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
there is no eternal life to be had but in the faith of thy Doctrine because thou sayest there is no eternal life to be had but in the faith of the Doctrine of a Prophet who hath a Commission from God And there neither is nor shall be any such Prophet thou sayest but thy self whilest the world endureth And also sayest That neither Dorothy Carter nor no man upon the earth can or ought to judge of thy Doctrine because thou sayest that neither she nor no man upon the earth can or ought to judge of the Doctrine of a Prophet who hath a Commission from God And sayest there neither is nor shall be any such Prophet but thy self as aforesaid And to exclude Dorothy Carter and all men upon earth from judgement in point of Doctrine is to exclude them from reception thereof and so from the reward if any be due which is contrary to the Doctrine of Truth which saith Prove all things hold fast that which is good 1 Thes 5.21 And try the Spirits whether they be of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world 1 John 4.1 And how can doctrines be proved and spirits be tryed if none he capable to judge thereof who are to receive By this it is apparent that thou art unwilling to have thy doctrine proved and spirit tryed lest upon tryal and proof thou be found out to be a false prophet which thou art as is apparent enough 6. That there is no eternal life to be had but in the faith of thy Doctrine and that none upon the earth can or ought to receive the same because thou hast excluded them all off from judgement in order to reception thereof by which its apparent that under pretence of thy Commission thou labors to exclude Dorothy Carter and all men upon earth from salvation which makes it evident against thee that thou art a messenger of Antichrist and not of Christ 7. That thou presumes under pretence of thy Commission of the Spirit to rob Christ of his Office which his Father hath committed unto him as Chief Judge ordained of God because thou sayest thou art chief Judge in the world ordained of God to give Judgement upon men and women spiritual and eternal and what shall become of them after death which is but thy presumption pride and false doctrine Rev. 1.5 For Christ Jesus who is the faithful Witness and Prince of the Kings of the earth he hath all Judgement committed unto him because it is written concerning him That the Father hath committed all Judgement unto him John 5.22 And hath given him Authority to execute Judgement because he is the Son as it is written John 5.27 But it is no where written in the Scriptures of Truth concerning thee Lodowick that all Judgement either is or shall be by the Father committed unto thee to pronounce the Sentence of eternal death and damnation upon the souls and bodies of men to eternity as thou hast done Whereby it appears thou wouldest exclude Christ from his Office in point of Judgement which the Father hath committed unto him and are thereby discovered to be a false witness and messenger of Satan Lodowick thou art not the chief Judge in the world at this day ordained of God as aforesaid Thy Message and Testimony is false and not true because the â—rue Witnesses of the Spirit and Ambassadors of Christ who were Anointed and Sealed of God have declared and said That God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness not by thee but by Jesus Christ whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead as may be read Acts 17.30 31. And because God hath ordained Christ Jesus to be Judge of all men and hath given them assurance of the same in that he hath raised him from the dead thou Lodowick art not that Judge ordained of God because thou art not Christ Jesus which was raised from the dead neither hath God given that assurance to all men of thee that he gave of Christ by raising him from the dead as aforesaid Here I charge thee to be a false judge and a false prophet that ran but never was sent of the Lord. Thy judgement and doctrine is very erroneous and false as is plainly manifest against thee and is therefore reversed They who were the true and faithful Witnesses and Ambassadors of Christ who were anointed and sealed of God and had a Commission of God they did not presume to take the Office of Christ as Judge ordained of God from Christ and assume it to themselves as thou most unjustly hast done whereby thou hast appeared to be a false prophet and messenger of Antichrist For they who were anointed and sealed of God who were the true Witnesses of the Spirit and had a Commission from Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness they witness against thee by testifying on the behalf of Christ that he commanded them to preach unto the people and to testifie that it is he who was ordained of God to be Judge of the quick and the dead Acts 10.42 First by their Commission they were to preach to the people And secondly by the same Commission they were to testifie to them that Christ was ordained of God to be the Judge both of quick and dead Therefore thou art not Judge because thou art not Christ as aforesaid And whereas thou accusedst the Quakers to be of the nature and seed of the Serpent and gave judgement against them accordingly thou hast cleared them from the same by thy self-confutation and self-contradiction wherein thou sayest That the Quakers do preach from the Scriptures and light within and that devils are cast out and much good is done by them First the Quakees so called do preach from the Scriptures and light within Secondly because they so preach they are sent of God for how shall they preach except they be sent Thirdly That by vertue of their preaching and the power which they have received of God devils are cast out and much good is done by them and such are not of the nature and seed of the Serpent Thou hast cleared them from the same by thy self-confutation and then to what purpose is all thy false Judgement and what ever thou hast laid against them in thy presumption pride and imagination It is but error in judgement and is therefore undone as I said and holden for nothing Written by Richard Farnsworth Quaker and sent to Dorothy Carter to be directed to Lodowick Muggleton Lodowick Muggleton's ANSWER to Richard Farnsworths Letter Richard Farnsworth I Received a Paper from you entituled False Judgement reversed and against testified in Answer to Lodowick Muggleton In answer to this Paper of yours I shall first commend you in these two things first in that you have set your name to it for I have a Letter from a Quaker in Lancashire which hath
neither set his Name nor two letters yet I have made a shift to send an Answer but I had rather to have his name or two letters as I had of W. S. The second thing that I commend you for is because you have set down my words so truly and punctually it makes my Commission and Authority to shine the more bright and clear to all those that understand the nature and power of a Commission though you in the close of many of those passages have slighted vilified and spoken evil of those things which are as true as Truth it self and that you shall find And because you are not under the Sentence of this Commission of the Spirit by verbal words or writing already I shall give Answer to your Letter for I never do give answer in writing to any one that is under the Sentence of this Commission for he is but as a condemned man neither is it the practice of any earthly Judge after he hath condemned a man to die for to treat any more with him that is so condemned neither can that man get the Judge to revoke it but perhaps a man so condemned by the Law may make suit to the King which is above the Law and so may get his pardon but that is seldom known But it is not so with those that are condemned by the Commission of the Spirit because no condemned person can make his Appeal unto God the King of Heaven neither by himself nor by any other because God the King of Heaven is not in this world at all therefore he hath commissionated mortal men to be Messengers Ministers and Ambassadors to treat with mortal men about their spiritual and eternal estate and every true Ambassador stands in Gods stead and hath power to condemn and to save alive that is to bless to eternity and to curse to eternity And this power hath God given unto us two the chosen Witnesses of the Spirit neither can God take it again because God hath spoken it and cannot lye for he said these words That he had chosen us two his last Messengers unto this bloody unbelieving world and that he had put the Two edged Sword of his Spirit into our mouthes that who ever was pronounced blessed through our mouthes are blessed to eternity So on the contrary who ever we pronounce cursed through our mouthes are cursed to eternity and this I know God cannot revoke because he is Truth and cannot lye Therefore to give Answer to those despising slighting and vilifying words of yours in your Letter against those Truths which you have set down which was written to Edward Bourne and the four sheets which I sent to Samuel Hooton and W. S. And in the first part of your Letter you have shewed what seed and nature you are of even as Edward Bournes and Samuel Hooton and W. S. have done you being of the same seed as they are of that is the seed of the Serpent which must go the same way as your father Cain which begot you must go for you have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit that sent me by calling the Authority of this Commission of the Spirit Antichristian and very Erroneous and a false prophet and a Delusion with many other wicked speeches thoroughout your paper which is a clear testimony and discovery unto me that you are the seed of the Serpent and so guided and led by the spirit of Antichrist now in this last Age of the world The first thing that you do accuse in me to be false is that you say that under the pretence of a Commission of the Spirit that I have abused belyed and wronged the Spirit by presuming in the Name and Authority of the Spirit to set up my self as Judge Accuser and Witness to condemn at my will and pleasure all such as are beloved blessed and justified of God Answer That my Commission of the Spirit is no pretended thing but as true as ever Moses and the Apostles Commission was and of as great my of a greater authority than theirs was and given by the same Spirit of Truth as theirs was Neither have I set up my self as a Judge Accuser or Witness but God hath set me up to be the chief Judge in the world at this day for he hath set me in his stead to be Judge Accuser and Witness to judge and condemn Antichristian spirits that doth deny God to be a distinct person of himself of flesh and bone and all blasphemous spirits which sinneth against the Holy Ghost These two things there is more of the Quakers doth commit than any other Sects whatsoever therefore there is great need that God should make some mortal man Judge of these conceited stubborn-hearted people called Quakers neither are those people the beloved blessed and justified of God but the most cursedst of God of all other Sects neither doth any other Sect fight against Gods being in the form of a man as they do for they have got Christ within them but doth abhor that he should have flesh and bone of his own without them and by this Christ which is flesh and bone glorified without me am I made Judge of mens spiritual estate neither shall any one that I have condemned see any other God or Judge but that Sentence which we the Witnesses of the Spirit have passed upon them And though you call it presumption and a thing undone and holden by you as nothing but errors false judgement pride and such like yet you shall finde it to be as true as if God had judged you himself for this I can boldly say that I am as true an Ambassador of God and Judge of mens spiritual estate as ever any was since the Creation of the world and if you Quakers and others can satisfie your selves that there never was any man commissionated of God to bless and curse then you shall escape that Curse that I have pronounced upon so many hundreds and I onely shall suffer for cursing others without a Commision from God but I know by what authority I do these things and so I am at perfect rest as to my Eternal happiness in that I have heen obedient unto my Commission which was given of God by voyce of words to the hearing of the Ear. 2 You say that I under pretence of a Commission from God have presumed in my imaginations and pride in my heart to exalt my self above God and Christ and to take all pardoning power from them because say you that I account of my sentence and Judgment if once pronounced and past though never so erroneous and false that they might not be able to reverse and undo the same that I presume to take all pardoning power from God and Christ in that case because I say no infinite Spirit of Christ nor any God can or shall be able to deliver from my Sentence and Curse which you Quakers doth say these sayings aforesaid is my error and lying divination or
despising spirits And though there be a general Day of Judgement that is a general day of Execution when men shall receive the possession of eternal happiness or eternal misery and this may be called the day of Judgement which Christ shall judge the world with when as it shall be said Come you blessed and Go you cursed but the Judgement and Sentence they have in this life by those Prophets Ministers and Messengers of Christ which he hath made Judges for that purpose it is just like a Goal-delivery The Judges many times condemns men to die yet the Execution is not immediately done but at the day appointed it is so it is with all true Prophets who are made Judges of the spiritual and eternal estate of mankinde they have their Judgement in this life and in the day of death it is put in execution by Death for there shall be no more pleading with God but this will be all that God will say in the Resurrection Come you blessed and Go you cursed neither shall you Quakers and others have any other Sentence but what I have passed upon you and when death seizeth upon you then shall you enter into the possession of it by passing through this first death and so enter into the second death where you shall remain for ever and ever In the last place you say that I accuse the Quakers to be of the nature and seed of the Serpent also I do say that the Quakers do preach from the Scriptures and light within and that devils is cast out and much good is done by them And from these words of mine you say that I confute and contradict my self for this Quaker would fain prove that because they preach from the Scriptures and light within therefore they are sent of God for how shall they preach saith he except they be sent and by vertue of their preaching and the power they have received of God devils are cast out and much good is is done by them and such saith he are not of the nature and seed of the Serpent Answer As for you Quakers being the nature and seed of the Serpent that is certainly so and can be no other ways because you are the very influence of John Robins spiritual witch-craft power upon you and the very spirit of Antichrist doth run thorough the bodies of the Quakers for they do all of them deny a personal God without them they do all of them deny also the resurrection of a body so that they are the greatest fighters against God of any for they having got Christ all within them they are such a proud conceited stiff-necked people that no body can deal with them but this Commission of the Spirit and this I will say to you that there is never a Quaker that is a speaker neither man nor woman that liveth and dyeth in that principle that can possibly be saved no more then Cain and Judas is saved think of your selves what you will and do not you Quakers think because you by the letter of the Scriptures and by the light within you do cast out devils and much good is done thereby that you are ever the less the Serpents seed neither doth that prove that you are sent of God but rather the contrary for the Priests of the nation and all other Sects of Religion doth the same things for the Papist Ministry by report hath done more wonderous things in that kinde then any Quaker ever did by the laying on of the hands of the Elders and anointing of them with Oyl and praying over them and such like they have cured as they say diseases and cast out devils and other wonderous things and which I never heard that any Quaker ever did the greatest things that ever I have heard the Quakers do is to finde fault with a piece of Ribbon or Gold-button or a Bandstring and such like and to possess themselves with a melancholly spirit of Witch-craft and so fall into Witch-craft fits to lie humming and groaning which doth fright the beholders so in stead of those merry devils which they had upon the Ranting-score where all was good lying with their neighbors wife deslowering virgins couzening and cheating and destroying every one in their outward estate which did entertain them and now that devil is cast out now they are grown in as much extream on the other side for now they are grown so precise and exact for apparel and for words no word must be plac'd out of joint so that no man can almost tell how to deal with them and this melancholy devil hath cast out the ranting devil which makes them so proud and stiff-necked thinking themselves that they are better then other people when as they are worse for they are possest with the spirit of Witch-craft which makes them a two-fold more the children of the devil then they were before which none can discover but this Commission of the Spirit neither did I ever hear by any which hath heard the Quakers speak that they did ever preach any sound doctrine but onely exhort people to hearken to the light within them which is a very low and easie thing for every ordinary understanding to comprehend and that is the cause there is such a multitude of men and women fall into it which if they were sent of God there would but few understand their doctrine nor bear their words for no Quaker need suffer any thing for his doctrine for that is but like other mens nay there is not so much in their doctrine as there is in the Priests of the nations doctrine therefore the Quakers are not sent of God no more then the Priests of the nation or any other Sect is for the Priests of the nation they preach from the light of the Scriptures and from the power of the civil Magistrate and the Quakers they preach from the letter of the Scriptures and from the light of Christ within and though devils be cast out by you both and much good be done by you both yet neither of you are sent of God because neither of you nor no other is sent by voice of God without you so that I have not cleared the Quakers from being the Serpents seed neither have I confuted my self neither will my Judgement prove false concerning you Quakers but you will finde it to as much purpose as if God had said it himself notwithstanding you call it false Judgement Pride and Presumption and error in Judgement and therefore undone and holden for nothing by you Quakers and so forth Now I have given answer to as many passages in your paper as is necessary I have been something larger then I did intend but because others may be benefited by it it may be worth the labor for had it been no more for others benefit then for yours I would onely have sent the sentence unto you and no more but I having read and viewed your paper over with serious deliberation I
finde very little matter or substance in it but the repeating of my words but for that which is your own the most of it is in speaking evil of those truths which you have read out of those four sheets which was sent Samuel Hooton and W. S. and in that Letter to Edward Bourn which is a clear discovery to me that you are the seed of the serpent and that you have sinned the sin against the holy Ghost for that is a thing which most Quakers do for I find in your paper a multitude of blasphemous speeches against this Commission of the Spirit by calling of it errors false judgment delusion pride and presumption with many more such like expressions almost at the end of every sentence which is enough to damn a thousand Quakers if they should speak but the fourth part as you have done therfore in obedience unto my Commission I do pronounce Richard Farnsworth for this his cursed blasphemy against the holy Spirit that sent me cursed and damned both in soul and body from the presence of God elect men Angels to eternity For God hath made me the Judge of the Light of Christ within you and of that infinite Spirit which you call God without you For though Christ be the true way yet I am as John the Baptist was the messenger to prepare the way and to make his paths straight And though Christ be the truth and the life yet I am the onely declarer what this truth and life is And though Christ be the door yet I have the key given me to open the door to life Eternal and this Commission of the Spirit is that key of David which openeth and no man shutteth And though Christ be the true Shepherd which hath laid down his Life for his sheep yet I must be as Peter was I must feed his sheep and feed his Lambs with that green pasture which is the doctrine of truth whereby they may ly down in perfect rest in their minds and rejoyce in God their Saviour so that they may leap for joy as the young Lambs do upon the green hills And though Christ be the onely true God the King of Heaven yet I am his onely Ambassador so that there is no coming to treat with him but by receiving his Ambassador this Commission of the spirit being it These things being so How is it possible that you Quakers and others that have despised the Commission of the Spirit of truth should escape the damnation of Hell Written by Lodowick Muggelton one of the two last Witnesses and Prophets unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory Lodowick Muggleton's Reply to Richard Farnsworths printed Pamphlet I Saw a printed Pamphlet of Richard Farnsworth called Truth Ascended Or The Anointed and Sealed of God defended as a testimony as he saith against a counterfeit Commission as he calls it meaning Lodowick Muggelton I had thought not to have printed no more but seeing this Quaker hath put something in print against me he thinking thereby to make me the more odious unto the world and to lye the more open to the Magistrate he hath printed this pamphlet against me and because the Quakers shall not boast as if they had set out such a thing that could not be answered I am moved in my mind to put those Letters of the Quakers to me and my Answers to them with my Answer to this printed pamphlet into the publike view that their deceit may be the more discovered to the world and that I am not ashamed to own those Letters which I sent to them nor that sentence and curse which I have pronounced upon them and others let the effect be what it will And whereas Richard Farnsworth doth say that he is bold in the behalf of the Lord once again to bear his testimony against as he calls it my pretended Commission and the Doctrine thereof I marvel what Lord it is the Quakers are bold in 〈◊〉 a true Prophet may blow their Lord away with the breath of his mouth for they have no other Lord or God nor Christ but what is within them for their God nor Christ they so much talk of hath never a body nor substance of his own as those Letters afore-written of mine doth more fully discover wherein the Quakers are discovered to be led and guided by the spirit of Antichrist which doth deny God come in the flesh that is to say that the flesh and bone of Jesus Christ which he suffered death in is not now living in heaven distinct of himself from man this I say is the Quakers faith and principle and Antichristian this I know to be true as will be read in those Letters of mine unto them and from this body of Jesus which they deny have I power to blow Richard Farnsworths Lord which he is bold in away for they own no other Lord but what is within them so that all Quakers in their conceit are Gods but I shall say no more of that but shall proceed to answer those things which are of most concernment and most needful in his printed Pamphlet for the satisfying of all people who shall come to read or hear it which is as followeth WHat I have written in a sheet of paper to Edward Bourne and also those four sheets to Samuel Hooton and W. S. which was directed to Thomas Highfield at Notingham and I do own to be as true as the Prophets and Apostles Writings were to those people in their time neither shall they be delivered from that Sentence which I have declared or pronounced upon them Also I was in some hopes that you would have put them Letters with that which I sent to you in print as they were written to them and you it would have saved me that charge and trouble which now I shall be put into for I will if I can get them printed come unto publick view with your Letters to me without any alteration but as you have written them to me so that my presumption pride and false doctrine as you call it and your deceit and Antichristian spirit may be discovered unto the world that the people may be no more cheated with your hypocritial shew of holiness which never could have been discovered by any but by this Commission of the Spirit which God hath given to John Reeve and my self And whereas you R. F. doth say that you are bold on the behalf of the Lord once again to bear your testimony against my pretended Commission and the doctrine thereof and that you shall make it appear that it ought not to be entertained by any man or woman upon earth because say you it is contrary to truth And that my Judgement ought by all to be reversed undone and made void because say you it is erroneous and false for say you that I am no chosen Witness of the Spirit of Truth neither have I say you received any Commission from Christ to whom all
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 Antâ—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 thâ—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 Commiâ—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
doth this power which God hath given me any ways dishonor or disthrone Christ of his Office of being the Judge of the Quick and the Dead for God doth do much like unto an Earthly King for though a King be the chief Judge of those Kingdoms which he is King of yet he doth Commissionate some particular man to be chief Judge to be in his stead though the King doth Commissionate many more Judges yet there is but one particular in every Kingdom which is called Lord Chief Justice of England Scotland or Ireland these being three distinct Kingdoms they have three distinct particular persons which are called Chief Judges and they are so by Commission from the King besides all other Judges yet you see that the King though he be Chief Judge of all his Kingdoms yet he seldom or never acts in Judgement himself but doth leave it to those which he hath Commissionated for that purpose So is it with the God of Heaven though Christ which is God and Man be King of heaven and chief Judge both in Heaven and in Earth in spiritual and eternal matters yet he by Commission doth chose some particular person to be chief judge in spiritual things as Moses was chosen chief Judge and Samuel and Elijah and Elisha and divers other Prophets which did govern Israel that were chief Judges in the worship of God at that time as there must also be one particular man that must be High-priest so likewise Peter was the chief Apostle and so chief Judge so that some particular man must be chief in all places of trust whether it be under a earthly King or under the King of Heaven yet no dishonor nor dis-throning either of them both so the God and King of heaven having chosen John Reeve and my self he hath Commissionated me to be his Messenger Minister or Ambassador in his stead to set life and death before men even as Moses did to the people of Israel and as men and women do receive it they shall have life eternal abiding in them and some can witness it at this day and as men and women doth despise the Doctrine of Truth declared by us the Witnesses of the Spirit they have the sentence and seal of eternal death abiding in them and many can witness that in themselves but that they will not yet some few to my knowledge hath been forc'd to do it thorough the terror of soul but however it is not the fewness of them that do receive it nor the multitude of them that despise it doth make me question e're the more the truth of my Commission and though Christ be the King of heaven and the Judge of the quick and the dead at the last day and so he is the chief Judge in that he can raise men and women again and give the possession both of eternal happiness and eternal misery according to that sentence which the Prophets and Apostles and we the Witnesses of the Spirit did pass upon them in this life so that we see that God hath made chief Jugdes in spiritual matters we do no ways dis-throne Christ of his Office no more then the chief Judge of England doth dis-throne the King in that his Commission from the King will bear him out he judging according to the tenor of his Commission so is it with me God having made me chief judge of mens spiritual and eternal estate what will become of them after death and I going and judging according to the tennor of my Commission I do no ways dishonor my King but honor him in that I am faithful to that trust which God hath intrusted me with and I am very well satisfied in the performance of it yet this I would have the reader to know though I do own my self the chief judge in spiritual matters yet this I say that every true believer of this Commission is a judge as well as I my self and may upon occasions when they meet with despising spirits curse them to eternity if their saith be strong enough to bear them up so that they do not doubt For if any shall pass the sentence upon another and doubt the influence of that sentence will return back again to themselves this I have seen in some believers of this Commission of the Spirit some again of the believers have been so strong in their faith that the sentence which they have passed upon despising spirits it hath had as great effect upon them it was passed upon as mine hath and rather greater so that every believer of this Commission whose faith is strong is a judge as well as I though not chief judge but if peoples faith be weak and not strong enough to bear them out in it I do not tie them to any such thing but I could wish they were all so strong that the devils might be met with every where where the knowledge of this Commission of the Spirit is known and believed And as the King of earth hath many Judges in his Kingdom yet but one chief Judge in l ke manner is it with God the King of Heaven he hath many Judges of despising spirits in spiritual and eternal things yet but one chief judge and as the Apostles were chief Judges in their time yet the believers of them were saints and so judges therefore it is said that the saints should judge the earth nay saith Paul know you not that we shall judge Angels What is that That is you that are believers of our Gospel you shall be made by the power of faith to judge wise and prudent Angel-like men in the wisdom of reason which came from the fallen angels seed and nature indued with piercing rational God-like wisdom therefore called Angels these are those Angels which the Saints in Pauls time should judge so is it now with me I being chief judge in these last days I have judged many wise Luciferian Angel-like spirits within this twelve years and so hath some of the believers in this time judged many of these Angels they may be called Angels because they are of the serpent Angels seed and hath the highest wisdom of Reason in them which their fallen estate will afford but the weak and simple seed of faith must be their judges so that it may be clear to the reader that understands that all true believers of this Commission of the Spirit are judges of men and womens spiritual and eternal estate what shal become of them after death yet none to be chief judge but my self 2. The second thing is to shew that I do go by as certain a rule as the Judges of the Land do when as they give judgement according to Law To this I say that the Judges of the Land they have a Commission first from the King to be Judges 2. They have the Book of the Law to be their guides 3. They must be men supposed to know the Law 4. According to the known Law the Judge giveth sentence and