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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A66428 A true representation of the absurd and mischievous principles of the sect, commonly known by the name of Muggletonians Williams, John, 1636?-1709. 1694 (1694) Wing W2735; ESTC R38943 21,260 36

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A TRUE REPRESENTATIO● OF THE Absurd and Mischievous PRINCIPLES OF THE SECT Commonly known by the Name of MUGGLETONIANS LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard M DC XCIV THE PREFACE AFter that I had for the use and satisfaction of a private Friend made some enquiry into the Principles of the contemptible Sect known of late times by the name of Muggletonians I threw the Papers aside as thinking the time not at all well spent that I had employ'd in reading their Books and in the Examination of what is made up of Impiety Nonsence and Absurdities But however I was at last prevailed with to permit them to be made publick which I did submit to not so much for the sake of those poor deluded Souls that are won over to that pernicious Sect that having no shadow of Reason for its support will not submit to the tryal of it and so are uncapable of Argument but for the sake of others And to give the World an instance of the power of Enthusiasm and how far it exposes Persons to be led away by the confidence or craft of any Pretender how ignorant or selfish soever he be And of this sort were the first Ring-leaders of this Sect John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton in the year 1651. a time of Universal Liberty and which gave an opportunity for the worst of Men to vent the absurdest and most infamous Errors The former of these J. Reeve by Profession a Baker pretended that the Lord Jesus spoke to him by Voice of Words three days together and with such a Godlike Majesty that he saith of himself I did not know whether I was a Mortal Man or an Immortal God That the Voice told him that he had given him Understanding in the Scripture more than all the World besides And that he had given L. Muggleton to be his Mouth and that they two were the last Commissioners to the World and the two Witnesses spoken of Revelation 11th who exercis'd a Commission of an higher nature than those of the Prophets and Apostles and that they knew more and had a greater power than any of them as they could bless or curse save or damn to all Eternity irrevocably And therefore whosoever should oppose or vilifie this their Commission and Doctrine would be guilty of the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost Accordingly when these two were tried 1653. at the Old Baily before the Ld. Mayor Fowke and ordered to lie in Bridewell six Months they gave Sentence against the said Ld. Mayor the Recorder Steel and the Jury after this manner In obedience to our Commission received from the Holy Spirit c. we pronounce you cursed and damned Soul and Body to all Eternity Now if we come to enquire into their Doctrine there is nothing more absurd false and precarious As they tell us God has a Body like that of a Man of very flesh and bone and that the Trinity or Father Son and Holy Ghost are only variety of Names That God the Father left Heaven for a time and became an absolute mortal Man and died and was buried and that during his absence from Heaven Elias did there represent him and was the Protector of God during his Minority in the Earth and that God was raised from the dead by a compact with Elias who surrendred up all again to him They say farther that there was but one Angel that fell and that he entred into the Womb of Eve by her consent and there died and that Cain was the very Seed of that Serpent Angel and so was Brother to Abel only on the Mother's side And that from him sprung all the Carnal Seed of Reprobates who were not of the Seed of Adam such as Cain and Judas c. They hold farther that there is no Devil at all without the Body of Man and that he is no other than Man's Spirit of unclean Reason and cursed Imagination Nay sometimes they will determine as positively in matters of History and Philosophy and tell us from the Lord that the Epistles of the Apostles were wrote in Hebrew Greek and Latin That the Sun and Stars are but little bigger than they appear to be That the Sun's Eclipse proceeds from its nearness to the Moon and that no one can foretell Eclipses but by Inspiration Marvellous Discourses And which our Astronomers and Almanack-makers are much beholding to them for For whilst Men of Learning in that way thought they went by a certain rule of Nature and constant Observation they think too meanly of themselves These new Commissioned Men instruct them better and tell them they write their Ephemerides and Almanacks by Revelation if they therein infallibly foretell Eclipses as what Astronomer doth not By this we have a taste of these new Prophets pretences and may see that their History Philosophy and Divinity are much alike and the apparent Fruits of Ignorance Confidence and Imagination But I shall leave these to be handled in the following Treatise THE PRINCIPLES OF THE MUGGLETONIANS CONSIDER'D IN the treating upon this Subject there are two Questions to be taken into Consideration viz. 1. Whether John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton are sent from God And 2. Whether they are the Two Witnesses in the 11 th of the Revelation CHAP. I. Whether they are sent from God I Here premise That a man may pretend to be sent and to have a Commission from God when he is not sent and has no such Commission So did John Robins of whom J. Reeve and L. Muggleton say that he is the last and great Antichrist spoken of in the Thessalonians Such also were John Tanee Bull Varnum Evans as they confess So they say the Ranters and Quakers were false Christs and false Apostles Therefore they plead That there was a necessity of the witness of the Spirit because of late and at present so many several Antichristian Spirits are come forth From hence I infer That unless J Reeve and L. Muggleton can prove that they are sent and commissioned from God more than those were whom they grant to be Impostors and Deceivers we have no more reason to believe they came from God and were sent by him than they themselves had reason to believe that the forementioned Deceivers came from God For do they say they were sent from God So did the others also declare 2. Therefore we must enquire into the Evidences and Proofs they bring of their Commission This they grant a proper way So in the Book call'd a Looking-glass If divers Men appear as Witnesses or Prophets immediately sent forth by a Powerful Commission from the Everlasting God are there not certain Divine Seals to distinguish between those Embassadors which are infallible and them that are but fallible In treating upon this I shall enquire Q. 1. What are the Evidences they bring and whether they are not such as other Deceivers have alike pretended to and even exceeded