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
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
may see that Christ had flesh and bone after he was risen from the dead now I would fain know of the Quakers what became of this flesh and bone of Christ where it went or where it is now Sure you Quakers will not say this flesh and bone of Christ is within you neither will you acknowledge that the flesh and bone which is the body of Christ risen from the dead to be now in Heaven above the stars distinct of himself for that body of Christ which was felt and handled by his disciples was that body that was prepared for the God-head Life to dwell in and to suffer and when that body of Christ ascended to Heaven the God-head Spirit ascended with it also So that there is but one God and one body of God so that Christ is God embodyed with flesh and bone in all things like unto man sin excepted as the Scriptures saith so that Christ cannot be in the Quakers neither in his body nor his spirit neither are they members of his body not by union of faith as true Believers are for then Christ hath never a body neither within them nor without them for if they should believe that Christ hath a body distinct of his own at such a distance residence above the stars then I say the Quakers Principle of Christ within them would vanish like smoak indeed as it doth with many true Believers that were of the Quakers faith before they came to know the true God and the right devil but the Quakers are in black pitchy darkness so that it is a vain thing to talk to them of Heavenly Mysteries as the Mystery of the true God and the mystery of the right devil and how they became flesh for the Quakers have got as they imagine God and devil hell and Heaven Resurrection and all within them so they cannot tell where to finde any God without them but an Infinite Spirit without a body also their devil is a bodiless spirit they know not from whence he came notwithstanding he is in them CHAP. XVIII ALso Fox saith God fills heaven and earth Here he repeats Scripture words but never gives any Interpretation he hath repeated many words of the Prophets Apostles and the words of Christ he hath named their words to prove me a liar but he gives no interpretation no not one Text that he hath brought against me I do think he never did interpret any Scripture words in his life I marvel how the people called Quakers are satisfied with their bibble-babble that never tells what the sense of such words of Scripture are as they so much talk of but I cannot expect no other from Quakers for they are all alike So William Smith Samuel Hooton Richard Farnsworth they named many places of Scriptures which were other mens words against me as Fox doth but never did interpret any But Fox do you conceive that God is so big a bulk that he fills heaven and earth with his bigness how comes it to pass then that the Quakers bodies and others are so empty for if God be so big to fill Heaven and Earth me thinks the Quakers bodies are but little vessels in comparison of Heaven and Earth they are great vessels and doth certainly hold God and yet many vast places in the earth where God is not at all and I know many Quakers and others that God is not in them at all how is it then that God fills heaven and earth Oh this blind Fox it is the nature of Foxes to be cunning and subtile but this Fox is ignorant and simple to repeat Scripture words and give no distinction that is the cause of such gross errors concerning God and devil for Fox takes God to be an Infinite Spirit without a body and this Spirit without a body fills heaven and earth without distinction and so Fox his devil is a bodiless Spirit so that he can give no distinction what the devil is though I know he is one himself but for the Readers sake I shall interpret a little how God may be said to fill heaven and earth as thus God is a single person in form of a man a spiritual person and no bigger in compass than a man and he was so from eternity even of the same stature as the first Adam was therefore said to be made ni the image and likeness of God Also Christ is said to be the express image of his Fathers person the meaning is this that Christ was the express Image of God the Father as he was God in Immortality and Glory and as Christ was in mortality and shame he was the express image of his Father Adam for the Scriptures calls Adam his Father and David is called Christs Father as he was man so that Christ being God and man so that God is of no bigger bulk or bigness nor never was than the compass of a man and the first Adam was of the same bigness for compass of person as God was that made him and the second Adam Christ which was God and man was of the same compass when upon earth as the first Adam in the beginning of the world was the Scriptures are full to prove this But it would be too tedious to speak of them in this place neither was it my intention to speak of this point now onely that the Reader may see the darkness of the Quakers to think God so big a bulk to fill heaven and earth and give no distinction how This being a ground-work to know what God is in himself so it may easily be understood how God fills heaven and earth he fills heaven and earth by his wisdom and power in that he created all things by the power of his word also by the power of his word he hath planted a Law in every creature according to its kinde he hath by the power of his word written his Law in the holy Angels and all other celestial creatures in heaven and every creature in heaven in their kinde obeys his Law written in their natures by the power of his word so that all the creatures in heaven obey him and sets forth the praise wisdom power and glory of their Creator their God and King so that heaven is filled with his glory Likewise God hath written by his wisdom and power of Creation a Law in every creature here upon earth he hath written by the power of his word a Law in mans heart who is the Image of himself whom God made lord of all other creatures he by the power of his word hath placed a Law in the beasts of the fields in the fowls of the air in all sensible creatures hath he planted a Law and they all obey him in their kinde and sets forth his glory Yea he hath by the power of his word placed a secret Law in the Vegetables as Trees Plants Herbs and all things of that kind nay by the power of his word he hath put a Law in the
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
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
they might attain those Witchcraft-fits but could not attain them do what they could They got the Quakers language of Thee and Thou but could not attain the Fits neither would some of those Quakers own one of these persons because she had not such Fits as they had so she was forc'd to leave them And the cause why these persons aforesaid could have no such Fits it was because they had talked with me before they fell to the Quakers Principles so that no Witchcraft-Fit could be produced in them though their endeavors were great Also I have drove the Witchcraft-power out of Quakers that have been strongly possest so that they have never had Fit more And as for you Fox have you ever had any Witchcraft-fit since you were damned did you ever fall into a swoon and lye as one dumb and hath the spirit of Reason the devil which you call the Light of Christ in you I ask hath he revealed any mysteries of the Scriptures in the time of your Fit since you were damned fourteen years ago Is your revelation of Reason to be seen in writing yea or nay Again hath Samuel Hooton William Smith Edward Bourn Richard Farnsworth and many others that were damned of late years have they had any Witchcraft-fits since or any new revelation if they have let them be brought forth to the light Do you George Fox know any Quaker that I have passed the Sentence upon that can produce a Witchcraft-fit afterwards If no Fit can be produced as formerly then I say no true revelation nor experience can arise in the Quakeâ—s hearts Nay this Sentence it puts a stop to the revelation of Reason also else why should Quakers fall so as you do from your first Principle for you are not like the people you were sixteen years ago there were few Quakers then but they had Witchcraft-fits but now of late I do not hear of any Quaker that hath any Fits no not so much as to buzz or hum before the Fit comes But if you Fox doth know any of you Quakers that have any of those Witchcraft-fits as formerly bring them to me or let me hear of it and I shall cast out that devil which caused those Fits so that they shall never have more but shall be sensible and in their right mind So Fox you shall finde my words to be truth and no lie that the Quakers after the Sentence is past upon them shall never grow to have more experience in Visions and Revelations but shall wither Do not you Fox finde this to be true if you do not others will witness unto it to be truth But you say The truth spreads I know the truth spreads but not the Quakers Witchcraft-fits which produced Visions Apparitions and Revelations which the Quakers thought had been produced by the Spirit of Christ but they were produced by the spirit of Reason the Devil in themselves and these Fits Visions Apparitions and Revelations in the Quakers are greatly withered away of late by that Sentence I have passed upon the Speakers of the Quakers and others of that opinion so that those Fits of theirs makes most people ashamed to own them which formerly people thought them the most knowingst that was possest with a Witchcraft-fit so that it is plain and clear and many that were lovers of the Quakers way of Worship that can and will witness that their experience in Visions and Revelation are withered and come to nothing But Fox thinks because a many ignorant people comes to hear the Quakers speak their ninny-nonies over and over again therefore the Truth as he calls it spreads but when it was at the best it was but a lie that spreads indeed a lie will spread very fast but truth spreads very slowly for truth was ten years in the world and there was not much above forty persons that owned it but the Quakers at that time had many thousands that were Quakers as was exprest by those five damned Quakers in Eastcheap mentioned in that Book called The Quakers Neck broken 14. Page 14. Muggleton saith He could never finde any Quaker that would own God to be a person in form of a man which shews the Quakers darkness Here saith Fox Muggleton hath shewed his ignorance of the Scriptures for saith he the Scriptures saith That God is a Spirit And Christ saith that a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as I have And saith Fox God fills heaven and earth and herein saith he thou hast shewed thy ignorance and darkness CHAP. XVII ANSWER TO this I shall make it appear to the Reader that my words are truth and that Fox hath shewed his ignorance and darkness both of Gods filling Heaven and earth and that Fox nor the Quakers doth not believe that Christ hath flesh and bone of his own distinct of himself and that this flesh and bone of Christ is now in heaven above the stars Let the Reader minde the words of Christ His disciples supposed they had seen a Spirit these disciples were ignorant at that time as most people thinking that Spirits might walk without bodies or that Spirits might assume bodies and appear to men this ignorant opinion was in the disciples of Christ before they were endued with power from on high and this is the general opinion of all men but those that have a Commission from God for if God had never chosen Prophets and Apostles and Witnesses to enlighten the understanding of people all people in the world would have believed so therefore it was that Prophets caused Kings to put to death all Witches and Wizards that dealt with familiar spirits as Samuel did and King Saul out of Israel but all the Nations of the earth besides did practice Witchcraft and dealing with familiar spirits and did believe that spirits might and did walk without bodies and could assume what shapes they please The same opinion is now all the world over and in the Quakers also and the disciples of Christ at that time had a smatch of the Heathen opinion in them which made them through their ignorance to suppose they had seen a Spirit without a body to walk before them but Christ willing to convince them of that vain and lying opinion saith to his disciples Feel me and handle me for a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as I have as if he should say No Spirit can appear without a body for a Spirit without a body is a meer shadow presented to your fantasie through your ignorance as if Christ should say do not believe that Spirits can walk without bodies there is no such thing it is but a meer shadow you suppose to be a Spirit but come to me and feel me and handle me for a shadow as you take or think to be a Spirit hath not flesh and bone nor is of no substance as I am This was after Christ was risen from the dead and before the Apostles had received power from on high so that the Reader
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
in the world in his person in the Apostles time therefore the world persecuted them and put them to death for witnessing that Christ was in the world and they with wicked hands had slain the Lord of Life even Christ Jesus the onely God the King of Heaven So that John and I am both of one minde and of one faith that though Christ the only God and King of Heaven was in this world before he suffered death this John the Apostle and I both do believe and know but since Christ rose from the dead and ascended up to heaven John and I do believe and know that Christ the only God and King of heaven is not in this world at all in his person and essence yet Fox calls this Lies But the Reader may see if he hath any light who it is that lies Fox or I. Also he saith The true Prophet saith God the King of Heaven fills heaven and earth but saith he the false prophet saith God the King of Heaven is not in this world at all It is a small thing to be called a false prophet by the Seed of the Serpent especially by a damned devil for I know Fox would have said so by those prophets he calls true had he lived in that time and this John and Christ he so much talks of would have been counted all false a false Christ a false Witness what will any Quaker believe that to be a Christ a Savior that comes in likeness of man nay is a man sin excepted No no we will have a Christ that is a Spirit that may creep into our spirits when he will and whip out again when we commit sin and displease his Spirit such a Christ we own that hath never a body of his own but is all Spirit that fills every Quakers body with his Spirit and heaven and earth also What will you perswade us to believe that Christ is a man Christ is God and admits of no form so thou John art a false witness to perswade us to believe in a man to be Christ or God the Savior of the world this I know would Fox and the rest of the Quakers have said by those he calls now true prophets they being dead and by Christ and the Apostles as he doth by me For when they were alive on earth as I am now they were counted by the seed of the Serpent such as Fox is Blasphemers Deceivers Liers and such like but now who so zealous for the dead letter of the Prophets and Apostles as the seed of the Serpent are but when they were alive they were hated and persecuted for speaking that which the seed of the Serpent doth now honor so is it with me now I am alive I am hated and persecuted by the seed of the Serpent as well by Quakers as others for my doctrine and commission now while I am alive but when I am dead many of the seed of the Serpent in the next generation shall have respect unto my Writings and shall say had we lived in those days that Fox and other Quakers lived in we would never have blasphemed and spoken evil of so pure a truth as Fox the Quaker hath done to incur eternal damnation upon our own heads as Fox the Quaker their father hath done these things will come to pass as it hath done in the other two Commissions namely the Law the Gospel Page 22. Muggleton saith the Quakers hearken to the light within but they despise the body and person of Christ without them and so they are Antichrist 20. To this Fox saith Here are more Lies of the false prophet for saith he Christ that died at Jerusalem his person we own without us who is manifest within us the light of Christ Jesus by which we have seen of his glory and speak in his person And Fox saith Solomons Books in the Bible are good Scripture though Muggleton saith they be not Scripture he being not in the spirit of Solomon that gave them forth CHAP. XXVI ANSWER HEre Fox hath shewed his Allegorical Juggle who dares not deny the person of Christ without them not in plain terms because the Scriptures are so full to prove Christ a person and it is the Faith of all Christendom as we call it but any man that hath any true light in him may see that Fox is a meer Juggler to deceive the simple and ignorant whose doctrine makes the people more dark in their mindes than they were by nature For saith Fox we Quakers own the person of Christ without us who is manifest within us There is such a great stir with Gods Messengers to part Christs person or body from the Quakers and their bodies from him that Christs body might stand single of it self and the Quakers bodies might stand single of themselves at a distance from Christs body but the Quakers will either get into Christs body or else Christ must get into the Quakers bodies so that no man can tell how to part them one from another but I know death will part them And Christ will say to Fox and other Quakers Depart from me you workers of iniquity you pretended that you were my Saints and that I was in you and you in me but I know you not neither did I send you to preach for I never was in you by my Spirit to assist you in your preaching you should have let preaching and praying in my name alone for you have done more hurt than good in that your doctrine hath blinded the eyes of many people and have led them as sheep to the slaughter and hath caused many to suffer extreamly in this life even to the loss of their natural life besides the punishment hereafter For you should have hearkened to my chosen Witnesses and Prophets who can declare the true Christ God and man in one single person in the form of a man with the right devil his form and nature but your non-knowledge of the right devil is the cause of your gross darkness in the knowledge of the true Christ What are you Quakers the better for your Christ within you he yields you no true peace and what are you the better for being in Christ for the true Christ denies you and will not be in you by his Spirit neither will he suffer you to be in him because you and a great part of you Quakers are of the reprobate Seed which have no part nor portion in the true Christ for you are and the Quakers people but the devil transformed into the likeness of an Angel of light because you are something more precise in your life as to outward appearance but your preciseness is very much broken and withered of late years your darkness and ignorance is discovered by the light of this Commission of the Spirit for you are not like the people you were formerly neither doth your Witchcraft-fits catch any now as it did heretofore Your Witchcraft-fits can hardly be produced now of
late not in any I marvel how you Quakers can have Christs person manifest in you and how you can speak in his person Let the Reader mind the Quakers Cheat they own Christs person without them yet this person of Christ without them is manifest within them See the deceit of this Fox I have read of Christ manifest in his Saints and Apostles by his Spirit or Seed of Faith but I never read that Christs person flesh and bone was ever manifest within any man that was alwayes without man and will be without man for ever distinct of himself Also Fox saith the Quakers speak in Christs person Here is another Allegorical speech without any distinction I have heard that an Ambassador hath represented the person of a King and his speech by vertue of a Commission from the King is in the Kings stead but the Ambassador is not in the Kings person though he represents the Kings person the Kings person is at a great distance from his Messenger So it is with Christs Ambassadors as Paul saith We are Ambassadors in Christs stead beseeching you to be reconciled unto Christ by our doctrine Now Pauls person and Christs person were at a great distance one from the other for Christs person was in heaven above the stars and Pauls person was here upon earth so that Paul did not speak in the person of Christ that being at such a distance as I said before but Paul and the rest of the Apostles by vertue of their Commission given from Christ were Ambassadors of him and so stood in Christs stead but Christs person was far enough off from them as a Kings person is far off when his Ambassador is in a strange Land who represents the Kings person as aforesaid But the Quakers they will get into Christs person and speak there or else they will get Christs person into them and so Christ must speak there in their persons so as I said before the Quakers will not be separated from Christ nor suffer him to separate himself from them though I know they never were in union together neither was Christ ever in them that I have damned nor never will be neither were they ever in Christ nor never shall be Neither doth Fox own indeed that person of Christ of flesh and bone that died at Jerusalem to be now living in heaven above the stars but Fox and the Quakers Christ they so much talk of is a meer Allegory without substance a Christ that may be blown away with the word of a true Prophets mouth as I said in The Neck of the Quakers broken Also Fox saith Solomons Books are good Scripture though I say they are not being not in the spirit of Solomon that gave them forth Here I perceive that Fox and the Quakers are got into Solomons spirit just as they did get into Christs person I see Fox can get into spirits as he doth into persons but I perceive Fox is got into Solomons spirit and he blames me because I am not in Solomons spirit I do seriously confess that I am not in Solomons spirit and I am glad I never was in his spirit for who ever is in Solomons spirit doth not know the true God nor the right devil for Solomon knew neither of them though he was a wise man in things of nature but ignorant of spiritual and heavenly wisdom for Solomons wisdom hath the Ground-work of much lust of the flesh and idolatry for the Ranters practice was grounded upon Solomons practice who knew so many women so the Ranters thought they might have the same liberty seeing wise Solomons Writings were owned for Scripture-record thus they continued many of them in their practice of lust till many of them were weary of it as Solomon was when he was old and then they left off that practice and turned Quakers and so fell to be the greatest idolaters of any as Solomon did to his Heathenish-Wives drew his heart away from the worship of Moses to worship idols So is it with those Ranters that are turned Quakers they are become absolute Heathen idolaters for when they were Puritanes so called they were zealous for the letter of the Scriptures and did practice a good life as near as they could to the letter but after they fell to the practice of lust being encouraged by Solomons writings they left that legal Worship and civil practice the Law tied them unto and followed Solomons practice of lust And now they being turned Quakers are fallen to heathen idolatry that is to say the Quakers they worship an unknown God a Spirit without a body they adore a Christ within them and never mindes a body of Christ without them at a distance they believe their own spirits to be immortal and cannot die they believe their spirits go to God or into God again according to Solomons words they believe Gods Spirit being an infinite Being without a body and that this infinite bodiless Spirit taketh all things into it self and so their spirits being immortal they go into God when they die they will not acknowledge that life or soul doth die but departs out of the body they know not where notwithstanding the Scriptures are so full to prove the soul that sins shall die and experience shews it doth die So that the Quakers are become the greatest spiritual idolaters of any and the greatest fighters against a personal God of any for as Solomon did fall to worship the heathen womens visible Images or Idols so do the Quakers worship invisible Idols as a Spirit without a body and that their own spirits may subsist without bodies and that spirits may be capable of happiness or misery without bodies this is the Heathen Philosophers opinion they brought into the world that Principle of the Immortality of the Soul and that Spirits might go to happiness or misery without bodies And the Quakers hath got the Heathen Principle to a hair therefore become Heathen Idolaters as Solomon was for the Scriptures declares another thing Where doth the Scriptures say that God is an Infinite Spirit without a body The Scripture saith God is infinite and so he is Also the Scripture saith God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and truth but it is not said God is a Spirit without a body for this I say that if a man may worship God in spirit and truth in this natural body as the disciples of Christ did in their natural bodies and as I my self do in my natural body then of necessity it will follow that God hath a spiritual body whereby I may worship him else I shall worship I know not what as you Quakers do And because Gods body is a spiritual body therefore Christ said when on earth God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and truth he knowing that body of his that was then a pure natural body should by his death and rising again be made a spiritual body and then all true Believers
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
have passed upon many of the Quakers people As first Fox saith He believes that my Sentence will return back upon my self as in pag. 6. 2. Fox saith That those I have cursed are clear over my spirit as in pag. 12. 3. Fox saith Had the Quakers nevar seen letter of Scripture or any man yet saith he the Quakers could have spoken in the power and spirit and in the divine light of Christ had he never seen letter of Scripture nor man as in pag. 18. 4. Fox gives glory to his God and Christ within him who hath as he saith set him and other Quakers above that Curse and Sentence I have passed upon them as in pag. 20. 5. Fox blames me for saying God hath made me Judge of the Quakers spiritual estate and yet saith he thou owns thy self to be but a mortal man Oh how Fox despiseth that a mortal man should be the Quakers Judge of their immortal souls as they imagine for saith Fox the spiritual man judgeth all things as in pag. 21. 6. Fox blames me for saying that the spirit of reason in man is the devil and Fox seems to justifie the Magistrates that persecuted me because I say they were reasonable men And Fox further blames me for fleeing from the devils malice yet he judgeth that if those Magistrates devils had inflicted more corporal punishment upon me than Imprisonment it had been but reason the devil still for saith Fox thou canst no say it was unreasonableness in them according to thy own saying as in Page 23. 7. Fox calls me a laying spirit because I say it doth not belong to Christ now being in Heaven to interpret Scripture For saith Fox doth not the Scripture say all shall be taught of God and that he opens and no man shuts and doth not John say no man was found worthy to open the Book but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and was not Christ anointed to preach as in page 24. CHAP. XXIX ANSWER FIrst as for that sentence that I have passed upon the Quakers people and others it is irrevocable and will be as sure upon you as if God had said it with his own mouth for as I said in that book we are as true Ambassadors of Christ as Moses the Prophets and Apostles were and if they were sent of God we are sent of God and if there were any power in their Sentence and Judgement to those people in their time so sure will the Sentence and Judgement of us the Witnesses of the Spirit be upon you and as many of the Quakers people as hath or shall fall under it Neither shall that curse I have passed upon you despising Quakers return upon my self no more then the curse of Moses which open'd the ground to swallow up wicked rebellous men alive for desiring the Priests office So wil it be with you Fox the Quaker in that you have rebell'd against the Messengers of Christ and strove for to be a Minister of Christ when as he never chose nor sent you yet you will proudly contend with those that God hath chosen anointed and seal'd to declare the highest mysteries that ever was declared by man yet you look upon your self to be better able to preach the Gospel then we you who knoweth not the true God nor what the devil is nor that your soul must die nor any one true principle of Faith yet you are taken by the people to be a man of knowledge and so you encourage your self to be a Minister of Christ and yet knows not what the true Christ is nor where he is and do you think that Hell shall not open its mouth and swallow you up alive Yea I say it will and you shall not escape for I know and see it will be so and you shall find my words to be true to your eternal pain and shame as Corah Dathan and Abiram did by Moses 2. Fox saith those I have cursed are clear over my spirit CHAP. XXX ANSWER IT is a marvellous thing that damned men should be over his spirit that hath a commission from God to condemn despisers of the Holy Ghost it is as if a prisoner that is condemned by the Judge for his breach of the Law should have that curse he pronounced upon the man over his own head By Fox his conceit the man is in a better case then the Judge for the man may as truely say that the sentence and curse the Judge hath passed upon him is clear over the Judges spirit as if the condemned man were in a better condition then the Judge yet the one goeth to be hanged according to the Judges sentence and the Judge goeth to his Palace So is it with you George Fox and many other of you Quakers you must go to the damnation of eternal death according to my sentence and I shall enter into everlasting life that condemned you so that you shall never clear your selves from that curse I have passed upon you but it shall be over your spirits and upon your spirits to eternity 3. Fox saith had the Quakers never seen letter of Scriptures or any man yet saith he the Quakers could have spoken in the power and spirit and in the Divine light of Christ CHAP. XXXI ANSWER HEre Fox sheweth plainly that the Quakers light of Christ within them is nothing else but the Law written in their hearts their thoughts accusing and excusing as the Heathen have the Apostle speaks of and no divine faith of Christ at all Mind the Scripture saith by faith we know the world was made and by faith Abraham offered up his son Isaac and faith is the evidence of things not seen and the Apostles preached the word of faith and this I say no heavenly spiritual or divine light can be truely understood but by faith And this I say further that the letter of the Scriptures were spoken by the word of Faith and by faithful men for there is no writings under Heaven that are the ground of Faith nor doth give satisfaction to the mind of man as to his eternal salvation as the letter of the Scripture doth if understood and believed by man how could man have known the creation of the world and how God appeared to Noah before and after the Flood or whether there were any Flood or no but by faith Or how can any man know that God appeared to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and gave them to prophesie so many hundred years before of God becomeing flesh and that he should save men from sin by his death even as many as should believe in his name with great and mighty things that hath been done by the power of faith which the letter of the Scriptures doth relate which no man could comprehend nor know but those that have faith in the letter of the Scriptures yet Fox the Quaker he could have spoken in the power and spirit of the Divine light of Christ though the Quakers had never seen letter of
Scripture nor man Here the Reader may plainly see that the Quakers Christ within them is no other but the Law written in their hearts as the Heathen had as aforesaid their thoughts accusing and excusing this is that Christ within them they so much talk of and this is that power and spirit and divine light of Christ the Quakers could have spoken in had they never seen letter of Scripture nor man this is the same the Heathen had in them and this I say had the Quakers never seen letter of Scripture nor man that professed the letter of the Scripture I say the Quakers would have talked nor spoke no more of a Christ within them then cursed Cain and his posterity did or the old world that was drowned or Sodom These wicked people never saw no letter of Scripture nor man that had faith not as they knew yet they had the same Christ within them as the Quakers have by the Law written in their hearts and might have spoken in the power and spirit of the divine light of Christ as the Quakers do had they seen the letter of the Scripture and men that believes them as the Quakers do So that it may be cleer to those that have the true light of Faith and of the interpretation of the letter of the Scripture that the Quakers principle of the light of Christ within them is no other but the light of the Law written in their hearts as the Heathen had before any Scriptures were written and by this Law are they judged in themselves and this is their Christ within them and this is that power and spirit and divine light of Christ they could have spoken in had they never seen letter of Scripture nor man that professeth Scripture and that they do speak now they have seen letter of Scripture and men that profess it and believe it I say is the very same for the Quakers have no more faith in the true Christ then if they had never seen letter of Scripture nor any man that believes them what they have is meer traditional even the faith of devils for the Law written in their hearts is the onely and alone Christ the Quakers have to save them and this Christ is indeed within them and will never go out of them but torment them to eternity 4. Fox gives glory to his God and Christ within him who hath as he saith set him and other Quakers above that curse and sentence I have passed upon them CHAP. XXXII ANSWER YOur glory to your God and Christ within you will fail you in the day of trouble neither will nor can deliver you from that curse and sentence I have passed upon you and others of your brethren neither will you ever be set above it but shall be kept under it to eternity flatter your self as much as you can you shall not be delivered neither by your Christ within you nor by the true Christ without you this I know 5. Fox blames me for saying God hath made me Judge of the Quakers spiritual estate and yet saith he thou ownest thy self but a mortal man For saith Fox the spiritual man judgeth all things CHAP. XXXIII ANSWER Did you Fox ever see any man condemned to die either natural death or eternal death by a spiritual man without a body are not all men condemned both natural and spiritual by mortal men like themselves Was not Moses a mortal man did not he condemn and judge many to die he said but the word and it was done and did not Eliah call for fire from Heaven and destroy two Captains and their fifties with many other strange things he did whereby many were judged by him and killed yet he was but a mortal man and subject to infirmity as mortal men are as the Scripture saith Again was not Peter a mortal men and was put to death himself yet he judged Ananias and Saphirah his wife to death yet a mortal man so is it with every true Prophet and Messenger of Christ he hath power to set life and death before men and power to judge and condemne those that rebel against his commission and to justifie those that yield obedience unto it yet all Gods Messengers they were mortal men now these mortal men had great power being commissionated of God and they all acted according to the tenor of their commission and some of them destroyed life presently And I am sure if you Fox had lived in Moses time you would have been consumed by him in the gainsaying of Corah for you would have rebelled against Moses Aaron as you do now against John Reeve and me but because my Commission is not to consume you immediately by a natural destruction you proudly vaunt your self against the Commission of the Spirit thinking you and your Christ within you shall be able to encounter with me and my Christ without me but I must judge according to my Commission of the Spirit and not as Moses and the Apostles did to destroy the natural life immediately but our commission is with relation to the spiritual estate of men and women after death and accordingly we judge yet but mortal men and must die our selves this power hath God given unto me and by vertue of this am I made Judge of the Quakers spiritual and eternal estate what will become of many of you after death And as for that saying The spiritual man judgeth all things this is to be minded that every true Messenger and Minister of Christ may be called a spiritual man and he is so because he teacheth such doctrine that doth comfort the spirits of some and torment the spirits of others in that it divides between the joynts and the marrow Also those that truly believe may be called spiritual men and can judge the spirits of unbelievers because they know by faith in the doctrine of the true God that others that have not the same faith cannot have that peace as they have for they know by experience in themselves when they were unbelievers they were without God in the world and so were not able to judge who were happy and who were not but being justified by faith in the true God they have peace with God and so can discern and judge the spirits of others by what they were themselves who were some time in darkness but now in the light of heaven and who ever hath this true faith in the doctrine of the true God may be said to be a spiritual man and able to judge all things that is naught in himself and all the unbelief and despisings of others And so he judgeth all things by his faith in the true God and in the Messenger God hath sent yet Minister and People are but mortal men and must die yet called by the Seed of Faith the spiritual man that judgeth all things and is judged of no man Therefore you Fox shall never have any spiritual man to judge you to eternal damnation but
to Darby Goal any more But this is that I would have the Reader minde that if I had been taken in a Meeting as the Quakers are then the Judge would have had the Law on his side and all other things I was accused of as blasphemy and how I had power to damn and to save and that I was one of the two Witnesses spoken of in the Revelation and that their believing the Scriptures now they were damn'd by me would do them no good these with such like things were given in against me I say all things would have been swallowed up in one meeting and the Judge would have took up that Law and would have given Judgement and Sentence upon me as he did to Baptists and Quakers in my sight onely for meeting contrary to the Act. Therefore if you Quakers would forbear meeting you need not suffer for your faith at all and if you would be ruled by me or take my advise not to meet at all for I am sorry that many innocent harmless people should waste their estates suffer Imprisonment and impoverish their health and suffer banishment and so bring their lives to an end before their time for that which is not truth For you do but imitate other mens Commission and practice so that you are traditional people as all other Churches are for if you do not meet contrary to the Law you need not suffer the loss of a groat for your Faith nor your Christ within you for the Powers of the Nation are of your minde as to your doctrine the Pope will agree with you as to that but all the strife amongst you is about Discipline this I am very sensible of Therefore I never rejoyced nor desired the sufferings of the Quakers for their meetings though I knew they suffered for a Lie yet I always pittied them when they were imprisoned and banished for meeting though I know they rejoyced at my Imprisonment and were sorry there was not worse punishment inflicted upon me the truth of this is clear by the writings of Richard Farnsworth and George Fox and other Quakers that I know who justified the Magistrates in what they did unto me and thinks the Magistrates might have punished me worse if they would but I know they would not have spared me so much as they do the Quaker had they had the Law on their side as they have against the Quakers But no more of that here 7. Fox calls me a lying spirit because I say it doth not belong to Christ now being in heaven to interpret Scripture Yet 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 CHAP. XXXV ANSWER HEre the Reader may see the ignorance of Fox the Quaker and all the rest of them of the true meaning of the Scriptures also I shall make it appear to those that have any true light in them that the interpretation of Scripture doth not belong unto Christ now nor never did but it belongs onely unto such men as he sends and hath given them the gift as thus First Moses was a man and did not he interpret unto his brethren the Israelites in Egypt the sayings of God unto him concerning their deliverance out of that bondage Did not Moses and Aaron interpret and shew signs and wonders in Egypt of those things God had revealed and made known unto them Was not these men that did this 2. Was not Joseph a man that did interpret his own dreams and the dreams of Pharaohs Butler and Baker and Pharaohs own dream Will you Fox say it was God that did interpret Pharaohs dream was it not Joseph a man like himself therefore promoted to great honor 3. Was not Daniel a man that did interpret the King of Babylons dreams Did God interpret the Kings dreams or Daniel that was a man did not those Kings of Babylon promote Daniel to honor in that the Spirit of the Holy Gods had given a man such wisdom and understanding to interpret Dreams Visions and hard Sentences all this was done by a mortal man and not by God himself 4. Was not the Prophets mortal men and not God yet they did interpret to the Kings of Israel and Judah the councel of the God of Israel what he would do if they would not forsake their idolatry and turn unto the worship of the Law of Moses he would make them desolate yet these Prophets were but men and not God Though Eliah did call for fire from heaven and destroyed two Captains and their fifties and fire to burn up the Sacrifice in the sight of the people and destroyed four hundred of Baals priests and shut the heavens that it rained not yet he was but a man it was not God himself that the King would or did seek after to kill him it was a man like himself Also Jeremiah when he unfolded and interpreted the Councel of God that other Prophets had foretold of concerning the destruction of Jerusalem to Zedekiah was it God himself that did interpret it to the King or was it Jeremiah a mortal man or no So all the Prophets little or much gave interpretations of the Councel of God concerning Jerusalem they were all but men and were not the people of the Jews bound to believe those men whom God sent except God would come himself Why then doth the Prophet Isaiah say Who hath believed our report or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed His meaning is this whosoever doth believe we that are Prophets sent of God believe but our report and you shall know the true God the God of Israel and the strength of his arm to save and deliver you from your sins but except ye believe our report who are men like your selves the arm of Gods saving health will never be revealed unto you for God will not do it by himself but by us his Messengers who are men will his arm of salvation be revealed unto if you believe our report 5. Was not Philip a man that did interpret that saying in Isaiah the Prophet which the Eunuch read Act. 8.32 He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before the shearer so opened he not his mouth Here Philip ran to the Charret and asked the Eunuch Vnderstandest thou what thou readest as verse 30 mark Said the Eunuch How can I except some man guide me Here you may see that the Eunuch did not expect that God himself should interpret Scripture unto him but saith he how shall I know the interpretation of Scripture except some man guide me that is except some man interpret it to me as the words doth imply for Philip opened those sayings unto him which made the Eunuch to understand and believe and be baptised Now will you Fox say that Christ
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