hath given me but confirm and strengthen it the more in that I know that they had the like power in their time according to the nature of their Commission as I have And now I certainly know that they were true and what their their power was in that I know my self to be true and what my power is now so that I cannot be deceived as you Quakers are with other mens Commissions that are dead you not knowing the extent of their Commissions nor when they began nor when they did end and your ignorance of those things makes you fight with the dead letter against a living Spirit just as if a man should fight with the sheath against him that hath a two-edged Sword in his hand so do you Quakers with me And as for my fleeing from Chesterfield to Backwel for fear of a few stripes or a whipping when the same was but threatened against me this is utterly false for I did not know that any such thing was threatned against me neither was I ever at Backwel in my life to my knowledge neither did it lye in the power of the Magistrates in that Countrey to do any such thing in case they had catcht me at that time I say it was more than their Law would bear them out to do but however if I had fled for fear of the Devils malice I did no more then other Prophets and Apostles which were Ambassadors of Christ before me they did the same as Eliah fled from Jezabel and Paul fled for fear of persecution and Christ gave advice to his disciples that when they were persecuted in one City to flee into another so that would have been no new thing neither should I have been e're the more a false Witness or Ambassador of Christ if I had fled for fear of a whipping And whereas you say that I was threatned for my false Judgement and Doctrine as you call it saying it was reviling cursing and damning As for cursing and damning I do own that I did pass the Sentence of eternal damnation upon some Quakers and others that was but according to the tenor of my Commission from Christ and I am very well satisfied in so doing but as for my reviling of any man or woman I never did it was alwayes contrary to my natural temper before I knew what a Commission was to revile any man or woman much less now that I think the Priest of Chesterfield will witness that when I was catcht and brought before the Mayor thereof and examined by the Priest I gave him nor no other man there no reviling speeches but as I am a Prophet and a Witness of the Spirit discerning that the Priest was of the seed of the serpent and of a persecuting spirit which would have took away my life if it had layen in his power or in the power of the Laws of England he would have done it though I never had any prejudice nor no speech with the man in my life before yet his envy and malice was so great to me for which I did pass the Sentence of eternal damnation upon him but no ways reviling but did give him civil respect as a Priest of the Nation which I think he will witness notwithstanding his malice and envy was great to me which did him no wrong nor no man else in that town yet he caused me to be sent unto Derby Goal where I did remain until the Assizes so that the malice of men hath been exercised upon me as much as lieth in their power to do and it is onely upon this account they cannot endure that God should give power to a man like themselves to bless and curse to eternity Neither do I curse any until he judge me first much less revile any you may as well say that a Judge when he passeth Sentence upon a malefactor to be hanged for the breach of such a law that is capable of death you may as well say that this Judge doth revile curse and condemn the man that hath broke the law when as the Judge can do no otherwise but according to the tennor of his Commission which he is authorized by Commission from the King so that every Judge is made a savour of life and death for the one he condemns to die according to the law and the other he doth acquit and set free and is this any less then a temporal blessing and cursing and no reviling at all Even so it is with me I being one of Gods chosen Witnesses and Ambassadors by vertue of his Commisson given unto John Reeve and my self I am made Judge of men and womens spiritual and eternal estate what shall become of them after death yet this I would have the reader to understand that though a Judge of the Land be Judge of many Countries and Shires yet his power is seen most in those that he doth acquit or condemn so is it with me my power is most seen in those that receive and believe me and so are blessed to eternity and in those that despise and persecute me in that they are cursed and damned to eternity for I never bless none but those that truly believe it neither do I curse any but those that despise or persecute me upon that account but all that doth neither receive it nor despise it I let them alone and meddle not with them but leave them to stand or fall as the two seeds within them shall uphold them or let them fall And as for your saying that I have reviled cursed and damned the beloved people of God meaning you Quakers So that I say I never did curse any of them till such time as they did Judge or despise my Commission first for I never do judge first so that I am certain that most part of the Quakers are the seed of the serpent and not the beloved of God so that those Quakers which I have cursed shall not escape they being the seed of the serpent and have despised to be taught any other way but by the light within them But I have opened that more clear in those Letters to Samuel Hooton and W. S. and to Richard Farnsworth himself therefore I shall say no more in that point I shall pass by those ten particulars repeated by R. F. to prove me not a chosen Witness of the Spirit and shall come to that which is of more concernment for the reader to know that is that God hath chosen me now in these last days to be an Ambassador and Witness of the Spirit and so chief Judge in the world concerning the spiritual and eternal estate of men and women after death and that I do go by as certain a rule as the Judges of the Land do when they give Judgement according to Law as may be seen aforesaid in the Letters to the Quakers Here R.F. would seem to prove me a liar First because saith he thou art both judge accuser and witness thy self and
The Neck of the QUAKERS BROKEN OR Cut in sunder by the two-edged Sword of the Spirit which is put into my Mouth First In a Letter to Edward Bourne a Quaker Secondly In Answer to a Letter to Samuel Hooton and W. S. Thirdly In a Letter to Richard Farnsworth Quaker Fourthly In an Answer to a printed Pamphlet of the said Richard Farnsworth Entituled Truth Ascended Or The Anointed and Sealed of the Lord defended c. Written by Lodowick Muggleton one of the two Iust Prophets and Witnesses unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory AMSTERDAM Printed in the Year of our Lord God 1663. And are to be had in Great Trinity-Lane over against the Lyon and the Lamb. Lodowick Muggleton 's LETTER TO Edward Bourne I Saw a Letter of yours which you sent to Dorothy Carter wherein I perceive she did lend you a Book of ours of the Two Witnesses of the Spirit which you have perused not for your good but for your eternal hurt for you have discovered in that Paper what seed and nature you are of which is the reprobate Angels seed and nature which is called in Scripture A Serpent or Devil of whose seed or childe you are one which you have plainly expressed in your Letter by speaking evil of the things you do not know in which Book or Books you were not worthy to look into But many more besides you of the Serpents brood have stumbled at this stone even the Commission of the Spirit to their eternal condemnation which we the Witnesses of the Spirit have denounced upon them which no infinite Spirit or Light of Christ within them shall take it off from them nor deliver them in the day of trouble I shall shew in some particular places in your Letter wherein you have sinned against the Holy Ghost a sin that will never be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come And so I shall proceed to the sentence of eternal death upon you First you say that you perused the Book till you was weary with looking into it for it was one of the dirtyest and confusedst piece of work that ever you saw Also you do advise Dorothy Carter to consider of it and let the witness of her own conscience answer whether it was given forth from the Spirit of Truth or from the spirit of error and deceit or not This I would have you to know though it be too late for your good that it is neither the light in her nor in you nor no man under heaven at this day that can or ought to judge of the Doctrine or Declaration of a Prophet that hath a Commission from God but ought rather to submit and yield obedience to their Doctrine for there is no eternal life to be had but in the faith of it For whosoever receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophets reward which reward is no less then the assurance of eternal life So on the contrary he that despiseth a prophet Doctrine despiseth him that sent him and shall receive from that Prophet the seal in his conscience of his eternal damnation The first thing that you take offence at is that we say that the reprobate Angel had the womb of a woman to clothe himself with flesh also to bring forth Gods design From which you do ask whether that which is the Devils work can be Gods glorious design seeing God hath manifested his Son to destroy the works of the Devil To which I answer That the reprobate Angel clothing himself with flesh in the womb of a woman it was Gods design that the reprobate Angel should do so for this very purpose that there might be a generation of men and women of his seed brought forth here in this earth in the state of mortality being horn under the Law it being written in their seed and nature and by the not fulfilling of that law which is written in the serpents seed it is made capable to suffer the pains of eternal death which is the second death and this was Gods design that he might destroy the seed of the serpent with a second death And as for Gods destroying the works of the Devil he doth destroy them two ways that is he that is God did lay down his spiritual and heavenly glory in the womb of Mary the Virgin and so clothing himself with flesh and bone so that he might be capable to suffer the pains of death therefore it is said in Scripture that this Jesus which is called the Son of God but in other places of Scripture he is called the Very God as the Epistle of John where he saith This is the very God and Eternal Life And Isaiah where he saith To us a Childe is born to us a Son is given attributing to that Childe Jesus the Title of Everlasting Father Mighty God and Prince of Peace There might be more places of Scriptures named to prove this thing as that saying that the fulness of the God-head dwelt bodily in him and that saying in the Revelation I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last he that was dead but am alive and behold I live for evermore And as the Angel by taking flesh upon him by entring into the womb of Eve brought sin and death into the world unto the seed of Adam so God by clothing himself with flesh in the womb of a Virgin that he might be put to death in that flesh and by his spirit quickning again in that flesh he will destroy him that had the power of death which is the devil and the devils works He destroyed the works of the devil in the seed of Adam by their having faith in the death of God which faith purifies the heart and is justified in the sight of God and in their own conscience and so the works of the devil are destroyed in the seed of Faith which is the seed of Adam by believing in the blood of God they having their hearts sprinkled by faith in his dâ—â—â—… and this did God procure to his own seed by clothing himself with flesh So on the contrary he by his design of clothing himself with flesh hath procured the eternal destruction to that reprobate Angel and his seed and you being one of the devils sons I know by your words for by your words you shall be condemned for you have plainly shewed unto me by your Letter what seed you are of and who your father is even the same as was Cains father you and he have all one father for you were begotten of that wicked one even that reprobate Angel which God designed him and his seed unto that endless misery as is spoken of in that Book which you call a Confusion and a Lie And not onely so but you have called many heavenly Mysteries the Bottomless pit of Confusion as that God created the person of the serpent more glorious than the rest of the holy Angels Also you
what is her Cup 5. What is the woman that fled into the Wilderness And what is the Wilderness And what are the times and time and half a time that she was to be fed theâ—e And what was the number of the Beast which is the number of a man and what is the number of a man 6. What is the Serpent And what is the Tree of Knowledge And what is the Tree of Life And what is the flaming Sword And what is the body of Death And the body of Sin is it a mans outward body yea or nay 7. Shall a man be made free from Sin and Death whilest he be upon earth and be made perfect 8. Dare thou say that thou hast the same Spirit and Power as Christ and the Apostles had 9. Hast thou heard the voice of God and Christ immediately from Heaven Hast thou seen the shape of God 10. What is the first principle of the pure Religion And what is that which leads to Repentance And what is that which gives the knowledge of God and of Christ And whether it be within man or without man 11. What and where is the Church of Christ 12. Doest thou sin or canst thou sin Or hast thou any guilt for sin 13. Hath every man the Spirit of God 14. What is the honor that is from above And what is the honor that is from below 15. Doest not thou continue in the highest strain of Ranters Seeing thy mouth is full of cursing and yet thou art finding fault with those that be changed from it 16. What is Evil And what is Good And what is Light And what is Darkness And how doest thou know them and distinguish them in thy self And if thou can distinguish the one from the other then what is it to be baptized for the dead mark we ask thee what this baptism is for the dead and what is the dead 17. What is it that leads nature out of its course And what is it that defaces the glory of the first body And what is the glory of the first body and what is it that leads nature in its course And where is it 18. What is Self-righteousness and its ground And what is the Gospel And what is Election And what reprobation And what is Cains mark Answer these things in Writing and send them to Thomas Hyfield at Notingham Lodowick Muggleton's Answer to Samuel Hooton and VV. S. Samuel Hooton and W. S. I Received a paper from you two being Quakers wherein I finde your Spirits much moved to wrath and railing because I have told the truth to one John Levens formerly a Sword-man in the Army but now turned Quaker In a Letter to him it doth concern all the Quakers all the world over and through some passages in that Letter you have been moved by that light within you to send a long railing Letter unto me with some Propositions from Scripture-texts for me to answer which railing Letter of yours is so much and your questions so many that it would take up a volumn to answer Yet nevertheless because you are not under the sentence of this Commission already and for the further information of other Quakers that are not under it And for others that shall come to hear or see this Answer I shall trouble my self so far as to give answer both to the railing part of your Letter and if your Queries be worth the answering which is not already answered in some of our writings I shall say something to them for some of those Scripture texts which you quote is not worth the answering And those that are of most concernment are interpreted and unfolded very plainly in that Treatise of the Interpretation of the 11 Chapter of the Revelation of St. John That is to say Concerning the Tree of Life The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Of the Serpent Of the Woman that fled into the Wilderness What that Wilderness is What the time and times and half a time is What the Dragon is What the Beast out of the Bottomless-pit is What the State of Adam was in his Creation with the Person and Nature of Angels and the Immortality of the Soul with many other deeper secrets then those Texts of Scripture which you mention doth or can bear which Books that are written by us the Witnesses of the Spirit such Devils as you are not worthy to look into But to give answer to the railing part of your Paper which hath very little else in it and if there be any thing in the Queries worth the Answering which is not answered already in some of our writings I shall do it not rendering railing for railing but I shall speak what I certainly know concerning you two and the Ministry of the Quakers and all those that believe them which continue in that Faith after they have heard of this Commission of the Spirit I know what I speak to be truth as with relation to your Principles and to your Eternal estate 1 Answer The first part of your Paper hath little in it but railing against me onely where you say that I am in the highest state of inchauntment in that I have slandered the Children of the most High God First I declare as I am a Prophet and Messenger of the true God that the people called Quakers are not the Children of the Most High God but for the generality of them they are the children of the devil and are the very seed of the devil and were begotten by him and I as I am an Ambassador ordained of God by voice of words can as truly say that they are of the seed of the Serpent and so the Children of the Devil as Christ did to the Jews when he said that they were Serpents yea Devils and the Devil was their Father so can I say by you Quakers and many thousands more aswell as you that you are the Children of the Devil that were begotten by him and not begotten by Adam who never came through the loins of Adam though they came through the womb of Eve For this I know that Cain was the first-born of the Devil and Adam had no part in the begetting of him And from this Cain came those Jews that Christ called Serpents and Devils And the Quakers people which you call the Children of the Most High God are the Children of Cain who was that Angel or Serpent that beguiled Eve which became flesh blood and bone and so begat millions of men and women which are his Children whereof most of the Quakers are Therefore do not you say that I slander them in saying that they are led by the spirit of Anti-christ and that they are the worst of all in point of doctrine though the best of all in practice of Life For what I have said of them will prove no slander nor ill report but truth is self Neither can any Quakers principles comprehend me nor the Doctrine declared by us the Witnesses of
for it of God and there is never a one that I have cursed that shall escape that curse which I have denounced upon them neither will any God deliver them from it for I do curse none but the seed of the Serpent who had his curse denounced upon him and his seed at the beginning by God himself Now in this last age God hath given me power and discerning to determine and give judgement upon men and women according as I do discern by their words and I thereby also know what nature and seed they are of and accordingly I give judgement upon them for I do go by as certain a rule as the Judges of the Land do when they give true Judgement according to the Law For God hath ordained me the chief Judge in the world at this day to give sentence upon men and womens spiritual and eternal estate what will become of them after death Full of this cursing I confess my mouth is and I do rejoyce in it too I know that God is well pleased in the damnation of those that I have cursed and I am wonderous well satisfied in giving judgement upon them according to the tenor of my Commission and this is that which you call swelling words You would have called the Prophet Eliahs words swelling words if you had been of those four hundred priests of Baal which he commanded to be slain by the power of his word which power of the Commission of the Spirit is of a more high nature then that of Eliah's was for his was but the sentence of death natural but this is the sentence of death eternal but because it is not immediately executed as his was you think that there is nothing in it but it will be found suddenly enough both to you and to many that are entred into the second death already for there is no time to the dead but after death to judgement which judgement they have in themselves which is the remembrance of that sentence that we who are Witnesses of the Spirit did pass upon them in this life for they shall never see any other God or Judge but that sentence that we have passed upon them You are much mistaken if you think to deal with a Prophet that hath a Commission from God as you deal with the Priests of the nation Because you Quakers have baffled the Priests of the nation by that light within you because you are faln to a more precise exactness of life then they though your doctrine is worse then theirs you must not think to do so by a Commissionated Prophet This Commission of the Spirit shall break the Neck of the Quakers as it hath done divers others for this take you notice that after the Sentence is passed upon the Speakers of the Quakers they shall never grow more to any great experience neither shall they have those Visions Apparitions and Revelations from that light within them as they had before but shall rather wither This experience hath been known by Quakers and others as John Robins John Taney John Harwood Fox the elder Fox the younger Edward Burrowes Francis Mowgil with many others with hundreds of all Sects besides which shall not escape what hath been decla ed by us the Witnesses of the Spirit As for that saying which you quote out of Christs words to his disciples before they had their Commission where he said unto them Bless and curse not that concerns not me nor any other man in the world at this day Peter and the rest of the Apostles had power both to bless and curse after they had received their Commission which was after Christs Ascension as you may read in the second of the Acts then was that saying of Christ fulfilled which he had said unto Peter I have given thee the Keys of Heaven and of Hell that what thou bindest upon earth shall be bound in heaven and what thou loosest on earth shall be loosed in heaven Or thus What sins thou remittest shall be remitted and whose sins thou retains shall be retained That is thou shalt have power to give Sentence of Blessedness to those that believe thee and Sentence of Cursedness to those that despise thy Declaration This was the remitting of sins and the retaining of them so that Peter and the rest of the Apostles were not tyed after they had received their Commission to those words of Christ which he spake unto them when they were private Believers Neither am I tyed to those words of Christ which he spake unto his disciples at that time for he hath given me power and authority to be Judge of the Scriptures he hath given me understanding of his minde in the Scriptures above all men in the world at this day nay if I should say than all the men since the beginning of the world I should not lye for I being the chosen Witness of the Spirit and the last man that shall ever speak to this bloody unbelieving world by Commission from God for he will never chuse any more after me so long as the World endureth Neither doth any man know the Scriptures neither can any man interpret the Scriptures truly but my self for God hath given the Scriptures into my hands even as he gave the Priests Office into the hands of Aaron none ought to officiate the Office of the Priesthood but Aaron and those that were appointed by Moses and him So it is now none ought to officiate the Office of a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ but those that are approved of by John Reeve and my self For by reading the letter of the Scriptures or the light within a man is not sufficient to make a man a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ therefore those words which Christ said to his disciples bless and curse not is nothing to me for he hath given me power since that to the contrary He hath put the Two-edged Sword of his Spirit into my mouth that whosoever I pronounce cursed through my mouth is cursed to eternity And my power is as great and rather greater than the Apostles was that you speak of which is called a cursed childe The Apostles curse was but a weak curse to that power which God hath given to me For the Apostle saith if an Angel from heaven should preach any other Doctrine than what he and the rest of the Apostles had taught let him be accursed I do not onely say let him be accursed but if an Angel from heaven should come and say I have spoken false or lyed in the Doctrine that we have declared and in those things which I have said concerning the Quakers I have power not onely to say let him be cursed but to curse Angel or man to eternity As for your judgement from the letter of the Scriptures or from the light within you it is not worth a straw but the curse that I pronounce upon men and women it is not from the light of the Scriptures
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
Fathers person which if it were but opened it would utterly destroy their own principles of the light of Christ within them which they are very angry with me for saying that the light within them will vanish like smoke which they will finde to be true but I shall go to the next 6. You say I write that a great part of you are of those wicked Ranters that have been given over to blood-shed with a sword of steel or else to all manner of lusts of the flesh and now I say you think by a precise and exactness of life to recover your peace with God and yet deny the very person of God without you Your Answer to this Sentence of mine is something large but most of it rayling and rehearsing the same words as were spoken before for you make a great deal of do about knowing the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and keep a stir about Christs being the express image of the Fathers person and yet all this while you cannot finde out any person of God at all onely you have gotten Pauls words and run away with them as a dog doth with a bone for the letter of the Scriptures is cast down as a bone by the Prophets Apostles and Christ himself for how would Quakers have done to have found out these words That Christ is the express image of the Fathers person if Paul had not said so I marvel how they would have known that Christ enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world if they had not found such words in Scripture But those men that spake the Scriptures know what the light of Christ was these can onely speak of it but know nothing truely what the light of Christ is nor from whence it doth arise There is one expression in this part of your Letter which would make one laugh which is this Doth the devil rage in me because some who have been Ranters and used outward weapons formerly now they are turned from these things and turned unto God and Christ the express image of the Fathers person As for those Ranters that are turned to God and Christ in the Quakers way they had better have kept themselves where they were for before they were in the wilderness but are now turned back into Egypt and so are further off from entring into the land of Canaan that is a place of rest for their souls than they were before So that the state of the Quakers is more uncapable to be saved than the Ranters for if they turn a right Quaker after they have been at the Rant there is no possibility for them to be saved for they are two-fold more the children of the Devil than they were before For if such a Quaker should give his goods to the poor and his body to be burnt for that light within him it will avail him nothing for there are but these three states in man Egypt the Wilderness and the land of Canaan But by faith in a Commission and they that truly believe in a Commission are the Saints that Christ dwells in and not the Quakers for they are for the most part of them as I said before the children of Cain who was of that wicked one which always was in bondage and there shall remain to eternity So much in answer to your railing Letter Now I have given you answer to your cursed blasphemy and railing speeches against those Truths which I have said concerning you Quakers it remains that I should give answer to your Queries which are many There are Queries enough if answered to make a Volumn bigger than the Bible for there hath been greater Volumns than the Bible made of one of those Texts of Scripture which you have propounded by wise men in reason But this seemeth to be a marvellous thing that you Quakers that are guided by the light of Christ within you and knows the minde of Christ and the Apostles doctrine and knoweth the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and Christ the express image of the Fathers person in that you should be ignorant of the knowledge of these things which you propound unto me to answer else I must stop my mouth for ever Ce tainly if you had known them your selves you would not have propounded them to me to answer neither is it the propeity of him that hath true knowledge in him to put questions to another which he cannot answer himself It is a thing I never did to any since I came to know the truth I never did propound any question to any man that I could not answer my self though I have been asked many questions by several sorts of people yet never any went empty away without an answer some satisfied and some unsatisfied because they could not question any further nay there hath not been that question that could arise out of the heart of man let it be what it would concerning spiritual things with relation to God Devil Heaven Hell or any other spiritual thing but I have given answer to it Nay some have gone so far as to ask who made God and I have given answer to that also N thing hath been too hard for me in spiritual things if it hath been propounded in English words When I say spiritual things I speak with relation to the knowledge of the true God his form and nature before he became flesh and what he is now in himself And what the right devil was before he became flesh and what he is now in himself and how Heaven and Hell doth depend upon these two with the knowledge of the persons and nature of the Angels and the mortality of the soul On these six Principles depend all spiritual and heavenly knowledge with many other heavenly secrets which floweth as a river of living water from those six heads which no Quaker doth or can know in that state of being a Quaker nor any other Opinion or Religion whatsoever but those that do believe in this Commission of the Spirit And as for those eighteen Queries that you have propounded those that are of the most highest concernment they are answered and opened at large in our Writings already And some of your Queries are of such a long nature that they are not worth the labor to answer neither would there be any great edification to any that should know them yet I shall give a word or two to the first part of your third Querie For what end did Christ come Answ Christ came into the world for this very end for to destroy him that had the power of death which is the Devil which Devil is the seed or spirit of Reason in man of which spirit of Reason which is the Devil most part of the Quakers are of his seed and Christ came into the world for to destroy that is to destroy the seed of the Serpent with an eternal death and to raise the seed of Adam up to a more happier estate than that
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
neither set his Name nor two letters yet I have made a shift to send an Answer but I had rather to have his name or two letters as I had of W. S. The second thing that I commend you for is because you have set down my words so truly and punctually it makes my Commission and Authority to shine the more bright and clear to all those that understand the nature and power of a Commission though you in the close of many of those passages have slighted vilified and spoken evil of those things which are as true as Truth it self and that you shall find And because you are not under the Sentence of this Commission of the Spirit by verbal words or writing already I shall give Answer to your Letter for I never do give answer in writing to any one that is under the Sentence of this Commission for he is but as a condemned man neither is it the practice of any earthly Judge after he hath condemned a man to die for to treat any more with him that is so condemned neither can that man get the Judge to revoke it but perhaps a man so condemned by the Law may make suit to the King which is above the Law and so may get his pardon but that is seldom known But it is not so with those that are condemned by the Commission of the Spirit because no condemned person can make his Appeal unto God the King of Heaven neither by himself nor by any other because God the King of Heaven is not in this world at all therefore he hath commissionated mortal men to be Messengers Ministers and Ambassadors to treat with mortal men about their spiritual and eternal estate and every true Ambassador stands in Gods stead and hath power to condemn and to save alive that is to bless to eternity and to curse to eternity And this power hath God given unto us two the chosen Witnesses of the Spirit neither can God take it again because God hath spoken it and cannot lye for he said these words That he had chosen us two his last Messengers unto this bloody unbelieving world and that he had put the Two edged Sword of his Spirit into our mouthes that who ever was pronounced blessed through our mouthes are blessed to eternity So on the contrary who ever we pronounce cursed through our mouthes are cursed to eternity and this I know God cannot revoke because he is Truth and cannot lye Therefore to give Answer to those despising slighting and vilifying words of yours in your Letter against those Truths which you have set down which was written to Edward Bourne and the four sheets which I sent to Samuel Hooton and W. S. And in the first part of your Letter you have shewed what seed and nature you are of even as Edward Bournes and Samuel Hooton and W. S. have done you being of the same seed as they are of that is the seed of the Serpent which must go the same way as your father Cain which begot you must go for you have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit that sent me by calling the Authority of this Commission of the Spirit Antichristian and very Erroneous and a false prophet and a Delusion with many other wicked speeches thoroughout your paper which is a clear testimony and discovery unto me that you are the seed of the Serpent and so guided and led by the spirit of Antichrist now in this last Age of the world The first thing that you do accuse in me to be false is that you say that under the pretence of a Commission of the Spirit that I have abused belyed and wronged the Spirit by presuming in the Name and Authority of the Spirit to set up my self as Judge Accuser and Witness to condemn at my will and pleasure all such as are beloved blessed and justified of God Answer That my Commission of the Spirit is no pretended thing but as true as ever Moses and the Apostles Commission was and of as great my of a greater authority than theirs was and given by the same Spirit of Truth as theirs was Neither have I set up my self as a Judge Accuser or Witness but God hath set me up to be the chief Judge in the world at this day for he hath set me in his stead to be Judge Accuser and Witness to judge and condemn Antichristian spirits that doth deny God to be a distinct person of himself of flesh and bone and all blasphemous spirits which sinneth against the Holy Ghost These two things there is more of the Quakers doth commit than any other Sects whatsoever therefore there is great need that God should make some mortal man Judge of these conceited stubborn-hearted people called Quakers neither are those people the beloved blessed and justified of God but the most cursedst of God of all other Sects neither doth any other Sect fight against Gods being in the form of a man as they do for they have got Christ within them but doth abhor that he should have flesh and bone of his own without them and by this Christ which is flesh and bone glorified without me am I made Judge of mens spiritual estate neither shall any one that I have condemned see any other God or Judge but that Sentence which we the Witnesses of the Spirit have passed upon them And though you call it presumption and a thing undone and holden by you as nothing but errors false judgement pride and such like yet you shall finde it to be as true as if God had judged you himself for this I can boldly say that I am as true an Ambassador of God and Judge of mens spiritual estate as ever any was since the Creation of the world and if you Quakers and others can satisfie your selves that there never was any man commissionated of God to bless and curse then you shall escape that Curse that I have pronounced upon so many hundreds and I onely shall suffer for cursing others without a Commision from God but I know by what authority I do these things and so I am at perfect rest as to my Eternal happiness in that I have heen obedient unto my Commission which was given of God by voyce of words to the hearing of the Ear. 2 You say that I under pretence of a Commission from God have presumed in my imaginations and pride in my heart to exalt my self above God and Christ and to take all pardoning power from them because say you that I account of my sentence and Judgment if once pronounced and past though never so erroneous and false that they might not be able to reverse and undo the same that I presume to take all pardoning power from God and Christ in that case because I say no infinite Spirit of Christ nor any God can or shall be able to deliver from my Sentence and Curse which you Quakers doth say these sayings aforesaid is my error and lying divination or
false doctrine pride and presumption as is apparent Answer That my Commission is no pretended thing but as true as Moses and the Prophets and as the Apostles Commission was and John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton are ordained and chosen of God by voice of words and commissionated with power as realy and truly as ever Moses and Aaron was And as Moses and Aaron were the chosen Messengers and Commissioners of the Law so likewise are we the two chosen Witnesses and Commissioners of the Spirit And as Moses and Aaron were the two first which God chose to give forth the Law and to prescribe Rules of Worship for the people of Israel so likewise we two being the two last chosen Witnesses of the Spirit we have power and authority in this Commission of the Spirit for to declare what the true God is in his form and nature and what worship doth belong to the knowledge of the true God in these latter days which cannot be known but by this Commission of the Spirit onely And as for my taking of all pardoning power from God and Christ in this you shew that you have gone no further nor hardly so far as the Priests of the Nation for you have got a God and a Christ too and yet neither your God nor your Christ hath never a body and in this you are worse than any other Sect for though other Sects of Religion will have a God and a Christ yet they can finde but one body and that is the body of Christ but the Fathers body they cannot finde at all but you Quakers can finde never a body neither for God nor Christ but your own bodies for you have got your Christ and God all within you so that Christ hath never a body of his own but is forc'd to make use of every Quakers body for his Spirit to dwell in But from that Christ which suffered death in his own body and rose again in the same body and is now in Heaven in the same body according to the Scriptures from this Christ which is the onely God I say I have power over all other Gods or infinite Spirits whatsoever and from this Christ which is God-Man now above the stars have I this pardoning power and damning power neither did I take it of my self but it was put upon me by God himself for if I had not obeyed the voice of God when he spake to John Reeve then he was to pronounce me cursed to eternity and so by my yielding obedience unto the voice of God I was made partakers of that power to bless and curse to eternity and this is that power which you say I presumptuously have exalted my self neither will God give this power to any more after me neither can any man come to the assurance of the favor of God now in these days but in believing that God gave this power unto John Reeve and my self for there is no coming to know God nor see God but by the faith in this Commission of the Spirit for I having the Keys of Heaven and of Hell none can get into Heaven except the Witness of the Spirit doth open the gates and so the King of Glory may enter in that is the knowledge of the true God his form and nature may enter into your hearts by having faith in this Commission of the Spirit for God hath given me the same power now as he gave to Peter when he was upon earth and what power that was may easily be read where Christ said unto Peter Vpon this Rock will I build my Church Also he hid give unto Peter the Keys of Heaven and of Hell Also he should have power to binde and loose and whose sins he remitted should be remitted and whose sins he retained should be retained What is the remitting and retaining of sins but to forgive them their sins which received his Doctrine and to retain and binde their sins of unbelief more close upon their consciences for their despising of the Doctrine of Christ which he did teach And was this any less than blessing and cursing or opening the gates of Hell and of Heaven and yet you see that Christ gave this power unto man you would have said as much by Peter and others if you had been living in those days as you do by me you would have said that they did it out of the pride and presumption of their hearts though they had their Commission put upon them by God himself as I have now in this Commission of the Spirit and as Peter had power to bind and loose or to remit and to retain so likewise hath the same God given me power to bless and curse men and women to eternity and this is the keys of Heaven and of Hell for the blessing of a commissionated Prophet it opens the gate of heaven that is it opens the heart in love to that God that sent such a Messenger of glad tidings of Salvation So on the contrary the curse of a Prophet it opens the gates of Hell that is it opens the heart in envy malice and revenge nay sometimes when the gate of Hell is opened by the curse it hath caused revenge to increase so hot that it hath broken forth into a great flame the fire of Hell hath been so hot burning within them This I know by experience which I never did know until the Keys of Heaven and of Hell were put into my hands by God himself and by this I know what Peters and other Prophets power was for God hath given power for one creature to judge another and what that man doth which hath authority from God God himself cannot undo it for it is not the light of Christ within you Quakers nor the letter of the Scriptures nor God without you that shall deliver you Quakers and others that are under this Sentence from that curse which I have pronounced upon you though you call it error lying divination false doctrine pride and presumption but it will appear to be no other but the Curse of God himself though it be pronounced by a mortal man like your selves 3. And as for my being singular in doctrine knowledge judgement and Power above all men either Prophets or Apostles since the beginning of the world or that shall ever be hereafter whilst the world doth endure Answer This is as true a saying as ever was spoken for this being the Commission of the Spirit it hath more spiritual knowledge judgment and power above all men either Prophets or Apostles why because Moses and the Prophets did not know so much as the Apostles did because Moses Commission was that of the Law under the title of God the Father therefore the Apostle saith concerning those that were educated under the Law of Moses they were under a cloud and saw but darkly as in a Glass shewing the benefit which came to those that were under the Faith of the Gospel for those that were under the Law
they were come but to Mount Sina which gendred unto bondage but those that were come unto the Faith of the Gospel were come unto Mount Sion Now the Law of Moses was Mount Sina and the faith of the Gospel of Jesus was Mount Sion and this Gospel of Jesus which was committed to his Apostles was the Commission of the blood and this Commission of the blood did know more then the Commission of the Law of Moses and the Prophets did so likewise this Commission of the Spirit doth know more then either of them both for Moses and the Prophets had no Scriptures for to interpret or expound but their own prophesies therefore the Apostles must needs know more then the Prophets did because they were the only interpreters of the Law and the Prophets and of their own signs so therefore their knowledge in the Gospel must needs be greater then that of the Law so likewise we the Witnesses of the Spirit must needs know more then either Prophet or Apostle because none can interpret the Scriptures but we the Witnesses of the Spirit and this Commission of the Spirit did God force and lay upon us against our wills and withal he hath given us understanding of his minde in the Scriptures above all the men in the world which words of Gods I finde to prove true for I do certainly know that I have more spiritual knowledge then all the men in the World nay I am sure that I do know more in spiritual things then ever Prophet or Apostle did since the beginning of the World then of necessity it will follow that I do know more then any shall do to the end of the World because I am one of the two last Witnesses and Prophets that God will ever send therefore my knowledge and judgement and sentence must needs be above all that is gone before me or that shall come after me to the end of the world yet I am no ways lifted up with pride and presumption because of this knowledge and authority that God hath given me above all men since the beginning of the world to the latter end I know what I say to be truth for true knowledge is never puffed up with pride neither am I whatsoever the seed of the serpent may judge of me for I do neither bless any out of affections for any by ends but according as I do discern their Faith in the thing neither do I curse any thorough envy or malice but either it is because they have sinned against the holy Spirit a sin that is not to be pardoned or else I do know them to be of that reprobate seed and so I know my judgement is true and according to the tennor of my Commission so that I am neither lifted up with pride nor cast down or troubled with sorrow but am very well satisfied in those that go on the right hand though they are but few as I am with those that go on the left hand though they be many for I see it must be so for God hath so decreed it and he hath been pleased to make it known unto me and hath made me the onely Judge of the two seeds now in this last days which is a thing I never did desire 4. There is little of your matter in this particular but rehearsing of my words onely you say that I under the pretence of the Commission of the spirit that I do presume to exclude all true Witnesses of the Spirit and also all true Ministers Messengers and Ambassadors of Christ from the work of the Ministry both now in this age and whilest the world doth indure to the end and intent that I might set up my self alone in their places and stead Answer That my Commission of the Spirit is no pretended thing but as true as God is Truth neither is there any true Messenger Minister or Ambassador of God in this world at this day but my self neither shall there be any sent of God after me to the worlds end for there can be no true Minister except he be sent of God by voice of words to the hearing of the ear or else by him that is so authorized which I know no speakers in the world hath neither the Priests of the nation which are ordained by man nor no other Sect which by their natural wit from the letter of the Scriptures doth think because they can play upon the letter of the Scriptures as upon a Harp that they are very good Ministers of Christ but he sent them not and as for you Quakers which thinkes the light of Christ within you is sufficient to make you Messengers and Ministers of Christ you are much mistaken for you do but run into the Ministry before you were sent for the light of Christ within a man did never authorize any man to be a Minister of Christ except he be ordained and authorized from a God without him or from a man without him which you Quakers do abhor to think that there should be any other authority besides the light of Christ within you but you will finde that the authority of a God without you will be too hard for the light of Christ within you For little do you Quakers know what that Son of Man is which John in Revelation 1.13 speaketh of so in the 16 verse There went out of his mouth a sharp two-eged Sword Now this Son of Man which John speaketh of was no other but Christ himself and this Christ is the very God and he is that Alpha and Omega the first and the last he that was dead and behold he is alive for evermore and this two-edged sword that came out of his mouth he hath put into my mouth and that was when he said I have put the two-edged Sword of my Spirit into thy mouth to pronounce blessing and cursing to eternity now God having put the two-edged Sword of his Spirit which came out of his mouth and hath put it into mine how will you Quakers or any others do to deliver your selves from it for it is a two-edged Sword it cuts down the seed of faith as the wheat in love and makes it obedient unto the Commission of the Spirit and so they are gathered as Gods wheat into his barn which barn is the Commission of the Spirit for every Commission is a shelter or as a barn to keep the wind storms and rain off from the wheat but on the contrary the other edge of this Sword which is put into my mouth it cuts down the tares the tares is the Seed of Reason which are bound in bundles and cast into the fire for this edge of the Sword which is the sentence of condemnation it cuts down many bundles of the seed of reason for the fire of hel to one sheaf of the seed of faith which is gathered into Gods barn that is to believe the Commission of the Spirit Now the Quakers and all other Sects the speakers of them
no Commission from God to be the chief Judge of Quakers and other dispising spirits That doth no ways weaken my power but rather confirm and make it the more stronger for I do believe Jesus Christ to be the the onely God both God and Man in one person by whom the world was made and from this Christ God Man am I made Judge and not from the letter of the Scriptures which were other mens Commissions so that I am no Minister of the letter but a Minister of the Spirit and so the chief Judge ordained of Christ by voice of words as Moses Elijah Paul and Peter other Prophets and Apostles were so that though Christ be chief Judge of the quick and the dead in that he hath power to raise mankinde again at the last day and so give possession of eternal happiness to the seed of Faith and possession of endless misery unto the seed of Reason and in this regard Christ is chief Judge both of the quick and the dead yet this doth no ways prove me a false Judge but rather the contrary for all Prophets and Apostles which were ordained of God were Judges and some more chief then others as Moses was a chief Judge Elijah and Elisha and Samuel and divers others were chief Judges they being above all other Prophets at that time therefore chief Judges in the time of their Commissions so likewise the Apostles were all Judges yet Peter was more chief Judge then all the rest so is it now John Reeve and my self being the last chosen Witnesses of the Spirit we are Judges but while John Reeve was living he was chief Judge but he being fallen a sleep I am chief Judge much like unto Elijah and Elisha yet in all this there is no dis-throning of Christ nor diminishing of his honor and power of being the Judge of the quick and the dead And as for my saying that no man knows the Scriptures nor can interpret the Scriptures truly but my self that is a standing truth neither shall any man or woman that I have passed the Sentence upon be delivered from it and as for the interpretation of the Scriptures belonging unto the Lord as you say and not unto my self to this I say God doth not come down from heaven upon this earth to interpret the Scriptures unto men but this was always Gods practice to Commissionate particular men and furnish them with gifts for that purpose and what interpretations of Scriptures they give it is owned of God as if he had done it himself therefore the people of the Jews would have Moses to speak unto them he being a man like themselves they could better hear him then God because Gods voice was so terrible that mortals could not bear it yet Moses words are owned to be the words of God as if God had spoke them himself and so all Prophets and Apostles could say Thus sayeth the word of the Lord so that what declaration or interpretation a Messenger of God doth give it may be said it is from God and so ought to be received by man so that Christ doth not teach every particular man neither by his Spirit nor by voice of words but if any man believe him that he is sent of God he may be said to be taught of God so that the true and right interpretation of the Scriptures it lyeth in those men that God hath chosen anointed and sealed for that purpose and men cannot come to the knowledge of God nor the true meaning of the Scriptures no other way so that I knowing these things to be true that the interpretation of Scriptures belongs unto Commissionated men and not unto Christ himself as the Quakers doth vainly imagine 5. R. F. doth say that the chosen Witnesses of Christ who had a Commission from his blessed Spirit they were anointed and sealed of God 6. Saith he for the Ambassadors who had a Commission to Preach and were anointed and sealed of God 7. He saith the Ambassadors of Christ who were anointed and sealed of God and had the ministration of reconciliation given unto them 8. The Ambassadors of Christ who were anointed and sealed of God and had the glorious ministration of the Spirit given unto them 9. He saith the Ambassadors of Christ and chosen Witnesses of the Spirit who were anointed and sealed of God they were workers together with God 10. He sayeth the true Witnesses of the Spirit and Ambassadors of Christ by the Father of Mercies and God of all Comfort they were comforted themselves in all their tribulations that they might be able to comfort them that were in any trouble by the comfort wherewith they themselves were comforted of God for which purpose he hath quoted abundance of texts of Scriptures which would be too tedious to cite L. M. Reply Here you that have any true saving light in you you may judge whether this man hath proved me a false Witness or not he tells me that the Prophets and Apostles of old many hundred years ago before I was born that they were anointed and sealed of God for the work of the Ministery that is confessed and owned by me that the Prophets and Apostles of old they had a Commission from God to ordain other men for the work of the Ministry but what doth this prove that God hath not given a Commission to John Reeve and Lodowick Muggelton because the Prophets and Apostles were anointed and sealed and had a Commission of God neither will their Commission authorize any Quakers nor no other man for the work of the Ministry but when the Prophets and Apostles were living they had power to authorize any man which they did discern fit for it but the reading of their Commission now they are dead will not impower a man to be a Minister or Messenger of Christ yet this is the course that you Quakers and most men in the world doth take to prove a live mans Commission to be false by a dead mans Commission but you will finde it to the contrary in the end Again though the Prophets and Apostles were anointed and sealed of God for that great work will it follow therefore that you Quakers because you read their writings that you are anointed and sealed of God for the work of the Ministry surely no neither will it follow because they were true Witnesses of Christ therefore I must needs be false For this I say that my Commission is from the same God as theirs was and is as true as theirs was neither have I my Commission from them but from God himself as they had so that it will prove a vain conceit of you Quakers and others that are under the sentence of this Commission of the spirit to tell me that they were that is the Prophets and Apostles were anointed and sealed of God what is that to you what they were their being true Witnesses of Christ will never a whit diminish or weaken that power and authority which God
hundred yeares yet the Apostles which were the Commissioners did not live themselves above forty years after their Lord Christ was put to death must that Commission therefore be made void because the Commissioners were all dead surely no. And this I further do affirm that never since that three hundred years there hath not a man been commissionated from God to be a Messenger Minister or Ambassador of Christ to preach the everlasting Gospel of life and salvation until that God spake to John Reeve in the year 1651. for all men that have exercised the Office of a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ since that three hundred years to the year 1651. have run before they were sent for God sent none of them by voice of words but they have preached only from the letter of the Scriptures or else from the light within as the Quakers do but have had no Commission from Christ without them though much good hath bin done by their preaching and a great deal of 〈◊〉 but let that pass because I have spoken of that more at large in the Interpretation of Rev. Chap. 11. So I say though John Reeve be dead and I were dead also yet will not this Commission of the Spirit be made void for this I say as long as there is faith and believers of this Commission it will not be void and lose its vertue which I know will be to the end of the world though perhaps I my self may be either put to to death or die naturally within few years yet the faith in this doctrine which we the Witnesses of the Spirit have declared concerning the true God his form nature before he became flesh and what he is now and the form and nature of the right Devil before he became flesh and what he is now with the place and nature of hell and of heaven the person and nature of Angels and the mortality of the soul These six points of doctrine with many more heavenly Secrets which hath been declared by Us I say that there will be faith in some men and women to believe and understand these things which we have written even to the worlds end so that my Commission will not be void reversed and undone though I were dead Also I being the last true Prophet and Witness that ever shall come which is more than any Apostle or Prophet could say therefore who ever shall truly believe these things may be the more comforted and revived that redemption is so near at hand when as all tears shall be wiped away from your eyes and not onely so but you shall enter into the joy of our good God and Savior in whom ye have believed even the Man Christ Jesus who is both God and Man clothed with flesh and bone who poured out his sould unto death whose blood was no less then the blood of God and this is that blood that who ever can believe it it will sprinkle their souls here and make them pure and clean so that nothing shall offend or cause any fear of eternal death but this natural death shall be but as a door of intrance into those eternal joys where we shall see our God face to face and if you Richard Farnsworth had but read that book of mine of the Interpretation of Revel chap. 10 you would never have repeated so much of it in your Pamphlet as you have to prove me a false Witness for there is every particular verse in that chapter opened and expounded besides many other places in the Revelation opened more then all the learned men in the world hath or could do but it is a vain thing to talk of any heavenly secrets to Quakers for they will not bestow a penny in any writings but their own let them cost ever so much pains the writing and charge the printing but if they can see them for nothing perhaps they will view it a little slâ—ghtly over but as to buy I hardly know any Quaker that doth surely they are afraid they should lose their believers if they should see my works now I am very free that any believer of this Commission should see their writings not fearing they will draw them away God hath sent a Commission into the world to knock them down into that bottomless-pit where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore and do you rage and rail and slight and do what you can you shall not be delivered from that sentence and curse which I have pronounced upon you neither is the Doctrine of this Commission any deceit neither is it pride and presumption in me in what I have said concerning you but as true judgement as ever was past upon any man by any Prophet or Apostle or by any true Judge of the Land without envy or malice but in true discerning and knowledge of the spiritual Law of the Scriptures have I given Judgement upon you and others whereunto I shall set my hand and seal and if the Law can do it seal it with my Blood Lodowick Muggleton
would have it proved by Scripture that God made Angels spiritual persons neither can it enter into your heart to believe that the serpent was made by the Wisdom and secret Council of God to bring forth his seed to oppose the Creator and yet you read in the Scripture that God would put enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman From what did this seed of the serpent come but from that reprobate Angel which is always in opposition unto the seed of the woman which is the seed of Adam which is the seed of Faith which is the seed of God The knowledge of these two Seeds is that which can truly explain the true meaning of the Scriptures and open the gates of hell and let in all the seed of the serpent who deny a personal God in flesh and bone glorified Also the knowledge of the two seeds doth open the gate of heaven unto the seed of Faith and lets them enter in to that everlasting glory where they shall see their God face to face to their eternal joy because God hath a body and face and so shall every seed have a face of its own And though the seed of the serpent shall have a face of its own yet it shall never see the face of God Angels nor man no nor their own face to eternity for as they lived and died in darkness here in this world not knowing what the form and nature of the true God is nor the form and nature of the right Devil and so not knowing what nature and seed themselves are of they shall rise again in that eternal darkness never stirring from the place they are raised to eternity I write these Lines unto you Edward Bourne knowing you to be of the seed of the serpent and appointed to eternal damnation before you were born though you know it not I do know it by your speaking evil of that doctrine which is declared by us the VVitnesses of the Spirit by calling of it Deceit Confusion and Lies with many more wicked speeches against the purest Truth that ever was declared by Prophet or Apostle because this is the Commission of the Spirit and the last Witness of God on earth Therefore for these your hard sayings against the Doctrine of this Commission of the Spirit in obedience unto my Commission I do pronounce you cursed and damned soul and body from the presence of God elect men and Angels to eternity neither shall that light within you nor any God deliver you from this Curse but according to my word it shall be upon you because you shall know that God hath given power unto man to curse you to eternity and that there is a Prophet of the Lord now in the Land Written by Lodowick Muggleton one of the two last Witnesses and Prophets unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory Vale. August the 10. 1662. A LETTER of Samuel Hooton and W. S. to Lodowick Muggleton Friend FOR so we can call thee as Christ did Judas and also the sloathful servant whose talent was hid in the earth who art in the highest state of inchantment Thou hast slandered the children of the Most High God thy lips hath uttered lies thy tongue hath forged deceit thou art a false witness a wanderer a vagabond from the true understanding true knowledge and councel under whose tongue is the asp and the venome who out-sputters it against the children of light but with it thou art comprehended and shall be made manifest and the hook 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vah is put into thy nostrils by which thou shalt be held and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obed is thy state if thou canst read it which upon thee shall come canst thou read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tame thou hast polluted thy self thou hast defiled thy self thou hast made thy self unclean and thou art unclean and art in the highest state of Ranters from the holy body in the polluted body and where ever thou hast an entrance thou wilt defile and thou mayest deceive fools and them that be void of understanding but the sound and the weighty thy spirit hath not nor never had any entertainment for thou art clothed with a Curse and not with a Blessing the fruits of which is sputtered abroad and the eternal Sentence of Judgement of the Lord God is sentenced upon thee And now to the matter of thy flanders and scandals and reproaches that thou casts upon the Most High's children First Thou sayest We that are called Quakers are guided and led by the Spirit of Antichrist Answer This is false for we are in the Spirit of Christ before Antichrist was and we have it and are Christs and so thy slanders doth not touch us but is thy own who speaks of thy self and beareth witness of thy self but our witness is in Heaven which beareth witness of us and witnesseth to us which thou hast manifested thou knowest not who judges with evil thoughts and is in that judgement which is to be reproved for we have Judgement to sentence and judge such spirits perpetually Secondly Thou sayest We are the worst of all and the most cursed of all in point of doctrine Answer This is false again and from slanderous lips our doctrine is Christs and the Apostles and we that doth his will do know his Doctrine and we are in the power of God that was before Sects was and thou art the man that wanders up and down to make Sects whose mouth is filled with cursing and soweth it so thou shalt reap of the same which will enter into thy bowels who art the Antichrist out of Christs doctrine and the Apostles and an enemy to it which saith bless and curse not therefore thou art one of the cursed children the Apostle speaks of who speaks forth the high swelling words of vanity to the alluring of the lusts of the flesh and so to catch people with thy bait but thy damnation and judgement lingreth not nor slumbreth not Remember thou wast told this in thy life time Thirdly Thou sayest We deny both the Father and the Son to be a person in the form of a man and that we deny the same flesh and bone of Jesus which suffered death was layed in the grave which rose again which was seen afterwards by his Apostles and others which ascended up into heaven in that same flesh and bone which he suffered death Answer To this we charge thee and command thee to mention the man and the place of his abode that denied this and is a Quaker Secondly thy charge is utterly false and lies and slanders as to us and the Lord will judge thee for sowing such lies abroad for we own Christ and none of us denies him that was prophesied of seen by the Prophets and holy men of God came according to the Prophecy and was born of a Virgin according to the Prophecy of Isaiah and suffered death and rose again
the Spirit And as for that high inchantment which you say I am in and those you call fools which believe it shall finde it the power of God unto Salvation But on the contrary you that despise it shall finde it the power of God to your eternal condemnation which many of the Speakers of the Quakers and other opinions with many hundreds of private persons besides shall not deliver themselves from the Sentence which we the Witnesses of the Spirit have declared through a true discerning which you call Enchantment But it is the Commission and power of God which shall war with the Quakers and all other opinions in the world because it is the two-edged Sword of the Spirit which is pâ—t into our mouths And this which we have said against you Quakers will be no slander or reproach but as true as any word that ever was spoken by Moses the Prophets and Apostles or Christ himself for we are the Witnesses of the Spirit which is the Spirit of Truth which hath made us judge of the world in spiritual matters concerning the Eternal estate of Mankind And what person soever we determine judgement upon it is so and there is no revoking of it You have written that I say you that are called Quakers are guided and lead by the Spirit of Anti-christ This is as true a saying as ever was spoken by Prophet of Apostle that the Quakers are lead and guided by the spirit of Anti-christ for they are not in Christ neither is Christ in them yeâ— say they we are in the Spirit of Christ before Antichrist was This lie exceedeth other lies for Anti-christ hath been in the world ever since Cain was born of whose seed and nature they are And Christ came into the world when Abel was born then was the Seed and Nature of Adam which is the Spirit of Faith which is called by the Apostle the Spirit of Christ and who ever is partaker of the Seed of Adam may be said to have the Spirit of Christ in them and their spirits to be in him that is Christ dwells in their hearts by Faith But on the contrary the Quakers being the seed and nature of the lost Angel whose nature was before his fall pure reason and Cain being the first born of the Devil the fulness of the Angels Godhead dwelt bodily in him and Cain having copulation with the female Sex millions of men and women have been brought forth of his seed which is reason fallen and this seed of reason in Cain and his seed is that spirit of Anti-christ and this began to act it self forth when Cain and Abel began for to worship God and ever since the spirit of Anti-christ hath remained in its seed which brake forth in this later age in a more eminent manner in one particular person namely John Robins that seemingly carried a more pure God-like power then any other Anti-christ which went before him And the Quakers have the very influence of John Robins his spiritual witchcraft-power upon them And so indeed it may be truely said that the Quakers are lead and guided by the spirit of Anti-christ and so their spirit is in him and his spirit in them so that they cannot be in Christ nor Christ in them for they are not of that seed that should have made them the children of the Most High God though I know they cannot help it yet it is so decreed by the Creator and he hath been pleased to make it known unto me and though you say I bear witness of my self yet is my witness and judgement in these things true Whereas you rail in that I said the Quakers are the worst of all and most cursedst of all in point of Doctrine c. 2 Answer As to the slander and lies you speak of I shall let them pass for I have spake enough of them before but as for that saying of mine aforesaid That the people called Quakers are the worst of all and the most cursedst of all in point of Doctrine That is as pure a truth as ever was spoken with tongue neither do you know the doctrine of Christ neither can you do his will How can you know the Doctrine of Christ When as your Christ hath never a body for you have got your Christ all within you as I shall make more appear hereafter And as for my wandering up and down to make Sects it is those of the Quakers that wander up and down As those that went to New-England and John Parrot unto Rome to get the Pope and his Bishops to be Disciples of Christ and there to be punished in his body and when he came home again to be damned to eternity by me for his pains because he went by the light within him and was not sent by voice of God without him Therefore eternal damnation will be his reward for going without a Commission from God and so will all the Ministers of the Quakers and all other Ministers too for going Embassadors for Christ when as he sent them not Though they preach from the letter of the Scriptures or from a light within them though the Devils be cast out and much good done thereby yet it will be but as a work of iniquity because they went before they were sent O how willingly is Reason the devil to be an Embassador for Christ when a Christ will not accept of him therefore reason the devil goes of himself thinking to have a reward in heaven for he will say Lord have not we preached in thy Name and prayed in thy Name and cast out devils in thy Name and the Lord will say depart from me you workers of iniquity So that what man soever that preacheth or pretendeth to be a Minister an Embassador of Christ without a Commission from him it will be charged upon him as a work of iniquity Indeed there are too many Messengers and Ministers of Christ to be true for indeed the world can hardly bear with one true Messenger at a time this I can truly speak by experience because I am the last man that God will give a Commission unto until time be no more yet never was there any Prophet or Apostle or Messenger of Christ but they have travelled up and down more then ever I did almost these eleven years so that I have not travelled up and down as the Quakers have for to get either wise or fools to believe me Yet this Commission hath gone through more parts of the world then any Quakers ever did but that is a thing I do not much matter You Quakers say that my mouth is full of cursing and that I shall reap of the same likewise you say that I am out of Christs and the Apostles Doctrine that said bless and curse not with many other sayings which will be too tedious for me to write As for my mouth being full of cursing that is my Commission neither do I curse any but Devils which are appointed
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
finde very little matter or substance in it but the repeating of my words but for that which is your own the most of it is in speaking evil of those truths which you have read out of those four sheets which was sent Samuel Hooton and W. S. and in that Letter to Edward Bourn which is a clear discovery to me that you are the seed of the serpent and that you have sinned the sin against the holy Ghost for that is a thing which most Quakers do for I find in your paper a multitude of blasphemous speeches against this Commission of the Spirit by calling of it errors false judgment delusion pride and presumption with many more such like expressions almost at the end of every sentence which is enough to damn a thousand Quakers if they should speak but the fourth part as you have done therfore in obedience unto my Commission I do pronounce Richard Farnsworth for this his cursed blasphemy against the holy Spirit that sent me cursed and damned both in soul and body from the presence of God elect men Angels to eternity For God hath made me the Judge of the Light of Christ within you and of that infinite Spirit which you call God without you For though Christ be the true way yet I am as John the Baptist was the messenger to prepare the way and to make his paths straight And though Christ be the truth and the life yet I am the onely declarer what this truth and life is And though Christ be the door yet I have the key given me to open the door to life Eternal and this Commission of the Spirit is that key of David which openeth and no man shutteth And though Christ be the true Shepherd which hath laid down his Life for his sheep yet I must be as Peter was I must feed his sheep and feed his Lambs with that green pasture which is the doctrine of truth whereby they may ly down in perfect rest in their minds and rejoyce in God their Saviour so that they may leap for joy as the young Lambs do upon the green hills And though Christ be the onely true God the King of Heaven yet I am his onely Ambassador so that there is no coming to treat with him but by receiving his Ambassador this Commission of the spirit being it These things being so How is it possible that you Quakers and others that have despised the Commission of the Spirit of truth should escape the damnation of Hell Written by Lodowick Muggelton one of the two last Witnesses and Prophets unto the High and Mighty God the Man Christ Jesus in Glory Lodowick Muggleton's Reply to Richard Farnsworths printed Pamphlet I Saw a printed Pamphlet of Richard Farnsworth called Truth Ascended Or The Anointed and Sealed of God defended as a testimony as he saith against a counterfeit Commission as he calls it meaning Lodowick Muggelton I had thought not to have printed no more but seeing this Quaker hath put something in print against me he thinking thereby to make me the more odious unto the world and to lye the more open to the Magistrate he hath printed this pamphlet against me and because the Quakers shall not boast as if they had set out such a thing that could not be answered I am moved in my mind to put those Letters of the Quakers to me and my Answers to them with my Answer to this printed pamphlet into the publike view that their deceit may be the more discovered to the world and that I am not ashamed to own those Letters which I sent to them nor that sentence and curse which I have pronounced upon them and others let the effect be what it will And whereas Richard Farnsworth doth say that he is bold in the behalf of the Lord once again to bear his testimony against as he calls it my pretended Commission and the Doctrine thereof I marvel what Lord it is the Quakers are bold in 〈◊〉 a true Prophet may blow their Lord away with the breath of his mouth for they have no other Lord or God nor Christ but what is within them for their God nor Christ they so much talk of hath never a body nor substance of his own as those Letters afore-written of mine doth more fully discover wherein the Quakers are discovered to be led and guided by the spirit of Antichrist which doth deny God come in the flesh that is to say that the flesh and bone of Jesus Christ which he suffered death in is not now living in heaven distinct of himself from man this I say is the Quakers faith and principle and Antichristian this I know to be true as will be read in those Letters of mine unto them and from this body of Jesus which they deny have I power to blow Richard Farnsworths Lord which he is bold in away for they own no other Lord but what is within them so that all Quakers in their conceit are Gods but I shall say no more of that but shall proceed to answer those things which are of most concernment and most needful in his printed Pamphlet for the satisfying of all people who shall come to read or hear it which is as followeth WHat I have written in a sheet of paper to Edward Bourne and also those four sheets to Samuel Hooton and W. S. which was directed to Thomas Highfield at Notingham and I do own to be as true as the Prophets and Apostles Writings were to those people in their time neither shall they be delivered from that Sentence which I have declared or pronounced upon them Also I was in some hopes that you would have put them Letters with that which I sent to you in print as they were written to them and you it would have saved me that charge and trouble which now I shall be put into for I will if I can get them printed come unto publick view with your Letters to me without any alteration but as you have written them to me so that my presumption pride and false doctrine as you call it and your deceit and Antichristian spirit may be discovered unto the world that the people may be no more cheated with your hypocritial shew of holiness which never could have been discovered by any but by this Commission of the Spirit which God hath given to John Reeve and my self And whereas you R. F. doth say that you are bold on the behalf of the Lord once again to bear your testimony against my pretended Commission and the doctrine thereof and that you shall make it appear that it ought not to be entertained by any man or woman upon earth because say you it is contrary to truth And that my Judgement ought by all to be reversed undone and made void because say you it is erroneous and false for say you that I am no chosen Witness of the Spirit of Truth neither have I say you received any Commission from Christ to whom all
the Prophets gave witness as hereafter appears L. M. Here the Reader may see how simply he proves that I have no Commission from Christ and that I am no chosen Witness of Christ R. F. 1. He tells me that there were chosen Witnesses of Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness this he proves out of the Acts of the Apostles in divers places 2. That they had a Commission from Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness or that he commanded them to preach to the people This he proves likewise out of the Acts of the Apostles 3. They who were chosen Witnesses of Christ whom God the Father anointed sealed and sent and had a Commission from the Spirit and Power of Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness in testifying on the behalf of Christ their testimony stands as an evidence against as you say my pretended Commission and the doctrine thereof L. M. Reply Let any man that knows what belongs to a temporal Commission judge whether these places of Scripture which you have named doth prove me a false witness and my Commission to be a pretended thing or no for I do own and believe that the Prophets under the Law were true witnesses of Christ that is they did witness and testifie unto the people of the Jews that Christ the Savior of mankinde was to come and to be born of a Virgin this I do faithfully believe Also I do own and believe that the Prophets and Apostles were true Witnesses and Ambassadors of Christ and that the Apostles were chosen Witnesses of Christ to testifie and witness that Christ the Savior was now born in their time when they did thus witness as the Scriptures doth abundantly relate Also I do own and believe that Christ is ordained to be the Judge of the quick and the dead Also I do own and believe that the Scriptures were spoken as Holy men were inspired and so they may be called and are owned by me to be the Word or Words of God Yet this I say by the way that no man upon the earth at this day doth know the Scriptures truly nor can interpret them truly but us the Witnesses of the Spirit because all men in these days are ignorant of the form and nature of the true God and the right Devil as I have shewed in those Letters to Samuel Hooton and W. S. and to Edward Bournes and to your self Those Letters do open it more at large Again Do you blinde Quakers think that the repeating of Scripture-texts which were other mens Commissions and words that it will prove me a false witness and my Commission to be a pretended thing then I say those Jews which were under the Law of Moses might as truly have said as you do by me that the Apostles Commission wat but a pretended thing and their witness which they bore to Christ was a false witness and so they did therefore they persecuted them for it as you would do me if it lay in your power as it did in theirs 4. R. F. By their Commission they were to preach to the people and the same Commission and the doctrine thereof they were to testifie to them that Christ was ordained of God to be the Judge both of quick and dead but thou art not Christ to whom all the Prophets gave witness therefore it is evident that thou art not chief Judge ordained of God though thou presume to say that after death they shall never see any other God or Judge but the remembrance of that Sentence which you the pretended Witnesses of the Spirit did pass upon them in this life because thou falsly saith no man knows the Scriptures but thy self and that no man can truly interpret the Scriptures but thy self and that no man ought to officiate the Office of a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ but such as are appointed by John Reeve and thy self Which Assertions or Doctrines of thine are false and not true for this I say that the onely knowledge and right of interpreting Scriptures belongs not to thy self but to the Lord Jesus and his blessed Spirit who is the true Judge and hath power to open mens understandings and can give them the true knowledge and right understanding of Scriptures Luke 24.32 Lodowick Muggleton 's Reply The Reader may see the gross darkness of the Quakers here he proves my Commission as he doth think to be false and a pretended thing from the letter of the Scripture as if the Prophets and Apostles Commission being repeated over so many hundred years since would make my Commission false and to be but a pretended thing when as I do declare that I do not take up my Commission from the letter of the Scriptures as other men do for that is a pretended Commission which doth counterfeit and pretend to do the same things as they did which had their Commissions signed and sealed by the voyce of God himself as Moses and Paul the Prophets and Apostles these I do own that they had a Commission from God but what is this to any Quaker or any other man doth this prove that the reading of other mens Commissions will make a man a Minister Messenger or Ambassador of Christ surely no neither will the reading of the Scriptures prove my Commission to be false and a pretended thing as you say it is for I said in those Letters to the Quakers that my Commission is as true as the Prophets and Apostles Commissions were and of a more higher nature then theirs were this I own to be true for my Commission was given by voyce of words from God as theirs were therefore it is that I certainly know that God did give a Commission to Moses and the Prophets and unto his Apostles Also as Moses and Aaron were the two first that God did chuse and give a Commission unto to act forth the Law which did signifie the water so likewise God hath chosen John Reeve and Lodowick Muggelton to be his two last Witnesses and Prophets of the Spirit so that the repeating of the true Prophets and Apostles Commissions over again now will never prove me a false witness nor my Commission to be a pretended thing for the Jews which were under the Law of Moses might and did as well say as you do by me that the Apostles Commission was false and a pretended thing by their repeating of the Law and the Prophets but the repeating of other mens Commissions will not make void that which is given by voice of words from God for that will stand for ever and that you and many more shall know to your eternal pain and shame let your pretences be what they will Also I do own that the Prophets and Apostles of Christ did witness and testifie that Christ was ordained of God to be the Judge both of the quick and the dead I also do own and believe the same thing my self but what doth this prove therefore that I have
doth this power which God hath given me any ways dishonor or disthrone Christ of his Office of being the Judge of the Quick and the Dead for God doth do much like unto an Earthly King for though a King be the chief Judge of those Kingdoms which he is King of yet he doth Commissionate some particular man to be chief Judge to be in his stead though the King doth Commissionate many more Judges yet there is but one particular in every Kingdom which is called Lord Chief Justice of England Scotland or Ireland these being three distinct Kingdoms they have three distinct particular persons which are called Chief Judges and they are so by Commission from the King besides all other Judges yet you see that the King though he be Chief Judge of all his Kingdoms yet he seldom or never acts in Judgement himself but doth leave it to those which he hath Commissionated for that purpose So is it with the God of Heaven though Christ which is God and Man be King of heaven and chief Judge both in Heaven and in Earth in spiritual and eternal matters yet he by Commission doth chose some particular person to be chief judge in spiritual things as Moses was chosen chief Judge and Samuel and Elijah and Elisha and divers other Prophets which did govern Israel that were chief Judges in the worship of God at that time as there must also be one particular man that must be High-priest so likewise Peter was the chief Apostle and so chief Judge so that some particular man must be chief in all places of trust whether it be under a earthly King or under the King of Heaven yet no dishonor nor dis-throning either of them both so the God and King of heaven having chosen John Reeve and my self he hath Commissionated me to be his Messenger Minister or Ambassador in his stead to set life and death before men even as Moses did to the people of Israel and as men and women do receive it they shall have life eternal abiding in them and some can witness it at this day and as men and women doth despise the Doctrine of Truth declared by us the Witnesses of the Spirit they have the sentence and seal of eternal death abiding in them and many can witness that in themselves but that they will not yet some few to my knowledge hath been forc'd to do it thorough the terror of soul but however it is not the fewness of them that do receive it nor the multitude of them that despise it doth make me question e're the more the truth of my Commission and though Christ be the King of heaven and the Judge of the quick and the dead at the last day and so he is the chief Judge in that he can raise men and women again and give the possession both of eternal happiness and eternal misery according to that sentence which the Prophets and Apostles and we the Witnesses of the Spirit did pass upon them in this life so that we see that God hath made chief Jugdes in spiritual matters we do no ways dis-throne Christ of his Office no more then the chief Judge of England doth dis-throne the King in that his Commission from the King will bear him out he judging according to the tenor of his Commission so is it with me God having made me chief judge of mens spiritual and eternal estate what will become of them after death and I going and judging according to the tennor of my Commission I do no ways dishonor my King but honor him in that I am faithful to that trust which God hath intrusted me with and I am very well satisfied in the performance of it yet this I would have the reader to know though I do own my self the chief judge in spiritual matters yet this I say that every true believer of this Commission is a judge as well as I my self and may upon occasions when they meet with despising spirits curse them to eternity if their saith be strong enough to bear them up so that they do not doubt For if any shall pass the sentence upon another and doubt the influence of that sentence will return back again to themselves this I have seen in some believers of this Commission of the Spirit some again of the believers have been so strong in their faith that the sentence which they have passed upon despising spirits it hath had as great effect upon them it was passed upon as mine hath and rather greater so that every believer of this Commission whose faith is strong is a judge as well as I though not chief judge but if peoples faith be weak and not strong enough to bear them out in it I do not tie them to any such thing but I could wish they were all so strong that the devils might be met with every where where the knowledge of this Commission of the Spirit is known and believed And as the King of earth hath many Judges in his Kingdom yet but one chief Judge in l ke manner is it with God the King of Heaven he hath many Judges of despising spirits in spiritual and eternal things yet but one chief judge and as the Apostles were chief Judges in their time yet the believers of them were saints and so judges therefore it is said that the saints should judge the earth nay saith Paul know you not that we shall judge Angels What is that That is you that are believers of our Gospel you shall be made by the power of faith to judge wise and prudent Angel-like men in the wisdom of reason which came from the fallen angels seed and nature indued with piercing rational God-like wisdom therefore called Angels these are those Angels which the Saints in Pauls time should judge so is it now with me I being chief judge in these last days I have judged many wise Luciferian Angel-like spirits within this twelve years and so hath some of the believers in this time judged many of these Angels they may be called Angels because they are of the serpent Angels seed and hath the highest wisdom of Reason in them which their fallen estate will afford but the weak and simple seed of faith must be their judges so that it may be clear to the reader that understands that all true believers of this Commission of the Spirit are judges of men and womens spiritual and eternal estate what shal become of them after death yet none to be chief judge but my self 2. The second thing is to shew that I do go by as certain a rule as the Judges of the Land do when as they give judgement according to Law To this I say that the Judges of the Land they have a Commission first from the King to be Judges 2. They have the Book of the Law to be their guides 3. They must be men supposed to know the Law 4. According to the known Law the Judge giveth sentence and
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