The answer to William Penn Quaker, his book, entituled, The new witnesses proved old hereticks Wherein he is proved to be an ignotant [sic] spater-brain'd Quaker, who knows no more what the true God is, nor his secret decrees, then one of his coach-horses doth, nor so much; for the oxe knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters scrip, but Penn doth not know his maker, as is manifest by the Scriptures, which may inform the reader, if he mind the interpretation of Scripture in the discourse following. I. That God was in the forme, image and likeness of mans bodily shape, as well as his soul from eternity. ... VIII. What is meant by the armour of God, the wilderness, and the wilde beasts I fought with in the wilderness. / By Lodowick Muggleton.

CHAP. XIII. (Book 13)

Sixthly and lastly, that God hath elected some men to eternal sal∣vation, and hath predestinated other some to eternal damnation, with∣out any other inducement then his own Will and Pleasure.

Penn saith, this principle is accurss'd by Scripture, I prove; his first proof is Ezek. 18.21. the words are these, The soul that sin∣neth, tt shall die, the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son, the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, ver. 22. but if the wicked will turn from all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my Statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Penns Argument drawn from this Scripture, saith he, If righteousne••s or wickedness be the ground of Gods rewarding or punishing the souls of men, then, saith he, there is no Predestination without consideration had to their works, and saith, therefore such De∣crees are denied and dis••wned. Secondly, Penn saith, If man may turn from his righteousness and wick••dn••ss: and saith, But men may turn from either, and accordingly they will be rewarded; And also saith, Therefore no such predestinated damnation or sal∣vation.

Answer, That this place of Scripture doth no ways relate to E∣lection and Reprobation concerning eternal life and ete••nal death in the least, but altogether to the contrary, as will appear thus;

Minde the scope of the words, The soul that sinneth it shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: but if either the father or son do commit wick••dness, it shall be punished with natural death bef••re Natures course is run; and if either the father or the son doth work right••ousness, he shall have the reward of his righteousness he hath wrought, that is, he shall have the benefit of the legal Law, and shall not be cut off from the Land of the living, as long as his natural life doth last; likewise, if t••e fa∣ther or the son hath committ••d wickedness in his life-time, yet if he shall turn from t••is wickedness, and k••ep Gods legal statutes, that is, follow the Law written in his heart, that is, Thou shalt not do no Murder, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit a∣dultery, nor bear false witness and the like, and do that which is right between man and man, which righteousness is but the righ∣teousness of the legal L••w written in mans heart; as if a man doth this he shall surely live in it all his days, and shall not die be∣fore Natures course be run; likewise the son shall not suffer death for his fathers sin, nor the father shall not die for the sons sin, but he that sinneth shall die fot his own sin; and if the father be righteous, it shall not save the son from death: and if the son be righteous, and the father wick••d, the sons righteousness shall not deliver the father from death before the course of nature is run, but he shall be punished with death for his own ini∣quity.

For this is to be minded by the Reader, that God said in the Commandment, He would visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hated him; Therefore it was a Proverb among the people of the Jews, that if children that had fathers that were wicked, the children of those fathers were heartless to work righteousness themselvs, seeing the sins of their fathers must be visited upon them to the third a••d fourth generatton: they thought it was a vain thing to serve God themselves, seeing their fathers sins must be charged

upon them, therefore it was God took off the murmuring of the people, and doth promise that every one that sinneth, let it be the father or the son, he shall die for his own iniquity; or if either fa∣th••r or son doth work righteousne••s, it shall be rewarded upon his own head according to his righteousnes••; and if either father or son that hath commitied wickednes, do h return and repent of i••, and do that which is right between man and man. he shall be for∣given that wickedness he committed before, and shall not die for his former iniquity.

So that this Scripture doth relate only to a legal righteousness, and to a legal punishment, and being put to death by legal ••lagues and punishments for sin, and hath no relation not in the least to E∣lection or Reprobation, or to ••ternal salvation or damnation, for the keeping of that Law or Commandment could not give life, neither did God intend to visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation to eternity. Penn might say that were unutterable cruelty in God indeed, to punish a child eternally for his fathers sin, but that punishment God threatned to visit upon the children to the third and fourth gene∣ration, it was temporal and not erernal, as famine, sword, pesti∣lence and natural death, as is exprest abundantly in the Old Te∣stament, so that Gods rewarding of Mans legal righteousness, it was a••d is with temporal blessings of this life, and his punishing men for committing wickedness, and breaking that legal Law written in mans heart as aforesaid, he punisheth them with tem∣poral punishments, even in this life, with death it self; as for example, is not there many a man for stealing, put to death for that very Act, before he hath lived out half his days: and is not many Murderers cut off by the legal Law before his days be half ex••ired; and is not the Adulterer and Adulteress many tim••s de∣stroyed by that foul disease the Pox, in the midst of their days, and these sins of the fathers are many times visited upon the children, to the third and fourth generation, by shame and disgrace to the children among men, besides diseased bodies, poverty and beggery

sticketh close to the children of wicked fathers, but the punish∣ment of eternal damnation God doth not inflict upon any man for the sin of his father; but for his own sin only. This is the true interpretation and meaning of this Scripture, and that this place doth no ways relate to Election and Reprobation to Eternity in the least.

Secondly, Penn quotes 1 Tim. 2.3, 4. the words are these, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, ver. 4. Who will have a••l men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Penns Argument d••awn from these words, saith he, If the Apostle writ by the Spirit of God that gives to know the Minde 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, saith he, there is no pred••stinated restraint upon mens understanding from knowing the truth, nor fore-appointed from their en∣j••ying the end of such true knowledge, even the salvation of their souls.

Answer, That this place of Scripture hath no relation at all to El••ction and Reprobation; for Paul doth plead more for Gods P••erogative Power, in electing and reprobating men by his own Prerogative Will and Pleasure, without any relation to good or evil Actions, then any man whatsoever, as I shall prove here∣after; and if Paul sh••uld deny el••ction and reprobation in this place, as Penn doth infer, then he would grossely contradict his own writing, Rom 9 11. which he so strongly disputeth and argu∣eth for; but I p••rceive Penn is blind and ignorant, and hath not been well-read in the Sc••iptures, his Minde hath been exercised at the University, more upon old Histories, and studying to find out the thoughts of mens souls when their bodies were opened and dead, but w••en their bodies were alive, he never knew what thoughts, pu••poses no•• intents they had in their hearts, not by their words and actions; but when they were cut up, he thought to find

their thoughts to find the inside of man, but that their souls were slipt out before they were opened. This is only a word by the way, to shew that Penn is grosly ignorant of the Scripture, that did not reade Pauls mighty strong Arguments for Election and Re∣probation; and quote these words of Paul to overthrow all that Paul had written before; because Paul saith, this is good and ac∣ceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth.

This doth not disprove Gods Election; but Paul speaketh these words only to encourage men to believe in Iesus Christ, in as much as we Apostles are Ministers of Christ to preach life and salvation by believing in him, we are willing that all men that hear us should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved, for we not knowing who is Gods Elect, and who is not, but by their belief or unbelief of our doctrine: and it is our desire, that all that hear us might believe us, as well as some, and be saved, and in this sense the Apostle might say it would be acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth; but when Paul saw that some men did bel••eve his doctrine, and some men did not believe but persecuted his doctrine, he knew then them to be e∣lected to salvation that received his doctrine, and those to be te∣probated to damnation, that did reject, despise and persecute his doctrine, which made him wish himself accursed ftom Christ for his Friends and Kindred in the flesh; he was so sensible, that his Kindred in the flesh were of the reprobate-seed, and pre-ordained of God to be blinded and hardned, to oppose the truth, that they might be damned to eternity: if Paul had not known this, he would never have wished himself accursed from Christ for their sakes, but that he knew himselfe el••cted and chosen of God, and that God could not alter his Decree, and curse him now, he had chosen him and blest him: also he knew God had teprobated his Brethren and Kinsfolk in the fl••sh, that they should not believe the truth declared by him, but should perish in unbelief to eter∣nity.

Therefore it is said in Scripture, that as many as were or∣dained to eternal life believed; this Paul was sensible of, and could not alter his Decree in Reprobation, no more then he could in Election. This is the true interpretation and meaning of Pauls words in this place.