Truth's triumph: or, A witness to the two witnesses from that unfolded parable of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the High and mighty God: Matthew, chap. 13, verse 30 to 42 is a 1676 theological book by Thomas Tomkinson, written as a defence and explanation of the Muggletonian faith. It addresses common misconceptions about the sect and expands on its core beliefs. Historian William M. Lamont has described the work as Tomkinson's "own greatest contribution" to Muggletonian theology.William Lamont Last Witnesses Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing (2006) p. 114
Introduction Tomkinson says he will discuss the fundamentals of the faith under eight heads. The True God The Two Seeds The Right Devil Predestination The nature of the law The mortality of the soul The Devil's torments The saints' joys in Heaven
The reader is warned that "The Scriptures calls things that are not, as though they were; and sets that first which should be last, and last which should be first; to the end that Reason should never find out the meaning of God in the Scriptures."Tomkinson Truth's Triumph P. 94
Throughout his book, Tomkinson relates his text back to Matthew 13: 37 - 42, wherein Jesus explains the Parable of the Tares.J. C. Fenton The Gospel of St. Matthew Harmondsworth: Penguin (1963) p. 225 says that this parable does not occur in Mark, nor Luke, and is full of idioms peculiar to Matthew. Debate continues about the parables of Jesus. One example is a dispute about possible hidden meanings or deliberate intention to mislead. There is widespread doubt that parables were originally presented as allegories in the way Matthew tells them. Both the matter and the debate surrounding it are discussed in D. E. Nineham's The Gospel of St. Mark Harmondsworth: Penguin (1963) p. 125 to 132. However, whatever view is taken of the significance of Jesus of Nazareth, he is unlikely to represent a typical man of his time.
The True God Tomkinson addresses a common atheist objection. He agrees it is common sense that everything that has a beginning is likely to have an end, too. But, he objects, it does not follow from this that humans are merely transient beings. Adam was formed from earth and water, 'elements' which the Muggletonians say have existed for all eternity. Thus, humans will be capable of being resurrected as bodies in a glorified condition at world's end. Then, each will have a full understanding of paradise which can only be partially glimpsed now as inner peace and bliss.
Similarly, God could not be an infinite spirit that would have "infused itself into the whole creation" because any meaningful distinction between Creator and creature would then be lost. Tomkinson tries to explain why his notion of a 'spiritual body' does not conjure up a phantom. "The form of the uncreated Majesty, before he became flesh did not consist of any elementary matter, but it was a bright shiny glory of uncompounded purities of so unutterable a nature in virtue, as that it was swifter than thought, clearer than crystal, sweeter than roses, purer than the purest gold, yea, and more infinitely glorious than the sun."Tomkinson Truth's Triumph p. 16 The 'swifter than thought' quote is to contradict Quakers who ridiculed the notion of an embodied God lumbering around the universe trying to keep up with events. So, comparing man and God, it was "not the visibility of their persons that differed, but the glory of them only." Tomkinson advances two reasons why this must be so. Firstly, he argued that God created man in his own image and that righteousness and holiness cannot act unless they are embodied in an agent. Secondly, many of the virtues of God relate to states of being and that would be meaningless without a body to be in.
"Now the learned professors resist this doctrine," Tomkinson advises us. Yet this is what mystery means. Those wedded to reason will always look to the bare letter of the law and to their own proud reasonings. Whereas those born of the seed of the woman "can trace the footsteps of the prophets till they come to the paths of God and so find him out and know him."Tomkinson Truth's Triumph p. 17
Tomkinson thinks the impure motives behind the idea of God being pure spirit are only too obvious. He says it was originally a pagan form of self-flattery to imagine there was a little bit of God in us all. He traces its history from Nimrod, through Pythagoras to Pliny the Elder, and tells how they loved to commission statues of themselves to impress others. Scriptural literalists (from Augustine to Richard Baxter) fall into a similar error of human imaginings. Yet there was always an underground stream of the truth. He cites the followers of Sabilis which we would probably label Sabellianism. Also the Athrapamorphets.Anthropomorphists? Anthropos was a figure used by Christian and non-Christian gnostics as well as by astronomers and guilds of wonder-workers. In this context, it might be as an uncarved block that brought together what unenlightened people considered opposites to be two sides of the same coin. Frederick Borsch The Christian and Gnostic Son of Man London: SCM Press (1970) p. 70. In another context, Anthropos is an Adamic figure. Generally, there is no overlap between the materialist Muggletonians and gnosticism. These truth-sayers were persecuted by the dominant culture due to the take-over of the church by the state and because the Apostles "preached the faith in a personal God, but in that, they clothed it within the appellation of several titles, it appeared more intricate and mysterious"Tomkinson Truth's Triumph p. 24 than it really was.
Tomkinson summarises his reasons why an embodied God is the "true lip of heaven". that God created man in his own likeness that God talked with Adam and Abraham and walked with Enoch that God wrestled with Jacob that God covered the eyes of Moses that the words of the law were scribed by God's own finger.
Wrong doctrine tends to result in evil fruit and Tomkinson expresses this with a remarkable extended metaphor. "Like as to a man that goeth into his garden more for the love of the colour and beauty of an herb or flower than for its virtue or goodness; being thereunto enslaved either from his own fancy or because of an ancient praise to that colour, is not to be reputed wise."Tomkinson Truth's Triumph p. 29 In other words, received opinion and tradition do not make for truth. The reason is solely a strategy for marshalling the facts to fit a settled opinion of one's own. In this, God's law counts for nothing but what it will fetch in the course of debate. He gives an example of such atheism as Dr More's Natural CabalaThe writer is presumably Dr Henry More (1614-1687) a Cambridge Christian Platonist and fellow of Christ's College. The work cited might be his Conjectura Cabbalistica. Natural cabala is possibly the first division of his three-fold scheme, literal, philosophical, and mystical. Dr More is reported as giving a remarkably Muggletonian description of God's features and then saying that scripture only uses this language so that "vulgar opinion" can understand it. And learned people misunderstand it, warns Tomkinson.
"Behold your Redeemer who came skipping upon the mountains, bringing glad tidings of peace."Tomkinson Truth's Triumph p. 34 Tomkinson says this role of God appearing as redeemer is foretold as of old. He sets out Lactantius' "ancient prophecies of Christ from one of the Sibels." These stress that Christ will make no effort to defend himself against the wrath of the rulers or to justify himself before them. Tomkinson discusses the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Book of Enoch at great length including Enoch's special role as protector of the Angels. He makes the point that because men lived so long in those days (Enoch being 380 years old by the time old Adam died) they did not write things down because their memories were a more durable medium than manuscript!
Tomkinson sets out seven arguments to confound the seven anti-churches mentioned in Revelation, all of whom are Trinitarian. In a Trinity each component is diminished by its distinction. Acceptance of a Trinity makes it hard not to admit a demiurge, or witches or a shapeshifter mage, as well. In a Trinity, there is no satisfactory view of whether the Son is eternal or begotten and, if begotten, how many times; once on earth and once in heaven? Christ who is counted amongst the transgressors only functions as a redeemer if it is the deity appearing authentically as a man. "Moral philosophy teacheth that there is but one chief good"Tomkinson Truth's Triumph p. 52 which is why Jesus asks the young man "why callest thou me good?" meaning, do you recognise me as the very God? There is no need to posit a spirit deity capable of being everywhere at once because conscience acts as 'God's watchman' in human hearts. If the Holy Ghost is a fruition from others, it is created in time and will end in time. Distinguishing Gods creates multiple faiths which is why the history of the anti-churches is one of division and strife.
The Two Seeds The doctrine of the two seeds (the seed of the woman versus the seed of the serpent) explains the conflict of nature found within everyone. Good and evil cannot derive from one source; evil cannot come from God and is never simply the misapplication of things intended for good. This mixing of seeds first began when the sons of Seth took wives from the daughters of wicked men.The notion that Cain is, quite literally, born of the devil is not a Muggletonian innovation. It was an idea in Jewish antiquity that still surfaces here and there in New Testament writing, a possible example is 1 John 3:12 So, even Abraham had both seeds within him. It is which seed comes to the top in a person which will determine his or her fate at the end of time with the judgment of the 'second death'.The notion of a second death is, likewise, not original to Muggletonians. It was a commonplace in Jewish thought at the time of Jesus although by no means universally accepted. Hence it finds its way into Revelation. It has had a checkered history in the Anglican Articles of faith. John Norman Davidson Kelly The Epistles of Peter and Jude London: A&C Black (1969) p. 273 Hence the Lord loved Jacob and hated Esau before they had done either good or evil. Yet Esau gained great blessings along the way even if he will ultimately be cursed by the bad seed within. This form of inheritance means, generally, "it is a great privilege to be a child of a good parent." Or, as Tomkinson memorably puts it; bastard begets bastard.Tomkinson Truth's Triumph p. 111 This is a parallel to the way there is generally a physical resemblance between child and parent and it explains Rebecca's anguish, "if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth ... what good will my life do me?" Yet the rule is not rigid and, ultimately, its workings are a mystery of God's will.
The Right Devil Tomkinson surveys the churches' views on the nature of the Devil. One popular argument was that he is made of air. "There was one Burgatus confessed that when the Devil gave him his hand, it felt cold; this is brave university learning, a tale of jack pudding; these cold devils might do well to get into hell to warm them." Then he makes the point that the church teaches a lot about the Devil without being able to agree what this Devil is.