build a Tower up to Heaven; now if Heaven had been Thou fands of Miles high, as the lying Art of Aftrology faith, there could have been no Poffibility to build up to Heaven, and that these Men's Reason know well enough, neither could they have laid a Foundation to build Thousands of Miles high; now the Imagination of Reason in these Men were more right, which went by no Figure, nor Rule of Art, but by the Sight of the Eye, and their Reason and Sense; and they did imagine by the Sight of the Eye, that it could not be above three Miles to the Clouds, which the Philofophers grant by their Art, the Clouds to be but three Miles high from the Earth; fo they imagined that the Firmament could not be above three Miles higher; and we do imagine, faid they, in themselves, that they might lay a Foundation to build fix Miles, and thought they, when we come up to the Clouds in Building, we fhall fee then how far it is to the Firmament, and fo build up unto it. Now, the Lord himself faid, it was poffible for them to do what they had imagined, for (faith he,) Nothing will reftrain them for what they have imagined to do. So that God knew there was a Poffibility to build up to Heaven, else he would never come down from Heaven himself, to prevent them, in confounding their Language, if the Heavens had been Thousands of Miles high: Befides, faid I, do you think, when Chrift afcended up to Heaven, after he was rifen from the Dead, that he ascended with that Body thousands of Miles high, from where he ascended up to Heaven? It is faid, A&ts i 9. While the Men beheld, a Cloud received him out of their Sight. That is, they faw him afcend up as far as the Clouds, which is half Way to the Firmament of Heaven; for the Clouds opened for him to pass through, and clofed together again, out of their Sight; for they could not fee no farther than the Clouds: Likewife, when the Prophet Elijah went up to Heaven in a fiery Chariot with. Horfes of Fire, Do you believe that he had thousands of Miles to Heaven? He faid, No: Befides, there is a Poffibility to build up to Heaven now, as there was then, only it is forbidden of God: But this I fay, if it were lawful, and that a Man was fure to live 7 or 800 Years upon this Earth, as they did then, then a Man might as eafily build up to Heaven now, as then; were it lawful, as I faid before. So. So that God hath not made the Heavens fo high, as the lying Imagination of Reafon hath; for Reafon imagineth the Heavens to be higher than they are; and Reafon imagines Hell to be lower than it is; fo that Heaven is fo high, that Reafon can never ascend up to it, and Hell fo deep, that Reason can find no Bottom; therefore called, A Bottomless Pit, when indeed Hell is but fix Miles Distance from Heaven to this Earth, where Men acted all their Wickedness, fhall be that Place of Hell for all the Damned, and the Place where the Devil and his Angels, which are wicked Men and Women, fhall be tormented to Eternity. But the Seed of Faith knoweth the Heighth of the Heavens, and but a few Miles high, and can eafily afcend up to it ; and Faith knoweth the Bottom of Hell, and knoweth it is upon this Earth, and no deeper than this Earth, and that the Bottomless Pit, fo much feared by Man, it is in a Man, and not without a Man: Therefore, faid I unto him, your Figure, Rule and Art, must be laid down; but Arithmetick and Numbers ist neceffary only for Things on this Earth, to measure Land, and other Accounts between Man and Man here on Earth; your Arithmetick and Figures is not to measure the Heighth of the Heavens, nor the Depths of Hell, that belongeth only to the Seed of Faith, being God's own Nature. Faith meafureth the Height of Heaven, and the Deepness of Hell: Therefore, in thefe Things, you are to lay afide your Figure Art, and depend wholly upon Belief of what we have faid in these Things, because your Reason, Skill and Art, let it be never so great, cannot difprove a stedfaft Faith. When he heard this Difcourfe, with much more than is here written, he was very well fatisfied in thefe Things, and many others, and he grew very mighty in Wisdom and Knowledge, both in natural Wisdom and heavenly; fo that every great Man of his Acquaintance did fubmit to his Wifdom, and loved him for his Knowledge; fo he continued in it all his Life: But about a Year or two after John Reeve died, he died at Barbadoes. A LET A LETTER from the Prophet Muggleton. Loving and kind Friend in the true Faith, Thomas Tomkinfon, MR. Delamaine would have written fooner, but being in great Trouble, had not Leifure to write; for the Shepherd being fmitten, the Sheep were all fcattered. Upon the 17th Day of January laft paft, Judgment was given upon me, to ftand upon the Pillory in three feveral Places of the City of London, and the Books they took away from me were divided into three Parts, and were to be burnt before my Face, thofe three Days I ftood on the Pillory. So they offered up the Books as three Burnt-offerings, to the unknown God; and they offered me up as a Sacrifice, to be flain by the rude Multitude; and it was a wonderful Providence I was not flain outright. I was expofed to the uttermoft Rigour of the Law, more than any ever did, that fuffered in that Time; however, they have fhed the Blood of the laft Prophet, although not to Death. Oh! what fhall be done to this bloody City, for fhedding innocent Blood! The God of Heaven will say unto this bloody City, You fhall be punished with Poverty, Beggary, and Imprisonment. But thofe that have had a Hand in the Perfecution and Blood of my Servant the Prophet, fhall be caft into that bottomless Pit, in utter Darkness, where fhall be wailing and gnashing of Teeth for evermore, where they fhall never fee bright Day, to Eternity. This, I am fure, will be the Effect upon those that have had a Hand in thefe Sufferings of mine. I cannot enlarge in particular of these great Sufferings of mine, that hath happened to me of late, it would be too large a Volume, to relate the Particulars of it; but you may understand by a little what a great deal means. So being in Hafte, I fhall take Leave, and reft, only my Love to yourself, and my Wife's Love to yourself yourself and your Wife, and all Friends elfe there with you, I reft your Friend in the true Faith, From the Prefs-yard, Newgate, LODOWICK MUGGLETON. I An E PISTLE To a QUAKE R. Dear and loving Friend, Shall not falute thee about perifhing Natures, or empty Obfervations, for the exalting of an Idol; but the Defire of my Soul is, that we may be found real in the Things of the Spirit, that we may be impowered to perform our Chriftian Duties to each other, in the Things of Flesh; which is that which girts the Spirit, or ftrengthens the Soul with lafting Peace. Is it not a real Comprehenfion of him that made us, by Virtue of his heavenly Light or Love abiding in us? If this be true, as I am certain it is, how is it poffible then, that we should be one in Spirit, or in the Flesh either, until the true God be made manifeft to us, or in us? Indeed Time was when I was strongly deceived with an Imagination of the eternal Salvation of all Mankind, though they lived and died under Power of all Manner of Unrighteousness whatsoever. And this Error arofe in me through a lying Doctrine, founding in my Ears, of a pretended univerfal Love to the whole Creation, from thofe People called Ranters, which gilded Love I found at length to be nothing else but carnal H Luft, Luft, in the Bottom of it; why, because it had no fpiritual Foundation to build his Faith and Hope upon, but within itself only. Peradventure, thou at this prefent mayft imagine, that thy Society, called Quakers, are endued with more excellent Light than all others whatsoever; but if I fhould condefcend to fuch an Imagination, I must belye the Light of all Things, which, through his eternal free Love, hath lately shined into my dark Soul; but it hath not fo fhined into it as to perfuade me to mind no other God or Chrift, prefent Light, or future Glory, but what is within me only, as formerly I did, when I was deluded to idolize my own lying Imagination with Titles of divine Glory, by worshipping of it with the holy Name of eternal Jehovah, or Jefus, and calling of it the high and lofty One, or holy One of Ifrael, the only begotten Son of God, the everlafting Father, the Daughter of Sion, the Glory of all Perfections, with many other fuch like heavenly Expreffions, which indeed belongs only to a glorious perfonal God, eternally living without me, and not to any fpiritual God or Chrift, Light or Glory, that is, or may be within me, in the leaft. For whilft I groped after Light and Life, only within myfelf, behold I met with nothing but thick Darkness, and a fecret Fear of an everlasting Vengeance; but fince I came really to understand that all the fpiritual Godhead is wholly abiding, remaining, or dwelling in the glorified Body of the Man Chrift Jefus, and that by the Light or Virtue of his Spirit only, he lives by his redeemed Ones, I have enjoyed much fweet Peace, and pure Hopes of fpiritual Glories, in that Life to come, which are eternal. Moreover, though the Variety of fpiritual, or temporal Joy and Glory, be of none Effect to the Creature, without an inward Manifestation of it, yet, when I feel a Want of new and heavenly Confolations, to fatisfy my hungry Soul, thro' the manifold Temptations of the Flesh, behold I feek not for it from any spiritual Light or Life that is within me, or within Men or Angels, becaufe, by woful Experience, I certainly know it is not there to be found; but the Light in me afcends up on high without me, even into the glorious Body of the everlasting |