Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	witness_n	witness_v	word_n	133	3	4.0018	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

Creation of the World to this Day until now By Lodowick Muggleton c. Animadversion XII Who shall we believe of these two they both pretend the same Commission and yet Contradict but how can any Credit be given thereunto when though Reeve sayes he was awake at the receiving of it yet presently after tells us that he knew not whether he was an Immortal God or a Mortal Man what ground is there for any Belief of what Reeve himself was so far from a clear knowledge of as that he was not more unable to resolve whether he was an Immortal God or a Mortal Man then to know the Truth of all his Revelation O the willingness in men to be Blind Certainly if the Devil himself should as a Devil seek Proselytes some would follow him A few Additional Observations upon some Passages of John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton in the before-cited Books THe Spirit of Faith and Love infinitely in the Glorious Person of God overfloweth as a Fountain continually with Revelation of New Heavenly Wisdom from whence flows New Joyes and Glory to Himself T.S.T. p. 46. Observation That unto which any thing may be added cannot be said to be Perfect and consequently cannot be God but be unto whom Wisdom is renewed wanted that Wisdom before he had it and consequently was not Perfect and therefore not the True God unto whom there is no Encrease of Wisdom Power or Strength but was and is and will be forever the same Unalterable Being Infinite in Wisdom Power and all other Divine Excellencies without any Diminution or Addition The Reason why Men's Bodies in Death or after Death do Rot or Stink in the Grave and come to Dust is because there was Sin in their Bodies whilst they Lived but on the contrary if Men had no Sin in their Natures or Bodies they might Live and Dye and Naturally Rise again by their own Power in their own Time T.S.T. p. 33. Observ O the Exceeding Folly and Blindness of this Sottish Man Why should Sin only cause the Body to Rot Stink and go to Dust Does not the Scripture and Reeve himself in his T.S.T. pag 44. give another Reason namely That what came from Dust is that which must go to Dust besides If the Flesh of Beasts is capable of Dying Rotting and going to Dust who never Sinn'd why should not man have Dyed and gone to Dust though he had never Sinn'd For though there is a vast Difference betwixt Men and Beasts in reference to their Souls and Bodies too so far as may concern the distinction of Kinds yet as to their being lyable to one and the same External Casualities and Sufferings by Hunger Thirst Sickness Death and Corruption no man can rationally contradict But above all this deserves our Observation That since Reeve is Dead Rotten and gone to Dust he was not cleansed from Sin as he is said to have pretended but by Reason of his Wickedness Death holds him in the Grave and consequently he cannot have been God's Last Witness whose Witnesses he hath alwayes cleansed from that against which they were to Witness And it is further evident That Sin is not the cause of Men's Bodies crumbling into Dust from Reeve's own words who saith The Most High God by his Vnsearchable Wisdom hath Decreed that all Light of Life in man shall become Dead Dust or Earth D.L.G. p. 17. So that God's Decree and not Man's Sin in his own sence must be the Reason of such Conversion and Corruption Therefore you may know that the Lord 's Reasoning with the Jews was only by his Prophets which were Rational Men like unto themselves which were sent to Convince those Stony-Hearted Jews by declaring the Glorious God and his Spiritual Truth unto them in the Ballance of their Own Reason D.L.G. p. 117. Observ It is remarkable with what unusual Nonsence and Contradiction he proceeds in his whole Affair since herein he Contradicts one of his main Foundation Principles namely That God hath not in his Glorious Spirit one Motion of Reason inherent nor yet the Elect of God as may be seen D.L.G. p. 18. T.S.T. p. 17. Whereas its manifest unto all men who would not deny themselves the use of their Understandings That none can properly reason of any Subject unto whom Reason cannot be or is not inherent so that if God did both Reason with the Jews and his Prophets were Rational Men then may we safely conclude That Reason is Inherent to God and his Elect Children and that Pure Reason is not inconsistent with or distinct from the Nature of Love and Faith not only because it is most Rational to believe in and love God most uprightly but because John Reeve himself that great Enemy to all sober Reason makes it the Ballance in which the Prophets Declaration of the Glorious God and his Spiritual Truth should be weighed Again I Declare from the Holy Spirit The Lord spake by Voice of words to his Three Commissioners which he hath sent unto the World yea I know God the Father spake unto Moses as a Man speaks unto his Friend and I know that God spake unto the Apostles in the Person of his Son because I know the Lord God spake unto me in the Person of the Holy Ghost only the two former Witnesses saw the Person of God in Part Visibly but I saw the Glory of his Person Invisibly or within me because I am the Messenger of the Holy Invisible Spirit T.S.T. p. 35. Observ Upon all this I make my following Observations as regular as this Irregular Confused Matter will permit me First Then I would fain know how he came to this Mighty Confidence in God's speaking to Moses for it is in no part of his Commission and Muggleton sayes Moses set the Cart before the Horse and they both of them despise the Scripture in comparison of their own Writings Secondly Though God might 〈…〉 the Person of his Son to his Apostles yet I utterly deny upon Reeves Principles that the Lord Jesus could speak unto him in the Person of the Holy Ghost because this would necessarily imply a Trinity of Persons 〈…〉 by him elsewhere absolutely denyed therefore the Lord Jesus could speak to him in no other Person then his own if at all Thirdly If God spake to J. Reeve by Voice of Words because he affirms him to have so spoken to Moses and the Apostles then may we plainly infer that God should as well have shewn his Person unto J.R. as he believes him to have done to Moses and the Apostles since if he did not decline to utter words to the Carnal Ear in this third Commission as is pretended any more then in the two former 〈◊〉 is no Reason in the World why John Reeve's Carnal Eye should not have had equal Priviledg with the former Commissioners in Visibly be holding Gods Person also but since he makes God so differ to in the one we ought the less to believe him in the other

that is If his Carnal Eye could never see Him because of the Spirituality of the Commission his Carnal-Ear could never hear him for one and the same Reason therefore all a Counterfeit Fourthly Suppose he had seen the Glory of God's Person within him yet that had been impossible unless God's Person had been within him since his Person and his Glory are inseparable as he largely affirms D.L.G. p. 106. and if so how manifest a Contradiction is it to several places of his Writings particularly this The Spirit or Person of Christ may fitly be compared unto the Face of the Natural Sun you may know that the Natural Spirit of the Sun is so ●●●●●dingly Fiery Glorious that no created thing that hath Natural 〈◊〉 is capable of its in-dwelling Brightness but it s own Body or Face only If this be true then Reeve could not behold the Glory of God's Person within him Fifthly But let us suppose that by Reeve's Principles the Glory of God's Person may be beheld yet it is highly against them that it should be beheld within for if the Body and Soul of man are one indivisible and inseparable Substance as he says they are then can there be no Invisible Eye distinct from that which is Carnal to behold an Invisible Glory and if so then could Reeve never see God's Glory Invisibly within him and consequently he had us Commission but out of his own Mouth he is prov'd a Lyar Impostor I shall conclude the whole with Queries to L. Muggleton and his Companions Ten Queries Propounded IF J. Reeve and L. Muggleton were the two True Last Witnesses mention'd in the Revelation how comes it that they bear not the same Testimony when risen that was born before the slaying of the Witnesses since they were not other Witnesses that rise then those that were slain and consequently the Testimonies no more to vary then the Witnesses themselves II. If they be the same Witnesses should they not have Prophesied 1260. Dayes that is Years and have been slain Three Dayes and an Half in spiritual Sodom and Egypt where our Lord was crucified and then have risen from the Dead III. How did they Prophesie so many years How were they Visible Witnesses slain in spiritual Sodom Egypt where Christ was crucified Does not this show the Witnesses to be Spiritual and Mystical like the Place in which they were slain the Hearts of men and their Death to be the same And were they ever such Witnesses so slain so long slain and in that Place as in the Revelation exprest IV. If they be the same Witnesses were they not to Live and Dye and Rise together Has not Reeve been Dead many Years V. If they were the True Witnesses when did they shut the Heavens that it Rained not turn Water into Blood and Smite the Earth with Plagues VI. If John Reeve was the Moses or Principal Vnderstanding and L. Muggleton the Aaron or Mouth only as sayes Reeve then whether Muggleton be anything but an Empty Month now his Vnderstanding Moses is gone VII How can Muggleton upon Reeve ' s Principle be a Witness or Commissioner for God who confesseth He never had any Commission by Voice of Words but from Reeve only whom he trusted though Reeve himself affirms That there is no True Commission but by Voice of Words to the Party sent VIII Whether Men's Trusting upon Muggleton who relyed upon Reeve without any Internal Convictions from the Eternal Spirit be not as Sandy a Foundation at the Darkest Popery IX Whether there ever was a Pope on Earth that usurped or exercised a more Arbitrary Enslaving Power over men's Consciences in Imposing his Faith upon Penalty of Immediate Curse and Eternal Damnation then J. Reeve and L. Muggleton have done and the last remains to do by affirming That whom he Curseth God Himself cannot Bless and whom he Blesseth God Himself cannot Curse though Reeve and Muggleton have Curst and Blest and Curst the same Person and that more then once X. And Lastly Whether upon the whole these men in their Commissions Doctrines Jurisdictions Sentences Lives and Conversations are like unto the Last Witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ or thoseVngodly Proud Boasters Wandering Stars Clouds without Rain Raging Waves Exalted above all that is called God Perverters of the Truth whose Belly is their God who Glory in their Shame whose End is Destruction and Perdition Postcript SInce the finishing of the fore-going Paper it came into my Mind that if I affixt a Postscript touching the Commission it self that might remove all Credit in the same the rest would dye of it self 'T is true this might have been better plac'd in the Front as the best Preludium to the Discourse it self but it failing of that place I was rather willing it should go for a Postscript then lose that Service I am not without Hope it may perform in Publication of it A Brief Examen of REEVE his Commission Saith he I Declare from the Lord Jesus That no man can understand any thing of those things that are Invisible to our Natural Eyes but by the Spirit of Revelation therefore it is written That Faith is the Substance of Things Hoped for and the Evidence of Things not seen in his Transcendent Spiritual Treatise as he calls it pag. 16. If these things are Invisible to Natural Eyes then are they Inaudible by Natural Ears both being Capable and Natural alike And if no man ever can or could See them no man could or can ever Hear them and if no man could or can then Reeve never did And if he never heard with his Carnal Ears for He implies so much that denies the Power of seeing such Spiritual and Invisible Things to natural Eyes then was his Commission a Counterfeit For he affirmed That the 3d 4th 5th of February 1651. He Heard God resident above the Stars speaking to Him then a Bed on Earth by a Voice of Words giving to him his Pretended Commission T.S.T. pag. 5. In short Four Things I recommend to the Serious Consideration of all Sober-minded People with a Story to conclude 1. That a Commission should be given by a Voice of Words from the farthest Heaven to any man upon Earth and neither any other Hear the same no not so much as Muggleton Himself nor yet the Heavens nor Earth to re●●ive any impression or Alter●●ion is an Incredible Thing with all Persons that are in their Wits 2. Not only in this doth his Commission strangely vary from that of Moses but in the Consequence thereof more dangerously in as much as no man living is assured of the Verity of this Commission from any Convincing Testimony either from without or within him a Credulity God himself never exacted or expected from his Creatures for the Reason of God's Complaint against a Rebellious People never was for not believing without Convictions but because the Creation without and his Good Spirit within had so plentifully proved a God and that Fear