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
would have it proved by Scripture that God made Angels spiritual persons neither can it enter into your heart to believe that the serpent was made by the Wisdom and secret Council of God to bring forth his seed to oppose the Creator and yet you read in the Scripture that God would put enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman From what did this seed of the serpent come but from that reprobate Angel which is always in opposition unto the seed of the woman which is the seed of Adam which is the seed of Faith which is the seed of God The knowledge of these two Seeds is that which can truly explain the true meaning of the Scriptures and open the gates of hell and let in all the seed of the serpent who deny a personal God in flesh and bone glorified Also the knowledge of the two seeds doth open the gate of heaven unto the seed of Faith and lets them enter in to that everlasting glory where they shall see their God face to face to their eternal joy because God hath a body and face and so shall every seed have a face of its own And though the seed of the serpent shall have a face of its own yet it shall never see the face of God Angels nor man no nor their own face to eternity for as they lived and died in darkness here in this world not knowing what the form and nature of the true God is nor the form and nature of the right Devil and so not knowing what nature and seed themselves are of they shall rise again in that eternal darkness never stirring from the place they are raised to eternity I write these Lines unto you Edward Bourne knowing you to be of the seed of the serpent and appointed to eternal damnation before you were born though you know it not I do know it by your speaking evil of that doctrine which is declared by us the VVitnesses of the Spirit by calling of it Deceit Confusion and Lies with many more wicked speeches against the purest Truth that ever was declared by Prophet or Apostle because this is the Commission of the Spirit and the last Witness of God on earth Therefore for these your hard sayings against the Doctrine of this Commission of the Spirit in obedience unto my Commission I do pronounce you cursed and damned soul and body from the presence of God elect men and Angels to eternity neither shall that light within you nor any God deliver you from this Curse but according to my word it shall be upon you because you shall know that God hath given power unto man to curse you to eternity and that there is a Prophet of the Lord now in the Land Written by Lodowick Muggleton one of the two last Witnesses and Prophets unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory Vale. August the 10. 1662. A LETTER of Samuel Hooton and W. S. to Lodowick Muggleton Friend FOR so we can call thee as Christ did Judas and also the sloathful servant whose talent was hid in the earth who art in the highest state of inchantment Thou hast slandered the children of the Most High God thy lips hath uttered lies thy tongue hath forged deceit thou art a false witness a wanderer a vagabond from the true understanding true knowledge and councel under whose tongue is the asp and the venome who out-sputters it against the children of light but with it thou art comprehended and shall be made manifest and the hook 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vah is put into thy nostrils by which thou shalt be held and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obed is thy state if thou canst read it which upon thee shall come canst thou read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tame thou hast polluted thy self thou hast defiled thy self thou hast made thy self unclean and thou art unclean and art in the highest state of Ranters from the holy body in the polluted body and where ever thou hast an entrance thou wilt defile and thou mayest deceive fools and them that be void of understanding but the sound and the weighty thy spirit hath not nor never had any entertainment for thou art clothed with a Curse and not with a Blessing the fruits of which is sputtered abroad and the eternal Sentence of Judgement of the Lord God is sentenced upon thee And now to the matter of thy flanders and scandals and reproaches that thou casts upon the Most High's children First Thou sayest We that are called Quakers are guided and led by the Spirit of Antichrist Answer This is false for we are in the Spirit of Christ before Antichrist was and we have it and are Christs and so thy slanders doth not touch us but is thy own who speaks of thy self and beareth witness of thy self but our witness is in Heaven which beareth witness of us and witnesseth to us which thou hast manifested thou knowest not who judges with evil thoughts and is in that judgement which is to be reproved for we have Judgement to sentence and judge such spirits perpetually Secondly Thou sayest We are the worst of all and the most cursed of all in point of doctrine Answer This is false again and from slanderous lips our doctrine is Christs and the Apostles and we that doth his will do know his Doctrine and we are in the power of God that was before Sects was and thou art the man that wanders up and down to make Sects whose mouth is filled with cursing and soweth it so thou shalt reap of the same which will enter into thy bowels who art the Antichrist out of Christs doctrine and the Apostles and an enemy to it which saith bless and curse not therefore thou art one of the cursed children the Apostle speaks of who speaks forth the high swelling words of vanity to the alluring of the lusts of the flesh and so to catch people with thy bait but thy damnation and judgement lingreth not nor slumbreth not Remember thou wast told this in thy life time Thirdly Thou sayest We deny both the Father and the Son to be a person in the form of a man and that we deny the same flesh and bone of Jesus which suffered death was layed in the grave which rose again which was seen afterwards by his Apostles and others which ascended up into heaven in that same flesh and bone which he suffered death Answer To this we charge thee and command thee to mention the man and the place of his abode that denied this and is a Quaker Secondly thy charge is utterly false and lies and slanders as to us and the Lord will judge thee for sowing such lies abroad for we own Christ and none of us denies him that was prophesied of seen by the Prophets and holy men of God came according to the Prophecy and was born of a Virgin according to the Prophecy of Isaiah and suffered death and rose again
what is her Cup 5. What is the woman that fled into the Wilderness And what is the Wilderness And what are the times and time and half a time that she was to be fed theâ—e And what was the number of the Beast which is the number of a man and what is the number of a man 6. What is the Serpent And what is the Tree of Knowledge And what is the Tree of Life And what is the flaming Sword And what is the body of Death And the body of Sin is it a mans outward body yea or nay 7. Shall a man be made free from Sin and Death whilest he be upon earth and be made perfect 8. Dare thou say that thou hast the same Spirit and Power as Christ and the Apostles had 9. Hast thou heard the voice of God and Christ immediately from Heaven Hast thou seen the shape of God 10. What is the first principle of the pure Religion And what is that which leads to Repentance And what is that which gives the knowledge of God and of Christ And whether it be within man or without man 11. What and where is the Church of Christ 12. Doest thou sin or canst thou sin Or hast thou any guilt for sin 13. Hath every man the Spirit of God 14. What is the honor that is from above And what is the honor that is from below 15. Doest not thou continue in the highest strain of Ranters Seeing thy mouth is full of cursing and yet thou art finding fault with those that be changed from it 16. What is Evil And what is Good And what is Light And what is Darkness And how doest thou know them and distinguish them in thy self And if thou can distinguish the one from the other then what is it to be baptized for the dead mark we ask thee what this baptism is for the dead and what is the dead 17. What is it that leads nature out of its course And what is it that defaces the glory of the first body And what is the glory of the first body and what is it that leads nature in its course And where is it 18. What is Self-righteousness and its ground And what is the Gospel And what is Election And what reprobation And what is Cains mark Answer these things in Writing and send them to Thomas Hyfield at Notingham Lodowick Muggleton's Answer to Samuel Hooton and VV. S. Samuel Hooton and W. S. I Received a paper from you two being Quakers wherein I finde your Spirits much moved to wrath and railing because I have told the truth to one John Levens formerly a Sword-man in the Army but now turned Quaker In a Letter to him it doth concern all the Quakers all the world over and through some passages in that Letter you have been moved by that light within you to send a long railing Letter unto me with some Propositions from Scripture-texts for me to answer which railing Letter of yours is so much and your questions so many that it would take up a volumn to answer Yet nevertheless because you are not under the sentence of this Commission already and for the further information of other Quakers that are not under it And for others that shall come to hear or see this Answer I shall trouble my self so far as to give answer both to the railing part of your Letter and if your Queries be worth the answering which is not already answered in some of our writings I shall say something to them for some of those Scripture texts which you quote is not worth the answering And those that are of most concernment are interpreted and unfolded very plainly in that Treatise of the Interpretation of the 11 Chapter of the Revelation of St. John That is to say Concerning the Tree of Life The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Of the Serpent Of the Woman that fled into the Wilderness What that Wilderness is What the time and times and half a time is What the Dragon is What the Beast out of the Bottomless-pit is What the State of Adam was in his Creation with the Person and Nature of Angels and the Immortality of the Soul with many other deeper secrets then those Texts of Scripture which you mention doth or can bear which Books that are written by us the Witnesses of the Spirit such Devils as you are not worthy to look into But to give answer to the railing part of your Paper which hath very little else in it and if there be any thing in the Queries worth the Answering which is not answered already in some of our writings I shall do it not rendering railing for railing but I shall speak what I certainly know concerning you two and the Ministry of the Quakers and all those that believe them which continue in that Faith after they have heard of this Commission of the Spirit I know what I speak to be truth as with relation to your Principles and to your Eternal estate 1 Answer The first part of your Paper hath little in it but railing against me onely where you say that I am in the highest state of inchauntment in that I have slandered the Children of the most High God First I declare as I am a Prophet and Messenger of the true God that the people called Quakers are not the Children of the Most High God but for the generality of them they are the children of the devil and are the very seed of the devil and were begotten by him and I as I am an Ambassador ordained of God by voice of words can as truly say that they are of the seed of the Serpent and so the Children of the Devil as Christ did to the Jews when he said that they were Serpents yea Devils and the Devil was their Father so can I say by you Quakers and many thousands more aswell as you that you are the Children of the Devil that were begotten by him and not begotten by Adam who never came through the loins of Adam though they came through the womb of Eve For this I know that Cain was the first-born of the Devil and Adam had no part in the begetting of him And from this Cain came those Jews that Christ called Serpents and Devils And the Quakers people which you call the Children of the Most High God are the Children of Cain who was that Angel or Serpent that beguiled Eve which became flesh blood and bone and so begat millions of men and women which are his Children whereof most of the Quakers are Therefore do not you say that I slander them in saying that they are led by the spirit of Anti-christ and that they are the worst of all in point of doctrine though the best of all in practice of Life For what I have said of them will prove no slander nor ill report but truth is self Neither can any Quakers principles comprehend me nor the Doctrine declared by us the Witnesses of
for it of God and there is never a one that I have cursed that shall escape that curse which I have denounced upon them neither will any God deliver them from it for I do curse none but the seed of the Serpent who had his curse denounced upon him and his seed at the beginning by God himself Now in this last age God hath given me power and discerning to determine and give judgement upon men and women according as I do discern by their words and I thereby also know what nature and seed they are of and accordingly I give judgement upon them for I do go by as certain a rule as the Judges of the Land do when they give true Judgement according to the Law For God hath ordained me the chief Judge in the world at this day to give sentence upon men and womens spiritual and eternal estate what will become of them after death Full of this cursing I confess my mouth is and I do rejoyce in it too I know that God is well pleased in the damnation of those that I have cursed and I am wonderous well satisfied in giving judgement upon them according to the tenor of my Commission and this is that which you call swelling words You would have called the Prophet Eliahs words swelling words if you had been of those four hundred priests of Baal which he commanded to be slain by the power of his word which power of the Commission of the Spirit is of a more high nature then that of Eliah's was for his was but the sentence of death natural but this is the sentence of death eternal but because it is not immediately executed as his was you think that there is nothing in it but it will be found suddenly enough both to you and to many that are entred into the second death already for there is no time to the dead but after death to judgement which judgement they have in themselves which is the remembrance of that sentence that we who are Witnesses of the Spirit did pass upon them in this life for they shall never see any other God or Judge but that sentence that we have passed upon them You are much mistaken if you think to deal with a Prophet that hath a Commission from God as you deal with the Priests of the nation Because you Quakers have baffled the Priests of the nation by that light within you because you are faln to a more precise exactness of life then they though your doctrine is worse then theirs you must not think to do so by a Commissionated Prophet This Commission of the Spirit shall break the Neck of the Quakers as it hath done divers others for this take you notice that after the Sentence is passed upon the Speakers of the Quakers they shall never grow more to any great experience neither shall they have those Visions Apparitions and Revelations from that light within them as they had before but shall rather wither This experience hath been known by Quakers and others as John Robins John Taney John Harwood Fox the elder Fox the younger Edward Burrowes Francis Mowgil with many others with hundreds of all Sects besides which shall not escape what hath been decla ed by us the Witnesses of the Spirit As for that saying which you quote out of Christs words to his disciples before they had their Commission where he said unto them Bless and curse not that concerns not me nor any other man in the world at this day Peter and the rest of the Apostles had power both to bless and curse after they had received their Commission which was after Christs Ascension as you may read in the second of the Acts then was that saying of Christ fulfilled which he had said unto Peter I have given thee the Keys of Heaven and of Hell that what thou bindest upon earth shall be bound in heaven and what thou loosest on earth shall be loosed in heaven Or thus What sins thou remittest shall be remitted and whose sins thou retains shall be retained That is thou shalt have power to give Sentence of Blessedness to those that believe thee and Sentence of Cursedness to those that despise thy Declaration This was the remitting of sins and the retaining of them so that Peter and the rest of the Apostles were not tyed after they had received their Commission to those words of Christ which he spake unto them when they were private Believers Neither am I tyed to those words of Christ which he spake unto his disciples at that time for he hath given me power and authority to be Judge of the Scriptures he hath given me understanding of his minde in the Scriptures above all men in the world at this day nay if I should say than all the men since the beginning of the world I should not lye for I being the chosen Witness of the Spirit and the last man that shall ever speak to this bloody unbelieving world by Commission from God for he will never chuse any more after me so long as the World endureth Neither doth any man know the Scriptures neither can any man interpret the Scriptures truly but my self for God hath given the Scriptures into my hands even as he gave the Priests Office into the hands of Aaron none ought to officiate the Office of the Priesthood but Aaron and those that were appointed by Moses and him So it is now none ought to officiate the Office of a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ but those that are approved of by John Reeve and my self For by reading the letter of the Scriptures or the light within a man is not sufficient to make a man a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ therefore those words which Christ said to his disciples bless and curse not is nothing to me for he hath given me power since that to the contrary He hath put the Two-edged Sword of his Spirit into my mouth that whosoever I pronounce cursed through my mouth is cursed to eternity And my power is as great and rather greater than the Apostles was that you speak of which is called a cursed childe The Apostles curse was but a weak curse to that power which God hath given to me For the Apostle saith if an Angel from heaven should preach any other Doctrine than what he and the rest of the Apostles had taught let him be accursed I do not onely say let him be accursed but if an Angel from heaven should come and say I have spoken false or lyed in the Doctrine that we have declared and in those things which I have said concerning the Quakers I have power not onely to say let him be cursed but to curse Angel or man to eternity As for your judgement from the letter of the Scriptures or from the light within you it is not worth a straw but the curse that I pronounce upon men and women it is not from the light of the Scriptures
And though you think you shall have never a body you are deceived you shall have a spiritual dark body which shall be capable to bear those eternal torments and you shall remember you were told so by a Prophet Written by Lodowick Muggleton one of the two Last Witnesses and Prophets unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory November 3. 1662. POST-SCRIPT I Have published your Lettter to as many of the Believers of this Commission of the Spirit as I have had opportunity to meet with them so I do expect that you should read mine unto as many of the Quakers as you shall have the like opportunity For Samuel Hooton and W. S. Let this be sent to Thomas Highfield at Notingham to be delivered to the abovesaid A LETTER of Richard Farnsworth to Lodowick Muggleton False Judgement reversed and against testified by Rich Farnsworth in Answer to Lodowick Muggleton Lodowick Muggleton THou who pretends to have received a Commission by voice of words to the hearing of the ear from a God w thout thee to curse Angels or men to eternity And sayest thou art the Witness of the Spirit and the last Witness that ever shall speak by Commission from God whilest the world endureth And sayest God hath ordained thee the Chief Judge in the world at this day to give sentence upon men and women spiritual and eternal and what shall become of them after death And in obedience to thy pre ended Commission sayest thou hast already cursed and damned many hundreds of souls and bodies from the presence of God elect men and Angels to eternity and that thou rejoycest in the Condemnation of them and art wondrous well satisfied in giving Judgement upon them By which it appears thou wouldst be both Judge Accuser and Witness thy self to condemn without any right order and contrary to truth at thy will and pleasure which is Antichristian and very erroneous But Error in Judgement ought to be undone and holden for nothing as thine is who notwithstanding thy pretended Commission art discovered to be a false prophet and in delusion as is apparent and manifest in several particulars in a Reply of Mine to that of Thine bearing date August the 10. 1662. written by thee in Answer to Edward Bournes to Dorothy Carter But since I have seen four sheets of paper written by thee dated November the 3. 1662. and directed to Thomas Highfield in Notingham for Samuel Hooton and W. S. which coming to my hands in Notingham the 22th day of the ninth month 1662. being then prisoner there I carefully perused over which I found to be of like nature the other was of In both which or all of those Writings of thine I have found therein contained implyed asserted and affirmed by thee as is apparent unto me and evident against thee these necessary Deductions hereafter following which may be a sufficient discovery of thee and testimony or warning against thee 1. That under pretence of a Commission of the Spirit thou hast abused belyed and wronged the Spirit by presuming in the â—ame and authority of the Spirit to set up thy self as Judge Accuser and Witness to condemn at thy will and pleasure all such as are beloved blessed and justified of God and his Holy Spirit who cannot receive thy errors for truth but deny them and testifie against thee for appearing in the same under pretence of a Commission in thy imagination pride and presumption because thou sayest thou art both Judge and Witness And the Accuser thou art and false Witness also who sayest That never a one that thou hast cursed shall escape that curse which thou hast denounced upon them And that if an Angel from heaven should come and say thou hast spoken false or lyed in the doctrine which thou hast declared thou hast power to curse Angels or men to eternity And further sayest that no God will deliver from thy Sentence All which sayings of thine are false and erroneous and therefore undone and holden by me for nothing but as thy errors false judgement delusion pride and presumption 2. That under pretence of a Commission from God thou hast presumed in thy imagination and pride of thy heart to exalt thy self above God and Christ and to take all pardoning power from them because thou accounts if thy Sentence and Judgement be once pronounced and past though never so erroneous and false that they might not be able to reverse and undo the same Thou presumes to take all pardoning power from God and Christ in that case because thou sayest no infinite Spirit of Christ nor any god can or shall be able to deliver from thy Sentence and Curse which is thy error and lying divination or false doctrine pride and presumption as is apparent 3. That under pretence of a Commission from the Spirit thou presumes in thy imagination to be singular in doctrine knowledge judgement and power above all men either Prophets or Apostles since the beginning of the world or that ever shall be hereafter whilst the world doth endure 4. That under pretence of a Commission of the Spirit thou presumes to exclude all true Witnesses of the Spirit and also all true Ministers Messengers and Ambassadors of Christ from the work of the Ministery both now in this Age and whilest the world doth endure to the end and intent thou mayest set up thy self alone in their places and stead because thou presumptuously sayest That God hath made thee the Judge of the Scriptures and hath given thee understanding of his minde in the Scriptures above all men in the world or above all men since the world began That no man doth know the Scriptures but thy self That no man can truely interpret Scriptures but thy self That God hath given the Scriptures into thy hand as he gave the Priests Office into the hands of Aaron That no man ought to officiate the Office of a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ but those that are appointed by John Reeves and thy self That thou knows more then Moses the Prophets or Apostles did That thy Doctrine and the Commission of it is as true and of a higher nature than the Prophets and Apostles was in their time That thy Commission and the doctrine of it is of a higher nature than that of the Prophet Elijahs was when he commanded four hundred priests of Baal to be slain by the power of his word That thou art the last Witness that ever shall speak by Commission from God And that God will never chuse any more after thee whilest the world endureth All which are thy errors and lies which are by me denyed and against testified 5. That under pretence of thy Commission thou hast brought forth a Doctrine contrary to truth and that the same Doctrine ought not to be entertained or received by Dorothy Carter nor none upon the earth because thou sayest thou art the last Witness and Prophet that ever shall speak by Commission from God and
no Commission from God to be the chief Judge of Quakers and other dispising spirits That doth no ways weaken my power but rather confirm and make it the more stronger for I do believe Jesus Christ to be the the onely God both God and Man in one person by whom the world was made and from this Christ God Man am I made Judge and not from the letter of the Scriptures which were other mens Commissions so that I am no Minister of the letter but a Minister of the Spirit and so the chief Judge ordained of Christ by voice of words as Moses Elijah Paul and Peter other Prophets and Apostles were so that though Christ be chief Judge of the quick and the dead in that he hath power to raise mankinde again at the last day and so give possession of eternal happiness to the seed of Faith and possession of endless misery unto the seed of Reason and in this regard Christ is chief Judge both of the quick and the dead yet this doth no ways prove me a false Judge but rather the contrary for all Prophets and Apostles which were ordained of God were Judges and some more chief then others as Moses was a chief Judge Elijah and Elisha and Samuel and divers others were chief Judges they being above all other Prophets at that time therefore chief Judges in the time of their Commissions so likewise the Apostles were all Judges yet Peter was more chief Judge then all the rest so is it now John Reeve and my self being the last chosen Witnesses of the Spirit we are Judges but while John Reeve was living he was chief Judge but he being fallen a sleep I am chief Judge much like unto Elijah and Elisha yet in all this there is no dis-throning of Christ nor diminishing of his honor and power of being the Judge of the quick and the dead And as for my saying that no man knows the Scriptures nor can interpret the Scriptures truly but my self that is a standing truth neither shall any man or woman that I have passed the Sentence upon be delivered from it and as for the interpretation of the Scriptures belonging unto the Lord as you say and not unto my self to this I say God doth not come down from heaven upon this earth to interpret the Scriptures unto men but this was always Gods practice to Commissionate particular men and furnish them with gifts for that purpose and what interpretations of Scriptures they give it is owned of God as if he had done it himself therefore the people of the Jews would have Moses to speak unto them he being a man like themselves they could better hear him then God because Gods voice was so terrible that mortals could not bear it yet Moses words are owned to be the words of God as if God had spoke them himself and so all Prophets and Apostles could say Thus sayeth the word of the Lord so that what declaration or interpretation a Messenger of God doth give it may be said it is from God and so ought to be received by man so that Christ doth not teach every particular man neither by his Spirit nor by voice of words but if any man believe him that he is sent of God he may be said to be taught of God so that the true and right interpretation of the Scriptures it lyeth in those men that God hath chosen anointed and sealed for that purpose and men cannot come to the knowledge of God nor the true meaning of the Scriptures no other way so that I knowing these things to be true that the interpretation of Scriptures belongs unto Commissionated men and not unto Christ himself as the Quakers doth vainly imagine 5. R. F. doth say that the chosen Witnesses of Christ who had a Commission from his blessed Spirit they were anointed and sealed of God 6. Saith he for the Ambassadors who had a Commission to Preach and were anointed and sealed of God 7. He saith the Ambassadors of Christ who were anointed and sealed of God and had the ministration of reconciliation given unto them 8. The Ambassadors of Christ who were anointed and sealed of God and had the glorious ministration of the Spirit given unto them 9. He saith the Ambassadors of Christ and chosen Witnesses of the Spirit who were anointed and sealed of God they were workers together with God 10. He sayeth the true Witnesses of the Spirit and Ambassadors of Christ by the Father of Mercies and God of all Comfort they were comforted themselves in all their tribulations that they might be able to comfort them that were in any trouble by the comfort wherewith they themselves were comforted of God for which purpose he hath quoted abundance of texts of Scriptures which would be too tedious to cite L. M. Reply Here you that have any true saving light in you you may judge whether this man hath proved me a false Witness or not he tells me that the Prophets and Apostles of old many hundred years ago before I was born that they were anointed and sealed of God for the work of the Ministery that is confessed and owned by me that the Prophets and Apostles of old they had a Commission from God to ordain other men for the work of the Ministry but what doth this prove that God hath not given a Commission to John Reeve and Lodowick Muggelton because the Prophets and Apostles were anointed and sealed and had a Commission of God neither will their Commission authorize any Quakers nor no other man for the work of the Ministry but when the Prophets and Apostles were living they had power to authorize any man which they did discern fit for it but the reading of their Commission now they are dead will not impower a man to be a Minister or Messenger of Christ yet this is the course that you Quakers and most men in the world doth take to prove a live mans Commission to be false by a dead mans Commission but you will finde it to the contrary in the end Again though the Prophets and Apostles were anointed and sealed of God for that great work will it follow therefore that you Quakers because you read their writings that you are anointed and sealed of God for the work of the Ministry surely no neither will it follow because they were true Witnesses of Christ therefore I must needs be false For this I say that my Commission is from the same God as theirs was and is as true as theirs was neither have I my Commission from them but from God himself as they had so that it will prove a vain conceit of you Quakers and others that are under the sentence of this Commission of the spirit to tell me that they were that is the Prophets and Apostles were anointed and sealed of God what is that to you what they were their being true Witnesses of Christ will never a whit diminish or weaken that power and authority which God
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
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 Anointed and Sealed of the Lord defended c. Written by Lodowick Muggleton one of the two Iust Prophets and Witnesses unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory AMSTERDAM Printed in the Year of our Lord God 1663. And are to be had in Great Trinity-Lane over against the Lyon and the Lamb. Lodowick Muggleton 's LETTER TO Edward Bourne I Saw a Letter of yours which you sent to Dorothy Carter wherein I perceive she did lend you a Book of ours of the Two Witnesses of the Spirit which you have perused not for your good but for your eternal hurt for you have discovered in that Paper what seed and nature you are of which is the reprobate Angels seed and nature which is called in Scripture A Serpent or Devil of whose seed or childe you are one which you have plainly expressed in your Letter by speaking evil of the things you do not know in which Book or Books you were not worthy to look into But many more besides you of the Serpents brood have stumbled at this stone even the Commission of the Spirit to their eternal condemnation which we the Witnesses of the Spirit have denounced upon them which no infinite Spirit or Light of Christ within them shall take it off from them nor deliver them in the day of trouble I shall shew in some particular places in your Letter wherein you have sinned against the Holy Ghost a sin that will never be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come And so I shall proceed to the sentence of eternal death upon you First you say that you perused the Book till you was weary with looking into it for it was one of the dirtyest and confusedst piece of work that ever you saw Also you do advise Dorothy Carter to consider of it and let the witness of her own conscience answer whether it was given forth from the Spirit of Truth or from the spirit of error and deceit or not This I would have you to know though it be too late for your good that it is neither the light in her nor in you nor no man under heaven at this day that can or ought to judge of the Doctrine or Declaration of a Prophet that hath a Commission from God but ought rather to submit and yield obedience to their Doctrine for there is no eternal life to be had but in the faith of it For whosoever receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophets reward which reward is no less then the assurance of eternal life So on the contrary he that despiseth a prophet Doctrine despiseth him that sent him and shall receive from that Prophet the seal in his conscience of his eternal damnation The first thing that you take offence at is that we say that the reprobate Angel had the womb of a woman to clothe himself with flesh also to bring forth Gods design From which you do ask whether that which is the Devils work can be Gods glorious design seeing God hath manifested his Son to destroy the works of the Devil To which I answer That the reprobate Angel clothing himself with flesh in the womb of a woman it was Gods design that the reprobate Angel should do so for this very purpose that there might be a generation of men and women of his seed brought forth here in this earth in the state of mortality being horn under the Law it being written in their seed and nature and by the not fulfilling of that law which is written in the serpents seed it is made capable to suffer the pains of eternal death which is the second death and this was Gods design that he might destroy the seed of the serpent with a second death And as for Gods destroying the works of the Devil he doth destroy them two ways that is he that is God did lay down his spiritual and heavenly glory in the womb of Mary the Virgin and so clothing himself with flesh and bone so that he might be capable to suffer the pains of death therefore it is said in Scripture that this Jesus which is called the Son of God but in other places of Scripture he is called the Very God as the Epistle of John where he saith This is the very God and Eternal Life And Isaiah where he saith To us a Childe is born to us a Son is given attributing to that Childe Jesus the Title of Everlasting Father Mighty God and Prince of Peace There might be more places of Scriptures named to prove this thing as that saying that the fulness of the God-head dwelt bodily in him and that saying in the Revelation I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last he that was dead but am alive and behold I live for evermore And as the Angel by taking flesh upon him by entring into the womb of Eve brought sin and death into the world unto the seed of Adam so God by clothing himself with flesh in the womb of a Virgin that he might be put to death in that flesh and by his spirit quickning again in that flesh he will destroy him that had the power of death which is the devil and the devils works He destroyed the works of the devil in the seed of Adam by their having faith in the death of God which faith purifies the heart and is justified in the sight of God and in their own conscience and so the works of the devil are destroyed in the seed of Faith which is the seed of Adam by believing in the blood of God they having their hearts sprinkled by faith in his dâ—â—â—… and this did God procure to his own seed by clothing himself with flesh So on the contrary he by his design of clothing himself with flesh hath procured the eternal destruction to that reprobate Angel and his seed and you being one of the devils sons I know by your words for by your words you shall be condemned for you have plainly shewed unto me by your Letter what seed you are of and who your father is even the same as was Cains father you and he have all one father for you were begotten of that wicked one even that reprobate Angel which God designed him and his seed unto that endless misery as is spoken of in that Book which you call a Confusion and a Lie And not onely so but you have called many heavenly Mysteries the Bottomless pit of Confusion as that God created the person of the serpent more glorious than the rest of the holy Angels Also you
the Spirit And as for that high inchantment which you say I am in and those you call fools which believe it shall finde it the power of God unto Salvation But on the contrary you that despise it shall finde it the power of God to your eternal condemnation which many of the Speakers of the Quakers and other opinions with many hundreds of private persons besides shall not deliver themselves from the Sentence which we the Witnesses of the Spirit have declared through a true discerning which you call Enchantment But it is the Commission and power of God which shall war with the Quakers and all other opinions in the world because it is the two-edged Sword of the Spirit which is pâ—t into our mouths And this which we have said against you Quakers will be no slander or reproach but as true as any word that ever was spoken by Moses the Prophets and Apostles or Christ himself for we are the Witnesses of the Spirit which is the Spirit of Truth which hath made us judge of the world in spiritual matters concerning the Eternal estate of Mankind And what person soever we determine judgement upon it is so and there is no revoking of it You have written that I say you that are called Quakers are guided and lead by the Spirit of Anti-christ This is as true a saying as ever was spoken by Prophet of Apostle that the Quakers are lead and guided by the spirit of Anti-christ for they are not in Christ neither is Christ in them yeâ— say they we are in the Spirit of Christ before Antichrist was This lie exceedeth other lies for Anti-christ hath been in the world ever since Cain was born of whose seed and nature they are And Christ came into the world when Abel was born then was the Seed and Nature of Adam which is the Spirit of Faith which is called by the Apostle the Spirit of Christ and who ever is partaker of the Seed of Adam may be said to have the Spirit of Christ in them and their spirits to be in him that is Christ dwells in their hearts by Faith But on the contrary the Quakers being the seed and nature of the lost Angel whose nature was before his fall pure reason and Cain being the first born of the Devil the fulness of the Angels Godhead dwelt bodily in him and Cain having copulation with the female Sex millions of men and women have been brought forth of his seed which is reason fallen and this seed of reason in Cain and his seed is that spirit of Anti-christ and this began to act it self forth when Cain and Abel began for to worship God and ever since the spirit of Anti-christ hath remained in its seed which brake forth in this later age in a more eminent manner in one particular person namely John Robins that seemingly carried a more pure God-like power then any other Anti-christ which went before him And the Quakers have the very influence of John Robins his spiritual witchcraft-power upon them And so indeed it may be truely said that the Quakers are lead and guided by the spirit of Anti-christ and so their spirit is in him and his spirit in them so that they cannot be in Christ nor Christ in them for they are not of that seed that should have made them the children of the Most High God though I know they cannot help it yet it is so decreed by the Creator and he hath been pleased to make it known unto me and though you say I bear witness of my self yet is my witness and judgement in these things true Whereas you rail in that I said the Quakers are the worst of all and most cursedst of all in point of Doctrine c. 2 Answer As to the slander and lies you speak of I shall let them pass for I have spake enough of them before but as for that saying of mine aforesaid That the people called Quakers are the worst of all and the most cursedst of all in point of Doctrine That is as pure a truth as ever was spoken with tongue neither do you know the doctrine of Christ neither can you do his will How can you know the Doctrine of Christ When as your Christ hath never a body for you have got your Christ all within you as I shall make more appear hereafter And as for my wandering up and down to make Sects it is those of the Quakers that wander up and down As those that went to New-England and John Parrot unto Rome to get the Pope and his Bishops to be Disciples of Christ and there to be punished in his body and when he came home again to be damned to eternity by me for his pains because he went by the light within him and was not sent by voice of God without him Therefore eternal damnation will be his reward for going without a Commission from God and so will all the Ministers of the Quakers and all other Ministers too for going Embassadors for Christ when as he sent them not Though they preach from the letter of the Scriptures or from a light within them though the Devils be cast out and much good done thereby yet it will be but as a work of iniquity because they went before they were sent O how willingly is Reason the devil to be an Embassador for Christ when a Christ will not accept of him therefore reason the devil goes of himself thinking to have a reward in heaven for he will say Lord have not we preached in thy Name and prayed in thy Name and cast out devils in thy Name and the Lord will say depart from me you workers of iniquity So that what man soever that preacheth or pretendeth to be a Minister an Embassador of Christ without a Commission from him it will be charged upon him as a work of iniquity Indeed there are too many Messengers and Ministers of Christ to be true for indeed the world can hardly bear with one true Messenger at a time this I can truly speak by experience because I am the last man that God will give a Commission unto until time be no more yet never was there any Prophet or Apostle or Messenger of Christ but they have travelled up and down more then ever I did almost these eleven years so that I have not travelled up and down as the Quakers have for to get either wise or fools to believe me Yet this Commission hath gone through more parts of the world then any Quakers ever did but that is a thing I do not much matter You Quakers say that my mouth is full of cursing and that I shall reap of the same likewise you say that I am out of Christs and the Apostles Doctrine that said bless and curse not with many other sayings which will be too tedious for me to write As for my mouth being full of cursing that is my Commission neither do I curse any but Devils which are appointed
was wherein he was created This could not be accomplished but by Gods coming down f om Heaven into the womb of a Virgin and so became a childe in pure mortality and when he grew up to be a man according to the Scriptures he was capable to suffer the pains of death and so pass through death and quickening into life again in the same body he got power over death in that death was not able to keep him under and so got power over him that had the power of death in his hands which is the devil This devil so much spoken of in Scripture is no other but the spirit of Reason which was first in Cain he killing righteous Abel had pâ—wer to kill that is power to put to death and so dâ—â—th entred into the world for death never was in the world before the Serpent beguiled Eve then entred death into the world and Cain being the first-born of the devil â—he had the power of death in his hands and it doth remain in his hands to this day But happy are the seed of Adam that hath so much faith as to believe that it was the very God-head life that suffered death and so overcame death by his quickening into life again and so hath gained to himself a greater power and glory than he had before death entred iâ—to the world for by his rising again he hath got power to raise the seed of Adam to a more happy and glorious estate than that was wherein he was created He hath gotten power also to destroy him that had the power of death in his hands that is to keep the seed of Reason in a more low and sad estate then that was wherein he was created even under the second or eternal death which could not have been but by the death and rise again of God himself and for this very end did Christ come into the world It would have been well for you and many thousands more if Christ had never come into the world at all for your Condemnation is procured by it I could open what is meant by the light of Christ and how it may be said that Christ enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world but it would be too large besides it is fully opened in that Book of ours called A Divine Looking-Glass And as for Adam and Eves estate before the fall and after their fall that is plainly declared in The Interpretation of the 11. of the Revelation The Tree of Life and the Knowledge of good and evil and of the Serpent and of the woman that fled into the wilderness and what the time and times and half a time is and of the Beast with many other things opened and Scriptures expounded of a far more high concernment than those things you propounded I say these things are largely opened in The Interpretation of the said 11 Chapter of the Revelation and in The Divine Looking-Glass wherein are written the deepest mysteries that ever was penn'd if understood by the Reader Also there is the Mortality of the Soul that doth shew what is Scripture and what is not and how the Soul of man is not immortal but must and doth dye Also there is that called Look about you for the Devil that you fear is within you And a Dialogue between Faith and Reason and the Quakers Downfal There is hardly any thing that is necessary to be known concerning the spiritual estate of mankinde but it is to be found in some of these Writings Therefore if any of you Quakers have a minde to be any further informed of your Queries they must look into those Writings afore-mentioned for there is very few of your Queries that are not answered in one kinde or another But I know you Quakers do not regard looking into any other writings but your own therefore I shall not perswade you unto it but let you remain in your own conceited light of Christ within you But you will finde it to be the greatest darkness of all the seven Churches because it is the very spirit of Antichrist or the Devil transformed into an Angel of light that is it carryeth the purest shew of holiness of life and suffereth more than any other doth for his Religion and yet the most cursedst of all in point of doctrine for they are the greatest fighters against Gods being a person by that light within them of any Neither will there ever come any more spirits of Antichrist so Angel-like as the Quakers do for they have received the spirits of Antichrist new in this last Age as I said before and it will continue to the end of the world Samuel Hooton and W. S. you might have set your name as well as two Letters but it matters not now I have given Answer to your railing Letter you sent to me for speaking the truth For there is not one jot or tittle of my words in those six Principles or Sentences of mine concerning the Quakers that shall fail and not come to pass but are as true as any thing that ever was spoken by Prophet or Apostle Therefore I shall speak a few words unto you two in particular because you two have committed that unpardonable sin that never will be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come for you have done despite unto the Spirit of Truth in speaking evil of things you do not know for you have called the Doctrine and Declaration of the Spirit Blasphemy Deceit and Lies with many other railing speeches with high impudency from a light within you and from the dead letter without you and hath presumptuously lifted up your selves with that light within you to speak evil of the Commission of the Spirit which we received from the true personal God without us even the Man Christ Jesus in Glory Therefore in obedience to my Commission I do pronounce Samuel Hooton and W. S. for this their Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that sent me cursed and damned soules and bodies from the presence of God elect men and Angels to eternity Your Light within you nor God without you shall deliver you from this Sentence which I have declared upon you because you shall know that there is a true Prophet now in the last Age as well as there hath been in former times And this Sentence shall be the mark of your Reprobation in your foreheads to eternity even as your great Grandfather had in his forehead and all the Seed of Faith that shall read this Epistle and see you shall see the mark of Reprobation in your foreheads neither shall you scrape it out but it will be seen by the Elect as long as you live And when you dye you shall pass through this first death into the second death and in the Resurrection you shall never see the face of God nor man nor Angels nor your own faces to eternity but you shall be in utter darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore
and many hundreds of their believers besides are those tares which this Commission of the Spirit hath cut down by the edge of this Sword which shall be as bundles of tares fit for nothing else but for that eternal fire because they have dispised that their fellow creature should have power to bless and curse though God will have men and women justified and condemned no other way but by man like themselves for it was always Gods practice to give authority to men that are mortal to Judge and Condemn according to the tenor of their Commission whether it be for a temporal death or an eternal death and this power hath God given unto me and in this regard I am the onely and alone Judge what shall become of men and women after death neither shall those that are damned by me see any other God or Judge but me or that sentence which I have passed upon them but the blessed shall see that God face to face which hath set me as an Ambassador in his room and this power I know God will never take from me whatsoever you Quakers deny or testifie against 5 There is little in this particular also but my words repeated onely this there is something concerning Dorothy Carter whereas I neither say that Dorothy Carter nor no man upon the Earth can or ought to judge of the doctrine of a Prophet that hath a Commission from God there being none in the world at this day but my self Answer Who do you blind Quakers think should be the Judge of a Prophet that hath a Commission from God is not a true Prophet the Law giver and ought not every one to submit unto his Laws hath not a Prophet a prerogative power as a King hath doth not a true Prophet stand in the King of Heavens room as an Ambassador doth in the place of an earthly King and shall those that are to be subject to the Laws of the King go to try whether the Kings Laws be good or just nay those that are the Kings Friends ought not to try whether the Kings Laws or Declarations be just because his friends hapiness lieth in yeilding obedience unto it and if his Friends ought not to try the King much less his enemies so I say though Dorothy Carter be a Friend to the Prophet of the Lord that it lieth not in her power neither is it for her to try the Doctrine of a Prophet but to submit unto the Doctrine and power of a Prophet for therein lieth her and all others safety And whereas you say that I have excluded Dorothy Carter and all other men upon Earth from salvation I do here testifie that she is one of the blessed of the Lord with many others in the world at this day though I will not allow Dorothy Carter nor no other to have power to try a true Prophets Doctrine though they be believers of it that doth not exclude them from salvation but gives them the more assurance of it in that they suffer themselves to be try'd by a Prophet and his Doctrine therefore I do exclude Dâ—rothy Carter and all men upon Earth in point of tryal or Judgment of the Doctrine of a Prophet that hath a Commission from God as I have and if those of the same Truth with a Prophet may not try a Prophet how will you do that are enemies to try his Doctrine for it is not your quoting of the letters of the Scriptures as you have done in two places nor the light of Christ within you that can try me for I being one of the last Witnesses and Prophets by Commission from God I am made Judge of the Scriptures and Judge of the light of Christ within you and how will you do or by what will you try my doctrine and me seeing I am made Judge of the Scriptures and of your light of Christ and your light of nature and all that is within you and without you both it is all to be condemned by me by which way then can you come to try me and to make me appear to be a false prophet as you say is apparent enough The sixth and seventh things that you upbraid me with that I say there is no eternal life to be had but in the faith of this Doctrine And that I do presume under pretence of my Commission of the Spirit to rob Christ of his Office which the Father hath committed unto him as chief Judge ordained of God with many other sayings of mâ—ne which hath been exprest in a Letter of mine unto Samuel Hooton and W. S. Answer That there is no eternal life to be had now in these days but by faith in the Doctrine of this Commission of the Spirit that is truth and many there is that can witness the same I mean in those that have heard the sound of it and it will be found to be so by you Quakers and many hundreds of other Sects besides And as for my saying that God hath made me the chief Judge in the world at this day that is true also notwithstanding Christs having all Judgement put into his hands by the Father for that is nothing to you what is spoken of in Scripture that will do you no good for this Christ which the Scriptureâ— speaks of is God the Father and this God hath chosen and ordained me to be the chief Judge in spiritual and eternal things Also he hath made me Judge of the Scriptures as I said before neither have I taken the Office from Christ but he hath given it unto me and hath invested it upon me neither will he take it away from me and that you and such as you are shall finde to your eternal sorrow make as light of it as you will you shall not be delivered The latter part of your Letter hath little in it but repeating of Scripture-Texts and some passages or words of mine which you do invade against me there is one thing would make one smile and that is this because it is not written in the Scriptures of truth that I Lodowick Muggleton art ordained of God to be the chief Judge in the world in these last days will it follow therefore that I am not the chief Judge because my name is not recorded in Scriptures If you had lived in the days when Christ was upon earth you would hardly have found his name recorded in the Law and the Prophets nay it is the more probable that I am ordained the chief Judge because my name is not recorded in Scripture for if there had been such a name written in Scriptures that should be the last Prophet in the world many men would have named their sons Lodowick Muggleton and that is the cause there is so many Johns and Thomasses and Jeremiahs with many other Scripture Prophets and Apostles names but there is never a Lodowick Muggleton in all the Scriptures and yet God hath ordained him to be the Judge of Quakers and all other
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