Selected quad for the lemma: woman_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
woman_n	devil_n	seed_n	serpent_n	4,337	5	9.5644	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38823	The Gospel treasury opened, or, The holiest of all unvailing discovering yet more the riches of grace and glory to the vessels of mercy unto whom onely it is given to know the mysteries of that kingdom and the excellency of spirit, power, truth above letter, forms, shadows / in several sermons preached at Kensington & elswhere by John Everard ; whereunto is added the mystical divinity of Dionysius the Areopagite spoken of Acts 17:34 with collections out of other divine authors translated by Dr. Everard, never before printed in English.	Everard, John, 1575?-1650?; Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.; Barker, Matthew, 1619-1698.	1657 (1657)	Wing E3531; ESTC R29421	513,595	936

it is Recorded in Sacred Scripture to be A Natural Tree Planted by God in Paradise And of such A Nature That whosoever did Eat of it should have their Eyes opened against themselves and so to be made As Gods To know Good and Evil It may be God would Admonish Adam both Inwardly and Outwardly of what He did Inwardly and in His Heart either Forbid or Teach him That He would likewise for the greater Evidence Set before His Outward eyes But I desire withall that they will grant This that What was Outwardly done The Same also happened Inwardly in the heart of Adam That he was there Tempted by the SEED of the Serpent To make some Account and Reckoning of his own Wisdom Will and Nature and not to Submit Himself unto God As Void of all Name Knowledge or Work But to be SOMETHING of himself And There are Two Causes that move me to think so The First is this Because the Promise is That the seed of the Woman should Bruise the Head of the Serpent Now We read of no Natural or Living Serpent whose head was so Bruised by that Seed Therefore say I As the Spiritual Seed of the Woman was in Adams Heart So likewise was the Serpents Seed For Man indeed was made Good Not of the Substance of God But out f Nothing And therefore He Alwayes Turns Himself from God and Inclineth to His own NOTHING and Vanity For I call The Devil Sin Death and Hell NOTHING As many of the Ancient Fathers have done and especially Taulerus For God Never Created Them But they are A NON-ENTITY A NOT-BEING which is Contrary And Perfectly oposite to ENTITY and BEING And Peradventure this was the Devil that dwelt in Adam and Seduced Him As well as in Lucifer The other Cause is this That the Scriptures likewise Witness That The City of God And The Heavenly Ierusalem and The Kingdom of God is a Paradise Within Us And further that God and His Almighty Word Is Our Paradise The Tree of Life The Temple Where we Dwell Walk Sacrifice and Pray As we likewise are His Temple and Paradise And That The BEAST Spoken of in the Revelation Which the Whole World Great and Smal Do At This Day Worship in their Hearts As likewise The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is Within Us. For All the Whole Exterior World or Whatsoever either is Or is done Outwardly are but Onely An Accident and A Figure Signifying The Truth of the thing And The Internal Nature And therefore There is Nothing True of whatsoever is Seen with our Eyes For the Figure and Fashion of this world must pass away and Perish As being Nothing else but a certain Imaginary world And The Figure of the World That is True Right Eternal and subsisting of it Self Consequently all things which in the Bible were done Externally and Signifyingly must again be done and again brought to pass After their Manner And All the History of the Bible All Moses and the Prophets and in Summe the Whole Scriptures Do To This Day Stand in Force And are Continually Accomplished and Fulfilled Internally and Spiritually All things are By Christ Translated into the Truth And it must needs be That All the Prophesies which God spake From the beginning of the world by the Mouth of his Holy Ones must still be Called back Reiterated or Done over again therefore that Shadow or that Tree Was and is Nothing else in the Truth But the Nature Will Knowledge and Life of Adam Of This He should not Have Eaten This He should not have Ascribed or Arrogated To Himself But Rather To be Free and Freely Subject To God and not to have Known anything But What God Knew In Him Nor to have Done any thing But What God Did in Him Nor to have spoken any thing But What God Spake in Him and so forth in the rest To the End That God Without any Impediment Might have Exercised His Almighty Kingdom Will Nature and Power In Him But Himself should have been utterly Void of all Knowledge Will or Nature And not have Arrogated any of These As Proper to Himself This Pleased God This was That Which He Commanded And what He would have had Done To this Interpretation agreeth GERMANE DIVINITY which Resolves That this Tree in the substance thereof is Nothing else But our Own Will and Knowledge of which Alone In all the Earthy Paradise of this Wide World of our Hearts We Ought not to Eat But to Account it as Forbidden Except we will also Eat of Death and Destruction Now then As soon as Adam Fell and did Eat of This Tree The TREE was Immediately Planted in His Mind And afterward Derived into All the Branches and Fruits thereof So that As the Same Word Precept and Forbidding was Common to all So is The same Fall All We which are In Adam Have now Eaten of Death and haue Received from the Serpent This Undigested Poyson Of an ill Bird an ill Egge Hence it may easily be perceived How Every Man is His Own Greatest Enemy And what he ought to think of Himself Of his Own Will Understanding Wisdom and Knowledge Seeing it is the Counsel Seed Wisdom Knowledge and Head of the Serpent Which must By Christ be Bruised In us I say it must needs be That As in the Old Testament was Signified by Circumcision and in the New One by Baptisme All things which we have By Nature and Inheritance from Adam Must Dye That we may Unlearn and Put off All Things Even as we would do The Devil And Death it self viz. Our own Will Prudence Wisdom and Righteousness Wherewith as with Figleaves Our Adam doth Vainly seek to Hide Himself For that is SIN and the Sting of Death Namely To Eat of This Tree And to Arrogate to a Mans Self His own Wisdom Providence Will Nature or Himself But Alas for Woe Who knowes This Who thinks of it Who is it That is Displeased with his Own Will Understanding or Wisdom Oh when shall we forsake them Every Man Delights Himself In His Own Will and Recreates His Mind Sweetly and Contentedly therein Reposing upon His Own Knowledge Understanding and the like The Tree is Fair to be looked upon and Sweet to be Tasted and therefore All Mortal Men do Greedily Swallow and Devoure Death as Adam did But This is the Misery No Man knoweth it No Man thinketh of it But Judgeth it to be Good And All flesh thinks Assuredly That This Is The Tree of Life Even To follow their Own Wills And their Own Conceit and opinion of Good which indeed is false As to Know Much to Learn Much to discern Many Sciences And in sum To become Gods And in the mean time They are not Aware That This is Adams Fall His Biting of the Apple Yea His Bitter Death It Self Continually do we speak of This Miserable Adam and of His Fall and never Take notice that the Same is done In us We Talk of His Eating and detest

though he be your daily guest as S. Iohn Baptist said of our Saviour Ioh. 1. 26. so say I There is one in the midst of you whom you know not namely Antichrist this Devil this Darkness and Blindness with all other his names whatever He may be called and this I wo●ld have you know so as your selves may see and feel that he is in you In the midst of you so that you may both Hear him and See him I beseech you arraign and examine your selves for I would fain make you all Iustices and Iudges of your selves And I shall shortly shew you your Commission and I pray when you hear your selves Arraigned by any of those several names answer to your names and cry Here Here and say to your selves as Nathan to David and clap your hand on every ones breast and say Thou art the man and also I would have you to answer as David to Nathan I have sinned and this is the way for me to pronounce to you that Absolution The Lord hath put away thy sin The first Name then I say which opposeth it self against this our True and BLESSED Conformity with Christ in those sufferings formerly mentioned He is called the OLD man Rom. 6. 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified c. And he is so called not because he is Old and Ancient of dayes but because He is The Old-man in our practice we are begotten with him As David confesses Psal. 51. In sin I was begotten and brought forth and it were better for us we had never been born then to be but so born we are by nature sayes the Apostle Children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. Thus God and his Word accounts of us what Lands soever we have and what HEIRS soever we be what Honours and Titles soever we have Our father is an Amorite and our mother an Hittite Ezek. 16. 3. we are without God Strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel c. thus we are in Gods esteem what ever glory and splendour we have to the world let Lords and great ones mind this as our Saviour tells Nicodemus A man cannot enter into the Kingdom of God but he must be born again Ioh. 3. 3 these were his words that spake So true as never man spake He whose words could admit of no untruth Paul indeed saith now I speak and now the Lord and this the Lord and now I but here is one that alwayes spoke the words of God he never spake of himself But saith he verily verily a man must be born again wha●ever it be that tends not to Regeneration must be cut off it must be brought down Thus I say this STRONG MAN stands in our way under the name and term of the OLD Man but he is not onely a Strong man but he stands also Armed Therefore the more strong the more Terrible The more Hard to Resist And he wishes us to keep back and not to adventure upon our own ruine And his Armour is Custome in sin and Prescription How hardly is a custome broke a man can assoon die as leave an old custome Eph. 4. 22 23. That is That ye cast off concerning the conversation in times past that OLD MAN which is corrupt through the deceivable lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and saith Ieremy Can the Leopard change his spots or the Blackamore his skin Ier. 13. 23. Can custome in sin be broken if it can then may you learn to do well which are accustomed to evil if it be broken I am sure it was never by your will or power you may thank God for it He it is that hath overcome this Man Armed You your selves could never have overcome him It may be here is in this Congregation a good number of Christians real Christians and you have overcome this Old man but how you may thank God for it you had never been so nor had ever overcome had not He been and had not he fought for you you had never overcome him Custome in sin is a great matter as Augustine speaking of his conversion Saith That when he was resolved to forsake his sins then Custom in sin came and set upon him and sayes he All my sins and all my Old delights came before me Crying unto me What will ye leave us now what We that have been such Old Companions loved so dearly will you now forsake us Have we not often given you much delight and content and must we now part and part for ever And so part as never to see one another again So that Custome in sin may well be called the Armour of this Old man for it is A Strong Armour A second name is Adam and yet not excluding Eve good women do not think so But I may say as S. Paul sayes Neither is the MAN without the Woman in the Lord nor the WOMAN without the Man So may I Too truly say neither is the Man without the Woman in the Devil not the Woman without the Man in the Devil and so both are in the transgression nay the woman was first in the transgression 1 Tim. 2. 14. the whole man is defiled Soul and Body And we call it Adam because It hides it self f●om God and because by it as by Adam Sin entred into the world as in our form of baptism we pray That the Old Adam may be so buried in us and that the new man may live and grow in us But What did Adam He hid himself This is one property in this Old Adam when Adam had sinned He Hid himself as he thought from God And God asks him Adam where art thou but what a vain thought was this in him to think to hide himself from God From His all-seeing Creator and Maker But This Adam had some LEAVES to hide himself among that is some Excuses for He is not Unarmed for in what shape soever he is represented he hath Armour Fitted to him And his armour in this is Amolition of the crime putting it off himself And even thus Do not we do as Adam did Hath not he taught us the Trick of it to Hide our selves from God though we no not do as Adam did to run among the trees yet we do something equivalent something like it so that we are not onely Adam naked but we even as Adam did sow fig-leaves together for Aprons Rather then Adam would accuse himself he would accuse the woman and then the woman the Serpent nay rather then he will be guilty or confess his sin he will accuse God himself Thou gavest me the woman saith he So do not we do the same Rather then we will accuse our selves we will accuse God If we be charged why hast thou done this Oh I could not help it it is this flesh that thou gavest me is not this our case why hast thou done this thing we have our answer ready The spirit is

Son given Isa. 9. 6. but immediately before he saith That every battle of the warriour is with noyse and garments tumbling in blood and this shall be with burning devouring fire And 't is true what our Saviour spoke I came to send fire on the earth and I came not to send peace but a sword c. And 6. In that our Saviour would not did not hear the Prayers of the unclean spirit though implicitly here as explicitly Chap. 5. 6. 't is said he wor●hipt him v. 17. adjured him v. 10. much besought him You will say to me 'T is nowonder ' Iwas a Devil that prayed and so I say too 't is no wonder we are not heard when we pray for if we be Evil and unregenerate men 't is the Devil in us that prays Proclus tells us in his Tract called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Athenians that they had a strange way in pleasing themselves by Antiphrastical expressions as by calling things and persons by their contraries as to call their common Hangman the Lover or Friend of the people the Grave and House a Prison or Dungeon a Place Vinegar Sweetness Dirt Chrystall Gall Honey So men may spice this Cake and sauce this Dish and please themselves as they will with the●● own prayers and dutyes they may as 't is Isa. 5. 20. call sweet sowr good evil darkness light c. But wo be to them saith the Prophet there for that which is highly esteemed among men is in Gods sight an abomination And for certain if we will take Christs Word in this particular Luk. 11. 23. He that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad The Application is easy Onely a Question is to be resolved Seeing as Ioh. 9. 31. God heareth not sinners and the Prophet David saith If I incline my heart to wickedness the Lord will not hear my prayers then how shall that man do that is yet in his sins pray he cannot may not if he should no hopes hath he to be heard nay as Solomon hath it The prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Prov. 15. 8. Augustine on Iohn 9. saith If God should not would not hear sinners in vain had the Publican said Lord be merciful to me a sinner And Chrysostom upon that place Mat. 7. 7 8. To him that asketh shall be given c. Every one saith he whether just or unjust shall receive if he or when he shall pray or ask really by Christ and in Christ And therefore there are two things to be considered in the sinner 1. The sin it self 2. The purpose and intention of him that commits it Now for certain 't is That God is so propense to mercy and forgiveness and he sees not as man sees that according to his Word smoking flax he will not quench if there be a smoke if but true desires wrought by Jesus Christ but if it smoke not 't is dangerous and then I say nothing is absolutely undequa evil but sin nor any thing perfectly good but God It 's good therefore men should try their prayers whether of the flesh or spirit Too many though they pray yet there is no smoke no fire from heaven to kindle their sacrifices they seek themselves not the things of Christ Phil. 2. 21. Our prayers should be for our selves outward things as the morning dew wc h doth ascend and vanish Dwel not upon those Petitions insist not long on them but cut them off short and say Father if thou wilt yet not my wil but thine be done Luk. 22. 42. And as Grego saith What God hath not predetermined to grant cannot by prayer be obtained therefore be very tender of urging God much in that case Nay though many times God doth defer to give presently what yet he may intend to give as the Apostle confesseth 2 Cor. 12. I besought the Lord thrice and obtained his request then Yet as Augustine on Psal. 53. v. 4. Let not the sick depart from the Physician but wait his time and opportunity nor let him counsel his Physician nor direct or prescribe him but let him wait on him and wait in patience both for what and when he will grant To proceed 7. In that Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rebuked him it shews to us That Christ is stronger then the Devil Although some places of Scripture seem to contradict this As in the fall of Adam all dyed The Devil prevailed over the seed of the Woman And by the confession of Christ This is the hour and the power of darkness Luk. 22. 25. and though Satan be called the Prince of the Air That rules c. And lastly from that place Luk. 13. 23 24. Few there are that shall be saved The Devil in all this seems to have more power then Christ. But 't is said again Ioh. 19. 11. Thou couldst have no power over me except 't was given thee And for those seeming contrarieties in the forenamed places First though it is said As in Adam all dye yet it 's said in Christ shall all be made alive Now he is of more might that revives a man then he who onely kils hi●● For the second This is the Hour but that 's but a short time to rule in what 's an hour to a year or to eternity And thirdly though Satan be called the Prince of the Air yet there 's a limitation and though he rules Onely he now rules 't is but for a short time and not absolutely neither but onely permissively And for the last Few there are that shall be saved that is not said positively but by way of Interrogation onely for Peter asked our Saviour Are there few that shall be saved by way of question onely And for the further manifesting of this truth though Satan be fortis armatus Luk. 11. 21. The strong man armed yet our Saviour is fortior superveniens A stronger then He coming upon him ver 22. And though Iob speaks of a Behemoth and Leviathan● yet he also mentions a hook for his nostril though Peter in his Epistle speaks that the Devil goes about as a Roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour yet we know that Vicit Leo de Tribu Iudae the Lion of the Tribe of Iudah hath conquered And though Iohn in his Revelation styles him the Old Dragon yet the Prophet David saith plainly That thou shalt go upon the Lion and tread upon the Dragon Psal. 91. 13. And that Our great God and Our Saviour may have their due know for certain and believe it that all Power all Might all Strengh all Dominion and Omnipotency are all His Absolutely and solely so that no creature share with him in the least and therefore those distinctions of the will of God 1. Antecedent Of the Sign and Of his

willing but the flesh is weak Mat. 26. 41. the fault is not in us but in this weak and frail flesh that thou hast given us but God answers this Old Adam peremptorily thou belyest me I gave thee not Thy flesh to destroy thee Thy destruction is of thyself O Israel I am free I gave thee flesh to a good end but Thou hast abused it Therefore Accuse thy self for all evil is from thy self Blame not me in saying The flesh that I gave thee and that I have not done well in giving thee such a frail and weak flesh which thou art not able to bridle and govern Saith God all I created behold it was very good But lay the blame on your selves All that is given you is given for your good if you abuse it not and turn it to evil to your selves This was a good argument as David used it but not as we and as this Old Adam useth it for David often complains of the weakness of his Flesh and that he could do nothing and he had no strength and that his bones were broken and he was all to peices David did it by way of Argument that God would have pity upon him and strengthen him but we do it that we may be excused for all we do without desire of amendment therefore away with these shifts And give glory to God Confess confess that it is thy sin and thy transgression and confess Thou art The man A Third name he is called The SERPENT and in Isa. 1. 27. he is called Leviathan that crooked Serpent Now he is called The Serpent from that curse Gen. 3. 14. because he Goes upon his belly and eates The dust of the ea●th Object But what Are we serpents then and do we eat of the dust of the earth Answ. Yes This Serpent is the flesh which first came to the woman and tempted her for Eve I take to be meant of the sensitive and fleshly and inferiour part and Adam to be meant the rational and the higher part of man viz. The Reasonable Soul Now this Serpent the flesh or this carnal part doth not first and immediately set upon Adam for Adam might have reasoned it out with him but he first sets upon weak Eve He Arrests first The sensitive part because that it is next unto the Flesh and very little differing from the flesh And then at last by degrees he comes to Adam and that By Eve And so by that means the Sensitive prevailed over the Rational Eve over Adam and the Woman over the Man Object I but Sir by your Favour we do not lick the dust as Serpents Answ. But we do and that according to the Letter All that ever we see smell touch taste ●ear all is but the dust of the earth for this Serpent Licks Dust and Lives by Dust and all our Senses are Fed with Dust for if we see Beauty 〈◊〉 see but beautiful dust if we touch gold it is but thick clay thick dust if we smell any thing they are but vapors from the earth if we taste any thing it comes from the earth and to the earth it returns If we hear any thing that pleases the ears It s but Aire contracted into a Sound All that we account of and esteem All that we Relish and delight in All is but the dust of the Earth Beloved methinks these things should make a man abhor himself we see how naturally men abhor Serpents because they are made of so contrary a nature and disposition to men And if This ONE Serpent be so loathsom and terrible And Unarmed what is He when he is Armed And his Armor is His Subtilty that is his Wisdom and that you will think strange Our Saviour saith Be wise as Serpents But wherein consists His Wisdom It consists in this That whensoever this Serpent Sees himself Assaulted and like to be Overcome That he will do all he can to defend his Head to keep that safe For life is in the Head T is certain ye may wound him in the Tail and he will recover that well enough For let a man come into a garden overrun with weeds And to destroy these shall go and cut off all the tops of them we know that This hath not killed the weeds for the roots are there still and will spring again So for a man to cut off This particular sin And That particular sin and not to pull up sin by the roots it is never the near after a while they grow the ranker and the stronger if we would destroy it we must strike at the Root of sin at the life at the Head for that is it that was promised in the 3 of Genesis Thou shalt bruise his Heel but he shall break thine Head If at any time we Ministers go about to reprove you of your sins you can endure us well enough so long as we cut off but the laps of your garments And you can be well contented to hear us I and to reform and obey our Doctrine but if once we come to meddle with the root with the life of sin Then you will strive then you will wrestle and fight to save that and you will never fight in earnest till then and then you will Fight Oh save The HEAD Save the LIFE of your Sins and lusts A fourth name is Lucifer you know the place Isa. 14. 12. How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer Son of the morning how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the Nations for thou hast said in thine heart I will ascend into heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars of God I will be like the most High yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit c. Now it may be you will say unto me Nay sir you have made us bad enough already do not make us Lucifers the Prince of Devils who are they or where are they that will offer such high presumption To Aime at Gods Seat or to Exalt themselves above the Stars of God or to be like unto God I Answer This Lucifer Is spiritual pride when the heart prid●s it self in its own excellencies viz. Such thoughts as these See see what an excellent creature man is made But little lower then the Angels O what a Regard God hath unto man He hath crowned him with glory and honour he hath given him dominion over all the works of his hands and hath put all things under his feet Hath not he made the Earth to bear me and the Sun to shine upon me The moon and stars to do homage and service to me and all creatures to feed and clothe me Oh! what Excellent graces have I How have I excelled other men I have made a fair and long progress in Religion Oh Brethren Brethren what shall I say I never wonder that Cain was seduced by hatred and envy and Lamech

bear me record for certain it is true both of this particular Scripture and so of the rest I say Caleb did say so and Kiriathsepher was taken by Othniel and he did marry Achsah these things were really and literally and externally acted And so the History of Abraham and all the rest but I cannot stand now to instance as I would though I could shew you clearely How the Mystery is hid and couched and interwoven in the letter But to touch upon the History of Abraham He had two sons The One the son of the bond-woman The Other the son of the free woman And there was A mount Sinai and A mount Sion as the Apostle Paul alludes to it and shews us Thy mystery of those things and tells us plainly Those things are an Allegory Gal. 4. 24. Which things are an Allegory saith he for these are the two Covenants the one from Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage which is Hagar and answereth to Ierusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children but Ierusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all and as he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now and so he goes on shewing what the Holy Ghost Pointed out in that History because he would not have them Rest in the Letter but search for the Spirit The life and the mystery So neither do I deny nor diminish the least title from the letter but the Apostle and so I would bring the history home to our selves to our own particulars For what are these histories to us what good is it to us that there was Amount Sinai and A mount Sion and that Abraham had two sons the One by the bond-woman the Other by the free-woman but He would shew and teach us That the son of the bond-woman in us which is the Son of fear should be cast out and the son of the free-woman that is the Son of love should inherit so always reserving the Truth of the Letter yet not losing the sense and the meaning But if we rest and dwell on the Letter or on the history and so onely take it as an history and not see our own selves in it and by it then that History that Letter kills but it is the Spirit onely that gives life viz. the Mind and the meaning for there is no Scripture but is as a glass to behold our own faces our own Hearts So he that shall read the second and third chapters of Genesis where we read of the Serpents speaking to and beguiling our mother Eve and of Eves tempting her Husband and so both came into the transgression But now let us not onely read this speculatievly and so let it pass but let us consider how this Scripture is fulfilled in us see how our own condition is there related as well as our first parents let us come to the woof this is but the out-side the Letter what is the hidden truth in them for there is no part of holy Writ but is fulfilled alwaies in all times in every part thereof and in every member of the Church or In the enemies of the Church at one time or other alwayes the same things are in doing throughout all ages As I take it the meaning is The Serpents there speaking to Eve His first setting upon her solliciting and seducing her It shews that Satans method in the soul of every man is first to set upon the inferior part of man the affections which are soonest overcome as S. Paul sayes of Eve the woman was first in the transgression thereby understanding as I conceive the affections unto which and by which The Serpent is every day whispering Treason and suggesting Treachery into the soul against God The lower parts of the soul first hearken and they being overcome then they as Eve set upon Adam that is the Will and Understanding and the higher powers of the soul whereby both the Woman and the Man came into the transgression Understanding the Scriptures thus As fulfilled within us we make them our own hereby the word is made a Living word and Endureth for ever as David saith Those that see and feel the Scriptures Thus fulfilled In them They have found The Pearl of the Scriptures for we ought to sell All and the Hidden Manna which shall feed and nourish them to Eternal life Nay let me tell you These have the Spirit and the life of the Word though they never heard nor read the Scripture before If thou hast but found felt the Hissing Serpent cursed in thee overcome in thee if thou hast seen Lucifer fallen from his Heaven in thy soul like lightning I say to thee This day is the Scripture fulfilled in thee For if thou knowest the Letter of the Scriptures never so exactly if thou hast not this work brought about in thee Thou art a meer stranger to the Scriptures thou never yet understoodst what the Word of God was but finding these things in thee thou wilt say as those Samaritans said to the woman of Samaria who told them she had met with Christ the Messiah but when they themselves had conferred with him say they now we believe him to be so not because thou saidst so but because we have seen him and found him so to our selves so mayest thou say now I believe not only because it is written in Gen. but because I have felt it and seen it written fulfilled in mine own soul for Thus God is pleased for our capacities and comprehensions to convey to us the knowledge of this inward work within us by external representations to our understanding that so we may comprehend Those things that are so far above us for men naturally altogether live by sense and reason which reveal not these things but as they are rubbed and whetted upon us instilled by degrees Line upon line and precept upon precept here a little and there a little And when thou canst say I have felt all these things done in my self this whispering and this solliciting I find I have that Adam and Eve in me I have eaten of that forbidden tree I find it was I that aspired to be equal with God and I would sit in his seat and this is Lucifer in me and the Devil in me and the old Adam in me but if thou canst say withal I have also found him overcome and cursed in me o● Beloved you then are in a happy condition It is said concerning our Saviour that he spake to them in parables and without a parable spake l. e nothing unto them so God seldome or never speaks to us but it is in parables under resemblances and figures So here this City Kiriathsepher here spoken of Of its Smiting and Taking it s a parable rather then a history something else represented of more high concernment The wisdom of God in the Scriptures is