behold him as he is in his full Glory Deut. 10.6 If God was willing at any time that some of his Servants the Prophets should behold him he was compelled to vale his Glory so as that their frail Nature might be in a capasity to behold him And this we further affirm That we can sooner find in Scripture that our God hath and ever had a distinct Body of himself than you can find in Scripture a Trinity of Persons in one Godhead for if you find Three distinct Persons then you must find Three Bodies and where then is your Spirit God become 4. Again is not the Scriptures clear That the Fathers of old did see God Gen. 17.3 Exod. 24.10 Isa 6.5 John 35.9 Exod. 33.23 and ever beheld him in Form and Shape of a Man Will you say that God assumed that Shape and yet had no Shape of his own this is to make God a Conniver It is no wonder as I said before that you dispise John Reeve for saying that the Lord spake to him to the hearing of the Ear for you do not believe that God hath any Tongue to speak at all For say you a Spirit hath no Flesh and hath no Body For say you Body and Spirit are Two contrary things As the Scripture saith that God hath a Body Dan. 7.9 Revel 10.1 1.14 John 6. â— Psal 94.9 Nâ—mâ— 12.8 Isa 6â— 5 so it attributes to this Body Hands Eyes Face Nose Mouth Ears Arms Leggs Breast Heart Back c. And yet must he have never a Body this is clearly to deny Scripture for the Scripturian saith That God hath a Body but the Antescripturian saith That God hath neither Body Parts or Shape but yet is an infinite vast God filling all things and is in all Places at one and the same time and so can neither Assend nor Descend Come nor Go but is everywhere at once as your great Augustin saith This is yours and the Worlds monstrous God Are those the Men that are so capable of Argument if we should be as ignorant in the Scriptures as you it were no matter if our Tongues should cleave to the Roof of our Mouths I wonder you are not ashamed to pretend to Scripture do you believe the Scripture Certain I am that there are many Doctors of your Church that doth not believe them at all for instance hereof there is one of your Doctors namely Dr. More This Man in one of his Books called his Cabila doth little less than give the Scripture the Ly for treating upon the Creation of Man by Moses saith That the Scriptures doth not always speak according to the exactness of Truth but according to their Appearance in Sense and the vulgar Opinion and he quotes Chrisostim Bernard and Aquinus as holding the same things and instances it as to the Creating of Adam and Eve Saying thus God hath no Figure or Shape altho Moses saith he hath he only permits the Ignorant and Vulgar People to Believe so it being his Prudence and Policy so to do Now is not this Odious for what Prudence is it to Flatter Dissemble and Deceive the People for must Gods Prophets be but like Polititians of State pretending one thing and acting another Again this Man brings in Moses speaking thus God took of the Dust of the Ground wrought it with his Hands into such a temper that it was fit to make the Body of a Man which when framed then comes near to it with his Mouth and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life And when God had made a Woman of one of Adam 's Ribs he takes her by the Hand and brought her to Adam so when Adam was awaked Geâ— 2â— 21 he found his Dream to be true for he dream'd that God took a Woman out of him for God stood by him with a Woman in his Hand Now it is true says this Doctor Moses spakes in this manner to satisfy the rude Multitude who was ever ready to think that God was in Forme and Shape as they were and thus Moses complyed with their Humour and permited them to belive so yet saith he it is a Contradiction to the Idia of God to have Figure and Shape Now what say you to this is not this giving Moses the Lie Moses you see would permit People to believe That God was in the Form of a Man Now why will not you permit us to believe so Moses did not count this Doctrine a mischievous Principle as you do but you with this Man set your selves against Moses and against the Scriptures they are counted no other than a Lie with you Now it is clear by this that many of you Doctors are stark blind Athists your Protestant Church is now grown as blind with Age almost as your Fathers the Papists and as Atheistical as one of the Popes who said That that Fable of Jesus Christ had brought their Church great Riches And one of that Church said to me that the Scriptures were but balderdash Stuff Now as to that saying of Christ's to his Disciples That a Spirit had not Flesh and Bone as he had it was only to inform them that there was no such Spirit as the World imagined that could be seen that had no Body for Eyes of Flesh must have a Substance for its Object Therefore said Christ handle me and see for I have a Body a Substance of very Flesh and Bone John 20 2â— and they felt and believed him to be their Lord and God For Christ from hence would have them for ever after to know that all Spirits whither of God Men or Angels are always invisible for it is the Body that is visible for the Soul that is in it is always invisible which Spirit comprehends all visible things yet cannot Live Act or Operate without its Body And so much for that Principle Again Page 19th you Representor object against that most divine and misterious Principle of God the Fathers becoming Flesh and call this a Doctrine quite contrary to Scripture and produce those Scriptures for Proof against us namely that God sent his Son made of a Woman And the Word was made Flesh but say you there is not one Word That the Father was made Flesh CHAP. VIII ANSWER IT is confessed by us Gal. 4.4 John 5.26 10.18 Epb. 5.2 that the Scripture saith That God sent his Son as also that Christ came of himself and that he laid down his Life of himself Now if he laid down his Life of himself then where was the Father but in himself for it was his divine Spirit that was the Father by which he could lay down his Life by that self and by that self could take it up again For God transmuteing his spiritual Body into Flesh so gained the Godhead and humane Nature together Heb. 1.3 and so hath a Twofold Self Humane and Divine Therefore when he saith he hath Power of himself to lay down his Life Titus
quench the Thirst of Sin for their Silver is become Dross their Wine is mix'd with Water of a standing Poole Isaiah 1.22 John 4.14 This will not pass currant with us for no VVine to us like the VVine of the Spirit no VVater to us but the VVater of Life no Balme for us but what is in Gilliad in one Personal-God-Man Christ Jesus blessed for ever that will be accepted of with us the only true Christians in the World at this Day Therefore take you all your Books and Learning to yourselves we have but Three to Read to wit the Prophets the Apostles and the Witnesses of the Spirit In these is fulness of Perfection for the Light and Life of their Words shining in our Hearts is the Rule Prop Stay and Guide of our Faith which is but one and this one Faith hath one God of a single Person or Substance for its Object to pitch it self upon and not a Trinity of Persons or Substance but Father Son and Holyghost is one single Substance and no more which cannot be denyed neither by Scripture or sober Reason for First Was not the Eternal God-Head-Spirit the everlasting Father Secondly Was not that glorious Body wherein God the Father did eternally Dwell The eternal Son Thirdly And was not that powerful Word which proceeded from his God-Head-Spirit through his glorious Mouth the Holyghost or holy Spirit by which he made the Worlds and governeth all things Is not this Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity Heb. 1.3 John 1.13 Ephes 4.5 Isa 45.21 22. Chap. 43.10 more agreeable to the Scripture of Truth then any other Trinity to all Men that acknowledge but one eternal Being and no more Now your Trinity of Persons will neither be made to agree with Scripture Reason nor Sence so that your striving to explain it doth but the more darken the Sence about your Airy God and you are quite lost in your Definition and now of late more than ever Are you made a confounded Babel and your Clargie doth clash one against another which doth make your Hearers begin to stager as well it may For 1st One Party of your Church doth Hold and Teach that God is Three distinct Persons and but one Substance which is a Contradiction 2ly The other Party of your Church Teacheth That God hath not only Three distinct Persons but Three distinct Substances likewise and from hence doth boldly charge the Homansion or one Substance with the Heresy of Sabilism as they call it 3dly The contrary Party makes their Rejoynder again and chargeth the other Party with holding of a plurality of Gods For say they if there be Three Substances then there is Three Gods which is true enough 4thly Again the adverse Party Replys saying That if there be Three Persons there must be Three Substances which is true enough too And they give the Reason why they are to hold Three Substances as well as Three Persons it being a forst-put For say they there is now a greater Necessity than ever there was to Hold and Maintain Three distinct Substances as well as Three Persons Otherwise say they we are in great Danger to loose the Catholick Faith by the revival of the Heresie of Sabalus which walks publickly abroad tho under the Disguise of a new Name And therefore if we do not allow the God-Head intirely to be Three distinct Substances as well as Three distinct Persons then comes in Sabalism And there 's an end then say they of the Trinity 5thly To this the other old dark Light Replies saying That if by Retaining the old Words of Three Persons and one Substance there is Danger of loosing the Catholick Faith it must be lost out of the Catholick Church And the Revolt by Sabalism say they must be both the most lasting and the most general Apostatise that ever was foretold or feared should happen to the Christian World But say they we hope wee need not to be frighted out of our Religion And thus Revel 18.10 you see what a Confusion is fallen upon you your Babilon is now crying out Alas Alas Did not the Prophets and Apostles speak of these Things Now is fulfilled that Saying of David's to the full Divide their Tongues O Lord Psal 55.9 for I have seen Violence in the City Doth not this your Division tend to Confusion Isa 11.11 15. or is it not Confusion it self in a superlative Degree For tho you be divided yet our God is not divided 1 John 5 7.20 but is one Yesterday to Day and for ever For I demand First How can Christ be called the greate Heb. 13.8 Titus 2.13 1 Tim. 1.17 6.12 the High and Mighty God if he hath Two other Gods to share with him And Secondly How can Christ be Eternal in your Creed if he were begotten Thirdly And how can that which receives a Being from another ever be made equal with that which hath its being of it self alone Certainly whatever you Trinitarians say to the contrary yet it is evident that you make Christ no more than a titular God the very same with John Biddle that you so much disown in your Pamphlet But I cannot see any great Difference between you I am sure you are as much out of the Way of Truth as he For said John Bidle Christ is our Lord and God But how Why said he not Really but Apelitive as Magistrates are called Gods and so he makes him God by Deputation as to Title being God not in Nature but in Name and so is subordinate to God Now do not you do so too for you make the Son but to be begotten And if you will make him God yet he must be divided from the Father and Holyghost Now this is certain that if there be a Father distinct from that blessed Body of Christ it must then be as John Bidle said and therefore it is that John Bidle as well as Arius and Sâ—sinus make him but Man because they would have but one single God But you if you make him God yet you will divide him from the Father and from the Holyghost and so at the best you make him but a Third part God And whereas you are so bold as to condemn Sabulus and Noetus for worshiping one personal God under the Names of Father Son and Holyghost condemning and judging them for Broachers of Heresy how will you free yourselves from this Crime As also those Counsels of Arians and Trenitarians as cursed them and their Principles together with those Counsels and Sinods on both sides judging and condemning each other with deadly Malice as your Church History doth shew What were those the Church of God No. But when God gathers up his Jewels many of those that have been judged Hereticks will rise Saints Mal. 3.15 16 17 18. Acts 24.14 and many of those that your Churches have Canonized for Saints will rise Devils For no Persecutors of Conscience will escape the Stroke If any
THE Muggletonians Principles PREVAILING BEING An Answer in full to a Scandalous and Malitious Pamphlet Intituled A True Representation OF THE Absurd and Mischevious Principles of the Sect called MUGGLETONIANS WHEREIN The aforesaid Principles are Vindicated and proved to be infallibly True AND The Author of that Libel his Scandalous Title and Subject proved as False to Truth as Light is to Darkness And that he knows no more what the true God is nor what the right Devil is nor any true Principle or Foundation of Faith for all his great Learning he so much bosts of then those Jews that put the Lord of Life to Death For learned and taught Reason is but natural and so falls short of the Glory of God as will appear in the following Discourse Things that are despised hath God chosen to bring to nought Things that are 1 Cor. 1.28 By T. T. Printed in the Year of our Lord God 1695. The Epistle to the sober Reader Curtious Reader I Have here in this insuing Treatis Vindicated the Principles of them People called Muggletonians from that Aspersion and Slander that envious Reason hath cast upon it I being a Member of that Body and knowing those Principles to be Truth having lived in the Knowledg and Practice of them above this Thirty Years Now in that Providence should bring thee in to see this my Answer and shalt find some things very strange to thy Understanding And tho perhaps thou canst not apprehend it at first View for Truth yet if thou canst preserve thyself from dispising it thou dost well to thy own Soul Therefore keep thyself from Judging 1 Cor. 2.15 if thou wilt live in Peace because that none can judg of Spiritual Things but Spiritual Men And know this that the un-judging Man is easy and may afterwards come to Believe being in the time of a Commission and so with the Five wise Virgins bring Oyle in their Lamps before the Dore be shut Mart. 25.4 or Death aproach But to Contend against Truth held forth by a Commission from Heaven is an evident Sgn of Rejection for it will prove a Sin against the Holyghost Therefore I advise thee but to take care of these Two Things the one Not to break the Law the other Not to despise Prophesy because they are both Damnable And more People are Damned for breaking the Law than any other Sin for the Sin against the Holyghost is not committed in every Age but only in the time of a Commission so that more People have committed that Sin within this Forty four Years then hath done of Thirteen Hundred and Fifty Years before So that these Two things are to be shun'd the last most especially Matt. 12.32 Rom. 6. ult 1 Cor. 6.11 Ephe. 2.1 because there is no Sacrifise for that Sin but the other is Pardonable in the time of a Commission by having Faith in the Doctrin thereof and living free from the Breach of the Law after as to the Act. This is the Benefit of a true Ministry but no true Ministry no true Conversion from the Act of Sin Jer. 23.32 But the Elect are preserved from the Act of Sin and kept in innocency of Life at such Times and in such Places as Truth is not known by their generated Faith which leads them to that Threefold Precept of the Prophet Micha 1st To do Justice Mich. 6 8. 2dly To loue Mercy and 3dly To walk humbly with God This is the Substance of pure and undefiled Religion Stand fast here and be Happy So that from what thou findest here written thou upon sight thereof must examine thy own Heart and see how it stands in this Case if thou canst prove thy Election by Faith in the true God now he is made manifest it is well for thee and the Benifit will be thine but if thou canst not believe it yet if thou dispisest it not thou art not against us nor against thy own Soul neither are we against thee be of what Religion or Opinion thou wilt but shall leave thee as the Two Seeds shall find thee at the last Day And so wishing well to all sober Men but more especially to such as are not offended with these plain Truths touching the Lord Jesus Christ being that most High and Mighty God and Everlasting Father so abundantly exalted through the Scriptures of Truth as is now explained and fully declared by the Third and Last spiritual Commission which was to finish that sacred Mistery of God's becoming Flesh and now it is finished if thou canst Believe And he that hath Ears to hear let him hear FAREWEL THE MUGGLETONIANS PRINCIPLES PREVAILING CHAP. I. THe Church of God was never without opposition nor Truth without Hatred for in that there are two Seeds there must be a War entroduced because the Seeds are in opposition to each other being from two several Roots Faith and Reason Light and Darkness God and Devil so that the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent will hould continually Enmity Now you that have Accused the Muggletonians Principles for Impiouse and Mischevious let us come to the Tryal of it with you and of you and see how you durst be so bold as to make so false a Representation of the Muggletonians Principles that you should Intitle your Diabolical Pamphlet by the name of a True Representation of the Absurd and Mischevious Principles of the Sect called Muggletonians If you the Writer thereof had cast them Aspersions upon our Persons and not upon our Principles we would have borne it with silence but in that you have judged our Faith to be Blasphemous and Mischevious which we have received from the Bounty and Love of God therefore in dispising and condemning it you dispise and condemn our God so in this Case we must resist you and stand forth for the defence of our Faith And altho it should be where Satans Seat is yet we will not let go our Inheritance for our Inheritance lies in the Belief of our Principles wherein we have the Charter of Heaven sealed to us therefore we will not only vindicate those our Principles which you so wickedly Represent but will also through Grace seal to them with our Blood if your Law can do it and we be called thereunto For we are able to maintain those Principles for Truth therefore let us now come to the Tryal of Truth and let us set our Principles each against the other and them whose Faith and Wisdom is greatest let them hold the other under in Bondage for ever Sir You are come forth to Curse a quiet and still People who meddle not with your Affairs nor Magistrates Affairs We lift not up our Hand nor make use of a Sword of Steel to slay any Man We defraud no Man we wrong no Man neither are we for thrusting you out of your Earthly Possessions no not out of your Pulpits or Parish-Livings we will have none of them But on the contrary
the Words from your Neighbour the Seed of Faith and then Cry Thus saith the Lord. What do you bring as an Offering but what you have stolen from others do you delver anything but Trascriptions and Historical Notions the Repetitions of the Letter of the Scriptures and the Sentences of the antient Fathers 2 Cor. 10.16 there is the Line you boast in so that you do no more in ephect but rob the Dead to cloath the Living For have you so muth as opened the Meaning of one Text of Scripture in all your blind Pamphlet you have named the Words and then left them to Answer for them selves as I shall shew hereafter Again you further Object against their Doctrin of Infalibility in that they say They write by an unerring Spirit Now say you an Infalible Spirit implys the highest Certainty But say you his Book is Inconsistant with it self for Muggleton saith I am perswaded in my spirit and I do rather belive that there were Seven Hundred Thousands than Seven Thousands Revel 11.13 though the Revelation of John doth but express it but Seven Thousands Now say you to be perswaded and to belive a Thing to be so are Inconsistant to Infalibility for that admits no less than I am sure of it say you CHAP. IV. ANSWER THE Prophets did both of them write by an infallible and un-erring Spirit the Doctrine of them Six Principles the Knowledg of which John 17.3 Salvation doth depend upon but as to some perticular Points that are besides the Foundation there is not that Nessessity to be so positive But as to the Essential Points of Faith they were written by an un-erring Spirit and are infallibly True and against Men and Angels they affirm it and we as truly believe it to the great Peace and Satisfaction of our Minds For what is it that can satisfy the Mind of Man but Truth having the Seal of Life in it as every true Minister of God hath For every true Minister of God hath Power to set Life and Death before Men and can say Matt. 18.18 Now is fulfilled such and such Things Also he that is sent of God 1 Cor. 2.15 knoweth the Things of God and he that believeth in such a One knoweth the Things of God likewise But how can you judg of Infalibility that do not own your self Infalible but Falible What is Falible but a Lye and must a Lye be the Judg of Truth He that knoweth the Mind of the Lord he may Instruct from the Lord 1 Cor. 2.15 Vers 16. but he that hath not the Infalible Spirit doth from his lying Spirit prescribe Rules to God and would be God's Counsellor Now must such ignorant carnal sleshly Men as these Judg Infalibility that have nor own no other Spirit but what is Falible But to come to the Point and Charge against Lodowick Muggleton For although the Prophets and Apostles were Infalible as to all essential points of Faith yet as to other things that were circumstantial and not so essential in such things Prophets and Apostles may differ about them in their Experience and Judgment Thus Paul withstood Peter Gal. 2.11 and Reproved him and though Paul there gainsaid Peter yet in som other things Paul himself was not positive As for Instance Paul treating on Marriage 1 Cor. 7.6 he speaks as the Prophet Muggleton doth here and tells the Believers That it was his Judment That it were better for them not to Marry And further adds That he thinks â— Vâ—se 39.10 That this his Judment is right and that it was from the Spirit of God Now I presume by what you have said of these that had you been living then and had heard of Paul's talking of having the Infalible Spirit of God you would presently have judged him a false Apostle notwithstanding the Miracles he had done and that he had contradicted himself and that his thinking was inconsistant to his Infalibility and so was not to be Believed Again if you had heard that Paul Circumcised Timothy Asts 16.3.2 Gal. 5.2 and yet nevertheless told the Galatians That if they were Circumcised they could not be Saved I say had you been in those Days Would not you have said That Paul had Contradicted himself and the Scriptures both Matt. 28.2 Luke 24.2 and would not you also have judged the Four Evangelists to have Contradicted one another in several places for as you Judg and Condemn these so you would have Judged them for these were sent by Jesus Christ and Paul was sent by no other God Again in Page 9. you quote John Reeve saying that he saith That he is Indued with a divine Gift to write a Volom as large as the Bible and as pure a Language as that is without looking into any Book or having any real Contradiction in it Upon these Words you make the Reflection fallowing Your Accusation runs thus saying That if the purity of the Language be a Sign of Truth Then say you I am sure it is far from being either True or Infallible For said you they do not write true English nor good Sence as likewise it often fails in the propriety of Words in Concord and Connexion being without Method Purity or Elogancy c. CHAP. V. ANSWER SIR in Answer to this The truly Wise do know that God's Messengers never regard fineness of Speech but soundness of Matter Not so much the Original of Words as the Original of Things even such as they are moved too by the Holy Ghost and not such Language as you are moved too by your Educated Spirit of Reason which is the Angels nature Fallen But in that you have no where contradicted our Principle which shews what the Person and Nature of Angels are therefore there is no Occasion given here to Dispute it but to Return to the matter aforesaid Spiritual Truth or Gospel Life was ever plain and was never delivered with new quined or high-flown Words of Man's Wisdom 1 Cor. 2.1 This made an old learned Philosophical Bishop Judg so hard by the Revelation by John not thinking it John's because of the Rudeness of the stile Dionisius For said he I see his Greek not exactly uttered the Dialect and Phrase not observed I find him said this Bishop using barbarous Phrases And Paul was called a clouter of Skins a Cobler by the Philosophers and a Man of no Breeding And he acknowledged himself but rude in Speech though not in true Wisdom but he had taken some Learning up at the Foot of Gamalial but he laid it down there again as soon as the Spirit of Faith became his Teacher All his Wisdom that he now valued was the Knowledg of Christ Crucified and Risen again which his former Wisdom could not know Acts 22.3 but on the contrary was the Persecutor of him Again Spiritual Truth or Faith was ever brought in Naked and Simple and in poor Array But Falshood doth ever indeavor to
Attire herself in all her Bravery These Rascals said the Pharises are Accursed they know not the Law But said Paul 1 Cor. 12.8 That Learning of theirs will com to nought But as for Truth That guides to Heaven John 1.4 it needs no Gloss to make it seem better then it is for it hath Light enough in it self to shew it the way to Heaven The Scriptures were written in as homely a stile as Reeve's and Muggleton's were only wise Men in Reason have put them into a better Form and now boast of their litteral Accuteness whilst they are out of all spiritual Power and it must be so 1 Cor. 13.1 for he that hath learned nothing of Truth must Teach by an Eloquent Tongue of empty Words only For Sophisters who want substance of Truth must use-their Sophistry to corrupt Truth and adulterate the true Sence and then cover their own Errors with Paint And thus have you done in this Libel of yours for in Page 18. you affirm That John Reeve doth say pretending to quote his Words That the Substances of Earth and Water were from all Elements When as John Reeve's Woords were in that place That the Substance of Earth and Water was from all Eternity Thus you turn their good Sence into Nonsence and so bely them for by this your way of clowding their Words you would darken the Sence and make them appear the more Rediculous and to prevent a further Dispute in that Subject of the Substance of Earth and Water being made of nothing which you were not able to maintain and though you say you would confute that Principle yet passed it by and would say no more of it And so you let it drop Now as to your Elogancy of Speech your Tongues and Languages you bost so much of and you have need of it to paint your Errors as aforesaid we will leave this all to you Babal Builders Revel 18.31 as acquired by your Study and Learning it being your Trade which teacheth your Reason to play upon the Letter of the Scripture as upon a Harp being very mellodious to the outward Ear And by these means you Arts-Masters grow Rich and Honourable according to your skilful Merchandising of the Letter of the Scripture Revel 18.7 and Antient Fathers and Philosophers These must all be made to agree together for the Scripture must either make good Philosophy or else Philosophy must be brought to make good the Scripture and in your wise handling of this you grow Rich some Hundreds some Thonsands a Year equalling the great Men of the Earth and as to others of your Brethren though they be more inferior yet must they be called Masters although they be but Servants yet will they be well paid for no Penny no Paternoster So having found you all in the way of Balam to Bless and Curse for Mony which is your Souls chief Delight there I leave you to go on in your Trade and receive your Wages of Men here and of God hereafter Mâ—â—â— 3.7 Mâ—â—â— 3.11 John â—â—13 Jude 11. Pâ—â—l 3.19 Matt. 1.5 7.23 whom you pretend to serve then will you have a fall Reward A further Accusation against this Witness you have for affirming the Power of Sealing Men up unto Eternal Life and Death as they Receive or Dispise their Doctrin This you deny that any Man ever had this Power Saying That it is quite contrary to the Scripture and the Temper of the Gospel which is Love and then bid us prove it by Scripture CHAP. VI. ANSWER IT is confessed by us Titus 2.11 Ephes 1.5 that the Tmper of the Gospel is Love but then that Gospel and Eternal Love is but to the Seed of the Lords own Body and it must needs be so because that Grace is written in Faiths Nature and though that Seed did fall in Adam John 10.27 yet the Gospeâ— came to seek and to save that which was lost and fell in Adam for the Serpent's Seed never fell in Adam Mâ—â—k 2.17 nor never knew themselves lost So the Gospel belongs not to them but according to their Obedience to their own Law so they have the Blessing of the Law That the Rain may Rain and the Sun may Shine Mart. 5.45 and the Earth bring forth her Increase with long Life and Health And thus Christ which is the Gospel shewed his Love to that Seed when he wept over Jerusalem Luke â— 6 14.14 Now as he was Man he wept to see what temporal Judgments they would bring upon themselves But then on the other hand as he was God Maâ—t 22 13. Jâ—â—â— 6.7 Maâ—t â— 13. 11. 11.34 he rejoiced at their eternal Destruction for upon their despising those Declarations of his he thereupon pronounces upon them eternal Wrath calling such Divels Scrpents and a Generation of Vipers John 12.10 and that they should not escape the Damnation of Hell And John the Baptist pronounced the like Sentence and all the Apostles had the like Power after they had received their Commission As for that Saying of Christ's to them matt 5.44 To Bless and Curs not that was but when they were but private Believers as also it taught that Clemency as not to resist temporal Iujuries matt 16.19 But when they had received the Holy Ghost then was the Keys of Heaven and Hell Committed to their Charge Luke 10.16 and they had Power by them to Bind and to Loose to Remit and to Retain Sin Luke 20.23 What was that but Blessing and Cursing For the Blessing of a Commissionated Prophet or Apostle Psal 24.7 it opens the Gate of Heaven that is it opens the Heart in Love to that God that sent such a Message of glad Tidings of Salvation So on the Contrary the Curse of a Prophet it opens the Gate of Hell That is Acts 7.54 it opens the Heart in Envy Malice and Revenge and whose Heart that spiritual Key doth open no Man can shut and whose Heart they shut no Man can open Therefore it was that Paul said That they were the Saver of Life unto Life 1 Cor. 6.2 Heb. 10.29 Thess 5.20 unto those that believed them and the Saver of Death unto Death unto those that despised them Again Paul and the rest of the Apostles did declare That whoever denyed the Faith of Jesus or despised Prophesie or turned Apostate that there could be no Sacrifise for such Sins 1 John 3.8 5.16 2 Cor. 2.16 neither were such to be Prayed for but upon the contrary to be sealed up unto eternal Death All the Spiritual Declarations of the Prophets reach to the eternal State of Man for they pointing at their God's becoming Flesh and that upon his Death and Resurrection the eternal State of the Two Seeds of Faith and Reason takes being for the Resurrection of Christ gains Power to raise the Dead and give each Seed his Reward And therefore the Gospel
apropriates David's Key to belong to it Psal 149.4 which Key lyes in such and the like Sayings The Lord takes Pleasure in his People he will beautifie the Meek with Salvation this is the Key that opens Heaven And as follows Let the high Praises of God be in their Mouth and a two-edged Sword in their Hand and then with the other Key and Sword To execute Vengance upon the Heathen and Punishments upon the People To bind their Kings with Chains and their Nobles with Fetters of Iron To execute upon them the Jndgment written And this is the Key that opens and none can shut and shuts and no Man can open Psal 149.9 This Honour saith David belongs to all living Saints For these Keys and Sword belongs to all Saints Isa 54.17 57.4 and David himself in those and the like Sayings had flung into the Fire all that dispised his Spirit of Prophesie of his God's becoming Flesh and Sealed them up in these Words Saying divide their Tongues Psal 55.9 for I have seen Violence in the City Cast them down in thy Anger Consume them in Wrath Psal 59.13 let not them come into thy Righteousness blot them out of the Book of Life and let them not be written with the Righteous Psal 140.10 Let burning Goals fall upon them let them be cast into the Fire The Prophet Jeremiah likewise meeting with the Seed of the Serpent opposing his spiritual Declarations concerning God's becoming Flesh and his Sufferings by that Seed Seals them up to Death Eternal for they were for devising Devises against that Doctrine of his therefore he powereth forth these Imprecasions against them saing O Lord Jor. 18.23 29.22 forgive not their Iniquity neither blot out their Sin from thy Sight c. And then changing his Words he speaks in the Person of God saying Jer. 23.14 They are all unto me as Sodom So that we see that the Prophit's Curse is God's Curse Jer. 6.30 And further saith he The Saints shall call them Reprobate Silver This is Gospel Power the Lawes Curse penetrades down into the Grave Ezâ—k 32.24 26.27 29. the first Death but the Gospels Power and Curss raises it again from the first Death into a second and eternal Death being a living Death and dying Life And thus we see that every true Minister hath Power to set Life and Death before 〈◊〉 And that Ministry that hath not that Power Mark 16.16 John 3.18 is no true Ministry Now what a blind Guide is this that connot see these plain Scriptures but cries out Prove this by Scripture Woe be to all such as are led by these blind Guides Oh that all the Elect were but delivered from their Captivity and Bondage under their Formalities and might come to hear of Truth that their Joy and Peace might abound being the Seale of eternal Life But it is a wonderful thing that such Preachers as those who cannot Believe that any Prophet hath Power as aforesaid and yet they themselves shall take upon them to Judg Mans Faith and Condemn him for it so is it not a wicked thing to deny the Prophets and Apostles Power of the Keys of Heaven and Hell and yet presume to do that thing themselves whilst they acknowledg themselves but falible Men Doth not this Make you justly damned in your selves But it is no wondring at it for what saith the Scripture He hath blinded their Eyes John 12.40 they Stumble at Noon-Day They have all the Spirit of Slumber And now I shall return to Answer this Misrepresentor's false Reflections upon our main Principles yea such as the very Scriptures stands upon and on which eternal Life wholy depends In Page the 18th you bring in John Reeve sciteing him thus Saying God is not a Spirit but hath a Body Your Reflections are thus The Accusation The Scripture makes a Body and a Spirit Tow opposite things so that a Body is not a Spirit nor a Spirit a Body Eccles. 12.7 A Spirit hath not Flesh and Bone Luke 24.37 The Scripture calls God a Spirit but never a Body God is not in form of a Man but is invisible and no Man ever Saw him or can CHAP. VII ANSWER 1. Your Citation is false For John Reeve's Words are thus That God is not a Spirit without a Body By your false Citation you would have your worldly Disciples to think That he affirms That God is a Body without a Spirit But to come to the Point I must tell you That the Body and Soul are not Two contrary Things and if your Solomon Eccles 3.19 told you so with one Breath he tells you the quite contrary in another but many times wise Solomons Verse 20. do not know the meaning of their own Sayings Solomon was a wise Man 1 Kings 3.12 12 24 11.4 but the Wisdom which he craved and that God gave him was but natural so that Solomon's Writings are but the Operations of his natural Reason and from sum intrigate Sayings of his Father David So they are no Scripture for he was no Prophetical Man Matt. 12.42 2. Again If the Body and Soul are two contrary things as you say and in Oposition to each other then was the Body and Soul of Christ at variance with it self and in Oposition with each other and so two oposite Things If so then Christ's Body did not go to Heaven nor never would And belike you do not belive that Christ's Body is in Heaven any more than the Quakers and I know not how you should believe it because your God hath never a Body So Christ is none of your Fatherly God if he have a Body Can a Spirit live and subsist without a Body where do the Scriptures say That God is a Spirit without a Body Did not you learn your own Catechise or if you did have you forgotten doth it not teach saying to your Pupils That God is a Spirit Or a spiritual Substance most Holy Wise Just and Infinite Now if it be so that God hath a Substance then he must on necessity have a Body And if he be Holy Wise and Just he must have a Person to possess his ravishing Glory in and yet to be of uncompounded Purity Exod. 15.3 Is it not said That God was a Man of War that shews that he is in the form of a Man Also Christ told the Pharises Maâ—â— â—â— 17 Josh 9.1 3. That there was no Man perfectly Good but one which was God 3. Moreover if your Soul can be more Wise Just and Holy without your Body then turn it out of the Body and see what Holiness and Justice it can Act without its Body 1 Cor. 6.19 But the Truth of Scripture is That God had a Body and Person from all Eternity Râ—vel 21.23 1.14 10.1 a spiritual Body brighter than the Sun more clear than Christial and that is the Reason why Mortality cannot
2.14 then he speaks as in Referance to his God-head and when he saith That he can of himself do nothing and the like Isa 45.15 21 22 23. â—â—â—pared then he speaks as in relation to his Manhood God then hideing himself in that Manhood Again if it be granted That Christ is God and Man then it must be acknowledged That where Christ is there the Father is John 14. â— 9 Gal. 1.4 1 â—et 2.24 and Christ affirms it himself saying That he that had him had the Father and he that had seen him had seen the Father Now from all this doth it not plainly appear That he was the Father himself as well as the Son And John saith John 1.1 Verse 1â— Matâ— 1.20 That in the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God And this Word was God and that God or Word became Flesh Then surely that one God was Father as well as Son unless you can prove there were Two Gods or with the Arians That Christ was one with the Father in Union but not in Essence and if so then every Believer is as much God as Christ is But you have your Two Gods one of which you say took Flesh the other did not here you divide the Sub stance What a Monster do you here make of God for you had before Christs Incarnation those Two Gods in Heaven a Father God and a Son God and that Son you say The Father Begot before all Worlds and then was begot again in this World so your God the Son was Twice Begot or Twice Made Is this good Sence is this your Wisdom is this good Divinity nay without all Controversy this is quite contrary to Scripture and to sober Reason also Zâ—ch 1â— 9 Deuâ— 6. â— Isaiah 42.8 48.11 Psal 103.20 Heb. 1.6 For was there ever any more than one God and did not the Prophet Isaiah say That God would not give his Glory to another and yet it is said That all the Angels of God should Worship Christ Isaiah 45.23 Phil. 2.10 and that to him every Knee should bow and that not only in Earth but in Heaven also Reâ—â—l 22.6 Compar'd with Verse 14. Who then could share with him for he was the Lord God of all the Prophets testified by the Angel unto John which Angel bid John worship God even that God of the Prophets which was no other but Jesus Christ Therefore it is said I Jesus have sent my Angel and behold I come quickly c. There is no other God to come no other Father no other Resurrection and Life 1 John 2.23 5.7 2 John 9. Acts 4.12 no other Name or Power but Jesus Christ our Lord tho Men or Angels should gainsay it as I have abundantly shew'd in a Treatis intituled None but Christ Moreover John 17.3 to prosecute this Principle a little further here because it is our Life and Foundation Principle and it is impossible for any Man to be saved that shall presumptuously dispise this Doctrin of Jesus being the everlasting Father after so plain a Discovery I am now to inquire how you Trenitarians Sosinians and Arians bring Christ in for your Saviour You say That by the Fall of Adam all Men had incurred Damnation and so were become God the Father's Debtors and the Father standing upon Justice would not be Reconciled with them without the full payment of that Debt as Life for Life Now say you the Father was so far pleased as to send his Son to pay the full Debt And say you this Son came voluntarily and paid the Debt and by this means satisfied the Wrath of his Father and so purchased your Life by his Ransom Wherefore if it be so as you Teach That the Father is distinct from that Son then are you not beholding to the Father at all For take this Similitude for the Elustration thereof Suppose I owe a Man a 1000 Pounds or more and I have not wherewith to pay him and he will not forgive me any of the Debt or I must either pay it all or to Prison there to remain till I have paid the utmost Farthing The Son of this my Creditor sees the Strait I am in Commiserates my Case steps in voluntarily and pays the Father the full Debt and so sets me at Liberty Now in this Case who am I most beholding to the Father or the Son not to the Father at all for he was for Justice and I wanted Mercy The Son therefore was my Friend and to him only am I bound and him only am I to Love Serve and Obay This is the very plain Case Phil. 3.8 Ephe. 6.24 1 Cor. 16.22 1 Tim. 6.15 Revel 5.12 Jonn 17.5 2 Cor 5.19 2 John 9. John 8.36 1 Pet 1.19 2 Pet. 6. Heb. 2.14 it is the Son Christ Jesus that all the Elect Seed of Adam are beholding to and not to any Father that either is or ever was distinct from him But the Father of Christ was his own Godhead Spirit which through his eternal Love to the Seed of his own Body was moved to change his Spiritual Body which was his everlasting Son into Flesh to the end he might be capable to dye and shed his Blood for their Redemption as also that he might have Power to raise the Seed of the Serpent to a Second and eternal Death for their Cruelty acted against him and his Elect Seed Therefore his coming in Flesh was foretold by Isaiah and all the other Prophets Isaiah 9.6 and that the Son that was to be born of a Virgin should in time be called the mighty God and everlasting Father Now at this time this Prophesy is fulfilled and by this Commission of the Spirit he is both called and known to be the high and mighty God and everlasting Father This Scripture is possitive and shall command all primative Scriptures to bow down to it Thus the Scriptures are clear to all that are appinted to Salvation that Christ Jesus is that one only and alone true God and everlasting Father To this the Holy Patriacks agree observe their Testimony which is consonant to Scripture being grounded upon Enoch's Prophesy Sim shall be glorified when the great Lord God of Issrael appeareth on the Earth as a Man to save Adam for God taking a Body upon him namely of Flesh and Bone and eating with Men shall save Men. Ye shall see God in the shape of a Man said Zebulon he is the Saviour he is the Father of Nations he that Believeth in him shall certainly Reign in Heaven saith Levy and Judeth God shall appear and dwell amongst Men upon Earth to save Israel the Highest shall visit the Earth eating and drinking as Man with Man he shall save Israel That is God hiden in Man At the last Day we shall rise every one of us to his own Scepter saith Benjamin Worshiping the King of Heaven which appeared in the base Shape of a Man and as
was said to be Wiser than Daniel by which Wisdom he had goten him Riches of Gold and Silver in abundance as also in his Kingdom all sorts of cunning Arts and Siances and a great Merchant mighty in Traffick All this from his Father the Angel Therefore said the Prophet to this Prince Thou hast been in Eden the Garden of God every presious Stone was thy Covering yea the Tabret and the Pipe was prepared in thee in the Day that thou wast Greated This was not Adam but the Angel c. Again Thou art the anointed Cherub that covereth and I have set thee so Again saith the Prophet Thou wast upon the Holy Mountain of God and hast walked in the midst of Stones of Fire Thou wast perfect in thy Ways from the Day thou wast Created Verse 15.17 till Iniquity was found in thee Thou hast corrupted thy Wisdom by reason of thy Brightness Now can this Prince of Reason so exalted be derived from any other Roote but that Angelical Reprobate That was cast down from Heaven for his Pride in those his great Perfections Matt. Therefore his Wisdom is said to excel Daniel 's And so it might be said to excel Adam's too Therefore these Princes are not related to Adam but to that Angel that corrupted his Wisdom of piersing Reason for had his Wisdom flow'd from Faith's Nature it could not have Corrupted it self but the Wisdom of Reason is subject to Sin Yea Reason it self tho so noble a Nature and splendant if not upheld by that Power that Created it is Sin it self and here is the Off-spring and Root of all fleshly Glory So that that which is adored for a God is damned for a Devil If this gives Offence I cannot help it But to proceed Again Whereas you the Opposer of the Muggletonians Principles say First That Cain was of Adam 's begeting And then Secondly That all Cain 's Off-spring perished in the Flood These are both absolutely false For First It is evident That Adam never begot Cain neither do the Scriptures affirm it if rightly understood For tho Moses saith Gen. 4.1 That Adam knew Eve his Wife and she conceived and bare Cain yet Moses doth not say That she conceived Cain of Adams Seed And therefore in the very next Words after Moses hath these Words And she again bare his Brother Abel Verse 2. Without mentioning a Word of his knowing of her after and this was to keep the Seeds of aspiring Reason in the dark for Eve had conceived Cain of the Serpent Angel before ever Adam knew her and that was it that made her full of Lust after her Innocent Husband Again 1 John 3.12 To clear this further Doth not the Apostle John say That Cain was from that Serpent-Angel which he calls by the name of Wicked one Now dare you say That Adam was that Wicked one from whence as John saith the Spirit of Cain sprung Surely no for that were Wickedness indeed to Men that profess Scripture Furthermore Gain and Abel altho they are said to be Brothers Matt. 1.15 yet their Brotherhood comes but by the Mother's side even as it is apparent that Holy and Jacob the Two attributed Fathers of Joseph the Husband of Mary were Brothers by the Mother's side Now it is worth the minding here That Joseph could not be the natural Son of both those Men for observe in the Genealogy of our Saviour Matthew makes Mathan to be the Father of Jacob and Jacob the Father of Joseph But Luke makes Melchi the Father of Hely Luke 3.22 and Hely the Father of Joseph Now here is a different Race for Jacob the natural Father of Joseph he proceeded from Solomon but Hely sprung from Nathan and was Joseph's Father by Law or Title but not by Nature Therefore as Hely was the supposed Father to Joseph and Joseph the supposed Father of Christ even so was Adam no more than the supposed Father of Cain nay he is no where called the Father of Cain not in all the Scriptures But on the contrary that Cain's Father was called that Wicked one or Devil for Wicked one and Devil are both of one signification See and Compare Matt. 13.19 Luke 8.12 Mark 4.15 Therefore it is without all Controversy That Adam was not that Wicked One Satan or Devil that begot Cain Nay your own Doctor Ainser upon Genesis saith That Cain was from the Devil and he citeth some of the Hebrew Doctors for Proof of the same Saying That they Teach how that Cain was born of the Filth and Seed of the Serpent which was conveyed into Eve And that one Menacham a Jewish Rabi saith That unto this World there cleaveth the secret Filthiness of the Serpent which came upon Eve and because of that Filthiness Death is come upon Adam c. But no more of this here having wrote largely upon it in a Treatis Intituled Truth 's Triumph or the Witness to the Two Witnesses which may some time come to publick view Secondly as it is proved that Adam did not beget Cain so it is false for you to say That all Cain 's Off-spring perished in the Floud Now you that affirm this will find it to the contrary for if that had been so as you say then there would be no Damnation for any that have been borne since But tho Cain was dead and most of his Off-spring Gen. 9.25 3.14 Compated Isa 1.4 14.20 Deut. 12.5 yet his Seed was alive in cursed Ham so that the Curse given to the Serpent-Angel in the Womb of Eve run in a Line even from Cain to Ham and so to Ishmael and Esau and so on to the end of the World For altho Ham was begot by Noah a good Man and an elect Vessel yet was not Ham of that good Seed for Noah had in him Two Seeds as all Men else have since the Sons of God saw the Daughters of Men Gen â— â— and took them Wives of such as were the Seed of Cain And so the Seed of Adam and that Seed of Cain through Copulation did perticipate of each others Seed Matt. 1â— 37 and which Seed is uppermost in Conception that Seed grows to be Lord over the other Matt. 10.37 and so a Man comes to have his Denomination according to the Predominancy of his Seed And thus it was with Ham for Cain's Seed was predominant in Ham's Conception So it was with those Jews that boasted themselves to be of Abraham John 8.38.33.37.44 And tho they might be Abraham's Seed according to the Flesh yet Christ branded them for Devils telling them That the Devil was their Father Which was no other than Cain being the first Lyer and Murtherer Now from hence all sober Men may see that a Devil and a Saint is all one to you for you can find but one Scripture Seed for God and Devil Heaven and Hell Saint and Serpent with you come all from one Root Now seeing