(81) Hence that takes its Original, that the Devil is called 'the old Serpent'; and also, that there are Adders and Serpents in this corrupted World, moreover, all Manner of Vermine, or venomous Broods of Worms, Toads, Flies, Lice, and Fleas, and all such like Things whatsoever; and from hence also tempestuous Weather of Lightening, Thundering, Flashing, and Hail-stones, take their Original in this World. Observe, [1 Rev. 12. 9.]

(45) The serpent is true to the principle of wisdom, for it tempts man to the knowledge of himself. Therefore the knowledge of self resulted from man's disobedience to the Demiurgus, Jehovah. How the serpent came to be in the garden of the Lord after God had declared that all creatures which He had made during the six days of creation were good has not been satisfactorily answered by the interpreters of Scripture. The tree that grows in the midst of the garden is the spinal fire; the knowledge of the use of that spinal fire is the gift of the great serpent. Notwithstanding statements to the contrary, the serpent is the symbol and prototype of the Universal Savior, who redeems the worlds by giving creation the knowledge of itself and the realization of good and evil. If this be not so, why did Moses raise a brazen serpent upon a cross in the wilderness that all who looked upon it might be saved from the sting of the lesser snakes? Was not the brazen serpent a prophecy of the crucified Man to come? If the serpent be only a thing of evil, why did Christ instruct His disciples to be as wise as serpents?

(127) But that the astringent and bitter Spirit sits still in its Seat at the hinder Gums on the Tongue, and thrusts forth the Word at the Mouth, and yet cannot get away from thence, it signifies, that the Devil and the Wrath of God would indeed be domineering in all the Creatures, yet should not have full Power in them, but must stay in Prison; and there would belch forth or blow into all the Creatures, and plague them, but should not overcome them, unless the Creatures themselves are minded to tarry there in that Place, or love to live in the Qualities, and be of the Conditions of the Devil, and Wrath of God.

(61) the Devil can reach half into this Birth, so far as the Wrath comprehends or reaches, and no deeper, and thus far goes his Dwelling, and no deeper; therefore the Devil cannot know how the other Part in this Birth has a Root; and so far Man is come in his Knowledge from the Beginning of the World to this Time, since his Fall. But the other Root, called the Heaven, the Spirit has kept that hidden and concealed from Man till this time, lest the Devil should have learned it from Man, and should have strewed Poison into it for Man before his Eyes.

(8) Now when this Spirit in the animated or soulish Spirit, out of or from the Heart of Lucifer and his Legions, roved [or speculated] into the Deity; [*that is, brought its Will thitherinto, as into the Genitrix;*] then it was no other but a tearing, breaking, stinging, murdering, and poisonous Burning: Concerning which Christ saith, *The Devil is a Liar and Murderer from the Beginning; and hath not continued in the Truth.* [John 8. 44.]

(2) That this is sooth, it seemeth by this that followeth. The devil is a spirit, and of his own nature he hath no body, more than hath an angel. But yet nevertheless what time that he or an angel shall take any body by leave of God, to make any ministration to any man in this life; according as the work is that he shall minister, thereafter in likeness is the quality of his body in some part. Ensample of this we have in Holy Writ. As oft as any angel was sent in body in the Old Testament and in the New also, evermore it was shewed, either by his name or by some instrument or quality of his body, what his matter or his message was in spirit. On the same manner it fareth of the fiend. For when he appeareth in body, he figureth in some quality of his body what his servants be in spirit. Ensample of this may be seen in one instead of all these other. For as I have conceived by some disciples of necromancy, the which have it in science for to make advocation of wicked spirits, and by some unto whom the fiend hath appeared in bodily likeness; that in what bodily likeness the fiend appeareth, evermore he hath but one nostril, and that is great and wide, and he will gladly cast it up that a man may see in thereat to his brain up in his head. The which brain is nought else but the fire of hell, for the fiend may have none other brain; and if he might make a man look in thereto, he wants no better. For at that looking, he should lose his wits for ever. But a perfect prentice of necromancy knoweth this well enough, and can well ordain therefore, so that he provoke him not.

(48) And the serpent makes answer: "Behold, O Adam, the nature of thy Adversary!" The serpent disappears in a blinding sunburst of radiance and in its place stands an angel resplendent in shining, golden garments with great scarlet wings that spread from one corner of the heavens to the other. Dismayed and awestruck, the Adam falls before the divine creature.

(46) "I," the serpent answers, "am Satan who was stoned; I am the Adversary--the Lord who is against you, the one who pleads for your destruction before the Eternal Tribunal. I was your enemy upon the day that you were formed; I have led you into temptation; I have delivered you into the hands of evil; I have maligned you; I have striven ever to achieve your undoing. I am the guardian of the Tree of Knowledge and I have sworn that none whom I can lead astray shall partake of its fruits."

(3) And God cursed the serpent, and was wroth with it for ever. . . .

(21) It was not God's Intention at all to let the Devil have the whole Earth for an eternal Dwelling-house, but only the Death and Fierceness of the Earth, which the Devil had brought into it.

(53) For it has not this Understanding or Meaning, that the Wrath-fire should be extinguished, and be no more; for then the Devils also must become holy Angels again, and live in the holy Heaven; but that not being so, a Hole, Burrow, or Dungeon in this World must remain to be their Habitation.