John Lacy: From ‘The General Delusion Of Christians’- Concerning Revelation By Voice In Scripture

Title page of the 1713 edition

of ‘The General Delusion of Christians’.

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Today’s sharing from the blue House of Via-HYGEIA is an excerpt from ‘The General Delusion of Christians, Touching the Ways of God’s revealing Himself, To, and by the Prophets evinced from Scripture and Primitive Antiquity’, commonly attributed to John Lacy. It is a treatise in four parts, printed by Samuel Keimer and sold by S. Noble, T. Harrison, and Jos. Archer in London, in the year 1713.

After reading in Charles Mopsik’s study, ‘The Network Of Souls In Qabbalah‘, in which we read from rabbi Hayyim Vital:’When you will get tired to read the text, if you are able, it is possible that in your mouth the soul of this ancient master settles in, and that it will wear it during your reading. Then, while your are carrying on this reading, he will speak through your mouth and will give you his greetings. And any question you will ask him by the mind, he will answer. He will talk through your mouth and your ears will hear his words. It will not be you speaking to yourself, but he will. It is the secret of the verse: ‘The spirit of YHVH spoke in me and his speech was upon my tongue.‘(II Samuel 23:20).’

And also, after reading from Mansour Al-Hallaj, in his ‘The Book of Tawasin‘: ‘Towards Him, God transported me until the ‘ha’ of truth through the promise, the pact and the given assurance. My secret being has testified without my consciousness. This secret of mine is beyond the path. God has called me out from the garden of my heart, then His Voice lands on my tongue.’

The text we present below is an immediate echo, a responding harmony gushing from the mountain to the calls made by the two masters mentioned above.  It is from Part I, ‘The Spirit of Prophecy defended from Scripture & Primitive Antiquity‘, Chapter IV and is titled: ‘Concerning Revelation by Voice in Scripture‘. From page 47 to 55.

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I-An introduction

to John Lacy

‘French Prophets’, the name given in England to a movement formed by the Camisards, who came over to England about 1706, and who brought with them the ‘gift of prophecy’, and soon made converts in England. They obtained, for some time, considerable success, having their admiring followers not only in London but also in the chief provincial towns.

The most prominent Englishman among the French Prophets, John Lacy, was born in Saffron Walden in Essex in 1664. He was a prosperous Justice of the Peace, a married man and one of the leading members of the Presbyterian congregation of Westminster Chapel. He was also a close friend of Sir Richard Bulkeley, and an active member of the ‘Society for the Reformation of Manners‘.

In 1706, after hearing the leaders of the Camisard movement and their 3 prophets, Elie Marion, Jean Cavalier de Sauve and Durand Fage who just took refuge in England from France where they were persecuted by king Louis XIV and his armies, and after talking to the many protestant refugees from the Cévennes, Lacy became convinced that their utterances represented ‘the Truth of Divine Inspiration‘.

In 1707 he published a translation of the ‘Théâtre Sacré des Cévennes,’ by Francis Maximilian Misson, as ‘A Cry from the Desert‘. In his Preface he observes that the contortions and agitations of the inspirés resembled those of the Old Testament prophets who also displayed ‘divers strange Gestures of Body’. For Lacy the miracles in the Cévennes were only the prelude to a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which was to be centered on England and was ‘speedily expected’. This he followed up with ‘Prophetical Warnings of Elias Marion’, London, 1707.

Shortly afterwards Lacy himself became the first English convert to receive the ‘gift’ of prophecy. On the very day that he delivered his translation to the printer, 1st March 1707, he was seized with ‘bodily agitations’, and some months later, in June, he made his first prophetic pronouncements. He subsequently became a leading figure in the movement. He put his outward respectability, his lucid pen and his legal expertise to the service of the group and organized rental of the meeting house in the Barbican. He also published a number of justifications (A Via-Hygeia note: like the one we are highlighting today, attributed to him) and accounts of his own experience, and three volumes of utterances, entitled ‘The Prophetic Warnings of John Lacy‘.

In these works Lacy emphasizes that he did not consider himself marked out or deserving of special distinction. His pronouncements ‘under the Spirit’ were completely outside his voluntary control. The onset of the Spirit’s descent was marked by ‘agitations’ which characteristically came upon him fifteen minutes or so in advance of his prophecies – heaving of the chest, gasping and ‘hiccupping’. On one occasion he was recorded as seeming to levitate and be thrown across the room. According to Lacy the agitations ‘sensibly refresh the Body’ and ‘do not waste the Spirits, but exhilarate’. Emotional catharsis followed the Spirit’s departure. Lacy also performed automatic writing – his fingers would contract of their own accord and his hand would write out divine warnings. He would ‘speak in tongues’, Greek, Latin & French, which he did not understand in his waking state since, unlike his older brothers, he had not received a university education.

In the course of late 1707 and 1708, Lacy found himself the vehicle for a number of miraculous cures. Little was heard of Lacy in his final decades. In 1723 he published a last defense of prophecy, ‘The Scene of Delusions‘ in 1723. He died in 1730 at the age of sixty-six.  (Source: Rodama 1789. See link below)

Via Hygeia note: It is telling that when the French Prophets movement started, the Philadelphian society (John Porddage, Jane Lead, Thomas Bromley, Richard Roach, Francis Lee…) was more or less dormant and did not have any regular activities anymore (due to the death of the founding members or change of spiritual orientations). When the early meetings of the French prophets were initiated, many of the remaining Philadelphian Society members flocked to them, seeing them as a renewed call to action, a rekindling of their wish to have some timely social activism to reform and transform society to make it a mirror of the Heavenly Jerusalem. One of them, Richard Roach, has documented the whole French Prophets episode to the great joy of modern historians studying the period.

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II-The General Delusion of Christians

Chapter IV

§1. As it is obvious from the Scripture style, that all Manner of Revelation, is sometimes comprehended under the Word VISION; the like might be observed possibly, as frequently to be, in that of the VOICE. Particularly, in all those places very numerous, wherein the People of Israel are summoned, attentively to hear His voice; for instance, in Deuteronomy XVIII: 17-19: ‘ The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.  I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.‘ Blessings are most solemnly pronounced on the Obedient to it, and severe judgement denounced upon those who should not obey it. Moreover, Expostulations to hearken to the Voice of the Lord, occur often, not only in the Books of Moses, and sometimes in the Historical, but throughout all the Prophets. Furthermore as the most general Expression of the Prophets Commission, is, that the Word of the Lord came to him, we do readily grant, that the same ay comprehend all the several Ways of Revelation; but then, what is nearest to the literal sense, of those and such like terms, ought not to be excluded, from being contained within the meaning of them; and in Consequence, there is sufficient Reason from thence to conclude, that the Way of Revelation by Voice, or on Man’s part, by a perception of the ear, was much more frequent, than we find the same otherwise distinctly expressed.

§2. It is not, however, unworthy of Observation, that besides an articulate Voice, there are Sounds mentioned, to be formed in the Ear of Man, which were not articulate, and yet nevertheless from Him, who formed the Ear. Among these, is to be reckoned that in 2 Samuel, V: 24, where we find the sound of a going (Via-Hygeia note: the sound of people marching) (whatever it was) on the top of the Mulberry Trees, given by the Lord, a sign to David, that when he heard it, then he should attack the Camps of the Philistines. And thus, when Elijah has pronounced the Word of the Lord touching an incredible plenty in Samaria, the Day following, 2 Kings, VII: 6. The same Jehova, made the army of the Besiegers, to hear a noise of Chariots, and a noise of a great Host (Via-Hygeia note: A great number of people); whilst it is apparent, the besieged in Samaria, head nothing of it; wherefore we have ground to conceive, that the Sound abovesaid, was formed miraculously in their ears, as the former in those of David, and not from any Concussion in the air. Thus, also we have  Reason to think, touching that Sound which came from Heaven at the Day of Pentecost, Acts II: 2, as or like to that, of a mighty rushing Wind, which filled the House, that is, the Sound filled the ears of all in it; for it does not appear, that any Wind attended, or that the Noise of such a Hurricane, was heard abroad; therefore, this also seems a Sound miraculously formed in the Ear, and the Terror of it, no more inconsistent with the Spirit of God to perform than that of a still Voice. In like manner, the Voice of the Alpha and the Omega, is described to us, to affect St. John, like the Sound of many Waters, Revelation, I:15. And elsewhere, there is Mention of Thunders, Harps, trumpets and whirlwinds; but the Trump of God mean, 1 Thessalonians IV:16. It becomes us more, to express with fear, than now presumptuously to define.

§3. Besides what has been already hinted of those general Terms in Scripture, that imply, though not expressly defined, a Revelation by Voice; there is Mention of living Oracles, received, Acts 7: 38. Where the Word λογια (logia) rendered Oracles, is by the ancient Translation rendered Word, or Speeches; signifying the Response of a Deity, to the prayers of his Worshipers, whether applied to the oracles of Idols, or to that of the only true God. Therefore, as this term Oracle, alludes properly to a Voice distinctly heard, without any Angelic Apparition pronouncing it; the Application thereof to Moses in that Text, of hearing such living Oracles, will abundantly be made out to belong to this subject; if Men are inclined heedfully to observe the usual Practice of Moses in approaching the Tabernacle, upon emergent Occasions, and obtaining such Responses thence. This Way of Revelation however, was not limited to Moses, though to him God spoke, as one Friend to another and therein he exceeded all Prophets. But Isaiah says, Chapter 1 line 2. ‘The Lord has opened mine ear‘; and chapter LIII. ‘Who hath believed our HEARING?‘ for so the Hebrew runs, and most carry it. The same word occurs, Jeremiah, 49: 14, ‘I have heard a HEARING from the Lord‘; and Obadiah in the first Verse heard the like, and the same Hebrew Word, as in all those other Texts, is rendered by the English, Habakkuk, III 2 & 16, ‘I have heard thy SPEECH, and was afraid‘ & ‘and when I heard, my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the Voice, Rottenness entered into my Bones, and I trembled in my self’: From which instance it is evident that this Way of Revelation was very usual to the Prophets; and from the Effects attending it on Habakkuk, and others Instances here following, we are bound to believe, that the Divine Utterance was not, always without Terror, notwithstanding what some Men assert to the contrary; who proudly love to impose their own foolish Schemes and Systems, upon the Almighty.

§4. Our first parents heard the Voice of the Lord God, walking in Paradise; and as they had Time after it to hide themselves, the Sound must be at some distance, the Chaldee renders it, ‘the voice of the Speech of the Lord God‘; which answers to that Description in Ezekiel 1: 24. ‘I heard the Noise of their Wings like the Noise of great Waters, as the Voice of the Almighty; the Voice of Speech as the Noise of a Host.‘ Some annotators on the Text, do not stick to assert, that this Voice, in Paradise, of the Lord God was probably formed by an Angel: Thus also, after a Vision to Abraham the Word (η φωνή, ο Λόγος, The Voice) of the Lord came to him, Genesis XV: 4 and upon his offering up of Isaac, the Angel of Jehovah called (בְּקוֹל רָם, aloud) unto him out of Heaven, (or the Heavens) ‘Abraham, Abraham!‘, Chapter XXII: 11-15-16 which being repeated, the Angelic Voice said, ‘by myself have I sworn‘; wherein the Authority of God speaking, and of the Angel speaking, is indistinguishable; as also where it is written,’God heard, and the Angels of God called to Hagar’. Chapter XXI: 17-18, saying. ‘I will make Ishmael a great Nation.’

§5. But now to enquire into the Manifestation vouch-safed to that glorious Person, to whom the Invisible spoke, Numbers XII: 8 ‘Mouth to Mouth, even  apparently, and not in dark Speeches‘: Mouth to Mouth, is rendered by the Chaldee, ‘Speech for Speech‘; and the whole means familiarly and plainly, by Interlocution, as Friend with Friend, mutually interchanging Discourses, one to another; wherein the Ineffable stooped to the plain Dialect of Men, without those dark Parabolical Expressions, used by Him, to other Prophets. And here, Henry Ainsworth in his ‘Annotations on the Pentateuch‘, tells us that the Hebrew Doctors affirm, ‘that all the Prophets, except Moses, prophesied by the Hands (or Influence) of an Angel; and thereby it was, that they saw, and spoke in Parables, and dark Speeches’. Surely, then, in this Clearness of the Deity’s Manifestation to Moses, he exceeded not only all the Prophets of the Old, but of the New Testament also, seeing that Saint Paul in his Epistles, mentions the speaking in a mystery, and that he saw through a glass, in a Riddle, and not Face to Face, as Moses. The dark Speeches in the Text of Numbers above cited, is in all the ancient translations of the Polyglotte, rendered, Riddles, being the same Word that the Holy Spirit in Saint Paul makes use of. Wherefore a Difficulty or Darkness in the Terms and Expressions, is never to be judged inconsistent with the Spirit of Prophecy, in a lesser Degree, than that of Moses, notwithstanding what our Modern Divines allege to the contrary.

§6. And yet, though the Manifestation of the INVISIBLE, was so bright to Moses, and that in Comparison with other Prophets, it was apparently, and theirs in dark Speeches; his was Face to Face, and theirs through a glass darkly; the Observation however of the Hebrew Doctors that his was without any Medium, or Angelic Interposition, in the Manner of Revelation, cannot be allowed’; for where it is written, ‘that Moses went up unto God, Exodus XIX: 3, the Arabic favors, ‘unto the Angel of God‘, and the Chaldee, ‘into the presence of the Word of the Lord‘, and the Holy Spirit confirms it to be the Presence of an Angel, saying, Act VII: 38, ‘that the Angel spoke in Mount Sinai, to Moses, who there received the lively Oracles to give unto us‘: Wherefore, when it is said in the same Verse, that the Lord ‘called unto him out of the Mountain‘, we have full Authority to understand it, of a Voice formed by the Angel, which by the Ninth Verse appears to be so loud, that it was heard by the People in the Camp; in the Nineteenth Verse, Moses spoke, saying Hebrew XII: 21, ‘I exceedingly fear and quake‘ and God answered him by a Voice’, or as the Chaldee has it, ‘It was answered him, from the presence of the Lord, by a Voice‘; and as the Text adds, ‘that the Lord came down upon the Mount Sinai‘, the Arabic has it, ‘The Angel of God appeared upon Mount Sinai’ ; all which considered, and compared with what we find in the New Testament, that the Law was given and ordained by Angels; we have assured Foundation of Confidence, that Moses himself, notwithstanding the clear and apparent Manner of Manifestation, was not without the intercourse between Jehova, and him therein.

§7. But further, touching this bright Manner of the Communion of Moses with God, we read, Exodus XXXIII: 9 & 11, that when Moses entered into the Tabernacle, the cloudy Pillar (elsewhere construed the Sign of the Angel going before, and behind the Camp) descended and stood at the door of it, and the Lord talked with Moses, and spoke unto him, Face to Face, as Man speaketh unto his Friend: Now, because in the Twentieth Verse, it is said, ‘no Man can see my Face‘, we must not understand, that by speaking Face to face, was meant any form of God’s Essence; therefore, if any form appeared, it was by an Angel: But, as there is no Need to suppose any Form at all present; the speaking Face to Face, means the Manner of the Voice, to be kind and familiar; as the Chaldee expresses it, ‘Speech to Speech‘; and for this kind and familiar Correspondances of God with Moses, we have another notable Instance, Numbers VII: 89, where ‘Moses went into the Tabernacle to speak with him (Vulgate Latin: ‘to consult the Oracle‘) then he heard  the Voice of One (Greek: ‘The Lord‘, Chaldee: ‘The Spirit‘) speaking unto him, from off the Mercy Seat, between the Cherubim‘; so that the Voice came out from Heaven, to between the Cherubim, and from thence it came out, into the tent of the Congregation, as the Rabbis described it (in Ainsworth).

§8. Now, to descend from that illustrious Manner of Manifestation to Moses, to the more common and ordinary One, by Voice: After that, the Angel of the Lord to Gideon, Judges VII: 21-23, departed out of his sight, or vanished and disappeared, Jehovah said unto him, ‘fear not, thou shall not die‘; whereupon the Critics assert, that these Words, were formed in the air by the Angel, after he disappeared: Thus in the case of Samuel also, when the Lord called him by Names, 1Samuel III: 4. The Voice (it seems) went out from the Holy of the Holies, and passing by the interjacent Space (where Eli lay) reached Samuel, who lay beyond it; and though afterwards, there is some Appearance of Vision, accompanying the Voices to Samuel, yet in the 21st Verse it is said again, the Lord revealed Himself to him in Shiloh, by Voice, or Speech (as the Chaldee, the Syrian & the Arabic have it); wherefore this excellent Person, who has that Singular Privilege recorded of him, that he was known (in the Greek: ‘Believed‘) from  one End of Israel to the other, to be a Prophet, constituted of God, enjoyed much of Divine Communication by Voice; for the Day before Saul came to him, 1 Samuel IX: 15, the Lord has told Samuel in his ear (the Hebrew and the Greek say: ‘uncovered his ear‘) that is, secretly or by low voice; as when we whisper to a Person, we uncover his ear: Thus also, when Samuel saw Saul the Lord said to him (the Chaldee says:’from before the Lord, it was said to him‘): ‘Behold the Man, Of whom i spoke to thee.‘

§9. Elias also, who in some respects, is honored above all Prophets, and stands next to Moses, was well acquainted with this Manner of Revelation to the Ear; for, being in a Cave at Horeb, the Mount of God- (the Chaldee says: ‘where the Glory of the Lord was revealed‘) Jehovah passed by, 1 Kings, XI: 13. And the Evidences of it  were, a strong Wind renting the Mountains, after that an Earthquake, and after that, a Fire; but the Lord (the Chaldee says: ‘the Glory, Shekinah or Majesty, of the Lord) was not in all these; after those, the Still Small Voice (the Greek and Vulgate Latin it say: ‘the whistling of a gentle Air‘, the Chaldee  & the Arabic say: ‘a small Voice of Singing) brought forth Elias, from the Cave to attend; and behold, there came an articulate Voice to him, saying: ‘what dost thou here Elijah?‘ Again, when King Ahaziah had sent to Beelzebub, (the Greek gives: ‘the lord of the flies‘, the Angel of the Lord, 2 Kings I: 3 to 15, without any Apparition, and so either by Voice heard, or inward Inspiration (which some Annotators remark) bid him go meet the King’s Messenger; in like Manner, when the two Captains of Fifty were consumed with Fire, the Angel of the Lord spoke to him, to go down with the third.

§10. Though the Manner of the small Voice to Helias, be judged by the Rabbis to have been that, which the sole Arbiter of his own Ways, thought good to use, from between the Cherubim, over the Mercy Seat; yet to let Man know, he is not measured by that, or any other like Outward Rule, we have these further Instances of a different kind; for if the Lord was so in the Whirlwind to Job, and spoke out of it twice, Job XXXVIII & Job XL:6. And not much otherwise, is that of Ezekiel, who when the Spirit took him, a Voice of a great Rushing, Ezekiel III: 12, saying, ‘blessed be the Glory of the Lord from his Place’: We may also from the Effect, justly conceive the Voice which fell from Heaven (or the Heavens) not to have been without Terror, that said to Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel IV: 31, ‘Thy Kingdom is departed from thee‘: whether this were, by the Agency of an Angel or not, the Learned do well not to determine, seeing that it makes no difference in the Authority; and the Instrumentalists of those Heavenly Powers, is so clearly asserted in this Way of Revelation by Voice, that even that Matchless Communication of God to Moses, was not without it, as has already appeared.

§11. After the Baptism of Jesus, and the Spirit of God was seen to descend upon him; there are some Ancient Authorities mentioned by Doctor Mills, that had: ‘And there shined a great light round about that place‘; the like whereof was at Saint Paul‘s Conversion, and bears a Parallel to the Shekinah, or most majestic Manifestation of the Divine Presence mentioned in the Old Testament; but however that was,’Behold, a Voice from Heaven‘, Matthew III: 17, saying, ‘this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased‘; touching which most Sacred Oracle, there are some of no mean Account among the Men of Letters, that understand it, of the Words of God, pronounced through the Instrumentality of an Angel: at another Time, whilst our Lord Redeemer was at Prayer, John XII: 28 & 29, and said: ‘Father, glorify thy Name!, then came there a Voice, from Heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again!‘; the people therefore that stood by and heard it, saying that it thundered, others said: yes, an Angel spoke to him; Jesus answered, ‘this Voice came for your sakes.’ The conjoined Sounds of Thunder, and Voices are several Times in the Apocalypse, noted in the Angelic Celebrations above; nor do they here, disagree at all: in the Rattling of Thunder, and articulate Voice was heard; and his Followers (for the Sake of whom it came) did not differ, since both (for any thing appears) were true; and our Lord reproves them not, for ascribing it to an Angel. A third Time was our Lord attested to, by a Voice that came from Heaven, 2 Peter I: 17 & 18, ‘from the excellent Glory, when he received from God the Father Honor and Glory‘; the History whereof we have thus: after our Savior’s Transfiguration on the Mount, and his Colloquy there with Moses & Elias, Luke IX: 33 to 35, as these departed from him, and while Peter spoke, so that he know not what he said, ‘there came a Cloud and overshadowed them, and whilst they feared as they entered into the Cloud, there came a Voice out of the Cloud, saying, ‘this is my beloved Son, hear him‘. Wherefore, it is no little Recommandation to us, of this method of Divine Revelation, that our blessed Lord Himself, is said to have received Honor from his Father, on that Occasion, wherein this also had a Share. But seing there are in the Text, three designation of Time, remarked of this Occurrence, that it was: ‘As Moses & Helias departed him‘ and ‘As Peter yet spoke‘, and ‘As the bright Cloud overshadowed them‘, The Voice came out of it’, these do not hinder, but that the Transaction was very short, wherein the same was heard.

§12. In the Vision, Saint Peter had, of the Beasts and the Fowls; separated from it, there came a Voice to him from Heaven, Acts XI: 9 to 12, three Times; but whether, the Command the spirit gave him, to go with the Men (then immediately standing at the door) ought to be ascribed also to his Head, is dubious; However, so sacred was this Way of Revelation held, even by the Opposers of the Apostles, that the Pharisee, touching Saint Paul could say, Acts XIII:9, ‘If a Spirit or an Angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God‘, therefore that Apostle, when he had informed King Agrippa, Acts XXVI: 13 & 14, that ‘he saw on the road at Noon Day, a Light above the brightness of the Sun, shining from Heaven round about him, and therewith heard a Voice Speaking to him’; what he adds, that ‘he was not disobedient to it’, must needs have the Consciences of all concur, to approve him for. But to add no more Observations on this Head of Revelation, it surely deserves some Notice, that the vast Scheme of things, which Jesus sent, and signified by an Angel, unto his Servant John (to be testified to the Church) was introduced, by a great Voice, as of a Trumper, heard behind him, Revelations I: 10 to 12, and the Apostle turning towards the Voice, that spoke with him, saw and heard all the rest of the many visions in that Book.

§13. There is a Tradition received among the Hebrew Rabbis, that after the Jews returned from Babylon, and their building of the Second Temple, they had in it, the Use of a Voice or Echo, which they called Beth-Koll, that is the Daughters of a Voice; as it were one Voice proceeding out of another, in the Manner of an Echo. Some think, it was with distinct and plain Words; others not; However, this Matter be, it ought not to be confounded with the Manner of Voices, herein recited to be heard by the Prophets’ Seeing the Jews themselves, who delivered us this Tradition, do sufficiently distinguish it from them. It being our Business therefore, to build only, upon what is of more authority than human Traditions, touching Divine Revelations; let us now proceed, to that of ‘Prophetic Visions in Scripture‘.

End of Chapter IV

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