Make this good by Scripture CHAP. V. ANSWER I Have proved these two things abundantly by Scripture in my other Writings in The Mortality of the Soul and The Divine Looking-Glass and in The Interpretation of the Eleventh of the Revelation and in The Interpretation of the whole Book of the Revelation these several Books written by us the Witnesses of the Spirit hath clearly opened those two points as much as any one thing whatsoever but I perceive this Fox hath seen none of our Books not as to read them but this book onely of the Quakers Neck broken which makes him so ignorant of the Scriptures and of what we have written also its proves my words true that the Quakers will not bestow a penny in any of my Writings but their own But because some may see this Answer to Fox that hath not seen the other books afore-mentioned I shall prove by the Scriptures again that the Right Devil became flesh and the Soul of man to be mortal First I shall prove the Devil became flesh Let the Reader minde the Interpretation of Scripture In the first Epistle of John chap. 3. verse 8. it is thus written He that committeth sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning Mark these words The Devil sinneth from the beginning I think there is no man so wickedly ignorant to say that Adam was this Devil that sinned from the beginning for Adam was never called a Devil not throughout the Scriptures for Adam is called the Father of Christ and there is none will dare to say the Devil was the Father of Christ which I shall open more clear hereafter but then of necessity there must be some other Devil in the beginning which all men are ignorant of in these our days but this Commission of the Spirit onely Now this Devil that committeth sin from the beginning must needs be that Serpent that was called A Tree of knowledge of good and evil this I declare was the Devil now this Devil became flesh and after he became flesh then the devil committed sin and this was in the beginning of the world for the faith of the Scriptures goeth no further than the beginning of the Creation of Adam Now minde the twelfth verse that proves that Cain was the first devil in flesh John exhorting the Believers that they should love one another which Commandment was from the beginning not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother Here it is clear that Cain was none of Adams son for Adam was never counted a wicked one by any that writ Scripture so that Cains father was the devil that is he was that Serpent Angel that deceived Eve and Cain was the devil manifest in flesh and that act of murther which Cain did when he slew his brother Abel is that sin which the devil committed from the beginning for what the devil did before he became flesh was not counted by Moses the Prophets and Apostles to be sin for sin was not imputed to spiritual bodies but to natural bodies onely for spiritual bodies are either to receive the fruit of happiness or the punishment of what they do in the natural body of flesh Again that I may give the Reader a further proof of this minde the Scripture saith there are two Seeds the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent now God hath put emnity between these two Seeds now I would fain know of Fox from whence this Seed of the Serpent came If he shall say it came from Adam as most Quakers do they blaspheme against God that made Adam in his own image and likeness both spirit and body onely Adam was earthly and God was heavenly but Adam had but one Seed in his Creation but as men are generated they come to have two Seeds in them so that this Seed of the Serpent must needs be from the fallen Angel that deceived Eve who was called A Tree of Knowledge of good and evil and this Seed of the Serpent that should be at enmity with the Seed of the Woman it is the devil in flesh for God owns the Seed of the Woman to be his own Seed so that Cain was the devil became flesh blood and bone and that seed of Reason in Cain being now become mortal which was immortal before Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil it comes to commit sin from the beginning and to generate and bring forth millions of devils of his own seed and nature and so the enmity of the two Seeds continues from generation to generation to the worlds end For we read in Scripture that Cain is the Father of all wicked men and women and that wicked men and women are his children as the Reader may see in Matthew how the devil tempted Christ that devil that tempted Christ was a man yet called a Devil as you may see Deuteronomy the sixth and the sixteenth verse that the Jewes that tempted God are called Devils and when Christ answered the devil and said It is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God but him onely shalt thou serve so that rebellious men are called the Devil that tempt God And where was there ever given any Law to any other devil but to man to serve the Lord his God So that it may be clear to the Seed of Faith that man is a devil and that there is no other devil that can or doth tempt God but man Again it is clear that men are the children of the devil now they cannot be children of the devil except they be of his seed begotten of him and this is clear by Scripture as may be read John 8. verse 44. Christ saith to the Jews that were men who said they were Abrahams children and said they were Gods children but Christ saith these men were the devils children Ye are saith he of your father the devil and the lusts of your father you will do he was a murtherer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a Liar and the father of it Now minde there never was no liar nor murderer but man and Cain being the first murderer and liar from the beginning for when Cain killed Abel and lied unto God and said Am I my brothers keeper this was the first murder and lie the devil Cain committed upon earth after the devil became flesh therefore called by the Spirit of Revelation of Faith A murderer and a liar from the beginning for then the devil in flesh began to murder and lie and so this sin hath run in the line of all his posterity from generation to generation so that the Reader may see that men are the children of the devil and that the devil their father was a man even Cain This is the true meaning of the Scriptures and from this Cain did Feorge Fox come and this
will say it was in heaven To this I say that Lazarus his soul was in the grave where his body was his soul was dead else Christ did not raise him from the dead if his soul were not dead Minde if his soul departed out of his body as most people imagine and went to Heaven or hell then I say Christ would have called to Heaven for his soul to come down and go into the body again if it should be so then Christ did not raise the dead but brought two friends together that were separated one from the other This is the Quakers Faith and many others besides but the Faith of Gods Elect doth stedfastly believe that Lazarus his soul was dead and there in the grave and that by the power of Christs words and groans they entred in to that dead soul in the grave and made it quick and live again Here you see Fox that the soul of Adam the first man did die And also you may see that the soul of Christ did die and that Lazarus his soul was dead and all mens souls else since that are dead because they were mortal This the Scriptures prove as much or more than any one thing whatsoever and this is my knowledge of Scripture And are you George Fox convinced yet that your soul must die For die you must even two deaths a death mortal and a death eternal for you that count it a Lie to say the soul is mortal and must die you shall taste of two deaths but I shall taste but of one this I know to be true and you shall finde my words to be true also 5. Muggleton Thou sayest thou accusest no man of sin yet saith Fox in a few lines after thou accusest the Quakers of sin and blasphemy CHAP. VII ANSWER YOu told a Lie to say I accuse the Quakers of sin and blasphemy a few lines after for I do accuse the Quakers of sin and blasphemy against the Holy Ghost a few lines before I said I accuse no man of sin but because you began to write against me backwards you began at the last side of my Book and so answered this backward I shall bear with that Lie and look upon it as no hainous crime in you but if you had found such a mistake in me you would have triumphed as if it had been the greatest sin in me to tell such a Lie you would have thought it worse than the sin against the Holy Ghost which you Quakers do commit But who ever reads that Book may see that I have said nothing but truth in what I have written of the Quakers 6. Page 5. Fox saith The Scriptures speak of the wicked one and wicked men but where saith he doth the Scriptures speak of a right devil CHAP. VIII ANSWER DOth the Scriptures speak of a wrong Devil there must needs be either a right devil or a wrong devil else the Scriptures would never have spoken so much of a devil if there had been no devil at all For you Fox neither declares what the right devil is nor what the wrong devil is so that no man can tell where nor what the devil is It seems Fox the Quaker thinks it a hard thing to prove by the Scriptures a right devil Do you not read in Scripture that Cain is called a devil who was a murderer and a liar from the beginning and the devil was those Pharisees that disputed with Christ the devil was their father Christ said And was not Cain their father a right devil Is there any sin committed but it is the devil commits it As John saith He that committeth sin is of the devil and if he that commits sin be of the devil then his father that begat him must needs be a right devil Was not Judas that betrayed his Lord was not he a right devil Sure if he had not been a right devil he would never have done that wickedness And you George Fox had not you been a right devil you would never have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit that sent me as you have but you being ignorant who was your father even Cain you know not what your self is and that you are the son of a right devil and so in process of time you your self are become a right devil and you shall be recorded so by the Commission of the Spirit of Truth to the worlds end 7. Page 7. Fox saith The Quakers do not deny Christs flesh and bones who remain in the Heavens until the Restitution of all things CHAP. IX ANSWER HEre people may see the confusion of the Quakers Principles who say Christ is in them and yet Fox saith the Quakers own the flesh of Christ that suffered Here Fox saith The Quakers doth not deny Christs flesh and bones who remain in the Heavens until the restitution of all things But this the Reader may mind that the Quakers do not believe that Christs flesh and bone is now in the Heavens though Fox doth not deny it because the Scriptures are so full to prove the same For if the Quakers should really believe it their Principle of Christ within them would quickly fail and vanish for I never knew none that would avouch that Christs flesh and bone was in them neither wil any of the Quakers avouch that they do believe Christ to be a person now in Heaven above the stars in that same flesh and bone he suffered death in if they should do so how then would all the Quakers do to get Christ within them there could but one Quaker get Christ in him at a time and when Christ comes out of one he must go into another But the Quakers Christ is nothing else but an Allegory and so Fox shews in his following words For saith he we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone so that flesh and bone of Christ that was reserved in the Heavens which Fox doth not deny in the words before but in the latter words the Quakers flesh and bones are become Christs flesh and bone so that Christ hath no flesh and bone of his own but what flesh and bone Christ hath of the Quakers But I shall speak of this more in another page but the Reader may a little see Fox his Allegorical Juggle 8. Page 6. Fox calls me a lying spirit because I cursed some Quakers for the sin against the Holy Ghost and saith Christ said Bless and curse not who is the Chief Judge CHAP. X. ANSWER I Do acknowledge that Christ is Chief Judge both of quick and dead but Christ hath chosen me to be chief Judge in his stead here upon earth in spiritual matters and I had my Authority from Christ the onely God without me and not from Christ within me and by this Authority from Christ without me who is now in Heaven above the stars in that same flesh and bone he suffered death in onely that flesh and bone is spiritualized and glorified have I power over you Quakers
Cain is his father this I know for a certain truth And to stop the mouth of that Objection which Quakers and all others do make in that Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived and bare Cain and said I have gotten a man from the Lord To this I say she was with childe by the Angel before but after Adam and she were put forth of the Garden that was from the presence of God then it is said Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and she said he had received a man from the Lord and yet that Cain was none of Adams begetting for we never read in Scripture that ever Adam begot Cain neither is Adam called Cains father but she was with childe by that Serpent Angel before Adam knew her but he was but a cloak to cover her sin as many adulterous women have been with childe by other men that were not their husbands yet their husbands have been a cloak to cover their shame and the childe hath been counted her husbands which was nothing so This many can experience if they would and that many of the Quakers too when they were Ranters if not since so that Cain was none of Adams begetting though he knew his wife Eve But some may say Why did not Moses tell us these things To that I say it was not made known to him nor to no other till now but to the Witnesses of the Spirit onely The condition of Eve was much like the condition of Mary the Virgin she was espoused to Joseph before she was with childe by the Holy Ghost but Joseph never knew her before nor after she was with childe by the Holy Ghost till that Childe Jesus was born therefore Jesus is called Emanuel that is God with us that is God was born of a Virgin Also Mary is said to conceive with childe by the Holy Ghost yet if Joseph had known Mary his espoused wife in the interim of her Conception by the Holy Ghost it is like that Mary would have said that she had received her Childe Jesus from Joseph her husband for she could not tell which got it if such a thing should have been but it was otherwise ordered with her than it was with Eve for Adam knew Eve as soon as the Angel had entered into her womb and then Adam knew his wife after they were put forth from the presence of God so that Eva did not know which she was with childe by the Serpent Angel or her husband Adam so that she might well say she had received a man from the Lord but if Eve had not enticed her husband to know her that was eating of the forbidden fruit she would have brought forth according to the time of life that very same devil Cain flesh blood and bone as she did if Adam had never known her in that time even as the Virgin Mary did the blessed Jesus the God and Savior of the Seed of Adam with flesh blood and bone So that the Reader may see clearly that Adam was not Cains father neither did he beget him for Cain was the devil became flesh and this is the Right devil and you Fox the Quaker are one of his sons begotten by him But to make it more clear that Adam was not Cains father He could not be Cains father and Christs father also Now we finde by the Scriptures that Christ doth own Adam to be his father and the Scriptures doth own Cain to be the Right Devil and the father of all other devils as I have shewed before and that Adam is called the Father of Christ read Luke the third to the last verse in the Genealogy Which was the son of Enos which was the son of Seth which was the son of Adam which was the son of God So that God was Adams Father as he was God and Adam was Christs Father as he was Man therefore calls himself The Son of Man What do you Quakers think the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil was and that Serpent that beguiled Eve Do you look upon it to be some Apple-tree and the Serpent to be an ugly Snake and so this Snake crept up the Tree and got an Apple in his mouth and the Woman took the Apple out of the Snakes mouth and so ate of it and gave her husband to eat and so brought themselves into this misery and all mankinde Do you teach your Hearers this What is it you teach that your Hearers are so ignorant of the knowledge of the true God and the right Devil and of the Scriptures This is the Faith that other religious men do believe concerning the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil and of the Serpent but you Quakers carries it in an Allegory so that nothing can be made of it neither one way nor other But all Professors of the Scriptures do own that the Tree of Life was Christ and I suppose you Quakers do so too If you grant that the Tree of Life was Christ then this Tree of Life could speak Now if the Tree of Life did speak why should not the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil speak also If Christ the Tree of Life because he gave life to every thing in Creation so why pray not the Angel be called A Tree of Knowledge of good and evil or a Serpent which brought death and misery upon the whole Creation And we read that the Serpent spake wise words who said to the woman They should become as Gods knowing good and evil did ever any Snake we call Serpents speak such a language Surely no. I marvel people are so unwilling to believe that the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil should be an Angel and yet speak such God-like wisdom and hath brought such woful misery upon all the earth and very many men and women do eat of the same forbidden fruit now as Adam and Eve did then And as the Tree was pleasant to the eye and good to make one wise is it not so now with lustful men and women doth not their fancy to one another seem pleasant to the eye and acting together hath been pleasant to the taste this makes many to know good and evil by woful experience for this sweetness of sin is but for a season for I have known many in my days that have eaten of the forbidden fruit men and women both that have wasted their estates which was good and comfortable to them but now the want is evil to them they have spoiled their bodies with excess of lust they have made their good healthful bodies rotten with the Pox so that their good healthful bodies are become evil and loathsom to their friends and that which is worst of all the eating of this forbidden fruit they have lost the peace of Conscience which was very good and in stead thereof they have had an evil Conscience as King Saul Cain and Judas had alwayes tormenting of them with fear horror and the torments
and that light of Christ within you also and look what Judgement I have given upon you Quakers and others it will surely come to pass upon you neither can you nor your Christ within you deliver you from it And as for that saying of Christ who said to his disciples Bless and curse not this will not deliver you Quakers at all from what I have said But for the Readers satisfaction I shall open those words of Christ more plain hereafter 9. Page 7. Fox is very angry with me because I say that Cain was not begotten of Adam but was begotten by the Reprobate Angel but I have sufficiently opened and proved this thing by the Scripture before so I shall say no more of it here 10. Page 10. Fox after he hath railed at me because I say the Quakers Christ hath never a body and Fox knowing it to be true thought he should bring himself into a premunire if he should deny Christs body without him the Scriptures being so clear for it Fox doth confess Christ hath a body for saith he that which descended ascended And saith he the Quakers are of his body and as the Scriptures saith A body hast thou prepared CHAP. XI ANSWER HEre Fox shews himself a meer Juggler for he confesses Christ hath a body but never confesses that this body of Christ is at a distance from the Quakers neither doth Fox acknowledge that Christs body is in a distinct place by himself for saith he that which descended ascended And saith he the Quakers are of his body as the Scriptures saith A body hast thou prepared me Minde Fox doth not say that which descended was a body nor that which ascended neither for Fox his meaning is mystical and so he thinkes the Quakers are flesh of Christs flesh and bone of Christs bone of Christs mystical body as they conceive so Fox owns Christ to have a mystical body and so the Quakers comes as they say to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and so that body which was prepared for Christ the Quakers believe their flesh and bones is that body which the Spirit of Christ doth dwell in and that is that body the Scriptures saith is prepared So that the Quakers do deny that Christ hath a body of flesh and bone distinct of his own at a distance from them for if they should acknowledge as I said in The Quakers Neck broken that Christ hath the same flesh and bone that suffered still distinct of himself though glorified flesh and bone yet it is a distinct thing of it self even the person of a man and cannot nor is not within any man whatsoever I say if the Quakers should own this indeed their Principle of Christ within them would vanish like smoke For this flesh and bone of Christ his own person was that body prepared for the God-head life to dwell in as the Prophet speaks and that which the Apostle saith the fulness of the God-head dwelt bodily in Christ And this flesh and bone of Christ was that body prepared for the God-head to dwell in Now will any man be so sensless to think this body of Christ to be within a man for he that can get Christs body of flesh and bone into him he will get the fulness of the God-head also into him so that he that can do this will be a God and not a man so that I have told no lie but truth when I said the Quakers Christ hath never a body for which Fox is very angry with me and calls me Liar Yet let the Reader but minde Fox his words when he doth seem to own a body of Christ his words are so dubious and so dark that none but the Spirit of Truth could finde out the cheat of these Quakers what could any man that hath not the true knowledge of the true God and the right Devil and the knowledge of the Scriptures say to these things this Allegorical Cheat and Deceit it being so coucht under the words of the Scriptures For this is to be minded by the Reader that the Quakers never gives no Interpretation of Scriptures neither in writings nor speakings This Fox hath spoken of several places of Scripture to prove me a Liar but hath given the Interpretation of none Onely he hath named the words and rayled against me and so he hath left the Scriptures and the Apostles words and me together to dispute out the Quakers Principle of Christ within them And because Fox hath not opened those Scriptures he quotes to prove Christ within and that the Quakers are of Christs body I shall unfold those places of Scriptures which the Quakers ground upon Col. 1.27 It is thus written To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory This is one of the Quakers chief Scriptures to prove Christ within them So Rom. 8. 10. If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin So 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether you be in the faith approve your selves how that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates So Galatians 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me These are the chiefest places of Scripture the Quakers have to prove that Christ is in them Let the Reader minde the Interpretation as followeth and you may see that the Quakers are mistaken both in the thing it self and in the person and persons to whom these words were spoken First the person that spake these words it was Paul who had a Commission to preach Christ unto the Gentiles and this Commission to preach Christ was from Christ without him as I shewed before and the persons he directs these speeches or words unto they were to such men and women that did seem to receive Pauls doctrine and doubtless many of them did truely believe that Christ which suffered rise again and was ascended up to Heaven according to the preaching of Paul and the rest of the Apostles was the Christ the Savior of the world and that this Christ was without them in his person though by faith Christ may be said to dwell or be in a man Also Paul and these Believers he preached unto did believe the blood of Christ which was poured out unto death that the believing of this would purge their consciences from dead works to serve the living God for Paul expresseth as much in the same verse For saith he I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me So that it may be clear to those that have any true faith in them that Paul and the rest of the Believers had Christ in them no otherwise than by faith in the Death Resurrection and Ascension of that Christ without them
they might attain those Witchcraft-fits but could not attain them do what they could They got the Quakers language of Thee and Thou but could not attain the Fits neither would some of those Quakers own one of these persons because she had not such Fits as they had so she was forc'd to leave them And the cause why these persons aforesaid could have no such Fits it was because they had talked with me before they fell to the Quakers Principles so that no Witchcraft-Fit could be produced in them though their endeavors were great Also I have drove the Witchcraft-power out of Quakers that have been strongly possest so that they have never had Fit more And as for you Fox have you ever had any Witchcraft-fit since you were damned did you ever fall into a swoon and lye as one dumb and hath the spirit of Reason the devil which you call the Light of Christ in you I ask hath he revealed any mysteries of the Scriptures in the time of your Fit since you were damned fourteen years ago Is your revelation of Reason to be seen in writing yea or nay Again hath Samuel Hooton William Smith Edward Bourn Richard Farnsworth and many others that were damned of late years have they had any Witchcraft-fits since or any new revelation if they have let them be brought forth to the light Do you George Fox know any Quaker that I have passed the Sentence upon that can produce a Witchcraft-fit afterwards If no Fit can be produced as formerly then I say no true revelation nor experience can arise in the Quakeâ—s hearts Nay this Sentence it puts a stop to the revelation of Reason also else why should Quakers fall so as you do from your first Principle for you are not like the people you were sixteen years ago there were few Quakers then but they had Witchcraft-fits but now of late I do not hear of any Quaker that hath any Fits no not so much as to buzz or hum before the Fit comes But if you Fox doth know any of you Quakers that have any of those Witchcraft-fits as formerly bring them to me or let me hear of it and I shall cast out that devil which caused those Fits so that they shall never have more but shall be sensible and in their right mind So Fox you shall finde my words to be truth and no lie that the Quakers after the Sentence is past upon them shall never grow to have more experience in Visions and Revelations but shall wither Do not you Fox finde this to be true if you do not others will witness unto it to be truth But you say The truth spreads I know the truth spreads but not the Quakers Witchcraft-fits which produced Visions Apparitions and Revelations which the Quakers thought had been produced by the Spirit of Christ but they were produced by the spirit of Reason the Devil in themselves and these Fits Visions Apparitions and Revelations in the Quakers are greatly withered away of late by that Sentence I have passed upon the Speakers of the Quakers and others of that opinion so that those Fits of theirs makes most people ashamed to own them which formerly people thought them the most knowingst that was possest with a Witchcraft-fit so that it is plain and clear and many that were lovers of the Quakers way of Worship that can and will witness that their experience in Visions and Revelation are withered and come to nothing But Fox thinks because a many ignorant people comes to hear the Quakers speak their ninny-nonies over and over again therefore the Truth as he calls it spreads but when it was at the best it was but a lie that spreads indeed a lie will spread very fast but truth spreads very slowly for truth was ten years in the world and there was not much above forty persons that owned it but the Quakers at that time had many thousands that were Quakers as was exprest by those five damned Quakers in Eastcheap mentioned in that Book called The Quakers Neck broken 14. Page 14. Muggleton saith He could never finde any Quaker that would own God to be a person in form of a man which shews the Quakers darkness Here saith Fox Muggleton hath shewed his ignorance of the Scriptures for saith he the Scriptures saith That God is a Spirit And Christ saith that a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as I have And saith Fox God fills heaven and earth and herein saith he thou hast shewed thy ignorance and darkness CHAP. XVII ANSWER TO this I shall make it appear to the Reader that my words are truth and that Fox hath shewed his ignorance and darkness both of Gods filling Heaven and earth and that Fox nor the Quakers doth not believe that Christ hath flesh and bone of his own distinct of himself and that this flesh and bone of Christ is now in heaven above the stars Let the Reader minde the words of Christ His disciples supposed they had seen a Spirit these disciples were ignorant at that time as most people thinking that Spirits might walk without bodies or that Spirits might assume bodies and appear to men this ignorant opinion was in the disciples of Christ before they were endued with power from on high and this is the general opinion of all men but those that have a Commission from God for if God had never chosen Prophets and Apostles and Witnesses to enlighten the understanding of people all people in the world would have believed so therefore it was that Prophets caused Kings to put to death all Witches and Wizards that dealt with familiar spirits as Samuel did and King Saul out of Israel but all the Nations of the earth besides did practice Witchcraft and dealing with familiar spirits and did believe that spirits might and did walk without bodies and could assume what shapes they please The same opinion is now all the world over and in the Quakers also and the disciples of Christ at that time had a smatch of the Heathen opinion in them which made them through their ignorance to suppose they had seen a Spirit without a body to walk before them but Christ willing to convince them of that vain and lying opinion saith to his disciples Feel me and handle me for a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as I have as if he should say No Spirit can appear without a body for a Spirit without a body is a meer shadow presented to your fantasie through your ignorance as if Christ should say do not believe that Spirits can walk without bodies there is no such thing it is but a meer shadow you suppose to be a Spirit but come to me and feel me and handle me for a shadow as you take or think to be a Spirit hath not flesh and bone nor is of no substance as I am This was after Christ was risen from the dead and before the Apostles had received power from on high so that the Reader