(12) For it forsakes the Love, and hangs on Covetousness, Extortion and Bribery; there is no Mercy at all therein: Every one cries out, If I had but Money! Those that are in Authority and Power suck the very Marrow from the Bones of Men of low Degree and Rank, and feed upon the Sweat of their Brows. Briefly, there is nothing else but lying, cozening, robbing and murdering, and so may very justly be called the Devil's Nest and Dwelling-house.

(98) Fourthly, There is for the Generality such a devilish Pride and Stateliness, and such over-bearing one another, such despising, belying, ensnaring, circumventing, over-reaching, cheating, deceiving, betraying, extorting Usury, coveting, envying, and hating one another, that the World burns now as in the hellish Fire: Wo, wo for ever!

(9) Christ says, “The Devil was a Murderer and Liar from the Beginning, and did not stand in the Truth.” But seeing these Justifiers and Disputers assist the Devil so stedfastly, and pervert God’s Truth, and change it into Lies, in that they make of God a thirsty and fierce wrathful Devil, and such a one as has created and still wills Evil, so all of them, together with the Devil, are jointly Murderers and Liars. [† John 8. 44.]

(43) On the other hand, the life of the natural man, where he hath a lively, subtle, cunning nature, is so manifold and complex, and seeketh and inventeth so many turnings and windings and falsehoods for its own ends, and that so continually, that this also is neither to be uttered nor set forth. Now, since all falsehood is deceived, and all deception beginneth in self-deception, so is it also with this false Light and Life, for he who deceiveth is also deceived, as we have said before. And in this false Light and Life is found everything that belongeth to the Evil Spirit and is his, insomuch that they cannot be discerned apart; for the false Light is the Evil Spirit, and the Evil Spirit is this false Light. Hereby we may know this. For even as the Evil Spirit thinketh himself to be God, or would fain be God, or be thought to be God, and in all this is so utterly deceived that he doth not think himself to be deceived, so is it also with this false Light, and the Love and Life that is thereof. And as the Devil would fain deceive all men, and draw them to himself and his works, and make them like himself, and useth much art and cunning to this end, so is it also with this false Light; and as no one may turn the Evil Spirit from his own way, so no one can turn this deceived and deceitful Light from its errors. And the cause thereof is, that both these two, the Devil and Nature, vainly think that they are not deceived, and that it standeth quite well with them. And this is the very worst and most mischievous delusion. Thus the Devil and Nature are one, and where nature is conquered the Devil is also conquered, and, in like manner, where nature is not conquered the Devil is not conquered. Whether as touching the outward life in the world, or the inward life of the spirit, this false Light continueth in its state of blindness and falsehood, so that it is both deceived itself and deceiveth others with it, wheresoever it may. From what hath here been said, ye may understand and perceive more than hath been expressly set forth. For whenever we speak of the Adam, and disobedience, and of the old man, of self-seeking, self-will, and self-serving, of the I, the Me, and the Mine, nature, falsehood, the Devil, sin; it is all one and the same thing. These are all contrary to God, and remain without God.

(40) Now I have said that there is a False Light; but I must tell you more particularly what it is, and what belongeth thereunto. Behold, all that is contrary to the True Light belongeth unto the False. To the True Light it belongeth of necessity, that it seeketh not to deceive, nor consenteth that any should be wronged or deceived, neither can it be deceived. But the false is deceived and a delusion, and deceiveth others along with itself. For God deceiveth no man, nor willeth that any should be deceived, and so it is with His True Light. Now mark, the True Light is God or divine, but the False Light is Nature or natural. Now it belongeth to God, that He is neither this nor that, neither willeth nor desireth, nor seeketh anything in the man whom He hath made a partaker of the divine nature, save Goodness as Goodness, and for the sake of Goodness. This is the token of the True Light. But to the Creature and Nature it belongeth to be somewhat, this or that, and to intend and seek something, this or that, and not simply what is good without any Wherefore. And as God and the True Light are without all self-will, selfishness, and self-seeking, so do the I, the Me, the Mine, and the like, belong unto the natural and false Light; for in all things it seeketh itself and its own ends, rather than Goodness for the sake of Goodness. This is its property, and the property of nature or the carnal man in each of us. Now mark how it first cometh to be deceived. It doth not desire nor choose Goodness as Goodness, and for the sake of Goodness, but desireth and chooseth itself and its own ends, rather than the Highest Good; and this is an error, and is the first deception. Secondly, it dreameth itself to be that which it is not, for it dreameth itself to be God, and is truly nothing but nature. And because it imagineth itself to be God, it taketh to itself what belongeth to God; and not that which is God’s, when He is made man, or dwelleth in a Godlike man, but that which is God’s, and belongeth unto Him, as He is in eternity, without the creature. For, as it is said, God needeth nothing, is free, not bound to work, apart by Himself, above all things, and so forth (which is all true); and God is unchangeable, not to be moved by anything, and is without conscience, and what He doeth that is well done; “So will I be,” saith the False Light, “for the more like God one is, the better one is, and therefore I will be like God and will be God, and will sit and go and stand at His right hand”: as Lucifer the Evil Spirit also said.45 Now God in Eternity is without contradiction, suffering and grief, and nothing can hurt or vex Him of all that is or befalleth. But with God, when He is made Man, it is otherwise. In a word: all that can be deceived is deceived by this False Light. Now since all is deceived by this False Light that can be deceived, and all that is creature and nature, and all that is not God nor of God, may be deceived, and since this False Light itself is nature, it is possible for it to be deceived. And therefore it becometh and is deceived by itself, in that it riseth and climbeth to such a height that it dreameth itself to be above nature, and fancieth it to be impossible for nature or any creature to get so high, and therefore it cometh to imagine itself God. And hence it taketh unto itself all that belongeth unto God, and specially what is His as He is in Eternity, and not as He is made Man. Therefore it thinketh and declareth itself to be above all works, words, customs, laws and order, and above that life which Christ led in the body which He possessed in His holy human nature.

(71) The outward Earth is a bitter Stink, and is dead, and that every Man understands to be so. But the Saltiter is destroyed or killed through the Wrath; for thou canst not deny, but that God's Wrath is in the Earth, otherwise it would not be so astringent, bitter, sour, venomous and poisonous, neither would it engender such poisonous, venomous, evil Worms and creeping Things. But if thou shouldst say, that God has created them thus out of his Purpose, that is as much as if thou shouldst say, that God himself is Evil, Malice, Malignity or Wickedness.

(10) For as the Devil is the Founder and Father of Hell and Damnation, and has himself built and prepared for himself the hellish Quality to be his royal Seat, so also such Writers and Scriblers are the Master-Builders of Lies and Damnation, who help to confirm and establish the Devil’s Lies, and to make of the merciful, loving, and friendly God, a Murderer and furious Destroyer, and to pervert and turn the Truth of God into Lies.

(19) Note this is the Root of Covetousness, Envy, Pride and Wrath; For in the fierce Qualifying, or Acting and Boiling, rose up the Wrath, and burnt like Fire of Heat and Cold, and was also bitter as Gall. [Or Anger.]

(15) Concerning this Kindling in this Circumference or Extent, it is that God calls himself “an angry, zealous, or jealous God against those that hate him,” that is, against those who kindle his Wrath and Fierceness still more with the diabolical Spirits, with Swearing, Cursing, Blaspheming, and all Manner of furious Fierceness and Wrath, which stick in the Heart, with Pride, Covetousness, Envy, and Anger; all that whatsoever is in thee, thou castest into God; [“that is, into the Genitrix of Nature, and therefore thou must be proved and tried through the Fire, and the Soul’s Spirit also, and the Wickedness or Malice must abide and remain in the Fire.”] [Which is every where in this World, in every Creature.] Now thou askest, How can that be? Answer.

(15) But if thou wouldst know what the true Faith is, then observe: Thy Heart must not qualify or co-operate with the four Sons of the Devil, in Pride, Covetousness, Envy, Wrath, Extortion, Oppression, Lying, Deceiving, Murder, and tearing the Bread out of thy Neighbour's Throat, studying Day and Night to do Mischief, in bringing subtle Devices and Designs to effect, that thou mayest give Satisfaction to the proud, covetous, envious, and wrathful Devils, to court them, and exercise thyself in worldly Pleasures and Voluptuousness.

(2) Also the Learned have scuffled about it with many strange scurrilous Writings, falling one upon another in calumnious and disgraceful Terms, whereby the holy Name of God has been reproached, his Members wounded, his Temple destroyed, and the holy Heaven profaned with their calumniating, and malicious Enmity.