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 when you appeared to resist the Holy Ghost in us the Witnesses of the Spirit and
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
them the assurance of everlasting life but it is impossible for such to return to the truth again And this I must tell you a man cannot properly be said to fall away but when men and women fall from a Commission for we see many people fall oft from one profession of Religion to another as from Baptists to Quakers and Independents to Baptists and Quakers fall from that Principle to others and some to Atheism yet this is not properly a falling away because there is no true Prophet or Ministery amongst them all not in the whole world so that to my knowledge many hath fallen from one thing to another and at last have come to be saved by this Commission of the Spirit and have had assurance of eternal life in themselves notwithstanding their falling from several forms of worship but who ever falls from the Commission of God there can be no return again neither can they possibly be saved therefore thought it convenient to let you know what will be the effects of your fall I have been in this Commission these sixteen years and I never knew but four persons that did fall which seemed to own us your self is one and a Scotch woman Alexander Hails his wife she fell to the Quakers as soon as we were put in Newgate for indeed she was very poor and we being in prison could not supply her with loaves no longer there being but very few that did believe at that time so she did fall to the Quakers and forsook us for I suppose the Quakers had more loaves amongst them for they were many for a loaf of bread was the greatest religion she had in her for she was for John Robins his people so long as he could maintain them with the stock he got from them but when that was spent she did fall from him and his people also The third person was Mistress Langley the fourth was John Hide Bookseller these all seemed to own the doctrine of this Commission of the Spirit and pleaded much for it and rejoyced for a season in it This Mistress Langley did fall to the Quakers as you have done but a woful effect did follow upon it even distractedness of brain a wasting of her estate an endeavor to kill her self a fugitive and vagabond condition in this world besides her damnation hereafter Now I have shewed you what a dangerous thing it is to fall from commissionated men to non-commissionated men and what a dangerous thing it is for men or women to exercise the offices of preaching without a Commission from God or from him whom God sends therefore I shall say these words as followeth I have heard of your being a Quaker these many years so I let you alone as to that but of late I hear that you are a Speaker among the Quakers meetings and that you knew John Reeve and my self and did keep company with us until you met with Truth the Quakers principle you call Truth Also you said we were the greatest Deceivers that ever was and you said rather than you would return again unto us you would go to the publick and hear the Priests of the Nation these things I have weighed and considered first your revolting and back-sliding from that you once rejoyced in and seIcondly in that you have sinned against the holy Ghost and have contemptuously spoken evil of the Commission of the Spirit in calling it the greatest Deceit that ever was in this you have trampled the purest Truth that ever was under your feet as an unholy thing and as a scorn Therefore for these things aforesaid in obedience to my Commission from God I do pronounce Sarah Coppin Quaker cursed and damned both in soul and body from the presence of God elect men and Angels to eternity and it will be a marvellous thing if you escape a fugitive and vagabond condition in this life besides your damnation hereafter for sins of this nature hath commonly a double curse follow as it did with Mistress Langley I had no hatred in my heart to you at all in this thing but in obedience to my Commission I have done this that you might not go to hell in a sleep but that you may know what it is to despise the last Messengers of the Spirit of God and that the Age to come may see and read this Letter and may fear to do as you have done I was informed of some of these things by one John Clark a Tanner Feb. 14. 1667. Written by Lodowick Muggleton one of the two last Prophets and Witnesses of the Spirit unto the high and mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in glory Another LETTER sent to RICHARD CHAIR Quaker as followeth Richard Chair I Am informed by one Francis Newel that you have reported very base lies of me in the temporal and not only so but you have blasphemed against the Holy Ghost as most of you Quakers do and that without a cause for I do not remember I ever had any discourse with you nor no dealings with you neither temporal nor spiritual neither do I know you if I should see you and it is very like you do not know me if you should see me yet notwithstanding you have reported that you knew me in Trinity-lane and that I was a very cruel man to my servants and would abuse my Prentices and further you will not believe but that I lived in Half-moon Court in Bow-lane which things are all false for I never lived in Half-moon Court in my life neither was I ever cruel to my servants cruelty was always contrary to my natural temper therefore the neighbors that lived by me in my house will say I was one of the patientest men to my children and servants upon the earth though none of those neighbors nor those that lived in my house did love my principle or Religion nor my commission they could not abide neither did any of them believe John Reeve nor me yet as to that you accuse me of they will justifie it to be false I understand you was prentice with Master Farmer the Smith I knew your Master very well his servants did things for me sometimes it may be you being his servant you might do it and I not know you but you might know me in that regard but I suppose you mistook the man to say I was cruel to my servants it was one Richard Drew one of the seed of the serpent as your self is that was cruel to his prentices he would beat and abuse one boy he had most sadly to my knowledge for this Richard Drew lived in my house at that time when that boy was abused and afterwards this said Richard Drew lived in Half-moon Court ever since till the fire in London and this is about twenty years ago since he lived in my house and if this will not stop your lying tongue nor convince you of your lies as to that you may go on with it still for your
slanders are not the first nor the greatest that hath bin laid upon me by you Quakers but knowing my own innocency I am never moved at such slanders in the temporal for if one man tells a lye of me another man though he be my enemie yet he will justifie the truth on my side in things that are moral for such things are easily decided and made manifest here in this world so that I am not offended with you for your lies and slanders you have reported of me in these things as aforesaid but I have a greater charge against you then this even the sin again the Holy Ghost that unpardonable sin I can bear with any slanders and lies in the temporal but with blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that sent me I cannot nor shall not bear with it for it is reported to me by the party aforesaid that you Richard Chair hath bin very wrath and angry with me a long time in so much that you have called me a blasphemer and the doctrine declared by me blasphemy you have called me a Decever a Lier these things you have done several times with many other wicked envious speeches also you have in a scoffing manner asked the party aforesaid if I did damn folks apace and lately you asked the same party how many Muggleton had damned this week doth not all these things shew unto me clearly that you are of the seed of the Serpent and of the reprobat seed appointed to be damned and is it not great pitty that such a blaspheming devil should escape the Sentence of damnation so long as you have for you have reigned in your blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that sent me a great while but as the saying is when your sin is at the height then you must be damned just as the Judges doe with thieves that have escaped hanging several times yet the thief continuing still in the same practice the Judge saith you had as good hang this man out of the way for he will never be better so the man is hanged and when he is condemned to be hanged his sins may be said to be at the full or at the height so is it with you Richard Chair your sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is at the full for you have committed that sin very oft so that it is high time to give the sentence of eternal damnation upon you for you will never be good for you being the seed of the Serpent you cannot bring forth better fruits then blaspemy lies and slanders against the Messenger of the most high God the man Christ Jesus in glory These things aforesaid considered by vertue of my commission from God I do for these blasphemies against the Holy Ghost I do pronounce Richard Chair Quaker cursed and damned both in soul and body from the presence of God elect men and Angels to eternity and do you now see if you can scoffe this sentence off you again no it shall cleave as close to you as your skin to your flesh and you shall know that the most High hath given power unto a mortal man like your self to give sentence of eternal damnation upon you both body and soul and now you may apply your self to George Fox the Quaker and see if he or the light within you can deliver you from what I have said for when I do write an answer to Fox his ignorant Pamphlet against me I shall record you and he and others in that answer for a company of damned Quakers for this Sentence of yours shall be recorded to remain from generation to generation so long as the Sun and Moon indureth The Copy of a Letter sent to Richard Chair Quaker a Smith by trade in Shoreditch Sept. the 26. 1667. Written by Lodwick Muggleton one of the two last Prophets and Witnesses of the Spirit unto the high and mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory FINIS
been God he could have made all those glorious Creatures above the stars of nothing even so be you Quakers here in mortality you teach your disciples to believe that God made this vast Earth and Waters of nothing witness that Thomas Taylor Speaker of the Quakers in his Letters to me which I have given Answer to and joyn'd it to the Book called The Quakers Neck broken and you Fox and others of your Speakers doth the same for you say you were in Christ before the world was here you are quite mistaken for you were in the Reprobate Angel his seed and nature who is called a Serpent and in this Serpent Angel you and others were in before the world was and so you and others were recorded in the Table of Heaven for the Reprobate seed and to be damned to eternity And as I know from whence you came even from the Serpent aforesaid and that you were in him before the world was so likewise you shall be recorded for damned devils here while the world is as long as time doth last therefore I shall set you down as followeth you being one of the grand Devils you shall be first George Fox Edward Borroughs Francis Howgel Edward Bourn William Smith Samuel Hooton Richard Farnsworth Thomas Taylor John Parrat Richard Whitpane John Harwood Richard Huborthorn Fox the younger and that great lubbardly fellow spoken of in The Quakers Neck broken these were generally all or most of them Speakers of the Quakers and exercised the Ministerial preaching without a Commission from God and not onely so but they have been the greatest fighters against a personal God in Heaven above the stars of any and have sinned against the Holy Spirit that sent us and so have procured the Sentence of eternal Damnation upon them and this Record is true and it shall be recorded in the hearts of the Saints to the worlds end Now I shall give you an Answer to what is needful in George Fox his Book if there be any thing in it that is not sufficiently Answered already in The Quakers Neck broken I am willing to do it for the sakes of some that desire it because I hear the Quakers are very brag of this Book George Fox hath writ against me so they were when Richard Farnsworth printed his Rage and Malice against me but did he prosper afterwards when I had printed an Answer to it For that printed Pamphlet was the occasion of The Quakers Neck broken being printed and doth George Fox think to prosper now he hath manifested himself what he is and his great wisdom which some thought he had will be found but meer foolishness But to the matter in hand The first Accusation that I am accused with is as followeth That I say in The Quakers Neck broken that the Quakers will not bestow a penny in any Writings but their own let it cost them never so much pains the writing and charge in printing This George Fox saith is a lye known to the Printers and Stationers and Book-sellers at London and George Fox hath called me a Lier seven times for this one lye as he calls it yet I shall make it appear I told no lye in those words to say the Quakers will not bestow a penny in any Writings but their own let them cost ever so much pains the writing and charge the printing CHAP. II. Lodowick Muggleton's Answer FIrst I would have the Reader to minde the ignorance and foolishness of this George Fox he undertakes to answer some things in my Book called The Quakers Neck broken and the first thing he begins to answer is the last thing in my Book for it is the last page of my Book and it is a point of the least concernment to a mans eternal happiness of any in that Book but George Fox hath made it of the greatest concernment of all the rest therefore he begins with that first and sets it in the Fore-front of his Pamphlet to shew his Master-piece for he hath set the Cart before the horse for he begins at the latter end of the Book and so goes backwards towards the beginning and charges me with a lying spirit seven times in this one thing as if this was the most hainous sin of all other sins that to say the Quakers would not bestow a penny upon any Writings but their own this is counted a seven-fold worse sin than any other sin whatsoever Let the Reader but minde these things aforesaid and what I shall say in answer to George Fox his printed Pamphlet First George Fox hath gone on like an unwise simple foolish man no ways in order but confused to begin at the latter end of a Book and end at the beginning and catch a bit here and snap at a bit in another place and wrong the words and write some part of a sentence that serves his turn and leaves the other part out that would make against him or clear the matter this he leaves out Now I do commend William Smith and Richard Farnsworth though they are damned Devils yet they went orderly to work they named my words right as they were set down and they rayled against me in order and so went on from point to point in order but you George Fox your Answer is confused for the aforesaid Quakers had a great deal more wisdom in their Writings against me than you have Because I speak of order you Quakers may think I mean good order and so the aforesaid men were good men no but they went in the method and order of Reason the Devil in the wisdom of Reason did they write to me and I was well pleased with it because I knew well enough how to answer Reason the Devil in his best and orderliest wisdom he hath as is now extant in The Quakers Neck broken but you if you have not attained that wisdom of Reason the aforesaid Quakers your brethren have attained for you that are the old Fox is become more ignorant and foolish in spiritual matters than the aforesaid that are younger And as for that saying of mine that you make the greatest sin of all in that I belye the Quakers to say they will not bestow a penny in any Writings but their own that saying of mine is very true for my meaning was the Quakers would not bestow a penny upon any of my Writings though they cost never so much labor the writing and charge the printing and so the following words doth clear my meaning but George Fox hath catcht at that word of mine of any other Writings but their own here was a word out of joynt and that the Fox was glad of for if I had made a distinction between my Writings and others as my meaning was and as my words following did imply then the Fox would have had no hole to have crept out at nor to have called me a Liar seven times for one but as for the Quakers not bestowing a penny upon any Writings though they
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
Salvation and Damnation upon the twelve Tribes of Israel as they gave here in mortality they will justifie the same before Christ their King when they do sit upon twelve Thrones of immortal Glory and many that believed them here shall see them in that glory and many that were condemned here shall see in their own consciences that their Sentence was true even as the Rich man did that was in hell CHAP. XV. SO likewise Moses and the Prophets were Judges and did judge those that believed their Report to be happy and those which did not unhappy as you may see John 5.25 In that Chapter the Jews do upbraid Christ as if he did accuse the Jews worthy of condemnation for not believing in him But saith Christ do not you think that I will accuse you to the Father there is one saith he that accuseth you even Moses in whom you trust for saith he had you believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me The meaning is this That seeing their Fathers did not believe Moses neither obeyed they him but murmured against him and tempted God at the Waters of Meribah and at several other times whereby their carcases fell in the wilderness by their provoking the Lord to anger in murmuring against Moses and Aaron and these Jews in Christs time being the children of those that tempted God when they tempted Moses they being devils that tempted Moses yet he being dead these their children put their trust in his Writings and condemns their own Fathers saying Had we lived and seen those things and great wonders our Fathers saw Moses and the Prophets did we would never have murmured against Moses nor have persecuted the Prophets as our Fathers did But when the greatest wonder of all that ever God did for the satisfaction of mans minde was done upon earth that is God manifest in flesh the God and Savior of the world become very man so that men might talk with God in flesh as a man talketh with his friend Even that Prophet that should be raised up like unto Moses whom Moses advised the Generations to come to hear him and all the Prophets foretold of him yet when he was come these Jews did not believe him no more than their Fathers did believe Moses but they tempted him as their Fathers tempted Moses Neither did Christ accuse nor judge these Jews nor their Fathers for unbelief but leaves them to Moses in whom they trusted so that Moses and the Prophets shall be the Judges of all those that put their trust in their Writings and who ever did or doth truely believe their Writings concerning Christ to come or truely believe when he was come they are all justified and shall be saved by the Writings of Moses and the Prophets So on the contrary all those Jews that read Moses Writings and the Prophets and professed obedience unto them yet did not truely believe them but rather despised and persecuted those that foretold of a Christ the Savior and the children of those Jews persecuted the Savior himself these I say are all to be accused and judged by Moses and the Prophets for they made a profession of their Writings but understood nor believed nothing of them so these Jews have appeared before the Judgement-seat of Christ and they will have no other Accuser or Judge but Moses in whose Letter men put their trust So that Moses will be always speaking in the conscience as the blood of Abel did in Cains conscience fear and horror And this is the Judgement-seat of Christ that these men aforesaid shall and hath appeared before for Moses and the Prophets were Judges in Christs stead So that all Commissionated men whom God hath chosen to reveal the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to mankinde they are all Judges and are in Christs stead and what Judgement they give in spiritual matters Christ doth own as his own Judgement so that who ever is judged by any of these Judges they may be said to be judged whether it be the Sentence of Justification or Sentence of Condemnation to eternity and that they received this Sentence before the Judgement-seat of Christ Also these Judges shall all sit upon Thrones of Immortal Glory in the Celestial Heavens being faithful here upon earth as Moses was in his house that was in his Commission of the Law and the Apostles in the Gospel and we the Witnesses of the Spirit according to the tenor of our Commission have been faithful also so that Moses the Prophets and Apostles and we the Witnesses of the Spirit shall sit upon Thrones of Glory as Judges in the presence of Christ our God our King and our Redeemer in the highest Heavens So much concerning the Judgement-seat of Christ 13. The same page Muggleton saith Because he hath passed Sentence upon the Quakers they shall never grow to have more experience in Visions and Revelations but shall wither Here saith Fox are more of Muggleton's Lies for saith he the truth spreads yea and will spread over the whole world more and more CHAP. XVI ANSWER I Do know and affirm that those Speakers of the Quakers and others whom I have passed the Sentence of eternal Damnation upon that they have not nor do grow in any Experience nor Revelation since the Sentence of damnation was passed on them as experience doth plainly manifest and many will witness unto it And as for Fox himself what Experience and new Revelation of Scripture have you had since you were damned a matter of fourteen years ago Have you published any other things but what you did at the first no not so much as you did at the first for then it was your Principle of Zeal to fall into Witchcraft-fits supposing it was the Spirit of Christ that moved you to foam at the mouth and sigh and groan and swell with spiritual Witchcraft and howl and groan as if hell were like to burst in you and perhaps a while after your spirit would break forth into a many non-sensical words as if the devil had broke forth out of hell was not this your practice and were not these the most eminent Quakers counted amongst you who had those Witchcraft-fits for the Quakers revelation doth arise in them onely when the Witchcraft-fit is upon them nay I have known some that have followed the Quakers desiring to be of them and earnestly desiring in their Meetings to have those Fits as other Quakers had for they thought such persons who had those Witchcraft-fits to be much in the favor of God and that those Fits had been wrought by the Spirit of Christ and that he had revealed great things unto them and because the parties aforesaid could not produce those Fits in themselves as they saw others have notwithstanding their melancholy life their framing their outward aparrel and observing every motion in the minde according to the Quakers doctrine they left no stone unturned nor no endeavor neglected in the Quakers way that
Reader that the person that is accepted of God of that person the righteous Seed must and doth come of look what person is rejected of God of that person must and doth come the reprobate and cursed Seed as it was in Cain and Esau also Esau would have put his reasoning of his mind in practise had not Rebecca his Mother by her revelation of Faith sent Jacob away out of Esaus reach but Esaus resolution remained in his minde still and waited for an opportunity now was not this reason in Esau the devil for if Esau had had no reason to kill Jacob he would never have resolved to do such wickedness but Esau thought he had good reason to kill Jacob who had stoln away the blessing from him whose birthright he thought in reason it was so he thought it was but reason to kill his brother who had done him that injury or wrong was not this the spirit of reason the devil in Esau that would have killed his brother Jacob of whom the righteous Seed came of Again were not those reasonable men that talked with Christ to whom Christ said Why reason you in your selves saying you have Abraham for your Father saith Christ God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham so those Pharisees and Saducees that came to the baptism of John Mat. 4. were they not wise rational men and indued with a high measure of reason did not they ask a reasonable question whether John was the Christ or no yet John calls them a generation of vipers and Christ calls those wise rational men he talked with Serpents Devils yea and that the devil was their Father yet these were wise prudent men indued with a great measure of reason they were no distracted men nor possest with any witchcraft-fits as you Quakers are but were sober sensible men and would ask a reasonable question and required a reasonable answer yet this spirit of reason in these wise and prudent men it was but the devil reason in them For John calls them a generation of vipers and Christ calls them Serpents Devils and that they were the devils children yet these were wise men endued with reason and it was that wisdom of reason in them that would have intrapt Christ in his words that they might have had some reason to have put him to death for Reason propounds questions to catch him in his words that they might have had some reason to put him to death therefore Reason layd many snares to catch him So they reasoned amongst themselves if we let this man alone the Romans will take away our place and nation so when they had accomplished their desires by their reason and brought him before the High-priest and Councel of the Jews the Councel some of them reasoned that it was fit Christ should die for blasphemy in that he made himself the Son of God others reasoned again that he ought not to die by their Law not being justly accused So when he came into Pilates custody what reasoning had Pilate in his spirit his reason told him it was better to whip Christ than to kill him and Pilates wifes dream put him exceedingly to reason how he might deliver Christ but the reason of the High-priests and Elders and those that were below them their reason was too strong for Pilate and Pilate thought it more reason to obey Cesar then his wifes dream or the reasoning of his own heart So that his reason was he thought better to keep the favour of Cesar and the honor of this world than the peace of his conscience and favour with God so his reason and their reason together delivered up the Just One to be crucified by reasonable men for the Centurion and those that guarded him were reasonable men also and thought it but reason to obey their Rulers command in this as well as other things so that it may be cleer to those that are truely inlightned that the spirit of reason in man is the devil and that the spirit of reason did kill the righteous in the beginning and the spirit of reason did kill the Just person even Christ Jesus CHAP. XXIII AGain it may be cleer that the spirit of reason in man is the devil as may plainly appear by those Chief-priests and Elders of the Jews as in Mat. 21 23. these Chief-priests and Elders would know of Christ by what authority he did those things but Christs answer was Is the Baptisme of John from Heaven or of men and these Chief-priests and Elders of the Jews reasoned in themselves if they should say from Heaven then their reason told them they fought against God and if they should say John Baptist had his commission from men to baptise with water then their reason told them that the people would stone them So they reasoned in themselves it was better to say they could not tell which was a lye against the light of their own conscience Here the Reader may see that the spirit of reason in man is the devil for these Chief-priests and Elders were wise prudent men endued with a great measure of reason else they would not have bin chosen Governors and Expounders of the Law and Prophets to the people of the Jews yet these reasonable men were devils even those who Christ called Serpents Devils and John Baptist called a generation of vipers So that it may be cleer to those that are inlightned that the reason in man is the devil and not onely a devil but a damned devil for it was the spirit of reason in man that always blasphemed and fought against God and persecuted and killed the Just and the righteous because God would not accept of the devil reasons worship as he did of the Just and innocent worship of the spirit of Faith and as for that saying of Paul who desired to be delivered from unreasonable men for all men have not faith I am of Pauls mind in that for I have had experience in a measure of the bad dealings of unreasonable men as Paul had but I shall shew the cause and why Paul calls them unreasonable men it was because the rude multitude or some envious men upon the report of other envious people would beat and abuse Paul without any authority from the Rulers or without the command of some officer as is cleer in the Acts concerning Demetrius and the Goddess Diana how were some of Pauls friends beaten by unreasonable men and Paul himself would have bin served so and worse had he not bin rescued by the Town-Clark's speech which speech of his shewed that the people did that which was not lawful by their Law therefore unreasonable and were in danger to be called to account by the Judges of their Law as Deputies and such and to be punished as offenders of the Law for their unreasonable practice to beat and kill men uncondemned by the Law as you may see Acts the 19.18 and so in Acts 23. How Paul had
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