_Another Epistle of_ JOHN REEVE_'s_.
_SIR_,
Your Replication to mine doth but still harp upon the same Matter as
your former, and yet you suppose you have given such Arguments as may
quite silence my former Assertions, were that there are no Spirits
without Bodies, but such as mere Shadows; and that God is not a bodiless
Spirit, but hath and ever had Form, Substance, and Shape, and that is no
other but the Form of a Man.
This is contradicted by you, and so you affirm these Particulars
following.
_1st_, You take at those my Words which said, that if a Spirit have no
Body or Shape, then it is no more then a meer Shadow: This you deny, by
saying, that a Shadow is only privative, but a Spirit, say you, is
positive.
_2dly_, You further say, that there is such immaterial Substances, which
have a separate Existence from such gross Bodies which we have about us;
witness say you the Soul of Man, which is immaterial, and lives after
the Body is dead, which is, say you, confirmed by _Paul_, 2 _Tim._ i.
10. which saith, that the _Gospel brings Life and Immortality to Light_.
_3dly_, This Doctrine, say you, was known by the Light of Nature to the
Heathen Philosophers, and hath since been confirmed by Scripture of the
New Testament to us, and so conclude it no ways repugnant to right
Reason.
_4thly_, You charge me with quoting the Scripture falsly, when I said,
that Christ reply'd to the young Man, saying, _That no Man was good but
one, which was God_; therefore say you, it is false that the Scripture
saith, that God is a Man.
To each of these take this particular Answer, 1. If your Spirit have
neither Shape nor Substance, it is but a Shadow, and no more then what
the _Egyptians_ Sorcerers produced before _Pharaoh_, what _Moses_
brought up were real Substances, but their's no other but Shadows, but
therefore a Spirit without Substance is not positive; for that which is
privative can have no Being without a positive, because that which is
positive hath a Being or Substance: Now he that will not admit God to
have a distinct Being of himself, his God that he worships is nothing
but a Shadow.
_2dly_, Where you speak of Spirits being immaterial Substances; if they
be immaterial, how are they Substances, and what Existence can they
have, and how can a Soul be immortal in a mortal Body; it is said, _the
Soul that Sins, it shall die_; yet say you, it is immortal and cannot
die, and would prove it in 2 _Tim._ i. 10. when as that Place shews
plainly, that it was Christ's Death and Resurrection which _brought Life
and Immortality Light_; so that if there be not a Resurrection, then can
there be no immortal Life.
Therefore it is, that the Scriptures doth affirm, that there can be no
Salvation without a Resurrection, so that if the Dead should not rise,
then were all Faith vain, and God the God of the Dead (seeing Death is
not abolish'd) and not of the Living; so that there is no Spirit that
can subsist or have any Existence without a Body, either Spiritual or
Natural.
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.
Do you not read also, that Christ had a Body, and that it was after the
_express Image of his Father's Person_: Would you trace substantial
Truth into an Allegory, and say Righteousness, Knowledge, and Holiness
is the Image of God, and yet must have no Body to act for it self in.
When God said, _be ye holy, as I am holy_, must we turn our Souls out of
our Bodies, to make them like your bodiless God.
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.
_3dly._ As to your third particular, this I must tell you, that no Light
of Nature can discover Spiritual and Evangelical Truths, and it is very
gross for any Man to subject the Spiritual Truths of the Gospel, to the
heathenish Principles of Philosophers, making the New Testament no other
but for the Confirmation of the Principles of Nature, which Nature you
call right Reason, which say, you never repugns the Gospel, nor the
Gospel it.
By this your Discourse I find, that you own that Christ came, but to
confirm the heathenish Principles of Nature, as, that God, and Spirits,
and Angels, were all without Bodies, being immaterial Beings, and you
know not what.
Now give me leave to be plain with you, and to tell you, that I could
never read that the Gospel of Christ was ever sent to enlighten Nature,
Nature or Reason hath no Interest in it at all. In the moral Law it
hath, and therefore it is written, _the Law came by_ Moses; and what to
do, but only to enlighten Reason unto whom the Law was given: But as to
the Gospel, _it came by Jesus Christ_, and particularly belonged to
another Seed; namely, _to the lost Sheep of the House of_ Israel; so
that you can no more distinguish between the Law and the Gospel, than
between the two Natures of Faith and Reason, it is all a Mystery to you.
Do you know what right Reason is, if you do, you must ascend up into the
Kingdom of Heaven, and view it in the holy Angels; for you will not find
neither pure, nor right, nor uncorrupted Reason any where in this Orb
below the Stars: For it is evident that Reason, Notion can never be
capable to comprehend Spiritual Truths, as from the Power of its own
Nature, it only serves to comprehend natural and temporal Things, it
being but natural it self; but Gospel Truths are comprehended by another
Light, according as it is written by _David_ saying, _in thy Light shall
we see Light_, &c.
So that from what is said, we need not fear (as the World have) of the
Heathens rising up in Judgment against us, for maintaining Gospel Truths
against their Darkness of Reason.
_4thly_, As to your fourth Point, where you charge me of fathering upon
the Scripture those things that are not, and you make a Wonderment of
it, that I should say, that God was a Man, and to quote Christ's Words
for it, telling the young Man, _that there was no Man good but one,
which was God_; this you tell me was false, for you say, the Text saith
that _none is good but one, which is God_. Here your Ignorance appears
very great, and may be wonder'd at, considering your great Learning and
continual Study; but it appears, it is but in those heathenish
Philosophers; for observe for better Instruction, did not that young Man
call Christ Master, and own him to be a Man and no more: Now to this you
may find that Christ's Answer did tacitely imply, that if he was but a
Man, he was not perfectly good, and that no Man could be perfectly good.
And furthermore, for a more full Answer in the Old Translation,
attending to mark it, is render'd thus Word for Word, _that there is no
Man good but one, which is God_.
This is plain Scripture, and yet you are ignorant of it; I perceive you
are not very conversant in Scripture, your Philosophy turns you out of
all Scripture Knowledge. But to proceed farther, cannot you find by
Scripture, that God was ever called a Man, did not you ever read that
Scripture that saith, _God was a Man of War_.
Much more might be said of this, and several positive Proofs from
Scripture might be produced to confirm it withal, but because it is not
the general received Opinion, therefore it must be quarrelled with; for
the Honour of this World must be both sought after and submitted to.
And whereas you farther say, that the Apostles of Christ did ever teach
after they had received their Commission, that Spirits were immaterial
and could subsist without Bodies, now answer to this:
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.
When the Apostles said, _That many Spirits were generate into the World,
which denied that Christ was come in the Flesh_, did he mean Spirits
without Bodies: And when _Paul_ said, _that the Spirit speaketh
expresly, that some shall depart from the Faith_: Now what Spirit was
that, but _Paul_'s own Spirit of Faith, in his own mortal Body; for
without a Tongue it could not be expressed.
And where the Apostles tells of the Doctrine of Devils, were those
Devils bodiless, and teached damnable Doctrine.
So that the Apostles never taught that there was any Spirits without
Bodies, but always Spirit and Body went together, and so makes Longitude
and Latitude profoundly, as your Philosophical Notions teacheth,
although you cannot apply it to any sublime or spiritual Thing, you
knowing nothing of it, but all is nothing and of no Substance; and so in
that your Darkness I leave you, seeing you are no Friend to the Light;
and rest yours in all civil Respects,
JOHN REEVE_'s, the only true Witness unto the very true God, amongst
many pretended Spiritual Messengers in this confused Age_.
_An Epistle wrote by the Prophet_ JOHN REEVE _to_ ISAAC PENNINGTON,
_Esq; dated 1658. concerning an Answer to a Book of his, with several
Mysteries and Divine and Spiritual Revelations declared by the Prophet,
concerning God's visible appearing in the Flesh_.
In your Self-return, you seem to mourn over the sunk Spirit of both
Creations, so termed by you. Also you write as though many from a
Satanical Spirit write most accurately, both of the Works of Creation
and Mystery of Redemption by an immediate Gift of God from our Lord
Jesus Christ. 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.
Again, I have both read and heard a Voice to say, that the Secrets of
the Lord are his Choice Treasures, reserved only for Redeemed ones; but
I never read or heard from any Spiritual wise Man before now, that any
Satanical Spirit was able to intellect deceived Persons, exactly to
write of the hidden Mysteries of the Everlasting God. Again, you pretend
unto no such Revelations as I proceed upon, but say you, there is
another Way more certain than Reason or Revelation, which whether as I
presume you were led into, the Lord will one Day make manifest, from the
true Light of Life Eternal. To this I answer, your Light as terming of
the true Inspirations of the Lord Jesus Christ, written by me to you, is
because as yet his Holy Spirit vails them from your Eyes; but as for
your new Sound of teaching them from your God, more certain than Reason
or Revelation, from the Divine Voice spoken in the Ear, through the
Glorious Mouth of my Lord. 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.
'Tis confess'd, that visible Appearances of God or any else unto Mortals
is teaching of all, but he that expects that kind of Teaching any more
until Men are immortalized, lieth under at present as great an imaginary
Deceit, as ever yet appeared in this Land. It is also granted that the
most holy God speaketh to his Chosen Messengers by Voice of Words, even
to the hearing of the Ear, unto which Truth for Ends best known unto
himself, by his gracious Power only, can bear Record in this present
Generation, unto the Grief only of all Angelical, Wise, Envious, Proud,
Inglorious, Hypocritical Reprobates that hear of it.
Moreover, yet if your more sure way of teaching from God were Vision it
self, yet it is impossible for you to enjoy any true and lasting Peace,
unless it swallows up all your former Writings produced from your own
Spirit, without an immediate Commission from God, and in the room
thereof, perswade your Soul to pour in your Oil, into the natural Wounds
of oppressed Persons, under what Opinions or Appearances whatsoever.
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. From the God of Truth, to this I answer, concerning that
Spiritual Captivity of the Elect, in Reference of a right understanding
of the Creator, you need not trouble yourself about that, unless you
think through much importuning the unchangeable God, may be perswaded to
loose their Bonds before the decreed time thereof; but if you think that
Glory of God's Eternal Love towards them, will provoke to their
Spiritual Darknesses through the invisible Appearances of his own pure
Light, then you may know, until his own Glorious Season, that all the
Desires of Men or Angels are of no Effect, no nor of the Son himself, if
you imagine a Father besides. 'Tis confess'd, when the Time draweth near
of some great Deliverance of the Chosen of God, usually the Lord
provokes his People to cry unto him with Sighs and Groans, which cannot
be uttered but from the innocent Spirit of his Spiritual redeemed ones,
as his Due, he may receive all Honour, Praise and Glory for their
Deliverance out of their natural Darknesses, unto his marvellous Light.
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. Moreover, is it not the new heavenly Glanses of
Christ Jesus in Man's dark Soul, which upon an immortal Account, becomes
all Light, Life, or ravishing Glory in him; and of the contrary, is it
not the absenting Voice or Virtue of the uncreated Spirit of the Lord
Christ Jesus, that occasions Mens Spirits to be full of Satanical
aspiring Wisdom about the Creator; and whence think you cometh this to
pass, or possible could be of the Spirit, if the Creator were, and
Angels were essentially living in one another there.
Again, if your literal Request unto the Lord God, as in Reference unto
the miserable Captivity of poor Mankind, lying under the miserable Yoak
of unmerciful rich Tyrants, especially over his own innocent Seed or
chosen People, then this will most necessarily follow; nay, you cannot
deny it, if there be any Light in you, that all your conceived Spiritual
Speakings, or Writings, or Prayers, in the Great Day of the Lord Jesus
Christ, will become but fiery burning Death in you of utter Darkness,
according to the true Saying, _If that Light in you be Darkness, how
great is that Darkness_. Unless as before said, answerable to your
Profession of Love unto God, and Pity unto Man, you are a bountiful
Reliever of his oppressed Ones, according to his Bountifulness towards
you, then mind the Virtues of Christ Jesus thus shining in you, will
occasion from the refreshed Bowels of his own Seed new Spiritual
Acknowledgments, and a loving Return in the Lord for you, why because it
is rare to find a merciful rich Man.
_Friend_, I certainly know that if you are one of God's Elect, you
cannot be offended with me for writing the Truth, though at present, I
be contrary to you in Spirit. Again, you write that you would beg unto
the Lord for me, both with Tears and Blood, and you would speak somewhat
concerning me, but you are afraid to open the Spirit before the Season
thereof. _Friend_, As to that if ever the Lord of Life and Glory
manifest himself to your Soul, then you will see clearly the Vanity of
those Words.
Moreover, if I should tell you, that in the pure Eyes of the Lord Christ
Jesus, that one Handful of your Silver Tears, are of more Value than a
Horse Load of your Tears and Blood, you might account it a very strange
saying from me; truly I unfeignedly believe it will be found a principal
Truth, when our Lord Jesus Christ shall say in the Day of Judgment,
_Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you, for
when I was a hungry, ye fed me; Go ye Cursed into everlasting Fire, when
I was an hungry ye fed me not_. So that without Controversy, there is
nothing in Man comparable to Love, Mercy and Forgiveness, even to his
greatest Enemies.
Again, It is a marvellous thing, if you or any other Man, should have a
Spiritual Gift to distinguish between Divine and Diabolical Appearances,
and yet defer the Examination thereof to another Season, or did the most
wise God ever Commission any Man or Angel to make a Discovery of any
Spiritual Counterfeits, and yet that Messenger remaineth dark in his own
Understanding, concerning the Creator that sent him. I remember such a
like Scripture Saying as this, _him whom you ignorantly worship, declare
I unto you_. Moreover, if the most wise Creator, either visible or
invisible by himself or Angel, hath appeared in your Spirit, whereby
unto your thinking, I was clearly discovered as a deceived Person among
the rest, is it not a strange thing that you should have Power over that
Light above Men or Angels, before you for the producing of it at another
Season, the Creator himself will visible make it manifest, _even so come
Lord Jesus Christ, for thy glorious Namesake, come quickly, and in the
visible Sight of Men and Angels bear Record whether thy Holy Spirit sent
me (as I have declared almost these three Years) or no_. Again, when the
Lord made Choice of such a simple poor Man as I was, as many can witness
in the City of _London_, that have known me about these twenty Years,
that I might instrumentally discover the two principal Heads of
mischievous Darkness in the Land; as namely, _John Robins_ past, and
_John Tawney_ almost spent, truly I had no Power in me to put by his
Message until another time; why because (whether you can believe it or
no) his Voice was so Glorious in me, that it shun as the Sun, and it was
of Motion swifter than Thought, and so pleasant to be declared by
Tongue; yet for all that Godlike Glory piercing in me, and through me,
there arose a Desire in me to be eased of that Burden of the Lord
committed to my Charge, because of that sharp Sentence that I was to
declare against any Man that should despise it; then the Lord spake
again unto my Soul, Words of turning Death, of sensible unutterable
Darkness, answerable to that _Jonas_-like Rebellion in me, against so
great convincing Glory; and truly I was compelled immediately to cry
unto him for Deliverance from the Wounds or Anguish of my Soul, that I
might presently obey his Word that shined in me with such Light, and
Majesty, and Glory in whatsoever it should command me.
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. If there be but one true Messenger from the Lord among the rest,
they shall as formerly, receive an Angel of God unawares, and with him
be Partakers of the Glorious Secrets of the everliving God, to their
eternal Consolation: For this I know, from the Spirit of Truth, that
those that are left under a Spirit of rejecting and despising of false
Appearances, coming forth in the Name of the Lord, they not clearly
knowing them to be so, they will as readily despise a true Messenger of
the Lord to their eternal Hurt; wherefore are all those, that neither
Honour nor Life it self is dear unto them, but upon an Account of
Spiritual Wisdom amongst wise Men, when the Glorious Things of Eternity,
though in base Appearance presented unto them, from that Spiritual Rock
of all Ages, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, God and Man, is one
distinct Body or Person glorified; for whatsoever Men dream from their
imaginary Gods, of two or three Persons, or a vast incomprehensible
Spirit, essentially living in all Things and Places; from an immediate
Voice from the highest Heavens, I positively affirm against Men or
Angels, that there neither is, nor ever was any other God or Creator,
but that God-man Christ Jesus, which was nailed to the Cross, the which
Glorious God will one Day visibly appear with his mighty Angels, to the
Everlasting Terror of those that reject his Person, as to love a thing
for an infinite God to dwell in or to be; yea this very true God in
Opposition to all other Gods, Men, or Angels, is already come with his
invisible pure piercing Light, to make an everlasting Distinction
between the imaginary notional Mysteries of Men in rational Darkness,
and the Spiritual Mysteries of his everlasting Kingdom, by true
Inspirations from an holy and unerring Spirit. _Even so come Lord Jesus
Christ, visibly also according to thine own Word, come quickly._ Amen.
* * * * *
Yours with all the Elect, in that only wise very true God, which in the
Sight of Men and Angels visible appeared in Flesh, and in that very Body
of Flesh and Bone, is ascended far above all Gods, Heavens, Angels, or
Men, and there to remain until the Resurrection of all elect Things, or
the Judgment-Day, whose uncreated Spirit of fiery Love, is all Variety
of immortal Crowns of new ravishing Glories, prepared for all those that
long for his visible appearing, to make an everlasting Separation,
between the merciful Elect, and unmerciful Reprobate.
JOHN REEVE, _the only true Witness unto the very true God, amongst
many pretended Spiritual Messengers in this confused Age_.
_FINIS._
Transcriber's Notes:
Archaic and colloquial spelling and punctuation was retained.
Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).