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spirit_n	holy_a	lord_n	son_n	13,150	5	5.2455	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54177	The new witnesses proved old hereticks, or, Information to the ignorant in which the doctrines of John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton, which they stile, mysteries never before known, revealed, or heard of from the foundation of the world, are proved to be mostly ancient whimsies, blasphemies and heresies, from the evidence of Scripture, reason and several historians : also an account of some discoourse betwixt L.M. and my self, by which his blasphemous, ignorant and unsavory spirit is clearly and truly manifested, in love to the immortal souls of those few, who are concern'd in the belief of his impostures / by a living true witness to that one eternal way of God, revealed in the light of righteousness W.P.	Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1672 (1672)	Wing P1326; ESTC R15258	38,470	64

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

Creation of the World to this Day until now By Lodowick Muggleton c. Animadversion XII Who shall we believe of these two they both pretend the same Commission and yet Contradict but how can any Credit be given thereunto when though Reeve sayes he was awake at the receiving of it yet presently after tells us that he knew not whether he was an Immortal God or a Mortal Man what ground is there for any Belief of what Reeve himself was so far from a clear knowledge of as that he was not more unable to resolve whether he was an Immortal God or a Mortal Man then to know the Truth of all his Revelation O the willingness in men to be Blind Certainly if the Devil himself should as a Devil seek Proselytes some would follow him A few Additional Observations upon some Passages of John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton in the before-cited Books THe Spirit of Faith and Love infinitely in the Glorious Person of God overfloweth as a Fountain continually with Revelation of New Heavenly Wisdom from whence flows New Joyes and Glory to Himself T.S.T. p. 46. Observation That unto which any thing may be added cannot be said to be Perfect and consequently cannot be God but be unto whom Wisdom is renewed wanted that Wisdom before he had it and consequently was not Perfect and therefore not the True God unto whom there is no Encrease of Wisdom Power or Strength but was and is and will be forever the same Unalterable Being Infinite in Wisdom Power and all other Divine Excellencies without any Diminution or Addition The Reason why Men's Bodies in Death or after Death do Rot or Stink in the Grave and come to Dust is because there was Sin in their Bodies whilst they Lived but on the contrary if Men had no Sin in their Natures or Bodies they might Live and Dye and Naturally Rise again by their own Power in their own Time T.S.T. p. 33. Observ O the Exceeding Folly and Blindness of this Sottish Man Why should Sin only cause the Body to Rot Stink and go to Dust Does not the Scripture and Reeve himself in his T.S.T. pag 44. give another Reason namely That what came from Dust is that which must go to Dust besides If the Flesh of Beasts is capable of Dying Rotting and going to Dust who never Sinn'd why should not man have Dyed and gone to Dust though he had never Sinn'd For though there is a vast Difference betwixt Men and Beasts in reference to their Souls and Bodies too so far as may concern the distinction of Kinds yet as to their being lyable to one and the same External Casualities and Sufferings by Hunger Thirst Sickness Death and Corruption no man can rationally contradict But above all this deserves our Observation That since Reeve is Dead Rotten and gone to Dust he was not cleansed from Sin as he is said to have pretended but by Reason of his Wickedness Death holds him in the Grave and consequently he cannot have been God's Last Witness whose Witnesses he hath alwayes cleansed from that against which they were to Witness And it is further evident That Sin is not the cause of Men's Bodies crumbling into Dust from Reeve's own words who saith The Most High God by his Vnsearchable Wisdom hath Decreed that all Light of Life in man shall become Dead Dust or Earth D.L.G. p. 17. So that God's Decree and not Man's Sin in his own sence must be the Reason of such Conversion and Corruption Therefore you may know that the Lord 's Reasoning with the Jews was only by his Prophets which were Rational Men like unto themselves which were sent to Convince those Stony-Hearted Jews by declaring the Glorious God and his Spiritual Truth unto them in the Ballance of their Own Reason D.L.G. p. 117. Observ It is remarkable with what unusual Nonsence and Contradiction he proceeds in his whole Affair since herein he Contradicts one of his main Foundation Principles namely That God hath not in his Glorious Spirit one Motion of Reason inherent nor yet the Elect of God as may be seen D.L.G. p. 18. T.S.T. p. 17. Whereas its manifest unto all men who would not deny themselves the use of their Understandings That none can properly reason of any Subject unto whom Reason cannot be or is not inherent so that if God did both Reason with the Jews and his Prophets were Rational Men then may we safely conclude That Reason is Inherent to God and his Elect Children and that Pure Reason is not inconsistent with or distinct from the Nature of Love and Faith not only because it is most Rational to believe in and love God most uprightly but because John Reeve himself that great Enemy to all sober Reason makes it the Ballance in which the Prophets Declaration of the Glorious God and his Spiritual Truth should be weighed Again I Declare from the Holy Spirit The Lord spake by Voice of words to his Three Commissioners which he hath sent unto the World yea I know God the Father spake unto Moses as a Man speaks unto his Friend and I know that God spake unto the Apostles in the Person of his Son because I know the Lord God spake unto me in the Person of the Holy Ghost only the two former Witnesses saw the Person of God in Part Visibly but I saw the Glory of his Person Invisibly or within me because I am the Messenger of the Holy Invisible Spirit T.S.T. p. 35. Observ Upon all this I make my following Observations as regular as this Irregular Confused Matter will permit me First Then I would fain know how he came to this Mighty Confidence in God's speaking to Moses for it is in no part of his Commission and Muggleton sayes Moses set the Cart before the Horse and they both of them despise the Scripture in comparison of their own Writings Secondly Though God might 〈…〉 the Person of his Son to his Apostles yet I utterly deny upon Reeves Principles that the Lord Jesus could speak unto him in the Person of the Holy Ghost because this would necessarily imply a Trinity of Persons 〈…〉 by him elsewhere absolutely denyed therefore the Lord Jesus could speak to him in no other Person then his own if at all Thirdly If God spake to J. Reeve by Voice of Words because he affirms him to have so spoken to Moses and the Apostles then may we plainly infer that God should as well have shewn his Person unto J.R. as he believes him to have done to Moses and the Apostles since if he did not decline to utter words to the Carnal Ear in this third Commission as is pretended any more then in the two former 〈◊〉 is no Reason in the World why John Reeve's Carnal Eye should not have had equal Priviledg with the former Commissioners in Visibly be holding Gods Person also but since he makes God so differ to in the one we ought the less to believe him in the other

new thing 'T is strange therefore that Moses was not rather of the two elected to represent him in Heaven who was a Figure of him on Earth But though Reeve would not tell us so I am of the mind I know the Reason of it namely That Christ did not call Moses Moses but Eli Eli when upon the Cross and I am perswaded he had no other Ground for that Conceit not considering that Eli Eli are Hebrew words importing no more Elias Elias then they do Moses Moses but My God My God as the place expresly shews us Much more might be said but let this serve Thirdly That the Immortal God could never Dye or cease to be is manifest and the contrary Blasphemously False 1. If God was he that made all things and by whom they are upheld as all believe that believe there is a God at all then had he ceased to be the Creation had ceased to have been upheld and consequently all had fallen into its first Chaos or the World can subsist without Him 2. That he whose Nature it was never to have Beginning and ever to live without Variation could never become so contrary to his own Nature and Being as to change dye or cease to be but such was the true God therefore he never dyed 3. If Saints live move and have their being in God as say Reeve and Muggleton pag. 201. D.L.G. then either God never dyed or there were no Saints when the Jews Crucified Christ or the Saints dyed too They deny them all they say God Dyed and there were Saints and they Lived Moved and had their Being in God though Dead which how all or any of them can hang together let sober People judge 4. If God dyed who lived and by whom for nothing can live of it self that had beginning from or dependance on another as had all the visible World on God therefore because all lived and was preserved that had its Being from God He from whom they had their Being could not be annihilated whilst they remained in being 4. If God was raised by Elias then either Elias was the True God or Elias the Creature was stronger then Jehovah the Great Creator Let this serve to confute and forever to overturn these idle Chimera's of those filthy Dreamers Reeve and Muggleton That this Blasphemous Conceit of the Immortal God's Mortality is not new I shall make appear 1st Valentinus is said opened to have published at Rome That Christ brought a Body down from Heaven and that he after some time passed through the Virgins Body again Noetus affirmed That the Father Son and Holy Ghost were Flesh or that one Person of the Son of Man or that Person so long since at Jerusalem to be Father Son and Spirit and that when he suffered on the Cross the Father Son and Holy Spirit dyed See Euseb his 4th Book and 10th Chap. Ireneus Epiphanius Heres 31. 57. about Anno 150. which is 1522. years since What Strange New Revelation this is Lastly I May mention another of their Tenets held at this day by all Calvinists abroad and of several Sects in these Nations namely Predestination or that God from all Eternity without any other Inducement then his own Pleasure hath decreed some for Salvation and some for Damnation contrary to which all their Obedience or Rebellion shall be in vain to alter his Determination That this Principle is Accurst by SCRIPTURE I prove First The Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him and the Wickedness of the Wicked shall be upon him but if the Wicked will turn from all his Sins that he hath committed and keep my Statutes he shall surely live he shall not dye Ez. 18.20 21. 1. If Righteousness or Wickedness are the Grounds of God's Rewarding or Punishing the Souls of men then is there no Predestination previous without consideration had to their Works but the Text affirms most plainly therefore such Decrees are denyed and disowned 2. If Man may turn from his Righteousness and Wickedness then are the Means no more inevitably predestinated for men to use then before mentioned but men may turn from either and accordingly they will be rewarded therefore no such Predestinated Damnation or Salvation Secondly For it is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the Knowledge of the Truth 1 Tim. 2.3 4. If the Apostle writ by the Spirit of God that gives to know the Mind of God then it was the Good Will of God that all men not excluding any upon a Predestination should come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be saved And consequently there is no Predestinated Restraint upon men's Understandings from knowing the Truth nor fore-appointed Bar from their enjoying the End of such True Knowledge even the Salvation of their Souls Thirdly The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 The Long-suffering of God either related to the Elect or Reprobate or Neither Not to the Elect because there is no need of fearing their Perishing Not to the Reprobate for there is no possibility of their Repentance Therefore to neither and consequently either the place is spurious or deceitful or else those kind of Elections and Reprobations are meer Phantisms Let these few Instances serve of those hundreds that might be mentioned most expresly to confirm the same That this is highly Inconsistent with REASON I briefly prove First It renders God most Vnwise to make so many thousand Creatures on purpose to Rebel against him to Kill Lye Steal Blaspheme and commit all manner of Outragious Wickedness to the grieving of his own Spirit the making him Repent he had made the World and Obstructing of his Glorious Work of Reformation Secondly It greatly Disparageth his Justice which consists in proportioning Rewards and Punishments to the Good and Evil Works of Men and overturns both by making the Eternal States necessary and unavoidable upon a Predestination without any Regard to their Works so that man is damn'd for not doing what he can't do no more then it is possible for him to break an Almighty Decree Thirdly It quite destroyes his Mercy and renders him the most Cruel of all Beings for instead of not being willing or desiring the Death of a Sinner He is here made to desire and take Pleasure in it too nay so essential is this Unutterable Cruelty to his Glory as say the Asserters of this Opinion that it would be lessened or ecclipsed without it Oh Infamous Fourthly But above all things it strikes at the very Root of God's Rectitude and Faithfulness and makes him worse then the worst of Men or Devils for whilst he sayes Your Sins have kept good Things from you as I live I delight not in the Death of a Sinner Repent and that Iniquity

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

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 lowl● 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 God● 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

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