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
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
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