Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	bind_v	church_n	loose_v	4,001	5	10.0884	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51578	The neck of the Quakers broken, or, cut in sunder by the two-edged sword of the spirit which is put into my mouth first, in a letter to Edward Bourne a Quaker, secondly, in answer to a letter to Samuel Hooton and W.S., thirdly, in a letter to Richard Farnsworth, Quaker, fourthly, in an answer to a printed pamphlet of the said Richard Farnsworth, entituled, Truth ascended, or, The annointed and sealed of the Lord defended, &c. / written by Lodowick Muggleton ...	Muggleton, Lodowick, 1609-1698.	1663 (1663)	Wing M3048; ESTC R896	66,718	82

false doctrine pride and presumption as is apparent Answer That my Commission is no pretended thing but as true as Moses and the Prophets and as the Apostles Commission was and John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton are ordained and chosen of God by voice of words and commissionated with power as realy and truly as ever Moses and Aaron was And as Moses and Aaron were the chosen Messengers and Commissioners of the Law so likewise are we the two chosen Witnesses and Commissioners of the Spirit And as Moses and Aaron were the two first which God chose to give forth the Law and to prescribe Rules of Worship for the people of Israel so likewise we two being the two last chosen Witnesses of the Spirit we have power and authority in this Commission of the Spirit for to declare what the true God is in his form and nature and what worship doth belong to the knowledge of the true God in these latter days which cannot be known but by this Commission of the Spirit onely And as for my taking of all pardoning power from God and Christ in this you shew that you have gone no further nor hardly so far as the Priests of the Nation for you have got a God and a Christ too and yet neither your God nor your Christ hath never a body and in this you are worse than any other Sect for though other Sects of Religion will have a God and a Christ yet they can finde but one body and that is the body of Christ but the Fathers body they cannot finde at all but you Quakers can finde never a body neither for God nor Christ but your own bodies for you have got your Christ and God all within you so that Christ hath never a body of his own but is forc'd to make use of every Quakers body for his Spirit to dwell in But from that Christ which suffered death in his own body and rose again in the same body and is now in Heaven in the same body according to the Scriptures from this Christ which is the onely God I say I have power over all other Gods or infinite Spirits whatsoever and from this Christ which is God-Man now above the stars have I this pardoning power and damning power neither did I take it of my self but it was put upon me by God himself for if I had not obeyed the voice of God when he spake to John Reeve then he was to pronounce me cursed to eternity and so by my yielding obedience unto the voice of God I was made partakers of that power to bless and curse to eternity and this is that power which you say I presumptuously have exalted my self neither will God give this power to any more after me neither can any man come to the assurance of the favor of God now in these days but in believing that God gave this power unto John Reeve and my self for there is no coming to know God nor see God but by the faith in this Commission of the Spirit for I having the Keys of Heaven and of Hell none can get into Heaven except the Witness of the Spirit doth open the gates and so the King of Glory may enter in that is the knowledge of the true God his form and nature may enter into your hearts by having faith in this Commission of the Spirit for God hath given me the same power now as he gave to Peter when he was upon earth and what power that was may easily be read where Christ said unto Peter Vpon this Rock will I build my Church Also he hid give unto Peter the Keys of Heaven and of Hell Also he should have power to binde and loose and whose sins he remitted should be remitted and whose sins he retained should be retained What is the remitting and retaining of sins but to forgive them their sins which received his Doctrine and to retain and binde their sins of unbelief more close upon their consciences for their despising of the Doctrine of Christ which he did teach And was this any less than blessing and cursing or opening the gates of Hell and of Heaven and yet you see that Christ gave this power unto man you would have said as much by Peter and others if you had been living in those days as you do by me you would have said that they did it out of the pride and presumption of their hearts though they had their Commission put upon them by God himself as I have now in this Commission of the Spirit and as Peter had power to bind and loose or to remit and to retain so likewise hath the same God given me power to bless and curse men and women to eternity and this is the keys of Heaven and of Hell for the blessing of a commissionated Prophet it opens the gate of heaven that is it opens the heart in love to that God that sent such a Messenger of glad tidings of Salvation So on the contrary the curse of a Prophet it opens the gates of Hell that is it opens the heart in envy malice and revenge nay sometimes when the gate of Hell is opened by the curse it hath caused revenge to increase so hot that it hath broken forth into a great flame the fire of Hell hath been so hot burning within them This I know by experience which I never did know until the Keys of Heaven and of Hell were put into my hands by God himself and by this I know what Peters and other Prophets power was for God hath given power for one creature to judge another and what that man doth which hath authority from God God himself cannot undo it for it is not the light of Christ within you Quakers nor the letter of the Scriptures nor God without you that shall deliver you Quakers and others that are under this Sentence from that curse which I have pronounced upon you though you call it error lying divination false doctrine pride and presumption but it will appear to be no other but the Curse of God himself though it be pronounced by a mortal man like your selves 3. And as for my being singular in doctrine knowledge judgement and Power above all men either Prophets or Apostles since the beginning of the world or that shall ever be hereafter whilst the world doth endure Answer This is as true a saying as ever was spoken for this being the Commission of the Spirit it hath more spiritual knowledge judgment and power above all men either Prophets or Apostles why because Moses and the Prophets did not know so much as the Apostles did because Moses Commission was that of the Law under the title of God the Father therefore the Apostle saith concerning those that were educated under the Law of Moses they were under a cloud and saw but darkly as in a Glass shewing the benefit which came to those that were under the Faith of the Gospel for those that were under the Law

for it of God and there is never a one that I have cursed that shall escape that curse which I have denounced upon them neither will any God deliver them from it for I do curse none but the seed of the Serpent who had his curse denounced upon him and his seed at the beginning by God himself Now in this last age God hath given me power and discerning to determine and give judgement upon men and women according as I do discern by their words and I thereby also know what nature and seed they are of and accordingly I give judgement upon them for I do go by as certain a rule as the Judges of the Land do when they give true Judgement according to the Law For God hath ordained me the chief Judge in the world at this day to give sentence upon men and womens spiritual and eternal estate what will become of them after death Full of this cursing I confess my mouth is and I do rejoyce in it too I know that God is well pleased in the damnation of those that I have cursed and I am wonderous well satisfied in giving judgement upon them according to the tenor of my Commission and this is that which you call swelling words You would have called the Prophet Eliahs words swelling words if you had been of those four hundred priests of Baal which he commanded to be slain by the power of his word which power of the Commission of the Spirit is of a more high nature then that of Eliah's was for his was but the sentence of death natural but this is the sentence of death eternal but because it is not immediately executed as his was you think that there is nothing in it but it will be found suddenly enough both to you and to many that are entred into the second death already for there is no time to the dead but after death to judgement which judgement they have in themselves which is the remembrance of that sentence that we who are Witnesses of the Spirit did pass upon them in this life for they shall never see any other God or Judge but that sentence that we have passed upon them You are much mistaken if you think to deal with a Prophet that hath a Commission from God as you deal with the Priests of the nation Because you Quakers have baffled the Priests of the nation by that light within you because you are faln to a more precise exactness of life then they though your doctrine is worse then theirs you must not think to do so by a Commissionated Prophet This Commission of the Spirit shall break the Neck of the Quakers as it hath done divers others for this take you notice that after the Sentence is passed upon the Speakers of the Quakers they shall never grow more to any great experience neither shall they have those Visions Apparitions and Revelations from that light within them as they had before but shall rather wither This experience hath been known by Quakers and others as John Robins John Taney John Harwood Fox the elder Fox the younger Edward Burrowes Francis Mowgil with many others with hundreds of all Sects besides which shall not escape what hath been decla ed by us the Witnesses of the Spirit As for that saying which you quote out of Christs words to his disciples before they had their Commission where he said unto them Bless and curse not that concerns not me nor any other man in the world at this day Peter and the rest of the Apostles had power both to bless and curse after they had received their Commission which was after Christs Ascension as you may read in the second of the Acts then was that saying of Christ fulfilled which he had said unto Peter I have given thee the Keys of Heaven and of Hell that what thou bindest upon earth shall be bound in heaven and what thou loosest on earth shall be loosed in heaven Or thus What sins thou remittest shall be remitted and whose sins thou retains shall be retained That is thou shalt have power to give Sentence of Blessedness to those that believe thee and Sentence of Cursedness to those that despise thy Declaration This was the remitting of sins and the retaining of them so that Peter and the rest of the Apostles were not tyed after they had received their Commission to those words of Christ which he spake unto them when they were private Believers Neither am I tyed to those words of Christ which he spake unto his disciples at that time for he hath given me power and authority to be Judge of the Scriptures he hath given me understanding of his minde in the Scriptures above all men in the world at this day nay if I should say than all the men since the beginning of the world I should not lye for I being the chosen Witness of the Spirit and the last man that shall ever speak to this bloody unbelieving world by Commission from God for he will never chuse any more after me so long as the World endureth Neither doth any man know the Scriptures neither can any man interpret the Scriptures truly but my self for God hath given the Scriptures into my hands even as he gave the Priests Office into the hands of Aaron none ought to officiate the Office of the Priesthood but Aaron and those that were appointed by Moses and him So it is now none ought to officiate the Office of a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ but those that are approved of by John Reeve and my self For by reading the letter of the Scriptures or the light within a man is not sufficient to make a man a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ therefore those words which Christ said to his disciples bless and curse not is nothing to me for he hath given me power since that to the contrary He hath put the Two-edged Sword of his Spirit into my mouth that whosoever I pronounce cursed through my mouth is cursed to eternity And my power is as great and rather greater than the Apostles was that you speak of which is called a cursed childe The Apostles curse was but a weak curse to that power which God hath given to me For the Apostle saith if an Angel from heaven should preach any other Doctrine than what he and the rest of the Apostles had taught let him be accursed I do not onely say let him be accursed but if an Angel from heaven should come and say I have spoken false or lyed in the Doctrine that we have declared and in those things which I have said concerning the Quakers I have power not onely to say let him be cursed but to curse Angel or man to eternity As for your judgement from the letter of the Scriptures or from the light within you it is not worth a straw but the curse that I pronounce upon men and women it is not from the light of the Scriptures

judgement either to acquit or condemn by the Law So is it with me First God hath given me a Commission to be chief judge 2. He hath given me the Book of the Law 3. He hath given me to know the Law 4. According to the known law I do give sentence and judgement of blessing or cursing to eternity 1. That I have a Commission from God to be chief judge that I have proved before if it cannot be believed I cannot help that 2. That God hath given the Book of the Law which is the Scriptures into my hand is as certainly true also for the Scriptures are given into my hands as the Priests office was given unto the hands of Aaron yet every man that read the Scriptures doth think to finde eternal life in them as Christ said to the Jews and as you Quakers and others doth now a days but thinking will not serve turn for all most all the world hath no other assurance of eternal life but thinking but it is knowledge and faith in the true God that gives certain assurance of eternal life which I know no Quaker hath or can have in that estate and principle which they hold for they deny that flesh and bone of Christ which suffered death to be now living above the Stars in that Heaven but I have opened that more large in those Letters to the Quakers 3. God hath given me to know the Law that is to know the Book of the Scriptures and that he hath given me more knowledge in the Scriptures than all the men in the world at this day this I know to be truth and some others can witness it neither can any man interpret the Scriptures truly but my self and those that have it from me because no man doth know the true foundations which the Book of the Scriptures doth stand upon namely the true God and the right Devil 4. And according to the known Law of the Scriptures I do give Sentence and judgement of blessing and cursing to eternity Thus far I do proceed like unto the Judges of the Land but now as for Juries and witnesses and accusers the Judges of the Civil Law and I shall differ something but not much because Juries and Judges are so bound together by the Civil Laws of the Land that one in many cases can do nothing without the other so that many times there is a great deal of hurt done as well as good because the power lyeth in them both for many times when Judges would do right according to Law yet the Iury doth prevent him and so tyeth his hands likewise sometimes the Iury is willing to shew mercy and do right and the Judge will not having some prejudice against that party and doth over-power the Jury with his authority and knowledge in the Law so that Judgement is turned backward sometimes because the Law lyeth between two the Judge and the Jury which if it did lye always in one then there would be always either true Justice done or injustice alwayes done these things some can experience which have been accustomed to the Law 2. The Judges of the Civil Law can do nothing except there be Witnesses or Accusers face to face the cause of that is because the Laws of the Land are grounded upon Reason and the Judges of the Land are the interpreters of the Law of reason so that Reasons kingdom being in this visible world it must proceed in the way of reason by the Law of reason which is the Law of the Land for the Law of the Land can lay hold of nothing but what is a visible breach of the Law therefore the Judge must have a visible Witness or Accuser face to face else be can give no Judgement upon the matter yet there is some cases in Law that men are sued at the Law and condemned by the Law at a distance the party sued not being face to face nor knowes of it until that he be condemned this some can experience yet this I say the Judes of the Land doth go the best way in having Iuries and Witnesses that reason could find out and for my part I do approve of their way very well but whom God doth make judges they must go a neerer way to work for you may read that those judges which God did ordain in spiritual matters they did not call for Juries and Witnesses as the Judges of the Land do what Jury did Moses call for to plague the people of Israel for their Idolatry And what Jury did Elijah call for when he called for fire from Heaven to destroy those two Captains and their fifties What Jury did Elisha call for when he cursed those forty two children and caused them to be slain by two She-bears What Jury did Peter call for when he strake Annanias and Saphirah his wife dead with a word speaking with many more things which the Prophets and Apostles which were Judges of spiritual matters have done without any Juries or witnesses and yet they have gone by as certain a rule as the Iudges of the Land do when they give judgement according to Law so that I do know how to proceed in Iudgement according to the tenor of my Commission as the Prophets and Apostles did in theirs and as the Iudges of the Land do in their Commission of the Laws of the Land But to give little further satisfaction to the Reader I shall shew why I do condemn men and women at a distance and yet something agreeable to the way of the Law of the Land First those that are condemned by me at a distance there is some of this Faith that hath heard them speak wicked speeches against me and the doctrine declared by this Commission of the Spirit and have given me intelligence of it and so upon their witnessing the same I have sent the sentence unto them so that if the witness that informed me did not witness truth then that sentence which I have passed upon them shall be of no value which is better judgement in some kinde then the Judges of the Land doth give for if Witnesses be false and swear falsly the Judges of the Land do many times condemn the innocent meerly thorow false Witness therefore in that regard my judgement and sentence is more certain then the Judges of the Civil Law is in regard I never condemn the innocent thorow false witness for I seldom or never do send the sentence to any though their wicked speeches be witnessed unto me by one that is not in this faith though they may speak truth in that thing as well as others that are of the same faith with me 2. I never do pass sentence on any at a distance except I have some Writing from their own hands as I have had from you Quakers and your Hand-writing is as good a Jury and witness to me as the Iudges of the Land can have for what jury or witness can be required more then a mans own