Again, it hath been objected by many, that Spirits may be raised without
Bodies, and that Spirits may be talked with after they have been dead
and buried; and that Spirits have appeared in a Shape to several People,
yet this Spirit so appearing hath no Body nor Substance at all, neither
can it be felt or handled by mortal Man, nor no immortal Creature
neither: this is the vain Conceit of most People.
But to satisfy the Reader in this, I declare, that there is no immortal
Spirit whatsoever, but it hath a Spiritual Body suitable to its Spirit;
if the Spirit be immortal, the Body is immortal also: For this I say, no
Spirit can have any Being at all without a Body, no not God himself, who
was from Eternity; his Spirit could not be from Eternity without a
Spiritual Body, in Form like Man; they were both from Eternity, and the
one was never divided nor separated from the other, but they were both
Eternal. And further I declare, that God was a Spiritual Body from
Eternity, in Form like a Man; therefore God created Man in his own Image
and Likeness. Now observe, if Man hath a Body suitable to his Spirit, so
hath God a Body suitable to his Spirit, else Man was not created in his
Image, if God hath never a Body, but is all Spirit, as People do vainly
imagine. For this I know, that God was Spirit and Body, in Form like a
Man, from Eternity, and his Spirit was never divided nor separated from
his Body, but they were both Eternal.
So likewise is it with Angels and Men, and all other Creatures;
where-ever the Spirit of Life is, there is Bodies of Life also; let it
be either in Spiritual Bodies, or in Natural Bodies. For if the Body of
either of these be dead, the Spirit is dead also; and if the Spirit be
dead either in Spiritual Body or Natural Body, the Body is dead also:
For the one cannot have any sensible Being without the other. And
further I say, that they were both together Spirit and Body from
Eternity in God the Creator, and he hath ordered and created all his
Creatures, both celestial and terrestrial, that Spirit and Body should
be one living Being, and that one should not subsist nor have no
sensible being without the other: Even as God himself could not enjoy no
sensible Living being without a Body, he knowing this in himself.
Therefore he created all his Creatures Spiritual and Natural, with
Bodies suitable to their Spirits, and Spirits suitable to their Bodies,
so that one might not be divided nor separated from the other; for if
one dieth, the other dieth; and if the Spirit live, the Body liveth
also. For this I say, that if the Spirit of God himself could not be
without a Body from Eternity, how then is it possible that his Creatures
should have Spirits without Bodies, seeing he himself his Spirit could
not have any Being without his Body from Eternity.
But this Conceit, that the Spirit or Soul of Man is immortal, and cannot
die, and may have a Being without a Body, and appear in a Shape without
any Substance; this vain Conceit proceeded first from the Imagination of
Reason in Man, even from _Cain_, the first Devil in Flesh and Bone. And
this Imagination in _Cain_ his Posterity, being Heathen Men, who had no
Communion with God, nor Revelation of Faith, as the Sons of _Adam_ and
the Sons, of _Seth_, the Generation of the Righteous, had; they knew
that the Spirit and Body was all one Substance.
But the Imagination of Reason, _Cain_ his Posterity, the Heathen
Opinion, do imagine the Spirit of Man to be immortal, and cannot die;
and that Spirits may appear in Shapes without Bodies; and that Spirits
may go out of the Body, and go to Heaven or Hell and leave the Body to
be laid in the Ground, as the Quakers and others do.
And this Imagination of Reason in Man hath created to it self a new
Creation, which God never created. Man hath created and made in his
Imagination a Spirit without a Body, and that this Spirit so created is
immortal, and cannot die, nor is not capable of Death, that it can slip
out of the Body, and that it can have a Being when it is gone out of the
Body, and appear in a Shape without Substance or hath Power to assume
what Shape it please, and yet this Shape, it doth assume, shall have no
Substance yet it shall appear in a Shape and fright People.
And the Imagination of Reason in Man hath created Man in his own Image
and Likeness, as God did _Adam_: As thus, First, he hath conceived in
his Imagination, that God is a Spirit without a Body. Secondly, he
conceiveth in his Imagination that the Devil is a Spirit flying in the
Air, which can neither be seen nor felt; yet this Devil or Spirit
without a Body doth tempt Man to Evil, whereby Man is punished, and the
Tempter he is escaped away without Punishment.
Also it is conceived by the Imagination, that this Devil or Spirit is in
Hell-fire, and in Chains of Darkness, and can go no further then God
will permit him, because his Chain is no longer then God hath limited
him.
Also it is conceived in the Imagination, notwithstanding the Devil is
chained, and in Hell-fire tormented, yet he being a Spirit without a
Body, he is so swift that he can be in all Places at one Time, so that
he can tempt thousands of Men and Women to sin at one and the same Time,
and they themselves never the wiser, nor know him when he tempted them.
All this the imaginary Devil can do, and much more; and yet be in Hell
fire, and tied in a Chain at the same Time, and all but one Devil, a
Spirit without a Body.
Also the Imagination hath conceived that the Soul of Man is a Spirit
infused or put into the Body by God himself, and that Man begets the
Body, but not the Soul or Life of Man, that is conceived to be immortal,
or a Spirit that is so invisible, that cannot be seen nor known what it
is, and that it can live of it self when it is gone out of the Body.
Thus the Imagination of Reason the Devil, hath created its own Soul in
its own Image and Likeness; and this hath been the Occasion of producing
of Familiar Spirits, and of dealing with those that have a Familiar
Spirit, being conformed to the very Image of the Devil. Many Things more
of the like Nature might be said in this Point.
But here the Reader may see if there be any true Light of Faith in him,
how the Imagination of Reason in Man hath created Spirits without
Bodies, and that the Devil is a Body-less Spirit, and in Hell-fire, and
in a Chain of Darkness, and yet at Liberty at the same time to tempt
People; and in Hell-fire, and yet out of the Fire when he pleaseth; and
that he may be called out of Hell, or out of the Ground, when a Witch by
her Familiar Spirit doth call; and that he shall appear in any Shape
they will have him, yet he shall have no Body nor Substance, but a mere
Shadow; yet this Shadow shall speak with a low Voice or Speech out of
the Ground; as if Speech could proceed from a Shadow without Substance.
So that the Imagination of the Heart of Man hath created to it self a
Devil, that God never created; and the Imagination of Man's Heart hath
created his own Soul in the Image and Likeness of the Devil, that is to
say, a Spirit without a Body; and that a Spirit without a Body may be
capable of Joy or Sorrow; and that a Spirit may subsist and have a being
in Joy or Sorrow without a Body, which Thing is impossible.
But observe the Creation that the Imagination of Man hath created to
himself; for it is the Nature of Imagination of Reason the Devil, he
always creates Spirits without Bodies, but God the Creator he always
creates Spirits and Bodies together, for God never created any Spirit
without a Body; for when God made Man after his own Image and Likeness,
he made him with a Body as well as a Spirit, else Man could not be made
in the Image and Likeness of God, if God had a Body of his own as well
as a Spirit.
So that _Adam_ was made or created in the Image and Likeness of God; for
_Adam_ had a visible Body and Spirit, undivided and unseparable one from
the other; they were but one visible sensible Being, and when the Life
was dead the Body was dead, and when the Body is really dead, the Spirit
and Life was and is dead also; and both are laid in the Ground together,
as is declared in all our Writings, but more especially in that Book
entituled, _The Mortality of the Soul_.