Lodowick Muggleton

“ For I declare and perfectly know, that there is no such Thing as Spirits to walk without Bodies, nor assume any Shape after Death, nor be raised out of the Ground by any Witch or any Familiar Spirit whatsoever; it is all produced out of the dark Imagination of the Heart, where Ignorance beareth Rule, for there is no such Thing can be presented but to the Ignorant and dark minded People. ”

“ Again, you say, O Lord God, pity the Captivity of Man, yea, pity the Captivity of thy own poor Seed, hear the Prayers of that Spirit that interceedeth with thee for every thing, not according to any fleshly Imaginations, but according to Truth and Righteousness of thine one Ballance. ”

“ Thus in short, I have given the true Interpretation of all those Scriptures that most seem, or most commonly are objected against the Mortality of the Soul, or to prove that Spirits do go out of the Body at the time of Death, or that Spirits may be raised without Bodies, or have any Being without Bodies, or that a Spirit may appear in a Shape without a Body, or that a Spirit can assume what Shape it please, yet have no Body or Substance. ”

“ And this was that Paradise that Christ and the Thief were in, that very Day they both suffered Death; for the Assurance of everlasting Life in a Man's self here in Mortality, is the Paradise of Peace in this Life. ”

“ Wherefore, from a Divine Gift which I have freely received from an unerring Spirit, I say unto thee, that those Men which labour to perswade their Hearers, that if they diligently hearken to the Light that is in them, they may attain to such a Power, as to be dead in this Body from all Kind of inward Darkness, Sin, or Evil, have uttered the falsest Doctrine that ever was declared to Men. ”

“ The Meaning is, when a particular Man or Woman, or a People or Nation, be in the same Distress and Condition as King Saul was; that is, in Danger of loosing his Crown and Kingdom, his natural Life; and not only so, but his Soul is tormented with the Fear of eternal Death; this maketh the Heart of Man to melt in him; it makes his Speech to grow weak and feeble, so that his Speech can hardly be heard; it is even as if a Man did speak out of Death, or out of the Ground. ”

“ He that believeth shall be saved, but he that believeth not is condemned already, not because he hath not believed in a God, or Christ that is within him, but because he hath not believed in a personal God or Christ that is without him, whose divine Majesty is crowned with such immortal bright burning Glory, that if he did not vail his fiery Nature within his own blessed Body, the Glory of it is so transcendently infinite, that he in a Moment would consume all created Beings to Powder. ”

“ To this I answer, a little Season will produce Mourning enough in you, when you shall see your Angelical Motions like Lightning, cast down with Confusion of Fear from their former Perfection of imaginary Glory, rational Dreams and Visions, Revelations, Inspirations, Experiences, or Voices proceeding from an incomprehensible Spirit. ”

“ To the Matter in hand, the Witches they do not know any Divine Being, or Power, or Form of God, but what their Imagination doth conceive to be God, for they have full Faith in this Knowledge of theirs, to be the true Knowledge of God; only the Laws of Men they fear, but no other God, but that Familiar Spirit which they have produced in themselves, by giving themselves either to Fasting and Prayer, unto an unknown Divine Being or Power; supposing this Power to be a Spirit that can appear in any Shape they shall call for or desire. ”

“ For this is to be observed, that Adam did not come to be a living Soul by Generation, as we do ever since; but he and Eve were first made as a Foundation for Generation; so that God made or created but one Man and one Woman, all Men and Women that have been generated and begotten ever since, cannot properly be said to be made nor created, but begotten by Generation; for God never made and created but one Man and one Woman, all others are generated and begotten.
Therefore when Man begets a Son or Daughter in the way of Generation, he begets the Soul or Spirit of the Child as well as the Body ”

“ Moreover, if the Light of Life Eternal be thy Guide, though must needs know then, it was neither the justifying Light of Christ within Man, no nor the Spirit of Christ without Man, that moved those Men to speak or write to the People; but it was their own lying Imagination which hurried them about to beget Proselytes to themselves in the Man Christ Jesus's stead, who alone is God over all Blessed for ever and ever. ”

“ For when a Man is deceived in his Expectations and Faith which he had in that Art, he may very well be said to be bewitched: But as for raising Spirits without Bodies, there is no Witch, no Conjurer, or Magician, nor the greatest Artist in the World can do; neither can any Spirit assume any Body but its own. So much for natural Witches. ”

“ I declare that in all Ages the Elect lost Sheep of Israel, did never read or heard of any more than two original Ways either Natural or Spiritual in Mankind, whether you call them Creature or Creator, Light or Darkness, Truth and Error, Revelation and Reason, Inspiration and Imagination, Truth and Unbelief, Flesh and Spirit, and such like. ”

“ Again, doth not the Gospel bring Life and Immortality to Light, and is this Life and Immortality brought to Light without a Body, but it will have a Spiritual Body suitable to that mortal Spirit made immortal. And doth not the Scripture affirm, that it shall have a Body like unto God's own Glorious Body, and yet you say, God hath no Body, and a Soul hath no Body. ”

“ When we are said to worship God in Spirit and Truth, is this spiritual Worship performed without a Body, although there is a Mental, Privy, and Praise without a vocal Expression, yet it must arise from a Heart, and that Heart must be placed in a Body.
There is no Light without a Sun, no Stream without a Fountain, and no Spirit without a Body. ”

“ My Dear Friend, be not deceived with Mens crafty Words, who have no true spiritual Distinction in them; for if any mortal Man have dwelling in him the eternal Spirit, all the Motions, Thoughts, Words and Actions of that Man must needs be as pure, holy and powerful as God himself, because thou knowest they proceed from a pure, holy, and glorious Spirit: But of the contrary, if thou perceivest a Measure of Light only abiding in thee, which thou in Mercy hast received from an everlasting Jesus without thee, then thou often seest Darkness in thee as well as Light. ”

“ Wherefore Friend, happy are you if preserved from slighting an Appearance, that is contrary unto your Light, though it strike at the Foundation on which is built all your Spiritual Enjoyments; for alas, you know in the End, all false Lights will be made manifest unto those that possess the true Light of Eternal Life in them; Blessed therefore are those, that in Obedience unto the Creator from a purified Spirit are compassionate to all Men, but especially to those innocent Appearances, in the Name of the Lord, though they all differ in their Declaration for them. ”

“ For all time belongs to the living; for after Death there is nothing but Eternity, on the other side of Death either eternal Happiness or eternal Misery: So that when Men die, they may be said to go immediately to Heaven or to Hell, to Joy or Torment, to be receiv'd into Christ's Hands of Mercy, or into the Hands of Christ's Wrath, where they shall be tormented with the Devil and his Angels, yet shall never see the Devil, nor his Angels, nor themselves, to Eternity ”

“ Yea, and to say in his Heart and Tongue also, that there is no Spiritual God or Personal Glory in the least, but what is in Man only, notwithstanding, as sure as the Lord Jesus liveth, both he and all that is in him must turn into silent Death and Dust for a Moment, yea, and would so remain unto all Eternity, if there were not a distinct personal Majesty living without Man to raise him again, to everlasting sensible Glory or Shame, according to the Royal Pleasure of that God, that neither will nor can give his Glory to another. ”

“ It is most certainly evident, that the Apostles never taught, that any Spirit could subsist without a Body, but the contrary altogether; for their Doctrine was, that as the Soul and Body lives together, so it dies together, and at the Last Day rises together, and is ever without Separation. ”

“ Again, I declare from the true Light of the true God, that the Spirit which entereth with the Creator for all Mankind, upon the Account of his Eternal Happiness, was never principled upon a Spiritual Foundation of Truth, whatever subtile Expressions of God's righteous Ballance proceedeth from him. ”

“ Again, These Witches doth suppose the true God to be an Infinite Spirit, without any Body or Substance, as all People almost do; and that the Devil is a Spirit that can assume Bodies or what Shape he pleaseth, or what Shape or Form the Witch shall call for. This is the Opinion of most People in the World as well as Witches, yea, even of the most of the greatest learned Men; Darkness hath overspread the Minds of all learned Men in the World, so that they cannot find out what the true God is, nor where he is ”