Search

(40) And so it is seen, how the Providence of God is come to the Help of the Kingdom of this World, and has by the Spirit of this World stirred up Rulers, who have inflicted Punishment; yet the Spirit of God complains of them, that they are turned Tyrants, who suppress all with their Power; and the Abellish Church in Love consists not therein, but the strong Might of God, for the suppressing of Evil-doers.

(3) It is by Spirit that all things are governed in the Cosmos, and made quick,—Spirit made subject to the Will of Highest God, as though it were an engine or machine. So far, then, [only] let Him be by us conceived,—as Him who is conceivable by mind alone, who is called Highest God, the Ruler and Director of God Sensible, —of Him who in Himself includes all Space, all Substance, and all Matter, of things producing and begetting, and all whatever is, however great it be. XVII

(18) therefore they elevated or extolled themselves, intending to kindle or enflame the whole God, and to govern or rule the whole God by their Power and Might. All Forms and Ideas should rise up in the Qualifying and Actings of their Spirit. He would be Lord of the Deity, and would not endure any Co-rival.

(40) Therefore they all did as he did, and all would sit in the Primacy of the Deity, and would rule powerfully in the whole Region, Circuit or Circumference, over and above the whole divine Power: They were all of one Will, and would not suffer the same to be taken from them. Now thou wilt ask, Question. Did not the total or universal God know this, before the Time of the Creation of Angels that it would so come to pass? Answer.

(28) And so their Power grew, and every one had great Respect to it; and they strengthened their Laws still more and more with the Power of Saint Peter, till they raised themselves so high, that they impudently set themselves as Lords over the Doctrine of the Apostles before God, and gave forth, that the Word of God and the Doctrine of the Saints must receive their Value, Worth, and Authority from their Councils, and what they ordained and instituted, that was from God, they were God's Dispensers of the Word; Men must believe their Ordinances, for that was the Way and Means a for the poor Sinner to be justified before God.

(8) though they did Miracles and Wonders, and showed great Signs, yet the World gazed only on high Things, and the Holy Ghost must be as the Dust under their Feet: For the proud Devil always endeavoured to be King in this World. And

(41) It is true indeed, the Judges and Kings, as also Princes and Rulers [or Magistrates,] are the Officers of God in the House of this [four elementary] World, whom God (because of Sin) has set to punish secretly, that thereby the wicked Drivers [and Oppressors] might be stopped.

(62) And the kings and the mighty and all who possess the earth shall bless and glorify and extol him who rules over all, who was hidden.

(6) "For he speaks some truths. For the devil fills him with his own spirit, if perchance he may be able to cast down any one from what is right." All things, therefore, are dispensed from heaven for good, "that by the Church may be made known the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal foreknowledge, which He purposed in Christ." Nothing withstands God: nothing opposes Him: seeing He is Lord and omnipotent.

(14) But, as I think, characteristic of the highest power is the accurate scrutiny of all the parts, reaching even to the minutest, terminating in the first Administrator of the universe, who by the will of the Father directs the salvation of all; some overlooking, who are set under others, who are set over them, till you come to the great High Priest. For on one original first Principle, which acts according to the [Father's] will, the first and the second and the third depend. Then at the highest extremity of the visible world is the blessed band of angels; and down to ourselves there are ranged, some under others, those who, from One and by One, both are saved and save.

(20) For the qualifying or fountain Spirits had no outward Impulse upon them got into them, but the Impulse to Pride elevated itself within the Body, in the Council of the seven qualifying or fountain Spirits; these agreed and united in a Compact, that they would be God alone.

(22) But God's will is especially obeyed by the free-will of good men. Since many advantages are common to good and bad men: yet they are nevertheless advantageous only to men of goodness and probity, for whose sake God created them. For it was for the use of good men that the influence which is in God's gifts was originated. Besides, the thoughts of virtuous men are produced through the inspiration of God; the soul being disposed in the way it is, and the divine will being conveyed to human souls, particular divine ministers contributing to such services. For regiments of angels are distributed over the nations and cities. And, perchance, some are assigned to individuals.

(78) II. They knew also well, that the Heart of God had the Primacy in the whole Deity. III. They knew well also, that they had no more for their proper own, to deal with and to dispose of, than their own compacted, incorporated Body; for they saw very well, that the Deity generated itself without, severally, distinct, apart from their Body, as it had done from Eternity.

(33) Thus, then, the benefit that comes from God to men becomes known - angels at the same time lending encouragement. For by angels, whether seen or not, the divine power bestows good things. Such was the mode adopted in the advent of the Lord. And sometimes also the power "breathes" in men's thoughts and reasonings, and "puts in" their hearts "strength" and a keener perception, and furnishes "prowess" and "boldness of alacrity" both for researches and deeds.

(117) For it is, and comprehends the Power, as God the Holy Ghost does; and in this there is no Difference at all betwixt God the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of the Body, but only this, that the holy Spirit of God is the whole Fullness, and the Spirit of the Body is but a Portion or Part, which presses through the whole Fullness, and where-ever it comes, there it is mixed or affected with the Place, and presently rules with God in the same Place.

(7) And, as we arrive at some knowledge of God's essence and attributes from the contemplation of the soul's essence and attributes, so we come to understand God's method of working and government and delegation of power to angelic forces, etc., by observing how each of us governs his own little kingdom. To take a simple instance: suppose a man wishes to write the name of God. First of all the wish is conceived in his heart, it is then conveyed to the brain by the vital spirits, the form of the word "God" takes shape in the thought-chambers of the brain, thence it travels by the nerve-channels, and sets in motion the fingers, which in their turn set in motion the pen, and thus the name "God" is traced on paper exactly as it had been conceived in the writer's brain. Similarly, when God wills a thing it appears in the spiritual plane, which in the Koran is called "The Throne"; from the throne it passes, by a spiritual current, to a lower plane called "The Chair"; then the shape of it appears on the Tablet of Destiny"; whence, by the mediation of the forces called "angels," it assumes actuality, and appears in the earth in the form of plants, trees, and animals, representing the will and thought of God, as the written letters represent the wish conceived in the heart and the shape present in the brain of the writer.

(24) Now when the historical Christendom and the true Christians grew together, the Scepter was always among the Learned, who exalted themselves, and made themselves potent, and great; and the simple [Church] yielded to it as right; and yet there was a Desire after the Kingdom of God found in Men, viz. the noble Word of God (which had imprinted itself in the Promise [in Paradise,] in the Light of Life, and which was made stirring by Christ) that drove them indeed to the Fear of God. And then they built great Houses of Stone, and called every one thither; and they said that the Holy Ghost was powerful there, and they must come thither; besides, they durst be so impudent as to say (when they were found to be so wicked and malicious) that the Holy Ghost was powerfully in the Mouth of the Wicked.

(42) Then his seven qualifying or fountain Spirits thought they would elevate and kindle themselves, and so they also would be as fair, glorious, and mighty, as the animated or soulish Spirit, and thereby would domineer, by their own Power and Authority, in the whole Court, Circumference, Dominion, or Extent, as a new God.

(43) therefore it is that all seven Spirits are in full Power, every one of them has the Reins in its Hand, that it may hold in and check the generated Spirit, from triumphing any higher than is fit for it.

(61) as the Powers of all the Stars rule in the Air, so also in God: But every Power in God shows itself with its Operation severally and distinctly.