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
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
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
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
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
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
and many hundreds of their believers besides are those tares which this Commission of the Spirit hath cut down by the edge of this Sword which shall be as bundles of tares fit for nothing else but for that eternal fire because they have dispised that their fellow creature should have power to bless and curse though God will have men and women justified and condemned no other way but by man like themselves for it was always Gods practice to give authority to men that are mortal to Judge and Condemn according to the tenor of their Commission whether it be for a temporal death or an eternal death and this power hath God given unto me and in this regard I am the onely and alone Judge what shall become of men and women after death neither shall those that are damned by me see any other God or Judge but me or that sentence which I have passed upon them but the blessed shall see that God face to face which hath set me as an Ambassador in his room and this power I know God will never take from me whatsoever you Quakers deny or testifie against 5 There is little in this particular also but my words repeated onely this there is something concerning Dorothy Carter whereas I neither say that Dorothy Carter nor no man upon the Earth can or ought to judge of the doctrine of a Prophet that hath a Commission from God there being none in the world at this day but my self Answer Who do you blind Quakers think should be the Judge of a Prophet that hath a Commission from God is not a true Prophet the Law giver and ought not every one to submit unto his Laws hath not a Prophet a prerogative power as a King hath doth not a true Prophet stand in the King of Heavens room as an Ambassador doth in the place of an earthly King and shall those that are to be subject to the Laws of the King go to try whether the Kings Laws be good or just nay those that are the Kings Friends ought not to try whether the Kings Laws or Declarations be just because his friends hapiness lieth in yeilding obedience unto it and if his Friends ought not to try the King much less his enemies so I say though Dorothy Carter be a Friend to the Prophet of the Lord that it lieth not in her power neither is it for her to try the Doctrine of a Prophet but to submit unto the Doctrine and power of a Prophet for therein lieth her and all others safety And whereas you say that I have excluded Dorothy Carter and all other men upon Earth from salvation I do here testifie that she is one of the blessed of the Lord with many others in the world at this day though I will not allow Dorothy Carter nor no other to have power to try a true Prophets Doctrine though they be believers of it that doth not exclude them from salvation but gives them the more assurance of it in that they suffer themselves to be try'd by a Prophet and his Doctrine therefore I do exclude Dâ—rothy Carter and all men upon Earth in point of tryal or Judgment of the Doctrine of a Prophet that hath a Commission from God as I have and if those of the same Truth with a Prophet may not try a Prophet how will you do that are enemies to try his Doctrine for it is not your quoting of the letters of the Scriptures as you have done in two places nor the light of Christ within you that can try me for I being one of the last Witnesses and Prophets by Commission from God I am made Judge of the Scriptures and Judge of the light of Christ within you and how will you do or by what will you try my doctrine and me seeing I am made Judge of the Scriptures and of your light of Christ and your light of nature and all that is within you and without you both it is all to be condemned by me by which way then can you come to try me and to make me appear to be a false prophet as you say is apparent enough The sixth and seventh things that you upbraid me with that I say there is no eternal life to be had but in the faith of this Doctrine And that I do presume under pretence of my Commission of the Spirit to rob Christ of his Office which the Father hath committed unto him as chief Judge ordained of God with many other sayings of mâ—ne which hath been exprest in a Letter of mine unto Samuel Hooton and W. S. Answer That there is no eternal life to be had now in these days but by faith in the Doctrine of this Commission of the Spirit that is truth and many there is that can witness the same I mean in those that have heard the sound of it and it will be found to be so by you Quakers and many hundreds of other Sects besides And as for my saying that God hath made me the chief Judge in the world at this day that is true also notwithstanding Christs having all Judgement put into his hands by the Father for that is nothing to you what is spoken of in Scripture that will do you no good for this Christ which the Scriptureâ— speaks of is God the Father and this God hath chosen and ordained me to be the chief Judge in spiritual and eternal things Also he hath made me Judge of the Scriptures as I said before neither have I taken the Office from Christ but he hath given it unto me and hath invested it upon me neither will he take it away from me and that you and such as you are shall finde to your eternal sorrow make as light of it as you will you shall not be delivered The latter part of your Letter hath little in it but repeating of Scripture-Texts and some passages or words of mine which you do invade against me there is one thing would make one smile and that is this because it is not written in the Scriptures of truth that I Lodowick Muggleton art ordained of God to be the chief Judge in the world in these last days will it follow therefore that I am not the chief Judge because my name is not recorded in Scriptures If you had lived in the days when Christ was upon earth you would hardly have found his name recorded in the Law and the Prophets nay it is the more probable that I am ordained the chief Judge because my name is not recorded in Scripture for if there had been such a name written in Scriptures that should be the last Prophet in the world many men would have named their sons Lodowick Muggleton and that is the cause there is so many Johns and Thomasses and Jeremiahs with many other Scripture Prophets and Apostles names but there is never a Lodowick Muggleton in all the Scriptures and yet God hath ordained him to be the Judge of Quakers and all other
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
judgement either to acquit or condemn by the Law So is it with me First God hath given me a Commission to be chief judge 2. He hath given me the Book of the Law 3. He hath given me to know the Law 4. According to the known law I do give sentence and judgement of blessing or cursing to eternity 1. That I have a Commission from God to be chief judge that I have proved before if it cannot be believed I cannot help that 2. That God hath given the Book of the Law which is the Scriptures into my hand is as certainly true also for the Scriptures are given into my hands as the Priests office was given unto the hands of Aaron yet every man that read the Scriptures doth think to finde eternal life in them as Christ said to the Jews and as you Quakers and others doth now a days but thinking will not serve turn for all most all the world hath no other assurance of eternal life but thinking but it is knowledge and faith in the true God that gives certain assurance of eternal life which I know no Quaker hath or can have in that estate and principle which they hold for they deny that flesh and bone of Christ which suffered death to be now living above the Stars in that Heaven but I have opened that more large in those Letters to the Quakers 3. God hath given me to know the Law that is to know the Book of the Scriptures and that he hath given me more knowledge in the Scriptures than all the men in the world at this day this I know to be truth and some others can witness it neither can any man interpret the Scriptures truly but my self and those that have it from me because no man doth know the true foundations which the Book of the Scriptures doth stand upon namely the true God and the right Devil 4. And according to the known Law of the Scriptures I do give Sentence and judgement of blessing and cursing to eternity Thus far I do proceed like unto the Judges of the Land but now as for Juries and witnesses and accusers the Judges of the Civil Law and I shall differ something but not much because Juries and Judges are so bound together by the Civil Laws of the Land that one in many cases can do nothing without the other so that many times there is a great deal of hurt done as well as good because the power lyeth in them both for many times when Judges would do right according to Law yet the Iury doth prevent him and so tyeth his hands likewise sometimes the Iury is willing to shew mercy and do right and the Judge will not having some prejudice against that party and doth over-power the Jury with his authority and knowledge in the Law so that Judgement is turned backward sometimes because the Law lyeth between two the Judge and the Jury which if it did lye always in one then there would be always either true Justice done or injustice alwayes done these things some can experience which have been accustomed to the Law 2. The Judges of the Civil Law can do nothing except there be Witnesses or Accusers face to face the cause of that is because the Laws of the Land are grounded upon Reason and the Judges of the Land are the interpreters of the Law of reason so that Reasons kingdom being in this visible world it must proceed in the way of reason by the Law of reason which is the Law of the Land for the Law of the Land can lay hold of nothing but what is a visible breach of the Law therefore the Judge must have a visible Witness or Accuser face to face else be can give no Judgement upon the matter yet there is some cases in Law that men are sued at the Law and condemned by the Law at a distance the party sued not being face to face nor knowes of it until that he be condemned this some can experience yet this I say the Judes of the Land doth go the best way in having Iuries and Witnesses that reason could find out and for my part I do approve of their way very well but whom God doth make judges they must go a neerer way to work for you may read that those judges which God did ordain in spiritual matters they did not call for Juries and Witnesses as the Judges of the Land do what Jury did Moses call for to plague the people of Israel for their Idolatry And what Jury did Elijah call for when he called for fire from Heaven to destroy those two Captains and their fifties What Jury did Elisha call for when he cursed those forty two children and caused them to be slain by two She-bears What Jury did Peter call for when he strake Annanias and Saphirah his wife dead with a word speaking with many more things which the Prophets and Apostles which were Judges of spiritual matters have done without any Juries or witnesses and yet they have gone by as certain a rule as the Iudges of the Land do when they give judgement according to Law so that I do know how to proceed in Iudgement according to the tenor of my Commission as the Prophets and Apostles did in theirs and as the Iudges of the Land do in their Commission of the Laws of the Land But to give little further satisfaction to the Reader I shall shew why I do condemn men and women at a distance and yet something agreeable to the way of the Law of the Land First those that are condemned by me at a distance there is some of this Faith that hath heard them speak wicked speeches against me and the doctrine declared by this Commission of the Spirit and have given me intelligence of it and so upon their witnessing the same I have sent the sentence unto them so that if the witness that informed me did not witness truth then that sentence which I have passed upon them shall be of no value which is better judgement in some kinde then the Judges of the Land doth give for if Witnesses be false and swear falsly the Judges of the Land do many times condemn the innocent meerly thorow false Witness therefore in that regard my judgement and sentence is more certain then the Judges of the Civil Law is in regard I never condemn the innocent thorow false witness for I seldom or never do send the sentence to any though their wicked speeches be witnessed unto me by one that is not in this faith though they may speak truth in that thing as well as others that are of the same faith with me 2. I never do pass sentence on any at a distance except I have some Writing from their own hands as I have had from you Quakers and your Hand-writing is as good a Jury and witness to me as the Iudges of the Land can have for what jury or witness can be required more then a mans own