Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A66428
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A true representation of the absurd and mischievous principles of the sect, commonly known by the name of Muggletonians
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Williams, John, 1636?-1709.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing W2735; ESTC R38943
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21,260
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36
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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
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