Secondly, he takes upon him to foretell what
shall befall a man after he is dead, and what that world is beyond
the Sun and beyond the Moon, etc. And if any man tell him there is
no reason for what you say, he answers, you must not judge of
heavenly and spiritual things by reason, but you must believe what
is told you, whether it be reason or no."
WHEREIN IT IS WANTING.
"There is a three-fold discovery of falsehood in this Doctrine.
First, it is a Doctrine of a sickly and weak spirit, who hath lost
his understanding in the knowledge of the Creation, and of the
temper of his own heart and nature, and so runs into fancies,
either of joy or sorrow. If the passion of joy predominate, then he
fancies to himself a personal God, personal Angels, and a local
place of glory, which he saith, he, and all who believe what he
hath, shall go to after they are dead. If sorrow predominate, then
he fancies to himself a personal Devil, and a local place of
torment that he shall go to after he is dead: and this he speaks
with great confidence.
"_Secondly_, This is the doctrine of a subtle running spirit, to
make an ungrounded wise man mad.... For many times when a wise
understanding heart is assaulted with this Doctrine of a God, a
Devil, a Heaven and a Hell, Salvation and Damnation after a man is
dead, his spirit being not strongly grounded in the knowledge of
the Creation nor in the temper of his own heart, he strives and
stretches his brain to find out the depth of that doctrine and
cannot attain to it.
Pages:
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313