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
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 discourse 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. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these Reeve and Muggleton also resist the Truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the Faith But they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was 2 Tim. 3 8 9. Printed in the Year 1672. TO THE READER READER Amongst the many strange Pretentions that have been made to Religion and the Authors and Abettors of variety of Sects through every Generation from the most primitive Christian Times there has not appeared though not a less formidable yet a more compleat Monster on the Stage of Controversie and Opinion then John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton Brethren and Associates in the Blackest Work that ever fallen Men or Angels could probably have set themselves upon What many Ages singly were infested by we are assaulted with at once and as if the scattered Limbs of Heresie had rallied and re-enforced themselves for a new Combate no sooner was the Glorious Truth appearing then they were ready to make their utmost Opposition either by their Enchantments to delude the Souls of some or through their unparalel'd sottish Folly to scandalize the World in general against all Religion as ridiculous and amongst others the true as also Fabulous Yet the Lord God of Eternal Power whose Thoughts and Wayes are not as Mortal Men's but Infinite and Almighty like himself having decreed the Redemption of the fallen Souls of Men by the Illumination of their Understandings and Quickening of their Minds dead in Trespasses and Sins by the living powerful Operation of is own Eternal Spirit of Holiness did appear in so great Glory and Majesty that those Foggs and Mists which began to over-spread the Earth were soon scattered and the Everlasting Light rise and hath effectually shined forth unto the Convincement and Conversion of Thousands from the Ungodliness of this present Evil World and the Fruitless Religions that are profest therein to live a Sober Heavenly Righteous Life and Conversation But Alas Some few have strayed by the Way One hither and Another thither for want of that Subjection and Holy Watch they ought to have lived in unto the Blessed Living Truth of God And as many Snares have been presented to Delude so amongst others their Sottish Imaginations have not been without the power of a Temptation and too effectual upon some the Lord knoweth which though their Number be but very small yet the Concernment of their Immortal Souls is great For who living that have tasted of the sure Mercies of God and enjoyed of the Reward of Faithfulness to the Truth but must needs Pitty Sorrow and Lament on their behalf some that might have run well and would not others that began to do it and Satan hindred No sooner was Adam and Eve made sensible of the Blessedness of their Innocent State then the Serpent endeavoured to beguile them How by Preaching Righteousness Holiness Watchfulness and Godly Fear as without which none should ever see the Lord No nothing less but by Idle Dreams Lucifican Thoughts and Exalted Imaginations above the lowlâ— Awe and Fear they ought to have lived in towards their Almighty Creator And thus in some measure hath it faired with a few unhappy Souls that have been beguiled by these Imposters I shall not altogether make it my Business to confute his Tenants but since they more then once with an intollerable Pride boast of these things as New Revelations and challenge the whole World to disprove them and upon this single credit it is that their credulous Adherents are so mightily perswaded of their Patrons Sincerity and Infability it being their first Lesson at entrance To abandon all Scripture or inward Witness And that Muggleton to my knowledge in his Discourses and otherwise makes it his brag That he not only knows more then all men ever did or shall know to Eternity but that the Doctrines Reeves and he say they are deputed to declare by vertue of an immediate oral Commission from God himself are such divine Revelations as were never known to Men or Angels before them And consequently since their Followers have nothing for a Proof besides their bare Assertion which is most arrogant and false for they deny all inward Witness It will appear both reasonable and necessary that by an external Judge and Witness they should be tryed and if upon their Arraignment at the Bar they be found only to have patcht up old Phantisms together and published them under the Name of Transcendant Spiritual Treatises Divine Looking-Glasses and the like I hope they will be judg'd by every sober Person to be both horrible Imposters and their Commission to be a meer Counterfeit THE New Witnesses Proved OLD HERETICKS c. I now proceed to perform what has been promised by most Undeniable Proof First REeves and Muggleton declare as a great Secret to the World That God is not an Infinite Spirit in every Place at all Times contrary to the Scriptures which say He measures out the Heavens with his Span nor can the Heaven of Heavens contain him but against men and Angels and by Authority from the holy Spirit to use their own words God is but in the shape of a man and that man in respect of his Body is the Image of God Trans Spirit Treat p. 15. Deu. Look Glass p. 3 4. That this is against Scripture we prove First There is none like to the God of Jeshurun who rideth upon the Heaven in thy Help and in his Excellency on the Sky The Eternal God is thy Refuge and underneath are the Everlasting Arms Deut. 33.26 27. If the God of Jeshurun be the true God and none be like to him then cannot mans bodily shape be the Likeness of the true God consequently if Muggleton's Godâ— be in the likeness of mans bodily shape he is not the True God because he is not that God of Jeshurun which none is like unto Again If the Almighty God were but of the dimention of a middle statured man how could he be said to ride upon the Heavens and the Sky and to have his Everlasting Arms under a People many of whom being singly bigger then himself for by Muggleton's Principles We are still to keep to the Litteral sence Secondly But will God indeed dwell on the
Earth behold the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him 1 Kings 8.27 2 Chron. 2.6 chap. 6.18 If the Earth on which dwells so many Millions of Men be not able to receive God as he is and in comparison of limiting him to any place suitable to such a Body as Muggleton saith he hath the very Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him Certainly this immence and infinite Beeing must be of a larger extent then the Proportion of a Mortal Man his own Creature Thirdly Who hath measured the Waters in the hollow of his hand and meeted out the Heaven with his Span and comprehended the Dust of the Earth in a measure and weighed the Mountains in scales and the Hills in a Ballance Isa 40.12 He that cannot measure the Waters in the hollow of his Hand and meet out the Heaven with his Span and comprehend the Dust of the Earth in a Measure and weigh the Mountains in Scales and the Hills in a Ballance is not the true God but a Godd of mans stature can never do that therefore the true God is not such a one neither can such a one be the true God Fourthly To whom then will ye liken God What Likeness will ye compare unto him the Workman melteth a Graven Image and the Gold-smith spreadeth it over with Gold Have ye not known have ye not heard hath it not been told you from the Beginning have ye not understood from the Foundations of the Earth It is he that sits upon the Circle of the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof are as Grass-Hoppers that stretches out the Heavens as a Curtain and spreads them out as a Tent to dwell in Isa 40.18 19 21 22. In this Passage is a most pregnant Overthrow of this vain Opinion 1. That God of whom man can make a Likeness is not the true God but such a one is Muggleton's therefore not the true God 2. If God was of mans figure and stature then Gold-smiths were able to make his Likeness but this the Scriptures utterly deny and ask what likeness will ye compare unto him therefore God is not in the bodily shape of a man 3. God by his Prophet disdaineth all such vain Conceits and lest any should think so meanly of him he gives his own Character Have ye not heard hath it not been told you from the Beginning it is he that sitteth on the Circle of the Earth and to whom the Inhabitants thereof are as Grass-Hoppers who stretches out the Heavens as a Curtain and spreads them out as a Tent to dwell in Fifthly God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth John 4.24 If God be a Spirit he is either a finite or an infinite Spirit a finite he cannot be and be God therefore an infinite one If God be an infinite and immence Spirit which are tearms reciprocal then not a Body of a little more then five Foot high as blasphemous ignorant and sottish Reeve and Muggleton darkly imagine but the only wise and invisible God is that infinite Spirit therefore not confin'd to any bodily shape Sixthly For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh for sin condemned sin in the Flesh Rom. 8.3 But made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of men Phil. 2.7 By the likeness of sinful Flesh and was made in the likeness of men we understand and grant Christ's taking upon him not only a shape of a man but the Flesh and Blood of a Virgin the Question will then be this Whether Christ had this shape before he took it If he had he took it after he had it which is absurd if not he was before he had it and if he was before he had it either he was like his Father or he was not if not then not his Son if he was then because the Scripture declares him to have taken upon him the likeness of a man which supposeth him to have had a Beeing before he took it God is not in the likeness of sinful Flesh nor made in the likeness of men but is the divine immortal Substance of which Christ was the express Image before he took upon him the form of a Servant or was made in the likeness of men which take notice are both joyned together as Expressions of his Condiscension as the following verse also shews and in being found in the fashion of a man as being a new and uncouth thing to him he humbled himself and became obedient unto Death c. This was in the day he took upon him the form of a Servant and likeness of Man making himself of no Reputation and not whilst he was in the form of God when he thought it no Robbery to be equal with God In short If that only makes equal with God which is found in the form of God then that which is in the form of a Servant and in the likeness of men is not in that state equal to God and if that be so as it is if Scripture be true certainly there is ground to believe that Reeve and Muggleton are not a little out of the Way in asserting That God's Form is the Pattern or Image man's Body was made by But here I expect to meet with an Objection that it may be fit to remove as that only one which can carry any colour of an Answer with it Object Most of these Scriptures especially out of the Prophets onely intend to shew God's Soveraign Power and not that he is not a Peson as I assert him to be Thus far Muggleton and his Company I Reply All Scriptures either import a literal or a mystical sense and either would serve us against this false Witness if he sayes they should be construed mystically I will tell him that he must give us the same liberty in that place to do the like Let us make man after our own Image for they only collect from that Passage God's Image by man's likeness but in many of the places urged by me those Members which in a litteral sense denote a Body like to man's are particularly mention'd We will never allow him to allegorize the more litteral and litterize the more allegorical if the one must be litteral let the other be so too especially there being more ground for it To Conclude if he will interpret God's Hands and Arms and Span to signifie his Power as is most true then will I also explain God's Image to be Holiness which is also true But if he will have it that because God made man after his Image and that man has an Head Eyes Nose Mouth Ears Hands c. therefore God has such too I will infer because the Scriptures say He span'd the Heaven with his Right hand and rid upon the Circle of the Earth That he really and bodily did
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 aâ—â— 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 câ—nclude this Head For by him were all things created and 〈◊〉 before 〈◊〉 things and by him all things câ—nâ—â—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 Sâ—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
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
God whom to know were Life Eternal but this to whom Jesus prayed whom say Reeve and Muggleton was Elias saith Christ Jesus was that only true God whom to know is Life Eternal 3. This God to whom Christ prayed that he would glorifie him was the same Eternal God with whom he had Glory before the World began but Elias was Two Thousand Years or more after the World was made instead of being before the World began and consequently Elias was not that God and Father unto whom the Lord God made his Supplications Object But Muggleton will tell me That Elias was enthroned with that God-like Power Glory Wisdom and Majesty that rendred him all that which was needful to make able to answer all those Petitions and what ever else was necessary Answ If the Majesty Power Wisdom and Glory of God were left with Elias I would fain know what God had to dye with for 't is his Power Glory and Divine Wisdom that makes him God If Elias had them God left himself destitute of what made him God for how can a man leave his Properties alive behind him that truly man him and yet be said to dye in Reeve and Muggleton ' s sence which is That all those Faculties And Properties dye with a man would one not rather say that such one does not dye because that which makes him a true man lives So that their Conceit is spoiled in the over-turning of this one thing for shew the impossibility of God's dying and yet leaving his Power Wisdom and Glory with Elias and the whole Fabrick filled with their many Chambers of Imagery will fall to the Ground for say they without a God's dying and becoming from Immortal Mortal and from Mortal Immortal again the whole Heaven and Earth would be out of order and no right Knowledge or Salvation can be procured or arrived at Much might be urged from many other Scriptures as that God raised him and that he is set down on the Right-Hand of the Most High but let this suffice Thirdly Nor is there any thing in the whole Scriptures of Truth that so much as incourages any to believe the Mortality of the Immortal God 1. Even from Everlasting to Everlasting thou art God Psal 90.2 He that was from Everlasting and is to Everlasting never ceaseth to be as that which dyes doth but the true God was from Everlasting and is to Everlasting therefore Reeve and Muggleton's Mortal God is not the true God or the true God never ceaseth to be 2. Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the Everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the Ends of the Earth fainteth not Isa 40.28 He that could never faint could never dye because Death is more then a Degree beyond fainting though fainting be a Temporary with-drawing of Life but the true God and Creator of the Ends of the Earth never could faint therefore the true God could never dye 3. And one of the Malefactors said Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom And Jesus said Verily verily I say unto thee To day shalt thou be with me in Paradice Luke 23.42 43. If Christ the Author of all Truth spake Truth as most unquestionably he did then both himself and the Malefactor were in Paradice that day and consequently it was untterly impossible that they should both dye from all visible and invisible Life Sence Understanding and Enjoyment But I hope none are so impudent as to say Christ spake not the very simple Truth and so would have deceived the poor man and yet I know not how far Muggleton will go in this matter since he told me that Moses in his Discourse of the Creation set the Cart before the Horse and that if Paul were alive he would reprove him and so censure that holy Spirit by which he wrote Therefore it was not the Eternal Deity that suffered Death but that Body of outward Flesh subjected to all those natural Passions of Heat Cold Hunger Thirst Life and Death as ours are sin only excepted which the Eternal Infinite Creator had provided through which to manifest his everlasting Wisdom Councel and Mercy for the Redemption of Mankind That these three Branches of this sottish Opinion are all of them greatly repugnant to that Understanding God has afforded men to measure and distinguish things by I prove First It was impossible for God to transubstantiate himself from an Immortal Deity to a mortal Man 1. It must suppose God's begetting himself which is absurd and impossible since being begotten supposeth him to have had a Beginning that gave Beginning to all and to beget supposeth him to have been before he was begotten and so before he was 2. Such as is the Begetter such must the Begotten be We see Men get Men Horses Horses Fish Fish and every Seed has its own Body as say Reeve and Muggleton then by good consequence the Immortal God must have begotten himself an Immortal God one that could not dye by the Hand or Cruelty of his own Creature 3. It is as impossible for God to become a Creature or to dissolve his own Infinite Immortal Eternal Nature into a Finite Mortal Created or Generated Nature as for a Mortal Created Nature to be refined preferred and transmuted into an Infinite Immortal Creating Nature In short It is as impossible for God as God to become a dying Man as for a dying man to be changed into an Immortal Eternal God They are reciprocally impossible and Blasphemous Secondly It is absurd and Untrue affirm that Elias was God's Deputy and he to whom Christ prayed when in that Body of FLESH 1. He that is Infinite is every where and circumscribed to no particular place but Scripture Reason and Reeve and Muggleton yet they are seldom of one mind own and declare the Infiniteness of God therefore God is every where and if every where then not excluded Heaven the Habitation of his Throne and consequently Elias was not God's Deputy neither was it any wayes needful that he should be 2. That which in any sence may be said so want is not God who is all in all to himself but who needed a Deputy neither was Omnipresent nor Almighty and therefore not the only True God 3. Either Christ did not stand in need when on Earth or he did if not then he was not sincere in his Supplications if he did then the Omnipotency was with Elias he that supplies Wants is greater then he that is supplyed and consequently he that cryed was not that Everlasting God and Father but Elias 4. Elias was not so considerable as Moses who was the first Grand Commissioner of God's Dispensations to the Sons of men as Reeve and Muggleton affirm why then should Elias be preferred to Moses a Meek Man Israel's Leader and who said of Christ himself That a Prophet like unto me shall the Lord your God raise up unto you him shall you hear in all things then not Reeve and Muggleton in any
shall not be your Ruin How long would I have gathered you and ye would not But now God commands all to Repent God is no Respecter of Persons but they that fear him in every Age shall be accepted c. with many more they make him but to Complement with Wicked Men and speak them fair in words meaning nothing less in his Heart having Pre-ordained them to eternal Wrath. Fifthly This Principle would defile his eternally inherent Holiness by making him as well the Father of Sin as of Destruction for men are either Damned for something or for nothing if for nothing that were most Wicked in these Predestinarians account then for something and what is that Sin very well and how came they to this sin they committed it and how came they to do so they would do it why could they have avoided it by no means where 's the Difference then betwixt being Damn'd for not doing what they could not and doing nothing The Predestination was not that all Evil Men that wilfully withstood Mercy should be Damned for they were ordained never to receive it but that such a Number consisting of such and such particular Persons should Vnalterably and Vnavoidably be Damned only to Glorifie God Sixthly But this would stain the Glory of the Almighty in that neither in himself nor from the Redemption and Salvation of the souls of men his Glory is great enough unless it be compleated in the Eternal Destruction of far the greatest part of Mankind Seventhly This destroyes all Good Works for may all say Neither can my Good nor Evil Works make one Hair white or black add or diminish in reference to God's unalterable Decree and therefore will I give my self unto the Liberty of the Flesh and enjoy the Pleasures of this Life whilst I can have them Eighthly It destroyes all Government since who cares how desperate he is or what Injury he does who conceiting to himself his Post is pitcht his State set and that unchangeably but breaking all Laws takes his Revenge on what would bring him to condign Punishment for his Exorbitancies To conclude and come somewhat closer to the Persons concerned What signifies their coming to call them to repent that cannot be saved if they do Or to warn such to repent that cannot be damned What signifies their Commission or their Cursing or Blessing For can they bless him to Life that is ordained before-hand to be damned Or can they curse him to Death who is pre-ordained to Eternal Life If therefore Men are pre-ordained to Salvation or Damnation to what purpose should any fear their Curse or prize their Blessing since neither can alter or change the Condition of any Person and what more contrary to the Mind of the Merciful God who is willing that all should come unto the Knowledge of the Truth and be saved That Antiquity both knew and abhorr'd this Opinion is Manifest Josephus in his 18th Book of Antiquities and 2d Chap. also Epiphanius in his Preface to his first Book of Heresie again Eusebius in his 5th Book chap. 13. and Socrates in his 1st Book and chap. 17. and you will be fully informed of the Abettors of this dangerous and Wicked Opinion namely a Sect of the Pharisees also Florinus Blastus against whom Ireneus Bishop of Lyons in France wrote two Epistles and a Book call'd Ogdous wherein he tells Florinus That when himself was a Child and with Famous Christian Polycarpus who conversed with John that conversed with Christ he remembred him to be busie about the Emperors Court and further tells him that had the Apostle John but lived to have heard that Damnable Doctrine which makes God the Author of Evil he would have said Good God unto what times half Thou reserved me and tells him that in Publishing so Wicked an Opinion he had declared that which all the Hereticks before had never durst to pronunce plainly with much more to this purpose against him the Sect called Manichees from one Manes held and promoted this Opinion of Fatal destiny who Muggleton-like is reported to have called himself Christ and the Comforter and published the Work of one Buddas in his own Name calling It a New Dispensation All which Reader I assure thee Histories do inform Us to have been known in the 2d 3 4 5 and 600. Years after Christ which is above a 1000. Years since In which Time many were the Impudent Spirits that assum'd to themselves as great Authority as Muggleton in Reeve's Absence doth at this time namely Simon Magus who had so far possess'd the Romans with his Sorcery of his pretended Divinity calling himself to the Samaritans the Father to the Jews the Son to the Gentiles the Holy Spirit as the Heathens erected a Statue or Image of him in the time of Claudius at Rome having this Inscription Simoni Deo Sancto to the Holy God Simon Next One Helen a Woman that accompanied him whom he called the Principle Vnderstanding much like Muggleton's Daughter who Reeve said should be the Chiefest of Women Eusebius in his 2d Book and 12 13 and 14 Chap. after this One Menander said to have been a Sorcerer and the Disciple of Simon went up and down deluding Silly Credulous People by affirming to them he was the great Power of God come down from Heaven and that all were to believe in him and be baptised in his manner or they could not be saved but those that did should never dye read Eusebius in his 3d Book Chap. 23. Ireneus Book 1. Chap. 21. Epiphan haeres 22. Again Carpocrates is reported to have like Reeves and Muggelton patch'd his Opinion who was so vain Glorious as to affirm he knew all things out of Simon Menander Nicholas from whence came the Nicolaitans in the Revelations Saturninus Basilides c. and see Epiphan Haeres 27. also Augustin of Heresies Again We find that Eusebius tells us of one Montanus whereof Montanists or Catafrygians are called taught in Phrygia that he was the Holy Ghost as may be seen in the 5th Book of Eusebius 13 14 15 16 17 Chapters Also that one Buddas affirm'd that he was born of a Virgin as true as Muggletons being the Last Witness of God This Buddas writ a Book and in his swelling Pride styl'd it Mysteries much like the Whimsies of Reeve and Muggleton in their Transcendent Spiritual Treatise next he wrote a Book called the Gospel of the Nature of Reeve and Muggleton's Divine Looking Glass His End was to break his Neck 'T is to be fear'd that a worse will be miserable Muggletons even Torment of Spirit as Reeve is said to have left the World in To conclude Noetus the Ring-Leader of that great Mystery never revealed till within these 20. years sayes Reeve and Muggleton namely the Godheads being a Man and so absolutely Flesh and Blood as that when the Body dyed the Godhead ceased and lay under Death's Power three dayes and three Nights He through the height of
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 Thâ—â— 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
his Eternal Spirit yet without a Body Face or Tongue or a Majestical Person like unto Earthly Monarchs he could not possibly have spoken distinct words nor his Glory have been perfect D.L.G. p. 106. Animadversion VIII If that which is requisit to define or render God truly such be singly attributed to the eternal Spirit without the mention of a Body then is the Eternal Spirit the Invisible God as they themselves prove If the Eternal Spirit be nothing else then Crowns of Immortal Glory and that it is the Invisible God whose Power created all things and if all Wisdom Glory and Power proceed ONLY from this Invisible Eternal Spirit as they say then not unto a Body but unto that who ALONE has all Power Wisdom and Glory is the Godhead to be ascribed but that is unto the Invisible Spirit And if the Eternal Spirit be thus qualified how possibly can its Glory be ecclipst for want of a Body Face or Tongue Is the Eternal Spirit Crowns of Immortal Imperfect Glory And how can all Glory alone be given unto the Spirit whose Glory is imperfect without a Body He should have said From the Spirit and Body Alone proceedeth all Glory c. But this Confusion is like the rest Contradiction IX Moreover You may know That those Men called Independents Anabaptists Presbyterians are the Literal Apostolical Jews D.L.G. p. 191. Furthermore Those Anabaptist Independent Presbyterian Men which hold it Lawful to Persecute Men in their Persons and Estates upon a Spiritual account I say from the Eternal Spirit That they are for the most part the Off-spring of those Bloody-minded Jews that Crucified the Lord of Glory upon the account of Blasphemy D.L.G. p. 192. Animadversion IX That Exception should have been made before for if those that are called Independants Presbyterians and Anabaptists are Apostolical Jews and yet such as are for Persecution for Conscience are of their Race that put Christ to Death then they are not of the Apostolical but Mosaical Jews But how can they make that hold together The Apostolical Jew is one not outward in the Letter but in the Heart and in the Spirit if so either they are Independents Presbyterians or Anabaptists or else those three Opinions are come to be of theirs since at the Distance they stand they cannot be under the same Covenant and Circumcision But to be short By their declaring them whilst not their Followers Apostolical Jews we may conclude That Reeve and Muggleton count themselves none of them but Men of another Dispensation and therefore not of the Circumcision in Heart which is not according to the Letter but the Spirit beyond which Dispensation all other Pretensions are Imaginations and vain Exaltations Contradiction X. It is not thy Natural or Allegorical Whimsies that can blind the Elect nor pacifie the Judge of Life and Death within thee D.L.G. p. 168. And now I desire no other Witness to bear Record in the Consciences of Men to this Epistle whether it be Truth or no but the Everlasting Jehovah or Eternal Spiritual Jesus himself D.L.G. p. 208. Again If every man have the Spirit of Christ living in his Conscience as many men vainly imagine What then is become of the Spiritual Body of that Jesus that ascended into the Throne of his Glory in the visible sight of Men and Angels D. L.G p. 68. Animadversion X. If the Judge of Life and Death be in man then Christ unto whom all Judgment is committed is in man to justifie or condemn him therefore Christ or his Spirit or both are in man and consequently it is no Impediment to nor Denial of Christ's Ascension with a Glorified Body Neither is it vain to believe that the Spirit of Christ lives in the Consciences of Men. Observe their Folly The Judge of Life and Death is within thee again It is vain to Imagine that the Spirit of Christ lives in mens Consciences Thus they say and unsay almost in a Breath But above all That the Everlasting Jehovah and Eternal Spiritual Jesus should be in mens Consciences the true Witness and yet not be in Men Who can understand this strange Riddle Contradiction XI But you may say Did God the third day arise from the Dead by his own Power or by the Power of his Deputy Elias To which I answer He by his own Decree and Spiritual Compact with Elias and by that Spirit of Faith in his Innocent Body the which Faith dyed in his pure Body and quickened immediately and brought forth that Natural Innocent Body out of the Grave a pure Spiritual Body T.S.T. p. 32 33. Therefore whosoever saith that any other Body ascended into Glory but that very same Body of Flesh and Bones that suffered Death upon the Cross he is an Antichrist and in utter Spiritual Darkness D.L.G. p. 15. Animadversion XI If the Body dyed a Natural Body and was brought forth a Spiritual Body then unless that Spiritual Body lay'd down it self and resum'd its Natural Body as at the first it could not be the very same Body of Flesh Blood and Bone that Dyed which Ascended but it must have been a Spiritual Body In short If Natural and Spiritual be not all one as say they else-where in these Contradictions then was it no more the same Body then Natural is Spiritual and Mortal Immortal upon their own Principles and consequently Reeve and Muggleton are the Antichrists and in utter Darkness As for the three-fold Answer he gives to the Objection it is wretchedly Blaphemous 1. God's Decree 2. His Compact with Elias 3. His own Spirit of Faith To the first I reply What did the Decree avail when the Power was in another and when he that made it was dead To the second I return That God's rising lay on the side of Elias's Honesty in performing Obligation keeping Covenant and not in any other thing 3. As to that Spirit of Faith they confess it dy'd if so how did the Faith raise him Besides In whom should God have Faith in Himself He was dead In Elias He could not exercise it when in the Grave Again He that believes injoyes not fully and has Confidence in one Greater then Himself but God wants nothing and can have no Object for Faith and therefore no Faith O the Unparalell'd Sottish â—olly and Raveing Conceits of these men Contradiction XII So likewise I positively affirm against all Gainsayers under Heaven That I John Reeve am the Last Commissionated Prophet that ever shall declare Divine Secrets according to the Foundation of Truth until the Lord Jesus Christ appear on his Throne of Glory D.L.G. p. 119. A True Interpretation of all the chief Texts and Mysterious Sayings and Visions opened of the whole Book of the Revelation of St. John wherein is unfolded and plainly declared those Wonderful Deep Mysteries and Visions interpreted concerning the True God the Alpha and Omega with variety of other Heavenly Secrets which hath never been opened nor revealed to any man since the
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 â—â—â—â—â—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 reâ—â—ive any impression or Alterâ—â—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