flesh and so called his Brethren because we are born not of the will of man nor of the flesh but of water and of the Spirit which Spirit doth lye secretly hid in the water is the motions of peace that doth arise from the seed which is called the Spirit But on the contrary the Quakers Christ is according to the flesh of Abraham and so indeed they are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh for indeed they know no other Christ but according to the flesh that is according to the seed of Reason For in Scripture the seed of Reason is called the Flesh from whence the motions of sin doth arise which are called the motions of the flesh which I have largely unfolded in The Interpretation of the 11th Chapter of the Revelations for the Scripture taketh no notice of the outward bodily flesh but as the two seeds doth operate and work in man Reason is called the Flesh and Faith is called the Spirit wherefore it is said Let Christ dwell in your hearts by faith And so every one that doth truly believe in that flesh and bone of Christ to be now living doth eat his flesh and so Christ dwells in his heart by faith and not in his person and essence as the Quakers do vainly imagine For they make no distinction between the person and essence of Christ and the light of Christ which light of Christ is one thing and his person another as the body of the Sun is one thing and the light that shines from it is another and so according to the flesh that is according to the seed of Reason the Quakers are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh And they being the children of Abraham according to the flesh as their imaginary Christ is for all Abrahams children according to the flesh are the children of Cain who is the father of most part of the Quakers and in this sense they may say that they have the minde of Christ in them 4. You say I write if you should own Christ to be a person then that light of Christ you so much talk of would vanish like smoke and come to nothing In your Answer to this you upbraid me with my ignorance and darkness as not knowing Christ nor the Holy Ghost nor the Father nor Christs nor the Apostles doctrine and for which purpose you quote Solomons Writings which is no Scripture with some Scriptures to shew my ignorance and that my Doctrine should flie away like smoke as I said by yours with many more sayings that would be too tedious to write Answer If I were as ignorant and as dark in the knowledge of Christ and of the Holy Ghost and of the Father and of the Apostles doctrine as you are it would be no matter if my tongue should cleave to the roof of my mouth for your ignorance and darkness is plainly discovered in that you quote Solomon to prove your Scripture light and knowledge of Christ that which is no Scripture no more than the Apocrypha is but I perceive it is as good Scripture to you as any for you are but like a Parrot that speaks other mens words for it is nothing to you what Christ or the Apostles said at that time You ought to have heard what the Commission of the Spirit saith now in these last dayes for none can interpret Scripture truly but my self neither doth any man in the world truly know Christ nor the Father nor the Holy Ghost but my self and those that believe in this Commission of the Spirit for it is not with me as it is with you for you are to be judged by the letter of the Scriptures but God hath made me the Judge of Scriptures and of you also For my Commission and the Doctrine of it is as true as the Prophets and Apostles Commissions were in their time nay it is of a more higher nature than theirs were For we the Witnesses of the Spirit do know more than Moses the Prophets or Apostles did things of more higher concernment As To know the form and nature of the true God before he became flesh The form and nature of the right Devil before he be aâ—e flesh The persons and nature of Angels The rise of the two Seeds What knowledge can exceed or go beyond the knowledge of the true God and the righâ— Devil many other deep Secrets which hath been declared by this Commission of the Spirit which the Prophets and Apostles were but dark in in comparison of the Witnesses of the Spirit If so how should you Quakers come to understand any thing concerning Christ the Father and the Holy Ghost who have nothing but the dead letter of other mens words whose light was but dark in comparison of that light that comes by this Commission of the Spirit so that you can never know Christ nor the Father nor the Holy Ghost by the words of the Scripture nor by the light of Christ within you without an Interpreter there being none in the world at this day but my self Can your light within you make these three you speak of Christ the Father and the Holy Ghost to be but one person and particular body of flesh and bone in the form of a man if you can then may you truly say that you know the Father Christ and the Holy Ghost which I know no Quaker or other doth or can know at this day but this Commission of the Spirit onely Neither can any man by the light of Christ within him come to know these things aforesaid but by believing of him that 's sent by voice of words from a God without him But the Quakers were never sent from a God without them but onely from a Light within them and though it be the light of Christ yet will it not give a man the knowledge of the true God but will perish and he that hath it except it be grounded by faith to believe that God spake to such a man to the hearing of the ear and then the light of Christ in a man being grounded upon that voice he shall come to know the Father Son and Spirit to be but one personal Glory in the form of a man which no Quaker in the world doth therefore cannot know the Father Son and Holy Ghost by that light within them which they talk so much of for a childe that answers from his Catechism-book would have said as much from the Father Son and Holy Ghost as these Quakers do for a boy could have rehearsed these places of Scripture and have made as good a Confession of his faith as any Quaker doth But let that pass and come to the next 5. You say further that I have written The Quakers will have no person at all The words in your Letter to this is not worth a Reply for there is little in it but the repeating of Scripture words and what the Apostle saith of Christ being the express image of the
would have it proved by Scripture that God made Angels spiritual persons neither can it enter into your heart to believe that the serpent was made by the Wisdom and secret Council of God to bring forth his seed to oppose the Creator and yet you read in the Scripture that God would put enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman From what did this seed of the serpent come but from that reprobate Angel which is always in opposition unto the seed of the woman which is the seed of Adam which is the seed of Faith which is the seed of God The knowledge of these two Seeds is that which can truly explain the true meaning of the Scriptures and open the gates of hell and let in all the seed of the serpent who deny a personal God in flesh and bone glorified Also the knowledge of the two seeds doth open the gate of heaven unto the seed of Faith and lets them enter in to that everlasting glory where they shall see their God face to face to their eternal joy because God hath a body and face and so shall every seed have a face of its own And though the seed of the serpent shall have a face of its own yet it shall never see the face of God Angels nor man no nor their own face to eternity for as they lived and died in darkness here in this world not knowing what the form and nature of the true God is nor the form and nature of the right Devil and so not knowing what nature and seed themselves are of they shall rise again in that eternal darkness never stirring from the place they are raised to eternity I write these Lines unto you Edward Bourne knowing you to be of the seed of the serpent and appointed to eternal damnation before you were born though you know it not I do know it by your speaking evil of that doctrine which is declared by us the VVitnesses of the Spirit by calling of it Deceit Confusion and Lies with many more wicked speeches against the purest Truth that ever was declared by Prophet or Apostle because this is the Commission of the Spirit and the last Witness of God on earth Therefore for these your hard sayings against the Doctrine of this Commission of the Spirit in obedience unto my Commission I do pronounce you cursed and damned soul and body from the presence of God elect men and Angels to eternity neither shall that light within you nor any God deliver you from this Curse but according to my word it shall be upon you because you shall know that God hath given power unto man to curse you to eternity and that there is a Prophet of the Lord now in the Land Written by Lodowick Muggleton one of the two last Witnesses and Prophets unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory Vale. August the 10. 1662. A LETTER of Samuel Hooton and W. S. to Lodowick Muggleton Friend FOR so we can call thee as Christ did Judas and also the sloathful servant whose talent was hid in the earth who art in the highest state of inchantment Thou hast slandered the children of the Most High God thy lips hath uttered lies thy tongue hath forged deceit thou art a false witness a wanderer a vagabond from the true understanding true knowledge and councel under whose tongue is the asp and the venome who out-sputters it against the children of light but with it thou art comprehended and shall be made manifest and the hook 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vah is put into thy nostrils by which thou shalt be held and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obed is thy state if thou canst read it which upon thee shall come canst thou read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tame thou hast polluted thy self thou hast defiled thy self thou hast made thy self unclean and thou art unclean and art in the highest state of Ranters from the holy body in the polluted body and where ever thou hast an entrance thou wilt defile and thou mayest deceive fools and them that be void of understanding but the sound and the weighty thy spirit hath not nor never had any entertainment for thou art clothed with a Curse and not with a Blessing the fruits of which is sputtered abroad and the eternal Sentence of Judgement of the Lord God is sentenced upon thee And now to the matter of thy flanders and scandals and reproaches that thou casts upon the Most High's children First Thou sayest We that are called Quakers are guided and led by the Spirit of Antichrist Answer This is false for we are in the Spirit of Christ before Antichrist was and we have it and are Christs and so thy slanders doth not touch us but is thy own who speaks of thy self and beareth witness of thy self but our witness is in Heaven which beareth witness of us and witnesseth to us which thou hast manifested thou knowest not who judges with evil thoughts and is in that judgement which is to be reproved for we have Judgement to sentence and judge such spirits perpetually Secondly Thou sayest We are the worst of all and the most cursed of all in point of doctrine Answer This is false again and from slanderous lips our doctrine is Christs and the Apostles and we that doth his will do know his Doctrine and we are in the power of God that was before Sects was and thou art the man that wanders up and down to make Sects whose mouth is filled with cursing and soweth it so thou shalt reap of the same which will enter into thy bowels who art the Antichrist out of Christs doctrine and the Apostles and an enemy to it which saith bless and curse not therefore thou art one of the cursed children the Apostle speaks of who speaks forth the high swelling words of vanity to the alluring of the lusts of the flesh and so to catch people with thy bait but thy damnation and judgement lingreth not nor slumbreth not Remember thou wast told this in thy life time Thirdly Thou sayest We deny both the Father and the Son to be a person in the form of a man and that we deny the same flesh and bone of Jesus which suffered death was layed in the grave which rose again which was seen afterwards by his Apostles and others which ascended up into heaven in that same flesh and bone which he suffered death Answer To this we charge thee and command thee to mention the man and the place of his abode that denied this and is a Quaker Secondly thy charge is utterly false and lies and slanders as to us and the Lord will judge thee for sowing such lies abroad for we own Christ and none of us denies him that was prophesied of seen by the Prophets and holy men of God came according to the Prophecy and was born of a Virgin according to the Prophecy of Isaiah and suffered death and rose again
according to Scriptures the Man Christ Jesus who shall judge the world in righteousness whom God hath ordained and we own that according to the flesh he was of Abraham and the same that suffered rose and ascended into heaven and remains in the heavens until the restitution of all things and we sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus who is the express image and substance of his Fathers person and we own the Holy Ghost and we own the Father and knows them And as touching Christs flesh we are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and we have the minde of Christ and so thou lyer let thy mouth be stopt Thirdly Thou sayest If we should own Christ to be a person then that light of Christ which we so much talk of would vanish like smoke and come to nothing Answer To this we answer That thou hast manifested thy darkness and ignorance not knowing Christ not knowing the Holy Ghost not knowing the Father not knowing Christs flesh his blood and bone nor Christ and the Apostles doctrine nor the Law for first The Law is light saith Solomon and the law is in the heart and with the light they saw Christ yea his flesh Secondly John he bare witness to the Light that enlighteneth every man that comes into the world which is Christ And Christ saith I am the Light and believe in the light while ye have the light that ye may be children so there is no becoming children but by the light of Christ And the Apostle saith God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give us the â—ight of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus and that was the treasure in earthen vessels So first thou art ignorant of this treasure and both thee and thy doctrine and thy principle flies away like that smoke thou speaks of and the light remains which is thy condemnation the witness in thy conscience shall answer it which thou in thy uncleanness hast long rebelled against Secondly thou that so rebels against the light of Christ we speak of knows not Christ his flesh nor bone nor the Father nor the Holy Ghost As first thus the light that shines in the heart gives the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ and so without this light they have no knowledge of him and this we say to thee and all upon the earth that none knows the Father none knows the Son none knows the Holy Ghost none knows the Flesh and Blood and Bone of Christ but by the light of Christ for that reveals him and not Flesh and Blood for thou art like to the Jews who stop'd their Ears and closed their Eyes to that of God within them and therefore heard not saw not so was not converted and such professed a Christ was to come but persecuted him when he was come as thou doest now where he is made manifest in his light Fifthly Thou sayest That we will have no person at all Answer This is false though thou hast layed it down general for Christ is the express Image of the Fathers person we say as in Hebrews But thou art the man who wilt have no person at all that denies the light for they that was in darkness could not see God nor Christ nor the Holy Ghost that hated the light and the Apostle said he in the person of Christ which many doth witness now Glory to the Lord for ever for if thou doest profess them in thy words yet again in thy words thou that denies the light denies them and so Babylon and blasphemously terms it to smoak and for thy work the Lord will reward thee Sixthly Thou sayest A great part of us are of those wicked Ranters that hath been given over to blood-shed with a sword of Steel or else to all manner of lusts of the Flesh and now thou sayest we think by a more precise and exactness of Life to recover our peace with God and yet deny the very person of God without us Answer Here again thou adds lie unto lie but who is the father is known by us the children of the Most High and what doth the Devil rage in thee because some that hath been Ranters and used outward weapons formerly now they are turned from these things to God and Christ the express Image of the Fathers person and comes to live in Christ and serve him in a new life therefore doest thou rage they do not own their former principles that comes amongst us but doth judge them and deny them and all the lusts of the flesh and doth their exactness of life and good conversation judge thine that makes thee so fret and chase thy self and scoff and calls it precise and to this thou addes a lie and saith we deny the very person of God without us but to this we say God fills Heaven and Earth and Christ the express Image of the Fathers person is manifest within us and thou who railes at this doth manifest thy self a reprobate one in whom God and Christ is not and an Antichrist and a false witness and a lying spirit for Christ saith he would dwell in the Saints and God would dwell in them and walk in them and hath the devil made thee so blind and ignorant of the letter of the Scripture who art given up to believe lies and who makes lies thy refuge and hast thou no other refuge but lies who by this manifests thy self to all sober people what thou art and from whence thou comes and is not repentance hid from thy eyes it is manifest by thy spirit yet we must say this to thee thou art in the unclean flesh and hath an unclean body thy flesh burns with thy heat of thy lusts and therefore thou hast uttered forth thy ruine nevertheless here is some queries for thee to answer in writing else for ever stop thy mouth 1. Is there any such thing as sin and what is sin in it self and whether thou canst act any sin and express what is a sin to thee 2. If thou doest acknowledge sinne then shall a man while he is upon Earth be made free from sinne and come into the state that Adam and Eve was in before they fell while they be upon the earth and come to Christ a state that shall never fall while he be upon earth 3. For what end did Christ come doth Christ enlighten every man that comes into the world with a saving light and a condemning light yea or nay Is there any true Prophecy Knowledge Revelations or Witness seen or known but by the light of Jesus Christ 4. What is the Soul is it mortal or immortal What is Conscience and where is it seated in man What are the Angels and the worshippers of Angels What is the worship of the Beast and the Dragon And what is the Whore that sits upon the Beast which all nations drink her Cup and
nor from the light within me but from the power and authourity of a Commission received from a God without me which spake by voice of words to the hearing of the ear and this is that curse that shall remain and be remembred by all those Quakers and others that are under it both in this life and to eternity 3. Thirdly I did say truely in that I said you deny both the Father and the Son to be a Person in the form of a man and that you deny the same flesh and bone of Jesus which suffered death was laid in the grave which rose again which was seen afterwards by his Apostles and others which ascended up into heaven in that same flesh and bone that he suffered death in In your Answer to this above-mentioned you charge me to mention the man and the place of his abode that denied this and is a Quaker There are some other words in this Letter of yours that is to be minded and it is this where you say Christ Jesus is the express image and substance of the Fathers person and you own the Holy Ghost and you own the Father and know them And as touching Christs flesh you are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and you have the minde of Christ and so you call me a Lyer and say let my mouth be stopt Answ This same is riddle me riddle me what 's this What a fiâ—e distinction have you given of the Trinity and whaâ— solid Arguments do you think that you have given to prove me a liar in what I have said First according to your charge I shall tell you both the place and some of the persons which did deny this The place where this was denied was in Eastcheap at a Butchers house the persons who did deny those things aforesaid one was the Butcher himself I think his name was Richard Whitpan or such a like name the Quakers Downfal doth name it right another of them was Fox the younger which is now both dead and damned to eternity another of them was John Harwood as for the other two I do n t remember their names but one of them was a great lubberdly fellow perhaps you may know him better than I these five did all of them deny that flesh and bone or body of Christ wherein he suffered death which same body is now living which they did deny for which the just Sentence of Condemnation is passed upon them as is publick in the Quakers Downfal Nay it was not onely these five Quakers that did deny these things aforesaid but all the Quakers that ever I talked with both men and women have done the same And I know that if I should but discourse with you I should finde you to do the like for it doth not stand with a right Quakers principle to believe that the same flesh and bone of Christ which suffered death was laid in the grave rose again and is now living in heaven in that same body neither can that body be in heaven without the soul or spirit for where his body is there is his spirit also for they both lived together they both suffered death together they both rose again together and are both in heaven together if so how is it possible that the Quakers should get Christ within them For if Christ be a distinct person of himself of substance flesh and bone though a spiritual body now in heaven how comes Christ to get his spiritual body into every Quakers body and every mans body else For the Scripture saith that the heavens shall contain him until the restitution of all things meaning that body of flesh and bone so that the person of Christ or his Essence cannot be in this world at all much less in the Quakers bodies nay he is not in mine though he hath chosen me to be his Messenger to declare what he is in his form and nature as hath been abundantly declared in our Writings Therefore do not you say that it is a slander and a lye for me to say that you are the very absolute spirit of Antichrist that doth deny both the Father and the Son for though you talk of a Christ and of his being the express Image of his Fathers person and of a Holy Ghost because you read of such things in Scripture which were other mens words so you reading of them have jumbled the Father Son and Holy Ghost together and so in stead of one person you have gotten three persons and yet never a person For I am sure when I talkt with John Perrot about God he could finde never a person but an infinite Spirit without a body or person at all All the Quakers that ever I have had to do withal which have been a great many I could never finde any Quaker to own God to be a person in the form of a man but an infinite Spirit that fills heaven and earth and all places and all things and so doth the Pope and all other Opinions that are which doth shew the darkness of the Quakers and the Pope and all others For if God be a person in the form of a man as I am sure he is for I do acknowledge no other God but the Man Christ Jesus who is a distinct body of flesh and bone of his own how then can he fill heaven and earth with his presence and get into the Quakers bodies and all other peoples bodies too and yet he is in heaven above the stars which heaven must retain him until the last day From this body of Christ which is the onely God have I power over all other gods or infinite spirits whatsoever I could shew in what sense it may be said that God fills heaven and earth but it would be too large to unfold besides it is declared already in our Writings There is one blasphemous saying of yours through your ignorance of the Scriptures in this Letter of yours You say that you do own Christ according to the flesh he was of Abraham Which is blasphemy to say it being quite contrary to the Scriptures for those Jews that persecuted Christ were according to the flesh the children of Abraham therefore it was they said We have Abraham for our father and never were in bondage to any for indeed all those that are the children of Abraham according to the flesh are the children of the devil or of the serpent but all those that are the children of Isaac or the children of the Promise which is the seed of Faith which are the children of Abraham according to the Spirit and so according to the faith of Abraham of which Christ came and so the Seed of Faith may say truly they are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh because the seed or spirit of Faith which Abraham the father of the faithful had in him liveth in our flesh and bone and we may be said indeed to be bone of his bone and flesh of his
there is no eternal life to be had but in the faith of thy Doctrine because thou sayest there is no eternal life to be had but in the faith of the Doctrine of a Prophet who hath a Commission from God And there neither is nor shall be any such Prophet thou sayest but thy self whilest the world endureth And also sayest That neither Dorothy Carter nor no man upon the earth can or ought to judge of thy Doctrine because thou sayest that neither she nor no man upon the earth can or ought to judge of the Doctrine of a Prophet who hath a Commission from God And sayest there neither is nor shall be any such Prophet but thy self as aforesaid And to exclude Dorothy Carter and all men upon earth from judgement in point of Doctrine is to exclude them from reception thereof and so from the reward if any be due which is contrary to the Doctrine of Truth which saith Prove all things hold fast that which is good 1 Thes 5.21 And try the Spirits whether they be of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world 1 John 4.1 And how can doctrines be proved and spirits be tryed if none he capable to judge thereof who are to receive By this it is apparent that thou art unwilling to have thy doctrine proved and spirit tryed lest upon tryal and proof thou be found out to be a false prophet which thou art as is apparent enough 6. That there is no eternal life to be had but in the faith of thy Doctrine and that none upon the earth can or ought to receive the same because thou hast excluded them all off from judgement in order to reception thereof by which its apparent that under pretence of thy Commission thou labors to exclude Dorothy Carter and all men upon earth from salvation which makes it evident against thee that thou art a messenger of Antichrist and not of Christ 7. That thou presumes under pretence of thy Commission of the Spirit to rob Christ of his Office which his Father hath committed unto him as Chief Judge ordained of God because thou sayest thou art chief Judge in the world ordained of God to give Judgement upon men and women spiritual and eternal and what shall become of them after death which is but thy presumption pride and false doctrine Rev. 1.5 For Christ Jesus who is the faithful Witness and Prince of the Kings of the earth he hath all Judgement committed unto him because it is written concerning him That the Father hath committed all Judgement unto him John 5.22 And hath given him Authority to execute Judgement because he is the Son as it is written John 5.27 But it is no where written in the Scriptures of Truth concerning thee Lodowick that all Judgement either is or shall be by the Father committed unto thee to pronounce the Sentence of eternal death and damnation upon the souls and bodies of men to eternity as thou hast done Whereby it appears thou wouldest exclude Christ from his Office in point of Judgement which the Father hath committed unto him and are thereby discovered to be a false witness and messenger of Satan Lodowick thou art not the chief Judge in the world at this day ordained of God as aforesaid Thy Message and Testimony is false and not true because the â—rue Witnesses of the Spirit and Ambassadors of Christ who were Anointed and Sealed of God have declared and said That God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness not by thee but by Jesus Christ whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead as may be read Acts 17.30 31. And because God hath ordained Christ Jesus to be Judge of all men and hath given them assurance of the same in that he hath raised him from the dead thou Lodowick art not that Judge ordained of God because thou art not Christ Jesus which was raised from the dead neither hath God given that assurance to all men of thee that he gave of Christ by raising him from the dead as aforesaid Here I charge thee to be a false judge and a false prophet that ran but never was sent of the Lord. Thy judgement and doctrine is very erroneous and false as is plainly manifest against thee and is therefore reversed They who were the true and faithful Witnesses and Ambassadors of Christ who were anointed and sealed of God and had a Commission of God they did not presume to take the Office of Christ as Judge ordained of God from Christ and assume it to themselves as thou most unjustly hast done whereby thou hast appeared to be a false prophet and messenger of Antichrist For they who were anointed and sealed of God who were the true Witnesses of the Spirit and had a Commission from Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness they witness against thee by testifying on the behalf of Christ that he commanded them to preach unto the people and to testifie that it is he who was ordained of God to be Judge of the quick and the dead Acts 10.42 First by their Commission they were to preach to the people And secondly by the same Commission they were to testifie to them that Christ was ordained of God to be the Judge both of quick and dead Therefore thou art not Judge because thou art not Christ as aforesaid And whereas thou accusedst the Quakers to be of the nature and seed of the Serpent and gave judgement against them accordingly thou hast cleared them from the same by thy self-confutation and self-contradiction wherein thou sayest That the Quakers do preach from the Scriptures and light within and that devils are cast out and much good is done by them First the Quakees so called do preach from the Scriptures and light within Secondly because they so preach they are sent of God for how shall they preach except they be sent Thirdly That by vertue of their preaching and the power which they have received of God devils are cast out and much good is done by them and such are not of the nature and seed of the Serpent Thou hast cleared them from the same by thy self-confutation and then to what purpose is all thy false Judgement and what ever thou hast laid against them in thy presumption pride and imagination It is but error in judgement and is therefore undone as I said and holden for nothing Written by Richard Farnsworth Quaker and sent to Dorothy Carter to be directed to Lodowick Muggleton Lodowick Muggleton's ANSWER to Richard Farnsworths Letter Richard Farnsworth I Received a Paper from you entituled False Judgement reversed and against testified in Answer to Lodowick Muggleton In answer to this Paper of yours I shall first commend you in these two things first in that you have set your name to it for I have a Letter from a Quaker in Lancashire which hath
neither set his Name nor two letters yet I have made a shift to send an Answer but I had rather to have his name or two letters as I had of W. S. The second thing that I commend you for is because you have set down my words so truly and punctually it makes my Commission and Authority to shine the more bright and clear to all those that understand the nature and power of a Commission though you in the close of many of those passages have slighted vilified and spoken evil of those things which are as true as Truth it self and that you shall find And because you are not under the Sentence of this Commission of the Spirit by verbal words or writing already I shall give Answer to your Letter for I never do give answer in writing to any one that is under the Sentence of this Commission for he is but as a condemned man neither is it the practice of any earthly Judge after he hath condemned a man to die for to treat any more with him that is so condemned neither can that man get the Judge to revoke it but perhaps a man so condemned by the Law may make suit to the King which is above the Law and so may get his pardon but that is seldom known But it is not so with those that are condemned by the Commission of the Spirit because no condemned person can make his Appeal unto God the King of Heaven neither by himself nor by any other because God the King of Heaven is not in this world at all therefore he hath commissionated mortal men to be Messengers Ministers and Ambassadors to treat with mortal men about their spiritual and eternal estate and every true Ambassador stands in Gods stead and hath power to condemn and to save alive that is to bless to eternity and to curse to eternity And this power hath God given unto us two the chosen Witnesses of the Spirit neither can God take it again because God hath spoken it and cannot lye for he said these words That he had chosen us two his last Messengers unto this bloody unbelieving world and that he had put the Two edged Sword of his Spirit into our mouthes that who ever was pronounced blessed through our mouthes are blessed to eternity So on the contrary who ever we pronounce cursed through our mouthes are cursed to eternity and this I know God cannot revoke because he is Truth and cannot lye Therefore to give Answer to those despising slighting and vilifying words of yours in your Letter against those Truths which you have set down which was written to Edward Bourne and the four sheets which I sent to Samuel Hooton and W. S. And in the first part of your Letter you have shewed what seed and nature you are of even as Edward Bournes and Samuel Hooton and W. S. have done you being of the same seed as they are of that is the seed of the Serpent which must go the same way as your father Cain which begot you must go for you have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit that sent me by calling the Authority of this Commission of the Spirit Antichristian and very Erroneous and a false prophet and a Delusion with many other wicked speeches thoroughout your paper which is a clear testimony and discovery unto me that you are the seed of the Serpent and so guided and led by the spirit of Antichrist now in this last Age of the world The first thing that you do accuse in me to be false is that you say that under the pretence of a Commission of the Spirit that I have abused belyed and wronged the Spirit by presuming in the Name and Authority of the Spirit to set up my self as Judge Accuser and Witness to condemn at my will and pleasure all such as are beloved blessed and justified of God Answer That my Commission of the Spirit is no pretended thing but as true as ever Moses and the Apostles Commission was and of as great my of a greater authority than theirs was and given by the same Spirit of Truth as theirs was Neither have I set up my self as a Judge Accuser or Witness but God hath set me up to be the chief Judge in the world at this day for he hath set me in his stead to be Judge Accuser and Witness to judge and condemn Antichristian spirits that doth deny God to be a distinct person of himself of flesh and bone and all blasphemous spirits which sinneth against the Holy Ghost These two things there is more of the Quakers doth commit than any other Sects whatsoever therefore there is great need that God should make some mortal man Judge of these conceited stubborn-hearted people called Quakers neither are those people the beloved blessed and justified of God but the most cursedst of God of all other Sects neither doth any other Sect fight against Gods being in the form of a man as they do for they have got Christ within them but doth abhor that he should have flesh and bone of his own without them and by this Christ which is flesh and bone glorified without me am I made Judge of mens spiritual estate neither shall any one that I have condemned see any other God or Judge but that Sentence which we the Witnesses of the Spirit have passed upon them And though you call it presumption and a thing undone and holden by you as nothing but errors false judgement pride and such like yet you shall finde it to be as true as if God had judged you himself for this I can boldly say that I am as true an Ambassador of God and Judge of mens spiritual estate as ever any was since the Creation of the world and if you Quakers and others can satisfie your selves that there never was any man commissionated of God to bless and curse then you shall escape that Curse that I have pronounced upon so many hundreds and I onely shall suffer for cursing others without a Commision from God but I know by what authority I do these things and so I am at perfect rest as to my Eternal happiness in that I have heen obedient unto my Commission which was given of God by voyce of words to the hearing of the Ear. 2 You say that I under pretence of a Commission from God have presumed in my imaginations and pride in my heart to exalt my self above God and Christ and to take all pardoning power from them because say you that I account of my sentence and Judgment if once pronounced and past though never so erroneous and false that they might not be able to reverse and undo the same that I presume to take all pardoning power from God and Christ in that case because I say no infinite Spirit of Christ nor any God can or shall be able to deliver from my Sentence and Curse which you Quakers doth say these sayings aforesaid is my error and lying divination or
finde very little matter or substance in it but the repeating of my words but for that which is your own the most of it is in speaking evil of those truths which you have read out of those four sheets which was sent Samuel Hooton and W. S. and in that Letter to Edward Bourn which is a clear discovery to me that you are the seed of the serpent and that you have sinned the sin against the holy Ghost for that is a thing which most Quakers do for I find in your paper a multitude of blasphemous speeches against this Commission of the Spirit by calling of it errors false judgment delusion pride and presumption with many more such like expressions almost at the end of every sentence which is enough to damn a thousand Quakers if they should speak but the fourth part as you have done therfore in obedience unto my Commission I do pronounce Richard Farnsworth for this his cursed blasphemy against the holy Spirit that sent me cursed and damned both in soul and body from the presence of God elect men Angels to eternity For God hath made me the Judge of the Light of Christ within you and of that infinite Spirit which you call God without you For though Christ be the true way yet I am as John the Baptist was the messenger to prepare the way and to make his paths straight And though Christ be the truth and the life yet I am the onely declarer what this truth and life is And though Christ be the door yet I have the key given me to open the door to life Eternal and this Commission of the Spirit is that key of David which openeth and no man shutteth And though Christ be the true Shepherd which hath laid down his Life for his sheep yet I must be as Peter was I must feed his sheep and feed his Lambs with that green pasture which is the doctrine of truth whereby they may ly down in perfect rest in their minds and rejoyce in God their Saviour so that they may leap for joy as the young Lambs do upon the green hills And though Christ be the onely true God the King of Heaven yet I am his onely Ambassador so that there is no coming to treat with him but by receiving his Ambassador this Commission of the spirit being it These things being so How is it possible that you Quakers and others that have despised the Commission of the Spirit of truth should escape the damnation of Hell Written by Lodowick Muggelton one of the two last Witnesses and Prophets unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory Lodowick Muggleton's Reply to Richard Farnsworths printed Pamphlet I Saw a printed Pamphlet of Richard Farnsworth called Truth Ascended Or The Anointed and Sealed of God defended as a testimony as he saith against a counterfeit Commission as he calls it meaning Lodowick Muggelton I had thought not to have printed no more but seeing this Quaker hath put something in print against me he thinking thereby to make me the more odious unto the world and to lye the more open to the Magistrate he hath printed this pamphlet against me and because the Quakers shall not boast as if they had set out such a thing that could not be answered I am moved in my mind to put those Letters of the Quakers to me and my Answers to them with my Answer to this printed pamphlet into the publike view that their deceit may be the more discovered to the world and that I am not ashamed to own those Letters which I sent to them nor that sentence and curse which I have pronounced upon them and others let the effect be what it will And whereas Richard Farnsworth doth say that he is bold in the behalf of the Lord once again to bear his testimony against as he calls it my pretended Commission and the Doctrine thereof I marvel what Lord it is the Quakers are bold in 〈◊〉 a true Prophet may blow their Lord away with the breath of his mouth for they have no other Lord or God nor Christ but what is within them for their God nor Christ they so much talk of hath never a body nor substance of his own as those Letters afore-written of mine doth more fully discover wherein the Quakers are discovered to be led and guided by the spirit of Antichrist which doth deny God come in the flesh that is to say that the flesh and bone of Jesus Christ which he suffered death in is not now living in heaven distinct of himself from man this I say is the Quakers faith and principle and Antichristian this I know to be true as will be read in those Letters of mine unto them and from this body of Jesus which they deny have I power to blow Richard Farnsworths Lord which he is bold in away for they own no other Lord but what is within them so that all Quakers in their conceit are Gods but I shall say no more of that but shall proceed to answer those things which are of most concernment and most needful in his printed Pamphlet for the satisfying of all people who shall come to read or hear it which is as followeth WHat I have written in a sheet of paper to Edward Bourne and also those four sheets to Samuel Hooton and W. S. which was directed to Thomas Highfield at Notingham and I do own to be as true as the Prophets and Apostles Writings were to those people in their time neither shall they be delivered from that Sentence which I have declared or pronounced upon them Also I was in some hopes that you would have put them Letters with that which I sent to you in print as they were written to them and you it would have saved me that charge and trouble which now I shall be put into for I will if I can get them printed come unto publick view with your Letters to me without any alteration but as you have written them to me so that my presumption pride and false doctrine as you call it and your deceit and Antichristian spirit may be discovered unto the world that the people may be no more cheated with your hypocritial shew of holiness which never could have been discovered by any but by this Commission of the Spirit which God hath given to John Reeve and my self And whereas you R. F. doth say that you are bold on the behalf of the Lord once again to bear your testimony against my pretended Commission and the doctrine thereof and that you shall make it appear that it ought not to be entertained by any man or woman upon earth because say you it is contrary to truth And that my Judgement ought by all to be reversed undone and made void because say you it is erroneous and false for say you that I am no chosen Witness of the Spirit of Truth neither have I say you received any Commission from Christ to whom all
the Prophets gave witness as hereafter appears L. M. Here the Reader may see how simply he proves that I have no Commission from Christ and that I am no chosen Witness of Christ R. F. 1. He tells me that there were chosen Witnesses of Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness this he proves out of the Acts of the Apostles in divers places 2. That they had a Commission from Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness or that he commanded them to preach to the people This he proves likewise out of the Acts of the Apostles 3. They who were chosen Witnesses of Christ whom God the Father anointed sealed and sent and had a Commission from the Spirit and Power of Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness in testifying on the behalf of Christ their testimony stands as an evidence against as you say my pretended Commission and the doctrine thereof L. M. Reply Let any man that knows what belongs to a temporal Commission judge whether these places of Scripture which you have named doth prove me a false witness and my Commission to be a pretended thing or no for I do own and believe that the Prophets under the Law were true witnesses of Christ that is they did witness and testifie unto the people of the Jews that Christ the Savior of mankinde was to come and to be born of a Virgin this I do faithfully believe Also I do own and believe that the Prophets and Apostles were true Witnesses and Ambassadors of Christ and that the Apostles were chosen Witnesses of Christ to testifie and witness that Christ the Savior was now born in their time when they did thus witness as the Scriptures doth abundantly relate Also I do own and believe that Christ is ordained to be the Judge of the quick and the dead Also I do own and believe that the Scriptures were spoken as Holy men were inspired and so they may be called and are owned by me to be the Word or Words of God Yet this I say by the way that no man upon the earth at this day doth know the Scriptures truly nor can interpret them truly but us the Witnesses of the Spirit because all men in these days are ignorant of the form and nature of the true God and the right Devil as I have shewed in those Letters to Samuel Hooton and W. S. and to Edward Bournes and to your self Those Letters do open it more at large Again Do you blinde Quakers think that the repeating of Scripture-texts which were other mens Commissions and words that it will prove me a false witness and my Commission to be a pretended thing then I say those Jews which were under the Law of Moses might as truly have said as you do by me that the Apostles Commission wat but a pretended thing and their witness which they bore to Christ was a false witness and so they did therefore they persecuted them for it as you would do me if it lay in your power as it did in theirs 4. R. F. By their Commission they were to preach to the people and the same Commission and the doctrine thereof they were to testifie to them that Christ was ordained of God to be the Judge both of quick and dead but thou art not Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness therefore it is evident that thou art not chief Judge ordained of God though thou presume to say that after death they shall never see any other God or Judge but the remembrance of that Sentence which you the pretended Witnesses of the Spirit did pass upon them in this life because thou falsly saith no man knows the Scriptures but thy self and that no man can truly interpret the Scriptures but thy self and that no man ought to officiate the Office of a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ but such as are appointed by John Reeve and thy self Which Assertions or Doctrines of thine are false and not true for this I say that the onely knowledge and right of interpreting Scriptures belongs not to thy self but to the Lord Jesus and his blessed Spirit who is the true Judge and hath power to open mens understandings and can give them the true knowledge and right understanding of Scriptures Luke 24.32 Lodowick Muggleton 's Reply The Reader may see the gross darkness of the Quakers here he proves my Commission as he doth think to be false and a pretended thing from the letter of the Scripture as if the Prophets and Apostles Commission being repeated over so many hundred years since would make my Commission false and to be but a pretended thing when as I do declare that I do not take up my Commission from the letter of the Scriptures as other men do for that is a pretended Commission which doth counterfeit and pretend to do the same things as they did which had their Commissions signed and sealed by the voyce of God himself as Moses and Paul the Prophets and Apostles these I do own that they had a Commission from God but what is this to any Quaker or any other man doth this prove that the reading of other mens Commissions will make a man a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ surely no neither will the reading of the Scriptures prove my Commission to be false and a pretended thing as you say it is for I said in those Letters to the Quakers that my Commission is as true as the Prophets and Apostles Commissions were and of a more higher nature then theirs were this I own to be true for my Commission was given by voyce of words from God as theirs were therefore it is that I certainly know that God did give a Commission to Moses and the Prophets and unto his Apostles Also as Moses and Aaron were the two first that God did chuse and give a Commission unto to act forth the Law which did signifie the water so likewise God hath chosen John Reeve and Lodowick Muggelton to be his two last Witnesses and Prophets of the Spirit so that the repeating of the true Prophets and Apostles Commissions over again now will never prove me a false witness nor my Commission to be a pretended thing for the Jews which were under the Law of Moses might and did as well say as you do by me that the Apostles Commission was false and a pretended thing by their repeating of the Law and the Prophets but the repeating of other mens Commissions will not make void that which is given by voice of words from God for that will stand for ever and that you and many more shall know to your eternal pain and shame let your pretences be what they will Also I do own that the Prophets and Apostles of Christ did witness and testifie that Christ was ordained of God to be the Judge both of the quick and the dead I also do own and believe the same thing my self but what doth this prove therefore that I have