A26888:487
The certainty of the worlds of spirits and, consequently, of the immortality of souls…
The certainty of the worlds of spirits and, consequently, of the immortality of souls of the malice and misery of the devils and the damned : and of the blessedness of the justified, fully evinced by the unquestionable histories of apparitions, operations, witchcrafts, voices &c. / written, as an addition to many other treatises for the conviction of Sadducees and infidels, by Richard Baxter.The certainty of the worlds of spirits and, consequently, of the immortality of souls of the malice and misery of the devils and the damned : and of the blessedness of the justified, fully evinced by the unquestionable histories of apparitions, operations, witchcrafts, voices &c. / written, as an addition to many other treatises for the conviction of Sadduces and infidels, by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for T. Parkhurst, 1691
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And let those Men and Women think of it, that cannot forgive, but are set upon Revenge. Mark whether Revenge be not the most ordinary Business of Witches, and of Devilized Souls; most of these Histories tell it you: Therefore Christ telleth us, that if we forgive not, we shall not be forgiven; so contrary is he to the Diabolical ⟨p. 239⟩Spirit of Revenge, though yet he hath just and punishing Governors.
And let those Men and Women think of it, that cannot forgive, but are set upon Revenge. Mark whether Revenge be not the most ordinary Business of Witches, and of Devilized Souls; most of these Histories tell it you: Therefore Christ telleth us, that if we forgive not, we shall not be forgiven; so contrary is he to the Diabolical ⟨p. 239⟩Spirit of Revenge, though yet he hath just and punishing Governours.
Were but the Histories of Witches and Apparitions well considered, it would help Men to understand, that Devils make no small number of the Laws and Rulers that are made in the World and have no small number of honoured Servants, and are the Authors of most of the Wars in the World: So that the Phrase, Rev. 3. The Devil shall cast some of you into Prison,] should not seem strange. And I would I had no Cause to say, that this Mark of Lying, Malignity and Hurtfulness tells us, that many Sermons are made by Devils, and too many of the Books written by them, that adorn the Libraries of many learned Men.
And though Demons do good in order to do hurt, yet, by this Rule of Judging of Spirits by their Fruits, I cannot but think that (though there was a Mixture of Good and Bad) there was more of the good Spirit, than of the Bad, in most of the ancient Monks and Hermits, that lived so strict and mortified Lives. And, as I find, not only by Erasmus, but by the Complaint of Protestant Divines, that it was a Desire of Liberty from the Papists Austerities, that prevailed with most of the Vulgar to cast off Popery; so the Case of many Monasteries, their Mortification and Devotion, (though ignorant,) doth make me hope that