A True Interpretation of the Witch of Endor

by Lodowick Muggleton

But the true Light and Revelation of faith doth know to the contrary, that no Spirits can have any Being at all without Bodies, neither of God, Angels, nor Man, nor no other living Creature, who hath the Breath of Life in it.

But to give the Interpretation of this Scripture, that the Reader may understand, it is thus; the Spirit of Christ, that quickened from the Dead to Life again, I say, is the same Spirit that preached to the Spirits in Prison in the Days of Noah, and the Spirits of the disobedient World were in Prison in their own Bodies in the Days of Noah, as they were when Christ came upon Earth, for then he opened the Prison to them that were bound, by preaching Glad-tidings of Freedom to those that were bound, and Liberty to those Spirits that were in Captivity.

Now (as I said before) this Captivity is Spiritual Captivity, and to be bound and in Prison, it is meant a Spiritual Imprisonment in the Mind, and not a natural Imprisonment of the Body. And this I say, the very same Spirit of Christ that preached to the Jews when he was upon Earth, did preach to the old World in the Days of Noah, though in a twofold Manner.

And as the Spirits of Men were in Prison in their own Ignorance, Blindness and Darkness of Understandings, in that they were led Captives and Prisoners by their wicked and unnatural Lusts in the Days of Noah: So were both Jews and Gentiles in the Days of Christ when on Earth, their Spirits were led Captive, and into the Prison of Unbelief and Persecution of the Lord of Life, in that their Fathers persecuted the Lord's Prophets and Messengers he did send; so did these Jews persecute the Lord himself, when he preached to their Spirits that were in Prison, and led Captives by their wicked murdering Wills into the Prison of Unbelief; for he did preach when on Earth, that whosoever did believe in him should be saved. And as many as did truly believe in him, their Spirits were brought out of that Captivity of Unbelief, and out of the Prison of Darkness in the Mind, into a glorious Liberty and Light of Life Eternal. And thus did the preaching of Christ Spirit deliver many Spirits of Men and Women out of Prison, in the Days when he was upon Earth.

So likewise this quickening Spirit of Christ, it preached unto the Spirits in Prison in the Days of Noah. And why were their Spirits in Prison in the Days of Noah? Because they were disobedient. And how may they be said to be disobedient? Because they did not believe that good Man Noah, who was a Preacher of Righteousness. And how did he preach Righteousness unto that wicked People? In that he prepared the Ark, and being so many as a hundred Years in building, all that while God is said to wait for their Repentance, and that they might believe that God would destroy the World by Water.

But instead of Repentance and believing they hardened their Hearts, and mocked at Noah and the Ark; so that while the Ark was preparing, God waited for the People's Repentance; and all that while that Noah was building he preached to the People, that the World would be drowned.

And the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of God which was put to Death in the Flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison in the Days of Noah, it was the same Spirit that instructed Noah to build the Ark; so that the building of the Ark by Noah, he being a Preacher of Righteousness, in that he believed God, and built it as the Spirit of God had commanded and instructed him; as God did Moses, shewed him the Pattern of the Tabernacle in the Mount.

And in as much as Noah did obey the Commandment of the Lord, according as the Spirit of the Lord did reveal unto him, Noah may be said to be a Preacher of Righteousness; and he doing all things by Inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, which was not at that time made of Flesh, but in the Fulness of time became pure humane Flesh, and suffered the Pains of Death. And the same Spirit that suffered Death, that very same Spirit that quickened, was that Spirit that preached to the Spirits in Prison in the Days of Noah, as aforesaid.

And the making of the Ark by the Inspiration of God's Spirit in the Sight of the People, who were in Prison in Ignorance and Darkness of Mind, is called by the Revelation of Faith, A preaching to the Spirits in Prison: So that the Spirit of God in Noah may be said to preach unto those Spirits in Prison, in the Days of Noah, and that there was but eight Persons saved from the Flood.

So that this Place of Scripture doth no way prove, that the Spirit of Christ did ever preach to Spirits in Prison without Bodies; neither did Christ's Spirit preach in the Days of Noah without a Body; for he always preached with a Body himself, or else chose Men that have Bodies, and gave them Power to preach to Spirits in Prison, and to deliver the Captives, and to set the Prisoner at Liberty, and the bound in Prison to go free.