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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	aaron_n	appear_v	day_n	28	3	3.8814	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54177	The new witnesses proved old hereticks, or, Information to the ignorant in which the doctrines of John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton, which they stile, mysteries never before known, revealed, or heard of from the foundation of the world, are proved to be mostly ancient whimsies, blasphemies and heresies, from the evidence of Scripture, reason and several historians : also an account of some discoourse betwixt L.M. and my self, by which his blasphemous, ignorant and unsavory spirit is clearly and truly manifested, in love to the immortal souls of those few, who are concern'd in the belief of his impostures / by a living true witness to that one eternal way of God, revealed in the light of righteousness W.P.	Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1672 (1672)	Wing P1326; ESTC R15258	38,470	64

Earth behold the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him 1 Kings 8.27 2 Chron. 2.6 chap. 6.18 If the Earth on which dwells so many Millions of Men be not able to receive God as he is and in comparison of limiting him to any place suitable to such a Body as Muggleton saith he hath the very Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him Certainly this immence and infinite Beeing must be of a larger extent then the Proportion of a Mortal Man his own Creature Thirdly Who hath measured the Waters in the hollow of his hand and meeted out the Heaven with his Span and comprehended the Dust of the Earth in a measure and weighed the Mountains in scales and the Hills in a Ballance Isa 40.12 He that cannot measure the Waters in the hollow of his Hand and meet out the Heaven with his Span and comprehend the Dust of the Earth in a Measure and weigh the Mountains in Scales and the Hills in a Ballance is not the true God but a Godd of mans stature can never do that therefore the true God is not such a one neither can such a one be the true God Fourthly To whom then will ye liken God What Likeness will ye compare unto him the Workman melteth a Graven Image and the Gold-smith spreadeth it over with Gold Have ye not known have ye not heard hath it not been told you from the Beginning have ye not understood from the Foundations of the Earth It is he that sits upon the Circle of the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof are as Grass-Hoppers that stretches out the Heavens as a Curtain and spreads them out as a Tent to dwell in Isa 40.18 19 21 22. In this Passage is a most pregnant Overthrow of this vain Opinion 1. That God of whom man can make a Likeness is not the true God but such a one is Muggleton's therefore not the true God 2. If God was of mans figure and stature then Gold-smiths were able to make his Likeness but this the Scriptures utterly deny and ask what likeness will ye compare unto him therefore God is not in the bodily shape of a man 3. God by his Prophet disdaineth all such vain Conceits and lest any should think so meanly of him he gives his own Character Have ye not heard hath it not been told you from the Beginning it is he that sitteth on the Circle of the Earth and to whom the Inhabitants thereof are as Grass-Hoppers who stretches out the Heavens as a Curtain and spreads them out as a Tent to dwell in Fifthly God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth John 4.24 If God be a Spirit he is either a finite or an infinite Spirit a finite he cannot be and be God therefore an infinite one If God be an infinite and immence Spirit which are tearms reciprocal then not a Body of a little more then five Foot high as blasphemous ignorant and sottish Reeve and Muggleton darkly imagine but the only wise and invisible God is that infinite Spirit therefore not confin'd to any bodily shape Sixthly For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh for sin condemned sin in the Flesh Rom. 8.3 But made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of men Phil. 2.7 By the likeness of sinful Flesh and was made in the likeness of men we understand and grant Christ's taking upon him not only a shape of a man but the Flesh and Blood of a Virgin the Question will then be this Whether Christ had this shape before he took it If he had he took it after he had it which is absurd if not he was before he had it and if he was before he had it either he was like his Father or he was not if not then not his Son if he was then because the Scripture declares him to have taken upon him the likeness of a man which supposeth him to have had a Beeing before he took it God is not in the likeness of sinful Flesh nor made in the likeness of men but is the divine immortal Substance of which Christ was the express Image before he took upon him the form of a Servant or was made in the likeness of men which take notice are both joyned together as Expressions of his Condiscension as the following verse also shews and in being found in the fashion of a man as being a new and uncouth thing to him he humbled himself and became obedient unto Death c. This was in the day he took upon him the form of a Servant and likeness of Man making himself of no Reputation and not whilst he was in the form of God when he thought it no Robbery to be equal with God In short If that only makes equal with God which is found in the form of God then that which is in the form of a Servant and in the likeness of men is not in that state equal to God and if that be so as it is if Scripture be true certainly there is ground to believe that Reeve and Muggleton are not a little out of the Way in asserting That God's Form is the Pattern or Image man's Body was made by But here I expect to meet with an Objection that it may be fit to remove as that only one which can carry any colour of an Answer with it Object Most of these Scriptures especially out of the Prophets onely intend to shew God's Soveraign Power and not that he is not a Peson as I assert him to be Thus far Muggleton and his Company I Reply All Scriptures either import a literal or a mystical sense and either would serve us against this false Witness if he sayes they should be construed mystically I will tell him that he must give us the same liberty in that place to do the like Let us make man after our own Image for they only collect from that Passage God's Image by man's likeness but in many of the places urged by me those Members which in a litteral sense denote a Body like to man's are particularly mention'd We will never allow him to allegorize the more litteral and litterize the more allegorical if the one must be litteral let the other be so too especially there being more ground for it To Conclude if he will interpret God's Hands and Arms and Span to signifie his Power as is most true then will I also explain God's Image to be Holiness which is also true But if he will have it that because God made man after his Image and that man has an Head Eyes Nose Mouth Ears Hands c. therefore God has such too I will infer because the Scriptures say He span'd the Heaven with his Right hand and rid upon the Circle of the Earth That he really and bodily did

Phantastick and Imaginary Persons is a Consequence of the former namely the Mortality of the Soul That the Soul and Body go to Dust and rise together at a general Resurrection That it is inconsistent with SCRIPTURE I prove First And the Lord God formed Man of the Dust of the Ground and breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Life and Man became a Living Soul Gen. 2.7 If the Breath of Life made a dead Body live then the Privation of the Breath of Life makes a living Body dead since the life it has was from and is whilst that Breath inspired remains in it and if so then not the Soul but the Body dyes 2. This is further proved thus If it was living Breath before it entred into the Body it must be living Breath after it is withdrawn from the Body since the Body makes no alteration upon it but it upon the Body as from a life-less Heap to a living Body and from a living to a dead Body again 3. Though some of those things which are living may dye because they live by the borrowed or lent Life of another yet very Life as Life cannot dye for since Life and Death are contrary as Light and Darkness because very Light can never in it self be utterly extinguished by Darkness so as to become very Darkness nor Truth Vntruths by Error it is impossible that the Breath of Life or Soul of Man can suffer death as here understood for that were very annihilation it self or being from an intelligent Something made Nothing Secondly And he cryed unto the Lord and said O Lord my God hast thou also brought Evil upon the Widdow with whom I sojourn by slaying her Son And he stretched himself over the Child Three times and cryed and said O Lord my God I pray thee Let this Child's Soul come into him again And the Lord heard the Voice of Elijah and the Soul of the Child came into him again and he revived 1 Kings 17.20 21 22. If the Soul was with-drawn when the Body lay dead as the place proveth then the Soul lay not dead from all Motion Life and Heat in the Body as one inseparable Lump But the Soul was separated and when it did return according to Elijah's Prayer and had resumed its forsaken dead Body it revived the Body again therefore the Soul dyed not with the Body nor at all inasmuch as if it had dyed when separated it could not have revived the dead Body when returned In short This place most expresly proves 1st The Body's death from the Soul's separation 2dly The Soul 's certain departure from the Body 3dly The Soul 's living after separation Thirdly Then shall the Dust return to the Dust as it was and the Spirit to God that gave it Eccl. 12.7 This place very evidently harmonizeth with the former and is a pregnant Instance to the Confutation of that Atheistical Opinion and as pertinent here as where mentioned For as Man is composed of Body and Spirit so they have two Originals the one from below Dust the other from above the Breath of Life They have also two Dooms the Dust to the Dust from whence it came the Soul to God from whence it came to be by him sentenced to the Blessed or Cursed State forever according to the end of that Chapter For God will bring every secret thing to Judgment from whence I argue 1. That only can properly return to Earth that came from it that is Dust But the Soul never came from Dust nor Earth as Reeve and Muggleton affirm p. 45. T.S.T. Therefore it is impossible that the Soul can truly be said to return to the Earth 2. That which returns to God is what more immediately and eminently came from him and that cannot dye But the Soul doth to the end aforesaid Therefore the Soul came from him and dyeth not neither can it with the Body return to Dust Fourthly Be not afraid of them that kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do Luke 12.4 If Reeve and Muggleton speak Truth then he that kills the Body kills the Soul too for he cannot kill the one without the other But Christ Jesus the Author of Truth and Salvation saith The Body may be killed by Man and the Soul remain alive therefore Reeve and Muggleton are Lyars against Christ and his Doctrine The Body's Death is Natural the Soul 's Spiritual Mans Power extendeth but to one and consequently the latter is independent of the former Fifthly For me to live is Christ to dye is Gain but if I live in the Flesh or Body this is the Fruit of my Labour yet what I shall chose I wot not for I am in a streight betwixt two having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1.21 23. From whence I plainly argue 1. If to dye was Gain then he was not to enjoy less of that divine Consolation which he had living since to live was Christ But he that has lain Body and Soul One Thousand Six Hundred Years in the Grave and may for ought we know One Thousand Six Hundred more must needs have lost not only a little but all that he enjoyed Living instead of further Gain Therefore I infer Their Principle of the Soul's Mortality is contrary to the Testimony of the Apostle for with him to dye was Gain That this was the Apostle's sence I proceed yet further to make appear from his own words 2. The Reason of his streight was Whether to live to serve Christ or dye to enjoy him But this had been no streight if he was to lose what he had and not to enjoy him after departure in any sense as the Dead don't therefore it was not the Apostle's Judgment though it was Wicked Reeve's and Blasphemous Muggleton's That the Soul is deprived with the Body by Death of all Divine Enjoyments of God or Punishment from him till the Day of Resurrection For the Apostle counted it far better to depart and be with Christ which had been a Vain if an In-obtainable Desire as would follow from their Anti-Scriptural Opinion Sixthly And when he had opened the Fifth Seal I saw under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony which they had held and they cryed with a loud Voice saying How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not Judge and Avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth Revel 6.9 10. If their Souls lived after their Bodies were Slain then they did not dye together but the Scripture proves their Souls lived after their Bodies were Slain for they cryed for Vengeance on the Blood-thirsty Inhabitants of the World therefore Souls are not Mortal as Bodies are In short Their Bodies were slain their Souls were alive their Bodies were in the Grave their Souls under the Altar worshipping God Day and Night forever and ever That this is against REASON I further Prove First

shall not be your Ruin How long would I have gathered you and ye would not But now God commands all to Repent God is no Respecter of Persons but they that fear him in every Age shall be accepted c. with many more they make him but to Complement with Wicked Men and speak them fair in words meaning nothing less in his Heart having Pre-ordained them to eternal Wrath. Fifthly This Principle would defile his eternally inherent Holiness by making him as well the Father of Sin as of Destruction for men are either Damned for something or for nothing if for nothing that were most Wicked in these Predestinarians account then for something and what is that Sin very well and how came they to this sin they committed it and how came they to do so they would do it why could they have avoided it by no means where 's the Difference then betwixt being Damn'd for not doing what they could not and doing nothing The Predestination was not that all Evil Men that wilfully withstood Mercy should be Damned for they were ordained never to receive it but that such a Number consisting of such and such particular Persons should Vnalterably and Vnavoidably be Damned only to Glorifie God Sixthly But this would stain the Glory of the Almighty in that neither in himself nor from the Redemption and Salvation of the souls of men his Glory is great enough unless it be compleated in the Eternal Destruction of far the greatest part of Mankind Seventhly This destroyes all Good Works for may all say Neither can my Good nor Evil Works make one Hair white or black add or diminish in reference to God's unalterable Decree and therefore will I give my self unto the Liberty of the Flesh and enjoy the Pleasures of this Life whilst I can have them Eighthly It destroyes all Government since who cares how desperate he is or what Injury he does who conceiting to himself his Post is pitcht his State set and that unchangeably but breaking all Laws takes his Revenge on what would bring him to condign Punishment for his Exorbitancies To conclude and come somewhat closer to the Persons concerned What signifies their coming to call them to repent that cannot be saved if they do Or to warn such to repent that cannot be damned What signifies their Commission or their Cursing or Blessing For can they bless him to Life that is ordained before-hand to be damned Or can they curse him to Death who is pre-ordained to Eternal Life If therefore Men are pre-ordained to Salvation or Damnation to what purpose should any fear their Curse or prize their Blessing since neither can alter or change the Condition of any Person and what more contrary to the Mind of the Merciful God who is willing that all should come unto the Knowledge of the Truth and be saved That Antiquity both knew and abhorr'd this Opinion is Manifest Josephus in his 18th Book of Antiquities and 2d Chap. also Epiphanius in his Preface to his first Book of Heresie again Eusebius in his 5th Book chap. 13. and Socrates in his 1st Book and chap. 17. and you will be fully informed of the Abettors of this dangerous and Wicked Opinion namely a Sect of the Pharisees also Florinus Blastus against whom Ireneus Bishop of Lyons in France wrote two Epistles and a Book call'd Ogdous wherein he tells Florinus That when himself was a Child and with Famous Christian Polycarpus who conversed with John that conversed with Christ he remembred him to be busie about the Emperors Court and further tells him that had the Apostle John but lived to have heard that Damnable Doctrine which makes God the Author of Evil he would have said Good God unto what times half Thou reserved me and tells him that in Publishing so Wicked an Opinion he had declared that which all the Hereticks before had never durst to pronunce plainly with much more to this purpose against him the Sect called Manichees from one Manes held and promoted this Opinion of Fatal destiny who Muggleton-like is reported to have called himself Christ and the Comforter and published the Work of one Buddas in his own Name calling It a New Dispensation All which Reader I assure thee Histories do inform Us to have been known in the 2d 3 4 5 and 600. Years after Christ which is above a 1000. Years since In which Time many were the Impudent Spirits that assum'd to themselves as great Authority as Muggleton in Reeve's Absence doth at this time namely Simon Magus who had so far possess'd the Romans with his Sorcery of his pretended Divinity calling himself to the Samaritans the Father to the Jews the Son to the Gentiles the Holy Spirit as the Heathens erected a Statue or Image of him in the time of Claudius at Rome having this Inscription Simoni Deo Sancto to the Holy God Simon Next One Helen a Woman that accompanied him whom he called the Principle Vnderstanding much like Muggleton's Daughter who Reeve said should be the Chiefest of Women Eusebius in his 2d Book and 12 13 and 14 Chap. after this One Menander said to have been a Sorcerer and the Disciple of Simon went up and down deluding Silly Credulous People by affirming to them he was the great Power of God come down from Heaven and that all were to believe in him and be baptised in his manner or they could not be saved but those that did should never dye read Eusebius in his 3d Book Chap. 23. Ireneus Book 1. Chap. 21. Epiphan haeres 22. Again Carpocrates is reported to have like Reeves and Muggelton patch'd his Opinion who was so vain Glorious as to affirm he knew all things out of Simon Menander Nicholas from whence came the Nicolaitans in the Revelations Saturninus Basilides c. and see Epiphan Haeres 27. also Augustin of Heresies Again We find that Eusebius tells us of one Montanus whereof Montanists or Catafrygians are called taught in Phrygia that he was the Holy Ghost as may be seen in the 5th Book of Eusebius 13 14 15 16 17 Chapters Also that one Buddas affirm'd that he was born of a Virgin as true as Muggletons being the Last Witness of God This Buddas writ a Book and in his swelling Pride styl'd it Mysteries much like the Whimsies of Reeve and Muggleton in their Transcendent Spiritual Treatise next he wrote a Book called the Gospel of the Nature of Reeve and Muggleton's Divine Looking Glass His End was to break his Neck 'T is to be fear'd that a worse will be miserable Muggletons even Torment of Spirit as Reeve is said to have left the World in To conclude Noetus the Ring-Leader of that great Mystery never revealed till within these 20. years sayes Reeve and Muggleton namely the Godheads being a Man and so absolutely Flesh and Blood as that when the Body dyed the Godhead ceased and lay under Death's Power three dayes and three Nights He through the height of

his Imaginations called himself Moses and Aaron his Brother as Reeves called himself and Muggleton T.S.T. see Epiphanius Haeres 57. By all which Reader I am not without hopes but it does appear how Falsly and with what Treachery these Persons have dealt with poor silly People who not being satisfied in what they did know haye pin'd their Faith on the sleeves of such as told them things they did not know and so have been given up to believe a Lye For what is more evident then that in this very Tryal he and his deceased Colleague are found guilty of Error Treachery and great Deceit Therefore Reader delay not to passe the Just Sentence of Impostor and Counterfeit upon them and their Commission who would raise to themselves a New Sect out of the Ruins of old Heresies and that under the Pretence of Choice Revelations wherein there is no Proof beyond their bare Assertions and to make them pass forge an Authority from Heaven which loaths both them and their Lyes to back and recommend them as unheard of Mysteries O! sell not thy Reason who ever thou art enslave not thy Judgment nor rob God's Light and Grace of its Office to guide and teach thee in the Denial of those Evils that are to be forsaken and in Imbracing whatsoever ought to be followed Bring not thy self under the Power of an Ignorant Arrogant Blasphemous and Sottish Man but remember that God Almighty who cannot lye hath promised that in the last dayes He would be the Teacher of his People by his Spirit of Truth and where is the Habitation of the most-High but in the Contrite and Humble Hearts of Men For whasoever may or can be known of God is manifested within who having illuminated all and given to every Man a Talent into it Reader have thy Mind retired and wait to have it subject thereunto and thou shalt come to know him whom to know aright is Life Eternal But as I have plainly shown their abominable Cheat in obtruding Old Fables for New Revelations upon People whereby I have discharg'd the first part of my Promise So for a Confirmation of my Judgment concerning Muggleton and to accomplish this abridg'd Discourse take my following Relation with the same impartiallity that I give it thee I Have been twice to visit Lodowick Muggleton and at each time I staid too long to repeat all or the very words which passed betwixt us yet shall I faithfully write something of the matter and words as neer as I at present do remember them P. Art thou the last Witness that ever shall be Muggleton Yes and there shall never be another P. Who sent thee M. God spoke to John Reeve and he spoke to me P. Is that all thou hast to produce only J. R's word for it to this he avoided Again P. Thou sayest God did not create the Earth and the Heavens he only fathom'd them making them Co-eternal with God but Moses said he did Let me see a Bible M. Moses put the Cart before the Horse This I bore for the next Question 's sake P. Paul the Apostle who also wrote by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost saith God created all things or made them and the World is a great part of all things besides if it was before he made it in this sense must it not be God since nothing which is uncreated can be a Creature M. If Paul were living I would have reproved him for that Come not here to Dispute but Believe I say it that 's enough P. Canst thou reprove the Holy Ghost for he spake by it M. Yes P. That 's Blasphemy besides if thou sayst it must I therefore believe it because thou sayst it At this he grew inraged and but for an Acquaintance by and a Friend of his I had doubtless been Curst at that time The next time I came wich a Friend in company I found him sitting by the Chimny Corner quaffing with some of his Followers and Benefactors as what we saw before us did Evidence My first salute was thus P. How is it Lodowick methinks thou lookst with thy old thred-bare black Suit like a sequestered begging Priest M. I am a Priest P. Art thou Of what Order M. The Order of Aaron P. Aaron where be thy Bells then M. I have them in the Mystery P. Mystery for shame don't talk of a Mystery for there was some such thing that did belong to that Order things were altogether External Typical and Figurative Methinks this were enough to show that thou art no wayes concern'd in any Christian Commission who art not a Priest after the Order of Melchisedeck but Aaron whose Priesthood is at an end as said the Apostle to the Hebrews chap. 7. so that thou hast Vnchristian'd thy whole Commission and brings it under the Law of a Carnal Commandment and therefore has no Part nor Portion in the Power of an Endless Life as saith the same Apostle He interrupted M. Have a care Life and Death 's before thee therefore chuse Life and live c. P. But Lodowick Thou pretendest to know the Dimensions of God how high may he be M. Betwixt your Height and his meaning a Friend then present P. O Abominable Well L. Muggleton God will blast thee forever thou Presumptuous and Blasphemous Wretch If thou turnest not from the Wickedness with much more M. Thou shalt be Damned God has decreed thou shalt be Damned thou art of the seed of the Serpent P. Why then didst thou set Life and Death before me just now saying thou hadst more mind I should be saved then any of the Quakers if I am ordain'd to be damn'd Is it not great Deceit to exhort a man to chuse what he cannot have though he bid for it and to refuse that which he is unable to avoid But Muggleton I will not say that I serve such a God no my God never ordained thee to be Damned whether thou dost Well or Ill this destroyes all Rewards and Punishments and makes Evil and Good unavoidable M. I would not give a Pinn for that God which would save us both now I have Damn'd thee P. Why dost thou talk of a God for thou sayst Thy God can dye did the Immortal God ever cease to be M. I would not give a Rush for that God which can't dye P. I say thou and thy God shall to the Pit from whence ye came where is Death and Darkness forever how can God cease to be and yet be God since if he ceast every thing that remained in being must have been greater since below ceasing to be is nothing But suppose this Nonsense and Blasphemies how rose he again M. God left Elias with Power P. Then Elias was greater then God for that which raiseth is greater then that which is raised but if the Power never dyed the Power was God and that which dyed not God O Hellish Impudence and Blasphemy O Muggleton thy End will be Destruction M. W. P. I say thou