Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	aaron_n	apostle_n	law_n	26	3	4.0294	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

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

the Prophets gave witness as hereafter appears L. M. Here the Reader may see how simply he proves that I have no Commission from Christ and that I am no chosen Witness of Christ R. F. 1. He tells me that there were chosen Witnesses of Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness this he proves out of the Acts of the Apostles in divers places 2. That they had a Commission from Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness or that he commanded them to preach to the people This he proves likewise out of the Acts of the Apostles 3. They who were chosen Witnesses of Christ whom God the Father anointed sealed and sent and had a Commission from the Spirit and Power of Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness in testifying on the behalf of Christ their testimony stands as an evidence against as you say my pretended Commission and the doctrine thereof L. M. Reply Let any man that knows what belongs to a temporal Commission judge whether these places of Scripture which you have named doth prove me a false witness and my Commission to be a pretended thing or no for I do own and believe that the Prophets under the Law were true witnesses of Christ that is they did witness and testifie unto the people of the Jews that Christ the Savior of mankinde was to come and to be born of a Virgin this I do faithfully believe Also I do own and believe that the Prophets and Apostles were true Witnesses and Ambassadors of Christ and that the Apostles were chosen Witnesses of Christ to testifie and witness that Christ the Savior was now born in their time when they did thus witness as the Scriptures doth abundantly relate Also I do own and believe that Christ is ordained to be the Judge of the quick and the dead Also I do own and believe that the Scriptures were spoken as Holy men were inspired and so they may be called and are owned by me to be the Word or Words of God Yet this I say by the way that no man upon the earth at this day doth know the Scriptures truly nor can interpret them truly but us the Witnesses of the Spirit because all men in these days are ignorant of the form and nature of the true God and the right Devil as I have shewed in those Letters to Samuel Hooton and W. S. and to Edward Bournes and to your self Those Letters do open it more at large Again Do you blinde Quakers think that the repeating of Scripture-texts which were other mens Commissions and words that it will prove me a false witness and my Commission to be a pretended thing then I say those Jews which were under the Law of Moses might as truly have said as you do by me that the Apostles Commission wat but a pretended thing and their witness which they bore to Christ was a false witness and so they did therefore they persecuted them for it as you would do me if it lay in your power as it did in theirs 4. R. F. By their Commission they were to preach to the people and the same Commission and the doctrine thereof they were to testifie to them that Christ was ordained of God to be the Judge both of quick and dead but thou art not Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness therefore it is evident that thou art not chief Judge ordained of God though thou presume to say that after death they shall never see any other God or Judge but the remembrance of that Sentence which you the pretended Witnesses of the Spirit did pass upon them in this life because thou falsly saith no man knows the Scriptures but thy self and that no man can truly interpret the Scriptures but thy self and that no man ought to officiate the Office of a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ but such as are appointed by John Reeve and thy self Which Assertions or Doctrines of thine are false and not true for this I say that the onely knowledge and right of interpreting Scriptures belongs not to thy self but to the Lord Jesus and his blessed Spirit who is the true Judge and hath power to open mens understandings and can give them the true knowledge and right understanding of Scriptures Luke 24.32 Lodowick Muggleton 's Reply The Reader may see the gross darkness of the Quakers here he proves my Commission as he doth think to be false and a pretended thing from the letter of the Scripture as if the Prophets and Apostles Commission being repeated over so many hundred years since would make my Commission false and to be but a pretended thing when as I do declare that I do not take up my Commission from the letter of the Scriptures as other men do for that is a pretended Commission which doth counterfeit and pretend to do the same things as they did which had their Commissions signed and sealed by the voyce of God himself as Moses and Paul the Prophets and Apostles these I do own that they had a Commission from God but what is this to any Quaker or any other man doth this prove that the reading of other mens Commissions will make a man a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ surely no neither will the reading of the Scriptures prove my Commission to be false and a pretended thing as you say it is for I said in those Letters to the Quakers that my Commission is as true as the Prophets and Apostles Commissions were and of a more higher nature then theirs were this I own to be true for my Commission was given by voyce of words from God as theirs were therefore it is that I certainly know that God did give a Commission to Moses and the Prophets and unto his Apostles Also as Moses and Aaron were the two first that God did chuse and give a Commission unto to act forth the Law which did signifie the water so likewise God hath chosen John Reeve and Lodowick Muggelton to be his two last Witnesses and Prophets of the Spirit so that the repeating of the true Prophets and Apostles Commissions over again now will never prove me a false witness nor my Commission to be a pretended thing for the Jews which were under the Law of Moses might and did as well say as you do by me that the Apostles Commission was false and a pretended thing by their repeating of the Law and the Prophets but the repeating of other mens Commissions will not make void that which is given by voice of words from God for that will stand for ever and that you and many more shall know to your eternal pain and shame let your pretences be what they will Also I do own that the Prophets and Apostles of Christ did witness and testifie that Christ was ordained of God to be the Judge both of the quick and the dead I also do own and believe the same thing my self but what doth this prove therefore that I have

they were come but to Mount Sina which gendred unto bondage but those that were come unto the Faith of the Gospel were come unto Mount Sion Now the Law of Moses was Mount Sina and the faith of the Gospel of Jesus was Mount Sion and this Gospel of Jesus which was committed to his Apostles was the Commission of the blood and this Commission of the blood did know more then the Commission of the Law of Moses and the Prophets did so likewise this Commission of the Spirit doth know more then either of them both for Moses and the Prophets had no Scriptures for to interpret or expound but their own prophesies therefore the Apostles must needs know more then the Prophets did because they were the only interpreters of the Law and the Prophets and of their own signs so therefore their knowledge in the Gospel must needs be greater then that of the Law so likewise we the Witnesses of the Spirit must needs know more then either Prophet or Apostle because none can interpret the Scriptures but we the Witnesses of the Spirit and this Commission of the Spirit did God force and lay upon us against our wills and withal he hath given us understanding of his minde in the Scriptures above all the men in the world which words of Gods I finde to prove true for I do certainly know that I have more spiritual knowledge then all the men in the World nay I am sure that I do know more in spiritual things then ever Prophet or Apostle did since the beginning of the World then of necessity it will follow that I do know more then any shall do to the end of the World because I am one of the two last Witnesses and Prophets that God will ever send therefore my knowledge and judgement and sentence must needs be above all that is gone before me or that shall come after me to the end of the world yet I am no ways lifted up with pride and presumption because of this knowledge and authority that God hath given me above all men since the beginning of the world to the latter end I know what I say to be truth for true knowledge is never puffed up with pride neither am I whatsoever the seed of the serpent may judge of me for I do neither bless any out of affections for any by ends but according as I do discern their Faith in the thing neither do I curse any thorough envy or malice but either it is because they have sinned against the holy Spirit a sin that is not to be pardoned or else I do know them to be of that reprobate seed and so I know my judgement is true and according to the tennor of my Commission so that I am neither lifted up with pride nor cast down or troubled with sorrow but am very well satisfied in those that go on the right hand though they are but few as I am with those that go on the left hand though they be many for I see it must be so for God hath so decreed it and he hath been pleased to make it known unto me and hath made me the onely Judge of the two seeds now in this last days which is a thing I never did desire 4. There is little of your matter in this particular but rehearsing of my words onely you say that I under the pretence of the Commission of the spirit that I do presume to exclude all true Witnesses of the Spirit and also all true Ministers Messengers and Ambassadors of Christ from the work of the Ministry both now in this age and whilest the world doth indure to the end and intent that I might set up my self alone in their places and stead Answer That my Commission of the Spirit is no pretended thing but as true as God is Truth neither is there any true Messenger Minister or Ambassador of God in this world at this day but my self neither shall there be any sent of God after me to the worlds end for there can be no true Minister except he be sent of God by voice of words to the hearing of the ear or else by him that is so authorized which I know no speakers in the world hath neither the Priests of the nation which are ordained by man nor no other Sect which by their natural wit from the letter of the Scriptures doth think because they can play upon the letter of the Scriptures as upon a Harp that they are very good Ministers of Christ but he sent them not and as for you Quakers which thinkes the light of Christ within you is sufficient to make you Messengers and Ministers of Christ you are much mistaken for you do but run into the Ministry before you were sent for the light of Christ within a man did never authorize any man to be a Minister of Christ except he be ordained and authorized from a God without him or from a man without him which you Quakers do abhor to think that there should be any other authority besides the light of Christ within you but you will finde that the authority of a God without you will be too hard for the light of Christ within you For little do you Quakers know what that Son of Man is which John in Revelation 1.13 speaketh of so in the 16 verse There went out of his mouth a sharp two-eged Sword Now this Son of Man which John speaketh of was no other but Christ himself and this Christ is the very God and he is that Alpha and Omega the first and the last he that was dead and behold he is alive for evermore and this two-edged sword that came out of his mouth he hath put into my mouth and that was when he said I have put the two-edged Sword of my Spirit into thy mouth to pronounce blessing and cursing to eternity now God having put the two-edged Sword of his Spirit which came out of his mouth and hath put it into mine how will you Quakers or any others do to deliver your selves from it for it is a two-edged Sword it cuts down the seed of faith as the wheat in love and makes it obedient unto the Commission of the Spirit and so they are gathered as Gods wheat into his barn which barn is the Commission of the Spirit for every Commission is a shelter or as a barn to keep the wind storms and rain off from the wheat but on the contrary the other edge of this Sword which is put into my mouth it cuts down the tares the tares is the Seed of Reason which are bound in bundles and cast into the fire for this edge of the Sword which is the sentence of condemnation it cuts down many bundles of the seed of reason for the fire of hel to one sheaf of the seed of faith which is gathered into Gods barn that is to believe the Commission of the Spirit Now the Quakers and all other Sects the speakers of them

hath given me but confirm and strengthen it the more in that I know that they had the like power in their time according to the nature of their Commission as I have And now I certainly know that they were true and what their their power was in that I know my self to be true and what my power is now so that I cannot be deceived as you Quakers are with other mens Commissions that are dead you not knowing the extent of their Commissions nor when they began nor when they did end and your ignorance of those things makes you fight with the dead letter against a living Spirit just as if a man should fight with the sheath against him that hath a two-edged Sword in his hand so do you Quakers with me And as for my fleeing from Chesterfield to Backwel for fear of a few stripes or a whipping when the same was but threatened against me this is utterly false for I did not know that any such thing was threatned against me neither was I ever at Backwel in my life to my knowledge neither did it lye in the power of the Magistrates in that Countrey to do any such thing in case they had catcht me at that time I say it was more than their Law would bear them out to do but however if I had fled for fear of the Devils malice I did no more then other Prophets and Apostles which were Ambassadors of Christ before me they did the same as Eliah fled from Jezabel and Paul fled for fear of persecution and Christ gave advice to his disciples that when they were persecuted in one City to flee into another so that would have been no new thing neither should I have been e're the more a false Witness or Ambassador of Christ if I had fled for fear of a whipping And whereas you say that I was threatned for my false Judgement and Doctrine as you call it saying it was reviling cursing and damning As for cursing and damning I do own that I did pass the Sentence of eternal damnation upon some Quakers and others that was but according to the tenor of my Commission from Christ and I am very well satisfied in so doing but as for my reviling of any man or woman I never did it was alwayes contrary to my natural temper before I knew what a Commission was to revile any man or woman much less now that I think the Priest of Chesterfield will witness that when I was catcht and brought before the Mayor thereof and examined by the Priest I gave him nor no other man there no reviling speeches but as I am a Prophet and a Witness of the Spirit discerning that the Priest was of the seed of the serpent and of a persecuting spirit which would have took away my life if it had layen in his power or in the power of the Laws of England he would have done it though I never had any prejudice nor no speech with the man in my life before yet his envy and malice was so great to me for which I did pass the Sentence of eternal damnation upon him but no ways reviling but did give him civil respect as a Priest of the Nation which I think he will witness notwithstanding his malice and envy was great to me which did him no wrong nor no man else in that town yet he caused me to be sent unto Derby Goal where I did remain until the Assizes so that the malice of men hath been exercised upon me as much as lieth in their power to do and it is onely upon this account they cannot endure that God should give power to a man like themselves to bless and curse to eternity Neither do I curse any until he judge me first much less revile any you may as well say that a Judge when he passeth Sentence upon a malefactor to be hanged for the breach of such a law that is capable of death you may as well say that this Judge doth revile curse and condemn the man that hath broke the law when as the Judge can do no otherwise but according to the tennor of his Commission which he is authorized by Commission from the King so that every Judge is made a savour of life and death for the one he condemns to die according to the law and the other he doth acquit and set free and is this any less then a temporal blessing and cursing and no reviling at all Even so it is with me I being one of Gods chosen Witnesses and Ambassadors by vertue of his Commisson given unto John Reeve and my self I am made Judge of men and womens spiritual and eternal estate what shall become of them after death yet this I would have the reader to understand that though a Judge of the Land be Judge of many Countries and Shires yet his power is seen most in those that he doth acquit or condemn so is it with me my power is most seen in those that receive and believe me and so are blessed to eternity and in those that despise and persecute me in that they are cursed and damned to eternity for I never bless none but those that truly believe it neither do I curse any but those that despise or persecute me upon that account but all that doth neither receive it nor despise it I let them alone and meddle not with them but leave them to stand or fall as the two seeds within them shall uphold them or let them fall And as for your saying that I have reviled cursed and damned the beloved people of God meaning you Quakers So that I say I never did curse any of them till such time as they did Judge or despise my Commission first for I never do judge first so that I am certain that most part of the Quakers are the seed of the serpent and not the beloved of God so that those Quakers which I have cursed shall not escape they being the seed of the serpent and have despised to be taught any other way but by the light within them But I have opened that more clear in those Letters to Samuel Hooton and W. S. and to Richard Farnsworth himself therefore I shall say no more in that point I shall pass by those ten particulars repeated by R. F. to prove me not a chosen Witness of the Spirit and shall come to that which is of more concernment for the reader to know that is that God hath chosen me now in these last days to be an Ambassador and Witness of the Spirit and so chief Judge in the world concerning the spiritual and eternal estate of men and women after death and that I do go by as certain a rule as the Judges of the Land do when they give Judgement according to Law as may be seen aforesaid in the Letters to the Quakers Here R.F. would seem to prove me a liar First because saith he thou art both judge accuser and witness thy self and

saith that I do condemn and give judgement at my will and pleasure contrary to truth And he further saith that I do not go in so doing by so certain a rule as the Judges of the Land do Secondly He saith that I go not by so certain a rule when I pass the Sentence of death and damnation upon the souls and bodies of men as the Judges of the Land doth for which purpose he doth quote Judge Cook upon the confirmation of the Charters of the Liberties of England who sayeth this cause is worthy to be written in Letters of gold now what that clause is would be too tedious to write but the sum of all is that the Judges of the Land have certain outward known Laws as a rule of direction to guide and lead them to judgement when they give it according to Law but saith he thou Lodowick hast no certain outward known Laws either of God or the land as rule of direction and so forth Likewise he quoted many places of Scriptures and some out of the civil Law some out of Edw. third and Cooks Inst and with the Proverbs of Solomon he hath paid me with Solomons words and so bids me take notice of that which I do take great notice for I see by that that the Proverbs of Solomon is as good Scripture to the Quakers as any and how well the Quakers knows the Scriptures I am never a whit deceived in them people for they seem to have the greatest light but are the darkest people of all in the knowledge of the Scriptures and in the interpretation of Scriptures according to the common sense the Priests of the Nation doth go far beyond them for the Quakers are so choaked up with hearkening to the light of Christ within them that they despise the body or person of Christ without them but I have discovered their Ant●christ spirit more large in other Letters unto them so that I shall say the less here L. M. Reply The great thing to be known is how I will do to prove my selfe to be the chief Judge in spiritual matters and that I do go by as certain a rule as the Judges of the Land do when as they give Judgement according to Law seeing he hath brought so many places of Scripture and the Proverbs of Solomon and Acts of Edw. 3. and Judge Cooks Judgement of the Law all to prove me a false Judge and that I do not go in my sentence by any known Law either of God nor the Land so that if this be answered most part of his Pamphlet will be answered For it doth consist most part of it upon this thing therefore I shall give answer to it that others may be the better informed in themselves th●ugh I am satisfied in it as to my self yet this I do ingeniously confess that I never did pretend the knowledge of the Civil Laws of the Land neither do I. Now all the knowledge that I profess to know of them is to yeild obedience unto them in doing of them or else to suffer the penalty or punishment of them this is the greatest knowledge I have of them for if my innocency nor mony will not deliver me I must and will suffer under it but since God hath chosen John Reeve and my self to be his last Witnesses of the Spirit I know the better true power of a Judge For as Moses and Aaron were the two first chosen Witnesses of God so likewise John Reeve and my self are the two last that God will ever chuse by voice of words to the hearing of the ear and as Aaron was given to be Moses mouth so Lodowick Muggelton was given to be John Reeve mouth these things cannot be known but by faith neither can any man tell that God chose Moses and Aaron but by faith But if it be objected that Moses did miracles To that I answer that there is as much need of faith to believe that as the other for what cannot be seen must be believed So believing that God spake to John Reeve and that God gave unto John Reeve a Commission by voice from Heaven by verbal words to the hearing of the ear three mornings together and that I was given to be his mouth and by his voice did I receive my Commission whereby I am impowered to be a Messenger and Ambassador for the great God the Man Christ Jesus which is both God and Man who hath chosen me to be at this day chief Judge and hath given me a Commi●sion so to be as Paul said in his time meaning himself and the rest of his Apostles We saith he are Ambassadors in Christs stead beseeching you to be reconciled and the like So say I that I am an Ambassador in Christs stead to bless them that are reconcil'd unto the true faith in Christ and to curse and damn those that despiseth and speaketh evil of them whom God hath sent So that God hath made me chief Judge now to give sentence upon men and womens spiritual and eternal estate so that I shall unfold as short as I can how I may be said to be the chief Judge and that I do go by as certain a rule as the Judges of the Land do when they give Judgement according to Law These two things I shall unfold a little more clear then in those Letters aforesaid First that I am chief Judge in spiritual matters I prove thus Because I do believe and certainly know by the revelation of Faith that God did speak to John Reeve three mornings together distinct words and sentences to the hearing of the ear in the year 1651. February the third fourth and fift and gave him a Commission as he did Moses And Aaron was given to be Moses his mouth so was Lodowick Muggelton given to be John Reeve mouth so that John Reeve being the chief while he was living but since the burthen or Commission of the Lord hath been laid upon me and as Elisha had a double portion of Eliahs Spirit so have I had a double portion of Revelation of the Spirit in opening the Scriptures since John Reeve departed this life Also God said that he had chosen John Reeve his last Messenger and that he had given him Lodowick Muggelton to be his mouth and the next words following that he had put the two edged-sword of his Spirit into his mouth to pronounce Blessing and Cursing to eternity with many other words which are in publike therefore I shall say no more of them here so that John Reeve being dead I must needs be chief Judge in these dayes neither will God Commissionate any more after me to the worlds end because he did say that he had chosen us his last Now I being his last chosen Messenger I must needs be chief Judge of spiritual matters concerning men and womens eternal estate and what will become of them after death if these things cannot be believed by you Quakers and others I cannot help that neither

you were told so by the last true Prophet But if earthly Kings do pardon any traitor it is because some other persons in great power doth petition or intercede to the King for him and so perhaps the King for some ends best known to himself may save his life but keep him in prison all days of his life so that this can not properly be called a pardoning power except he freely forgive him and raise him up to the same honor which he had before but you Quakers have no such friend to intercede for you to the King of Heaven now you are condemned by his Messenger for Christ will not intercede for you for you have denyed him before men in that you deny that flesh and bone which he suffered death in and rose again in the same flesh and bone and ascended up into heaven and doth now remain there in that same body onely it is spiritualized and glorified body yet a body this I say you Quakers doth deny whatsoever you may prattle and talk of a Christ yet you own no Christ but what is within you this I know to be true else I should not be so j alous against those people more then others but for this very thing that Christ will never intercede for pardon for you Quakers that are condemned by me yet this I shall say if it will please you that if I be a false prophet and witness as you say I am then I say that curse which I have passed upon you and many others I say let it be all upon me and you shall all go free but if I be true as I know I am there is no possibility for you nor others to escape I can say no more in this thing but shall leave it to Christ the Judge of the quick and the dead to give me my reward according as I have been faithful in the Commission which he hath put upon me Againe it is not with earthly kings as it is with the King of Heaven for many times earthly kings have their pardoning power and their Condemning power which they have in themselves taken away from them and so doth stand in need of pardon themselves and so all those Iudges which had their Commissions from the king is worth nothing because another power hath overcome him and hath took it by the power of the sword so that earthly kings doth sometimes stand in need of pardon and mercy themselves for an earthly power doth stand no longer then till a stronger then he doth overcome him as may be read concerning the Kings of Israel and others which fought against them as Saul against King Agag and Jehu against the house of Ahab and divers others which might be named and so in G●rmany and many places of Christendom and here in England hath not the pardoning and condemnidg power been rent out of the Kings hands and so all those Iudges which had their Commissions from him are put out of their places of power and so their Commission is made void and of none effect This experience in these our days hath shewed the truth of it but that Commission which is given of God the King of Heaven cannot be made void neither can that man which God hath made Iudge of spiritual and eternal matters I say that mans Commission cannot be taken away by any but by God himself and seeing that no power can conquer or overcome God the King of Heaven to dis-throne him because he is from everlasting to everlaing and look what those Iudges that God hath chosen anointed and sealed for that purpose their Sentence is for everlasting and to eternity as God himself is For as an earthly Kings power doth last no longer than his life and not always so long so God being for ever to eternity so will those his commissionated Iudges their Sentence be everlasting and eternal a so so that those Iudge which God hath commissionated even we the Witnesses of the Spirit do go by a more certain rule than the Iudges of the land do when they give Iudgement according to Law neither can that sentence which I have passed upon you Quakers and others be revoked not as the Iudges of the Lands sentence may through many tricks and quibbles in the Law but no trick nor quibble in the repeating of Scripture-texts as you have done shall deliver you because I know the Law of the Scriptures as well as the Iudges of the Land do the Civil Law and though they may through Iuries and false witnesses give wrong sentence sometimes it is not so with me for I do walk by a more infallible rule than they do when I pass sentence upon men and women for it is not Iuries nor false witnesses that can turn or make me give judgement contrary to truth because I received my power and authority from the God of Truth and let men rage revile persecute and do what they can they will not be delivered from that Judgement that I have passed upon them and if their persecution should extend unto death it will but make the fire of hell to burn the more hotter in their souls to eternity In the latter part of your Pamphlet you spake something concerning the two Witnesses for say you if John Reeve and thy self were Joint-Commissioners and had your pretended Commission not severally asunder but joint together hath not say you the death of John Reeve made void thy pretended Commission to all intents constructions and purposes whatsoever Or if John Reeve and thy self did pretend to be the two Witnesses spoken of Rev. 11.3 and to have power given to them Hath not saith he the death of John Reeve made it evident against you to be none of them and so he goeth on repeating most part of the 11 chapter of the Revelation as if it were to be fulfilled legally as it is set down in the Letter L. M. Reply That the death of John Reeve doth not make void my Commission no more then the death of Aaron did make void Moses Commission of the Law neither was the Commission of the Law made void when Moses himself was dead or taken out of this world but stood in full force and vertue after that that many hundred years and was never made void until John the Baptist and Christ did enter into the Ministery of the Gospel for John the Baptist was the last Prophet of the Law and in his death the Commission of the Law of Moses was made void and of none effect to those that did believe in Iesus Christ which brought in a better Covenant or a better Commission than that of the Law so likewise the worship of the Gospel of Jesus which was set up by his Apostles which was according to the faith which they had in Jesus Christ his being the onely begotten Son of God and Saviour of them that believed but this Commission of the Apostles did stand in full force and vertue but a matter of three