(25) Now, after that a man hath walked in all the ways that lead him unto the truth, and exercised himself therein, not sparing his labour; now, as often and as long as he dreameth that his work is altogether finished, and he is by this time quite dead to the world, and come out from Self and given up to God alone, behold! the Devil cometh and soweth his seed in the man’s heart. From this seed spring two fruits; the one is spiritual fulness or pride, the other is false, lawless freedom. These are two sisters who love to be together. Now, it beginneth on this wise: the Devil puffeth up the man, till he thinketh himself to have climbed the topmost pinnacle, and to have come so near to heaven, that he no longer needeth Scripture, nor teaching, nor this nor that, but is altogether raised above any need. Whereupon there ariseth a false peace and satisfaction with himself, and then it followeth that he saith or thinketh: “Yea, now I am above all other men, and know and understand more than any one in the world; therefore it is certainly just and reasonable that I should be the lord and commander of all creatures, and that all creatures, and especially all men, should serve me and be subject unto me.” And then he seeketh and desireth the same, and taketh it gladly from all creatures, especially men, and thinketh himself well worthy of all this, and that it is his due, and looketh on men as if they were the beasts of the field, and thinketh himself worthy of all that ministereth to his body and life and nature, in profit, or joy, or pleasure, or even pastime and amusement, and he seeketh and taketh it wherever he findeth opportunity.

(13) For as he goes a Hunting, in his Kingdom, and catches the poor Souls which Way soever he can, and lays wait for them by his Servants, with all Manner of Vice and Wickedness, and so continually sets such Looking-glasses before the Soul, that it should behold itself in its own Wickedness, and amuses it also with fair Promises of great Honour, Power, and Authority, he sets the poor despised Sort before the Soul, and says, Wilt thou only be the Fool of the World, come along with me, I will give thee the Kingdom of this World for a Possession, as he said to Christ, so in like Manner, when the Soul has put on the Kingdom of Heaven, and yet sticks in the dark Valley in Flesh and Blood, and sees the Devil's P murdering of its Brethren and Sisters, then it comes to be armed of God to fight against the Devil, and to discover his Burrow. For the Love to its Neighbour constrains it to do so, because it would help to increase the Kingdom of Heaven; therefore it teaches and reproves thus, it warns against Sin, and teaches the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven; which indeed the bestial Body does not understand; it goes away, like the rude Ass, and thinks with the starry and elementary Mind, as follows.

(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.

(7) And this is the very Reason, because the Devil smells the Matter, and therefore he hinders it, that his Kingdom might not be revealed, but that he might continue to be the Great Prince [of the World still.] For otherwise, if his Kingdom was known, Men might fly from him. Where is it more needful for him to oppose, than on that Part where his Enemy may break in? He therefore covers the Hearts, Minds, Thoughts, and Senses of the Divines; he leads them into Covetousness, Pride, and Wantonness, so that they stand amazed with Fear and Horror at the Light of God, and therefore they shut it up, for they are naked, nay they grudge the Light to those that see it; this is rightly called the Service and Worship of the Devil.

(36) Beloved Reader, open the Eyes of your Mind here, and know, that no other [anguish] Source will spring up in him [and torment him] than his own a Quality; for that is his Hell out of which he is created and made; and the Light of God is his eternal Shame, and therefore he is God's Enemy, because he is no more in the Light of God.

(21) Therefore none should be so presumptuous, as to mock and despise the Children of God, who are in the Combat against the Devil. But think that it will come to thy Turn also; if thou wilt not go about it when thou art well and in Health, thou must come to it at thy Death; when the poor Soul comes to part from the Body, then it must enter into the Combat, there is no Remedy; for it must depart from the Body out of the Spirit of this World, and then two Gates stand open, viz. Heaven and Hell, it must go in at one of them, there is no other Place out of this World.

(12) On the contrary, those others (who feed upon the Weeds of the Devil in Vices and Sins) are in Peace; for he fastens them in the Anger of God, and they are his Blood-hounds wherewith he hunts the Hind, the poor Soul, which would escape and storm his hellish Kingdom. The Devil would be well contented, though some Souls should escape (though he had rather increase than weaken his Kingdom) but that his Kingdom would be broken by it, which he cannot like.

(64) Now if thou understandest and apprehendest this aright, then thou wilt not make of God a devil, as some do, who say, God has created the evil, and that his will is that some men should be lost; which men, that say so, help to increase the devil's lies, and bring upon themselves the severe judgment, by their perverting God's truths, and so turning them into lies. Now observe:

(75) But I find that the most cunning devil is set against me; he will raise scorners and mockers, who will say that I intend by mine own conceit to grope, dig deep, and search out the Deity. Yes, Mr Scorner, thou art an obedient son to the devil, thou hast great cause to mock God's children. As if I were able, in mine own power, to fathom the depth of the Deity! No! but the Deity searcheth the ground in me: Or, dost thou think that I am strong enough to stand against it?

(55) Not only the Children of Malice do thus, but the Devil many Times brings the Children of God, by his Snares, to be against it, so that in their Blindness they grow furious and raging, as Saul at Jerusalem did against Stephen. Thus the poor soul must be afflicted among Thorns and Thistles, and continually expect when the evil World shall tear away the Body. The victorious Gate of the poor Soul

(6) Our Divines set themselves Hand and Foot with Might and Main, with their utmost Endeavour, by Persecution and Reproach, against this, [and say,] that Men must not [dare to] search into the deep Grounds what God is; Men must not search nor curiously pry into the Deity. But if I should speak plainly what this Trick of theirs is, it is the Dung and Filth wherewith they cover and hide the Devil, and cloak the injected Malice and Wickedness of the Devil in Man, so that neither the Devil, nor the Anger of God, nor the evil Beast in Man, can be discerned.

(9) But here thou must not think that the powers in God the Father are in such wise, or qualify in such a corrupt manner and kind, as in man, which lord Lucifer has so brought to pass; no, it is all very lovely, pleasant, delicious and joyful, very gentle, and meek or mild.

(22) It is written that sometimes the Devil and his spirit do so enter into and possess a man, that he knoweth not what he doeth and leaveth undone, and hath no power over himself, but the Evil Spirit hath the mastery over him, and doeth and leaveth undone in, and with, and through, and by the man what he will. It is true in a sense that all the world is subject to and possessed with the Evil Spirit, that is, with lies, falsehood, and other vices and evil ways; this also cometh of the Evil Spirit, but in a different sense. Now, a man who should be in like manner possessed by the Spirit of God, so that he should not know what he doeth or leaveth undone, and have no power over himself, but the will and Spirit of God should have the mastery over him, and work, and do, and leave undone with him and by him, what and as God would; such a man were one of those of whom St. Paul saith: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,”26 and they “are not under the law, but under grace,”27 and to whom Christ saith: “For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”28 But I fear that for one who is truly possessed with the Spirit of God, there are a hundred thousand or an innumerable multitude possessed with the Evil Spirit.

(2) Many unordained and unseemly practices follow on this error, whoso might perceive all. Nevertheless some there be that be so curious that they can refrain them in great part when they come before men. But might these men be seen in place where they be homely, then I trow they should not be hid. And nevertheless yet I trow that whoso would straitly gainsay their opinion, that they should soon see them burst out in some point; and yet them think that all that ever they do, it is for the love of God and for to maintain the truth. Now truly I hope that unless God shew His merciful miracle to make them soon leave off, they shall love God so long on this manner, that they shall go staring mad to the devil. I say not that the devil hath so perfect a servant in this life, that is deceived and infect with all these fantasies that I set here: and nevertheless yet it may be that one, yea, and many one, be infect with them all. But I say that he hath no perfect hypocrite nor heretic in earth that he is not guilty in some that I have said, or peradventure shall say if God vouchsafeth.

(11) All malicious captivated Men (whom he has captivated) are his Hounds, which hunt the poor Soul with Haughtiness, Bravery, Covetousness, Unchastity, Anger, Cursing, and wrongful Oppression, so that the poor Soul is infected with these Things, and is very often set upon the Devil's Horse, as one of the [Devil's] Captives, and then the Devil will ride with it into Hell into the Anger of God. O how often does he rob the poor Soul of her fair Garment of the Knowledge of God! How does he rend away the Word of God from their Ears and Hearts, as Christ says clearly! Now if it will not do as he wills, and that it breaks out of his Garden, then he casts his Dirt and Filth upon it; and then he stirs up all his Bloodhounds, they must bawl at it, and cast mere Disgrace upon it; and then it stands as an Owl among the Birds, who one and other will have a Fling and a Pluck at it; and so it is also with the poor Soul, which steps through earnest Repentance (out of the Devil's Net) into the new Regeneration.

(32) It is to be laid down that being belongs to the Evil as an accident and by reason of something else, and not from its own origin, and thus that that which comes into being appears to be right, because it comes into being for the sake of the Good, but that in reality it is not right for the reason that we think that which is not good to be good. The desired is shewn to be one thing, and that which comes to pass is another. The Evil, then, is beside the path, and beside the mark, and beside nature, and beside cause, and beside beginning, and beside end, and beside limit, and beside intention, and beside purpose. The Evil then is privation and failure, and want of strength, and want of proportion, and want of attainment, and want of purpose; and without beauty, and without life, and without mind, and without reason, and without completeness, and without stability, and without cause, and without limit, and without production; and inactive, and without result, and disordered, and dissimilar, and limitless, and dark, and unessential, and being itself nothing in any manner of way whatever. How, in short, can evil do anything by its mixture with the Good? For that which is altogether without participation in the Good, neither is anything, nor is capable of anything. For, if the Good is both an actual thing and an object of desire, and powerful and effective, how will the contrary to the Good,--that which has been deprived of essence, and intention, and power, and energy,--be capable of anything? Not all things are evil to all, nor the same things evil in every respect. To a demon, evil is to be contrary to the good-like mind--to a soul, to be contrary to reason--to a body, to be contrary to nature.

(34) And it is here with the Image of Man, as St. Paul said; To whom you give yourselves as Servants in Obedience, his Servant you are, whether it be of Sin unto Death, or of the Obedience of God to Righteousness, that Driving [or Property] you have. If a Man yields his Mind up to Malice, Pride, Self-power, and Force, to the Oppressing of the Miserable, then he is like the proud, haughty Devil, and he is his Servant in Obedience, and loses the Image of God; and out of the Image comes a Wolf, Dragon, or Serpent to be, all according to his Essences, as he stands figured in the Mind. But if he yields up himself to another swinish and bestial Condition, as to a mere bestial voluptuous Life, to Gormandizing, Gluttony, and Drunkenness, and Lechery, Stealing, Robbing, Murdering, Lying, Cozening, and [Cheating] Deceit, then the eternal Mind figures him also in such an Image as is like an unreasonable ugly Beast and Worm. And although he bears the elementary Image in this Life, yet he has indeed the Image of an Adder, Serpent, and Beast, hidden therein, which will be manifested at the Breaking [or Deceasing] of the Body, and it belongs not to the Kingdom of God.

(32) When he sees that he cannot catch [or overcome] Man, by making him doubtful of the Mercy of God, then he makes him careless, so that he accounts all as nothing. He makes his Mind very drowsy, so that he esteems very lightly of himself, as if all was not worth the Looking after: Let Things be as they will, he will not break his Heart, [or trouble his Head,] with it. Let the dPope look after it, they must answer for it. Thus the Mind carelessly passes it over, like a Whirlwind or Stream of Water; concerning which Christ said, The Devil steals the Word out of their Hearts, that they do not apprehend it, nor believe it, that they might be saved; so that it takes no Root.

(36) But what can be said? The Devil will have it no otherwise. When his Kingdom begins to be stormed [battered and assaulted] at one Place, then he blows up the Storm all over, [as well in one as another,] in the Children of God; the Spirit of Punishment [Vengeance or Reproof] is stirred up; and in the worldly bestial Man, the Devil blows up mere scorning and disgracing Mockers; for they have the Kingdom of Christ in the History, and the Devil's Kingdom in themselves, as their own Possession.

(76) In this quality stands hell and eternal perdition, as also the eternal enmity and murderous den, and such a creature the devil is come to be.