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B09558 A looking-glass for George Fox the Quaker, and other Quakers; wherein they may see themselves to be right devils. In answer to George Fox his book, called, Something in answer to Lodowick Muggletons book, which he calls The Quakers neck broken. Wherein is set forth the ignorance and blindness of the Quakers doctrine of Christ within them; and that they cannot, nor doth not know the true meaning of the Scriptures, neither have they the gift of interpretation of Scripture. As will appear in those several heads set down in the next page following. / Written by Lodowick Muggleton ... Muggleton, Lodowick, 1609-1698. 1667 (1667) Wing M3046; ESTC R10137 83,636 106

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of hell and thus men and women have known good and evil by eating of the forbidden fruit of lust This many Ranters were guilty of to my knowledge neither is your Quakers people free for I know of those that have fallen to the Quakers thinking to finde ease there but they will finde the Quakers Principle but a broken Reed These things concerning the Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge of good and evil are opened more at large in The Interpretation of the Eleventh of the Revelation so I shall conclude this point 2. I am to make good by Scripture that the Soul of man is mortal This is one of the easiest points that is to prove by Scripture and experience These are the words that George Fox doth ground the Immortality of the Soul upon as followeth Saith he For God breathed into man the breath of life through which he became a living Soul And then George Fox asketh Is this breath of life by which man became a living Soul mortal And saith Is this thy knowledge as if it were impossible for me to answer or to make good by Scripture CHAP. VI. ANSWER THis point hath been proved by Scripture in all our other Writings as aforesaid and that Book of the Mortality of the Soul the chief subject it treats upon is to prove the Soul mortal but all these things will do Fox no good nor convince him of his ignorance in this point Fox had hard luck that he could see none of these Writings for nothing might have better informed him in these things but the Book of The Quakers Neck broken onely that makes Fox so ignorant of all things for that Book doth but name the Heads of these things but in the other Writings aforesaid they are more largely expounded But to give a little further answer to this point here First I shall prove that breath of Life God breathed into Adam to be mortal and doth die Let the Reader minde I do acknowledge that Breath of Life God breathed into Adam which made him become a living Soul it was immortal when it came from God but it was breathed into an earthen vessel Adam being of the earth he was earthly and so capable to be overcome by temptation from a heavenly body viz. the Serpent Angel now Christ being the Lord from heaven therefore he was not capable to be overcome by the temptations of earthly bodies viz. the Serpent Angel his seed in mortality Minde also this Breath of Life which God breathed into Adam wherein he became a living Soul it was immortal so long as he stood in obedience to God and no death could have touched him but this I must tell the Reader Adam could have had no other heaven than this world he being made of this earth he should never have gone higher to the place where God is the holy Angels and all spiritual Bodies are there Adam should not have come But this I say Adam should have been freed from all sickness diseases and death and should have lived a Paradisical life of peace upon this earth for ever if he had kept that state he was created in I confess this was a state that I was always desirous to get into and I did endeavor much after it but could not attain unto it but when the Revelation of Faith did arise in me the Spirit of Faith which I call the Spirit of Christ or God shewed me what the state of Adam was in the state of innocency and the Paradisical heaven here upon this earth but when the Spirit shewed me the Form of God Angels and other Creatures in a Celestial state in the Celestial Heavens in all glory I thought then that this earthly Paradise though it had been for ever very inferior and below that which I am sure I shall possess But to the matter in hand I shall make it appear that Adams Soul did die though it was the breath of God made it live yet by disobeying the command of God this Life must die as in Gen. 2. and verse 17. For in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Is not this plain that Adams Soul did die notwithstanding the breath of Life God breathed into him this became mortal and did die If you Fox shall say the soul departed from the body and the body died this is the opinion of most people but it is an ignorant dark opinion contrary to Sence Reason or Faith for if the Soul slip out of the body or depart from it that cannot be said to die but to part one from another for a season besides the body is a dead lump fit for no use without a soul Also the Scripture saith The soul that sins shall die The Scriptures doth not say the soul shall slip out of the body that sins but shall die it is that which sins that must die And did you Fox ever know a body commit sin without a soul if you did not methinks you might be convinced of your ignorance and teach the people no more that lie Where do you read in Scripture that ever any bodies were condemned to die We read in Scripture in many places of souls that shall die and souls that shall be cut off from the land of the living but never of bodies Again it is said that Christ poured out his soul unto death Will you Fox be so wicked to say that Christ did not die He poured out his soul unto death Death took Christs soul into it self that is death swallowed up his soul It is not said he gave his body for a Ransom for sin but he gave his soul a Ransom for sin How should any man be saved from eternal death if Christs soul did not die But I know the Quakers look for no benefit from the blood of Christ all their happiness it must come from the Law written in their hearts that they call the light of Christ in them for they know no other Christ neither within them nor without them For this I say they that cannot believe that their own souls shall die cannot believe that the soul of Christ did die and so they can receive no benefit by the death of Christ The Reader may see the innocence in the Quakers Writings Fox saith He doth believe in Christ that suffered rose again and ascended and yet Christs soul did not die according to the Quakers faith for if they do acknowledge that Christs soul did die they must needs acknowledge their own souls must the also And if Fox had believed the one he would have believed the other and never have put me to this trouble to answer that difficult point as Fox thinks to prove from Scripture that the soul of man is mortal if there were no Scripture at all experience would prove that every day we see it with our eyes Also I would ask Fox or any other where the soul of Lazarus was those four days his body was in the grave I believe Fox
himself did interpret this Scripture to the Eunuch or did it belong to a mortal man I think you will not be so grosly ignorant to say that Christ himself went into the Eunuchs Charret and interpreted those Scriptures to him Surely if the interpretation of Scripture had belonged onely unto Christ and not unto man as Fox doth assert then Christ must have come from heaven and have went into the Charret in Philips stead because Philip was a man and interpretation of Scripture doth not belong to man as Fox the Quaker saith May not any man that hath but the light of sense and reason in his understanding see the gross darkness of these Quakers which pretends to be in the clearest light of all the seven Churches but to my knowledge the darkest of all in point of doctrine And as for that saying of Scripture We shall be all taught of God it is not meant that God will teach every particular man and woman himself do you Fox believe so why then do you prattle to the people when you meet as if you would interpret the meaning of Scripture and teach the people the knowledge of Christ for you are but a man why do not you let Christ teach the people himself seeing you will have all taught of God and allow no man to interpret Scripture nor teach the people For if you say Christ doth interpret Scripture and not Muggleton because Muggleton is a man and the interpretation of Scripture you say belongs to Christ and not to Muggleton for Muggleton is but a man so Quakers are all taught of God and not by man I marvel why there is so many Men-teachers amongst the Quakers seeing teaching knowledge of heavenly things and the interpretation of Scripture belongeth to God and Christ and not to man If I were of your faith I would give over teaching and talking of the Scriptures and leave it to God and Christ to whom it doth and it would be well for you Speakers of the Quakers if you had done so before you took upon you to preach Christ within you you have undertook to teach that which you say God will do and to interpret Scripture which you say doth belong unto Christ But I see all those people that will be taught of God and have the Scriptures interpreted unto them by Christ himself and will not receive the interpretation from man I say those people are more ignorant and dark in their mindes than those that are taught by man And I am sure the Quakers people would have known more truth if they had been taught by man that hath a Commission from God as Reeve and Muggleton hath than they do by all that God ever taught them in their lives And the Interpretation of Scripture we have given if understood would have informed their Judgements more than all the Interpretation of Scripture that Christ ever did interpret unto the Quakers people since the name of Quakers was put upon them yet we are but mortal men and must die But to clear the scruple that may arise in mens mindes because I speak thus I shall shew in a few words how men may be said to be taught of God and how the Interpretation of Scripture may be said to belong unto Christ First when God chuseth any one man or more to be his chosen Prophet Messenger or Minister God doth furnish such with wisdom and understanding and revelation to declare the minde of God to the people what God would have the people do and look how many people or who ever doth believe this Messenger sent of God they may be said to be taught of God and are taught of God So likewise he that hath the gift of Interpretation of Scripture as Prophets Apostles and we the Witnesses of the Spirit hath our Interpretation of Scripture may be said to belong unto Christ and that it is the true Interpretation of Christ himself because we had our Commission from him to teach the people and to interpret Scripture to as many as believe us to their great peace and satisfaction of their souls And in this sense people may truely say they are all taught of God and that Christ hath given the true interpretation of Scripture by his servants the Prophets Apostles and Witnesses of the Spirit to our everlasting peace and comfort yet all this is declared by men yea by mortal men and not by Christ himself as the Quakers do vainly imagine 6. Also Fox saith Christ opens and no man shuts and saith Doth not John say No man was found worthy to open the Book but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah And saith Was not Christ annointed to preach CHAP. XXXVI ANSWER THis beareth the same sence as the other whatsoever the Prophets Apostles and Witnesses of the Spirit doth it may be said Christ doth it as the Prophets they preached of Balm in Gilead and of Eye-salve to anoynt the peoples eyes that they might see what did belong to their peace and where they might have salve to heal the wound in conscience which sin had made in their souls this is called the preaching of Christ by his Prophets 2. The Apostles had power given them by Christ to open the eyes of the blinde and to give light unto them that were in darkness and in the shadow of death and brought those that believed their doctrine into the light of life eternal Also they had the Keys of Heaven and of Hell to bind sin upon the consciences of unbelievers never to be forgiven and to loose the sins of those that did truely believe their doctrine of Christ and thus they did open the Book of conscience in the believer and no man could shut up that conscience which the Apostles doctrine opened neither could any man open that conscience the Apostles shut up in unbelief This also is called the preaching of Christ and opening and shutting the Book of Conscience by Christ yet this was done by men and not by Christ himself But in regard they did preach the Gospel by vertue of Authority from Christ and they were anointed by him to preach the everlasting Gospel and had power given them to open the Book of Conscience in some whereby they did believe in Christ and shut the conscience of others up in unbelief and thus that saying of the Scripture is fulfilled that Christ was anoynted to preach the Gospel of glad tidings of salvation for what his Messengers doth it is as if he did it himself Again we the Witnesses of the Spirit are anoynted and chosen of Christ to preach the everlasting Gospel and Christ hath given us power to set life and death before men and we have power to binde and loose and to open and shut the Book of Conscience and no man can shut that conscience we have opened neither can any man open that conscience we have shut up in darkness as to any spiritual knowledge or true peace this many can witness on both sides if
of it every time you meet your Hearers would have edified more by your reading a Chapter in that when you meet together than by all the Speakings that ever they heard in their lives it would have cost you but ten shillings you might have had it out of the Church Stock and have let it to have been publick to all Quakers and others to see and so you might have made me manifest indeed but if you should do so what would become of you Speakers of the Quakers then your light within and your Christ within you would come to nothing and so you would cheat the people no longer with your ninny-nonies senseless words to stand pratling every week of words over and over forty times together The word of the Lord and Hearken to the light within you or The light within you Cannot you when the people meet speak these words forty times over and so dismiss them then they would understand what you mean but you deliver a great deal of non-sense over and over again so when the people are dismist they go away with their hearts full of non-sence and by the next week they will be emptied again and these are the Heavenly Secrets the Quakers feed the people with 3. Muggleton thou sayest thou hast a Commission from without thee to preach Here Fox hath belied my words and left out some part for these are my words I do say that I have a Commission from God without me to preach this I own to be true Here Fox saith I have manifested darkness and saith he is there any Commission from God but the understanding of it is given to man by the divine light within CHAP. IV. ANSWER THis Fox calls every thing darkness though it be as clear a light as the Sun at noon-day for who ever shall read the following words in that Book may clearly see that the light of Christ within a man is not a sufficient Commission to authorize a man to be a Preacher of the Gospel though a man may have understanding in him to do it yet for want of Authority from a God without him he will be punished for going to preach before he is sent This may be experienced by all men in temporals we see a Petty-Constable and other Officers more inferior dares not execute their office upon any man if it be but to whip beggars not without a Commission from some person one or more without him and so it is in all places both high and low upon the face of this earth It is not the understanding within that will authorize men to supply such and such places but it must be Authority without a man for many men that are in great and honorable places have less wisdom and understanding to manage their places than other men yet he that hath a Commission from others without him will commend him that hath a better understanding within than himself yet you Quakers will undertake to be Preachers of the Gospel without a Commission from God without you or without a Commission from Man without you And because I durst not preach without a Commission from God without me and not by the light of Christ within me though I had the light of Christ within me more than any Quaker in the world hath at this day before I had a Commission from God without me and if God without me had not forc'd me to take this Commission upon me I had remained quiet and still and had let Quakers and all other Opinions in Religion alone for I was of Jonas his minde willing to sit still and be quiet for I minded no bodies happiness but my own for I was willing to go to Tarshish to sit down in quiet but I was forced by the Lord God to go to Nineveh amongst all Opinions of Religion that I might be envied hated and persecuted of Quakers and all other Opinions whatsoever and this I have found true by experience and all this came upon me from a Commission of the true God without me and this you Quakers calls manifested darkness The Apostle might truly say when it pleased the Father to reveal his Son in him he preached him but what is this to Fox the Quaker The Father hath not revealed the Son in him for Fox doth not know what the Son is but the Apostle that had the Son revealed in him had a Commission from that Son without him For sure you Quakers will not be so wicked as to say that Paul received his Commission to preach within him when he breathed out threatnings against the Church of Christ and went with Letters and Commission from the High-priests to persecute those that believed in Jesus that was put to death and risen again and ascended up to Heaven Now this Jesus met Saul in the way as he went to persecute the Saints and said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Saul answeed Lord who art thou The Answer was I am Jesus of Nazareth Will you Fox the Quaker say that this Jesus was within Paul when he spake these words or without him Sure you will not be so wicked to say Jesus was within Paul what ever you think and if you grant that Jesus was without him then Paul received his Commission to preach from Jesus Christ the onely Wise God without him For this same Jesus said to Paul Thou art a chosen Vessel and thou shalt bear or preach my Name before the Gentiles Now I ask did Paul receive his Commission to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles from Jesus Christ without him or from Christ within him Again who was that which spake to Paul when he said My grace is sufficient Was it not Jesus Christ Was this Christ within Paul then Was he not without Paul in that same flesh and bone he suffered death in This flesh and bone was spiritual after it rise again but still it kept it self an entire body to its self And are you Quakers so void of sense as to believe that the body of Christ is in you and so reveals things to you So you may see that the Apostle Paul received his Commission to preach from a Christ without him and not from a Christ within him And I received my Commission from Christ without me and not from Christ within me And Fox the Quaker saith I have manifested my darkness But this power I have received from the person of Christ without me will be too hard for all the Quakers Christ within them in the world 4. Muggleton Thou sayest the Right Devil became flesh and the Soul is mortal and thou speakest of thy knowledge of the Lord and the Scriptures Fox his words Where do the Scriptures say that the Right Devil became flesh and the Soul is mortal for God breathed into man the breath of life through which he became a living Soul and this breath of life by which man became a living Soul is this mortal is this thy knowledge
late not in any I marvel how you Quakers can have Christs person manifest in you and how you can speak in his person Let the Reader mind the Quakers Cheat they own Christs person without them yet this person of Christ without them is manifest within them See the deceit of this Fox I have read of Christ manifest in his Saints and Apostles by his Spirit or Seed of Faith but I never read that Christs person flesh and bone was ever manifest within any man that was alwayes without man and will be without man for ever distinct of himself Also Fox saith the Quakers speak in Christs person Here is another Allegorical speech without any distinction I have heard that an Ambassador hath represented the person of a King and his speech by vertue of a Commission from the King is in the Kings stead but the Ambassador is not in the Kings person though he represents the Kings person the Kings person is at a great distance from his Messenger So it is with Christs Ambassadors as Paul saith We are Ambassadors in Christs stead beseeching you to be reconciled unto Christ by our doctrine Now Pauls person and Christs person were at a great distance one from the other for Christs person was in heaven above the stars and Pauls person was here upon earth so that Paul did not speak in the person of Christ that being at such a distance as I said before but Paul and the rest of the Apostles by vertue of their Commission given from Christ were Ambassadors of him and so stood in Christs stead but Christs person was far enough off from them as a Kings person is far off when his Ambassador is in a strange Land who represents the Kings person as aforesaid But the Quakers they will get into Christs person and speak there or else they will get Christs person into them and so Christ must speak there in their persons so as I said before the Quakers will not be separated from Christ nor suffer him to separate himself from them though I know they never were in union together neither was Christ ever in them that I have damned nor never will be neither were they ever in Christ nor never shall be Neither doth Fox own indeed that person of Christ of flesh and bone that died at Jerusalem to be now living in heaven above the stars but Fox and the Quakers Christ they so much talk of is a meer Allegory without substance a Christ that may be blown away with the word of a true Prophets mouth as I said in The Neck of the Quakers broken Also Fox saith Solomons Books are good Scripture though I say they are not being not in the spirit of Solomon that gave them forth Here I perceive that Fox and the Quakers are got into Solomons spirit just as they did get into Christs person I see Fox can get into spirits as he doth into persons but I perceive Fox is got into Solomons spirit and he blames me because I am not in Solomons spirit I do seriously confess that I am not in Solomons spirit and I am glad I never was in his spirit for who ever is in Solomons spirit doth not know the true God nor the right devil for Solomon knew neither of them though he was a wise man in things of nature but ignorant of spiritual and heavenly wisdom for Solomons wisdom hath the Ground-work of much lust of the flesh and idolatry for the Ranters practice was grounded upon Solomons practice who knew so many women so the Ranters thought they might have the same liberty seeing wise Solomons Writings were owned for Scripture-record thus they continued many of them in their practice of lust till many of them were weary of it as Solomon was when he was old and then they left off that practice and turned Quakers and so fell to be the greatest idolaters of any as Solomon did to his Heathenish-Wives drew his heart away from the worship of Moses to worship idols So is it with those Ranters that are turned Quakers they are become absolute Heathen idolaters for when they were Puritanes so called they were zealous for the letter of the Scriptures and did practice a good life as near as they could to the letter but after they fell to the practice of lust being encouraged by Solomons writings they left that legal Worship and civil practice the Law tied them unto and followed Solomons practice of lust And now they being turned Quakers are fallen to heathen idolatry that is to say the Quakers they worship an unknown God a Spirit without a body they adore a Christ within them and never mindes a body of Christ without them at a distance they believe their own spirits to be immortal and cannot die they believe their spirits go to God or into God again according to Solomons words they believe Gods Spirit being an infinite Being without a body and that this infinite bodiless Spirit taketh all things into it self and so their spirits being immortal they go into God when they die they will not acknowledge that life or soul doth die but departs out of the body they know not where notwithstanding the Scriptures are so full to prove the soul that sins shall die and experience shews it doth die So that the Quakers are become the greatest spiritual idolaters of any and the greatest fighters against a personal God of any for as Solomon did fall to worship the heathen womens visible Images or Idols so do the Quakers worship invisible Idols as a Spirit without a body and that their own spirits may subsist without bodies and that spirits may be capable of happiness or misery without bodies this is the Heathen Philosophers opinion they brought into the world that Principle of the Immortality of the Soul and that Spirits might go to happiness or misery without bodies And the Quakers hath got the Heathen Principle to a hair therefore become Heathen Idolaters as Solomon was for the Scriptures declares another thing Where doth the Scriptures say that God is an Infinite Spirit without a body The Scripture saith God is infinite and so he is Also the Scripture saith God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and truth but it is not said God is a Spirit without a body for this I say that if a man may worship God in spirit and truth in this natural body as the disciples of Christ did in their natural bodies and as I my self do in my natural body then of necessity it will follow that God hath a spiritual body whereby I may worship him else I shall worship I know not what as you Quakers do And because Gods body is a spiritual body therefore Christ said when on earth God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and truth he knowing that body of his that was then a pure natural body should by his death and rising again be made a spiritual body and then all true Believers
have passed upon many of the Quakers people As first Fox saith He believes that my Sentence will return back upon my self as in pag. 6. 2. Fox saith That those I have cursed are clear over my spirit as in pag. 12. 3. Fox saith Had the Quakers nevar seen letter of Scripture or any man yet saith he the Quakers could have spoken in the power and spirit and in the divine light of Christ had he never seen letter of Scripture nor man as in pag. 18. 4. Fox gives glory to his God and Christ within him who hath as he saith set him and other Quakers above that Curse and Sentence I have passed upon them as in pag. 20. 5. Fox blames me for saying God hath made me Judge of the Quakers spiritual estate and yet saith he thou owns thy self to be but a mortal man Oh how Fox despiseth that a mortal man should be the Quakers Judge of their immortal souls as they imagine for saith Fox the spiritual man judgeth all things as in pag. 21. 6. Fox blames me for saying that the spirit of reason in man is the devil and Fox seems to justifie the Magistrates that persecuted me because I say they were reasonable men And Fox further blames me for fleeing from the devils malice yet he judgeth that if those Magistrates devils had inflicted more corporal punishment upon me than Imprisonment it had been but reason the devil still for saith Fox thou canst no say it was unreasonableness in them according to thy own saying as in Page 23. 7. Fox calls me a laying spirit because I say it doth not belong to Christ now being in Heaven to interpret Scripture For saith Fox doth not the Scripture say all shall be taught of God and that he opens and no man shuts and doth not John say no man was found worthy to open the Book but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and was not Christ anointed to preach as in page 24. CHAP. XXIX ANSWER FIrst as for that sentence that I have passed upon the Quakers people and others it is irrevocable and will be as sure upon you as if God had said it with his own mouth for as I said in that book we are as true Ambassadors of Christ as Moses the Prophets and Apostles were and if they were sent of God we are sent of God and if there were any power in their Sentence and Judgement to those people in their time so sure will the Sentence and Judgement of us the Witnesses of the Spirit be upon you and as many of the Quakers people as hath or shall fall under it Neither shall that curse I have passed upon you despising Quakers return upon my self no more then the curse of Moses which open'd the ground to swallow up wicked rebellous men alive for desiring the Priests office So wil it be with you Fox the Quaker in that you have rebell'd against the Messengers of Christ and strove for to be a Minister of Christ when as he never chose nor sent you yet you will proudly contend with those that God hath chosen anointed and seal'd to declare the highest mysteries that ever was declared by man yet you look upon your self to be better able to preach the Gospel then we you who knoweth not the true God nor what the devil is nor that your soul must die nor any one true principle of Faith yet you are taken by the people to be a man of knowledge and so you encourage your self to be a Minister of Christ and yet knows not what the true Christ is nor where he is and do you think that Hell shall not open its mouth and swallow you up alive Yea I say it will and you shall not escape for I know and see it will be so and you shall find my words to be true to your eternal pain and shame as Corah Dathan and Abiram did by Moses 2. Fox saith those I have cursed are clear over my spirit CHAP. XXX ANSWER IT is a marvellous thing that damned men should be over his spirit that hath a commission from God to condemn despisers of the Holy Ghost it is as if a prisoner that is condemned by the Judge for his breach of the Law should have that curse he pronounced upon the man over his own head By Fox his conceit the man is in a better case then the Judge for the man may as truely say that the sentence and curse the Judge hath passed upon him is clear over the Judges spirit as if the condemned man were in a better condition then the Judge yet the one goeth to be hanged according to the Judges sentence and the Judge goeth to his Palace So is it with you George Fox and many other of you Quakers you must go to the damnation of eternal death according to my sentence and I shall enter into everlasting life that condemned you so that you shall never clear your selves from that curse I have passed upon you but it shall be over your spirits and upon your spirits to eternity 3. Fox saith had the Quakers never seen letter of Scriptures or any man yet saith he the Quakers could have spoken in the power and spirit and in the Divine light of Christ CHAP. XXXI ANSWER HEre Fox sheweth plainly that the Quakers light of Christ within them is nothing else but the Law written in their hearts their thoughts accusing and excusing as the Heathen have the Apostle speaks of and no divine faith of Christ at all Mind the Scripture saith by faith we know the world was made and by faith Abraham offered up his son Isaac and faith is the evidence of things not seen and the Apostles preached the word of faith and this I say no heavenly spiritual or divine light can be truely understood but by faith And this I say further that the letter of the Scriptures were spoken by the word of Faith and by faithful men for there is no writings under Heaven that are the ground of Faith nor doth give satisfaction to the mind of man as to his eternal salvation as the letter of the Scripture doth if understood and believed by man how could man have known the creation of the world and how God appeared to Noah before and after the Flood or whether there were any Flood or no but by faith Or how can any man know that God appeared to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and gave them to prophesie so many hundred years before of God becomeing flesh and that he should save men from sin by his death even as many as should believe in his name with great and mighty things that hath been done by the power of faith which the letter of the Scriptures doth relate which no man could comprehend nor know but those that have faith in the letter of the Scriptures yet Fox the Quaker he could have spoken in the power and spirit of the Divine light of Christ though the Quakers had never seen letter of
Scripture nor man Here the Reader may plainly see that the Quakers Christ within them is no other but the Law written in their hearts as the Heathen had as aforesaid their thoughts accusing and excusing this is that Christ within them they so much talk of and this is that power and spirit and divine light of Christ the Quakers could have spoken in had they never seen letter of Scripture nor man this is the same the Heathen had in them and this I say had the Quakers never seen letter of Scripture nor man that professed the letter of the Scripture I say the Quakers would have talked nor spoke no more of a Christ within them then cursed Cain and his posterity did or the old world that was drowned or Sodom These wicked people never saw no letter of Scripture nor man that had faith not as they knew yet they had the same Christ within them as the Quakers have by the Law written in their hearts and might have spoken in the power and spirit of the divine light of Christ as the Quakers do had they seen the letter of the Scripture and men that believes them as the Quakers do So that it may be cleer to those that have the true light of Faith and of the interpretation of the letter of the Scripture that the Quakers principle of the light of Christ within them is no other but the light of the Law written in their hearts as the Heathen had before any Scriptures were written and by this Law are they judged in themselves and this is their Christ within them and this is that power and spirit and divine light of Christ they could have spoken in had they never seen letter of Scripture nor man that professeth Scripture and that they do speak now they have seen letter of Scripture and men that profess it and believe it I say is the very same for the Quakers have no more faith in the true Christ then if they had never seen letter of Scripture nor any man that believes them what they have is meer traditional even the faith of devils for the Law written in their hearts is the onely and alone Christ the Quakers have to save them and this Christ is indeed within them and will never go out of them but torment them to eternity 4. Fox gives glory to his God and Christ within him who hath as he saith set him and other Quakers above that curse and sentence I have passed upon them CHAP. XXXII ANSWER YOur glory to your God and Christ within you will fail you in the day of trouble neither will nor can deliver you from that curse and sentence I have passed upon you and others of your brethren neither will you ever be set above it but shall be kept under it to eternity flatter your self as much as you can you shall not be delivered neither by your Christ within you nor by the true Christ without you this I know 5. Fox blames me for saying God hath made me Judge of the Quakers spiritual estate and yet saith he thou ownest thy self but a mortal man For saith Fox the spiritual man judgeth all things CHAP. XXXIII ANSWER Did you Fox ever see any man condemned to die either natural death or eternal death by a spiritual man without a body are not all men condemned both natural and spiritual by mortal men like themselves Was not Moses a mortal man did not he condemn and judge many to die he said but the word and it was done and did not Eliah call for fire from Heaven and destroy two Captains and their fifties with many other strange things he did whereby many were judged by him and killed yet he was but a mortal man and subject to infirmity as mortal men are as the Scripture saith Again was not Peter a mortal men and was put to death himself yet he judged Ananias and Saphirah his wife to death yet a mortal man so is it with every true Prophet and Messenger of Christ he hath power to set life and death before men and power to judge and condemne those that rebel against his commission and to justifie those that yield obedience unto it yet all Gods Messengers they were mortal men now these mortal men had great power being commissionated of God and they all acted according to the tenor of their commission and some of them destroyed life presently And I am sure if you Fox had lived in Moses time you would have been consumed by him in the gainsaying of Corah for you would have rebelled against Moses Aaron as you do now against John Reeve and me but because my Commission is not to consume you immediately by a natural destruction you proudly vaunt your self against the Commission of the Spirit thinking you and your Christ within you shall be able to encounter with me and my Christ without me but I must judge according to my Commission of the Spirit and not as Moses and the Apostles did to destroy the natural life immediately but our commission is with relation to the spiritual estate of men and women after death and accordingly we judge yet but mortal men and must die our selves this power hath God given unto me and by vertue of this am I made Judge of the Quakers spiritual and eternal estate what will become of many of you after death And as for that saying The spiritual man judgeth all things this is to be minded that every true Messenger and Minister of Christ may be called a spiritual man and he is so because he teacheth such doctrine that doth comfort the spirits of some and torment the spirits of others in that it divides between the joynts and the marrow Also those that truly believe may be called spiritual men and can judge the spirits of unbelievers because they know by faith in the doctrine of the true God that others that have not the same faith cannot have that peace as they have for they know by experience in themselves when they were unbelievers they were without God in the world and so were not able to judge who were happy and who were not but being justified by faith in the true God they have peace with God and so can discern and judge the spirits of others by what they were themselves who were some time in darkness but now in the light of heaven and who ever hath this true faith in the doctrine of the true God may be said to be a spiritual man and able to judge all things that is naught in himself and all the unbelief and despisings of others And so he judgeth all things by his faith in the true God and in the Messenger God hath sent yet Minister and People are but mortal men and must die yet called by the Seed of Faith the spiritual man that judgeth all things and is judged of no man Therefore you Fox shall never have any spiritual man to judge you to eternal damnation but