A TRUE REPRESENTATIOâ— OF THE Absurd and Mischievous PRINCIPLES OF THE SECT Commonly known by the Name of MUGGLETONIANS LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard M DC XCIV THE PREFACE AFter that I had for the use and satisfaction of a private Friend made some enquiry into the Principles of the contemptible Sect known of late times by the name of Muggletonians I threw the Papers aside as thinking the time not at all well spent that I had employ'd in reading their Books and in the Examination of what is made up of Impiety Nonsence and Absurdities But however I was at last prevailed with to permit them to be made publick which I did submit to not so much for the sake of those poor deluded Souls that are won over to that pernicious Sect that having no shadow of Reason for its support will not submit to the tryal of it and so are uncapable of Argument but for the sake of others And to give the World an instance of the power of Enthusiasm and how far it exposes Persons to be led away by the confidence or craft of any Pretender how ignorant or selfish soever he be And of this sort were the first Ring-leaders of this Sect John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton in the year 1651. a time of Universal Liberty and which gave an opportunity for the worst of Men to vent the absurdest and most infamous Errors The former of these J. Reeve by Profession a Baker pretended that the Lord Jesus spoke to him by Voice of Words three days together and with such a Godlike Majesty that he saith of himself I did not know whether I was a Mortal Man or an Immortal God That the Voice told him that he had given him Understanding in the Scripture more than all the World besides And that he had given L. Muggleton to be his Mouth and that they two were the last Commissioners to the World and the two Witnesses spoken of Revelation 11th who exercis'd a Commission of an higher nature than those of the Prophets and Apostles and that they knew more and had a greater power than any of them as they could bless or curse save or damn to all Eternity irrevocably And therefore whosoever should oppose or vilifie this their Commission and Doctrine would be guilty of the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost Accordingly when these two were tried 1653. at the Old Baily before the Ld. Mayor Fowke and ordered to lie in Bridewell six Months they gave Sentence against the said Ld. Mayor the Recorder Steel and the Jury after this manner In obedience to our Commission received from the Holy Spirit c. we pronounce you cursed and damned Soul and Body to all Eternity Now if we come to enquire into their Doctrine there is nothing more absurd false and precarious As they tell us God has a Body like that of a Man of very flesh and bone and that the Trinity or Father Son and Holy Ghost are only variety of Names That God the Father left Heaven for a time and became an absolute mortal Man and died and was buried and that during his absence from Heaven Elias did there represent him and was the Protector of God during his Minority in the Earth and that God was raised from the dead by a compact with Elias who surrendred up all again to him They say farther that there was but one Angel that fell and that he entred into the Womb of Eve by her consent and there died and that Cain was the very Seed of that Serpent Angel and so was Brother to Abel only on the Mother's side And that from him sprung all the Carnal Seed of Reprobates who were not of the Seed of Adam such as Cain and Judas c. They hold farther that there is no Devil at all without the Body of Man and that he is no other than Man's Spirit of unclean Reason and cursed Imagination Nay sometimes they will determine as positively in matters of History and Philosophy and tell us from the Lord that the Epistles of the Apostles were wrote in Hebrew Greek and Latin That the Sun and Stars are but little bigger than they appear to be That the Sun's Eclipse proceeds from its nearness to the Moon and that no one can foretell Eclipses but by Inspiration Marvellous Discourses And which our Astronomers and Almanack-makers are much beholding to them for For whilst Men of Learning in that way thought they went by a certain rule of Nature and constant Observation they think too meanly of themselves These new Commissioned Men instruct them better and tell them they write their Ephemerides and Almanacks by Revelation if they therein infallibly foretell Eclipses as what Astronomer doth not By this we have a taste of these new Prophets pretences and may see that their History Philosophy and Divinity are much alike and the apparent Fruits of Ignorance Confidence and Imagination But I shall leave these to be handled in the following Treatise THE PRINCIPLES OF THE MUGGLETONIANS CONSIDER'D IN the treating upon this Subject there are two Questions to be taken into Consideration viz. 1. Whether John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton are sent from God And 2. Whether they are the Two Witnesses in the 11 th of the Revelation CHAP. I. Whether they are sent from God I Here premise That a man may pretend to be sent and to have a Commission from God when he is not sent and has no such Commission So did John Robins of whom J. Reeve and L. Muggleton say that he is the last and great Antichrist spoken of in the Thessalonians Such also were John Tanee Bull Varnum Evans as they confess So they say the Ranters and Quakers were false Christs and false Apostles Therefore they plead That there was a necessity of the witness of the Spirit because of late and at present so many several Antichristian Spirits are come forth From hence I infer That unless J Reeve and L. Muggleton can prove that they are sent and commissioned from God more than those were whom they grant to be Impostors and Deceivers we have no more reason to believe they came from God and were sent by him than they themselves had reason to believe that the forementioned Deceivers came from God For do they say they were sent from God So did the others also declare 2. Therefore we must enquire into the Evidences and Proofs they bring of their Commission This they grant a proper way So in the Book call'd a Looking-glass If divers Men appear as Witnesses or Prophets immediately sent forth by a Powerful Commission from the Everlasting God are there not certain Divine Seals to distinguish between those Embassadors which are infallible and them that are but fallible In treating upon this I shall enquire Q. 1. What are the Evidences they bring and whether they are not such as other Deceivers have alike pretended to and even exceeded
they have not sufficient Evidence for it Sometimes they say there are six Principles viz. 1. The Person of God 2. Person of Angels 3. Person of the Devil 4. Adam's Condition 5. Joy of Heaven 6. Eternal Death At other times they say there are two Foundations of all Spiritual Understanding viz. The form and nature of the true God and the form and nature of the right Devil But the things of this kind I shall refer to these Heads viz. God Angels and Men. 1. Let us take a view of their Principles that respect God concerning whom they hold 1. That God is not a Spirit but hath a body and is very Flesh and Bone and so they call an infinite Spirit an infinite nothing a cursed lying and imaginary God and a pretended Spiritual God 2. That God was in the form of a Man and like unto the first Adam from all Eternity 3. That the words Father Son and Spirit are only variety of Names and are the same Godhead in a three-fold Condition and that the Man Christ Jesus is the Father Son and Spirit in one Person and that by Declaration of the Spirit the addition of two Persons more proceeds only from the Serpentine Antichristian Devil in Carnal Men. 4. That God the Father uncreated himself from his Eternal and Immortal Glory and entered into the Virgin 's Womb and became Flesh and for a Season became an absolute Mortal Man 5. That the Man Jesus that was Crucified is the only God and that the whole Godhead died and was buried for a Moment 6. That Elias was taken up bodily into Heaven that he might represent God the Father whilst he went his journey into the Flesh and so was the Protector of God for a Moment when God became a Child and was an absolute Creature and watch'd over him all the days of his Mortality from his Birth to his Ascension and that fill'd him with all those great Revelations of his former Glory when he was the Immortal Father That Elias was the God and the Father to whom Christ said My God my God and Father into thy hands and to whom he prayed Father if it be possible c. That Moses who was also Glorified and never died but was Translated and Elias did represent the Person of God the Father in Heaven and were the Angels of whom it s said He shall give his Angels charge over thee lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone that is lest he should at any time be overcome by the Temptations of Reason which is the Devil That Christ was raised from the Dead by a Spiritual Compact with Elias and that he surrendred all up to Christ when he ascended into the Right hand of all Power And all this they say they speak by Revelation from the Holy Spirit 2. As to their Opinions concerning the Holy Angels and Devils they say That the Angels are Persons in form like Men. As to Devils they affirm 1. That there was but one Angel fell 2. That the Angels cast out with him were of his Seed and Generation through his Union with the Entrails of Eve by her consent into whose Womb he presently enter'd where he died and became essentially one with her That Cain was the very Seed of that Reprobate Serpent Angel and so Cain was Brother to Abel only on the Mother's side 3. That Cain and none but he alone is Beelzebub the Prince of Darkness and the Father of all the Angels of Darkness and so the two Seeds of Adam and Cain though mixed together by Carnal Copulation yet are distinct and so Cain and Judas were not of the Seed of Adam 4. That there is no Devil at all without the body of a Man so that that Devil so frequently spoken of in the Letter of Scripture that tempts Men to all Unrighteousness is Man's Spirit of unclean Reason and cursed Imagination 3. As to Men. They say that the Spirit of a Man is Mortal dies turns into Dust and is utterly annihilated until the Resurrection And therefore when Solomon said The Spirit returns to God who gave it those words proceeded not from the Spiritual Knowledge of God in him but from his own Carnal Reason And though he was a wise Man his Wisdom was not Prophetical nor was he a Pen-man of Holy Writ 4. By Inspiration from the unerring Spirit they positively affirm the Substances of Earth and Water were from all Elements I shall briefly reflect upon these As to God 1. He saith God is not a Spirit but hath a Body I answer 1. The Scripture makes a Body and a Spirit two opposite things so that a Body is not a Spirit nor a Spirit a Body Eccles 12. 7. The Body returns to the Dust and the Spirit to God So a Spirit has not flesh and bones Luke 24. 37 39. 2. The Scripture calls God a Spirit but never a Body which it might do if he was a Body and not a Spirit or if a Body as well as a Spirit 2. They say God is in the form of a Man I answer 1. The Scripture saith God is invisible Heb. 11. 27. and as no Man hath seen him so whom no Man can see 1 Tim. 6. 16. 2. It especially takes us off from all such gross conceptions of him John 5. 37. Deut. 4. 12. 3. That the words Father Son and Spirit are only various Names I answer If so then Christ must be begotten of himself and be in the bosom of himself He must then send himself and come by himself to himself and be an Advocate with himself and be greater than himself He must judge no Man and yet commit and take all Judgment to himself And after he has administred the Kingdom he must deliver it from himself to himself And to conclude this point he must be the Father of himself 4. God the Father became flesh Answer Quite contrary to Scripture which saith God sent forth his Son made of a Woman Gal. 4. 4. And God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh Rom. 8. 3. And the Word the only Begotten of the Father was made Flesh John 1. 14. And his Son was made of the Seed of David Rom. 1. 3. 1 John 4. 9. But there is not one word that the Father was made of a Woman and was made Flesh c. and became the Son 5. That the Godhead died c. Just contrary to Scripture which saith God is immortal 1 Tim. 1. 17. and that he only hath Immortality 1 Tim. 6. 16. 6. Elias is all Fable Let any one read the Divine Prayer of our Blessed Saviour just before his Apprehension John 17. and see how it would look if applied to Elias Did Elias give him Power over all flesh c. Was Elias the only true God And would it be Eternal Life to believe in Elias as
them in Q. 2. Whether there are not as great Evidences against them as they have against other Pretenders If we prove the former we prove that they have no sufficient Evidence and they have not those Divine Seals which as they say distinguish between those Embassadors that are infallible and those that are fallible If we prove the latter then they are no better than Deceivers Sect. I. Q 1. I shall consider what the Evidences are which they bring of their Divine Commission And they are these as I find them scatter'd up and down in their Books 1. A Voice to J. Reeve three several Mornings in the Year 1651. 2. That their Commission is such as never was before viz. wholly Spiritual 3. That there is no contradiction and that throughout there is no point in the Book call'd the Looking-glass contradicting it self nor one another 4. Because it discovers all irrational Opinions concerning God c. 5. Because it allows no Man to murther another to cut off the head Magistrate c. 6. Because it denies all Power Spiritual or Natural to be capable to act without a continued Light to proceed from a Spiritual Body c. 7. It 's from an unerring Spirit because they were induced to write a Volume as large as the Bible and as pure a Language as that is without looking in any writing whatsoever 8. That since the Apostles Worship ceased which was in or at the end of the ten Persecutions and above 1000 years ago not a Man hath been commissioned till they J. Reeve and L. Muggleton were These they call Infallible Grounds These I shall examine and try whether they are sufficient Evidences and Infallible Proofs of a Divine Commission I. Character A Voice Of this J. Reeve saith The Lord Jesus by voice of words spake to me saying I have given thee understanding of my mind in Scriptures above all Men in the World c. This he makes a necessary and distinguishing Character of a true Commission so he saith of others for want of a true Commission by voice of words from the God of Heaven and Earth they do not declare c. It is God's speaking plain words to the outward Ear that doth make a Man a Commissioner Now I shall shew this is no sufficient and distinguishing Character 1. This is no distinguishing Character according to them for they say others had imaginary and lying Voices But if Voices be common both to true and false Apostles how can it be a proof of the truth of a Commission and how shall we thereby distinguish the true from the false 2. This is no sufficient and distinguishing Character according to the Apostle if it be alone without other Evidence and much more is it not so if contradictory to Scripture we have a more sure word of Prophesie c. saith St. Peter 3. It 's not sufficient in it self not to the Persons to whom the Voice is said to come for they may be imposed upon by Men as Pope Celestine and others were or by Evil Spirits or by imagination as they grant when they call them imaginary Voices And much less is it sufficient to others that heard not the Voice but only have it from them that say they heard it and so are liable to be imposed upon by the Craft or Imagination of others So that if they will pretend to a Voice for the proof of their Commission we expect to have some proof that they had such a Voice and that this Voice came from God And especially because they say that they Seal up Men to Eternal Life or Death irrevocably and that whoever speaks against this Commission of theirs hath committed the unpardonable Sin and so is by them pronounced cursed Soul and Body to all Eternity Which being contrary to the temper of the Gospel and what they have no written Authority for they are oblig'd to shew such Proof for as is Infallible or else are gross Deceivers II. Character Their Commission is such as never was before as it 's all Spiritual and as they had more Spiritual Vnderstanding than all the World besides and such as never was reveal'd before 1. I answer the pretence to its being Spiritual is no sufficient Evidence For they grant that amongst those that were Deceivers there was a great pretence to Spiritual and inward Voices of Power to Spiritual appearances in themselves to Spiritual Light and pure Worship to Spiritual Power and Signs to the being Spiritual Officers and Embassadors Which yet they themselves call Spiritual Witchcraft and lying Wonders and Counterfeits And so theirs is no more true or Spiritual for their saying so than those that they condemn 2. To plead that they have more Spiritual Understanding and that they reveal what was not before is no more an Evidence that it is true than it may be that it is false John Robins pleaded that he came from God nay that he was the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and confirmed it as Reeve saith by great Signs and Wonders such as the Popes could never shew to the amazement of many deceived by him c. And without doubt he would as readily declare that he had more Spiritual Understanding than all the World besides for the Letter of the Scripture is silent in it And this they will grant was such Doctrine as never was before and consequently it s no sufficient Plea nor by which they can prove their Commission to be true more than J. Robins could prove that he was God the Father It is not then what they profess to reveal that is sufficient but the point is whether what they so profess is true And that is to be proved by somewhat else such as Scripture or Miracles This shews the Vanity of what they so often appeal to As when they say This is a true Testimony that he hath sent us by his Holy Spirit because there is none upon this Earth that beareth witness unto that Man Jesus that was crucified at Jerusalem to be the only God and Everlasting Father but we only For so might J. Robins have said there is none that beareth witness but my self that the Trinity of Persons is Adam Abel and Cain as J. Reeve saith he professed And so might John Tanee have said there is none that beareth witness but my self that there is no Personal God It all rests upon their say so but where is the proof Where is the Scripture where the Miracles that they prove their Commission and their Doctrine by For to prove their Commission by their Doctrine is much one as to Prove their Doctrine by their Commission And yet this absurd way do they take For ask them how they prove their Commission They say Because there is none upon Earth that beareth witness that Christ crucified was God the Father but we Ask them again how they prove the truth of
thee whether thou art indued with a Ministerial Power Doth Christ immediately pour forth the Gift of his Spirit or cure the Sick when thou prayest over them or doth he own thee in casting out Devils by thy Word or doth he own thee by raising the Dead curing the Lame c. Thus far we have considered the Evidences which are such as are no distinguishing Characters and what others may equal them in and so we have no more reason to accept them as Commissionated than they had to accept Impostors and have as much reason to reject them as they had to reject other Impostors For what is there they pretend to which Impostors have not or might not have pretended to Nay if either be accepted they are so to be that exceed these in their Evidence as did J. Robbins who shewed many Signs and presented his Person to some riding upon the Wings of the Wind like unto a Flame of Fire c. and did plague the Bodies and Spirits of others at his pleasure in a most dreadful manner as they report Here was a sensible Evidence it was conspicuous he plagued the Bodies and Spirits of Men But these Men pretend only to a Voice that one of them heard and to a Power of pronouncing Men damned to all Eternity irrevocably Sect. II. Q 2. I shall consider whether there be not as great Evidence against J. Reeve and L. Muggleton as they had against other Pretenders which if it be they are as much Deceivers as the others 1. They are Deceivers and have no Commission who contradict and make void a former Commission without sufficient Authority or Commission for it 2. They are Deceivers and have no Commission who pretend to Inspiration and Infallibility and yet have actually mistaken in what they pretend Infallibility and Inspiration for 1. They have no Commission who contradict and make void a former Commission without Authority or Commission so to do They say in the Title to the Looking-glass The Commission of the Spirit agreeing with and explaining of the two former Commissions of the Law and Gospel differing only in point of Worship 1. I shall consider how they differ in Worship from the former Commission as they call it 2. I shall shew That if they differ as they say only in point of Worship yet in so doing they do contradict and so far make void the former Commission 3. That they differ from the former Commission in many other things as well as Worship and which are of such consequence that did they agree in Worship with the former Commission as they grant they do not yet those alone would be sufficient to shew that they do thereby make void the former Commission Which if it be made good then what remains for them but to shew their Commission for so doing and if their Authority for it be not proved by as good clear and sufficient Evidence as the former Commission was confirmed and established we have good reason to think no better of them than they did of Robbins Tanee and other Impostors 1. I shall consider how they differ in Worship from the former Commissions of Moses and Christ Of this let us hear them This Commission of the Spirit doth hold forth no visible nor external outward Worship as the other two Commissions of Moses and the Apostles did so Muggleton 's Epistle to Looking-glass that is All visible Worship from Mens Tongues Eyes and Hands was to be done away and is now but as a Golden Calf of Mens own imaginations and no more accepted by Christ than the cutting off of a Dog's neck 'T is not outward Praying Preaching Fasting or Thanksgiving to be seen of Men but it is an inwâ—rd spiritual silent Praying and Praising c. And yet they grant this Visible Worship was the way of the Apostles which did last till the end of the ten Persecutions and which was then in great force so long as that Commission stood as Muggleton acknowledges in the foresaid Epistle So that in this point the Commission of the Apostles and theirs are inconsistent 2. I shall shew that supposing they thus differ from the second Commission that of Christ and his Apostles only in Worship yet in so doing they so far make void the former Commission This is granted for they say When God doth give a New Commission the Old is made void as with reference to the Visible Worship Therefore you know that the Apostles Commission did wholly thrust out the Visible Worship which was set up by Moses So likewise it is with this Commission of the Spirit because this Commission of the Spirit doth hold forth no visible outward Worship as the other two Commissions did They own Christ's Commission did appoint a Visible External Worship but this of the Spirit as they call it doth not but forbids it and so the latter doth make void the former Now then since their Commission doth as much make void the Commission of Christ as to External Worship as Christ's Commission did that of Moses we may enquire who gave them this Commission or how do they prove they received it from God For certainly they who will make void the Commission of Christ and the Apostles ought in Reason to give as good Evidence of a Divine Authority for so doing as our Saviour gave of his and so much the more as Christ is above Moses Our Saviour did not expect the Jews should give credit to him further than he gave them Evidence and 't is surely then unreasonable to give credit to these persons without it And our Saviour's Evidence would have been none had he only that to say for himself which these pretend to Would it have been enough for our Saviour when the Jews required a Sign to have said as these do This is the old Serpent that arraigns the glorious God at the Bar of thy Carnal Reason No Though our Saviour call'd the Jews an adulterous Generation because they continued incredulous after the Miracles wrought among them yet at the same time he tells them that there was one in reserve which would convince them or nothing would which was his own Resurrection Matth. 12. 39. It is not necessary every one sent from God should in every case have this Testimony of Miracles as it was with John Baptist John 10. 41. But had John come to make void the former Commission of Moses he must have produced the Evidence And this our Saviour did and so ought these to do or else must be reckoned among the false Christs and false Apostles 3. They differ from the former Commission in many other things as well as Worship and that of so great Consequence that these alone would be sufficient to shew that they thereby make void the former Commission and so must be Deceivers if the former Commission be in force and it is in force if they have no Authority to make it void and they have no Authority if
Translated who the Scripture saith died and was buried Deut. 34. 5 6. 2. Muggleton supposes Matthew to have seen the Angel at our Saviour's Resurrection and gives it as a Reason why he speaks but of one saith he perhaps he was no more to his Matthew 's Visible Sight 3. He saith that the Souldiers did see the natural Vail of the Temple rent from the bottom to the top Whereas the Vail was in the most inward part of the Temple and the Souldiers were at Mount Calvary watching the Body of Jesus 4. He saith we read not of Cain in the Genealogy from Adam to Jesus forgetting that Jesus was not descended from Cain but Seth. 5. We may add to this gross Ignorance when he affirms that the Apostles Epistles were written either in Hebrew Greek or Latin and for the most in Greek and Latin Revelat. ch 52. n. 6 7. Whereas those Epistles were written in Greek only 6. He affirms That the Roman Catholicks were the first Professors of the Faith of Christ and of the Apostles Whereas it is notorious in Scripture that the Jews Converted were the first Professors of it and then the Gentiles in Judea Let us proceed to another sort of mistakes 1. They say The first sort of Persons that affirm the Holy One of Israel to consist of three Persons are Athanasius Socinus alias John Biddle As if Athanasius and Socinus were of the same Opinion whereas Athanasius was a zealous Assertor of the Trinity and Socinus and Biddle Oppugners of it And as for Socinus he would not allow the Holy Spirit to be a Person at all and Biddle would have him only a Created Angel and so not God 2. They affirm that no one ever taught their Principles as that God the Father died and that God had a Body and was in the form of a Man c. Whereas there is hardly any thing new but that there have been some as wild and fanciful as themselves in past Ages As 1 The Anthropomorphites and Audians and Manichees held that God had a Human body 2. That there was but one Person in the Deity only called by different Names so held the Noetians Colarbasians and Sabellians 3. That the Father suffer'd so the Cataphrygians Sabellians called therefore Patropassiani and that the Divinity of Christ suffer'd so the Theopaschites 4. That the Soul died with the Body and that there was no Resurrection of the Body so the Valentinians Manichees c. 5. That the Wicked are of the Posterity of Cain So the Valentinians and Sethites Without raking farther into this matter this is sufficient to shew that they are not the first Broachers of these Doctrines 3. They affirm That the Reason of the Eclipse of the Moon is through her near Conjunction with the Sun whereas it 's manifest that it is when it 's opposite to the Sun and that the Earth is between them 4. They affirm That no Man can know the time of Eclipses but by Inspiration whereas they may be as well foretold as the time the Sun will rise at to Morrow 5. He positively affirms from God That the Bodies of the Sun Moon and Stars are in compass not much bigger than they appear to our natural sight whereas it's evident on the contrary that every thing diminishes in its appearance according to the degree of its Elevation And consequently those Heavenly Bodies being vastly remote from the Earth must be vastly greater than they appear to the Eye 6. He affirms That the Sun Moon and Stars neither borrow nor lend light to one another Whereas we see plainly that the Moon borrows light from the Sun and that according as the Earth is between it and the Sun so it 's proportionably obscured 7. He affirms positively from the Lord That the Sun Moon and Stars are only in one Firmament Whereas it's evident on the contrary 1. That the Moon is in an Orb lower than the Sun and both of them lower than the Stars 2. That there are different motions a slower and swifter in the Planets and that those called fixed Stars only move all alike and are in the same Firmament Whether these are Errors or no let all Men judge and if so what becomes of their Infallibility what of their pretence to Divine Illumination CHAP. II. IT remains now to proceed to to the second Question viz. Q. Whether J. Reeve and L. Muggleton are the two Witnesses spoken of in the 11th of the Revelation This they both do avow and L. Muggleton has wrote a Comment upon that Chapter in his way foolish and absurd enough to try how he can work it to his purpose But like one that is not in himself over confident of his performance he sometimes shrinks from it and comes off with a may be as We may be said to be those two Olive trees and the two Witnesses may be said to have finished c. Now what more sneaking and pitiful After they have boldly challeng'd this Character to themselves to give it over again and retire from it as if they fainted under a distrust and the fear of inconsistencies in it As a Specimen of which I shall compare the Text of Scripture and his Exposition together Revelation Ch. 11. TEXT Chap. 78 c. EXPOSITION Ver. 3. I Will give power unto my two Witnesses and they shall prophesie one thousand two hundred and sixty days cloathed in Sackcloth V. 4. They are the two Olive-trees and the two Candlesticks standing before the God of the Earth WE J. Reeve and L. Muggleton shall prophesie concerning the Spiritual Estate of Mankind to Eternity and of the end of the World Olive trees because of the Oyl of Joy in our Doctrine Candlesticks because God hath put the Commission of his Spirit into us which is Light V. 5. If any man will hurt them a fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their Enemies and if any man will hurt them he must in this manner be killed Fire proceedeth to pronounce blessing and cursing to Eternity V. 6. These have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophesie and have power over waters to turn them into blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will To shut heaven that is the Heaven of Mens hearts That it rain not that is after the Sentence of Eternal death it prevents the motion of the Spirit Turns water into blood that is the motions of peace and hope of Mens Souls which are as water to drink into wrath and so it becomes a Spiritual Plague V. 7. And when they shall have finished their Testimony the Beast that ascended out of the Bottomless Pit shall make War against them and shall overcome them and kill them Finished their Testimony that is the Doctrine of Truth which is that Jesus Christ is God the Father Son and Spirit c. The Beast that is the Spirit of Reason in the
Lord Mayor Aldermen and Jury Bottomless Pit that is the Pit of their Imagination Shall kill them that is would have killed us if their Law would have done it V. 8. And their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified Dead Bodies that is the Letter of Scripture In the streets of the City that is the Hearts of Men. V. 9. And they of the People and Kindred and Tongues and Nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in Graves For the meaning of this he refers us to what was before and that I find in ch 51 52. The People that is the Jews who owned the Letter of the Law Gentiles that is those that owned the Letter of the Apostles that is the Roman Emperours which overcame the Nation of the Jews which was in the Destruction of Jerusalem which was in the ten Persecutions Three days and a half that is 1350 years for so long the Letter of Scripture lay dead Not suffer their bodies to be buried because the Jews and Gentiles knew better what to do with the Letter than the Spirit And so the Roman Catholicks and those that sprung from them have seen the dead bodies of the Scripture lie dead 1350 years V. 10. And they that dwell on the Earth shall rejoyce over them and make merry and shall send Gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt on the Earth They rejoyced over the Letter of the Scriptures the Spirit and Life of them being put to Death And now they looked upon themselves as very sure because there were none left upon Earth that had a Commission to torment them V. 11. And after three days and a half the Spirit of Life from God enter'd into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them The Spirit that is the Commission of the Spirit enter'd into the Letter of the Law and Gospel and by a true Interpretation they made the dead Letter stand upon its feet and that kills the Spirit of Reason with Death Eternal which it never did this 300 years till the year 1651. Great fear so as to convince some and make them silent Others were filled so with wrath as to be damn'd to Eternity others receiv'd it to Eternal Happiness V. 12. And they heard a great Voice from Heaven saying unto them Come up hither And they ascended up to Heaven in a Cloud and their Enemies beheld them Of this Blank Here he seems to be at a loss I shall now draw all this together and the Sum of the whole is this That J. Reeve and L. Muggleton are the two Witnesses the Olive Trees and Candlesticks spoken of in this Chapter That these two were to prophesie 1260 days beginning in February 1651. And had power to save and damn irrevocably to all Eternity c. That upon declaring this Commission the Beast out of the Bottomless Pit that is the Ld. Mayor Fowk the Recorder and Jury out of the Pit of their Imagination made War against these two aforesaid Witnesses 1653. and killed them that is the Letter of the Scripture And their dead Bodies which is the Letter of the Scripture lay dead in the streets of the hearts of Men. And the People and Kindred saw the dead Letter of the Scripture lie dead three days and a half or 1350 years and rejoyced at it But at the end of the 1350 years in which the Bodies of the Witnesses or the Letter of the Scripture had lay dead the Spirit entered into them by the Commission given to J. Reeve and L. Muggleton 1651. And so the Bodies of the Witnesses or Letter of the Scripture stood up again And it should have been added That the Witnesses ascended up into Heaven in a Cloud and their Enemies beheld them But soft for J. Reeve has been long dead Now reconcile all this who can For 1. He saith that they two are the two Witnesses and yet the Bodies of those two Witnesses are the Letter of the Scripture 2. If the Letter of the Scripture is the Body of the Witnesses and that lay slain 1300 years before these two say they receiv'd their Commission then the Bodies of them were slain before and 1300 years before these two Witnesses were in being 3. He saith The body of the Witnesses or Letter was slain 1300 years before and yet makes it slain again by the Ld. Mayor And if it was slain in his time then the three days and a half was to begin after his time and a new 1350 years was to follow 4. Observe That in the Revelation the two Witnesses had their Commission before the Bodies were slain but if the Bodies of the Witnesses is the Letter of Scripture and was slain 1350 years ago then they were slain so long before these had their Commission which was not till 1651. It 's plain this Shifter knows not where to fix He would fain like Simon Magus be accounted some great One and he and his Partner would set up for Broachers of New Doctrines how sordid and contradictious soever but he wants the skill to patch things cleverly together they are at the best but tatters and can never be brought into one intire piece And this Exposition of his is so sorry and pitiful an attempt that he might as well have undertaken to have proved himself and Reeve to be the two great Lights in the Heavens and to as good purpose have in like manner wrote an Exposition on the first Chapter of Genesis To conclude If confusion and self-contradiction may pass for Exposition if confidence and self-assuming may pass for Inspiration if nonsence and obscurity may pass for Illumination if cursing and damning others may pass for Charity if Blasphemy may pass for Religion then these two may be allowed to be what they pretend But if these things will not pass among Mankind then they will no more be Prophets and Witnesses from God than they will ascend into Heaven in a Cloud in the sight of their Enemies FINIS See Letter to Ld. Mayor and the Remonstr Remonst p. 4. Transcend Spir. Treat p. 6 7. True Interpret of Revelat. ch 75. n. 3. 5. Look glass Ch. 22. n. 15. Ch. 27. n. 38. Look glass p. 60. n. 36. Look glass p. 60. n. 37. n. 38. n. 39. p. 112 n. 46. Joyful News p. 49. See Transcendent Spir. Treatise §. 1. p. 4. 5. Quakers neck p. 67. Look glass p. 111. n. 43. Revelat. p. 40. n. 21. Look glass 1 Epist and p. 112. 117. 168. n. 8. 169. n. 15. 195. n. 34. 197. n 34. 2 Peter 2. 17 18 19. Remonst p. 9 11 12. Transcend p. 3 6 8 9 41. Letter to Ld. Mayor p. 3. Look glass p. 42. n. 10. Transcendent p. 41. Revelat. p. 158. ch 77. n. 1. Muggleton's Epist to Look glass p. 3. Look glass p. 111. n. 43. 167. n. 1 2. Transc p. 7. Revel p. 156. n. 2 3. p. 157. n. 1 2 4. 158. n. 3 4 5. Look glass p. 168. n. 11 12. 171. n. 33. Transcend p. 7. Transcendent p. 41. Look glass p. 92. p. 93. n. 25. 99. n. 37. Transcend p. 7. Remonstr p. 4. Look glass p. 99. n. 37 38. Look glass p. 99. n. 6. Look glass p. 14. n. 29. Revelat. p. 143. n. 11. Revelat. chap. 60. n. 8. 15. 19. Epist prefixed to it See p. 76. n. 2 4. p 92. n. 21. p. 108. n. 3. Look glass p. 98. n. 31. Transc p. 6. p. 18. Title page to the Looking-glass Transc p. 4 5 6 41. Look glass p. 158. n. 24. 186. n. 33. Revelat. p. 162. n. 4. Joyful News p. 51. Transcend p. 9. Joyful News p. 40 43. Muggleton's Epist to Look Glass Look glass p 185. n. 26 c. Remonstr p. 7. Transc p. 14. Look glass c. 18. n. 9 10. Look glass p. 195. n. 34. Transcend ibid. Look glass p. 79. n. 25 31. p. 49. n. 13 14. Look glass p. 12. n. 11. 81. n. 14. Look glass p. 36. c. 9. Rev. p. 164. n 4. Look glass p. 2. n. 10. Transcend p. 2. 11 23 26 28 29. Letter to Ld. Mayor p. 23. Transc p. 41. Gen. Epist p. 5. Look glass p. 64. n. 27. a Trans p. 31. b p. 35. c p. 36. d Revel ch 60. n. 10. e Trans p. 35. f p. 36. 31. g Revel ch 59 n. 3. 5. h Trans p. 31. Revel ch 60. n. 4. i Trans p. 37. k p. 38. l p. 35 c. Look glass p. 96. n. 18. Look glass p. 9. n. 3. Look glass p. 8. n. 8. p. 130. n. 4. Quakers neck n. 14. Transc p. 21. Look glass p. 130 n. 5. 134. n. 26. 153. n. 15. Transc p. 21. Look glass p. 154. n. 22 23 c. p. 156. n. 34 c. n. 44. Trans p. 25. Remonstr p. 8 Look glass p. 147. n. 21. 27 148 n. 31. Trans p. 50. 54. Look glass p. 100 101. Joyful News p. 10 12 13. Look glass ch 30. n. 25 p. 126. n. 15. 128. n. 30 31. Look glass p. 5 6 28 29. John 1. 14 18. John 5. 37. 14. 6. 1 John 2. 1. John 14. 28. John 5. 22. 1 Cor. 15. 24. John 5. 18. Look glass p. 158 n. 5◠Look glass p. 42. n. 11. Transcendent Spir. Treat Remonstr p. 5. Remonstr p. 6. Transcend p. 6. Look plass p. 194. 28. Ibid. p. 198. n. 15. Revelat. c. 59. Revelat. ch 9. n. 8. Revel ch 63. 5. See pag. 20. Revelat. ch 53. n. 4. Look glass p. 41. n. 2. Look glass p. 33. n. 50 58. Ibid. p. 34. n. 59. Ibid. p. 31. n. 34 35. Ibid. p. 31 32 33. Interpret of the Revelat. c. 79. n. 1. c. 82. n. 7.