Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	body_n	death_n	separation_n	20,420	5	10.8447	5	true

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

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This is further proved thus If it was living Breath before it entred into the Body it must be living Breath after it is withdrawn from the Body since the Body makes no alteration upon it but it upon the Body as from a life-less Heap to a living Body and from a living to a dead Body again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

so span the Heavens with a great Hand and rid with a mighty Body upon the Circle of the Earth which how ridiculous and false soever it is is as true as Reeve's or Muggleton's Conceit Thus far indeed they would be in the right by such a Consequence That Almighty God would have a Body but they would grosly lye in the dimensions of it who say 'T is no bigger then a middle statured man Thus much If not too much upon this piece of old vain Anthropomorphitism That this idle Opinion is against that Understanding which God has given Men to judge of the Difference of Things we also prove First If God were a Person of mans stature it would destroy his Ubiquity or Omnipresence which is one of his most divine Properties rightly attributed to him For how is it possible so inconsiderable a Body can be at all places at one and the same time by which to see and understand all things or to administer Strength and Comfort to his scatter'd Flock throughout the World Secondly If they would say he is present by his Spirit as read Reeve's Epistle to his Divine Looking-Glass I affirm against all Muggletonians upon Earth That then not that Body but that Omnipresent Spirit is the truly in infinite God Thirdly But I would fain know how God and his Spirit can be divided or separated Can any man be truly such whose spirit is absent from him What Body is a living Body without a spirit any more than Faith can be living without Works How then can God's Body no bigger then a Mortal Man's be contained in Reeve's and Muggleton's conceited Heaven and his Spirit every where Where God's Spirit is God is he can never be divided from his own Life and Spirit for God is that Spirit or that Spirit is God they are synonimously or equivolently to be taken This the Apostle believed when he told the Athenians That God was nigh to every one of them and in him they lived moved and had their Beeing Fourthly How was it possible for Reeve to hear God speak with a Voice of words from beyond the Stars as one Body speaks to another and no Body hear besides himself nor the visible Firmament or Air to receive any Alteration or Disposure as ever was when Voices of Words have been uttered whether to Moses or of Christ or otherwise If any say It was a spiritual Voice such talk sottishly no Carnal Ear can hear a Spiritual Voice as Reeve himself teacheth page 47. T.S.T. concerning which something may be fitly hinted else-where Fifthly But I would add from their wicked Principles That if Man be God's Image in reference to his Body then because Reeve and Muggleton declare that a select number of men's Bodies and Souls are pre-ordain'd to be eternally damned therefore God has decreed his own Image to everlasting Vengeance and that to glorifie himself too which one Horrible Impiety I desire all to weigh and then there needs no farther undertaking to his Confutation That this OLD and also Exploded HERESIE I prove This wonderful dark Secret is to be read in Theodorus of Heresies the 4th Book and 10th Chapter where he speaks of one Audaeus who lived in Coelosiria in the time of Constantius the Emperor and grounded his Conjecture upon these words Let us make man after our Image Also several Monks inhabiting Aegypt conceited the God that made Heaven and Earth to be no bigger then a Man Of which Opinion with Muggleton was one Theaphilus of Alexandria they were called Anthropomorphits as may at large be seen in Eusebius Pamphilus his 6th Book and 36th Chapter also in Socrates Scholasticus his six and seven Books this was about the Year after Christ 403. and One thousand two hundred sixty nine years since Secondly THeir second Secret is That God did not create the Heavens and Earth out of Nothing but the Substance was with God from Eternity T.S.T. p. 12. That this also inconsistent with SCRIPTURE we prove First In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth and the Earth was without form and void Gen. 1.1 2. If they were created before they were formed as saith the place then Creation and Formation are not one and the same thing as Reeve and Muggleton assert in their Transcendent Spiritual Treatise p. 16. so that either the Authority of Scriptures must be denyed or else Creation is first a bringing forth of the Chaos or rude Substance and Formation the Disposition of it into such Parts and Designation unto such Ends or Services as that all wise Creator might think most befitting his great Work Enough might be said on this one particular to confute all with whom the Scriptures remain of any force Secondly Hearken unto me O Jacob and Israel my called I am he I am the first I also am the last my Hand also has laid the Foundation of the Earth Isa 48.12 13. To be first and to have laid the very Foundation of anothers Beeing supposeth that thing neither to be before it nor so much as in time equal with it and therefore denotes priority and superiority Wherefore thus I argue If God was before so much as the Foundation of the Earth was laid then was neither the Earth nor Foundation of it from Eternity with God But the Text affirms That God was first or before the very Foundation was ever laid therefore neither the Earth nor Superstructure as to its Form nor yet its Foundation or first material Principle was Co-eternal In short Nothing can be said to create any thing that is equal in time with it because such Creation supposeth the one to receive its being from the other and since God gave its Foundation or first bottom the very material Principle it follows there could be no Co-eternity betwixt them Thirdly And the Word was God All things were made by him John 1.1 13. If all things were made by him then both Heaven and Earth because they are part of all things were made by him but the place says all things or whatever has beeing were made by him therefore a●● Co-eternity of Earth or Heaven with the Everlasting God is excluded and refuted To this answers that Passage of the Apostle Paul in the Acts God that made the World and all things therein c. Fourthly To c●nclude this Head For by him were all things created and 〈◊〉 before 〈◊〉 things and by him all things c●n●●st Collos 1 16.17 And thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thy Hands Heb. 1.10 That which had a Beginning which was made and which was and is upheld by another neither can have been contemporary nor co-eternal with that from which it received its Beeing but that did the Heaven and the Earth and from Almighty God as the place proves Therefore not Co-eternal with him Nor can their idle shift any wayes secure them from the dint of these Scriptures nor the Arguments built

upon them viz. making is fashioning so God made the Heavens and the Earth as a Carpenter makes a Door or a Chest he fashions it of Wood but he does not make the Wood A Distinction fitted for Bodlam then men pretending to be in their Wits Can any rationally think that when God is said to lay the Foundation of the Earth and to make the Heavens and all that live therein that he only fashioned them up Who made the Trees Plants Beasts Fowls Fishes and rational Creatures Do they strain at a Gnat and swallow a Cammel Can they think that it was harder to Almighty God to create out of Nothing the more inanimate or Lifeless part of Heaven and Earth then to compose that variety of excellent Creatures and to infuse that great Spirit and Soul by which they are respectively instincted or acted But how pertinent his Distinction is betwixt fashioning and making we will manifest by that remarkable Passage to our purpose in Paul's Epistle to the Philippians Chap. 2. And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself c. Was Christ a real Man or not if not then Reeve and Muggleton's Fleshly Mortal Notion of the Immortal Son of God falleth to the Ground if a real man then to be fashioned may import to be and the Fashion of a thing passeth for the Beeing of a thing Of what value now their Distinction is they may consider if they please But this Opinion is also against REASON First It is the nature of what is Eternal or from all Everlasting to be Infinite Vnalterable and Almighty for it oweth no Original or Preservation to another and is equivolent in all other Properties to Eternity Now where there is not proportion it is highly to be suspected That there is no such thing at all but is a meer Chimera and real only in a Fiction Secondly That there is no resemblance is manifest the whole visible World is full of Time inconsistent with Eternity as having Beginning and End the Heavens have their set Motions the Earth her distinct Seasons in which are various Revolutions and both filled with divers Temporary Agitations and Motions Therefore it is impossible that Heaven and Earth could have been from Eternity which are so filled with and made up of all the Instances of Time and Mutation for should they The Sun must alwayes shine the Rain descend the Tide flow the Winds blow the Winter last and every Alteration that is in Time be perpetual Thirdly It is utterly impossible that Temporal Beeings could receive their sustenence and growth from what is by nature Eternal there being as great Contrariety at least Difference between them as there is betwixt visible and invisible spiritual and carnal things Fourthly Such as is the Food such should the Life be now if this visible World be eternal then the Food that springs from it should nourish to a Life as Eternal as that World which does produce it Nay since mans Body was made of the Earth we might well infer That mans Body as so made is Eternal and if Eternal as such not Mortal which Experience tells us is an idle Tale. But let this suffice at present But that this Conjecture had other Founders then Reeve and Muggleton I prove and that by two Instances Augustine sayes That there were several that affirmed That the Water was not made by God but was Co-eternal Next a certain Sect called S●luciani taught That the substance of the Creation or whereof the World was made was not made by God but Eternally with God then no Creature and then God as may at large be read in the said Augustine's Book of Heresies this Heresie raigned about Anno 300. after Christ To say nothing of that known Philosopher Aristole who was sometimes Idolator sometimes Athiest Thirdly THe third Secret which only was revealed to Reeve and Muggleton if we will believe them is That the Soul of man is generated or got by the Man and Woman with the Body and that the Body and Soul are inseparable That this is contrary to SCRIPTURE Testimony I prove First And the Spirit to God that gave it Eccle. 12.7 No Carnal Generation can bring forth a pure Spirit External Matter producing only External Matter of its own kind But the soul of Man is a spirit as the words exprest in Reeve's and Muggleton's own T.S.T. p. 44. Therefore no man gets the soul or spirit of a man when he generates the Body Secondly That which returns to God came from God but the soul of every man returns to God and consequently came from him I omit mentioning more Scriptures because the following Principle being a Consequent of this what I prove there is proved here namely The Immortality of the soul against the Atheistical Assertion of the soul's mortality with the body For where there is no Corruption there could be no proper Generation and if the soul be Immortal it was not descended of Mortal Race or begotten of elementory visible matter That this is against all Right UNDERSTANDING I prove First Such as is the Soul such must that be which produceth it but it is Spiritual Now that which generates the Body of Man being only and meerely visible Matter it cannot produce or generate an intellectual Soul or Spirit Secondly If Man got the Soul then would that Soul be as well the Image of the Father as the Body and partake as intirely of the Father's Nature and Disposition in all respects But Experience shews us That Sober Parents have Wild Children and Religious Children Debaucht Parents therefore Parents do not generate the Soul Thirdly If Soul and Body be inseparably generated then the Sexes as well belong to Souls as Bodies the which as it is absurd so would there be Men and Women in that very distinction to all Eternity And who ever read of She Souls or Female Souls Fourthly If Soul and Body were intermixtly and inseparably generated by Man then in all Anatomies it were no more difficult to find out the Soul then any other Part and in case of opening or dissecting of Living men as I have at the Vniversity seen living Beasts by Anatomists it would not be impossible but rationall that one should behold the very Thoughts Purposes and Intents of such Mens Hearts and Souls But because this were most vain we shall conclude The Soul is not generated with nor inseparable from the Body but of an Immaterial Nature That this is no newer then the rest and was esteemed Heresie in the Primitive Times I will Evidence There was a Sect called Lucifrians from one Lucifer of Sardania and the Tertullianists who held That the Soul was transfused by generation from the Parents to their Children and that the Soul is of the Flesh and Substance of the Flesh of which read Socrates in his 3d Book and 7th Chapter also Augustine of Heresies and Theodorus his 3d Book and 5th Chapter about Anno 350. Fourth THE Fourth sublime Mystery of those

There is nothing Mortal that is not Elementary or composed of visible Matter or Substance but the Body is that only part of Man which is so composed And consequently the Body is the onely Mortal Part of Man Secondly That only can be subject to visible and material Generations Agitations Motions Privations Diminutions Increases Alterations Operations and Corruptions which is of a Visible Elementary and Corporal Substance for an Invisible none ever saw subject to any one of them but of such is the Body and not the Soul by Reeve and Muggleton their own assertion of Man's Nature to be of the Faith which is God's Nature Therefore the Body is subject onely to Generation and Corruption and not the Soul That the Soul is not of the same Nature of the Body I thus prove Thirdly That which is intellectual which in its pure Nature knows comprehends governs and orders all visible elementary and corporical Beeings and yet is Invisible Spiritual Rational and Internal as is manifest from its Heavenly Meditations its secret Thoughts its serious Reflects acute Memory and profound Reasonings about the Causes and Effects of all things cannot but be of a Nature more refined exellent and noble then to fall under the same Generations Revolutions and Corruptions those inferior visible Beeings are subject to But such is the Nature of Man's Soul as daily experience manifests to all that will not wilfully Blind their Eyes therefore though Man's Body be Mortal as being of that grosser Substance and elementary Nature yet his Soul is of an immortal Nature and can receive no Alteration of Being by any that may or can happen to the Body which is but a Well Organz'd and disposed Instrument for the Soul to exert or put forth it self by according to the good Pleasure of God and that creaturely Prudence necessary to be eyed in and about all Worldly Concernments Thus much and enough to this Point That this is as Gray-headed as Atheism we may suppose and that it is not only their only Revelation I prove John the 22th Bishop of Rome and some in the Countries of Arabia held this very Doctrine affirming That Souls and Bodies dyed and rose together of which read Origen and Eusebius Pamphilus lib. 6. chap. 36. nor can any be ignorant that converse with Story that long before since and at this day where Reeve and Muggleton were never thought on this wretched Opinion is but too rise Anno 249. 1423. years since Fifthly BUt their most admirable Secret of all is That God descended with his Body in the shape of a Man and dissolved himself into the Virgin 's Womb and so brought forth himself a Man who after he had lived to such an Age was Crucified and really dyed or ceased to be either God or Man for Three Dayes and Nights That this is in three Paticulars highly inconsistent with Scripture I prove First God did not so transmute his divine Nature into Fleshly Mortal Nature 1. Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day Then said the Jews unto him Thou art not yet Fifty Years old and hast thou seen Abraham Jesus said unto thems Verily verily I say unto you Before Abraham was I am John 8.56 57 58. If that which was before Abraham and yet then in beeing the same was God as none that own the Scriptures do deny then because that outward visible Body was not before Abraham that was not God The first all grant the second none reasonably doubt for Christ was crucified about the Three and Thirtieth year of his Life And then I hope none will believe the Eternal Deity was Transmuted or Transubstantiated into that Visible Body for so Christ's Answer would not have been true for that Mortal Body which say Reeve and Muggleton was the Eternal God had a Beginning and was not of that Age the Jews said it to be 2. Whose are the Fathers and of whom as concerning the Flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed forever Rom. 9. 5. If Christ as concerning the Flesh was not God as the Text manifestly implieth by a Distinction betwixt his Appearance in that Body of Flesh and his Divine Essence or Beeing with their Originals then that fleshly Body was not God or the Eternal God was not Substantially Transmuted into that Fleshly Body Secondly Neither could Elias be God's Deputy to transact in his stead the Affairs of Heaven during that Journey which these Impostors affirm God to have taken from any Scripture Evidence 1. For my Father is greater then I John 14.28 And he kneeled down and prayed Father if thou be willing remove this Cup from Me nevertheless not my Will but thine be done Luke 22.41 42. If Elias was that Father which Christ spake of and prayed and cryed to as Reeve and Muggleton assert then either he that cryed to him was not God but Elias really God and so they both contradict their own Doctrine who tell us That he that was born of the Virgin and dyed on the Cross was the Everlasting Father or else that which needeth and cryeth for help of another was greater then that which was able to succour and deliver it which how absurd it is let all sober men judge therefore he to whom he cry'd and pray'd in all Streights and whom he had affirmed to have received all his Doctrine and Commission from and who was greater then all was the only true God and not any glorified Creature For God could not leave Elias his Deputy and not leave him his Power which if he did be left Himself since without his Almighty Power he were not God Secondly I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and revealed them unto Babes The Hour is come glorifie thy Son that thy Son also may glorifie thee And this is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent And now Father glorifie thou me with the Glory which I had with thee before the World began John 17.1 3 5. On this place I raise these three brief Arguments 1. If Elias was not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ nor Lord of Heaven and Earth but a created Being as all confess then it was not unto Elias that Jesus returned that Heavenly Thanksgiving but to his own Father greater then all who is Lord of Heaven and Earth 2. If he to whom he prayed be that only true God and that to know him and Christ Jesus whom he hath sent be Life Eternal then was it not Elias to whom he prayed because all grant that he is not the only true God nor did he so love the World as to send his only begotten into the World that through believing in him it might obtain Eternal Life This most plainly knocks down all Conceits of a Deputed God that Christ should pray unto because supposing that such a thing could be yet he could not be that only true

art a Damned Devil remember Thomas Loe who was the Wickedst Devil that ever I knew who never went out of his bed after I Curst him P. Thy Curses are under my Feet Tho. Loe was known to be an infirm Man in his Natural Constitution as well as by his great Labours for near these sixteen years who is gone to rest But art thou not ashamed to say he never went out of his Bed who was as well as he used to be and often after abroad and when he fell sick was often up and changed his Lodging before he dyed having been ill three Weeks Is this thy Infallible Spirit that thou suggests Lyes to thy self and others M. I heard so P. Is that enough for one that pretends to be the last Witness of the High and Mighty God to say for a Lye I heard so Cover thy Face for Shame M. He writ me a Curse and he writ a very good Hand too but for all that He was a Damned Devil and thou W.P. art as arrant a Devil as he and you shall be Damn'd together P. Lodowick in this thou hast told another Lye for it was an Apprentice that writ it Where is thy Unerring Spirit now thou vile Impostor And for being Devils and Damn'd together God rebuke thee only this know that I am willing to go where he went and whither we go thou canst not come without great and unfaigned Repentance M. Just so many of you Quakers have dyed after my Curse amongst others William Smith P. This is another Notorious Lye for the man is yet Living Well Muggleton God will reckon with thee for all thy Wickedness M. Thou art a Cheat and a Deceiver W.P. my Friend spoke G.W. Muggleton have a care what thou sayst for though it is our Religion to forgive Injuries yet perhaps his Friends would question thee and make thee prove it M. I care not a Part for Him nor his Friends nor the Greatest Man in England P. Thy Black Mouth is no Slander but know Muggleton That from my Youth I have sought God and dared not willingly to abuse a Worm and as my Friend has said thou knowest there are Laws other People make use of to vindicate their Credit by but I forgive thee thereby thou mayst know the Difference betwixt our Gods and our Religions thou Revilest and possest Curses upon me I Freely Forgive thee M. I care not a TURD for you nor the Laws neither This with many more Unsavory Foul Expressions fell from his Mouth He also affirmed That God never gave a Law but to Devils and that Moses and the Israelites were so I askt him If he received a Law He said Yes I askt him for whom He said For the People of these Nations to whom he was sent I told him Th●● that render'd both himself and those to whom he was sent Devils by his own Assertion In short Such Impertinency such Blasphemy such sottish Nonsense and such Vnsavory Ill-bred Expressions I don't remember to have heard from the Mouth of any man pretending to Religion If this be your Prophet you that believe in him your last Witness the only Messenger of the Spiritual Dispensation and Grand Commissioner of Heaven whom all must credit or be damned For Shame own not so manifest an Impostor so foul a Wretch so ill an Example his Arrogancy his Ignorance his Sottish Life his Cowardliness and finally his Abominable Lying spirit is far from the Holy Patient Suffering Self-denying and Heavenly Life of Christ and his Apostles who being Reviled they Blessed I therefore intreat nay warn the Reader hereof and to fear the Infinite Almighty God whose Mighty Judgments for Sin in the Consciences of Men and Women are come and not to Worship this Beast nor any Evil Thing by bowing to his dark Imaginations For know of a certain the Time is at hand when every Word Faith and Work shall be tryed that they who believe the Truth and live in it may have Rejoycing in themselves and not in another when Muggleton's airy Stories which may perhaps swell and puff up the Minds of silly People shall vanish and such as have made his Lyes their Refuge shall be swept away and their place not to be found among the Living Therefore mind the Light the Grace the Gift of God in your selves which leads to Repentance and all manner of Godly Conversation a thing Muggleton meddles not with that by it your Hearts may be sanctified and settled in the Belief of the Truth as it is plainly revealed to every particular in Christ Jesus so shall you obtain a sound Understanding and possess the Habitations of True Peace when Muggleton and his obstinate Brats shall Howl in the Lake that burns with Brimstone and Fire forever and evermore William Penn. JOHN REEVE AND LODOWICK MUGGLETON Contradicting Themselves and One Another IT can be no Wonder unto such as have impartially read thus far that these men should contradict themselves and one another who are filled in their Discourses or rather Ravings with nothing sober and consonant but Confusion heap'd upon Confusion to the astonishing of every man that is in earnest about Religion and has any due Fear and Reverence for God but because they lay it down as the Mark only of the True Commissioners of Heaven in nothing to Jar or Contradict I am the more induced to add to my own pains and the Readers in a Comparison of their Contradictions Doth not this Demonstrate those to be the Commissionated Witnessers of the Unerring Spirit that are indue with a Divine Gift to write a Volumn as large as the Bible and as pure a Language as that is with as much Variety of Matter without looking in any Writing whatsoever or HAVING ANY REAL CONTRADICTION IN IT R. M. Div. Look Glass page 112. Contradiction I. Therefore it is written Dust thou art and unto Dust thou shalt return When the Lord spake those words he did not speak to the Flesh or outward Form or Body of the Man but he spake to the Inward Spirit or Soul that understands the words of a Spirit Look in his Transc Spiritual Treatise p. 44. Wherefore it may be queried by some What was that which entred into the Dust and brought forth Angelical Bodies was it any thing else but the Divine Nature of God himself Unto this curious Query from the true Light of Life I answer That neither the Spirit of Angels nor any other Creatures were formed of the Divine Nature but the Souls of Adam and Eve only His Divine L. Glass pag. 8. Animadversion I. If that which returns to Dust cannot be said to return to Dust unless it first came from Dust then if the Soul returns to Dust it consequently came from Dust and if from Dust then was it not formed of the Divine Nature as on the other side is affirmed and therefore a Contradiction Contradiction II. Again I declare That when the Elect are Glorified they are absolutely of the very

same Glorious Nature both in Spirit and Bodie as God is T.S.T. p. 46. Therefore the most Wise and Holy Creator created the Bodies of Angels Spiritual and their Natures Rational and he made the Body of the Man Adam Natural and his Soul Spiritual For if their Spirits and Bodies had been both of the Divine Nature then it would have been impossible for them to have been capable of any Sin or Evil no more then the Creator Himself for what would have been formed but Creators only instead of Creatures D.L.G. pag. 9 10. Animadversion II. If to be in Body and Spirit Spiritual be to be Creators then Gods and if the Saints are to be of the same Body and Spirit then they are to be Creators and consequently Gods which is absurd For if the Reason why Man was not at first made all Spiritual but the Soul Spiritual and the Body Natural was because he had been a Creator as they say which was impossible then if Man is to be of the same Body and Spirit that God is as they affirm Man is to be a Creator in the next World Monstrum Horrendum Contradiction III If the very God-head had not dyed that is If the very Soul of Christ which the Eternal Father had not dyed in the Body or with the Body to quiet or satisfie the Cry of the Guilt of Sin in Men's Spirits all men would have perished to Eternity Thus the Father and the Son was but one unseparable Person in Immortal Glory from all Eternity and became in time one unseparable Person in Mortality T.S.T. p. 25 26. If Angels and Men had been both of God's Divine Nature in their Creation then instead of their being capable to be changed into a higher or lower Condition at the Divine Pleasure of the Creator would they not rather have been Unchangeable Creators then Changeable Creatures D.L.G. p. 9. Animadversion III. If the Reason why Men and Angels are not of the Divine Nature be That they are subject to Change and that if they had been made of it they would not have been capable of Mutation into lower or higher Degrees at Divine Pleasure then because God is of that Divine Nature it is inconsistant with his Nature to Change or be Transmuted as they often speak from an higher State to a lower and so their whole conceit of the Deity 's Mortality is vain and by themselves Contradicted Contradiction IV. Again Many seeming wise men do imagine the Lord to be a vast Spirit D.L.G. p. 16. Others blasphemously say that the spirit of Man is God and that the Body only dyes These say also God is an Infinite Spirit T.S.T. p. 44. Is not that Infinite Spirit and its Glorious Properties but only one Essence or God-head Substance D.L.G. p. 106. You may know that all things are possible and very easie for an Infinite Spirit to bring to pass D.L.G. p. 114. Animadversion IV. It can be no Crime for any to believe God to be an Infinite or Vast Spirit as one while they would have it whilst presently they call the God-head Substance an Infinite Spirit and confess all things to be possible unto an Infinite Spirit O Gross Contradiction Contradiction V. I say In the Great and Notable Day of the Lord by his Decree they shall every one of them rise out of the Dust together not with the same Bodies that dyed because there was somewhat of God in those Bodies T.S.T. p. II. So likewise that Infinite Spirit abiding within the glorious Body of Christ is so unspeakably fiery Glorious that no Created Spirit of Man nor Angel is able to bear the In-dwelling Essence of it D.L.G. p. 69. Animadversion V. If something of God dwells in this Life in the Souls and Bodies of Men then it is not so fiery Glorious but it may abide in them and they not be consumed For God's Nature or Essence is irreconcileable to nothing but Sin the Righteous shall behold him Face to Face So that one while God dwells in Men another while if it should be so Man would be Consumed Behold the Self-Opposition of these Miserable Witnesses Contradiction VI. How can any Rational Wise Man possibly think that Man or any other Living Forms should ever be without a Glorious Creator to give them their Beeings at first D.L.G. p. 16. This was the Creator's very case in the matter of Creation and who dares speak against it no Spiritual Wise Man I am sure only some Lustful Persons may dispute against it though it be contrary to their own Reason when it is sober D.L.G. p. 12. I confess it is not only contrary to Reason but far above all Reasons Reach truly to understand the Mysteries of the Creation D.L.G. p. 114. Animadversion VI. If an Appeal be made to rational Men concerning the Creation by a God and if it be contrary to sober Reason not to believe so then it is not far above nor contrary to all Reason to understand the Creation for else why is it render'd by them so agreeable to Reason and an Appeal made unto Rational Men concerning it Contradiction VII Again For your Information in whose Persons the Lord by his Holy Spirit Delights to dwell T.S.T. p. 22. Whoever thou art that boastest of a God and a Christ and his Ordinances and of a Glory to come without thee in the highest Heavens if thou shouldst be left to the Pride and Envy of thy Formal spirit to condemn the Invisible Teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ in his Innocent People because they are contrary to thy Opinion I say from the Everlasting Emanuel That thou art also but a Reprobate D.L.G. p. 68 69. For in him dwelleth all the Fulness of the Godhead bodily and from his Fulness we all receive and Grace for Grace If Christ or his Spirit were within men when they uttered those words all Faith or Hope in reference to Eternal Glory was vain D.L.G. p. 67 68. Animadversion VII If Christ delighteth to dwell in the Persons of his People by his Eternal Spirit and that he thereby teacheth their Souls what he requires from them as say they then it is not in vain to believe or hope though Christ or his Spirit were within as they also say nay they affirm That the Souls of the Redeemed is the Throne of God on which he now sits D.L.G. p. 46. And therefore though Christ or his Spirit were in Believers yet that would not make their Faith and Hope void Why Because they stand therein Contradiction VIII Is that Eternal Spirit in its Heavenly Vertues any thing else but Immortal Crowns of bright Burning Glories Though the Eternal Spirit be that Invisible God that by the Power of his Almighty Word hath created all things and though all Power Wisdom and Glory proceeds only from an Invisible Eternal Spirit D.L.G. p. 106. Can this Infinite Spiritual Glory be sensible of its Divine Excellency or be a perfect Blessedness except he hath a distinct Body suitable to

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