by the man how the Devil got into him nor how this Devil or Devils went out of him and got into the Herd of Swine nor what become of those Devils in the Sea whether drowned in the Sea or no but however so as I have said before so I say again that there is no Devil without a body that can torment another neither can that Devil if he were not generated in man either come in or go out of man but he must be seen otherwise he is no Devil at all as for instance the distemper of man cannot be cast out but it may be seen and felt in the foul and stinking body that poysoned and distempered the minde of man And how dost thou know that the Soul of man leaveth or goeth out of the body at the hour of death CHAP. 9. Shewing what the Soul is and what it is that dieth how that the Soul which is the life of the body can dye and nothing else but life that dieth Reason VVHY I believe the Soul cannot dye because I conceive it a thing impossible the Soul being an Eternal Spirit cannot be capable of death and besides Solomon saith Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it So that it is my believe the Soul cannot dye Faith Though this Principle be fully cleared in the Prophets Book called joyful news from Heaven yet I shall reveal the truth of it upon another account that the Soul is mortal so capable to dye otherwise it could not live Eternal for as nothing but life can dye and that life being dead shall be made capable to live a life Eternal Reason Before thou proceed any further let me but hear how that nothing but life can dye which it is conceived by all knowing men that life which thou callest the Soul is immortal and cannot dye Now that natural life that runs in the blood may dye and therefore it is confessed when a man is murthered or hanged his breath is stifled and so the natural mortal dies yet all this while as Salomon saith The Soul goeth to God that gave it Faith Having in our former writings made it appear that Solomon was the highest pitch of Reason that ever was so what he spake was onely knowledge in nature and not by the Revelation of Faith therefore no Scripture For Reason imagineth things that are not and things that cannot be understood by any sober man much less by a man in Revelation as to think that an immortal Soul or Spirit should be limited to a mortal body which is as possible as light and darkness to dwell together as an immortal Soul to live in a mortal body therefore I say that the Soul and body of man are one distinct living and dying essence for the Soul or Spirit in the womb by degrees congeals together into a rational fire of blood and water and so in due time become a compleat body of flesh blood and bone so that the life that is in man is not Divine but natural onely Reason This is strange that the Soul or Spirit of a child should conceive in the womb that being a breath or gift of God and not generated in or by the seed for I read that God breathed into Adam and he became a living Soul so his Soul was not immortal but mortal and so is all man-kind Faith However it is strange to thee yet I know it is a real truth to me that the Word by which God first created life in man that Word or Breath was immortal which by his fall became mortal as at large is cleared in the seventh Chapter and this know God never created but male and female and gave life but once and since every life in its kinde hath generated bearing seed in its self so that from my Revelation I say that the rational Soul or Spirit of man lyes secretely hid in his seed like unto a spark of fire which spark doth quicken it self into a living form like unto his nature and so having cloathed it self with flesh his Soul or Spirit runs invisibly through the whole body and so is one entire substance being both conceived into life in the womb togegether and both living together upon the earth their appointed time and being both polluted together with sin is it not requisite that they should dye together and turn to the dâ—st and nâ—n-being again until the general bodily Resurrection of all man-kind Reason I know no other but that every man hath in him a good Spirit and a bad spirit as it is written The spirit lusteth Gal. 5. 17. after the flesh and the flesh agaâ—nst the Spirit and these are contrary So that by the learned it is believed that there is a natural life and an Eternal life in one man otherwise the body and Soul are both one which in Scripture I never read that these were both one bâ—t two one fleshly and the other spiritual Faith Didst thou know the truth of what thou hast said then wouldst thou know as followeth that every man in his fallen spirit hath remaining a little light or motion in him to justifie all the righteous proceedings of the Creator in his Conscience at the last day yet mind what I say he hath but one Soul or Spirit in him for that which the Apostle calls spirit in this place was a Divine light of life received unto the dark understanding by vertue of a word speaking from the eternal Spirit of the Lord of glory and not the essence of the holy Spirit for I know that those who do expect a glory to come in the invisible Heavens do confess that the spirit of the Divine Majesty is inâ—â—nite unchangeable immortal eternal therefore how thinkest thou it possible for men or Angels to be capable of the indwelling of the 〈…〉 nce of his Eternal Spirit and that which the Apostle calls flesh was mans own Spirit which consists of nothing but confused lying imagination or cursed carnal reasoning against the Heavenly light aforesaid Now that I may answer the last clause of thy demand that the Soul and body is one it is written All the Souls that came with Jacob into Egypt which came Gen. 46. out of his loins were threescore and six â—ouls again it is written Thy Fathers went dowâ— into Egypt with seventy persons Deut. 10. So that it is plain man is sometimes called Soul and sometimes is called a body or person or Soul Body and Spirit and yet man is but one living essence or substance However the learned of thy seed pretend they know much of this when indeed they know the least of all as to separate a mortal soul from a mortal body or to unite an immortal Soul to a mortal body which is as possible to make light and darkness God and Devil one Reason This is strange that none but thou shouldst know or dâ—scerâ— the Soul immortal when
are born of women there hath not risen a greater then John the Baptist and yet thou and thy â—eachers will not believe unless present vengeance fall upon thee But know this though the Pharisees desired a sign from Christ and Mat. 12. 38. none would be given them but the sign of the Prophet Jonas yet know this he was Christ the Eternal God for all that and though Christ rebuked James and John in the saying Luke 9. â—4 Lord wilt thou that we command fire from Heaven and consume them even as Elias did yet they were not for the future freed from the Eternal fire in their souls So let me tell thee and yet not I but the Revelation of the Holy Spirit within me though not presently yet it shall flame within thee as fire from Heaven and that without end till it consume all thy hopes of salvation and thou shalt know and finde that this sentence of thine shall shut the Heavens and it shall rain no more showers of mercy or comfort in thy soul so that I say though thou finde it not presently thou shalt as surely feel it after death as Christ is God the Eternal Father And what if miracles did belong to our Commission as they do not in that ours is the Commission of the Spirit so our sentence spiritual thou wouldst no more believe then thou dost now but rather call us Conjureâ—s unless the tenor of our Commission was as the two former to execute present vengeance and if it were executed once or twice and not upon every occasion thou wouldst be as much seared up in unbelief as thou art now Reason If thy Commission were as real truth as Moses and the Apostles and such a power did attend thine as was in theirs then I should as truly believe in yours as now I do in them Faith Ah blinde Soul thou dost not know what is truth and what not for if thou didst thou wouldst as really believe in me as in them But from my Seedspring I tell thee That thou nor none of thy Seed do really believe that the Scripture is a true Record of the Transactions of Christ thou mayest talk of it and preach from it but if thou wert really perswaded in thy own soul of the truth therein contained then thou wouldst believe in us for the Apostles writ of us as Moses and the Prophets writ of Christ to come and therefore if thou didst believe in them that have nothing but a dead letter to prove them Commissioners surely then thou wouldst believe in us that are living and know this if the Roman Authority had not established Moses and the Apostles Writings for Scripture then it had been believed no more then ours for thy Fathers in the days of their lives notwithstanding their miracles did no more believe in them then thou dost in us and know this the same power that attended them upon externals doth belong to our Commission in spirituals and therefore as the Apostle had power in his Commission to curse either Angel or man that did preach any other Doctrine so we have the same power in ours Reason What then doth not their Commission belong to us in these days successively as it did to them what then is the meaning of those Scriptures where it is writ The Scriptures aforetime are written for our learning and again it is writ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded Mat. 28. 20. you and loe I am with you always unto the end of the world Faith From the Lord of Glory I tell thee That neither of those Commissions do belong to thee or any of thy Seed either by succession or otherwise for from my Seed of Faith I declare That the Scripture was never written for the learning of any of thy Seed though none living now present do make it a more Idol for their own gain then thy Seed doth Though I have sufficiently proved this point in the Quakers Downfal yet from my well-spring within me I tell thee That as the Scripture was written by the revelation or inspiration of Faith so I know it was writ for the use of none but the Believers of that Faith which neither thou nor none of thy Seed are partakers of For as Paul the great Commissioner was the Penman of those sayings so that Scripture that he spake of was the writings of the first Commission viz. Moses and the Prophets which were written before his time and so for the learning of him and all that believed in his Doctrine for our learning that are of the Seed of Faith and for none of the Seed of Reason whatsoever but for our learning The word Plural includes all the Seed of Faith with him were the Scriptures written so the Commissions of Moses and the Apostles were not written for the use of any of the seven Churches but our Commission alone for as none understood the Commission of Moses and the Prophets but the Apostles so none now living understand either of the two former Commissions but this our spiritual Commission now in being and therefore from my Seedspring I tell thee We onely are the Judges of the Scripture whatsoever Reason thy cursed Seed pretend to the contrary as now thou shalt hear an infallible Exposition of the other Scripture which thou hast quoted which all besides our Commission gives a false definition thereof Go ye therefore and teach all Mâ—t 23. â—0 Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you always even unto the end of the world Now from hence all the seven Churches of thy Seed viz. Papist Episcopal Presbyterian Independent Baptist Ranter and Quaker do suppose that the extent of these words are in force to the end of this world and therefore the Baptists have assumed the Apostles Commission as their own when as if ye were not stone blinde you may read as ye run that this Commission was given to the twelve then living and not to Kiffin and Patience or any other Teacher of the Baptists whatsoever for ye were not born many hundred years after when this command was expressed And loe I am with you always even unto the end of the world with you my beloved Disciples and none other Reason I cannot conceive from this Scripture but there was to be a continuance of the Apostles Commission to the end of this World and though there was none of the Commissioners left to give or invest the same power by imposition of hands yet we having the same Spirit of God in us although not in the same measure yet may we not lawfully follow them as our patern and as the Apostle exhorts Brethren be followers Phil. 3. 17. together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample othervvise vvhat should all the World have done to have knovvn God or
was surrendred into the Person of Christ alone so that after that all the gifts or influence of the Holy Ghost came from Christ as it is written when Christ was ascended to glory then he fills the Apostles full of the Holâ— Ghost which then appeared in the form of a Cloven Tongue and not in the form of a Dove So that it is clear though the Holy Ghost be one intire Divine invisible life in Christ yet take notice the gifts thereof are divers so that the gifts of the Holy Ghost hah various forms though the Holy â—host hath no form but man and that Christ alonâ— And therefore minde the gross darkness of all thy Seed in their Creeds as though the Holy â—host had a Person of its own so the Lord and giver of life when it is written in divers places That Christ is the way the truth and the life I am that bread of life he that believeth on me hath everlasting John 4. life and in his saying to the woman of Samaria But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life So that the Holy Ghost must needs be in Christ in that Christ is the giver of life and yet such blinde reason as thee will have the Holy Ghost in a Person distinct from Christ the Lord and giver of life when to thy shame thou heareâ—t that Christ alone John 11. 25. is the Resurrection and the Life insomuch that he that believeth in Christ though he were dead yet shall he live So thus much in confutation to the authors and believers of of those Creeds Yea from the Revelation of my Faith I infallibly against Angels and all thy Seed of Reason conclude â—hat so many of them so living and so dying in the belief thereof shall with thee perish eternally Yea in the Vertue of our Commission I say there is no God that can or will deliver thee or them to all Eternity A DIVINE PROSPECT FOr the Elect of the Lord that after our departure shall come to the belief of this our last Commission though ye knew us not in our life time yet you have the Revelation of faith left upon record by which you will be supported in believing John Reeve and Lodowick Mugglton the last Commissioners that ever shall appear in Reasons Kingdom as also that I am the onely Bishop or Messenger in Revelation bearing witness against all Gain sayers to the truth of this Spiritual Commission now in being and so to remain till time be no more on this side of death then and at which day it shall be made manifest that we and onely we were the last Messengers of Jesus Christ who at the day of Resurrection shall ascend to glory in the publique view of our Enemies as also all other believers who credited our report not weighing their lives unto death Which when we and all that knew us are in silent dust then I say our Revelation will be in great esteem bâ— the next generation of faith succeeding And therefore that there may be no division among you from the Lord of Glory I reminde you of these enâ—uing Propositions they being a breviate of all the chief heads that my Revelation hath reduced from the Commission 1. You are to believe There was to be three Commissions before the end of this world thus recorded The Spirit Water and Blood and these are the three that beareth witness upon earth 1 John 5. 8. 2. It is to be believed That a Commission is given forth by laudible voyce of words to the hearing of the ear from the mouth of the Lord Jesus in the highest Heavens 3. It is to be believed That who ever pretends a Commission not being one of these are real whimsies notions yea lies and no truth 4. It is to be believed That though a Commission consist of few words without encrease yet their Revelations are various and encreaseth daily 5. It is to be observed That the two last Commissions are not to offend or defend in point of Externals but either active or passive to yield due obedience to King Governor or any other Magistrate whatsoever 6. It is to be believed That no Commission ought to be obedient to any formal Dispensation but in their time or place hath power to curse either Angel or man that in opposition thereof shall hold forth other Doctrine 7. It is to be believed That neither of the two former Commissions was to understand what God in his Form and Nature was in the Creation as this our Commission doth 8. It is to be believed That our Commission alone doth understand how this God and Father after intelligence given to Mary by the Angel descended from heaven as swift as thought into the womb of Mary and there dissolved his immortal body into seed and from thence quickned himself into a mortal body of flesh blood and bone so called a Son 9. It is to be believed That the Eternal Father now become a Son had the Supreme power within him that quickned his Godhead being perfectly dead in the grave to life again without the help of either Father God or Spirit without him whatsoever 10. It is to be believed That the Prophet Elias in his transmutation that nature of faith in him became a chariot of fire so struck out the gross Elements viz. Water Earth and Aire and in that fiery faith of his own ascended to glory to represent the Person of God while he took his journey in the flesh 11. Also it is to be believed That our Commission alone in the Revelation thereof hath the true knowledge of these things as also what the form and nature of the Angels are of what they were created and wherefore created and what was the cause of the Angelical fall above the rest and why and wherefore he was cast into this world in the presence of Adam and Eve 12. It is to be believed that never any but our Commission knew that it was that said Angel that in his whole form entred the womb of Eve and there dissolved into Seed and conceived into flesh blood and bone by which Eve was deceived so called a Beast Serpent Tree of Knowledge of good and evil that so none of that Seed might understand what it was and how it was Eve was deceived 13. It is to be understood That none but our Commission knows that this dissolution of the Angel in the womb of Eve became Cain the first Devil and Father of all the damned 14. It is to be believed That there never was is or shall be any other Devil but men and women and that for the most part he is the comeliest of all other of that form 15. It is to be believed That none but our Commission knows that the souls of both Faith and Reason are mortal ever since the fall of Adam and shall dye and rot in the grave till the day of Resurrection and that
though dead five thousand three hundred years ago yet at the day of our glorious Gods appearance each seed or soul shall arise with bodies suitable to their natures that soul or seed of faith that believed in our Commission shall ascend to meet its Saviour in the ayre and that soul or seed of Reason that despised our Commission shall arise a spiritual body upon this earth tormented to all Eternity 16. It is to be believed That the Kingdom of glory where Christ the onely God his Elect Saints and Angel doth and shall inhabit to all eternity is non-globical where God and his mighty Angels can at their pleasure with their bodies fly as swift as thought ten thousand miles in a moment and when he pleaseth God can stand sit lie in as narrow a compass as my self for none but our Revelation knows that there is an immortal Earth Sea Fish Fouls Beasts Hearbs Trees yea all things immortal glorious there as they are mortal deformed here and all this for the contemplation of God his Elect Saints and Angels to whom let all ye that have or shall have belief in our Commission so living and so dying in the truth of our Revelation sing praise glory and honour that ye shall see and enjoy what now ye do believe as touching our Commission 17. It is to be believed that certain men and women have and will seeingly come to the belief of our Commission insomuch that they have rejoyced in it contended for it yea have said they desired to depart this life in the belief of it and yet being according to birth the seed of Reason and not the seed of Faith in time of persecution riches glory and honour of this world fell away to their eternal perdition as I could name some but wo wo for as sure as Christ is God they shall never see that glorious Kingdom aforesaid 18. And lastly it is seriously by you to be observed That by believing the truth of what I write you will finde great satisfaction when I am taken from you that as this is the last Commission so the the the truth yea the onely truth that shall remain to the end of this bloody unbelieving world to reminde you of this one thing that it is not to be expected many to come to believe a Commission as to a notional dispensation for in the two former Commissions they cryed out Two of a Tribe one of a City so few in their Commissions that the Prophet Elâ—jah said I even I onely am left and they seek my life to take it aâ—ay and then saith Isaiah Who hath belâ—eved â—ur report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed So few that in the time of Christ at his sayings they were so hard to be understood that there fell away 70 at one time nay none stuck to him but the Apostles and a few more And then in the second Commission there was so few that really believed that sometimes Paul had but two or three stood by him in the faith And now in this our last they are so few that they are not worth the numbering among the multitude of notional Churches and therefore forget not that saying of Christ Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that finde it But herein comfort your selves that those few of you that really enters in shall feel yea see and behold your God face to face yea sing out triumphing voyces of joy with eternal harmonies of divine musick for ever yea for ever in that glorious Kingdom aforesaid prepared for Christ your God and you his Elect Saints with the Elected Angels world without end so that ye shall sit stand lie walk go flie at your pleasure having nothing to say but glory here is the height of glory in the presence of our Saviour yea an endless glory without end These twenty particulars underneath asserted in the Quakers Downfal by Scripture proved and in that Revelation infallibly confirmed that Law Claxton the onely Bishop and true Messenger of our last Commission doth in the death of his soul seal them a real truth in confutation to the Quakers blinde Reasons imagination which are as followeth 1. That faith shall dye in the heel and reason in the head 2. That the Angel did descend into the womb of Eve 3. That a spirit cannot live without a body p 28. 4. That we and our God are cursed to all eternity p. 28. 5. That Christ or God is above the Stars with a body of flesh and bones 6. That God that Christ said was a spirit the meaning of his Revelation was that his invisible soul was that God or spirit abiding onely in his person p. â—9 7. Thaâ—â—eason is the seed of the Serpent 8. That by faith reason shall be kept in eternal death 9. That God gave Faith â—easâ—n and Sense but onâ—e 10. And that Faith Reason and Sense have in all generated in its kinde form and nature as in p 40. 11 That the Devâ—ls Kingdom and Reasons Kingdom are one 12. That God doth damn as well as save and that not for any evil thing done as he hath asserted in p. 58. 13. That we acknowledge no other God but what was within us 14. And that we conceive this God was an infinite nothing and so made all things of nothing 15. That the light in us is darkness 16. That an Infinite Spirit without a body is nothing 17. That we say God hath no form 18. That all the time Paul was cloathed with a corrupt persecuting spirit he was a vessel of honour in the account of God 19. That God is all Faith and no Reason and that Reason is of the Nature of the Devil p. 31. 20. That it was the wisdom of the flesh that made a chief Magistrate as in p. 36. In the next place I return as the Majestie of Christ the onely God in condemnation of your Diabolical perjâ—red lies against the holy Spirit of the nature of the most high God now revealed in us his last powerful infallible Prophets and Messengers of his eternal Majestie in the highest Heavens brought upon record in our Revelation as in your Reasons libel verbatim are asserted by that son of perdition J. Harwood 1. L. C. said He would prove God to be a man flesh and bones as we are Now ye the Believers of our Commission take notice that of which of these twelve particulars before quoted you by my pen finde silence we own as eternal truth but the rest that I set my pen against was not our words but Reason the Devil-lying imagination by those aforesaid Quakers as do but observe and thou mayest discern how I binde them hand and foot from their supposed light yet real darkness as seriously minde the first forged lie 3. L. C. said He had nothing of God in him and many other places nought of God in him Answ That you the blessed of the Lord may know
occasion is offered and as we are moved in our hearts so we ought to pray To that end the Scripture holds forth a thousand examples of which I shall but instance one or two viz. Call upon me in Psa 50. 15 the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and Jam. 5. 17 he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six moneths Faith Ah blinde soul What a hodge podge thou makest of Scripture as to think that the sayings of David and the prophesie of Elâ—as and the Apostles belongs to thee when I know thee the son of Bâ—lial the Seed of the Serpent and they the true Prophets and Messengers of the Lord so had a command for what they did do but thou hast no command to declare the Statutes of the Lord or take his Covenant in thy mouth for all thy prayers are abomination and such as thee God will not hear and yet you cry that you are sent of the Lord and thus and thus saith the Lord when ye know not the Lord in his form and nature and yet you would have his Kingdom come when you neither know the nature of it nor where it is supposing his Kingdom is in this World and yet he saith My Kingdom is not of this World then you pray that his will may be done on earth as it is in heaven and yet what in you lieth you pray that his will may not be done for the will of God is that all the Seed of Reason shall be damned and none but the Seed of Faith saved and yet you pray that all may be saved when it is written He will Rom. 8. 13. have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he will damn So that you pray you know not for what and then you desire God to forgive you your trespasses as you do forgive them that trespass against you Oh friend were God as thou sayest and that he should hear thee then this I tell thee instead of forgiving thee he must of necessitie consume the best of you in a moment As do but observe the transactions of thy Seed in these daies you pray fast and weep that God would forgive you as you forgive another well according to your prayer so it shall be for instead of forgiving you backbite persecute imprison and put to death even so shall ye be dealt withal nay you are of such a cursed Seed that you will not shew mercie to them that have shewn mercie to you you will not give them libertie that when others had the day over you they gave you your libertie I speak this to the shame of thee and all thy Seed and then you pray and cheat you pray and tyrannize you pray with your tongues and murther with your hands and yet such Hypocrites as thy Seed are most professors and supposed most believers and most pretended Saints and most of you hopes to be saved and yet as I have said ye are all of the Seed of the damned and have no knowledge of the true God at all So that from my Seed-spring I speak it There is neither thou nor the wisest Gifted head-piece of thy Seed that can experimentallie say that God ever heard any of your prayers Isa 1. 15. recollect your thoughts either in publique or private that ever God gave thee an answer to any petition thou requested of him It may be thou hast found in thy soul more satisfaction one time then another insomuch that thou hast wept for joy but deal plainly didst thou ever hear God verbally speak with thee as he did to the two former Commissions and now in this our last sure I am thou never didst and therefore minde what I say all whisperings or inward movings of the Spirit as thou callest it are nothing else but Reasons imagination that God hears thee and answers thee for alas poor soul though I know it is the Seed of Faith at certain times springing up ravishing joys in believing the true God not within me but without me yet this I know God hears me not and sure I am if God ever heard any he would hear me but when I consider how vainly you are acted forth to make use of an Inâ—â—nite nothing to do all things for you it discovers what you are even blinde leaders of the blinde just as a horse in a mill goes round even so do ye bearing the aire as though ye had done something when indeed ye have done nothing at all as at the hour of death doth manifest What praying and crying out Lord save me when in your health ye pretended assurance of salvation and now at the point of death ye know not what shall become of your souls so that in truth I speak it you are ever praying and yet have never perfect assurance of what you pray for as it is written ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth Now though I never pray yet my faith being in continual prayer I have nothing to do at death but yield up my Soul to the power thereof for a moment knowing that when he appears I shall appear with him in endless Glory without the least let or doubt whatsoever at which time thou being in doubts and fears calls upon a God that is no God neither hast thou faith in what thou sayest but a meer tradition that moves thee when thou neither knowest what thou sayest nor to whom thou speakest but at the very time of prayer thy heart is either plotting mischief or coveting the riches honour and glory of this world and so contents thy self with vain lip-labour as it is written These people honour Isa 29. 13. me with their lips but their hearts is far from me CHAP. 16. Shewing whether there be any truth in the Faith of the Church of England expressed in the Creeds or Articles recorded Reason WHat dost thou conceive or what is thy thoughts concerning the Faith of the Church of England expressed in their Creeds but especially that of Athenasius Faith I shall in brief tell thee That they are a rapsido of non-sense yea that which thy Seed calls blasphemy as shall in these ensuing words appear And that I may not be over tedious I shall reduce them into three heads verbatim as they lie provided thou wilt from the first of them shew what is thy faith in them Reason My Faith is this That we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance for there is one Person of the Father another of the Son another of the Holy Ghost yet the Godhead of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one the glory equal the majestie co-eternal such as the Father is such is the Son and such
and ways of the Lord are past finding out then thou wouldst forbear reasoning against the Creators prerogative power and yield thy self to be damned at his pleasure CHAP. 8. Shewing whether Cain was not the first devil and who are his seed or children and what devils those were that are so frequently spoken of in Scripture Reason WHat then dost thou say that Cain was the first devil and was there no evil spirit before Cain and if so prove that Cain is called a devil Faith From the divine spirit of the Lord of glory I affirm as before is proved that the angels were the first sensible living formes that ever were created and that reprobate angel as I have said dissolved into seed in the womb of Eve and there conceived into flesh blood and bone her first-born Cain yea the first devil and father of the damned so that against thee and all thy seed I say there was no other devil before Cain and that thou mayest know Cain is called a devil read these Scriptures Not as Cain which was of that wicked one and slew his brother Again it is written He that soweth the good seed is the son of man and the field is the world and the good seed are the children of the kingdom and the tares are the children of the wicked one and the enemy that soweth them is the devil Again Ye are of your father the devil John â— 44 and the lusts of your father ye will do he hath been a murtherer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there was no truth in him when he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father thereof Now then what sayest thou was not Cain the first murthering lying man that ever was born of a woman Reason I have read in Scripture that there are evil angels or devils living in the Ayr and a devil amongst them called Beelzebub the prince of devils now I judge the devil is of such an invisible spirit that he is here there and every where and so can infuse evil thoughts into man and man cannot see the devils that tempts him Faith If this be as thou sayest what need any man trouble himself with the least fear of eternal death whatsoever wickedness is committed by him For I say if any man be tempted to evil by any devil but what is in his own nature onely that devil or evil spirit is to be eternally damned and the man to be set free and if sin issued not from mans uncleane reason or lyng imagination within him how is it possible that any man should be so tormented as thy seed are with inward burnings through a secret fear of eternal sufferings rising in them from the guilt of former evils committed against the light of conscience Now if it were possible for thee to know that the subtility of the prince of the ayr that rules in the hearts of children of disobedience was thy own imaginary reason or evil spirit that is the prince of all airy disputes concerning God devil angels heaven hell eternal glory or shame to come then thou wouldest see the truth of what I speak Reason What then dost thou say there never was is nor shall be no other devil but men and women and if so from whence comes that devilish nature in man and whether all have not the devilish nature in them and if so how shall any man escape damnation Faith As unto this thy Question I answer as aforesaid There never was no devil till the angel became a man-child of flesh blood and bone and that evil nature ever since hath generated in all the sons and daughters of Adam since his fall both reason and faith lay hid in that seed that conceived in the womb So that I say as Adam and Eve the womb of all living had both reason and faith in them so of necessity it must follow that all that are begotten or generated by them must needs partake of both natures so that I affirm that all the righteous as the wicked have the devils nature in them and yet the seed of the woman shall escape damnation Reason What then dost thou say that the devils have faith in them and yet shall be damned and the true believers have reason in them and yet shall be saved Now there being both seeds in one as the other how comes it that all are not either damned or saved certainly faith being as thou sayest of the nature of God then that faith in the devils must return to God again Faith I say Gain the father of all devils had faith in him as all his children have at this day as it is written touching the four seeds speaking of them that hath the seed sown on a Luke 8 13 rock when they hear they receive the word with joy and these having no root which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away And it is written the devils believe and tremble Jam. 2 19 so that if thou were not stone-blind thou mightest see that there is no other devil but men and women and that faith in them doth cause many secret feares of damnation and yet that faith in them shall never return to God nor they themselves saved for this I know that faith that is in the seed of the serpent shall die with them and rise with them for the devils shall rise all reason and no faith or shall not be capable to ascend to glory when on the contrary the blessed of the Lord all their Faith in their life time out-topped reason by which he came to the knowledge of God so that at his death his reason shall dye with him insomuch that at the Resurrection he shall rise all Faith and no Reason so shall be able to ascend to glory Reason What then shall become of natural fools and children that understand neither Faith nor Reason shall they all be damned if they be of the Serpents seed Faith From an unerring Spirit I speak it there is neither child nor fool that dies uncapable of the breach of the Law that shall be damned so that herein the Justice and Mercy of God appears that as he will damn whom he will so he will damn none unjustly therefore I say let them be children or fools though the seed of the Serpent yet they shall be raised to the glory their father had before his fall viz. the estate of the Angels Reason If there be no other Devil but Cain and his generation of men and women What Devils were then those from these Maâ— 4. 1. Scriptures where it is written Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil which Devil taketh him up into the holy City c. again it is Mark 5. 2. written Satan entered into Judas c. and it is written Out of Mary Magdelen Christ cast out seven Devils with many hundred
examples more onely one more I shall quote which is more remarkable then those before and then let me heat thy answer and that is touching the man that lived in the land of the Gadarenes which man had Devils Luk. 8. 27 a long time and wore no cloaths neither abode in any house but in the tombes and no man could bind him no not with chains Mark 5. 4. neither could any man tame him and alwayes night and day he was in the mâ—untains and in the tombes crying and cutting himself with stones and all the Devils in him besought Christ that they might go into the Herd of Swine which they had no sooner entered but the man was well in his right minde and the whole Herd of Swine ran violently down a sâ—eep place into the Sea Now if thou canst make it apparent that these were no Devils besides Cain and his Seed then I shall with thee believe that there is no other Devil but man and woman Faith From Christ the onely Lord of Glory in the Revelation of his Eternal Spirit I affirm that those Devils so tituled from the first of Matthew to the last of the Revelation were onely the Seed of Reason and the violent distempers of the imagination thereof as first mind that the Devil that tempted Christ was one of the ablest Disputants whether a Pharisee or Sadducee I cannot by Faith finde yet by permissions I judge him rather a Sadducee they being the wisest and subtilest Devil of the two I say the Pharisees and Sadducees commissionate this man which by experience they found were best versed in Scripture to see if he could tempt the Lord Jesus to Baptize them with the holy Ghost and fire so that I say this Devil was a man of the same seed of those where it is written Ye shall not tempt the Lord Deut. 6. 6. your God as ye tempted him in Massah again it is written When your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my Heb. 3. 9. works 40 years as at large thou may read in a Book of mine entituled Look about you for the Devil that you fear is in you so that I say these tempters of the Lord were the people of Israel men and women and no other form or Spirit whatsoever and again it is written That Jam. 1. 14. man is tempted when he â—s drawn away of his own lusts and enticed so that I affirm there is no other Devil but thy lustful Soul within thee that doth tempt thee to commit any wickedness acted by thee so that I say the meaning of that Satan entered Judas was onely this being by Christ Jesus discovered that he was the man that should betray him then forthwith nature in him entered into a resolution to betray the Lord of Life being then sealed up to a reprobate minde went out to his Brethren the Pharasaical Devils and sold him for thirty pieces so that I say there was no other Devil entered him but what was in him no more then would enter thee if thou wert now damned by me onely a spirit of tormenting envy would as it did in Judas so flame and burn that if possible thou wouldst destroy me as Judas did Christ Reason Notwithstanding what thou hast said as touching a Devil tempting or entering seems to have some colour of truth in it But then what wilt thou say of those Devils that were cast out of Mary and many others but especially of those legion that was cast out into the Herd of Swine For it is expressed when the Devils were cast out of the man they went into the Herd of Swine so that surely this was something more than Reason otherwise if Reason be the Devil and Reason cast out then the man had not been cloathed in his right minde but been altogether unreasonable Faith Let me speak never so plainly thou canst not understand me yet however this I shall tell thee that those Devils which by the powerful Word of Christ Jesus were cast out of Mary Magdalen or out of that man or any other creature spoke of in holy writ were onely all manner of filthy diseases or violent fiery distempers that hurried that man about such desperate wickedness oftentimes encreasing so powerfully that it did not onely occasion to rend his own body and break Iron chains but also ready to tear any one in pieces as many of thy seed at this day are possessed with Devils by such as thou are believed to be Devils and therefore it is that learned of thy seed have attempted by Conjuring Physical Medicaments to chain up that distemper or cast out by Vomit or Purgation and such like deceitful means which if thou wert not stone blind mightest see that these supposed Devils yet real distempers were no other but such as thou calls Lunatick frenzy Madness Convulsions or falling-sickness such like proceeding from melancholy is Colerick corrupt humors of the blood that by these Devilish distempers many of thy seed are chained up Prisoners in Bedlum all the dayes of their life which if they could be cast out by Faith being Lord over those Colerick and Melancholy distempers of the minde then they vvould by the Divine knovvledge of the true God be cloathed in their right mindes Reason If this vvere as thou sayest onely violent distempers in that man and so in Mâ—ry vvhat then vvas that vvhich came out of the man and entered into the Hâ—rd of â—vvine and if they vvere onely that vve call diseases vvhy then are they called Devils Faith From life of that Divine light in my Soul I declare they vvere no other but violent diâ—â—empers aforesaid vvhich said diseases by the povverful Godhead in Christ vvas commanded at the request of the man to enter the Herd of the Svvine vvhich vvhen the Svvine vvere pâ—ssessed vvith the same distemper they vvere as mad as the man tearing and tumbling themselves into the Sea by reason of that violent distemper or affliction that the svvine became giddy in their heads not able to preserve themselves through the violence of the said distraction Now why the said distempers are called Devils are because none should know the true Devil but the Heirs of glory for thou mayest read the whole transaction of Christ were revealed in Parables and the mystery of Truth only revealed to the true Believers of the Lord of Glory And if thou supposest they were Devils what then dost thou apprehend them to be and how got they into the Herd of Swine and not seen Reason I conceive the Devils are invisible spirits that tormented the man and so could convey themselves into the Swine without the sight of any even as the Soul or Spirit of man at the hour of death do go forth of his body to Heaven or Hell Faith Oh! thou senseless sottish Reason now thou discovers thy ignorance in his as hath been in the rest as though the Devil were an invisible spirit and so cannot be seen
say to that place where it is written Tophet is ordained of old yea for the king it is prepared Isaiah 30. 33. he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a flame of brimstone doth kindle it So that I believe there is a hill either in the air or under the earth reserved for the souls of all the wicked at their death as it is written The wicked shall be turned into Psal 9. 17. hell and all the nations that forget God Faith Whatever thou hast in this conference thought of me yet I have not in the least gone about to perswade thee or any of thy seed to credit what I have revealed in that the benifit of this discourse will onely redound to the seed of faith and as for this scripture that thou hast quoted here is neither thou nor any of thy seed can tell what to make of it yet for thy conviction and confirmation of the blessed of the Lord I shall give thee the true interpretation thereof which is as followeth Tophet is ordained of old yea for the king it is prepared Now I know this king is reason which is the God of this world as indeed there hath been since king Saul but few Kings that were of the seed of Abraham according to faith but onely reason yet however the king here intended is the seed of reason whether moderate or immoderate it is Esau the elder brother as unto the Government of this world it is the onely king and the situation of it is deep and large in that there is no end of reasons imagination it is so deep in cogitation that it is compared to a bottomless pit and therefore the prophet crieth Hell hath enlarged her self and Isaiah opened her mouth without measure as all along it hath appeared by thee so deep and so large that faith can neither fathom thy God or thy devil thy heaven or thy hell they are so infinite and boundless that there is no true account of any thing thou sayest for a true believer to build his salvation upon Now whereas it is said the pile thereof is fire and much wood that is the evil motions and wicked actions which thy deep and large seed of reason hath imagined things to be that are not and things that are real in their being cannot be comprehended by thee Therefore the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it which breath is no other but the Law held forth by his Messengers which will kindle thy motions and actions in a never-dying fire for as the pile and the wood is fuel for the external fire so are the wicked actions of Reason fuel for the eternal fire of the Law that shall burn throughout thy Soul and body with an unquenchable flame so that this soul of thine is that Hell surrounded with the wicked imagination of Reason Reason What then is there no place of torment to be prepared for the wicked as there is a place of glory prepared for the Godly And if there be a place let me hear thy judgement where it is to be and the nature of it Faith This in a few words I shall give thee a true description thereof that the place where all the seed of Reason shall possess their eternal tormenting misery shall be on this earth for as it is in your Law where a man commits his fact there he must receive his penalty so where a man commits his sin there he must receive his torment then know that as on this earth thy Soul hath been polluted with sin so on this earth it shall receive its torment which when the Lord cometh to put an end to this thy kingdom the Sun Moon and Stars shall be put forth as the snuff of a Candle and then this light glorious world shall return to a confused darkness yea a darkness that may be felt and the waters for want of the Moon will become a standing stinking Pool and the earth for want of the Sun will be dust or dry sand where there the seed of Reason shall be raised spiritual bodies sutable to their souls where therein shall flame yea burn and that for ever yea for ever for ever without end Reason If these that thou hast here related be truth then I say there can no flesh scarcely be saved and for my part I am no wiser in what I have heard then what I was before neither do I know what to make of them nor hereafter shall much trouble my minde with them but do really believe that there is more blasphemous lies then real truths in them for all the moderate wise men of the world do judge God a Spirit and the Devil not man but a spirit and as for the Soul is believed to be immortal and so either to ascend to Heaven or descend to Hell and I verily believe there is not one of 20 thousand that will believe any thing contained in thy discourse so that it causeth admiration in me that all should be deceived but those that believeth in these â—hings which if I be deceived I must be for I can neither believe in thee nor thy Doctrine Faith What thou hast now said is not in the least strange to my Soul that thou shouldst declare thy self as â—ow tâ—ou hast done for I have told thee all along that thou nor thy seed was not to understand this Doctrine no more then the Jews were to understand Christ as it is written Why do ye not understand my speech because ye cannot hear my Word for John 8. 43 44. ye are of your Father the Devil and the lust of your Father ye will do c. Even so I say unto thee thou being according to birth the seed of Reason so of the natuâ—e of the Devil thou judgest the truth a lye and a lye the truth because it is not given to thy seed to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Glory therefore I say as John said We are 1 John 5. 19. of God and the whole world lyeth in wickedness so I infallibly know that almost the whole world will perish save those few that believed in the last spiritual Commission and because thou hast called this a blasphemous lye by Christ Jesus Creator of Heaven and earth whose Revelation of Faith the Seed of his own body thou hast judged false and called a blasphemous lye I say in the vertue of our Commission that was given by a audable voice of words as it was given to Moses and Paul in theirs I infallibly pronounce thy soul and body damned to all Eternity CHAP. 12. Shewing what Authority a Commissioner hath in the vertue of his Commission what the effects and operation thereof Reason WHat art thou more then I that thou dost thus assume Authority to thy self that onely belongs to God however thy curse I matter not onely I tremble to behold thy