infallibility of Truth it self therefore though the divine things of the eternal Majesty be nothing else but spiritual purity of an infallible truth in themselves yet unto that rational wise man they are nothing but non-sensical blasphemy or lying tales till his reason is confounded in him by a true and heavenly Faith Now thou that hast perused this Epistle if thou understandest what thou readest mayest behold how infallibly I have proved both by Reason Faith and Scripture that there is no other devil but what is in man and woman also how this devil came to be a devil so that if thou wilt not because thou canst not believe much good may that imaginary devil do thee yet by the way let me tell thee one word which is irrevocable that thou canst not now really nor at thy resurrection shalt finde or in thy self feel any other devil but thy soul onely which if it were possible for thee then to utter thy self thou wouldest tell me what now I write to thee was the naked truth but then even then I shall be far enough from thee in that I shall be with the Lord above the Stars this thou shalt finde and this I shall be as sure as God is God for believe me whether thou wilt or no I do not write now as formerly I have done viz. hab nab as a man onely indued with reason but take notice I write from that revealed Seed-spring within me Now to the seed of Cain his Education CAP. II. The Seed of Cain his Education or bringing up undeniably proved against any of his tribe that shall oppose it AS touching this I shall not need to spend much ink or paper and that because not onely Scripture but likewise experience doth confirm that there is none of the Seed of Faith so honorably educated as the rich sort of the seed of Cain for indeed to whom doth the wisdom and government of this world belong to but to them and therefore nothing that in the bounds of reason can be attained unto but his seed enjoys it nay they are so exactly educated in the affairs of this world that by their reason they are able to comprehend all words whether they are spoken in a Philosophical form sense or language nay many of them are not onely mighty in disputes as touching the Government of this their kingdom but they are also able in dispute about the glorious things of Eternity though they understand not the matter disputed of in the least for as Paul saith 1 Cor 2. 14. Neither can they know them because they are spiritually discerned for their education in the greatest knowledge is but natural and therein they are able to dictate unto the unlearned of their seed laws and rules to preserve this their kingdom in peace among themselves for you must understand what wisdom Learning can teach them shall not be wanting and the wisdom they attain unto is not that spiritual or divine Wisdom for this onely belongs to the Seed of Faith As