(28) And though the Devil (in thy Sins) says it cannot be now, thou art too great a Sinner; let not any Thing terrify thee, he is a Liar, and makes thy Mind fearful; he makes as if he was not present, but he is present, and snarls like a mad Dog; and thou mayest know for certain, that all doubting whatsoever, that comes into thy Mind, is nothing else but his Suggestions [and Objections.]

(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.

(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.

(96) Then the Devil mocked the Image, and Hell opened its The Soul. Jaws wide, and had the Bridle in their Essences, and continually drew them therewith towards the hellish Fire of the fierce Wrath; and then there was Trembling and Horror in the Mind, and they could not reach the Love of God. Heaven was their Enemy, no Angel came near them, but the horrible Devils, they showed themselves, and hopped, crying, Ho, ho! we have gotten the Game, we are Princes over Men, we will torment them soundly, because they would have possessed our Throne; we should have been their Footstool, and now we are their Judges; what Care we for God, he dwells not in our Kingdom; why has he thrust us out? we will be sure to wreak our Spleen upon his Image. The most pleasant, and most lovely Gate [or Explanation] of the Promise of the Treader upon the Serpent, highly to be considered.

(54) For the old Enemy is subtile and strong, who still assaults the Soul again, to try how he may afflict and deceive it; if he cannot overwhelm it with Sins, then he begins an outward War with it, and stirs up the Children of Malice against it, so that they contemn, mock, deride, vilify it, and do all Manner of Evil to it; and so they lay Wait for its Body and Goods, they jeer, reproach, and scorn it, and account it as the Off-scouring of the World; they upbraid it for its Infirmities; if it does but reprove their Faults and Unrighteousness, then it must be an Hypocrite [with them.]

(30) O no: But the Devil, who is a Cause of the Wrathfulness. Adam was made good out of the pure Element, but the Longing [Desire or Lust] of the Devil deceived him, so that he went into the Spirit of this World. 3 1. And now it cannot be otherwise, the two Kingdoms wrestle one with another in the Children of Men; the one is the Kingdom of Christ, [generated] through the new Birth into Paradise; that (in this World) is miserable and contemned, there are not many that desire it, for it has mere Scorn and Contempt from the Devil and his Followers; it consists in Righteousness and Truth, and that is not valued in this World, and therefore it must lie at the rich Man's Door with poor Lazarus, and at his Feet. If any do but let it appear that they are the Children of God, then the Devil will away with them presently, or else will put them to such Scorn and Disgrace, that they cannot be known; that so the Devil may continue to be the great Prince upon Earth, and that the World may not learn to know him.

(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.

(11) Instil many vain fancies into men's minds. But, on the contrary, 'tis his perverseness and want of faith The philosopher denies the existence of the Devil; At the same time he is the Devil's laughing-stock. If thou hast not seen the Devil, look at thyself, Without demon's aid how came that blue turban on thy brow? Whosoever has a doubt or disquietude in his heart Now and then he displays firm belief, Beware, O believers! That lurks in you too; All the seventy and two heresies lurk in you;

(3) Now if we here discover the Antichrist, the Devil (gin his Beast) will mightily resist us, and cry out upon us, as if we would stir up [Sedition,] Tumults and Uproars; but that is not true. Do but earnestly consider what a Christian is; it belongs not to him to make Uproars, for he is a Sheep, in the Midst among Wolves, and must be in the Form and Mind of a Sheep, and not of a Wolf.

(65) And because I may not be well understood by the Reader, in that I write, that Man dwells in the Abyss of Hell with the Devils, therefore I will show him the Ground, that he may touch and handle it; and if he will not feel it, yet it is given to him that he may know it, and it shall be a Witness against him.

(100) This now the Devil did not understand; because God spoke of the Serpent, and cursed it to [be] a horrible Worm, and he supposed that it did not concern him; neither does he yet know his own Judgment, he knows only what he learns from Men, that declare [Things] in the Spirit of God; yet the Spirit of God does not wholly intimate his Judgment to him, but all in the Depth, afar off, so that he cannot wholly understand it. For to the enlightened Men all Prophesies (even concerning the Wickness of Men) are thus given, and they dare not set them down clearer, that the Devil may not wholly learn the Counsel of God, and strow his Sugar upon it; though in this Place there are very excellent Things, that ought not to be revealed to the World, for they remain till the Judgment of God; that the Devil may bring no new Sects into it, and lead Men into Doubt; and therefore they shall be passed over till the Time of the Lily.

(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.

(23) It goes very hard, when the [Grain of] Mustard-Seed is sown, for the Devil opposes strongly, but whosoever perseveres, finds by Experience what is written in this Book. And although he cannot be rid of the Untowardness of the Incitements of the four Elements, yet nevertheless the noble Seed in the eLimbus of God continues with him, which Seed springs and grows, and at last becomes a Tree, which the Devil favours [or relishes;] not, but he goes about the Tree like a fawning Cur, and then by his Servants he casts all Mishaps upon him; and by his Crew [of Followers and Confederates] he thrusts many out of his House, that he may do him no more Displeasure. But it goes well with him [that fears God,] and he comes into the Land of the Living.

(55) 1 will not say, that one that is a true Believer, [or truly faithful] in the new Birth, cannot (with earnest Combating) help and Hell; but he must have sharp Weapons, when he has to do with Principalities and Powers, or else they will deride and scorn him; as it is done for certain, when the Priest, with his glistering Cope [or fine Cloaths,] comes between Heaven and Hell, and will [undertake to] fight with the Devil.

(47) On the contrary, many a one is in great Anguish, and longs after it, and generates very painfully, he would fain have uit; but then the Devil rushes upon him, and stirs up Irksomeness [Vexation] and Discontent, and also overwhelms him with great Sins, so that he knows not himself, and then dejects him with Impatience and Doubting; and his Heart stands continually in Anguish, it would fain get out of Evil, and endeavours continually for Abstinence or Forbearance, many Times with Groans, Sighing, and Longing, but then the Devil holds his Sins before him, and bars up the Door of the Grace of God, that he might despair.

(69) Besides, the Kingdom of Hell, and of [fierce] Wrath, always gape after the Soul, and set their Jaws wide open to devour the captive Soul; which is held fast fettered with two strong Chains; the one of the Kingdom of Hell; the other of the Kingdom of this World; and it is continually led by the heavy, lumpish, bestial, and sickly Body, as a Thief who is often led to the Place of Execution, and still by a Petition reprieved, and laid in Prison again, and the poor Soul must lie thus in Prison the whole Time of the Body; where the Devil on the one Side very suddenly rushes upon it with his devouring Fierceness, Wrath, and Malice, and would carry it into the Abyss. Then instantly [it is beat upon by] the glistering [flattering] World, with Pomp, Bravery, Covetousness, and Voluptuousness of Perdition; presenting [again come upon it] Sickness and Fear, and it is continually trembling and quaking; and when Man goes but in the Dark, how is it amazed, and continually afraid that the Executioner will take it, and tdo Execution upon it! The Gate [or Explanation] of the great Sin, and Contrariety of Will against God, in Man.

(17) Now when the Devil had thus thrown it down, then it was silent, and desired not only to write no more, but the Devil rushed in upon it, and beat it along, and would have broken it. He came forth with his sour Apples, and held them before the Soul of this Pen, and would have it eat of his Dainties; also he strewed Sugar upon them [as he did for Eve.] If he had got the Soul again into his Chains, how would he have been revenged on it! as was afterwards known in the Storm, where his Mind was known very well. Now when it was thus, the Lily faded and lost its fragrant Smell, the Pearl hid itself, and the Virgin of the Pearl stood mourning, and the noble Mind sunk down in great Unquietness.

(92) Here it may be seen very plainly, that the Devil had lost his angelical Image; and comes now in the Form of a Serpent, with his murderous Lying, and beguiles the Woman. Because he had not been able to overthrow Adam wholly, therefore he sets upon the Woman; and promises her Wisdom, and the Riches of this World, and that she should be therein like God; the Devil mingled Lies and Truth together, and said, She shall be as God; but he meant, according to the Kingdom of this World, and according to the first Principle of the [fierce] Wrath, and let Paradise out; but Eve understood it, that she should continue in the Paradise, in the divine and pleasant Joy.

(102) And now seeing there is somewhat in Purgatory, and that all is not so dead, as the Wolf of the Beast feigns, whereby he may devour the Beast, and the Woman that sits thereon, and he is himself a Wolf, and there hangs a Fox behind him, and in the Fox there grows up an [other] Antichrist again, never a whit better than the first; he goes flattering with his Fox's Skin, smelling about (and the Wolf sticks therein) till he gets the Kingdom [or Dominion.] If he should come to be old enough, how would he devour the poor People's Hens, in the fierce [Cruelty!] Therefore the Lily in the Wonder destroys him, which grows towards the North [or Midnight,] in the [bitter or] fierce Storm.

(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.