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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B10083	Tracts theological. I. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and vertue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites. II. The life of St. Antony out of the Greek of Sr. Athanasius. III. The antiquity and tradition of mystical divinity among the Gentiles. IV. Of the guidance of the spirit of God, upon a discourse of Sir Matthew Hale's concerning it. V. An invitation to the Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and virtue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Life of St. Antony.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Antiquity, tradition, and succession of mystical divinity among the Gentiles.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Enthusiasmus divinus: the guidance of the spirit of God.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Apology for, and an invitation to, the people call'd Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5444E; Wing S5444E; ESTC R184630	221,170	486

offered to the natural Motion of the Water which in all those Motions is kept entirely suitable to its Nature And with the same and much greater facility the God of Heaven can and often doth infallibly Guide the Hearts of Men yea of Kings and yet without Force or Violation of its natural Liberty There was never any Age nor People in the World that was wholly destitute of this Divine Efflux upon their Understandings and Wills it is as Vniversal and Common as the Light and Influence of the Heavens only upon some in all Ages it was more special and effectual than upon others even in the Gentile World I have always esteemed those excellent Men among the Heathen famous for Wisdom Justice Piety and Knowledge as Men illuminated and guided by this Divine Influence though possibly communicated to them in a more signal manner than to other Men Such were Socrates Plato Zeno Citticus Solon Lycurgus Pythagoras Tully Seneca Aristotle and divers other excellent Philosophers Moralists and Law-givers among the Gentiles who were by the Influence of the Divine Spirit excited illuminated and instructed for the Benefit of themselves and the rest of Mankind and to prepare the Heathen World for the Reception of greater Light When it pleased God to select unto himself and his special Government the Family of Abraham and his Descendants the Jewish Nation he sets them in the middle of the Habitable World like a Beacon upon a Hill to be a kind of Common Instruction to the rest of Mankind and for that purpose made them signal to all the World by his special Government over them by Miracles Signs and Wonders by giving them Laws from Heaven in great Majesty and Terrour by committing to them the Divine Oracles by raising up Prophets and Men specially inspired by an Extraordinary Spirit and by effusing among them a greater Measure of the Influence of his Sacred Spirit For that I may say it once for all it hath been always the Method of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness when he sends out the greater Measure of this Influx whereof I speak the Divine Providence accompanies that Efflux with suitable external Means to render it the more effectual and the more agreeable to the manner of the Reception of the humane Understanding But when the Messias came into the World with the Message of the Glorious Gospel the Sun was as it were in its Meridian and as the means of Illumination and Conversion of the World unto God was more effectual and universal so was also the Efflux and Irradiation of the Divine Influence upon the Souls of Men more vigorous diffusive and universal And as the miraculous Gifts of the Spirit of God appeared in the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles the Gifts of Tongues of Healing Diseases of Prophecy and the like to confirm and establish Mens Minds in the Faith Belief and Obedience of the Gospel so neither was this all but the secret and effectual Influence of the same Blessed Spirit appeared in Illumination of the Minds of Men in persuading and mightily subduing their Wills to the Belief and Obedience of the Truth in converting Mens Minds unto God and placing them in thei just and due Habitude to Almighty God And this according to the various Workings thereof is sometimes called the Spirit of Regeneration the Spirit of Renovation the Spirit of Sanctification the Spirit of Holiness the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication the Spirit of Life c. according to the various Energies that this great Effusion of the Influences of the Blessed Spirit had upon the Minds of Men. And this great and more diffusive and effectual Effusion of this Influence under the Gospel was no other than what was prophesied of by the ancient Prophets Isa 25.7 I will destroy in this Mountain the covering cast upon the Face of all People Isa 11.9 The Earth shall be filled with the Knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea Isa 54.13 All thy Children shall be taught of the Lord. Isa 59.20 This is my Covenant that I will make with them my Spirit that is upon thee and the Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart from thee nor from thy Seed nor from thy Seeds Seed Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and keep my Judgments and do them Isa 44.3 I will pour out my Spirit upon thy Seed Joel 2.28 I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh And this Energy of the Divine Influence appears 1. By a secret Irradiation and Illumination of the Understanding 2. By a powerful Persuasion and Inclining of the Will both which as they were with a more vigorous and effectual Dispensation under the first breaking out of the Light of the Gospel so they do accompany the Publication of it unto this day and shall unto the end of the World though by reason of the Corruption of the Lives and Manners of Mankind not with equal Success in all Ages We have here the Judgment and Belief of this Great and Good Man of a Divine Efflux upon the Understandings and Wills of Men and that even among the Heathen those so famed for Wisdom Justice Piety and Knowledge were Illuminated and Guided by a Divine Influence And we have here also the Ground of this his Judgment 1. Observations in Nature 2. The Sentiments of Learned and Understanding Men Philosophers in all Ages 3. The Authority of the Sacred Scriptures to which he elsewhere adds his own Experience And whereas he had in some things changed his Opinion as he saw cause from what it was in his younger time this he received early as appears by some of his First Writings and retain'd constantly to the last as appears by his Treatise of Humility which he wrote upon my Motion not long before his last Sickness In his Treatise of Wisdom and the Fear of God after other particulars of the Wisdom of the Fear of God he adds in the 10th place But besides all this there is yet a Secret but a most Certain Truth that highly improveth that Wisdom which the Fear of the Lord bringeth and that is this That those that truly fear God have a Secret Guidance from a higher Wisdom than what is barely Humane namely by the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom that doth really and truly but secretly prevent and direct them And let no Man think that this is a piece of Fanaticism Any Man that sincerely and truly fears Almighty God relies upon Him calls upon Him for his Guidance and Direction hath it as really as the Son hath the Counsel and Direction of his Father and though the Voice be not audible nor the Direction always perceptible to Sense yet it is equally as real as if a Man heard the Voice saying This is the Way walk in it And this Secret Direction of Almighty God is principally seen in Matters relating to the Good of the Soul

they add that if he be put in Authority over others he never will abuse it to the Prejudice of those who are under him and neither exceed the rest in Apparel nor any other ambitious Pomp that he will always love the Truth and severely reprove Lyars and that he will keep his Hands and Soul pure from all Theft and unjust Gain and that he will not conceal any Mysteries or Secrets of their Religion from his Companions nor reveal them to any Strangers although he should be threaten'd thereto by Death Adding moreover that he will never deliver any Doctrin save that which he hath received and diligently preserve the Books as well as the Names of those from whom they received it These Protestations they oblige those to take solemnly who enter into their Order to the end to fortifie them against all Vices Those of the Society who transgress notoriously they thrust out of their Company And who-ever is so punished for the most part dieth a miserable Death for it being not lawful for him to eat with any Stranger he is reduced to feed on Grass like Beasts and so he perisheth through Famine For which cause oftentimes they are moved with Compassion to receive many into their Order again when ready by Famine to yield up the Ghost judging them to have endured Penance enough for their Offences who with Famine were almost brought to Death's door They are very severe and just in their Judgments and to decide any Matter there is never fewer of them than an Hundred and that which is by them agreed upon is irrevocable Next after God they reverence their Law-giver insomuch that if any one revile him they forthwith condemn him to Death They take it for a great Duty to obey their Elders and what is appointed by many so that if Ten of them sit together no Man of them must speak without he be licensed thereto by ●●●e of the Company They account it a great ●●●ivility to be in the midst of the Assembly or on their right hand And they are more severe than any other Jews in observing the Sabbath for they do not only abstain from dressing Meat which they dress the Evening before that Day but also they may not remove any Vessel out of its place nor satisfie the Necessities of Nature Upon other Days they dig a Pit a foot deep in the Ground with the Hatchet which as we before said every one at his Entrance into their Order hath given him and then covering themselves diligently with their Garment as if they feared to be Irreverent to the Light of Heaven in that Pit they ease themselves and then cover their Ordure with the Earth they took out of the Pit and this they do in the most secret places And though this purging of their Bodies be natural yet do they by washing purifie themselves after it as after great Uncleanness Furthermore amongst themselves they are divided into Four Orders according to the time which they have continu'd this Exercise of Life and they that are Juniors bear such respect to their Seniors that if they do but touch one of them they are obliged to purifie themselves as though they had touched a Stranger They are long liv'd so that most of them live an Hundred Years which I judge is by reason of their well-ordered Diet and their Temperance They contemn Adversity and by Constancy and Fortitude triumph over Torments They preferr an honourable Death before Life The Wars which the Jews made against the Romans shew'd what invinsible Courage and Hardiness they have in all things for they suffered the Breaking of the Members of their Bodies Fire and Sword and all kind of Tortures rather than be brought to speak the least Word against their Law-giver or to eat Meats forbidden They could not be forced to any of these neither would they entreat the Torturers nor shew any Sorrow amidst their Torments Yea in the midst of their Pains they scoffed at their Tormentors and joyfully yielded up their Souls as though they hoped to pass to a better Life For it is an Opinion amongst them That the Body is mortal and corruptible but the Souls remain ever immortal and being of a most pure and etherial Substance wrap themselves in Bodies as in Prisons being drawn thereunto by some natural Inclination But when they are delivered out of these carnal Bonds then presently as freed from a long Bondage they joyfully mount into the Air. And of the Good Souls they say as did the Grecians that they live beyond the Ocean in a place of Pleasure where they are never molested with Rain nor Snow nor Heat but have always a sweet and pleasant Air. But the Wicked Souls as they say go into a Place very tempestuous where there is always Winter Weather always Lamentations of those who for ever are to be punished For I judge that the Greeks are of this Opinion when they say there is an Isle for the Virtuous whom they call Heroes and Half-Gods and that the Souls of the Wicked go to a Place in Hell where it is feigned that some are tormented as Sysiphus Tantalus Ixion and Titius Those Esseans also believe that they are created Immortal that they may be induced to Vertue and averted from Vice that the Good are rendred better in this Life by the Hope of being Happy after Death and that the Wicked who imagin they can hide their Evil Actions in this World are punished for them in the other with Eternal Torments This is the Esseans Opinion touching the Excellence of the Soul from which we see very few of those depart who have once embraced it There are also some among them who promise to foretell things to come which Faculty is obtained as well by the Study of Holy Books and Ancient Prophecies as by the Care they take of sanctifying themselves And their Predictions seldom fail They are at least Four Thousand in Number who have neither Wives nor Slaves supposing that Women are the occasion of Injustice and Slaves do cause Insurrections and living apart by themselves they serve one another and chuse out certain upright Men among the Priests to gather the Fruits and Revenues of the Land to the end they may be maintained and nourished thereby In a Word they follow the same Course of Life that they do who are called Plisti among the Danes There is another sort of Esseans agreeing with the former both in Apparel Diet and kind of Life and Observance of the same Laws and Ordinances only they differ in the Matter of Marriage Affirming that to abstain from Marriage tends to abolish Man-kind For say they if all Men should follow this Opinion presently all Man-kind would perish Notwithstanding these People use such Moderation that for Three Years space they observe the Women they intend to Marry and then if they appear sound enough to bear Children they Marry them None of them lye with their Wives when they are with Child to shew

by the Virtue of this Confession extinct and for ever layed so that the Enemy never after attempted to inject so much as the memory of this Concupiscence nor have I ever after felt my self assaulted by any Instigation of that thievish desire In this manner therefore may we most easily come to the Science of true Discretion if following the tract of the Seniors we presume neither to act any thing new nor to determin it by our own Judgment but walk in all things as their Tradition or Probity of Life shall inform us In which Institution being settled any one may not only come to the perfect reason of Discretion but remain safe against all the Snares of the Enemy For by no other Vice doth the Devil draw a Religious person so headlong to Destruction as when he doth perswade him neglecting the Advice of the Seniors to confide in his own Judgment and Determination or Doctrin For since all Arts and Disciplines found out by humane Ingenie and which are of no more benefit than for the Commodities of this temporal Life though they may be handled with the Hand and seen with the Eyes yet can they not rightly be comprehended by any one without the Teaching of an Instructor How improper is it to believe that this only should not need a Teacher which is invisible and occult and which is not seen-through but with a most pure Heart wherein an Error produceth not a temporal Damage nor what is easily repaired but perdition of Soul and perpetual Death For it hath a Conflict Day and Night not against visible but invisible Enemies and not against one or two but against innumerable troops a Spiritual Combat the Case of which is so much the more pernicious to all by how much both the Enemy is more mischievous and the Encounter more secret And therefore is the Trace of the Seniors always to be followed with the utmost Diligence and to them are all things which arise in our Hearts taking away the Veil of Bashfulness to be related cap. 11. v. sup p. 79. Abbot Cheremon concerning the Wonderful things which the Lord doth in a special manner operate in his Saints Cass Coll. 12. cap. 12. GREAT indeed and wonderful are the things nor throughly known to any Man except only to those who have experience of them which the Lord with ineffable Liberality gives to his Faithful ones even in this Vessel of Corruption Which the Prophet viewing in Purity of Mind as well in his own Person as in the Person of those who come into this State and Affection cryed out Great are thy Works and that my Soul knoweth very well Otherwise could not the Prophet be thought to have said any rare or great matter if he be thought to have pronounced this either with other affection of Heart or concerning other Works of God For there is no Man who doth not acknowledge the Works of God to be wonderful even from the very Vastness of the Creation But of those things which by his daily Operation he doth produce in his Saints and with a special Bounty doth pour out unto them no other can be sensible but the Soul of them who enjoy it which in the secret of its Conscience is so the only Judge of his Favours that it not only cannot with any Speech relate them but not so much as in Sense and Thought comprehend them when descending from that inflamed Fervour it sinks down to material and terrene Prospects For Who would not admire the Works of God in himself when he sees the insatiable Greediness of the Stomach and the costly and pernicious Luxury of the Palate so restrained in Him that he seldom and unwillingly takes scarce so much as a little and that very mean Food Who would not be amazed at the Works of God when he feels that fire of Lust which he before believed to be natural and in a manner inextinguishable to become so cool'd that he doth not feel himself incited so much as with a simple motion of his Body How could any but revere the Power of the Lord when he should see Men before fierce and desperate who were provoked even by officious or well-meant Service to the greatest Fury of Anger to have come to so great Lenity and Gentleness that now they not only are not moved with any Injuries but even when any are done them do with great magnanimity rejoyce Who would not plainly admire the Works of God and with his whole Heart cry out I have known that great is the Lord when he seeth himself or another of Greedy become Liberal of Prodigal Frugal of Proud Humble of Nice and Curious Carleless and Homely and even choosingly enjoying Want and Scarcity of temporal things These indeed are the wonderful Works of God which the Souls of the Prophets and such experienced Persons do know in a peculiar manner being amazed with the Intuition of so wonderful a Contemplation These are the Prodigies which the Lord hath plac'd upon Earth which the same Prophet considering calls all People to the admiration of them Come and see the Works of God the Prodigies which the Lord hath placed upon the Earth c. For what can be a greater Prodigy then in a very little moment for Men of greedy Publicans to become Apostles of fierce Persecutors most patient Preachers of the Gospel so as to propagate that Faith which they did persecute even with the Effusion of their Blood These are the Works of God which the Son declares that he with the Father daily doth work c. Concerning this saving Work of God the Prophet prays to the Lord saying Confirm O God this which thou hast wrought in us And to pass by abscondite Dispensations of God which the Mind of all the Saints doth every moment perceive peculiarly exercised within themselves that Coelestial Infusion of Spiritual Rejoycings in which a dejected Mind is raised with the Alacrity of an unexpected Joy and those unknown Excesses of Heart and as ineffable as unheard-of Solaces of Joys with which sometimes drooping in a listless Stupidity we are raised as out of a deep Sleep to most fervent Prayer this I say is the Joy of which the blessed Apostle speaks Which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath come into the Heart of Man that is of him who is still a Man stupified with Earthly Vices and sticks in Humane Affections and perceives nothing of those Gifts of God At last the same Apostle adds as well concerning himself as those like him who have departed from Humane Conversation But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit v. Cyp. Ep. 2. THese things I thought fit to collect out of much of this kind to give a Tast of the Manners and Spirit of these Holy People and lest those who are little acquainted with these things should imagin that they were the meer Phansies of Melancholy Monks I will here add a Tast of the Sentiments of some others and

concluded they were Devils and being afraid they call'd to St. Antony but he heeded the Devils more than them and whereas they expected to have seen him dead they heard him saying Let God arise and his Enemies be scattered Let them vanish as the Smoak vanisheth As the Wax melteth before the Fire so Sinners shall perish from the Presence of God And again All Nations compassed me round about but in the Name of the Lord I stav'd them off 13. Thus did he lead Twenty Years in private Exercise never stirring out or seen by any one But at last many others desiring to imitate his Ascetick Life and other Acquaintance coming to him and breaking open the Door by force Antony came out of the Castle as out of an inaccessible Sanctuary being matriculated a Member of the Heavenly Jerusalem and become full of God The Spectators when he came out were in an Amaze to see his Body that had been so belabour'd by Devils in the same shape in which it was before his Retirement The Temper of his Soul was very pure neither clouded by Sadness nor shattered by Voluptuousness Neither Laughter nor Melancholy held him in their Chains The sight of the Multitude did not disturb him nor their Praises make him vain But he was intirely smooth and regular steered by Reason and Revelation and fixed in the primitive State of Nature Our Lord healed many Sick Persons by him He also cleansed many that were possessed comforted many that were grieved and reconciled many that were fallen out charging them all to prefer none of the Things of this World before the Love of Christ discoursing and exhorting them to be mindful of future Goods and of the great Philanthropy of God who spared not his own Son but gave Him up for us all He perswaded many to chuse a solitary Life and by this means there came to be many Monasteries in the Mountains So that now the Desarts were turned into a City by Monks that left their Estates and Houses and entred themselves Members of the Heavenly City 14. Once he had an Occasion to pass over the Trench of the Arsenoites to see some of his Brethren Monks which Trench was very full of Crocodiles but St. Antony and all that were with him by the pure Vertue of Prayer went over unhurt When he returned to his Monastery he obliged himself to very severe and youth-like Enterprizes By his Conferences he would be continually encreasing the Fervour of other Monks and exciting many others to the Love of Exercise and by the magnetism of his Discourses many more Monasteries were erected all looking upon him as their Father 15. One Day among the rest as he was walking out he told the other of his Brethren Monks who came to him with a desire to hear him in the Egyptian Language that the Holy Scriptures are sufficient for Instruction But nevertheless 't is decent for us to confirm one another in the Faith by Exhortation and to chear and anoint each other's Spirits by mutual Discourses Wherefore do ye my Sons bring your Father what ye know and I who am your Elder will communicate to you what I know by Experience But besure in a peculiar manner to take care to be communicative and unanimous and that now ye have begun ye don't grow slack nor faint in your Warsare nor say with your selves We have laid out so much item so much Time upon Exercise But rather as beginning every day let us inlarge our Resolution for the Life of Man altogether is very short if we compare it with future Ages All our Time is nothing to Eternal Life Every thing else is Sold for its Value and like is Exchanged for like But the Promise we have of Eternal Life is a cheap Purchase For 't is writ The Days of our Life are Seventy Years and if by great Strength we reach Fourscore or more they are but Labour and Sorrow Now if we spend Eighty Years in Exercise we shall not reign an Hundred Years for it but instead of an Hundred we shall reign for ever and ever Again After we have contended on Earth our Inheritance will not be upon Earth but we hold Promises of Heaven Again After we have laid aside a Mortal Body we are cloathed with an Immortal One Wherefore Children let us not faint neither let us think we lay out much Time for God or do any great Matters for the Sufferings of this present Life are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed Neither let us think that we have parted with great Possessions for the whole Earth is very small with respect to Heaven For just as one who parts with a Mite for an Hundred Broad Pieces So were any one Lord of all the Earth and parted with it for Heaven he parts with a Mite and receives an Hundred-fold But if all the Earth is not worth Heaven then certainly he who leaves a few Acres for it does in a manner leave nothing at all If therefore any of us parts with a Mansion or with Gold he should neither vaunt nor despond But we should rather consider that if we don't leave them for the Sake of Vertue yet afterwards when we Die we often leave them to whom we would not as the Preacher has minded us Shall we not therefore leave it for the sake of Vertue to inherit a Kingdom Let us have a Thirst after true Possessions for What does it signifie to possess those things which we cannot carry away with us Let us rather acquire those Goods which will follow us into the other World such as are Wisdom Justice Sobriety Fortitude Spiritual Prudence Charity Love of Wordly Poverty Faith in Christ Freedom from Anger Delight in Hospitality if we possess these we shall find they will procure us a Mansion in the Land of the Meek These things duly considered no Person can be Negligent especially if he consider that he is the Lord's Servant and ought to serve Him Since therefore every one is his Servant no one should dare to say I do not work to day for I wrought yesterday or by measuring the time past to be idle for the time to come But every day a true Disciple of Christ will shew the same Readiness of Mind that as 't is written he may please his Lord and not run a risque in the Concerns of his Soul So also let us every day persevere in Exercise knowing that if we are Negligent one day we shall not be pardoned for it because we did well the day before No God is offended with such Negligence as we read in Ezekiel So also Judas by one Night's Impiety lost the Fruits of his time past Let us therefore Children adhere to Exercise and not suffer our Spirits to be bejaded for herein the Lord is our Fellow-Labourer as 't is written The Lord co-operates for Good with every one that wills and works Good Now in order to our not being Negligent there is a

Noble saying of the Apostle on which we should oft meditate 1 Cor. 15.31 I die daily for if we so live as those who consider they may die every day we shall not sin Whence we learn every Day when we rise not to reckon upon our stay till the Evening and again when we lye down to sleep to suppose we shall not rise because our Life is uncertain by Nature which Providence daily measures out to us By being thus dispos'd and living so every day we shall not offend nor lust after any forbidden Object or be angry with any one or lay up treasure on Earth But thus dying every day we shall be possessing nothing and forgive all Offences being freed from all desire of filthy Pleasure reputing it as transeunt always striving and having the Day of Judgment in our Eye for a great fear of Eternal Torments takes off the Appetite from excess of Pleasure and rears up the Soul when it begins to stoop Wherefore having set foot in the path of Vertue let us advance faster and faster and that we may be Masters of all Opportunities before us let none of us look back as did Lot's Wife for our Lord hath positively said that No one that puts his hand to the Plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of Heaven Now by the Expression look back is meant nothing else but to change our Thoughts and to relish the Things of this World Be not startled when ye hear any thing of Vertue neither think strange of the Name for 't is not far from us nor without us but the work is in our Power and an easie matter if we have but an hearty Resolution The Greeks travel and cross the Seas to learn Letters but we need not travel for the Kingdom of Heaven or to cross the Seas for Vertue for our Lord has told us before hand Luk. 17.21 The Kingdom of Heaven is within you Wherefore Vertue stands only in need of the Will since 't is within us and built up out of us For Vertue consists of a Soul which has a primitive Natural Temper Now the Mind is so when it has that Temper wherein it was created 'T was created very beautiful and upright for which reason Jesus the Son of Nave bid the People Joshua 24.23 Incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel as John also Make strait your paths for the Soul 's being strait or upright does consist in its having its intellectual Faculty in that posture in which it was created Again When the Soul bends or is crooked from Nature's posture then the Soul has Evil imputed to it Wherefore the Business is not so difficult as some make it for if we continue as we were made we are in a State of Vertue But if we purpose things that are wicked we are arraigned before God for wicked Persons If this Accomplishment were such as that it must necessarily be procur'd from without us it would be difficult But since 't is within us let us keep our selves from evil filthy Purposes and having received so great a Trust from God let us keep our selves for God that he may own his Work when he sees it such as he made it Let us contend earnestly lest Wrath tyrannize or Lust domineer over it for 't is written The Wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God But Lust when it hath conceived brings forth Sin and Sin when it is finished brings forth Death But since the Case is so with us let us be sincerely sober and as 't is written Keep our Hearts with all Diligence for we have shrewd and subtile Enemies even wicked Devils To which I add with the Apostle We wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities and Powers against the Rulers of this World against Spiritual Wickednesses in high places for there is a vast rout of them in the Air against us Nor are they far from us But there is a great difference in Devils But to speak of their Nature and Diversity would take up too much time A Narrative of that kind must be the work of greater Abilities That which lies upon us as necessary to be known is their various Subtilties against us And here be it known that the Devils were not by Nature what they are by Name For God made nothing Evil But they were created Fair and Good But having fall'n from an Heavenly Prudence and now wheeling about the Earth they deceived the Gentiles with their Phantasies And now that they envy us Christians they leave no stone unturn'd to hinder us from Entring into the Kingdom of Heaven lest we should get thither whence they fell Wherefore we stand in need of much Prayer and Exercise till we obtain the Gift of discerning of Spirits for when once a Man has obtain'd that he may be able to know which of them is more and which less Wicked and whither their different Endeavours mostly tend and by what Means every one of them may be conquered and cast out For they have several Wiles and Stratagems Hence came that Saying of the Apostle and his Followers For we are not ignorant of his Devices 2 Cor. 2.11 Since therefore we are tempted by them we should be setting one another's Souls to rights Wherefore I having partly experienced their Wiles do now but as a Child speak something to you about them Well then If they observe any Christians especially Monks labouring hard to make a considerable Progress in Vertue they assault and tempt them by laying continual obstacles in their way viz. evil Thoughts But however we should not be afraid of their Threats for by Prayer and Fasting and Faith in God they quickly fall But after they have been thrown they don't desist but presently come again subtlely and deceitfully for if they cann't cheat our Hearts by gross Pleasures they will assault us another way striving to terrifie us by false Appearances and transforming themselves into the Shapes of Women Beasts Serpents Bulky Bodies and Armies of Souldiers Even then our Hearts should not mis-give us for they are nothing and presently dis-appear especially if the Christian immures and fortifies himself with the Faith and the Sign of the Cross But still they are very bold and impudent for when they have been thus vanquished they set upon us another way and pretend to Prophecy and foretell things to come Also to scare us they will represent themselves so Tall as to touch the Cieling and proportionably Broad that they may steal those away by such Delusions whom they could not deceive by their Sophistry But if they find a Soul so secur'd with Faith and that Hope which attends true Repentance as to resist them still at last they bring the Prince of the Devils 16. He said also that the Devil often appeared just as he is described in Job 41.18 19 20. His Eyes are like the Eye-lids of the Morning Out of his Mouth go burning Lamps and sparks of Fire

heal'd many wounded Persons and others that were wounded in their Understandings And many Greeks desir'd to touch the Old Man believing they should be benefitted thereby By this means there were as many Christians in a few Days as us'd to be made in a whole Year Some Persons thought the Crowd was too troublesome to him and therefore kept Persons from pressing upon him But he was not disturb'd with them and said to them The People are not more in Number than those Devils with which I have contended in the Mountain When he went away we went before him 43. And as we were just at the Gate as it were a Woman cry'd out O Man of God pray tarry a little for my Daughter is grievously troubled with a Devil Tarry I pray thee lest I also fall into some danger by running after thee When the Old Man heard her he willingly tarry'd at our Entreaty so the Woman drew near and the Maid fell upon the Ground and when Antony had pray'd and mention'd Christ the Maid rose up very well for the Unclean Spirit was gone out of her and the Maid bless'd God and all the Spectators gave Thanks and St. Antony himself also was very glad and return'd to his own abode in the Mount He was also very prudent and which is very strange though illiterate he was a very piercing and judicious Man 44. Once there came to him Two Greek Philosophers with a design to try him now at that time he was in the outer part of the Mountain St. Antony perceiv'd what kind of Men they were by their Looks and spoke thus to them by an Interpreter O ye Philosophers Why did you trouble your selves to come to such a simple Fellow But they reply'd That he was not so but very prudent If ye come to a silly Fellow said Antony your Labour is lost and to no purpose But if ye think otherwise become such as I am for we should imitate all things that are fair and commendable Had I come to you I would have imitated you Since therefore ye come to me become such Men as I am for I am a Christian But they admiring withdrew for they saw the Devils dreading Antony 45. Others also met him there thinking to scoff at him because he had not learnt to read Said Antony pray answer me one Question Which think ye is first the Mind or the Alphabet Whether of the two is the Authour and cause of the other the Mind of Letters or Letters of the Mind They answered The Mind is first and the Inventer of Letters Well then saith Antony Whoso has a sound Mind stands in no need of Letters Which Answer astonish'd them and all that were with them so they went away admiring to see so much Understanding in a private Man for though he grew Old in the Desart yet he was not Savage in his Carriage like a Mountaineer but he was Courteous and Civil His Mind and Discourse was season'd with Divine Salt so that none envy'd him but all that visited him took delight in him 46. After this some Pretenders to Wisdom among the Greeks came to him and demanded of him an account of his Christian Belief and made offers to dispute subtilly with him about the Divine Cross in order to mock him St. Antony having paus'd a while and pity'd their Ignorance spoke very well to them by an Interpreter to this Effect Which of the Two is more laudable to confess a Cross or to charge those whom ye call Gods with Adulteries and Sodomies For our Confession is a sign of Manliness and Contempt of Death but yours are the Passions of Lasciviousness Which is better to say That the Wisdom of God was not chang'd but for the sake of Salvation and Beneficence to Men assum'd an Humane Body that by Communion with the Humane Race he might make Men partake of a Divine and Intellectual Nature or To liken the Deity to Irrational Beings and so worship four-footed Creatures and creeping things and Statues of Men For these are the Adorations of your Wise Men. Moreover How dare ye deride us who say That Christ did appear a Man when ye deriving the Soul from the Divine Mind say That it wandred and lapsed from Heaven into the Body and I wish it did not pass not only into an Humane Body but into four-footed and creeping Creatures Our Faith saith That Christ came for the Salvation of Men but ye erring say The Soul is not generated We consider the Power and Philanthropy of God because this was not impossible with God But ye saying That the Soul is the Image of the Mind yet attribute Lapses to it and fable it to be changeable and by consequence introduce the Mind as changeable by the Soul for such as was the Image such must that of which 't is the Image necessarily be But when ye have such Thoughts as these concerning the Mind pray consider that ye blaspheme the Father of the Mind himself And as for the Cross What can ye say of it When ye see wicked Men ensnare us ye see we are ready to endure the Cross and to contemn Death whensoever or wheresoever forc'd upon us Alas the Fables of the Rovings of Osiris and Isis and the Treachery of Typho and the Flight of Saturn and Gormandizings of Children and of Paracide What are these Yet these are your wise Contrivances and mighty Foundations But moreover How comes it to pass that when ye despise the Cross ye don't admire the Resurrection since those who speak of one have also writ of the other or Why are ye when ye remember the Cross silent of the Dead rais'd the Blind who had their Sight restor'd the Sick of the Palsie who were heal'd and the Lepers that were cleans'd and the walking a Foot on the Sea and other Signs and Wonders which shew Christ not to be meer Man but God also Truly to my mind ye do your selves wrong and have not read our Writings with Sincerity But pray read and see that the things which Jesus did shew Him to be God pilgrimaging upon Earth for the Souls of Men But pray tell us of your great Signs 47. What can ye plead for Irrational Gods and their Savageness Ye may if ye please fly to shelter by Allegorising Let Proserpine be the Earth Vulcan's Lameness the Fire Juno the Air Apollo the Sun Diana the Moon and Neptune the Sea But nevertheless this does not make it any more the Worship of God This is to serve the Creatures more than the Creatour for ye have compacted these Stories out of the Consideration of the Creation's being Beautiful These Works should be admir'd but they should not have been made Gods for by this means ye have given the Architect's Honour to the things that he Built which is just like paying that Honour to the House which is due to the Builder or the mis-placing the General 's Honour on the Common Souldiers Come answer me these Questions that