Christ in the flesh but that Christ within them and their bodies is this imaginary Christs body this is the Quakers Christ spirit and body they so much talk of this I know to be true for as I said before and in the neck of the Quakers broken that is the Quakers should own that body of Christ flesh and bone without them at such a distance as above the Stars to be the onely God then I say the Quakers principle of Christ within them would vanish like smoak And for this cause have I passed the sentence of eternal damnation upon so many Quakers for denying that flesh and bone of Christ without them to be the onely God for the Quakers are the greatest fighters against a personal God without them distinct of himself of any that professe the Scriptures Here Fox saith he feels me that saying of Fox is true I know you do feel me and you shall feel me to eternity and so shall more of you Quakers feel that sentence of eternal damnation that I have passed upon you so that your Christ within you cannot nor God without you will not deliver you from that sentence and curse I have passed upon you it will and shall be written and ingraven upon and in your hearts of stone even as the Law that Moses gave was written in Tables of stone to signifie the Law written in the seed and nature of reason in the reprobate Angel before his fall from whom all men received that seed of reason and so the Law written in it So that as you feel the motions of that Law written in your hearts your thoughts accusing and excusing shewing the Law written in your hearts so shall that sentence I have passed upon you be printed in your memory always judging and accusing of you for your blasphemie against the Holy Ghost and despising the messengers of the holy Spirit and you shall remember you were told so by a true Prophet So that you shall feel me indeed to your endless misery and if you do not find this to be true as I have said then let the same evil I have judged upon you let it be upon me or if God will not own what I have said unto you despising Quakers or if I judge thus without a commission and authority from the true God let God judge me with the same judgment I have judged you and others with this is as much as can be said by man 17. Page 19. Muggleton saith the devil so much spoken of in Scripture is nothing but the spirit of reason in man that killed the righteous also it was the spirit of reason the devil that kil'd the Just Here Fox blames my judgment and pleads for Reason as if all reasonable men had saith from those words of Paul who desired to be delivred from unreasonable men For saith Paul all men have not faith so that Fox looks upon the devil to be nothing else but unreasonableness CHAP. XXII ANSWER HEre Fox shews his ignorance and darkness both of the devil and of the meaning of the Scriptures and of the Apostles words the want of distinction and the want of the gift of interpretation is the cause the Quakers are so ignorant of every true Principle of Faith For the speakers are the worst of all men in that for they never gives meanings of Scripture nor interprets any Look into all the Quakers writings and they give no meanings nor interpretations of any for no interpretation can be given but there must be a meaning as there was by Philip to the Eunuch but the Quaker names the Scripture words that are for his purpose though there be three places against that he names to prove to the contrary the Quaker will give no meanings nor distinctions but say it is the flesh that asks questions and this is the cause the Quakers are so unable to dispute or to answer questions or interpret Scripture indeed I cannot see how they should their foundation is so sandy one puffe of wind from a true Messenger or Minister of Christ will blow down all the Quakers building For they have none of the true Corner-stone to build upon nor that Rock which is Christ without them but a sandy foundation of a Christ within them Yet because I would not have the Reader unsatisfied that the spirit of Reason in man is the devil and that it was the spirit of Reason in man that always killed the righteous and the Spirit of Reason that killed the Just I shall prove it by Scripture and shall explain those words of Paul who desired to be delivered from unreasonable men for all men have not faith I know it is a vain thing to interpret Scriptures to Quakers or to give meanings of Prophets or Apostles to Quakers but for the sake of others that shall read this Epistle I shall open this point and prove by Scripture that the spirit of reason in man is the devil First it was the spirit of Reason in Cain that killed righteous Abel for Cain reasoned in himself why should God accept of Abel his offering not of him and his offering he reasoned in himself why should God send fire from Heaven to testifie his acceptance of Abels offering send no fire from Heaven to consume his offering Also Cain reasoned in himself I am the first-born and lo God hath had respect unto the younger what reason is there that God should respect the younger and reject the elder Likewise Cain reasoned in himself that he would kill Abel then thought he God will accept of me there being none to offer up sacrifice unto him but himself so these reasonings and such like passed through Cains soul before he was resolved to kill righteous Abel but this reasoning being too strong for Cain it made him resolve to kill his brother when he had an opportunity which a while after he had an opportunity when he met Abel in the field he talked with him and slew him And this spirit of reason in Cain was the first devil in man that killed righteous Abel and this was the spirit of reason in Cain and not any unreasonableness in him For he thought he had reason to kill Abel seeing God had dealt so by him to accept the younger and reject the elder Also the like case was with Jacob and Esau because Jacob had got the blessing from Esau he reasoned in himself to kill his brother Jacob so he reasoned in himself how he might do this murder and not incur his Father Isaac's displeasure so he reasoned in himself how he might have opportunity to do it and not to be discovered that he did it and this reasoning in Esau took place in his soul and gave a resolution to put it into execution to kill Jacob because he was blest and Esau was not blest with that blessed promise that the righteous Seed should come of him as his brother Jacob was For this is to be minded by the
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
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 QVAKERS 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 one of the two last Prophets and Witnesses unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory Printed in the Year 1667. THE CONTENTS CHap. 1. Of a Catalogue of damned Quakers Chap. 2. Sheweth the ignorance and foolishness of George Fox Chap. 3 How the Quaker people are altogether ignorant of Heavenly Secrets so become the greatest despisers of them Chap. 4. A discovery of the Quakers blindness which cannot discern whether a man that preaches the Gospel ought to have his Commission from Christ without him or from a Christ within him Chap. 5. Sheweth how ignorant and dark the Quakers people are in the knowledge of the right devil and of the serpents seed Chap. 6. How the soul of man is mortal and doth die yet Fox thinks it impossible to prove by Scripture Chap 7. How it was no lie to accuse the Quakers of sin and blasphemy Chap. 8. The right devil proved Chap. 9. How the Quakers are mistaken in the flesh and bone of Christ Chap. 10. How God hath made the Witnesses of the Spirit Judge in his stead Chap. 11. Sheweth that the body of Christs flesh and bone is distinct of it self and not in the Quakers bodies neither are they members of his body Chap. 12. Sheweth by Scripture how Christ dwelleth in his Saints and how it may be said they are flesh of his fl sh and bone of his bone Chap. 13. How Fox is proved a devil because he cannot give a reason that he is no reprobate Chap. 14. An Explanation how George Fox and other Quakers may be said to appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ Chap. 15. A further Interpretation concerning the Judgement-seat of Christ Chap. 16. How the Sentence and Curse hath subdued those Witchcraft-fits in the Quakers Chap. 17. How spirits cannot assume what shapes they please neither can there appear any spirit without a body Chap. 18. How the true God is no bigger than the compass of a man and no spirit without a body as the Quakers doth vainly imagine Chap 19. How the Quakers may see themselves to be right devils Chap 20. How the Quakers are more Antichristian in their doctrine than the Pope Chap. 21. How the body of Christs flesh and bone is distinct from the Quakers bodies Chap. 22. That which killed the righteous and just it was the spirit of reason the devil in man that always did it Chap. 23. A difference between reasonable and unreasonable men and a further discovery that reason is the devil Chap. 24. How the soul of Christ died and the ignorance of the Quakers discovered in the death of their own souls Chap. 25. It is proved that Christ the onely God is not in this world at all in his person or essence Chap. 26. How men cannot worship God in spirit and truth without bodies and how Muggleton never was in the spirit of Solomon nor never shall be Chap. 27. A great stir the Prophet Muggleton hath to keep the Quakers spirits out of Christ Chap. 28. How Fox justifies the Magistrates persecuting of me in Darbyshire Chap. 29. How the Curse of Muggleton shall remain upon Fox to eternity Chap. 30. How the Curse and Sentence of Muggleton shall be over and upon the spirits of the Quakers to eternity Chap. 31. How the Law written in the Quakers herats is that Christ they could have spoken in had they never seen letter of Scripture nor man that professeth it Chap. 32. How their confidence will fail them in the day of trouble Chap. 33. How Fox shall see no other God or Judge but that Sentence Reeve and Muggleton hath passed upon him Chap. 34. A reproof the Quakers for rejoycing in my sufferings and being sorry the Magistrates did not punish me more than imprisonment Chap. 35. How it doth belong unto mortal men that are chosen of God to interpret Scripture and not unto Christ himself Chap. 36. How every true Prophet and Minister of Christ hath power to open the Book of Conscience In the last place I shall say something as to the Quakers Principle and Practice A Looking-Glass for George Fox the Quaker c. CHAP. I. GEorge Fox I saw a Pamphlet of yours Entituled Something in Answer to Lodowick Muggletons Book which he calls The Quakers Neck broken You said well in that you said something in Answer to that Book of the Quakers Neck broken for it is a very little something indeed it is so little a something that wise men will hardly discern any thing in it as a direct Answer but how comes it to pass that you make no mention of your own damnation in your Answer you know John Reeve and my self gave you the Sentence of Damnation a matter of fourteen years ago when we were prisoners in Old Bridewel there was you Edward Borroughs and Francis Howgel you three were counted the Chief Speakers of the Quakers at that time and you three were the first Speakers of the Quakers that were damn'd by us the Witnesses of the Spirit but since that there hath fallen a many more of your brethren under this Sentence but you have been Fox-like as is your name so is your nature you have lain still and kept your damnation to your self from the knowledge of others because you would not be upon publick Record as a damn'd Devil and yet a Speaker of the Quakers Also you read of your name in that Book you say you have answered something but you take no notice of your self but take other folks parts and if your brethren William Smith Samuel Hooton Edward Bourn Richard Farnsworth had not written to me there would have been no occasion for the Fox to come out of his hole and now the Fox is come out he will be catcht and made manifest to Generations to come who pretended to be a means of salvation to others and yet he himself a cast-away a reprobate a son of the Devil one that shall be recorded amongst the damned Crew to the worlds end and I am sure your Damnation is written in the Tables of Heaven even as the Law of Moses was written in the Tables of Stone that is these men were written the seed of the Serpent in Heaven in the Reprobate Angel his nature before he deceived Evah for you Speakers of the Quakers doth act forth the Serpent Angel his nature thinking your selves wiser than God as he did he thought if he had
Make this good by Scripture CHAP. V. ANSWER I Have proved these two things abundantly by Scripture in my other Writings in The Mortality of the Soul and The Divine Looking-Glass and in The Interpretation of the Eleventh of the Revelation and in The Interpretation of the whole Book of the Revelation these several Books written by us the Witnesses of the Spirit hath clearly opened those two points as much as any one thing whatsoever but I perceive this Fox hath seen none of our Books not as to read them but this book onely of the Quakers Neck broken which makes him so ignorant of the Scriptures and of what we have written also its proves my words true that the Quakers will not bestow a penny in any of my Writings but their own But because some may see this Answer to Fox that hath not seen the other books afore-mentioned I shall prove by the Scriptures again that the Right Devil became flesh and the Soul of man to be mortal First I shall prove the Devil became flesh Let the Reader minde the Interpretation of Scripture In the first Epistle of John chap. 3. verse 8. it is thus written He that committeth sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning Mark these words The Devil sinneth from the beginning I think there is no man so wickedly ignorant to say that Adam was this Devil that sinned from the beginning for Adam was never called a Devil not throughout the Scriptures for Adam is called the Father of Christ and there is none will dare to say the Devil was the Father of Christ which I shall open more clear hereafter but then of necessity there must be some other Devil in the beginning which all men are ignorant of in these our days but this Commission of the Spirit onely Now this Devil that committeth sin from the beginning must needs be that Serpent that was called A Tree of knowledge of good and evil this I declare was the Devil now this Devil became flesh and after he became flesh then the devil committed sin and this was in the beginning of the world for the faith of the Scriptures goeth no further than the beginning of the Creation of Adam Now minde the twelfth verse that proves that Cain was the first devil in flesh John exhorting the Believers that they should love one another which Commandment was from the beginning not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother Here it is clear that Cain was none of Adams son for Adam was never counted a wicked one by any that writ Scripture so that Cains father was the devil that is he was that Serpent Angel that deceived Eve and Cain was the devil manifest in flesh and that act of murther which Cain did when he slew his brother Abel is that sin which the devil committed from the beginning for what the devil did before he became flesh was not counted by Moses the Prophets and Apostles to be sin for sin was not imputed to spiritual bodies but to natural bodies onely for spiritual bodies are either to receive the fruit of happiness or the punishment of what they do in the natural body of flesh Again that I may give the Reader a further proof of this minde the Scripture saith there are two Seeds the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent now God hath put emnity between these two Seeds now I would fain know of Fox from whence this Seed of the Serpent came If he shall say it came from Adam as most Quakers do they blaspheme against God that made Adam in his own image and likeness both spirit and body onely Adam was earthly and God was heavenly but Adam had but one Seed in his Creation but as men are generated they come to have two Seeds in them so that this Seed of the Serpent must needs be from the fallen Angel that deceived Eve who was called A Tree of Knowledge of good and evil and this Seed of the Serpent that should be at enmity with the Seed of the Woman it is the devil in flesh for God owns the Seed of the Woman to be his own Seed so that Cain was the devil became flesh blood and bone and that seed of Reason in Cain being now become mortal which was immortal before Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil it comes to commit sin from the beginning and to generate and bring forth millions of devils of his own seed and nature and so the enmity of the two Seeds continues from generation to generation to the worlds end For we read in Scripture that Cain is the Father of all wicked men and women and that wicked men and women are his children as the Reader may see in Matthew how the devil tempted Christ that devil that tempted Christ was a man yet called a Devil as you may see Deuteronomy the sixth and the sixteenth verse that the Jewes that tempted God are called Devils and when Christ answered the devil and said It is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God but him onely shalt thou serve so that rebellious men are called the Devil that tempt God And where was there ever given any Law to any other devil but to man to serve the Lord his God So that it may be clear to the Seed of Faith that man is a devil and that there is no other devil that can or doth tempt God but man Again it is clear that men are the children of the devil now they cannot be children of the devil except they be of his seed begotten of him and this is clear by Scripture as may be read John 8. verse 44. Christ saith to the Jews that were men who said they were Abrahams children and said they were Gods children but Christ saith these men were the devils children Ye are saith he of your father the devil and the lusts of your father you will do he was a murtherer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a Liar and the father of it Now minde there never was no liar nor murderer but man and Cain being the first murderer and liar from the beginning for when Cain killed Abel and lied unto God and said Am I my brothers keeper this was the first murder and lie the devil Cain committed upon earth after the devil became flesh therefore called by the Spirit of Revelation of Faith A murderer and a liar from the beginning for then the devil in flesh began to murder and lie and so this sin hath run in the line of all his posterity from generation to generation so that the Reader may see that men are the children of the devil and that the devil their father was a man even Cain This is the true meaning of the Scriptures and from this Cain did Feorge Fox come and this
Cain is his father this I know for a certain truth And to stop the mouth of that Objection which Quakers and all others do make in that Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived and bare Cain and said I have gotten a man from the Lord To this I say she was with childe by the Angel before but after Adam and she were put forth of the Garden that was from the presence of God then it is said Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and she said he had received a man from the Lord and yet that Cain was none of Adams begetting for we never read in Scripture that ever Adam begot Cain neither is Adam called Cains father but she was with childe by that Serpent Angel before Adam knew her but he was but a cloak to cover her sin as many adulterous women have been with childe by other men that were not their husbands yet their husbands have been a cloak to cover their shame and the childe hath been counted her husbands which was nothing so This many can experience if they would and that many of the Quakers too when they were Ranters if not since so that Cain was none of Adams begetting though he knew his wife Eve But some may say Why did not Moses tell us these things To that I say it was not made known to him nor to no other till now but to the Witnesses of the Spirit onely The condition of Eve was much like the condition of Mary the Virgin she was espoused to Joseph before she was with childe by the Holy Ghost but Joseph never knew her before nor after she was with childe by the Holy Ghost till that Childe Jesus was born therefore Jesus is called Emanuel that is God with us that is God was born of a Virgin Also Mary is said to conceive with childe by the Holy Ghost yet if Joseph had known Mary his espoused wife in the interim of her Conception by the Holy Ghost it is like that Mary would have said that she had received her Childe Jesus from Joseph her husband for she could not tell which got it if such a thing should have been but it was otherwise ordered with her than it was with Eve for Adam knew Eve as soon as the Angel had entered into her womb and then Adam knew his wife after they were put forth from the presence of God so that Eva did not know which she was with childe by the Serpent Angel or her husband Adam so that she might well say she had received a man from the Lord but if Eve had not enticed her husband to know her that was eating of the forbidden fruit she would have brought forth according to the time of life that very same devil Cain flesh blood and bone as she did if Adam had never known her in that time even as the Virgin Mary did the blessed Jesus the God and Savior of the Seed of Adam with flesh blood and bone So that the Reader may see clearly that Adam was not Cains father neither did he beget him for Cain was the devil became flesh and this is the Right devil and you Fox the Quaker are one of his sons begotten by him But to make it more clear that Adam was not Cains father He could not be Cains father and Christs father also Now we finde by the Scriptures that Christ doth own Adam to be his father and the Scriptures doth own Cain to be the Right Devil and the father of all other devils as I have shewed before and that Adam is called the Father of Christ read Luke the third to the last verse in the Genealogy Which was the son of Enos which was the son of Seth which was the son of Adam which was the son of God So that God was Adams Father as he was God and Adam was Christs Father as he was Man therefore calls himself The Son of Man What do you Quakers think the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil was and that Serpent that beguiled Eve Do you look upon it to be some Apple-tree and the Serpent to be an ugly Snake and so this Snake crept up the Tree and got an Apple in his mouth and the Woman took the Apple out of the Snakes mouth and so ate of it and gave her husband to eat and so brought themselves into this misery and all mankinde Do you teach your Hearers this What is it you teach that your Hearers are so ignorant of the knowledge of the true God and the right Devil and of the Scriptures This is the Faith that other religious men do believe concerning the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil and of the Serpent but you Quakers carries it in an Allegory so that nothing can be made of it neither one way nor other But all Professors of the Scriptures do own that the Tree of Life was Christ and I suppose you Quakers do so too If you grant that the Tree of Life was Christ then this Tree of Life could speak Now if the Tree of Life did speak why should not the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil speak also If Christ the Tree of Life because he gave life to every thing in Creation so why pray not the Angel be called A Tree of Knowledge of good and evil or a Serpent which brought death and misery upon the whole Creation And we read that the Serpent spake wise words who said to the woman They should become as Gods knowing good and evil did ever any Snake we call Serpents speak such a language Surely no. I marvel people are so unwilling to believe that the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil should be an Angel and yet speak such God-like wisdom and hath brought such woful misery upon all the earth and very many men and women do eat of the same forbidden fruit now as Adam and Eve did then And as the Tree was pleasant to the eye and good to make one wise is it not so now with lustful men and women doth not their fancy to one another seem pleasant to the eye and acting together hath been pleasant to the taste this makes many to know good and evil by woful experience for this sweetness of sin is but for a season for I have known many in my days that have eaten of the forbidden fruit men and women both that have wasted their estates which was good and comfortable to them but now the want is evil to them they have spoiled their bodies with excess of lust they have made their good healthful bodies rotten with the Pox so that their good healthful bodies are become evil and loathsom to their friends and that which is worst of all the eating of this forbidden fruit they have lost the peace of Conscience which was very good and in stead thereof they have had an evil Conscience as King Saul Cain and Judas had alwayes tormenting of them with fear horror and the torments
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
and that light of Christ within you also and look what Judgement I have given upon you Quakers and others it will surely come to pass upon you neither can you nor your Christ within you deliver you from it And as for that saying of Christ who said to his disciples Bless and curse not this will not deliver you Quakers at all from what I have said But for the Readers satisfaction I shall open those words of Christ more plain hereafter 9. Page 7. Fox is very angry with me because I say that Cain was not begotten of Adam but was begotten by the Reprobate Angel but I have sufficiently opened and proved this thing by the Scripture before so I shall say no more of it here 10. Page 10. Fox after he hath railed at me because I say the Quakers Christ hath never a body and Fox knowing it to be true thought he should bring himself into a premunire if he should deny Christs body without him the Scriptures being so clear for it Fox doth confess Christ hath a body for saith he that which descended ascended And saith he the Quakers are of his body and as the Scriptures saith A body hast thou prepared CHAP. XI ANSWER HEre Fox shews himself a meer Juggler for he confesses Christ hath a body but never confesses that this body of Christ is at a distance from the Quakers neither doth Fox acknowledge that Christs body is in a distinct place by himself for saith he that which descended ascended And saith he the Quakers are of his body as the Scriptures saith A body hast thou prepared me Minde Fox doth not say that which descended was a body nor that which ascended neither for Fox his meaning is mystical and so he thinkes the Quakers are flesh of Christs flesh and bone of Christs bone of Christs mystical body as they conceive so Fox owns Christ to have a mystical body and so the Quakers comes as they say to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and so that body which was prepared for Christ the Quakers believe their flesh and bones is that body which the Spirit of Christ doth dwell in and that is that body the Scriptures saith is prepared So that the Quakers do deny that Christ hath a body of flesh and bone distinct of his own at a distance from them for if they should acknowledge as I said in The Quakers Neck broken that Christ hath the same flesh and bone that suffered still distinct of himself though glorified flesh and bone yet it is a distinct thing of it self even the person of a man and cannot nor is not within any man whatsoever I say if the Quakers should own this indeed their Principle of Christ within them would vanish like smoke For this flesh and bone of Christ his own person was that body prepared for the God-head life to dwell in as the Prophet speaks and that which the Apostle saith the fulness of the God-head dwelt bodily in Christ And this flesh and bone of Christ was that body prepared for the God-head to dwell in Now will any man be so sensless to think this body of Christ to be within a man for he that can get Christs body of flesh and bone into him he will get the fulness of the God-head also into him so that he that can do this will be a God and not a man so that I have told no lie but truth when I said the Quakers Christ hath never a body for which Fox is very angry with me and calls me Liar Yet let the Reader but minde Fox his words when he doth seem to own a body of Christ his words are so dubious and so dark that none but the Spirit of Truth could finde out the cheat of these Quakers what could any man that hath not the true knowledge of the true God and the right Devil and the knowledge of the Scriptures say to these things this Allegorical Cheat and Deceit it being so coucht under the words of the Scriptures For this is to be minded by the Reader that the Quakers never gives no Interpretation of Scriptures neither in writings nor speakings This Fox hath spoken of several places of Scripture to prove me a Liar but hath given the Interpretation of none Onely he hath named the words and rayled against me and so he hath left the Scriptures and the Apostles words and me together to dispute out the Quakers Principle of Christ within them And because Fox hath not opened those Scriptures he quotes to prove Christ within and that the Quakers are of Christs body I shall unfold those places of Scriptures which the Quakers ground upon Col. 1.27 It is thus written To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory This is one of the Quakers chief Scriptures to prove Christ within them So Rom. 8. 10. If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin So 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether you be in the faith approve your selves how that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates So Galatians 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me These are the chiefest places of Scripture the Quakers have to prove that Christ is in them Let the Reader minde the Interpretation as followeth and you may see that the Quakers are mistaken both in the thing it self and in the person and persons to whom these words were spoken First the person that spake these words it was Paul who had a Commission to preach Christ unto the Gentiles and this Commission to preach Christ was from Christ without him as I shewed before and the persons he directs these speeches or words unto they were to such men and women that did seem to receive Pauls doctrine and doubtless many of them did truely believe that Christ which suffered rise again and was ascended up to Heaven according to the preaching of Paul and the rest of the Apostles was the Christ the Savior of the world and that this Christ was without them in his person though by faith Christ may be said to dwell or be in a man Also Paul and these Believers he preached unto did believe the blood of Christ which was poured out unto death that the believing of this would purge their consciences from dead works to serve the living God for Paul expresseth as much in the same verse For saith he I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me So that it may be clear to those that have any true faith in them that Paul and the rest of the Believers had Christ in them no otherwise than by faith in the Death Resurrection and Ascension of that Christ without them
and so Christ dwells in true Believers hearts by faith according to that saying Eph. 3.20 that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith And so when men have true faith in Christs Death Resurrection and Ascension without them they may be said to have Christ in them the hope of glory for the faith of Christ or faith in Christ without them gives hope to the minde that they shall behold that glory Christ without them is in and so by faith a man comes to know that he is no reprobate For a man that hath true faith in Christ without him may be said to know that Christ is in him and that he is no reprobate And this is that great Mystery Christ in you the hope of glory for it is a great Mystery to understand God manifest in flesh and to become very man in one single person even the Man Christ Jesus and he to die rise again and ascend from whence he came this is a great Mystery indeed and few can comprehend it but Faith doth see it and understand it and where ever it is truly believed that man may be said to have Christ in him the hope of glory and to know that he is no reprobate because the Seed of Faith which is Christs Seed is in him and that Seed acts it self forth to lay hold of that person of Christ without him and so gives assurance of everlasting life in a man and so Christ may be said to be in a man For the Seed is counted sometimes for the thing it self so that if a man doth not really know in himself that he hath the Seed of Christ in him and that is known by actual believing him that is sent that man is a reprobate to himself and hath not the hope of glory in him and so Christ is not in his heart by faith This is the true Interpretation of those Scriptures and of the Apostles minde CHAP. XII 2. I Shall open the Quakers Cheat concerning their bodies being flesh of Christs flesh and bone of his bone and those Scriptures interpreted they ground that Conceit upon First Rom. 12. and 5. Paul saith So we being many are one body in Christ So 1 Cor. 12.12 For as the body is one and hath many members of that one body so also is Christ So Eph. 5.30 For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bone So Col. 1.21 And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minde by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death These be the chief places of Scriptures the Quakers do prove themselves to be flesh of Christs flesh and bone of his bone and for want of explaining these words making no distinction they cheat many ignorant people of the peace of their minds and of the knowledge of the true body of Christ without them Let the Reader but minde the words of Paul before and they may easily see that Pauls minde was quite contrary to the Quakers for the Apostle speaks of Believers being Christs body and members of Christs body no otherwise than he did of Christs being within the Saints as I said before that is by the union the Saints have with Christ by faith in the true Preachers of the Gospel they come to be members of Christs body and so called the body of Christ the Head as you may see Rom. 12.5 and 1 Cor. 12.12 and Eph. 5.30 and Col. 1.21 These places all prove that the Saints being true Believers are counted the members and body of Christ in respect of that union they have with Christ by faith in his Death Resurrection and Ascension knowing that Christs body lives for ever and that his blood hath redeemed their souls from eternal death and knowing he is ascended to possess a personal glory and to prepare Mansions of personal glory for his Saints and those that are truely united to him by faith may be said by Paul to be members of Christs body and to be Christs body but this body is but by the union of faith in Christ and by the way of comparison for this body hath never a head but the whole Body and Person of Christ without the Saints is the Head of this Body so that if Christ had never a body of his own but the Saints bodies as the Quakers do vainly imagine he would be but a sad Christ And because you may see that the Apostle did mean no otherwise than I have said For saith he in Rom. 12.4 5. as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so saith he we being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another So that all true Believers though some be Prophets Apostles or any other gifts of the Spirit that any man hath it is given for the good of others who are members of the same faith with him and so all that are partakers of the same faith with him if they be ever so many they all make up but one body of Christ even as all the members of a mans body makes up but one body But all this while these members that makes up one body what will this body signifie without a head Now those natural members that makes up a natural body what will this body signifie if it hath never a head So it is with true Believers if there were never a Head of this Body of Faith without men even Christ Jesus where then should the motions and acts of Faith in a man repair to have union and communion with their Head Christ Jesus Must they go into themselves to finde Christ their Head there Surely no but the motions and acts of Faith that doth arise from thâ— Seed of Faith which is the Seed of Christ in every true Believer whereby he comes to have union with Christ their Head and so he is made a member of Christ and so all the Believers that have been from the beginning and shall truly believe to the latter end of the world they make up but one body of Christ and this body is called Christs Body but by vertue of union of Faith and not by Christs being essentially in men as the Quakers do vainly imagine The Apostle sufficiently clears this thing in those places afore-mentioned so that I need speak no more of it here But I shall give the Reader to understand the difference between that body that is called a body by union and that body that is so in it self As for example A woman is said to be flesh of her husbands flesh and bone of his bone as Adam said concerning Eve his wife So Eph. 5.31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joyned to his wife and they two shall be one flesh Here the Reader may see that a man and his wife are made one flesh by vertue of union and institution now they are not really one flesh but
they are made one flesh by union and institution as aforesaid for when a man lieth with a harlot he makes himself a member of a harlot by that union and so the harlot is made one flesh with this man Now this man is none of her flesh nor she his not really so for some men do abhor it should be so yet by union with a harlot many times men come to be flesh of her flesh and so are become diseased with her disease even with the Pox so that these are become double flesh of one anothers flesh by that union they had with each other these things I have known by Ranters and others Now minde the distinction a childe that a man begets of his wife is more flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone than his wife is why because the childe is indeed flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone because children came out of the mans loyns as the twelve Patriarchs came forth of Jacobs loyns now these were really flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone naturally so and not by union as a man and his wife that were two are by union made one flesh So likewise the Scriptures speaks of two sorts of bodies as that in 1 Cor. 15.44 there is a natural body and a spiritual body a celestial body and a terrestrial body now these bodies cannot go one into another but mortal bodies may be made spiritual bodies and spiritual bodies may be made mortal bodies by the power of the Creator as it were by the Serpent Angel he was a spiritual body when he deceived Eve but when he was made mortal he was called Cursed Cain So the Lord from heaven was a spiritual body before he over-shadowed the Virgin Mary but afterwards this spirit al body was a pure mortal body and that mortal body was caned A Blessed Jesus This is the great Mystery to the world and this Jesus is that God that prepared a pure mortal body for himself that he might be capable to be put to death in this body to redeem the lost Seed of Adam And this is that body I say is not in the Quakers neither are the Quakers of Christs body by union nor flesh of his flesh nor bone of his bone not by union and those Believers were the Apostle writ unto for the Apostle was chosen of Christ without him and had a Commission to preach Christ to others and those that did believe his Commission were one in faith with him and so they by faith might know that Christ was in them except they were reprobates that is except they were unbelieving for if they had faith in the true Christ which he had taught them then Christ did dwell in their hearts by faith and they should know by faith in themselves that they were not reprobates and by the union they should have with Christ by faith they should become members of Christ yea they should be counted flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone This is the true meaning of the Scriptures But the Speakers of the Quakers have no Commission from Christ to preach as the Apostles had neither have the Believers of the Quakers any true faith in Christs person or body without them and so the Speakers and Hearers are both in the state of reprobation neither doth Christ dwell in their hearts by faith for true faith they have none but the faith of devils And that which they call the Light of Christ in them is nothing else but the Light of the Law written in their hearts for true faith in Christs person they have none so they call the Light of the Law in them the Light of Christ because the Law convinces them of sin Now this Law written in the Quakers hearts is the light of Christs Creation and this light of the Law that Christ hath written in the heart of man it is written in the heart of every devil and so in the heart of the Speakers of the Quakers and they teach their disciples to harken to the light within them and saith Christ is in them but this is no saving light neither is Christ within them neither are the Quakers members of Christs body nor bone of his bone nor flesh of his flesh for they have no faith in his person without them so that Fox his Cheat and Deceit is made manifest by the Scriptures being interpreted 11. Page 11. Fox is very angry with me for saying Reason is the Devil and yet saith he thou givest a reason for what thou doest and because I give a reason of my doings therefore saith he I am judged out of my own mouth to be the Devil Reason CHAP. XIII ANSWER HEre Fox the Quaker hath shewed himself an ignorant devil that cannot give a reason of the hope that is in him but for fear he should be counted a devil takes up other mens words and the Scriptures must give a reason for Fox how that he is no reprobate because the Scriptures saith to Believers in that time Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates And be ready to render a reason of the hope within you But Fox himself hath no knowledge but that he is a reprobate but I perfectly know that Fox is a reprobate and I can give a reason why he should and will be damned to eternity though Fox can give no reason for it What would Fox have done if he had not had other mens words to prove Christ within and to give a reason of the hope they had in Christ for Fox hath no interest in the Scriptures But I shall open this point something more hereafter where he speaketh of Reason in the 19th page of his Pamphlet 12. Page 11. And Muggleton saith he rejoyceth in his Cursings and them that he doth Curse and Sentence shall never see any other God or Judge But saith Fox how now Muggleton art thou become God and Judge Must not all appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ to have their sentence and reward from him whether they have done good or evil CHAP. XIV ANSWER DO you Fox and the Speakers of the Quakers indeed believe that you shall appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ to receive the reward of deeds done in your bodies whether good or evil If you do I shall say this unto you that when you do appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ John Reeve and my self shall be there also and look what Sentence and Judgement we have given upon you and others here upon earth the same Sentence will Christ give when you appear before his Judgement-seat and look what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit you have committed in this natural body you now have you shall have the punishment of that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost that sent us punished in that spiritual dark body you shall have when Christ doth raise you again and then you shall know that you did appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ
like to have bin killed by unreasonable men forty of them had bound themselves in an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul yet by the power of the Centurion who had a commission from the Magistrates to keep the peace would not suffer these men to do such unreasonable deeds to kill a man and not condemned by the Law of reason for all Laws are made by the reason of man to govern people by So in other places in the Acts you may read how Paul was abused by unreasonable men so that Paul had cause and all Saints else to desire to be delivered from unreasonable men for all men have not saith Paul knowing that those men that have faith dares not persecute men for consciences though he hath reason so to do much less to persecute men for conscience against Law and reason as the rude multitude doth and envious men doth having not Law of their side but are punished as evil doers by the law of reason for doing things contrary to the Law therefore called unreasonable men And in this sence Paul desired to be delivered from unreasonable men for he knew men that had faith in their hearts would not persecute nor abuse him nor kill him though he should give them cause This I my self knoweth by experience to be true for I have fallen sometimes into the hands of unreasonable men for I have bin pull'd out of the house by head and shoulders and beaten with their fists and knocked down in the garden and when they were affraid to do me more mischief in another bodies house they consulted to lay in wait in all the Alleys to catch me as I came out that they might do me some further mischief and no body know who did it they thought to break my bones if not kill me but they were somewhat prevented for we passed through a mans garden a private way so that the layers in wait could not catch us untill we came in the fields but when they heard we were past the corners of the Alleys which were four they run and the boys run to see the men run that the dust and gravel did flye about with the sound of their feet to overtake us so two of the men of the most desperatest of them overtook us in the fields and they both smote upon my head and neck with their fists a while and then run to John Reeve and struck up his feet and he fell upon the gravel which made his hands bleed so he lay upon the ground and people came thick about us to know what was the matter but the woman came in whose house I was pulled out of and she knew these two men that pursued us in the fields so they left off and slank away lest she should have had the Law of them for abusing us in her house There was about a hundred of them in her house and garden when they pulled me out these were unreasonable men such as Paul met withall which he desired to be delivered from Several times hath John Reeve and my self been in danger to be abused and spoiled by unreasonable men and it was upon the same account as Paul was For he was served so for declaring Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and that he was a messenger to declare it and we for declaring Christ Jesus to be the onely God and our selves to be commissionated from him to bless the Seed of Faith and curse despisiing spirits to eternity So that I am not unacquainted nor ignorant of Pauls words For it hath been always my desire ever since to be delivered from the rude multitude who doth not go by the Law of reason but doth act as bruit-beasts who have no reason in them therefore called unreasonable men This is a true distinction and interpretation what the devil is even the spirit of reason in man and how reason always killed the just and righteous Seed of Faith and what the Apostle meant when he desired to be delivered from unreasonable men and who may be said to be unreasonable men Much more might be said in this point but I suppose there is enough written to satisfie and inform any man that hath true light of faith in him or hath but moderate reason Onely this may be minded by the Reader that the Scriptures never called distracted men nor mad-men nor fools nor distempered brained men are never called Devils though these men are possest with Devils that is with distempers of nature these are Devils that are produced through accidents of nature through some extraordinary grief fright or losses and such like hath broke the brain and so the seat of reason is quite out of order and makes them more strong then when their reason was in order and so come to be possest with devils these devils are produced by accidents in nature as I said before So not those devils the Scriptures speake of we never read that any Prophet Apostle or Christ himself did ever condemn or judge such persons but rather pittied them and healed them and cast those devils out as may be read in Scripture nay the civil Magistrate doth not regard what a mad-man saith whose reason is out of order therefore it may be clear that the most wise prudent men who have the greatest measure of reason in them are those Devils the Scriptures calls devils therefore more fit to be politicians both in Church and State neither could unwise man in reason govern this world as it is at this day So that it may be clear to those that are inlightned that the spirit of reason in man is the devil that killed the righteous and the Just for Cain was a high pitch of reason when he killed righteous Abel for Cain had the fulness of the reprobat Angels spirit of reason it dwelt in Cain bodily and Esau had much reason and Judas and that devil that tempted Christ was a man had a great measure of the wisdom of reason in him and those Chief-priests and Elders that Christ called Serpents Devils that tempted him were indued with a great measure of reason they were wise sensible sober learned men yet devils and the spirit of reason in them was the devil that tempted Christ persecuted him and killed him that was the just One even the Savior of the world of the elect Seed so that the spirit of reason in man is the devil the Scriptures condemn which commits murder for conscience sake or other ways and is that devil that is to be damned to eternity c. so that the Devil so much spoken of in Scripture and condemned by Christ it was sensible wise prudent men indued with a high pitch of reason and not unreasonable men nor mad frantick distracted men as people do vainly imagine as Fox and most of the Quakers do 18. Muggleton saith it was the Godhead life that suffered death Fox calls this darkness also For saith he Christ he
should worship him in spirit and truth here in this natural body and so true Believers have worshipped Christ the onely God in spirit and truth in the Apostles Commission and so do we now worship God in spirit and truth for there can be no worshipping God in spirit and truth without a true Preacher sent of God as the Apostles John Reeve and my self were and in this sense God may be said to be a Spirit because he is a spiritual body and not a bodiless spirit as you Quakers do vainly imagine else why may not God be worshipped in spirit and truth without a body as well as God to be a Spirit without a body You Quakers do not do well in that you do not turn your souls out of your bodies they being as you conceive immortal me thinks you might sometimes let your immortal souls slip out of your bodies and go into that Infinite Spirit without a body and worship in spirit and truth and then come into those bodies again for I see you have by your own words got into Christs person and you have got into Solomons spirit and why can you not get your immortal souls into Gods Infinite Spirit without a body By this the Reader may see that the Quakers Principle is built upon the Heathen Philosophers and not upon the faith of the Prophets and Apostles who writ the Scriptures for Heathen men were the first broachers of the Immortality of the Soul and of God being an Infinite Spirit without a body and so the greatest Idolaters for those that writ the Scriptures never intended any such thing but altogether the contrary but the Quakers do cleave to the Heathen principles as God being a Spirit without a body and the Immortality of the Soul and so they become with the Heathen the greatest spiritual Idolaters of any people under the Sun for I am quite out of Solomons spirit indeed and am glad I never was in it 21. Page 27. Muggleton thou condemnest our Christ and light and Muggleton saith the Quakers think to have eternal life in the Scriptures But saith Fox our eternal life is in Christ before Scriptures were And Fox saith pag. 29. thou exaltest thy self above Christ for he is a man and saith the man Christ Jesus will bruise me to pieces which is manifest in his people meaning the Quakers CHAP. XXVII ANSWER AS for my words they are more largely opened in The Quakers Neck broken Also this saying of Fox that the Quakers had eternal life in Christ before Scriptures were to this I say How comes it to pass that Christ hath turned George Fox Quaker and many more of them out of him now the world is Nay Christ hath turned them over to be judged and condemned by me to eternal damnation certainly if Fox had eternal life in Christ before Scriptures were Christ would have revealed it unto me now the Scriptures are in the world for the Scriptures are given into my hands and I finde by the Scriptures that George Fox and many other Quakers were never in Christ at all neither before Scriptures were nor now the Scriptures are in being But I finde in the Book of the Scriptures that George Fox and other Quakers were in the Serpent that beguiled Eve and had eternal death in their seed before Scripture were but it was not visibly known till now for this I certainly know that you Fox and many more of you came out of the Serpents loins which was Cains father and you being the children of Cain may be said to be in the Serpent-devil before the Scriptures were and as sure as Cain the father of all the damned shall die an eternal death so I am certain that you George Fox with many other of your Quakers people shall be eternally damned deliver your selves from it if you can 2. Fox saith page 29. That thou exaltest thy self above Christ for he is a man and saith the man Christ Jesus will bruise me to pieces which is manifest in his people meaning the Quakers I cannot get Fox the Quaker and the man Christ Jesus to part for wheresoever Fox doth own Christ Jesus to be a man then presently this manhood of Christ gets into the Quakers bodies and so Christ is manifest in them Now I would very fain have Christs manhood by it self and the Quakers by themselves but Fox will by no means part with Christ that he might be spoken with alone but Christ being so much manifest in the Quakers bodies so that no Quaker can finde any Christ to be a man but what is manifest in their bodies And this Christ that is manifest in them I suppose is he that will bruise me in pieces but that man Christ Jesus that I believe in hath given me power to condemn and judge that man Christ Jesus that is manifest in the Quakers people for I know that Christ Jesus that is manifest in them is nothing else but the seed of Reason the devil that is manifest in them for I know they have no faith in the true Christ but the motions of reason working in their mindes taking occasion by the Law written in their hearts it doth cleanse them from the outward pollutions of the world and from the breach of some outward Laws and this is that Christ they so much talk of within them and this is that man Christ Jesus manifest within them This is a true description of the Quakers Christ manifest within them CHAP. XXVIII THese are the most considerable things for the Reader to take notice of in George Fox his Book so that the Reader may mind the Answer and the Interpretation I have given to those Scriptures which Fox the Quaker brings against me but he leaves the words of the Scriptures more dark to the Reader than they were in themselves but I have given the Interpretation of those Scripture words which Fox could not do and what I have written in this Treatise is for the most part left out in The Neck of the Quakers broken because in that Book all these things in which Fox doth rail and revile at me in as he calls it An Answer to the Neck of the Quakers broken but that Book of mine doth explain the Quakers Principle more plain and clear than this Treatise doth for he that would have read that Book and Fox his Answer to it would have seen all those things which Fox doth alledge against me more fully answered than he or any other Quaker could have questioned so that had it not been for the sake of others and for the Ages to come there need not have been any further discoveries of the Antichristian spirit of the Quakers concerning their Christ within them but that Book As also there is some things in this Treatise for the Information of the Reader which was never printed before There is many other sayings in Fox his Pamphlet which doth rail and revile both against my Commission of the Spirit and that Sentence I
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
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