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.