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
hand Writing Others again have blasphemed against the holy Spirit that sent me in my hearing so that there doth need no jury nor witnesses nor accusers but their own words for by them shall they be condemned or justified for you see that men are put to death for speaking treason against the King as well as for acting Treason so is it with God for words of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is a sin that God will never foâ—give neither in this world nor in the world to come yet we read in Scripture that all manner of other sins shall be forgiven unto men but not that sin and this I say there is more Quakers guilty of that sin then any other Sect whatsoever and for that very sin have I passed the sentence of eternal death upon so many of them for God hath gâ—ven me a discerning to know when a man doth commit that sin I being one of the Witnesses of the Spirit and so judge of them that I know doth commit it I do give judgement and sentence of eternal damnation upon them so that I am neither accuser nor witness in those that are condemned at a distance but their own writings or their own words shall be a witness and an accuser against them for I do accuse no man of sin but gives judgement upon them for their sin and if you call the sentence that I pass upon them to be an accusation and a witness against them then indeed in that sense I am both judge accuser and witness my self but these things afore-mentioned being considered will prove that I do go by as certain a rule when I pass sentence of eternal damnation upon the bodies and souls of men and women as the Iudges of the Land do when they give judgement according to Law and as the Charters and Liberties of England are worthy to be written in letters of gold as Judge Cock doth say because of the excellency and justness of them I say so too for I always loved legal justice among men so I say likewise that those Letters which I have sent to you Quakers are worthy to be written in Letters of gold also that they might indure in the memory of men and women to the worlds end for I am certain they will indure in your memory to eternity Yet in all this I do neither own my self a King nor God not Christ nor the Holy Ghost nor any of those titles do I take upon me but this I do own my self to be one of the two last Prophets and Witnesses of the Spirit or Messenger Minister or Ambassador of Christ this I do own my self to be and by the authority of the Commission I received from Christ I am made chief Judge in spiritual matters in all those that doth either receive my Doctrin or despise it But as for others that doth neither receive it nor despise it nor hear of it I Judge them not but leave them as God shall find them at the last day And whereas R. F. doth say that God hath reserved a pardoning power in the Eternal God-head and a punishing power to correct and punish me and such as I am also he saith wouldst thou make the Eternal Power and God-head inferior to the Kings of the Earth Doth not saith he the Kings of the Earth reserve a pardoning and punishing power in themselves besides what they give to their Judges by their Commission So in his conclusion of that matter he doth affirm that there is a punishing power reserved in the Eternal God-head and doth therewith remain to punish the rebellious and obstinate and presumptuous such saith he as I am or as may be read Heb. 10.26 with many more places of Scriptures which would be tedious to cite L. M. Reply That there is reserved a pardoning power and a punishing power in the Eternal God-head that I do own and believe but the pardoning power in the God-head doth not extend to those that are condemned by those which God hath made Iudges why because those Iudges that God doth make in spiritual and Eternal things they go by a certain rule those Iudges doth either discern men and women to be the absolute seed of the Serpent or else that they have sinned against the holy Ghost these two things are infallible rules for Gods Iudges to go by for will any one think that when Peter retained any mans sins that God would forgive that marâ—h's sins afterwards surely no so say I you Quakers and others that are condemned by us the Witnesses of the Spirit you will not be pardoned of God because most of you have sinned against the holy Ghost especially you that have written to me in calling the Doctrin and Declaration of us the Witnesses of the Spirit whom God hath chosen anointed and sealed to reveal the whole councel of God in that he became flesh which is the greatest misterie in that we the Witnesses of the Spirit are so far honoured of God as to be the finishers of it as John Revelation the 10 doth speak of I say you Quakers have despised it more then all other men by calling this Doctrin blasphemy error lies and deceit with many other wicked speeches which could not have been spoken but by the seed of the Serpent therefore I am no ways deceived in saying that those people called Quakers that the most part of them are of the seed of the Serpent and not the beloved of God as you say so that they and others that I have passed the sentence upon will not escapet though their be a pardoning power in the God-head yet none of those which I have pronounced sentence upon shall partake of it for those reasons aforesaid For though there be a power in the God-head to do what he will yet when he hath given his word he will not go back from it because he cannot ly So that it is not your repeating what power the Prophets and Apostles of old had nor the multitude of Scriptures which you have rehearsed that will stand you in any steed nor deliver you from that sentence which I have passed upon you yet in all this I do not make the Eternal God-head inferiour to the Kings of the earth I do also acknowledge that the Kings of the earth reserve a pardoning power in themselves besides what they give to their Iudges But this I must say to you that it is very seldom known that an earthly King hath any pardoning power in himself for such traitors that act treason against the Kings person this I suppose all mens experience will witness so that there is some crimes that earthly Kings have no pardoning power for in themselves so is it with you Quakers you have committed such a sin even against the Holy Ghost so that there is no pardon in God himself not for you no more then there is for Cain that slew Abel nor Judas that betrayed Christ if these be saved then you shall and remember
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
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
was wherein he was created This could not be accomplished but by Gods coming down f om Heaven into the womb of a Virgin and so became a childe in pure mortality and when he grew up to be a man according to the Scriptures he was capable to suffer the pains of death and so pass through death and quickening into life again in the same body he got power over death in that death was not able to keep him under and so got power over him that had the power of death in his hands which is the devil This devil so much spoken of in Scripture is no other but the spirit of Reason which was first in Cain he killing righteous Abel had pâ—wer to kill that is power to put to death and so dâ—â—th entred into the world for death never was in the world before the Serpent beguiled Eve then entred death into the world and Cain being the first-born of the devil â—he had the power of death in his hands and it doth remain in his hands to this day But happy are the seed of Adam that hath so much faith as to believe that it was the very God-head life that suffered death and so overcame death by his quickening into life again and so hath gained to himself a greater power and glory than he had before death entred iâ—to the world for by his rising again he hath got power to raise the seed of Adam to a more happy and glorious estate than that was wherein he was created He hath gotten power also to destroy him that had the power of death in his hands that is to keep the seed of Reason in a more low and sad estate then that was wherein he was created even under the second or eternal death which could not have been but by the death and rise again of God himself and for this very end did Christ come into the world It would have been well for you and many thousands more if Christ had never come into the world at all for your Condemnation is procured by it I could open what is meant by the light of Christ and how it may be said that Christ enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world but it would be too large besides it is fully opened in that Book of ours called A Divine Looking-Glass And as for Adam and Eves estate before the fall and after their fall that is plainly declared in The Interpretation of the 11. of the Revelation The Tree of Life and the Knowledge of good and evil and of the Serpent and of the woman that fled into the wilderness and what the time and times and half a time is and of the Beast with many other things opened and Scriptures expounded of a far more high concernment than those things you propounded I say these things are largely opened in The Interpretation of the said 11 Chapter of the Revelation and in The Divine Looking-Glass wherein are written the deepest mysteries that ever was penn'd if understood by the Reader Also there is the Mortality of the Soul that doth shew what is Scripture and what is not and how the Soul of man is not immortal but must and doth dye Also there is that called Look about you for the Devil that you fear is within you And a Dialogue between Faith and Reason and the Quakers Downfal There is hardly any thing that is necessary to be known concerning the spiritual estate of mankinde but it is to be found in some of these Writings Therefore if any of you Quakers have a minde to be any further informed of your Queries they must look into those Writings afore-mentioned for there is very few of your Queries that are not answered in one kinde or another But I know you Quakers do not regard looking into any other writings but your own therefore I shall not perswade you unto it but let you remain in your own conceited light of Christ within you But you will finde it to be the greatest darkness of all the seven Churches because it is the very spirit of Antichrist or the Devil transformed into an Angel of light that is it carryeth the purest shew of holiness of life and suffereth more than any other doth for his Religion and yet the most cursedst of all in point of doctrine for they are the greatest fighters against Gods being a person by that light within them of any Neither will there ever come any more spirits of Antichrist so Angel-like as the Quakers do for they have received the spirits of Antichrist new in this last Age as I said before and it will continue to the end of the world Samuel Hooton and W. S. you might have set your name as well as two Letters but it matters not now I have given Answer to your railing Letter you sent to me for speaking the truth For there is not one jot or tittle of my words in those six Principles or Sentences of mine concerning the Quakers that shall fail and not come to pass but are as true as any thing that ever was spoken by Prophet or Apostle Therefore I shall speak a few words unto you two in particular because you two have committed that unpardonable sin that never will be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come for you have done despite unto the Spirit of Truth in speaking evil of things you do not know for you have called the Doctrine and Declaration of the Spirit Blasphemy Deceit and Lies with many other railing speeches with high impudency from a light within you and from the dead letter without you and hath presumptuously lifted up your selves with that light within you to speak evil of the Commission of the Spirit which we received from the true personal God without us even the Man Christ Jesus in Glory Therefore in obedience to my Commission I do pronounce Samuel Hooton and W. S. for this their Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that sent me cursed and damned soules and bodies from the presence of God elect men and Angels to eternity Your Light within you nor God without you shall deliver you from this Sentence which I have declared upon you because you shall know that there is a true Prophet now in the last Age as well as there hath been in former times And this Sentence shall be the mark of your Reprobation in your foreheads to eternity even as your great Grandfather had in his forehead and all the Seed of Faith that shall read this Epistle and see you shall see the mark of Reprobation in your foreheads neither shall you scrape it out but it will be seen by the Elect as long as you live And when you dye you shall pass through this first death into the second death and in the Resurrection you shall never see the face of God nor man nor Angels nor your own faces to eternity but you shall be in utter darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore
And though you think you shall have never a body you are deceived you shall have a spiritual dark body which shall be capable to bear those eternal torments and you shall remember you were told so by a Prophet Written by Lodowick Muggleton one of the two Last Witnesses and Prophets unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory November 3. 1662. POST-SCRIPT I Have published your Lettter to as many of the Believers of this Commission of the Spirit as I have had opportunity to meet with them so I do expect that you should read mine unto as many of the Quakers as you shall have the like opportunity For Samuel Hooton and W. S. Let this be sent to Thomas Highfield at Notingham to be delivered to the abovesaid A LETTER of Richard Farnsworth to Lodowick Muggleton False Judgement reversed and against testified by Rich Farnsworth in Answer to Lodowick Muggleton Lodowick Muggleton THou who pretends to have received a Commission by voice of words to the hearing of the ear from a God w thout thee to curse Angels or men to eternity And sayest thou art the Witness of the Spirit and the last Witness that ever shall speak by Commission from God whilest the world endureth And sayest God hath ordained thee the Chief Judge in the world at this day to give sentence upon men and women spiritual and eternal and what shall become of them after death And in obedience to thy pre ended Commission sayest thou hast already cursed and damned many hundreds of souls and bodies from the presence of God elect men and Angels to eternity and that thou rejoycest in the Condemnation of them and art wondrous well satisfied in giving Judgement upon them By which it appears thou wouldst be both Judge Accuser and Witness thy self to condemn without any right order and contrary to truth at thy will and pleasure which is Antichristian and very erroneous But Error in Judgement ought to be undone and holden for nothing as thine is who notwithstanding thy pretended Commission art discovered to be a false prophet and in delusion as is apparent and manifest in several particulars in a Reply of Mine to that of Thine bearing date August the 10. 1662. written by thee in Answer to Edward Bournes to Dorothy Carter But since I have seen four sheets of paper written by thee dated November the 3. 1662. and directed to Thomas Highfield in Notingham for Samuel Hooton and W. S. which coming to my hands in Notingham the 22th day of the ninth month 1662. being then prisoner there I carefully perused over which I found to be of like nature the other was of In both which or all of those Writings of thine I have found therein contained implyed asserted and affirmed by thee as is apparent unto me and evident against thee these necessary Deductions hereafter following which may be a sufficient discovery of thee and testimony or warning against thee 1. That under pretence of a Commission of the Spirit thou hast abused belyed and wronged the Spirit by presuming in the â—ame and authority of the Spirit to set up thy self as Judge Accuser and Witness to condemn at thy will and pleasure all such as are beloved blessed and justified of God and his Holy Spirit who cannot receive thy errors for truth but deny them and testifie against thee for appearing in the same under pretence of a Commission in thy imagination pride and presumption because thou sayest thou art both Judge and Witness And the Accuser thou art and false Witness also who sayest That never a one that thou hast cursed shall escape that curse which thou hast denounced upon them And that if an Angel from heaven should come and say thou hast spoken false or lyed in the doctrine which thou hast declared thou hast power to curse Angels or men to eternity And further sayest that no God will deliver from thy Sentence All which sayings of thine are false and erroneous and therefore undone and holden by me for nothing but as thy errors false judgement delusion pride and presumption 2. That under pretence of a Commission from God thou hast presumed in thy imagination and pride of thy heart to exalt thy self above God and Christ and to take all pardoning power from them because thou accounts if thy Sentence and Judgement be once pronounced and past though never so erroneous and false that they might not be able to reverse and undo the same Thou presumes to take all pardoning power from God and Christ in that case because thou sayest no infinite Spirit of Christ nor any god can or shall be able to deliver from thy Sentence and Curse which is thy error and lying divination or false doctrine pride and presumption as is apparent 3. That under pretence of a Commission from the Spirit thou presumes in thy imagination to be singular in doctrine knowledge judgement and power above all men either Prophets or Apostles since the beginning of the world or that ever shall be hereafter whilst the world doth endure 4. That under pretence of a Commission of the Spirit thou presumes to exclude all true Witnesses of the Spirit and also all true Ministers Messengers and Ambassadors of Christ from the work of the Ministery both now in this Age and whilest the world doth endure to the end and intent thou mayest set up thy self alone in their places and stead because thou presumptuously sayest That God hath made thee the Judge of the Scriptures and hath given thee understanding of his minde in the Scriptures above all men in the world or above all men since the world began That no man doth know the Scriptures but thy self That no man can truely interpret Scriptures but thy self That God hath given the Scriptures into thy hand as he gave the Priests Office into the hands of Aaron That no man ought to officiate the Office of a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ but those that are appointed by John Reeves and thy self That thou knows more then Moses the Prophets or Apostles did That thy Doctrine and the Commission of it is as true and of a higher nature than the Prophets and Apostles was in their time That thy Commission and the doctrine of it is of a higher nature than that of the Prophet Elijahs was when he commanded four hundred priests of Baal to be slain by the power of his word That thou art the last Witness that ever shall speak by Commission from God And that God will never chuse any more after thee whilest the world endureth All which are thy errors and lies which are by me denyed and against testified 5. That under pretence of thy Commission thou hast brought forth a Doctrine contrary to truth and that the same Doctrine ought not to be entertained or received by Dorothy Carter nor none upon the earth because thou sayest thou art the last Witness and Prophet that ever shall speak by Commission from God and
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
despising spirits And though there be a general Day of Judgement that is a general day of Execution when men shall receive the possession of eternal happiness or eternal misery and this may be called the day of Judgement which Christ shall judge the world with when as it shall be said Come you blessed and Go you cursed but the Judgement and Sentence they have in this life by those Prophets Ministers and Messengers of Christ which he hath made Judges for that purpose it is just like a Goal-delivery The Judges many times condemns men to die yet the Execution is not immediately done but at the day appointed it is so it is with all true Prophets who are made Judges of the spiritual and eternal estate of mankinde they have their Judgement in this life and in the day of death it is put in execution by Death for there shall be no more pleading with God but this will be all that God will say in the Resurrection Come you blessed and Go you cursed neither shall you Quakers and others have any other Sentence but what I have passed upon you and when death seizeth upon you then shall you enter into the possession of it by passing through this first death and so enter into the second death where you shall remain for ever and ever In the last place you say that I accuse the Quakers to be of the nature and seed of the Serpent also I do say that the Quakers do preach from the Scriptures and light within and that devils is cast out and much good is done by them And from these words of mine you say that I confute and contradict my self for this Quaker would fain prove that because they preach from the Scriptures and light within therefore they are sent of God for how shall they preach saith he except they be sent and by vertue of their preaching and the power they have received of God devils are cast out and much good is is done by them and such saith he are not of the nature and seed of the Serpent Answer As for you Quakers being the nature and seed of the Serpent that is certainly so and can be no other ways because you are the very influence of John Robins spiritual witch-craft power upon you and the very spirit of Antichrist doth run thorough the bodies of the Quakers for they do all of them deny a personal God without them they do all of them deny also the resurrection of a body so that they are the greatest fighters against God of any for they having got Christ all within them they are such a proud conceited stiff-necked people that no body can deal with them but this Commission of the Spirit and this I will say to you that there is never a Quaker that is a speaker neither man nor woman that liveth and dyeth in that principle that can possibly be saved no more then Cain and Judas is saved think of your selves what you will and do not you Quakers think because you by the letter of the Scriptures and by the light within you do cast out devils and much good is done thereby that you are ever the less the Serpents seed neither doth that prove that you are sent of God but rather the contrary for the Priests of the nation and all other Sects of Religion doth the same things for the Papist Ministry by report hath done more wonderous things in that kinde then any Quaker ever did by the laying on of the hands of the Elders and anointing of them with Oyl and praying over them and such like they have cured as they say diseases and cast out devils and other wonderous things and which I never heard that any Quaker ever did the greatest things that ever I have heard the Quakers do is to finde fault with a piece of Ribbon or Gold-button or a Bandstring and such like and to possess themselves with a melancholly spirit of Witch-craft and so fall into Witch-craft fits to lie humming and groaning which doth fright the beholders so in stead of those merry devils which they had upon the Ranting-score where all was good lying with their neighbors wife deslowering virgins couzening and cheating and destroying every one in their outward estate which did entertain them and now that devil is cast out now they are grown in as much extream on the other side for now they are grown so precise and exact for apparel and for words no word must be plac'd out of joint so that no man can almost tell how to deal with them and this melancholy devil hath cast out the ranting devil which makes them so proud and stiff-necked thinking themselves that they are better then other people when as they are worse for they are possest with the spirit of Witch-craft which makes them a two-fold more the children of the devil then they were before which none can discover but this Commission of the Spirit neither did I ever hear by any which hath heard the Quakers speak that they did ever preach any sound doctrine but onely exhort people to hearken to the light within them which is a very low and easie thing for every ordinary understanding to comprehend and that is the cause there is such a multitude of men and women fall into it which if they were sent of God there would but few understand their doctrine nor bear their words for no Quaker need suffer any thing for his doctrine for that is but like other mens nay there is not so much in their doctrine as there is in the Priests of the nations doctrine therefore the Quakers are not sent of God no more then the Priests of the nation or any other Sect is for the Priests of the nation they preach from the light of the Scriptures and from the power of the civil Magistrate and the Quakers they preach from the letter of the Scriptures and from the light of Christ within and though devils be cast out by you both and much good be done by you both yet neither of you are sent of God because neither of you nor no other is sent by voice of God without you so that I have not cleared the Quakers from being the Serpents seed neither have I confuted my self neither will my Judgement prove false concerning you Quakers but you will finde it to as much purpose as if God had said it himself notwithstanding you call it false Judgement Pride and Presumption and error in Judgement and therefore undone and holden for nothing by you Quakers and so forth Now I have given answer to as many passages in your paper as is necessary I have been something larger then I did intend but because others may be benefited by it it may be worth the labor for had it been no more for others benefit then for yours I would onely have sent the sentence unto you and no more but I having read and viewed your paper over with serious deliberation I