A Looking-Glass FOR GEORGE FOX THE QUAKER And other QUAKERS Wherein they may see themselves to be Right Devils In ANSWER to George Fox his Book CALLED Something in Answer to Lodowick Muggletons Book which he calls The QVAKERS Neck broken Wherein is set forth the Ignorance and blindness of the Quakers Doctrine of Christ within them and that they cannot nor doth not know the true meaning of the Scriptures neither have they the Gift of Interpretation of Scripture As will appear in those several Heads set down in the next Page following Written by Lodowick Muggleton one of the two last Prophets and Witnesses unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory Printed in the Year 1667. THE CONTENTS CHap. 1. Of a Catalogue of damned Quakers Chap. 2. Sheweth the ignorance and foolishness of George Fox Chap. 3 How the Quaker people are altogether ignorant of Heavenly Secrets so become the greatest despisers of them Chap. 4. A discovery of the Quakers blindness which cannot discern whether a man that preaches the Gospel ought to have his Commission from Christ without him or from a Christ within him Chap. 5. Sheweth how ignorant and dark the Quakers people are in the knowledge of the right devil and of the serpents seed Chap. 6. How the soul of man is mortal and doth die yet Fox thinks it impossible to prove by Scripture Chap 7. How it was no lie to accuse the Quakers of sin and blasphemy Chap. 8. The right devil proved Chap. 9. How the Quakers are mistaken in the flesh and bone of Christ Chap. 10. How God hath made the Witnesses of the Spirit Judge in his stead Chap. 11. Sheweth that the body of Christs flesh and bone is distinct of it self and not in the Quakers bodies neither are they members of his body Chap. 12. Sheweth by Scripture how Christ dwelleth in his Saints and how it may be said they are flesh of his fl sh and bone of his bone Chap. 13. How Fox is proved a devil because he cannot give a reason that he is no reprobate Chap. 14. An Explanation how George Fox and other Quakers may be said to appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ Chap. 15. A further Interpretation concerning the Judgement-seat of Christ Chap. 16. How the Sentence and Curse hath subdued those Witchcraft-fits in the Quakers Chap. 17. How spirits cannot assume what shapes they please neither can there appear any spirit without a body Chap. 18. How the true God is no bigger than the compass of a man and no spirit without a body as the Quakers doth vainly imagine Chap 19. How the Quakers may see themselves to be right devils Chap 20. How the Quakers are more Antichristian in their doctrine than the Pope Chap. 21. How the body of Christs flesh and bone is distinct from the Quakers bodies Chap. 22. That which killed the righteous and just it was the spirit of reason the devil in man that always did it Chap. 23. A difference between reasonable and unreasonable men and a further discovery that reason is the devil Chap. 24. How the soul of Christ died and the ignorance of the Quakers discovered in the death of their own souls Chap. 25. It is proved that Christ the onely God is not in this world at all in his person or essence Chap. 26. How men cannot worship God in spirit and truth without bodies and how Muggleton never was in the spirit of Solomon nor never shall be Chap. 27. A great stir the Prophet Muggleton hath to keep the Quakers spirits out of Christ Chap. 28. How Fox justifies the Magistrates persecuting of me in Darbyshire Chap. 29. How the Curse of Muggleton shall remain upon Fox to eternity Chap. 30. How the Curse and Sentence of Muggleton shall be over and upon the spirits of the Quakers to eternity Chap. 31. How the Law written in the Quakers herats is that Christ they could have spoken in had they never seen letter of Scripture nor man that professeth it Chap. 32. How their confidence will fail them in the day of trouble Chap. 33. How Fox shall see no other God or Judge but that Sentence Reeve and Muggleton hath passed upon him Chap. 34. A reproof the Quakers for rejoycing in my sufferings and being sorry the Magistrates did not punish me more than imprisonment Chap. 35. How it doth belong unto mortal men that are chosen of God to interpret Scripture and not unto Christ himself Chap. 36. How every true Prophet and Minister of Christ hath power to open the Book of Conscience In the last place I shall say something as to the Quakers Principle and Practice A Looking-Glass for George Fox the Quaker c. CHAP. I. GEorge Fox I saw a Pamphlet of yours Entituled Something in Answer to Lodowick Muggletons Book which he calls The Quakers Neck broken You said well in that you said something in Answer to that Book of the Quakers Neck broken for it is a very little something indeed it is so little a something that wise men will hardly discern any thing in it as a direct Answer but how comes it to pass that you make no mention of your own damnation in your Answer you know John Reeve and my self gave you the Sentence of Damnation a matter of fourteen years ago when we were prisoners in Old Bridewel there was you Edward Borroughs and Francis Howgel you three were counted the Chief Speakers of the Quakers at that time and you three were the first Speakers of the Quakers that were damn'd by us the Witnesses of the Spirit but since that there hath fallen a many more of your brethren under this Sentence but you have been Fox-like as is your name so is your nature you have lain still and kept your damnation to your self from the knowledge of others because you would not be upon publick Record as a damn'd Devil and yet a Speaker of the Quakers Also you read of your name in that Book you say you have answered something but you take no notice of your self but take other folks parts and if your brethren William Smith Samuel Hooton Edward Bourn Richard Farnsworth had not written to me there would have been no occasion for the Fox to come out of his hole and now the Fox is come out he will be catcht and made manifest to Generations to come who pretended to be a means of salvation to others and yet he himself a cast-away a reprobate a son of the Devil one that shall be recorded amongst the damned Crew to the worlds end and I am sure your Damnation is written in the Tables of Heaven even as the Law of Moses was written in the Tables of Stone that is these men were written the seed of the Serpent in Heaven in the Reprobate Angel his nature before he deceived Evah for you Speakers of the Quakers doth act forth the Serpent Angel his nature thinking your selves wiser than God as he did he thought if he had
they are made one flesh by union and institution as aforesaid for when a man lieth with a harlot he makes himself a member of a harlot by that union and so the harlot is made one flesh with this man Now this man is none of her flesh nor she his not really so for some men do abhor it should be so yet by union with a harlot many times men come to be flesh of her flesh and so are become diseased with her disease even with the Pox so that these are become double flesh of one anothers flesh by that union they had with each other these things I have known by Ranters and others Now minde the distinction a childe that a man begets of his wife is more flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone than his wife is why because the childe is indeed flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone because children came out of the mans loyns as the twelve Patriarchs came forth of Jacobs loyns now these were really flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone naturally so and not by union as a man and his wife that were two are by union made one flesh So likewise the Scriptures speaks of two sorts of bodies as that in 1 Cor. 15.44 there is a natural body and a spiritual body a celestial body and a terrestrial body now these bodies cannot go one into another but mortal bodies may be made spiritual bodies and spiritual bodies may be made mortal bodies by the power of the Creator as it were by the Serpent Angel he was a spiritual body when he deceived Eve but when he was made mortal he was called Cursed Cain So the Lord from heaven was a spiritual body before he over-shadowed the Virgin Mary but afterwards this spirit al body was a pure mortal body and that mortal body was caned A Blessed Jesus This is the great Mystery to the world and this Jesus is that God that prepared a pure mortal body for himself that he might be capable to be put to death in this body to redeem the lost Seed of Adam And this is that body I say is not in the Quakers neither are the Quakers of Christs body by union nor flesh of his flesh nor bone of his bone not by union and those Believers were the Apostle writ unto for the Apostle was chosen of Christ without him and had a Commission to preach Christ to others and those that did believe his Commission were one in faith with him and so they by faith might know that Christ was in them except they were reprobates that is except they were unbelieving for if they had faith in the true Christ which he had taught them then Christ did dwell in their hearts by faith and they should know by faith in themselves that they were not reprobates and by the union they should have with Christ by faith they should become members of Christ yea they should be counted flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone This is the true meaning of the Scriptures But the Speakers of the Quakers have no Commission from Christ to preach as the Apostles had neither have the Believers of the Quakers any true faith in Christs person or body without them and so the Speakers and Hearers are both in the state of reprobation neither doth Christ dwell in their hearts by faith for true faith they have none but the faith of devils And that which they call the Light of Christ in them is nothing else but the Light of the Law written in their hearts for true faith in Christs person they have none so they call the Light of the Law in them the Light of Christ because the Law convinces them of sin Now this Law written in the Quakers hearts is the light of Christs Creation and this light of the Law that Christ hath written in the heart of man it is written in the heart of every devil and so in the heart of the Speakers of the Quakers and they teach their disciples to harken to the light within them and saith Christ is in them but this is no saving light neither is Christ within them neither are the Quakers members of Christs body nor bone of his bone nor flesh of his flesh for they have no faith in his person without them so that Fox his Cheat and Deceit is made manifest by the Scriptures being interpreted 11. Page 11. Fox is very angry with me for saying Reason is the Devil and yet saith he thou givest a reason for what thou doest and because I give a reason of my doings therefore saith he I am judged out of my own mouth to be the Devil Reason CHAP. XIII ANSWER HEre Fox the Quaker hath shewed himself an ignorant devil that cannot give a reason of the hope that is in him but for fear he should be counted a devil takes up other mens words and the Scriptures must give a reason for Fox how that he is no reprobate because the Scriptures saith to Believers in that time Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates And be ready to render a reason of the hope within you But Fox himself hath no knowledge but that he is a reprobate but I perfectly know that Fox is a reprobate and I can give a reason why he should and will be damned to eternity though Fox can give no reason for it What would Fox have done if he had not had other mens words to prove Christ within and to give a reason of the hope they had in Christ for Fox hath no interest in the Scriptures But I shall open this point something more hereafter where he speaketh of Reason in the 19th page of his Pamphlet 12. Page 11. And Muggleton saith he rejoyceth in his Cursings and them that he doth Curse and Sentence shall never see any other God or Judge But saith Fox how now Muggleton art thou become God and Judge Must not all appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ to have their sentence and reward from him whether they have done good or evil CHAP. XIV ANSWER DO you Fox and the Speakers of the Quakers indeed believe that you shall appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ to receive the reward of deeds done in your bodies whether good or evil If you do I shall say this unto you that when you do appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ John Reeve and my self shall be there also and look what Sentence and Judgement we have given upon you and others here upon earth the same Sentence will Christ give when you appear before his Judgement-seat and look what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit you have committed in this natural body you now have you shall have the punishment of that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost that sent us punished in that spiritual dark body you shall have when Christ doth raise you again and then you shall know that you did appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ
Sun and Moon to run their course in their season appointed Also he hath placed by the power of his word a Law in the Stars and Planets and in all the Host of Heaven on this side the Firmament nay he hath set the Law of bounds to the Sea and great Waters all these things and a thousand times more hath he done by his wisdom and power and all these things which he hath made by the power of his word here below upon this earth they declare his handy-works and doth shew forth the wisdom power and glory of God their Creator every thing in its kinde shews forth the glory of God and so God hath filled the earth with his wisdom power and glory in that he hath placed a Law in every thing according to his pleasure to set forth his praise here on earth And in this sense God may be said to fill the heaven and earth and yet his person but the bigness of a man as aforesaid and he may be called the Great God in respect of his great power but not in respect of his person for a King may be called a great King in respect of his great power as Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon was of great power as in Daniel 4.20 He was as a Tree which reached up to heaven So likewise his dominion is said to reach to the ends of the earth as in verse 22. So that it was the greatness of his power that reached up to heaven and to the end of the earth that is as far in the earth as his Power Decrees and Laws would reach yet the person of this great King was no bigger in stature and compass than another man So it is with God though his power wisdom and glory fills heaven and earth in that he hath given Laws and placed Bounds to all his Creation as I said before yet he himself is no bigger in bulk nor in compass than a man as the Scriptures doth in many places prove and as I have said before and in this sense the Scriptures doth mean that God fills heaven and earth But Fox and the Quakers looks upon God to be so big in his Essence and Spirit without any body that he fills heaven and earth the Air and all things else with his great big Spirit without a body this is the Quakers God and Christ so they can get God in to them as they think and then when they part out of the body they now have then their spirits goes into God again so that the Quakers God and their Spirits doth so whip into one another so that no body can tell where to finde either of them This is the Quakers Principle and their imaginary God Christ and this is that Spirit they call the Spirit of Christ in them this is that Christ they are members of and bone of this Spirits bone and flesh of this Spirits flesh for they abhor such a God that is a person and can be confined to one place of residence but they must have a great infinite Spirit who fills all places and all things which cannot be known nor understood what he is such a God as this must the Quakers have that their spirits may slip into him when death doth approach for Quakers thinks their souls cannot die they look upon that to come from God therefore immortal so they think to slip out of those bodies they have and so creep into that infinite Spirit again from whence they came as they suppose for they are of Solomons opinion the body to the dust and the spirit returns to God that gave it but Solomon was ignorant in this point though he was a wise Man in things of nature and you Quakers will find your thoughts and conceit in this thing frustrated and that your souls shall die neither shall your souls slip out of your bodies neither shall it go into God again as you doe vainly imagine but as your souls doth die a natural death here even in the sight of others so many of you shall die an eternal death hereafter in your own bodies so that God shall be no hiding place for you but he will say Depart from me ye workers of iniquity for you have been the greatest despisers and blasphemers against a personal God and them whom I sent of any CHAP. XIX AGain it will be necessary to give Fox the Quaker a little to understand the bigness of the right Devil Fox may remember that I have shewed before that Cain was the first Devil in flesh and the right Devil and that the spirit of the Devil is not body less as the Quakers doth vainly imagine and this Cain the first and right Devil was a Man and of the same stature and bigness as the Serpent Angel was who beguiled Eva who was Cains Father For Adam was none of his Father as I have said before but I perceive that Fox and other Quakers are unacquainted with the right Devil so that they wonderfully strange at my words to call the Devil a right Devil they never heard the Devil called a right Devil before I have received Letters from Quakers before desiring to have it proved by Scripture but I perceive the Quakers are unacquainted with the right Devil and altogether ignorant of the wrong Devil for they know neither right Devil nor wrong Devil but if Fox the Quaker will but follow my advice he shall see a right devil let George Fox but take a Looking-glass and look into it and he shall see his own face and then he will see a right devil and he need go no further to see the right devil and all other Quakers that are ignorant of the right devil let them look into a glass and there they may see themselves to be right devils and not wrong devils 15. The same page Muggelton saith that Christ hath a distinct body of flesh and bone of his own To this Fox saith Is Christ distinct from his Saints then how come they saith Fox to be of his flesh and bone CHAP. XX. ANSWER HEre people may see Fox hath manifested his deceit and how he carrieth the Principle of the Quakers in an Allegory to deceive the people for their Christ they so much talk of is a meer Allegory For saith Fox in another place of his Pamphlet we own the Son of God and his flesh and bone and blood who was Crucified and laid in the grave and rose again and sits at the right hand of God Here Fox seems to owne Christs Body without him but it is in a mystery for he doth not believe that God hath any right hand or left hand either for infinite spirits hath no hands there is no need of spirits without bodies to have hands but the Reader may plainly see that Fox hath a mystical meaning or else he grossely contradicts himself For saith Fox is Christ distinct from his Saints then how came they to be of his flesh and bone so that Fox his
words here are quite contrary to his words before so that it may be clear to those that are not stark blind that the Quakers do not believe that Christs flesh and bone is now in Heaven above the Star without them for saith Fox can Christ be distinct from the Saints So that Fox looks upon the Quakers bodies to be members of Christs body of flesh and bone and so all the Quakers bodies which they count members they make up but one body of Christ Christs Spirit in them they count the head and the Quakers flesh and bone to be Christs body of flesh and bone so that Christ can not be distinct of himself nor have flesh and bone distinct both in body and spirit This is the Quakers imaginary Christ which is the absolute spirit of Anti-christ and this spirit of Anti-christ it doth reign more in the Quakers people then in any people whatsoever Here people may see what the Quakers Christ within them is a meer allegory a spirit without a body and their flesh and bone of their bodies they count Christs body and so when their souls slips out of their bodies and goes into God as they imagine their bodies goes to the Earth and so Christs body goes to the Earth and his spirit that is in them goes into Gods vast spirit that taketh all things into its self And according to Squire Pennington's saying unto John Reeve but it was when he was upon the Ranting Principle but since that he is turned Quaker for the Quakers principle is but the Ranters refined into a more civil kind of life For the Ranters were so grosly rude in their lives that spoyled their high language and made people weary of them but the Quakers that were upon the Rant are the best able to maintain the Quakers principle of Christ within them than any other Quakers that were not upon the Rant as William Smith and Squire Pennington and others as I know so that people may plainly see that the Quakers are led and guided by the spirit of Antichrist that will not allow Christs body of flesh and bone to be distinct from his Saints but would have the Quakers bodies to be Christs flesh and bone This is that spirit of Anti-christ that denied Christ come in the flesh as John in his Epistle saith for who ever denies Christ come in the flesh and that flesh he is come in to be distinct of it self from all other flesh and from all other Creatures both in Heaven and in Earth I say is the spirit of Anti-christ which I am sure the Quakers are and do more than the Pope so that the spirit of Antichrist reigns in the Quakers people more than in the Pope and his people the Pope indeed is more superstitious than the Quakers but the Quakers are for more Anti-christian than the Pope in their doctrine 16. Page 15. Muggelton saith this body of Christ is the only God This Fox calls darkness and saith God is a Spirit and God is in Christ who prepared Christ a body there cannot be saith he Christ without God and saith Fox the Quakers do know Christ in the flesh and saith he feels me CHAP. XXI ANSWER THat is as true a saying of mine as ever was spoken with tongue that the body of Christ is the onely God and they are reprobates who dares denit yet this devil Fox the Quaker calls it darkness and saith God is a Spirit and God is in Christ what ignorance of God doth this Fox manifest if God be in Christ and that body of Christ was Gods body which was prepared for the spirit of God to be in then must Christs body needs be the only God For if God was in Christ and Fox saith there cannot be Christ without God than that body of Christ had the Spirit of God in that body then I say Christs body must needs be the onely God for God and Christ saith Fox cannot be one without the other then I say where Christs body is there is Gods body For if the spirit of Christ and the spirit of God be all one spirit as I think no man dares denie then I say if the spirit of Christ and the spirit of God be all one spirit then I say one body was prepared for this one spirit even the body of Christ his own flesh and bone so that this body of Christ and the spirit of God is in that body so that body of Christ being God and Man that body may be called and is the onely God and who ever prayeth to any other God he prayeth to a God of his owne imagination as all your Quakers do yet Fox calls this darkness to say Christs person body and spirit is the onely God yet he saith God and Christ cannot be one without the other but he will not acknowledge Christs body of flesh and bone to be so honored as to be called the body of the onely God how confused is this Fox in distinction concerning God and Christ they must be both one and they must not be both one one of them must have a body prepared but the other must be a spirit without a body this is the Quakers confused non-sence But I know Fox his juggle he means as I said before that the Quakers bodies are Christs body so Christs Spirit and Gods Spirit being all one the spirit of Christ is in the Quakers bodies whom he calls Saints and the Saints bodies are called by the Quakers the body of Christ that is prepared for the spirit of Christ and God which is all one to be in And this is the Christ the Quakers own to have within them this is the Quakers mystery of iniquity to shufle off the belief of the body of Christ without them distinct from them even at such a distance as Heaven and Earth for his body of flesh and bone is in Heaven above the Stars but the Quakers bodies are hereon Earth and must rot in the Earth but Christs body doth live for ever and ever So that the Quakers bodies are neither members of Christs body nor the body it self which is prepared for the spirit of Christ the spirit of the onely wise God to dwell in for in Christs own body of flesh and bone did the fulness of the God-head dwell bodyly in him that is all the fulness and spiritual substance and essence and being of the Godhead spirit dwelt in Christs body of flesh and bone when he was upon Earth and in no mans body else and this body who had the fulness of the Godhead in it I call the Godhead Spirit and that body together the only God and this body and spirit of Christ is both distinct from the Quakers bodies and all mens bodies else So that the Quakers Christ within them is a meer imaginary Christ which the spirit of reason the devil the Anti-christian spirit hath produced in them and not the true Christ So that the Quakers knoweth no other
late not in any I marvel how you Quakers can have Christs person manifest in you and how you can speak in his person Let the Reader mind the Quakers Cheat they own Christs person without them yet this person of Christ without them is manifest within them See the deceit of this Fox I have read of Christ manifest in his Saints and Apostles by his Spirit or Seed of Faith but I never read that Christs person flesh and bone was ever manifest within any man that was alwayes without man and will be without man for ever distinct of himself Also Fox saith the Quakers speak in Christs person Here is another Allegorical speech without any distinction I have heard that an Ambassador hath represented the person of a King and his speech by vertue of a Commission from the King is in the Kings stead but the Ambassador is not in the Kings person though he represents the Kings person the Kings person is at a great distance from his Messenger So it is with Christs Ambassadors as Paul saith We are Ambassadors in Christs stead beseeching you to be reconciled unto Christ by our doctrine Now Pauls person and Christs person were at a great distance one from the other for Christs person was in heaven above the stars and Pauls person was here upon earth so that Paul did not speak in the person of Christ that being at such a distance as I said before but Paul and the rest of the Apostles by vertue of their Commission given from Christ were Ambassadors of him and so stood in Christs stead but Christs person was far enough off from them as a Kings person is far off when his Ambassador is in a strange Land who represents the Kings person as aforesaid But the Quakers they will get into Christs person and speak there or else they will get Christs person into them and so Christ must speak there in their persons so as I said before the Quakers will not be separated from Christ nor suffer him to separate himself from them though I know they never were in union together neither was Christ ever in them that I have damned nor never will be neither were they ever in Christ nor never shall be Neither doth Fox own indeed that person of Christ of flesh and bone that died at Jerusalem to be now living in heaven above the stars but Fox and the Quakers Christ they so much talk of is a meer Allegory without substance a Christ that may be blown away with the word of a true Prophets mouth as I said in The Neck of the Quakers broken Also Fox saith Solomons Books are good Scripture though I say they are not being not in the spirit of Solomon that gave them forth Here I perceive that Fox and the Quakers are got into Solomons spirit just as they did get into Christs person I see Fox can get into spirits as he doth into persons but I perceive Fox is got into Solomons spirit and he blames me because I am not in Solomons spirit I do seriously confess that I am not in Solomons spirit and I am glad I never was in his spirit for who ever is in Solomons spirit doth not know the true God nor the right devil for Solomon knew neither of them though he was a wise man in things of nature but ignorant of spiritual and heavenly wisdom for Solomons wisdom hath the Ground-work of much lust of the flesh and idolatry for the Ranters practice was grounded upon Solomons practice who knew so many women so the Ranters thought they might have the same liberty seeing wise Solomons Writings were owned for Scripture-record thus they continued many of them in their practice of lust till many of them were weary of it as Solomon was when he was old and then they left off that practice and turned Quakers and so fell to be the greatest idolaters of any as Solomon did to his Heathenish-Wives drew his heart away from the worship of Moses to worship idols So is it with those Ranters that are turned Quakers they are become absolute Heathen idolaters for when they were Puritanes so called they were zealous for the letter of the Scriptures and did practice a good life as near as they could to the letter but after they fell to the practice of lust being encouraged by Solomons writings they left that legal Worship and civil practice the Law tied them unto and followed Solomons practice of lust And now they being turned Quakers are fallen to heathen idolatry that is to say the Quakers they worship an unknown God a Spirit without a body they adore a Christ within them and never mindes a body of Christ without them at a distance they believe their own spirits to be immortal and cannot die they believe their spirits go to God or into God again according to Solomons words they believe Gods Spirit being an infinite Being without a body and that this infinite bodiless Spirit taketh all things into it self and so their spirits being immortal they go into God when they die they will not acknowledge that life or soul doth die but departs out of the body they know not where notwithstanding the Scriptures are so full to prove the soul that sins shall die and experience shews it doth die So that the Quakers are become the greatest spiritual idolaters of any and the greatest fighters against a personal God of any for as Solomon did fall to worship the heathen womens visible Images or Idols so do the Quakers worship invisible Idols as a Spirit without a body and that their own spirits may subsist without bodies and that spirits may be capable of happiness or misery without bodies this is the Heathen Philosophers opinion they brought into the world that Principle of the Immortality of the Soul and that Spirits might go to happiness or misery without bodies And the Quakers hath got the Heathen Principle to a hair therefore become Heathen Idolaters as Solomon was for the Scriptures declares another thing Where doth the Scriptures say that God is an Infinite Spirit without a body The Scripture saith God is infinite and so he is Also the Scripture saith God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and truth but it is not said God is a Spirit without a body for this I say that if a man may worship God in spirit and truth in this natural body as the disciples of Christ did in their natural bodies and as I my self do in my natural body then of necessity it will follow that God hath a spiritual body whereby I may worship him else I shall worship I know not what as you Quakers do And because Gods body is a spiritual body therefore Christ said when on earth God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and truth he knowing that body of his that was then a pure natural body should by his death and rising again be made a spiritual body and then all true Believers
should worship him in spirit and truth here in this natural body and so true Believers have worshipped Christ the onely God in spirit and truth in the Apostles Commission and so do we now worship God in spirit and truth for there can be no worshipping God in spirit and truth without a true Preacher sent of God as the Apostles John Reeve and my self were and in this sense God may be said to be a Spirit because he is a spiritual body and not a bodiless spirit as you Quakers do vainly imagine else why may not God be worshipped in spirit and truth without a body as well as God to be a Spirit without a body You Quakers do not do well in that you do not turn your souls out of your bodies they being as you conceive immortal me thinks you might sometimes let your immortal souls slip out of your bodies and go into that Infinite Spirit without a body and worship in spirit and truth and then come into those bodies again for I see you have by your own words got into Christs person and you have got into Solomons spirit and why can you not get your immortal souls into Gods Infinite Spirit without a body By this the Reader may see that the Quakers Principle is built upon the Heathen Philosophers and not upon the faith of the Prophets and Apostles who writ the Scriptures for Heathen men were the first broachers of the Immortality of the Soul and of God being an Infinite Spirit without a body and so the greatest Idolaters for those that writ the Scriptures never intended any such thing but altogether the contrary but the Quakers do cleave to the Heathen principles as God being a Spirit without a body and the Immortality of the Soul and so they become with the Heathen the greatest spiritual Idolaters of any people under the Sun for I am quite out of Solomons spirit indeed and am glad I never was in it 21. Page 27. Muggleton thou condemnest our Christ and light and Muggleton saith the Quakers think to have eternal life in the Scriptures But saith Fox our eternal life is in Christ before Scriptures were And Fox saith pag. 29. thou exaltest thy self above Christ for he is a man and saith the man Christ Jesus will bruise me to pieces which is manifest in his people meaning the Quakers CHAP. XXVII ANSWER AS for my words they are more largely opened in The Quakers Neck broken Also this saying of Fox that the Quakers had eternal life in Christ before Scriptures were to this I say How comes it to pass that Christ hath turned George Fox Quaker and many more of them out of him now the world is Nay Christ hath turned them over to be judged and condemned by me to eternal damnation certainly if Fox had eternal life in Christ before Scriptures were Christ would have revealed it unto me now the Scriptures are in the world for the Scriptures are given into my hands and I finde by the Scriptures that George Fox and many other Quakers were never in Christ at all neither before Scriptures were nor now the Scriptures are in being But I finde in the Book of the Scriptures that George Fox and other Quakers were in the Serpent that beguiled Eve and had eternal death in their seed before Scripture were but it was not visibly known till now for this I certainly know that you Fox and many more of you came out of the Serpents loins which was Cains father and you being the children of Cain may be said to be in the Serpent-devil before the Scriptures were and as sure as Cain the father of all the damned shall die an eternal death so I am certain that you George Fox with many other of your Quakers people shall be eternally damned deliver your selves from it if you can 2. Fox saith page 29. That thou exaltest thy self above Christ for he is a man and saith the man Christ Jesus will bruise me to pieces which is manifest in his people meaning the Quakers I cannot get Fox the Quaker and the man Christ Jesus to part for wheresoever Fox doth own Christ Jesus to be a man then presently this manhood of Christ gets into the Quakers bodies and so Christ is manifest in them Now I would very fain have Christs manhood by it self and the Quakers by themselves but Fox will by no means part with Christ that he might be spoken with alone but Christ being so much manifest in the Quakers bodies so that no Quaker can finde any Christ to be a man but what is manifest in their bodies And this Christ that is manifest in them I suppose is he that will bruise me in pieces but that man Christ Jesus that I believe in hath given me power to condemn and judge that man Christ Jesus that is manifest in the Quakers people for I know that Christ Jesus that is manifest in them is nothing else but the seed of Reason the devil that is manifest in them for I know they have no faith in the true Christ but the motions of reason working in their mindes taking occasion by the Law written in their hearts it doth cleanse them from the outward pollutions of the world and from the breach of some outward Laws and this is that Christ they so much talk of within them and this is that man Christ Jesus manifest within them This is a true description of the Quakers Christ manifest within them CHAP. XXVIII THese are the most considerable things for the Reader to take notice of in George Fox his Book so that the Reader may mind the Answer and the Interpretation I have given to those Scriptures which Fox the Quaker brings against me but he leaves the words of the Scriptures more dark to the Reader than they were in themselves but I have given the Interpretation of those Scripture words which Fox could not do and what I have written in this Treatise is for the most part left out in The Neck of the Quakers broken because in that Book all these things in which Fox doth rail and revile at me in as he calls it An Answer to the Neck of the Quakers broken but that Book of mine doth explain the Quakers Principle more plain and clear than this Treatise doth for he that would have read that Book and Fox his Answer to it would have seen all those things which Fox doth alledge against me more fully answered than he or any other Quaker could have questioned so that had it not been for the sake of others and for the Ages to come there need not have been any further discoveries of the Antichristian spirit of the Quakers concerning their Christ within them but that Book As also there is some things in this Treatise for the Information of the Reader which was never printed before There is many other sayings in Fox his Pamphlet which doth rail and revile both against my Commission of the Spirit and that Sentence I
and that light of Christ within you also and look what Judgement I have given upon you Quakers and others it will surely come to pass upon you neither can you nor your Christ within you deliver you from it And as for that saying of Christ who said to his disciples Bless and curse not this will not deliver you Quakers at all from what I have said But for the Readers satisfaction I shall open those words of Christ more plain hereafter 9. Page 7. Fox is very angry with me because I say that Cain was not begotten of Adam but was begotten by the Reprobate Angel but I have sufficiently opened and proved this thing by the Scripture before so I shall say no more of it here 10. Page 10. Fox after he hath railed at me because I say the Quakers Christ hath never a body and Fox knowing it to be true thought he should bring himself into a premunire if he should deny Christs body without him the Scriptures being so clear for it Fox doth confess Christ hath a body for saith he that which descended ascended And saith he the Quakers are of his body and as the Scriptures saith A body hast thou prepared CHAP. XI ANSWER HEre Fox shews himself a meer Juggler for he confesses Christ hath a body but never confesses that this body of Christ is at a distance from the Quakers neither doth Fox acknowledge that Christs body is in a distinct place by himself for saith he that which descended ascended And saith he the Quakers are of his body as the Scriptures saith A body hast thou prepared me Minde Fox doth not say that which descended was a body nor that which ascended neither for Fox his meaning is mystical and so he thinkes the Quakers are flesh of Christs flesh and bone of Christs bone of Christs mystical body as they conceive so Fox owns Christ to have a mystical body and so the Quakers comes as they say to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and so that body which was prepared for Christ the Quakers believe their flesh and bones is that body which the Spirit of Christ doth dwell in and that is that body the Scriptures saith is prepared So that the Quakers do deny that Christ hath a body of flesh and bone distinct of his own at a distance from them for if they should acknowledge as I said in The Quakers Neck broken that Christ hath the same flesh and bone that suffered still distinct of himself though glorified flesh and bone yet it is a distinct thing of it self even the person of a man and cannot nor is not within any man whatsoever I say if the Quakers should own this indeed their Principle of Christ within them would vanish like smoke For this flesh and bone of Christ his own person was that body prepared for the God-head life to dwell in as the Prophet speaks and that which the Apostle saith the fulness of the God-head dwelt bodily in Christ And this flesh and bone of Christ was that body prepared for the God-head to dwell in Now will any man be so sensless to think this body of Christ to be within a man for he that can get Christs body of flesh and bone into him he will get the fulness of the God-head also into him so that he that can do this will be a God and not a man so that I have told no lie but truth when I said the Quakers Christ hath never a body for which Fox is very angry with me and calls me Liar Yet let the Reader but minde Fox his words when he doth seem to own a body of Christ his words are so dubious and so dark that none but the Spirit of Truth could finde out the cheat of these Quakers what could any man that hath not the true knowledge of the true God and the right Devil and the knowledge of the Scriptures say to these things this Allegorical Cheat and Deceit it being so coucht under the words of the Scriptures For this is to be minded by the Reader that the Quakers never gives no Interpretation of Scriptures neither in writings nor speakings This Fox hath spoken of several places of Scripture to prove me a Liar but hath given the Interpretation of none Onely he hath named the words and rayled against me and so he hath left the Scriptures and the Apostles words and me together to dispute out the Quakers Principle of Christ within them And because Fox hath not opened those Scriptures he quotes to prove Christ within and that the Quakers are of Christs body I shall unfold those places of Scriptures which the Quakers ground upon Col. 1.27 It is thus written To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory This is one of the Quakers chief Scriptures to prove Christ within them So Rom. 8. 10. If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin So 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether you be in the faith approve your selves how that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates So Galatians 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me These are the chiefest places of Scripture the Quakers have to prove that Christ is in them Let the Reader minde the Interpretation as followeth and you may see that the Quakers are mistaken both in the thing it self and in the person and persons to whom these words were spoken First the person that spake these words it was Paul who had a Commission to preach Christ unto the Gentiles and this Commission to preach Christ was from Christ without him as I shewed before and the persons he directs these speeches or words unto they were to such men and women that did seem to receive Pauls doctrine and doubtless many of them did truely believe that Christ which suffered rise again and was ascended up to Heaven according to the preaching of Paul and the rest of the Apostles was the Christ the Savior of the world and that this Christ was without them in his person though by faith Christ may be said to dwell or be in a man Also Paul and these Believers he preached unto did believe the blood of Christ which was poured out unto death that the believing of this would purge their consciences from dead works to serve the living God for Paul expresseth as much in the same verse For saith he I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me So that it may be clear to those that have any true faith in them that Paul and the rest of the Believers had Christ in them no otherwise than by faith in the Death Resurrection and Ascension of that Christ without them
and so Christ dwells in true Believers hearts by faith according to that saying Eph. 3.20 that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith And so when men have true faith in Christs Death Resurrection and Ascension without them they may be said to have Christ in them the hope of glory for the faith of Christ or faith in Christ without them gives hope to the minde that they shall behold that glory Christ without them is in and so by faith a man comes to know that he is no reprobate For a man that hath true faith in Christ without him may be said to know that Christ is in him and that he is no reprobate And this is that great Mystery Christ in you the hope of glory for it is a great Mystery to understand God manifest in flesh and to become very man in one single person even the Man Christ Jesus and he to die rise again and ascend from whence he came this is a great Mystery indeed and few can comprehend it but Faith doth see it and understand it and where ever it is truly believed that man may be said to have Christ in him the hope of glory and to know that he is no reprobate because the Seed of Faith which is Christs Seed is in him and that Seed acts it self forth to lay hold of that person of Christ without him and so gives assurance of everlasting life in a man and so Christ may be said to be in a man For the Seed is counted sometimes for the thing it self so that if a man doth not really know in himself that he hath the Seed of Christ in him and that is known by actual believing him that is sent that man is a reprobate to himself and hath not the hope of glory in him and so Christ is not in his heart by faith This is the true Interpretation of those Scriptures and of the Apostles minde CHAP. XII 2. I Shall open the Quakers Cheat concerning their bodies being flesh of Christs flesh and bone of his bone and those Scriptures interpreted they ground that Conceit upon First Rom. 12. and 5. Paul saith So we being many are one body in Christ So 1 Cor. 12.12 For as the body is one and hath many members of that one body so also is Christ So Eph. 5.30 For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bone So Col. 1.21 And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minde by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death These be the chief places of Scriptures the Quakers do prove themselves to be flesh of Christs flesh and bone of his bone and for want of explaining these words making no distinction they cheat many ignorant people of the peace of their minds and of the knowledge of the true body of Christ without them Let the Reader but minde the words of Paul before and they may easily see that Pauls minde was quite contrary to the Quakers for the Apostle speaks of Believers being Christs body and members of Christs body no otherwise than he did of Christs being within the Saints as I said before that is by the union the Saints have with Christ by faith in the true Preachers of the Gospel they come to be members of Christs body and so called the body of Christ the Head as you may see Rom. 12.5 and 1 Cor. 12.12 and Eph. 5.30 and Col. 1.21 These places all prove that the Saints being true Believers are counted the members and body of Christ in respect of that union they have with Christ by faith in his Death Resurrection and Ascension knowing that Christs body lives for ever and that his blood hath redeemed their souls from eternal death and knowing he is ascended to possess a personal glory and to prepare Mansions of personal glory for his Saints and those that are truely united to him by faith may be said by Paul to be members of Christs body and to be Christs body but this body is but by the union of faith in Christ and by the way of comparison for this body hath never a head but the whole Body and Person of Christ without the Saints is the Head of this Body so that if Christ had never a body of his own but the Saints bodies as the Quakers do vainly imagine he would be but a sad Christ And because you may see that the Apostle did mean no otherwise than I have said For saith he in Rom. 12.4 5. as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so saith he we being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another So that all true Believers though some be Prophets Apostles or any other gifts of the Spirit that any man hath it is given for the good of others who are members of the same faith with him and so all that are partakers of the same faith with him if they be ever so many they all make up but one body of Christ even as all the members of a mans body makes up but one body But all this while these members that makes up one body what will this body signifie without a head Now those natural members that makes up a natural body what will this body signifie if it hath never a head So it is with true Believers if there were never a Head of this Body of Faith without men even Christ Jesus where then should the motions and acts of Faith in a man repair to have union and communion with their Head Christ Jesus Must they go into themselves to finde Christ their Head there Surely no but the motions and acts of Faith that doth arise from thâ— Seed of Faith which is the Seed of Christ in every true Believer whereby he comes to have union with Christ their Head and so he is made a member of Christ and so all the Believers that have been from the beginning and shall truly believe to the latter end of the world they make up but one body of Christ and this body is called Christs Body but by vertue of union of Faith and not by Christs being essentially in men as the Quakers do vainly imagine The Apostle sufficiently clears this thing in those places afore-mentioned so that I need speak no more of it here But I shall give the Reader to understand the difference between that body that is called a body by union and that body that is so in it self As for example A woman is said to be flesh of her husbands flesh and bone of his bone as Adam said concerning Eve his wife So Eph. 5.31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joyned to his wife and they two shall be one flesh Here the Reader may see that a man and his wife are made one flesh by vertue of union and institution now they are not really one flesh but
when you appeared to resist the Holy Ghost in us the Witnesses of the Spirit and look what Judgement and Sentence we the Witnesses of the Spirit have given you here in this world the same Judgement and Sentence shall be upon you in the world to come even to eternity And when you Fox appeared before us to resist the Holy Ghost in us then did you appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ and look what Judgement I have given you and others it may be said to be the Judgement and Sentence of Christ and that you appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ As it is in all Courts of natural Justice when men are condemned by the Judge for the breach of the Law doth not such an one appear before the Judgment-seat of the King What are all Courts of Justice but the Judgment-seat of the King and whosoever is justified or condemned by the Judges of these Courts they may be said to be justified or acquitted or judged or condemned before the Judgement-seat of the King In like manner it is with the Judgement-seat of Christ Christ is the chief Judge and King of Heaven and Earth yet he hath given power to his Prophets Apostles and Witnesses of the Spirit to be Embassadors and Judges in his stead as it is with Earthly Kings so that who ever appears before the true Embassadors of Christ they do appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ and look what Judgement the Embassadors who are Judges do give upon a man if justified then Christ justifies if condemned then condemned and there is no appealing to any other So that you Fox you have appeared before the Judgement-seat of Christ already and have received your Judgement and Sentence already but the execution of it is not yet come and when you appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ as you mean and I shall be there also and look what Sentence I have passed upon you and others here the same shall I pass upon you When Christ which is my Life doth appear then shall I appear with him in glory and shall sit upon a Throne of glory and shall judge you wicked despisers of a personal God with the same Sentence of eternal Damnation as I did when I was here in mortality and then shall you Fox know to your endless misery that God gave power to a mortal man like your self to give Judgement and Sentence of eternal Damnation upon you though you despise and scorn that a mortal man should give Sentence upon you Speakers of the Quakers and others but you shall finde the Sentence of a mortal man as really true upon you as if the Immortal God himself had passed it upon you But the Reader may finde this more largely opened in The Quakers Neck broken But to make it appear more plain to the Reader that the Judgment-seat of Christ is in this world as well as hereafter and that all Prophets Apostles and true Messengers and Ministers of Christ if they be chosen by him they are Judges and those that do appear before them or any of them they may be said to appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ and look what Judgement Christs Judges which he hath chosen and given them a Commission doth give Sentence either of Justification or Condemnation they received this Sentence before the Judgement-seat of Christ because these Judges are chosen by him as it is with other Judges in the temporal as aforesaid This I shall make more appear by Scripture as Mat. 19.29 where Christ saith to his twelve Apostles You saith he shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Now let the Reader minde These twelve Apostles had the Keyes of Heaven and Hell given them here and they had power to remit sins and to retain mens sins that is they had power to forgive sins and power to retain sins that is they had power to justifie that man or woman that believed their doctrine and they had power to condemn those that despised and did not believe their doctrine now these people so justified and condemned by these Apostles and true Preachers they did appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ for they were appointed Judges in his stead and that the Reader may understand how these Apostles should judge the twelve Tribes of Israel I declare unto you thus That these Twelve had their Commission from Christ to preach the Gospel of Christ unto the twelve Tribes of Israel though many Gentiles believed also yet Paul was chiefly sent unto the Gentiles and chosen of Christ to preach him unto the Gentiles but the other twelve Apostles their Message was chiefly to preach Christ unto the twelve Tribes of Israel which were the Jewes in their time and as many of those Jewes as did believe in these twelve Apostles Doctrine concerning Christs Death Resurrection and Ascension and other things belonging thereunto which they preached I say the Apostles had power to give Sentence of Blessedness upon those which did truly believe their Doctrine and that their sins were forgiven them and so they came to be justified in their own consciences justified before God and so had peace with God So on the contrary those that did not believe the Apostles Message but rather despised it spoke evil of it and persecuted it calling it Blasphemy Heresie Deceit and Lies which many of those Jews did the Apostles had power to pronounce and condemn those unbelieving Jewes who despised and spake evil of the Doctrine of Christ Also they had power to retain their sins so that God should never forgive them so that they should never be forgiven in the conscience nor forgiven of God So that these twelve Apostles doth judge the twelve Tribes of Israel here in this world some they have judged eternally happy because they believed their report others they judged eternally damned for their unbelief and despisings as aforesaid so that the Apostles did judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel in their time as aforesaid and this Judgment of theirs is the Judgement-seat of Christ and these twelve Tribes were before the Judgement-seat of Christ so long as the Apostles Commission lasted which was a matter of three hundred and fifty years after Christs death So that these twelve Apostles may be said to judge the twelve Tribes of Israel here in this life by their Doctrine of Christ Also it may be said that the twelve Tribes of Israel did appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ for many of them were justified by faith in Christ and many were condemned by unbelief in Christ so that every one had the Sentence in themselves by the Apostles judging whether happy or unhappy and for this faithful service the twelve Apostles have done in this life in judging according to their Commission they shall sit upon twelve Thrones of Glory in the Resurrection and shall give the same Judgement upon the twelve Tribes there as they did here that is they will justifie the same Sentence of
they might attain those Witchcraft-fits but could not attain them do what they could They got the Quakers language of Thee and Thou but could not attain the Fits neither would some of those Quakers own one of these persons because she had not such Fits as they had so she was forc'd to leave them And the cause why these persons aforesaid could have no such Fits it was because they had talked with me before they fell to the Quakers Principles so that no Witchcraft-Fit could be produced in them though their endeavors were great Also I have drove the Witchcraft-power out of Quakers that have been strongly possest so that they have never had Fit more And as for you Fox have you ever had any Witchcraft-fit since you were damned did you ever fall into a swoon and lye as one dumb and hath the spirit of Reason the devil which you call the Light of Christ in you I ask hath he revealed any mysteries of the Scriptures in the time of your Fit since you were damned fourteen years ago Is your revelation of Reason to be seen in writing yea or nay Again hath Samuel Hooton William Smith Edward Bourn Richard Farnsworth and many others that were damned of late years have they had any Witchcraft-fits since or any new revelation if they have let them be brought forth to the light Do you George Fox know any Quaker that I have passed the Sentence upon that can produce a Witchcraft-fit afterwards If no Fit can be produced as formerly then I say no true revelation nor experience can arise in the Quakeâ—s hearts Nay this Sentence it puts a stop to the revelation of Reason also else why should Quakers fall so as you do from your first Principle for you are not like the people you were sixteen years ago there were few Quakers then but they had Witchcraft-fits but now of late I do not hear of any Quaker that hath any Fits no not so much as to buzz or hum before the Fit comes But if you Fox doth know any of you Quakers that have any of those Witchcraft-fits as formerly bring them to me or let me hear of it and I shall cast out that devil which caused those Fits so that they shall never have more but shall be sensible and in their right mind So Fox you shall finde my words to be truth and no lie that the Quakers after the Sentence is past upon them shall never grow to have more experience in Visions and Revelations but shall wither Do not you Fox finde this to be true if you do not others will witness unto it to be truth But you say The truth spreads I know the truth spreads but not the Quakers Witchcraft-fits which produced Visions Apparitions and Revelations which the Quakers thought had been produced by the Spirit of Christ but they were produced by the spirit of Reason the Devil in themselves and these Fits Visions Apparitions and Revelations in the Quakers are greatly withered away of late by that Sentence I have passed upon the Speakers of the Quakers and others of that opinion so that those Fits of theirs makes most people ashamed to own them which formerly people thought them the most knowingst that was possest with a Witchcraft-fit so that it is plain and clear and many that were lovers of the Quakers way of Worship that can and will witness that their experience in Visions and Revelation are withered and come to nothing But Fox thinks because a many ignorant people comes to hear the Quakers speak their ninny-nonies over and over again therefore the Truth as he calls it spreads but when it was at the best it was but a lie that spreads indeed a lie will spread very fast but truth spreads very slowly for truth was ten years in the world and there was not much above forty persons that owned it but the Quakers at that time had many thousands that were Quakers as was exprest by those five damned Quakers in Eastcheap mentioned in that Book called The Quakers Neck broken 14. Page 14. Muggleton saith He could never finde any Quaker that would own God to be a person in form of a man which shews the Quakers darkness Here saith Fox Muggleton hath shewed his ignorance of the Scriptures for saith he the Scriptures saith That God is a Spirit And Christ saith that a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as I have And saith Fox God fills heaven and earth and herein saith he thou hast shewed thy ignorance and darkness CHAP. XVII ANSWER TO this I shall make it appear to the Reader that my words are truth and that Fox hath shewed his ignorance and darkness both of Gods filling Heaven and earth and that Fox nor the Quakers doth not believe that Christ hath flesh and bone of his own distinct of himself and that this flesh and bone of Christ is now in heaven above the stars Let the Reader minde the words of Christ His disciples supposed they had seen a Spirit these disciples were ignorant at that time as most people thinking that Spirits might walk without bodies or that Spirits might assume bodies and appear to men this ignorant opinion was in the disciples of Christ before they were endued with power from on high and this is the general opinion of all men but those that have a Commission from God for if God had never chosen Prophets and Apostles and Witnesses to enlighten the understanding of people all people in the world would have believed so therefore it was that Prophets caused Kings to put to death all Witches and Wizards that dealt with familiar spirits as Samuel did and King Saul out of Israel but all the Nations of the earth besides did practice Witchcraft and dealing with familiar spirits and did believe that spirits might and did walk without bodies and could assume what shapes they please The same opinion is now all the world over and in the Quakers also and the disciples of Christ at that time had a smatch of the Heathen opinion in them which made them through their ignorance to suppose they had seen a Spirit without a body to walk before them but Christ willing to convince them of that vain and lying opinion saith to his disciples Feel me and handle me for a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as I have as if he should say No Spirit can appear without a body for a Spirit without a body is a meer shadow presented to your fantasie through your ignorance as if Christ should say do not believe that Spirits can walk without bodies there is no such thing it is but a meer shadow you suppose to be a Spirit but come to me and feel me and handle me for a shadow as you take or think to be a Spirit hath not flesh and bone nor is of no substance as I am This was after Christ was risen from the dead and before the Apostles had received power from on high so that the Reader
may see that Christ had flesh and bone after he was risen from the dead now I would fain know of the Quakers what became of this flesh and bone of Christ where it went or where it is now Sure you Quakers will not say this flesh and bone of Christ is within you neither will you acknowledge that the flesh and bone which is the body of Christ risen from the dead to be now in Heaven above the stars distinct of himself for that body of Christ which was felt and handled by his disciples was that body that was prepared for the God-head Life to dwell in and to suffer and when that body of Christ ascended to Heaven the God-head Spirit ascended with it also So that there is but one God and one body of God so that Christ is God embodyed with flesh and bone in all things like unto man sin excepted as the Scriptures saith so that Christ cannot be in the Quakers neither in his body nor his spirit neither are they members of his body not by union of faith as true Believers are for then Christ hath never a body neither within them nor without them for if they should believe that Christ hath a body distinct of his own at such a distance residence above the stars then I say the Quakers Principle of Christ within them would vanish like smoak indeed as it doth with many true Believers that were of the Quakers faith before they came to know the true God and the right devil but the Quakers are in black pitchy darkness so that it is a vain thing to talk to them of Heavenly Mysteries as the Mystery of the true God and the mystery of the right devil and how they became flesh for the Quakers have got as they imagine God and devil hell and Heaven Resurrection and all within them so they cannot tell where to finde any God without them but an Infinite Spirit without a body also their devil is a bodiless spirit they know not from whence he came notwithstanding he is in them CHAP. XVIII ALso Fox saith God fills heaven and earth Here he repeats Scripture words but never gives any Interpretation he hath repeated many words of the Prophets Apostles and the words of Christ he hath named their words to prove me a liar but he gives no interpretation no not one Text that he hath brought against me I do think he never did interpret any Scripture words in his life I marvel how the people called Quakers are satisfied with their bibble-babble that never tells what the sense of such words of Scripture are as they so much talk of but I cannot expect no other from Quakers for they are all alike So William Smith Samuel Hooton Richard Farnsworth they named many places of Scriptures which were other mens words against me as Fox doth but never did interpret any But Fox do you conceive that God is so big a bulk that he fills heaven and earth with his bigness how comes it to pass then that the Quakers bodies and others are so empty for if God be so big to fill Heaven and Earth me thinks the Quakers bodies are but little vessels in comparison of Heaven and Earth they are great vessels and doth certainly hold God and yet many vast places in the earth where God is not at all and I know many Quakers and others that God is not in them at all how is it then that God fills heaven and earth Oh this blind Fox it is the nature of Foxes to be cunning and subtile but this Fox is ignorant and simple to repeat Scripture words and give no distinction that is the cause of such gross errors concerning God and devil for Fox takes God to be an Infinite Spirit without a body and this Spirit without a body fills heaven and earth without distinction and so Fox his devil is a bodiless Spirit so that he can give no distinction what the devil is though I know he is one himself but for the Readers sake I shall interpret a little how God may be said to fill heaven and earth as thus God is a single person in form of a man a spiritual person and no bigger in compass than a man and he was so from eternity even of the same stature as the first Adam was therefore said to be made ni the image and likeness of God Also Christ is said to be the express image of his Fathers person the meaning is this that Christ was the express Image of God the Father as he was God in Immortality and Glory and as Christ was in mortality and shame he was the express image of his Father Adam for the Scriptures calls Adam his Father and David is called Christs Father as he was man so that Christ being God and man so that God is of no bigger bulk or bigness nor never was than the compass of a man and the first Adam was of the same bigness for compass of person as God was that made him and the second Adam Christ which was God and man was of the same compass when upon earth as the first Adam in the beginning of the world was the Scriptures are full to prove this But it would be too tedious to speak of them in this place neither was it my intention to speak of this point now onely that the Reader may see the darkness of the Quakers to think God so big a bulk to fill heaven and earth and give no distinction how This being a ground-work to know what God is in himself so it may easily be understood how God fills heaven and earth he fills heaven and earth by his wisdom and power in that he created all things by the power of his word also by the power of his word he hath planted a Law in every creature according to its kinde he hath by the power of his word written his Law in the holy Angels and all other celestial creatures in heaven and every creature in heaven in their kinde obeys his Law written in their natures by the power of his word so that all the creatures in heaven obey him and sets forth the praise wisdom power and glory of their Creator their God and King so that heaven is filled with his glory Likewise God hath written by his wisdom and power of Creation a Law in every creature here upon earth he hath written by the power of his word a Law in mans heart who is the Image of himself whom God made lord of all other creatures he by the power of his word hath placed a Law in the beasts of the fields in the fowls of the air in all sensible creatures hath he planted a Law and they all obey him in their kinde and sets forth his glory Yea he hath by the power of his word placed a secret Law in the Vegetables as Trees Plants Herbs and all things of that kind nay by the power of his word he hath put a Law in the
Christ in the flesh but that Christ within them and their bodies is this imaginary Christs body this is the Quakers Christ spirit and body they so much talk of this I know to be true for as I said before and in the neck of the Quakers broken that is the Quakers should own that body of Christ flesh and bone without them at such a distance as above the Stars to be the onely God then I say the Quakers principle of Christ within them would vanish like smoak And for this cause have I passed the sentence of eternal damnation upon so many Quakers for denying that flesh and bone of Christ without them to be the onely God for the Quakers are the greatest fighters against a personal God without them distinct of himself of any that professe the Scriptures Here Fox saith he feels me that saying of Fox is true I know you do feel me and you shall feel me to eternity and so shall more of you Quakers feel that sentence of eternal damnation that I have passed upon you so that your Christ within you cannot nor God without you will not deliver you from that sentence and curse I have passed upon you it will and shall be written and ingraven upon and in your hearts of stone even as the Law that Moses gave was written in Tables of stone to signifie the Law written in the seed and nature of reason in the reprobate Angel before his fall from whom all men received that seed of reason and so the Law written in it So that as you feel the motions of that Law written in your hearts your thoughts accusing and excusing shewing the Law written in your hearts so shall that sentence I have passed upon you be printed in your memory always judging and accusing of you for your blasphemie against the Holy Ghost and despising the messengers of the holy Spirit and you shall remember you were told so by a true Prophet So that you shall feel me indeed to your endless misery and if you do not find this to be true as I have said then let the same evil I have judged upon you let it be upon me or if God will not own what I have said unto you despising Quakers or if I judge thus without a commission and authority from the true God let God judge me with the same judgment I have judged you and others with this is as much as can be said by man 17. Page 19. Muggleton saith the devil so much spoken of in Scripture is nothing but the spirit of reason in man that killed the righteous also it was the spirit of reason the devil that kil'd the Just Here Fox blames my judgment and pleads for Reason as if all reasonable men had saith from those words of Paul who desired to be delivred from unreasonable men For saith Paul all men have not faith so that Fox looks upon the devil to be nothing else but unreasonableness CHAP. XXII ANSWER HEre Fox shews his ignorance and darkness both of the devil and of the meaning of the Scriptures and of the Apostles words the want of distinction and the want of the gift of interpretation is the cause the Quakers are so ignorant of every true Principle of Faith For the speakers are the worst of all men in that for they never gives meanings of Scripture nor interprets any Look into all the Quakers writings and they give no meanings nor interpretations of any for no interpretation can be given but there must be a meaning as there was by Philip to the Eunuch but the Quaker names the Scripture words that are for his purpose though there be three places against that he names to prove to the contrary the Quaker will give no meanings nor distinctions but say it is the flesh that asks questions and this is the cause the Quakers are so unable to dispute or to answer questions or interpret Scripture indeed I cannot see how they should their foundation is so sandy one puffe of wind from a true Messenger or Minister of Christ will blow down all the Quakers building For they have none of the true Corner-stone to build upon nor that Rock which is Christ without them but a sandy foundation of a Christ within them Yet because I would not have the Reader unsatisfied that the spirit of Reason in man is the devil and that it was the spirit of Reason in man that always killed the righteous and the Spirit of Reason that killed the Just I shall prove it by Scripture and shall explain those words of Paul who desired to be delivered from unreasonable men for all men have not faith I know it is a vain thing to interpret Scriptures to Quakers or to give meanings of Prophets or Apostles to Quakers but for the sake of others that shall read this Epistle I shall open this point and prove by Scripture that the spirit of reason in man is the devil First it was the spirit of Reason in Cain that killed righteous Abel for Cain reasoned in himself why should God accept of Abel his offering not of him and his offering he reasoned in himself why should God send fire from Heaven to testifie his acceptance of Abels offering send no fire from Heaven to consume his offering Also Cain reasoned in himself I am the first-born and lo God hath had respect unto the younger what reason is there that God should respect the younger and reject the elder Likewise Cain reasoned in himself that he would kill Abel then thought he God will accept of me there being none to offer up sacrifice unto him but himself so these reasonings and such like passed through Cains soul before he was resolved to kill righteous Abel but this reasoning being too strong for Cain it made him resolve to kill his brother when he had an opportunity which a while after he had an opportunity when he met Abel in the field he talked with him and slew him And this spirit of reason in Cain was the first devil in man that killed righteous Abel and this was the spirit of reason in Cain and not any unreasonableness in him For he thought he had reason to kill Abel seeing God had dealt so by him to accept the younger and reject the elder Also the like case was with Jacob and Esau because Jacob had got the blessing from Esau he reasoned in himself to kill his brother Jacob so he reasoned in himself how he might do this murder and not incur his Father Isaac's displeasure so he reasoned in himself how he might have opportunity to do it and not to be discovered that he did it and this reasoning in Esau took place in his soul and gave a resolution to put it into execution to kill Jacob because he was blest and Esau was not blest with that blessed promise that the righteous Seed should come of him as his brother Jacob was For this is to be minded by the
suffered in the flesh but he did not die as he was God CHAP. XXIV ANSWER HEre Fox hath discovered his Allegorical Cheat as I have made appear before For saith he in the fourteenth particular of this Book the Quakers owns the Son of God who was crucified and laid in the grave and rose again and sits at the right hand of God yet Fox saith the Godhead life did not die Here Fox hath manifested his great ignorance of life that died also he hath cut himself off from having any part or portion in the death of Christ for God and Christ is all one undividual or undivided Essence Person and Substance so that when Christ died God died and when Christs blood or soul was poured out unto death the soul of God was poured out unto death also Christ being God and Man For no man can truly say Christ was God and Man except he were God as well as Man for if there be another God besides Christ or above Christ then Christ is not God as well as man as people do vainly imagine Now we read that Christ poured out his soul unto death and will any dare to say that the soul of Christ was not the soul of God it is high blasphemy to affirm the contrary besides it cuts a man off from all benefit of the death of Christ for no blood but the blood of a God can speak peace to the soul of man therefore it is the blood of Christ speaketh better things than the blood of Abel because Abel was but a faithful man But Christ was God as well as man yet this Godhead life did die and quickened again by its own power which Abels life could not do being but a man But what should I talk to Quakers of these things for they do not believe that any souls die no not their own they all slip away and leave the body to suffer so Fox saith Christ suffered in the flesh but his soul did not die but slipt out of his body for he doth not own that Christs soul died neither as he was God nor as he was man But this is opened more large concerning the Godhead life dying in The Interpretation of the whole Book of the Revelation But what think you Fox did Cain kill the soul or life of Abel or no or did he onely drive his soul or spirit out of his body Surely if Cain had not killed Abels soul his blood would never haye cryed for vengeance in Gods ears and in his own conscience as it did if his life had not been killed What do you think Fox that Judas did by his soul when he hang'd himself did he onely hang the body that his soul might slip away and leave his body to suffer What do you think the sufferings that all Quakers of late and others have undergone in imprisonment and banishment some have died by reason of those sufferings but you Quakers do believe it was nothing but their bodies that suffered their souls suffered nothing they slipt out of their bodies and went some where you know not where So your persecutors did you no great hurt onely turned your souls out of your bodies before the time as a Landlord doth a bad Tenant turns him out of his house for not paying his Rent he never kills him So the Quakers souls are never killed they are only separated from the body so that there is no great harm done by the persecutors they do but onely separate soul and body one from the other they do not kill life in the Quakers for life cannot die the body indeed may suffer but life cannot die This is Fox the Quakers faith and all Quakers else that I have talked with and were not the Quakers blinded and hardned they would be ashamed to own such a Principle for all true Believers are ashamed of the Quakers faith in this point nay men that are meer moral men that have no light but the dictates of nature do know by experience that the spirit and soul of man doth die for nothing can be capable of pain but life nor nothing can be capable to die but life yet these blinde Quakers cannot believe that life can die as aforesaid 19. Page 21. Muggleton saith God the King of Heaven is not in this world at all Fox calls this Lies also For saith he thou dost confess that Christ is God and John saith he was in the world but the world knew him not Also Fox saith the true Prophet saith he fills heaven and earth but saith Fox the false prophet saith God the King of Heaven is not in this world at all CHAP. XXV ANSWER THat saying of mine is truth That God the King of Heaven is not in this world at all not in his Person and Essence or Substance as is clearly opened in The Neck of the Quakers broken which whosoever doth read that Book may see every one of those sayings of mine more clearly opened than in this Treatise yet George Fox calls them all lies and darkness and such like though what I have written in that Book is as true as any Writings of the Prophets or Apostles and are of as great Authority and will prove as true in the end as theirs But to give the Reader a little light to see the gross darkness of this Fox and his subtilty Fox brings the words of John and saith Christ was in the world but the world knew him not Minde Did I ever deny in all my Writings that Christ never was in the world I always in all my Writings justified more than any man living that Christ the onely God was in this world in the state of mortality which the Apostles did witness unto therefore it is that John saith Christ was in the world but the world knew him not which doth imply that Christ was not in the world in his person at that time when John writ those words if he had John would have said Christ is now in the world but the world knows him not So that it is clear to those that know the Scriptures that Christ the onely God was not in this world at all in the Apostles time he was in the world before he suffered death and the world knew him not but after he was ascended he hath not been in this world never since and this John and the rest of the Apostles knew very well and they preached this Christ that was in the world but the world knew him not therefore they persecuted him and slew him and would slay him again if he were in this world now so John knew well enough therefore he testified that Christ was in the world in his own person but the wicked world put him to death because they knew him not but he is not in the world now for he is ascended for John knew if Christ had been in the world in his person at that time they would have done unto him as they did before and because Christ was not
in the world in his person in the Apostles time therefore the world persecuted them and put them to death for witnessing that Christ was in the world and they with wicked hands had slain the Lord of Life even Christ Jesus the onely God the King of Heaven So that John and I am both of one minde and of one faith that though Christ the only God and King of Heaven was in this world before he suffered death this John the Apostle and I both do believe and know but since Christ rose from the dead and ascended up to heaven John and I do believe and know that Christ the only God and King of heaven is not in this world at all in his person and essence yet Fox calls this Lies But the Reader may see if he hath any light who it is that lies Fox or I. Also he saith The true Prophet saith God the King of Heaven fills heaven and earth but saith he the false prophet saith God the King of Heaven is not in this world at all It is a small thing to be called a false prophet by the Seed of the Serpent especially by a damned devil for I know Fox would have said so by those prophets he calls true had he lived in that time and this John and Christ he so much talks of would have been counted all false a false Christ a false Witness what will any Quaker believe that to be a Christ a Savior that comes in likeness of man nay is a man sin excepted No no we will have a Christ that is a Spirit that may creep into our spirits when he will and whip out again when we commit sin and displease his Spirit such a Christ we own that hath never a body of his own but is all Spirit that fills every Quakers body with his Spirit and heaven and earth also What will you perswade us to believe that Christ is a man Christ is God and admits of no form so thou John art a false witness to perswade us to believe in a man to be Christ or God the Savior of the world this I know would Fox and the rest of the Quakers have said by those he calls now true prophets they being dead and by Christ and the Apostles as he doth by me For when they were alive on earth as I am now they were counted by the seed of the Serpent such as Fox is Blasphemers Deceivers Liers and such like but now who so zealous for the dead letter of the Prophets and Apostles as the seed of the Serpent are but when they were alive they were hated and persecuted for speaking that which the seed of the Serpent doth now honor so is it with me now I am alive I am hated and persecuted by the seed of the Serpent as well by Quakers as others for my doctrine and commission now while I am alive but when I am dead many of the seed of the Serpent in the next generation shall have respect unto my Writings and shall say had we lived in those days that Fox and other Quakers lived in we would never have blasphemed and spoken evil of so pure a truth as Fox the Quaker hath done to incur eternal damnation upon our own heads as Fox the Quaker their father hath done these things will come to pass as it hath done in the other two Commissions namely the Law the Gospel Page 22. Muggleton saith the Quakers hearken to the light within but they despise the body and person of Christ without them and so they are Antichrist 20. To this Fox saith Here are more Lies of the false prophet for saith he Christ that died at Jerusalem his person we own without us who is manifest within us the light of Christ Jesus by which we have seen of his glory and speak in his person And Fox saith Solomons Books in the Bible are good Scripture though Muggleton saith they be not Scripture he being not in the spirit of Solomon that gave them forth CHAP. XXVI ANSWER HEre Fox hath shewed his Allegorical Juggle who dares not deny the person of Christ without them not in plain terms because the Scriptures are so full to prove Christ a person and it is the Faith of all Christendom as we call it but any man that hath any true light in him may see that Fox is a meer Juggler to deceive the simple and ignorant whose doctrine makes the people more dark in their mindes than they were by nature For saith Fox we Quakers own the person of Christ without us who is manifest within us There is such a great stir with Gods Messengers to part Christs person or body from the Quakers and their bodies from him that Christs body might stand single of it self and the Quakers bodies might stand single of themselves at a distance from Christs body but the Quakers will either get into Christs body or else Christ must get into the Quakers bodies so that no man can tell how to part them one from another but I know death will part them And Christ will say to Fox and other Quakers Depart from me you workers of iniquity you pretended that you were my Saints and that I was in you and you in me but I know you not neither did I send you to preach for I never was in you by my Spirit to assist you in your preaching you should have let preaching and praying in my name alone for you have done more hurt than good in that your doctrine hath blinded the eyes of many people and have led them as sheep to the slaughter and hath caused many to suffer extreamly in this life even to the loss of their natural life besides the punishment hereafter For you should have hearkened to my chosen Witnesses and Prophets who can declare the true Christ God and man in one single person in the form of a man with the right devil his form and nature but your non-knowledge of the right devil is the cause of your gross darkness in the knowledge of the true Christ What are you Quakers the better for your Christ within you he yields you no true peace and what are you the better for being in Christ for the true Christ denies you and will not be in you by his Spirit neither will he suffer you to be in him because you and a great part of you Quakers are of the reprobate Seed which have no part nor portion in the true Christ for you are and the Quakers people but the devil transformed into the likeness of an Angel of light because you are something more precise in your life as to outward appearance but your preciseness is very much broken and withered of late years your darkness and ignorance is discovered by the light of this Commission of the Spirit for you are not like the people you were formerly neither doth your Witchcraft-fits catch any now as it did heretofore Your Witchcraft-fits can hardly be produced now of
himself did interpret this Scripture to the Eunuch or did it belong to a mortal man I think you will not be so grosly ignorant to say that Christ himself went into the Eunuchs Charret and interpreted those Scriptures to him Surely if the interpretation of Scripture had belonged onely unto Christ and not unto man as Fox doth assert then Christ must have come from heaven and have went into the Charret in Philips stead because Philip was a man and interpretation of Scripture doth not belong to man as Fox the Quaker saith May not any man that hath but the light of sense and reason in his understanding see the gross darkness of these Quakers which pretends to be in the clearest light of all the seven Churches but to my knowledge the darkest of all in point of doctrine And as for that saying of Scripture We shall be all taught of God it is not meant that God will teach every particular man and woman himself do you Fox believe so why then do you prattle to the people when you meet as if you would interpret the meaning of Scripture and teach the people the knowledge of Christ for you are but a man why do not you let Christ teach the people himself seeing you will have all taught of God and allow no man to interpret Scripture nor teach the people For if you say Christ doth interpret Scripture and not Muggleton because Muggleton is a man and the interpretation of Scripture you say belongs to Christ and not to Muggleton for Muggleton is but a man so Quakers are all taught of God and not by man I marvel why there is so many Men-teachers amongst the Quakers seeing teaching knowledge of heavenly things and the interpretation of Scripture belongeth to God and Christ and not to man If I were of your faith I would give over teaching and talking of the Scriptures and leave it to God and Christ to whom it doth and it would be well for you Speakers of the Quakers if you had done so before you took upon you to preach Christ within you you have undertook to teach that which you say God will do and to interpret Scripture which you say doth belong unto Christ But I see all those people that will be taught of God and have the Scriptures interpreted unto them by Christ himself and will not receive the interpretation from man I say those people are more ignorant and dark in their mindes than those that are taught by man And I am sure the Quakers people would have known more truth if they had been taught by man that hath a Commission from God as Reeve and Muggleton hath than they do by all that God ever taught them in their lives And the Interpretation of Scripture we have given if understood would have informed their Judgements more than all the Interpretation of Scripture that Christ ever did interpret unto the Quakers people since the name of Quakers was put upon them yet we are but mortal men and must die But to clear the scruple that may arise in mens mindes because I speak thus I shall shew in a few words how men may be said to be taught of God and how the Interpretation of Scripture may be said to belong unto Christ First when God chuseth any one man or more to be his chosen Prophet Messenger or Minister God doth furnish such with wisdom and understanding and revelation to declare the minde of God to the people what God would have the people do and look how many people or who ever doth believe this Messenger sent of God they may be said to be taught of God and are taught of God So likewise he that hath the gift of Interpretation of Scripture as Prophets Apostles and we the Witnesses of the Spirit hath our Interpretation of Scripture may be said to belong unto Christ and that it is the true Interpretation of Christ himself because we had our Commission from him to teach the people and to interpret Scripture to as many as believe us to their great peace and satisfaction of their souls And in this sense people may truely say they are all taught of God and that Christ hath given the true interpretation of Scripture by his servants the Prophets Apostles and Witnesses of the Spirit to our everlasting peace and comfort yet all this is declared by men yea by mortal men and not by Christ himself as the Quakers do vainly imagine 6. Also Fox saith Christ opens and no man shuts and saith Doth not John say No man was found worthy to open the Book but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah And saith Was not Christ annointed to preach CHAP. XXXVI ANSWER THis beareth the same sence as the other whatsoever the Prophets Apostles and Witnesses of the Spirit doth it may be said Christ doth it as the Prophets they preached of Balm in Gilead and of Eye-salve to anoynt the peoples eyes that they might see what did belong to their peace and where they might have salve to heal the wound in conscience which sin had made in their souls this is called the preaching of Christ by his Prophets 2. The Apostles had power given them by Christ to open the eyes of the blinde and to give light unto them that were in darkness and in the shadow of death and brought those that believed their doctrine into the light of life eternal Also they had the Keys of Heaven and of Hell to bind sin upon the consciences of unbelievers never to be forgiven and to loose the sins of those that did truely believe their doctrine of Christ and thus they did open the Book of conscience in the believer and no man could shut up that conscience which the Apostles doctrine opened neither could any man open that conscience the Apostles shut up in unbelief This also is called the preaching of Christ and opening and shutting the Book of Conscience by Christ yet this was done by men and not by Christ himself But in regard they did preach the Gospel by vertue of Authority from Christ and they were anointed by him to preach the everlasting Gospel and had power given them to open the Book of Conscience in some whereby they did believe in Christ and shut the conscience of others up in unbelief and thus that saying of the Scripture is fulfilled that Christ was anoynted to preach the Gospel of glad tidings of salvation for what his Messengers doth it is as if he did it himself Again we the Witnesses of the Spirit are anoynted and chosen of Christ to preach the everlasting Gospel and Christ hath given us power to set life and death before men and we have power to binde and loose and to open and shut the Book of Conscience and no man can shut that conscience we have opened neither can any man open that conscience we have shut up in darkness as to any spiritual knowledge or true peace this many can witness on both sides if
when we came out first sixten years ago were very high in their elevations in seeing of visions and going forth as Prophets and Prophetesses and stripping themselves naked for signs as you Quakers have done I can make it appear in some particulars that this commission hath had great power over Ranters and Quakers for the heads of these two were John Robins and John Taney Robins was the head of all false Christs false Prophets Prophetesses Shakers and Quakers and you Quakers are but the spawn of John Robins and that Christ you own within you being a false Christ John Robins was the head of that principle also his believers had those witchcraft-fits upon them as you Quakers had very strongly at that time when John Robins was in power also John Taney was the head of the Atheistical Ranters those Ranters were very high in their language and vile in their practise as to oppresse one another deflower Virgins commit whoredome with mens wives and counted all the wickedness they did to be righteousness these things and much more did those people do and these two heads were in great power when we came first out and the first man that was cursed by us after we had power was John Robins after that divers of his Prophets were curst and in two months time after John Rob'ins power fell and all his Prophets and Prophetesses fel with him so he and they moultered away like dirt and none durst acknowledge any faith in John Robins neither could they attain any Witchcraft-fits any more so that John Robins and his Prophets and people are layd aside as if they had never been Afterwards it came to pass that John Taney was damned by us because he would not lay down the Priest-hood and his Jerusalem Journey he had witchcraft-fits also and would shut up himself nine days to produce them but could not after he was curst so after few years he fell and all his great matters to nothing so that not one of his hearers can tell what became of him Likewise we did passe Sentence on several of the Ranters Ministers as of them themselves so that they all tumbled down headlong and could not rise again to this day Now do you Fox the Quaker call to minde and see whether this curse Reeve and Muggleton hath not been over the Quakers people nor touched them there hath a many Quakers been curst by us but especially of late years by me have you your self Edward Borrows Francis Hougal you three were the first Quakers John Reeve damned have you three had any witchcraft-fits since have you foamed at the mouth swollen in your belly with the workings of the spirit and as you think as if you had the Falling-sickness have you had any new vision or new revelation in those witchcraft-fits since yea or nay I am sure it hath great power over you Quakers and hath put a stop to those witchcraft-fits for I do not hear of any Quaker of late that hath any though they were never curst by me this curse hath run in the line of the heads of the Quakers so that it doth put a stop to the whole body so that none of the members can produce a witchcraft-fit nay the Quakers are bereft of all revelation now and Messages to the Magistrates they have left off stripping themselves naked and imitating the Prophets of old Do you Fox own that practise of Solomon Ecle the Quaker I perceive by a passage in your book you do because Isaiah did so as a sign to the Jews but your Prophet Solomon Ecle went in a more shameless manner being sent by the spirit of witchcraft then Isaiah did that was sent of God for Ecle went stark naked as is reported at Aldermanbury Church and not onely so but he was shamlesly beshit so that none could lay hands on him onely the Coachmans whip gave him a jerk or two this is he that went with fire upon his head in Bartholomew-fair also he sowed his linings upon the peoples Communion-table to prophane it at Aldermary Church these things were very brief formerly with the Ranters and Quakers people they were much for signs though some of them were very beasty signs yet the Ranters and Quakers were well pleased with them being moved thereunto by the spirit of witchcraft to imitate Prophets of old in a more shameless manner As I could tell you some things of the Ranters practise who would go forth as signs there was one his name was Nathaniel he was the Ranters sign yet pretended to be a sign of the Presbyterian Ministery that as he did stink in the nostrils of people so should they for he went always beshit so he was called Shitten Nat he eat his own dung and stank that none would come nigh him nay mistress Cook a Ranter would lye with him in the fields and make cakes of his dung for him to eat and he did eat his own dung but whether she did eat any with him I cannot tell but it was said she did now this sign goeth beyond the Quaker Solomon Ecle Also this mistress Cook she went to Westminster Church to shew the Minister a sign she stript her self stark naked and went into the Church so some threw a cloak over her to cover her nakedness and she was committed to Bride-well and there she was clothed all in white linnen like the Queen of Heaven these were Ranting signs now for you Quakers to imitate many such things were acted by that sort of people as that John Thomas who danced naked before Sir Richard Brown as he went to the Church and being committed by him was extreamly whipped and when he had suffered and was out of prison poysoned himself Richard Rusel the Quakers wife can witness the truth of his nakedness before Sir Richard Brown for she went on one side and another woman on the other they were both imprisoned with him many more of those Ranters came to a sad end for most of them fell to nothing after their head John Taney did fall and their principle doth stink in the nostrils of all civil people even as he did that was the true sign to that sort of people for he stank in the nostrils of all that came neer him he could hot endure himself nay he killed himself with the wyer of a candlestick thrust it into his belly and so died do you George Fox approve of such shitten shameless Prophets and stinking signs as these how much difference is there in Solomon Ecle his sign being a Quaker then in the Ranters are not you Quakers almost ashamed of your Prophets signs these things hath bin pretty common amongst Quakers heretofore when the spirit of witchcraft reigned in them but now the power of witchcraft-fits is subdued by Reeve and Muggletons commission neither shall you Quakers whom I have cursed get above nor over that curse I have passed upon you for it shall be upon your persons and over the heads of
your souls to eternity and none shall deliver you from it Thus much in answer to George Fox his printed Pamphlet By Lodwick Muggleton Here followeth the Copy of a LETTER sent to SARAH COPPIN Quaker Sarah Coppin YOu may remember about fourteen years ago in the year 1653. that you did seem to receive John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton as Messengers and Prophets of the Lord or as Witnesses of the Spirit and further you did shew much kindness unto us upon that account for there could be no other inducement in us at that time to invite any to shew kindness unto us but that doctrine declared by us concerning the true God as our writings did declare which you did seem to own Also you may remember your great zeal you had for us when we were prisoners in Old-Bridewel your zeal carried you out so far for us to deliver a Writing of ours unto Oliver Cromwel who was then chosen Lord Protector this you did your self in zeal and love to this Commssiion of the Spirit as we the Witnesses of the Spirit thought and I suppose your self did think what you did in that kinde it was in sincerity of heart also and we took it so and had a love for you as to your eternal happiness but your faith was not truely grounded neither upon the doctrine of the true God nor the Commission of the Spirit as it is manifest since Also you may remember one Joan Bishop a maid that was the occasion of bringing you acquainted with us and that you had been very religiously given before you met with us even so much that you were almost distracted about your salvation in that none of the Preachers of the Nation could shew you the way to rest for your soul they having no true rest themselves yet you may remember your receiving us upon that account as Prophets of the Lord who had put down John Taney John Robins and many others that went as prophets and prophetesses and pretended great revelations and visions from the Lord and yet knew not what God is these all have been brought down by us the Witnesses of the Spirit these things you know in part Also your acquaintance with us it cured you of that distracted condition you were in before you knew us and you were clothed in your right minde and was able to give a sensible Answer to any that did oppose you but I know you cannot do so now you are turned to the Quakers though you are become a Speaker amongst them I know your pride and ambition of your heart that loveth to be esteemed of people what a Woman-preacher you think this to be a great glory to you but the greatest shame that possible may be will be the effects of it for it is not your many sensless speeches without form or order produced by a witchcraft spirit within you which you call the light of Christ I say this you have gloried in will be your endless shame for your latter end will be worse than your beginning for you are become an absolute Apostate who hath back-slided and fallen from the truth and turned to the Quakers the most Antichristian Principle of all the seven Churches and the greatest fighters against a personal God without man of any so that you are an absolute Apostate and impossible to be renewed by repentance for you are fallen from truth to a lie for you are as some were in the Apostles time as Heb. 3 6. who were enlightened and had tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the life to come that is they were enlightened by the Commission of the Gospel committed to them to preach they tasted that good word of God even the doctrine of Christ which was life and salvation to them that truly believed But seeming believers tasted of this good word of God which the Apostles preached and rejoyced in it for a season as Herod did and as for the powers of the life to come they had peace in their minds and hope of eternal life by the Apostles doctrine so long as they stood by faith but when they fell away from that faith they once profest they could not be renewed again by repentance so that all that light and word of God they tasted of and peace and hope which is the powers of the life to come it all withered and dyed within them so that they were not sensible of the light of heaven nor any goodness of Gods word they preacht nor any peace or hope they ever found by owning the Apostles doctrine so it is with you as it was with those apostates that did fall away from the Apostles Commission after they had made a profession to own and believe it and had received many refreshments in their mindes and had tasted of the Joys of Heaven but in that they did fall from it to some other opinion as to the worship of the Law as the Galatians did who were bewitched as Paul saith so that their latter end was worse than their beginning For before a man joyn with truth though he doth not believe it for the present yet it is possible he may be renewed in his minde and come afterwards to believe and be saved but if any shall profess truth and rejoyce in it for a season and afterwards fall away it is impossible for such an one to be renewed by repentance as aforesaid And this is your condition for you rejoyced in this Commission of the Spirit for a season and did many good acts for us which did manifest that you had a love for this Declaration of John Reeve and my self and yet afterwards to fall away from the belief of it and not onely so but to speak evil of us the Witnesses of the Spirit In that you said you knew John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton very well and that we were the greatest Deceivers that ever was and that as soon as ever you met with Truth meaning the Quakers then you forsook us these with such like words and more than I mention here did you say which is clear to me that you are not onely fallen from grace but you have trampled the blood of the Covenant under foot and counted it an unholy thing even that whereby you should have been sanctified by faith had you held out to the end you should have been saved by this Commission of the Spirit for there is no salvation under heaven to be found in these days but in the belief of this Commission of the Spirit given of God to John Reeve and my self for our Commission is as true as the Apostles Commission was at that time and we as true Prophets as they were Apostles so that whoever shall make a profession of this and fall away afterwards and speak evil of that they once owned I say they trample the blood of the Covenant under foot now as they did in the Apostles time and do count that an unholy thing that should have given