they would but our other writings doth speak more large of this point so I shall say no more as to this Onely this that this power we the Witnesses of the Spirit have is the power of Christ as the Prophets and Apostles power was in their time therefore said to be done by Christ himself But I know Fox the Quaker is willing to believe that dead Prophets and Apostles were Messengers of Christ but he doth not believe there is any sent of Christ not alive but what is within them but he shall find that we the Witnesses of the Spirit were sent of God and have as great power given us as any Prophet or Apostle whatsoever And as for that saying of John Revelation 5. That no man in Heaven nor in Earth nor under the Earth was able to open the Book but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah This I would have the Reader to minde for it is a vain thing to talk to Quakers of interpretation of Scripture by man that is alive but John that spake these words being dead the Quakers believe his words though they know nothing what he meant nor what that Book was that none could open but Christ This let the Reader minde that there is three Books that are to be opened by Christ as you may see Rev. 20.20 And the Books were opened and another book was opened which is the Book of Life Now to give the Reader to understand these three Books the first Book is the Law written in mans heart this Book are all the Heathen are to be judged by when it is opened at the great day of the Lord. The second Book is the Conscience of people who hath heard the preaching of Faith in Christ yet did not believe when this Book is opened they shall be judged at that great day in themselves for their unbelief The third Book is the Book of Life wherein all true believers Faith is written and according to their works of faith they are judged and so according to the works of unbelief are judged and according to the works of reason their thoughts accusing shall the Heathen be judged according to what is written In these Books shall all people be judged both small and great Mind and look what judgement Gods Messengers hath given unto men in this life the same will Christ give when he doth raise them again at the last day as I have said before therefore this Book which no man in Heaven nor in Earth could open it was the Book of Life and none was found worthy to open the Book of Life but Christ he being the Lion of the Tribe of Judah This Book of Life must needs belong to Christ to open and to no man else for he is God the first and the last the beginning and the end of all mankind but what is this to interpret Scripture Christ hath given that to man but I have opened these things more large in the Interpretation of the whole Book of the Revelation In the last place I shall say something as to the Quakers principle practice Fox saith in the end of his Pamphlet against me that I am judged with the Spirit of Truth and over me saith Fox is the true and Faithful witness Christ Jesus the Corner-stone which will grind me to powder Further Fox saith in Christ is his people meaning the Quakers that reign over my head that can raise and reign over the head of the curser and Fox saith Edward Bourn whom thou hast curst and damned who is far above thee and thy Father in him that redeems out of the curse and destroys thee and thy Father both I do acknowledge that Christ Jesus the Faithful Witness the Corner-stone should grinde me to powder if he doth not own me to be sent of him if I do curse any without a commission from him or if I should curse any of the true Christs people then let that curse be upon my own head as Fox saith Also I was always willing that those people that were ingrafted into Christ by Faith should be above me for there is no people in Christ but such as are ingrafted into him by faith which I am sure no Quaker is as in that state neither can any man be a member of Christ but by the hearing of Faith and faith comes by hearing how can any preach the word of faith except he be sent as I am sure no Quaker never was sent of Christ to preach therefore no Quakers people in Christ But that Christ the Quakers people are in I that am a man hath power over some I have separated their Christ from them one from the other and hath shewed them the true Christ to their great satisfaction and they have bin glad they were rid of the Quakers Christ Others again hath bin condemned by me both them and their Christ neither would I let them and their Christ part one from another but torment each other for this Christ the Quakers hath in them is the Law written in their hearts and the Christ the Quaker people are in is the motions of this Law and sometimes they do well then the Law is quiet in them and their Christ giveth peace to them so I knowing this Christ was born with man and man born with it as the Apostle saith being under the Law then free from grace But being born again we are not under the Law but under Grace but the Quakers people are under the Law though not the outward letter as the people of the Jews were yet they are under the Law written in their hearts as the Heathen were before any Law was given and this is the Quakers Christ within them and that Christ they are in so that Christ the only God hath chosen me and hath given me power over the Quakers Christ within them and themselves also to keep them together so that the one shall not part from the other for though they shall desire that this Christ within them might part from them but it will not but torment their souls to eternity This will be Fox the Quakers portion and many more Quakers besides and if you Edward Bourn and others of the Quakers whom I have cursed do get over or above that curse and sentence I have passed upon you let your righteousness be what it will I say then Cain shall get above and over that curse God himself pronounced upon him and so shall Judas get above that curse Christ pronounced upon him Furthermore if you Quakers were not wilfully ignorant and blinde you might see that this commission of the Spirit given to John Reeve and Muggleton hath had great power over the Ranters and Quakers it hath broken the Ranters principle all to pieces so that none dares hold up an argument to defend it you Quakers also are very much shattered you are not like the people ye were 16 years ago this some that had a love for you have seen confest The Ranters
and so Christ dwells in true Believers hearts by faith according to that saying Eph. 3.20 that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith And so when men have true faith in Christs Death Resurrection and Ascension without them they may be said to have Christ in them the hope of glory for the faith of Christ or faith in Christ without them gives hope to the minde that they shall behold that glory Christ without them is in and so by faith a man comes to know that he is no reprobate For a man that hath true faith in Christ without him may be said to know that Christ is in him and that he is no reprobate And this is that great Mystery Christ in you the hope of glory for it is a great Mystery to understand God manifest in flesh and to become very man in one single person even the Man Christ Jesus and he to die rise again and ascend from whence he came this is a great Mystery indeed and few can comprehend it but Faith doth see it and understand it and where ever it is truly believed that man may be said to have Christ in him the hope of glory and to know that he is no reprobate because the Seed of Faith which is Christs Seed is in him and that Seed acts it self forth to lay hold of that person of Christ without him and so gives assurance of everlasting life in a man and so Christ may be said to be in a man For the Seed is counted sometimes for the thing it self so that if a man doth not really know in himself that he hath the Seed of Christ in him and that is known by actual believing him that is sent that man is a reprobate to himself and hath not the hope of glory in him and so Christ is not in his heart by faith This is the true Interpretation of those Scriptures and of the Apostles minde CHAP. XII 2. I Shall open the Quakers Cheat concerning their bodies being flesh of Christs flesh and bone of his bone and those Scriptures interpreted they ground that Conceit upon First Rom. 12. and 5. Paul saith So we being many are one body in Christ So 1 Cor. 12.12 For as the body is one and hath many members of that one body so also is Christ So Eph. 5.30 For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bone So Col. 1.21 And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minde by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death These be the chief places of Scriptures the Quakers do prove themselves to be flesh of Christs flesh and bone of his bone and for want of explaining these words making no distinction they cheat many ignorant people of the peace of their minds and of the knowledge of the true body of Christ without them Let the Reader but minde the words of Paul before and they may easily see that Pauls minde was quite contrary to the Quakers for the Apostle speaks of Believers being Christs body and members of Christs body no otherwise than he did of Christs being within the Saints as I said before that is by the union the Saints have with Christ by faith in the true Preachers of the Gospel they come to be members of Christs body and so called the body of Christ the Head as you may see Rom. 12.5 and 1 Cor. 12.12 and Eph. 5.30 and Col. 1.21 These places all prove that the Saints being true Believers are counted the members and body of Christ in respect of that union they have with Christ by faith in his Death Resurrection and Ascension knowing that Christs body lives for ever and that his blood hath redeemed their souls from eternal death and knowing he is ascended to possess a personal glory and to prepare Mansions of personal glory for his Saints and those that are truely united to him by faith may be said by Paul to be members of Christs body and to be Christs body but this body is but by the union of faith in Christ and by the way of comparison for this body hath never a head but the whole Body and Person of Christ without the Saints is the Head of this Body so that if Christ had never a body of his own but the Saints bodies as the Quakers do vainly imagine he would be but a sad Christ And because you may see that the Apostle did mean no otherwise than I have said For saith he in Rom. 12.4 5. as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so saith he we being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another So that all true Believers though some be Prophets Apostles or any other gifts of the Spirit that any man hath it is given for the good of others who are members of the same faith with him and so all that are partakers of the same faith with him if they be ever so many they all make up but one body of Christ even as all the members of a mans body makes up but one body But all this while these members that makes up one body what will this body signifie without a head Now those natural members that makes up a natural body what will this body signifie if it hath never a head So it is with true Believers if there were never a Head of this Body of Faith without men even Christ Jesus where then should the motions and acts of Faith in a man repair to have union and communion with their Head Christ Jesus Must they go into themselves to finde Christ their Head there Surely no but the motions and acts of Faith that doth arise from thâ— Seed of Faith which is the Seed of Christ in every true Believer whereby he comes to have union with Christ their Head and so he is made a member of Christ and so all the Believers that have been from the beginning and shall truly believe to the latter end of the world they make up but one body of Christ and this body is called Christs Body but by vertue of union of Faith and not by Christs being essentially in men as the Quakers do vainly imagine The Apostle sufficiently clears this thing in those places afore-mentioned so that I need speak no more of it here But I shall give the Reader to understand the difference between that body that is called a body by union and that body that is so in it self As for example A woman is said to be flesh of her husbands flesh and bone of his bone as Adam said concerning Eve his wife So Eph. 5.31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joyned to his wife and they two shall be one flesh Here the Reader may see that a man and his wife are made one flesh by vertue of union and institution now they are not really one flesh but
they are made one flesh by union and institution as aforesaid for when a man lieth with a harlot he makes himself a member of a harlot by that union and so the harlot is made one flesh with this man Now this man is none of her flesh nor she his not really so for some men do abhor it should be so yet by union with a harlot many times men come to be flesh of her flesh and so are become diseased with her disease even with the Pox so that these are become double flesh of one anothers flesh by that union they had with each other these things I have known by Ranters and others Now minde the distinction a childe that a man begets of his wife is more flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone than his wife is why because the childe is indeed flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone because children came out of the mans loyns as the twelve Patriarchs came forth of Jacobs loyns now these were really flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone naturally so and not by union as a man and his wife that were two are by union made one flesh So likewise the Scriptures speaks of two sorts of bodies as that in 1 Cor. 15.44 there is a natural body and a spiritual body a celestial body and a terrestrial body now these bodies cannot go one into another but mortal bodies may be made spiritual bodies and spiritual bodies may be made mortal bodies by the power of the Creator as it were by the Serpent Angel he was a spiritual body when he deceived Eve but when he was made mortal he was called Cursed Cain So the Lord from heaven was a spiritual body before he over-shadowed the Virgin Mary but afterwards this spirit al body was a pure mortal body and that mortal body was caned A Blessed Jesus This is the great Mystery to the world and this Jesus is that God that prepared a pure mortal body for himself that he might be capable to be put to death in this body to redeem the lost Seed of Adam And this is that body I say is not in the Quakers neither are the Quakers of Christs body by union nor flesh of his flesh nor bone of his bone not by union and those Believers were the Apostle writ unto for the Apostle was chosen of Christ without him and had a Commission to preach Christ to others and those that did believe his Commission were one in faith with him and so they by faith might know that Christ was in them except they were reprobates that is except they were unbelieving for if they had faith in the true Christ which he had taught them then Christ did dwell in their hearts by faith and they should know by faith in themselves that they were not reprobates and by the union they should have with Christ by faith they should become members of Christ yea they should be counted flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone This is the true meaning of the Scriptures But the Speakers of the Quakers have no Commission from Christ to preach as the Apostles had neither have the Believers of the Quakers any true faith in Christs person or body without them and so the Speakers and Hearers are both in the state of reprobation neither doth Christ dwell in their hearts by faith for true faith they have none but the faith of devils And that which they call the Light of Christ in them is nothing else but the Light of the Law written in their hearts for true faith in Christs person they have none so they call the Light of the Law in them the Light of Christ because the Law convinces them of sin Now this Law written in the Quakers hearts is the light of Christs Creation and this light of the Law that Christ hath written in the heart of man it is written in the heart of every devil and so in the heart of the Speakers of the Quakers and they teach their disciples to harken to the light within them and saith Christ is in them but this is no saving light neither is Christ within them neither are the Quakers members of Christs body nor bone of his bone nor flesh of his flesh for they have no faith in his person without them so that Fox his Cheat and Deceit is made manifest by the Scriptures being interpreted 11. Page 11. Fox is very angry with me for saying Reason is the Devil and yet saith he thou givest a reason for what thou doest and because I give a reason of my doings therefore saith he I am judged out of my own mouth to be the Devil Reason CHAP. XIII ANSWER HEre Fox the Quaker hath shewed himself an ignorant devil that cannot give a reason of the hope that is in him but for fear he should be counted a devil takes up other mens words and the Scriptures must give a reason for Fox how that he is no reprobate because the Scriptures saith to Believers in that time Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates And be ready to render a reason of the hope within you But Fox himself hath no knowledge but that he is a reprobate but I perfectly know that Fox is a reprobate and I can give a reason why he should and will be damned to eternity though Fox can give no reason for it What would Fox have done if he had not had other mens words to prove Christ within and to give a reason of the hope they had in Christ for Fox hath no interest in the Scriptures But I shall open this point something more hereafter where he speaketh of Reason in the 19th page of his Pamphlet 12. Page 11. And Muggleton saith he rejoyceth in his Cursings and them that he doth Curse and Sentence shall never see any other God or Judge But saith Fox how now Muggleton art thou become God and Judge Must not all appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ to have their sentence and reward from him whether they have done good or evil CHAP. XIV ANSWER DO you Fox and the Speakers of the Quakers indeed believe that you shall appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ to receive the reward of deeds done in your bodies whether good or evil If you do I shall say this unto you that when you do appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ John Reeve and my self shall be there also and look what Sentence and Judgement we have given upon you and others here upon earth the same Sentence will Christ give when you appear before his Judgement-seat and look what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit you have committed in this natural body you now have you shall have the punishment of that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost that sent us punished in that spiritual dark body you shall have when Christ doth raise you again and then you shall know that you did appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ
Scripture nor man Here the Reader may plainly see that the Quakers Christ within them is no other but the Law written in their hearts as the Heathen had as aforesaid their thoughts accusing and excusing this is that Christ within them they so much talk of and this is that power and spirit and divine light of Christ the Quakers could have spoken in had they never seen letter of Scripture nor man this is the same the Heathen had in them and this I say had the Quakers never seen letter of Scripture nor man that professed the letter of the Scripture I say the Quakers would have talked nor spoke no more of a Christ within them then cursed Cain and his posterity did or the old world that was drowned or Sodom These wicked people never saw no letter of Scripture nor man that had faith not as they knew yet they had the same Christ within them as the Quakers have by the Law written in their hearts and might have spoken in the power and spirit of the divine light of Christ as the Quakers do had they seen the letter of the Scripture and men that believes them as the Quakers do So that it may be cleer to those that have the true light of Faith and of the interpretation of the letter of the Scripture that the Quakers principle of the light of Christ within them is no other but the light of the Law written in their hearts as the Heathen had before any Scriptures were written and by this Law are they judged in themselves and this is their Christ within them and this is that power and spirit and divine light of Christ they could have spoken in had they never seen letter of Scripture nor man that professeth Scripture and that they do speak now they have seen letter of Scripture and men that profess it and believe it I say is the very same for the Quakers have no more faith in the true Christ then if they had never seen letter of Scripture nor any man that believes them what they have is meer traditional even the faith of devils for the Law written in their hearts is the onely and alone Christ the Quakers have to save them and this Christ is indeed within them and will never go out of them but torment them to eternity 4. Fox gives glory to his God and Christ within him who hath as he saith set him and other Quakers above that curse and sentence I have passed upon them CHAP. XXXII ANSWER YOur glory to your God and Christ within you will fail you in the day of trouble neither will nor can deliver you from that curse and sentence I have passed upon you and others of your brethren neither will you ever be set above it but shall be kept under it to eternity flatter your self as much as you can you shall not be delivered neither by your Christ within you nor by the true Christ without you this I know 5. Fox blames me for saying God hath made me Judge of the Quakers spiritual estate and yet saith he thou ownest thy self but a mortal man For saith Fox the spiritual man judgeth all things CHAP. XXXIII ANSWER Did you Fox ever see any man condemned to die either natural death or eternal death by a spiritual man without a body are not all men condemned both natural and spiritual by mortal men like themselves Was not Moses a mortal man did not he condemn and judge many to die he said but the word and it was done and did not Eliah call for fire from Heaven and destroy two Captains and their fifties with many other strange things he did whereby many were judged by him and killed yet he was but a mortal man and subject to infirmity as mortal men are as the Scripture saith Again was not Peter a mortal men and was put to death himself yet he judged Ananias and Saphirah his wife to death yet a mortal man so is it with every true Prophet and Messenger of Christ he hath power to set life and death before men and power to judge and condemne those that rebel against his commission and to justifie those that yield obedience unto it yet all Gods Messengers they were mortal men now these mortal men had great power being commissionated of God and they all acted according to the tenor of their commission and some of them destroyed life presently And I am sure if you Fox had lived in Moses time you would have been consumed by him in the gainsaying of Corah for you would have rebelled against Moses Aaron as you do now against John Reeve and me but because my Commission is not to consume you immediately by a natural destruction you proudly vaunt your self against the Commission of the Spirit thinking you and your Christ within you shall be able to encounter with me and my Christ without me but I must judge according to my Commission of the Spirit and not as Moses and the Apostles did to destroy the natural life immediately but our commission is with relation to the spiritual estate of men and women after death and accordingly we judge yet but mortal men and must die our selves this power hath God given unto me and by vertue of this am I made Judge of the Quakers spiritual and eternal estate what will become of many of you after death And as for that saying The spiritual man judgeth all things this is to be minded that every true Messenger and Minister of Christ may be called a spiritual man and he is so because he teacheth such doctrine that doth comfort the spirits of some and torment the spirits of others in that it divides between the joynts and the marrow Also those that truly believe may be called spiritual men and can judge the spirits of unbelievers because they know by faith in the doctrine of the true God that others that have not the same faith cannot have that peace as they have for they know by experience in themselves when they were unbelievers they were without God in the world and so were not able to judge who were happy and who were not but being justified by faith in the true God they have peace with God and so can discern and judge the spirits of others by what they were themselves who were some time in darkness but now in the light of heaven and who ever hath this true faith in the doctrine of the true God may be said to be a spiritual man and able to judge all things that is naught in himself and all the unbelief and despisings of others And so he judgeth all things by his faith in the true God and in the Messenger God hath sent yet Minister and People are but mortal men and must die yet called by the Seed of Faith the spiritual man that judgeth all things and is judged of no man Therefore you Fox shall never have any spiritual man to judge you to eternal damnation but
have passed upon many of the Quakers people As first Fox saith He believes that my Sentence will return back upon my self as in pag. 6. 2. Fox saith That those I have cursed are clear over my spirit as in pag. 12. 3. Fox saith Had the Quakers nevar seen letter of Scripture or any man yet saith he the Quakers could have spoken in the power and spirit and in the divine light of Christ had he never seen letter of Scripture nor man as in pag. 18. 4. Fox gives glory to his God and Christ within him who hath as he saith set him and other Quakers above that Curse and Sentence I have passed upon them as in pag. 20. 5. Fox blames me for saying God hath made me Judge of the Quakers spiritual estate and yet saith he thou owns thy self to be but a mortal man Oh how Fox despiseth that a mortal man should be the Quakers Judge of their immortal souls as they imagine for saith Fox the spiritual man judgeth all things as in pag. 21. 6. Fox blames me for saying that the spirit of reason in man is the devil and Fox seems to justifie the Magistrates that persecuted me because I say they were reasonable men And Fox further blames me for fleeing from the devils malice yet he judgeth that if those Magistrates devils had inflicted more corporal punishment upon me than Imprisonment it had been but reason the devil still for saith Fox thou canst no say it was unreasonableness in them according to thy own saying as in Page 23. 7. Fox calls me a laying spirit because I say it doth not belong to Christ now being in Heaven to interpret Scripture For saith Fox doth not the Scripture say all shall be taught of God and that he opens and no man shuts and doth not John say no man was found worthy to open the Book but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and was not Christ anointed to preach as in page 24. CHAP. XXIX ANSWER FIrst as for that sentence that I have passed upon the Quakers people and others it is irrevocable and will be as sure upon you as if God had said it with his own mouth for as I said in that book we are as true Ambassadors of Christ as Moses the Prophets and Apostles were and if they were sent of God we are sent of God and if there were any power in their Sentence and Judgement to those people in their time so sure will the Sentence and Judgement of us the Witnesses of the Spirit be upon you and as many of the Quakers people as hath or shall fall under it Neither shall that curse I have passed upon you despising Quakers return upon my self no more then the curse of Moses which open'd the ground to swallow up wicked rebellous men alive for desiring the Priests office So wil it be with you Fox the Quaker in that you have rebell'd against the Messengers of Christ and strove for to be a Minister of Christ when as he never chose nor sent you yet you will proudly contend with those that God hath chosen anointed and seal'd to declare the highest mysteries that ever was declared by man yet you look upon your self to be better able to preach the Gospel then we you who knoweth not the true God nor what the devil is nor that your soul must die nor any one true principle of Faith yet you are taken by the people to be a man of knowledge and so you encourage your self to be a Minister of Christ and yet knows not what the true Christ is nor where he is and do you think that Hell shall not open its mouth and swallow you up alive Yea I say it will and you shall not escape for I know and see it will be so and you shall find my words to be true to your eternal pain and shame as Corah Dathan and Abiram did by Moses 2. Fox saith those I have cursed are clear over my spirit CHAP. XXX ANSWER IT is a marvellous thing that damned men should be over his spirit that hath a commission from God to condemn despisers of the Holy Ghost it is as if a prisoner that is condemned by the Judge for his breach of the Law should have that curse he pronounced upon the man over his own head By Fox his conceit the man is in a better case then the Judge for the man may as truely say that the sentence and curse the Judge hath passed upon him is clear over the Judges spirit as if the condemned man were in a better condition then the Judge yet the one goeth to be hanged according to the Judges sentence and the Judge goeth to his Palace So is it with you George Fox and many other of you Quakers you must go to the damnation of eternal death according to my sentence and I shall enter into everlasting life that condemned you so that you shall never clear your selves from that curse I have passed upon you but it shall be over your spirits and upon your spirits to eternity 3. Fox saith had the Quakers never seen letter of Scriptures or any man yet saith he the Quakers could have spoken in the power and spirit and in the Divine light of Christ CHAP. XXXI ANSWER HEre Fox sheweth plainly that the Quakers light of Christ within them is nothing else but the Law written in their hearts their thoughts accusing and excusing as the Heathen have the Apostle speaks of and no divine faith of Christ at all Mind the Scripture saith by faith we know the world was made and by faith Abraham offered up his son Isaac and faith is the evidence of things not seen and the Apostles preached the word of faith and this I say no heavenly spiritual or divine light can be truely understood but by faith And this I say further that the letter of the Scriptures were spoken by the word of Faith and by faithful men for there is no writings under Heaven that are the ground of Faith nor doth give satisfaction to the mind of man as to his eternal salvation as the letter of the Scripture doth if understood and believed by man how could man have known the creation of the world and how God appeared to Noah before and after the Flood or whether there were any Flood or no but by faith Or how can any man know that God appeared to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and gave them to prophesie so many hundred years before of God becomeing flesh and that he should save men from sin by his death even as many as should believe in his name with great and mighty things that hath been done by the power of faith which the letter of the Scriptures doth relate which no man could comprehend nor know but those that have faith in the letter of the Scriptures yet Fox the Quaker he could have spoken in the power and spirit of the Divine light of Christ though the Quakers had never seen letter of
your souls to eternity and none shall deliver you from it Thus much in answer to George Fox his printed Pamphlet By Lodwick Muggleton Here followeth the Copy of a LETTER sent to SARAH COPPIN Quaker Sarah Coppin YOu may remember about fourteen years ago in the year 1653. that you did seem to receive John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton as Messengers and Prophets of the Lord or as Witnesses of the Spirit and further you did shew much kindness unto us upon that account for there could be no other inducement in us at that time to invite any to shew kindness unto us but that doctrine declared by us concerning the true God as our writings did declare which you did seem to own Also you may remember your great zeal you had for us when we were prisoners in Old-Bridewel your zeal carried you out so far for us to deliver a Writing of ours unto Oliver Cromwel who was then chosen Lord Protector this you did your self in zeal and love to this Commssiion of the Spirit as we the Witnesses of the Spirit thought and I suppose your self did think what you did in that kinde it was in sincerity of heart also and we took it so and had a love for you as to your eternal happiness but your faith was not truely grounded neither upon the doctrine of the true God nor the Commission of the Spirit as it is manifest since Also you may remember one Joan Bishop a maid that was the occasion of bringing you acquainted with us and that you had been very religiously given before you met with us even so much that you were almost distracted about your salvation in that none of the Preachers of the Nation could shew you the way to rest for your soul they having no true rest themselves yet you may remember your receiving us upon that account as Prophets of the Lord who had put down John Taney John Robins and many others that went as prophets and prophetesses and pretended great revelations and visions from the Lord and yet knew not what God is these all have been brought down by us the Witnesses of the Spirit these things you know in part Also your acquaintance with us it cured you of that distracted condition you were in before you knew us and you were clothed in your right minde and was able to give a sensible Answer to any that did oppose you but I know you cannot do so now you are turned to the Quakers though you are become a Speaker amongst them I know your pride and ambition of your heart that loveth to be esteemed of people what a Woman-preacher you think this to be a great glory to you but the greatest shame that possible may be will be the effects of it for it is not your many sensless speeches without form or order produced by a witchcraft spirit within you which you call the light of Christ I say this you have gloried in will be your endless shame for your latter end will be worse than your beginning for you are become an absolute Apostate who hath back-slided and fallen from the truth and turned to the Quakers the most Antichristian Principle of all the seven Churches and the greatest fighters against a personal God without man of any so that you are an absolute Apostate and impossible to be renewed by repentance for you are fallen from truth to a lie for you are as some were in the Apostles time as Heb. 3 6. who were enlightened and had tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the life to come that is they were enlightened by the Commission of the Gospel committed to them to preach they tasted that good word of God even the doctrine of Christ which was life and salvation to them that truly believed But seeming believers tasted of this good word of God which the Apostles preached and rejoyced in it for a season as Herod did and as for the powers of the life to come they had peace in their minds and hope of eternal life by the Apostles doctrine so long as they stood by faith but when they fell away from that faith they once profest they could not be renewed again by repentance so that all that light and word of God they tasted of and peace and hope which is the powers of the life to come it all withered and dyed within them so that they were not sensible of the light of heaven nor any goodness of Gods word they preacht nor any peace or hope they ever found by owning the Apostles doctrine so it is with you as it was with those apostates that did fall away from the Apostles Commission after they had made a profession to own and believe it and had received many refreshments in their mindes and had tasted of the Joys of Heaven but in that they did fall from it to some other opinion as to the worship of the Law as the Galatians did who were bewitched as Paul saith so that their latter end was worse than their beginning For before a man joyn with truth though he doth not believe it for the present yet it is possible he may be renewed in his minde and come afterwards to believe and be saved but if any shall profess truth and rejoyce in it for a season and afterwards fall away it is impossible for such an one to be renewed by repentance as aforesaid And this is your condition for you rejoyced in this Commission of the Spirit for a season and did many good acts for us which did manifest that you had a love for this Declaration of John Reeve and my self and yet afterwards to fall away from the belief of it and not onely so but to speak evil of us the Witnesses of the Spirit In that you said you knew John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton very well and that we were the greatest Deceivers that ever was and that as soon as ever you met with Truth meaning the Quakers then you forsook us these with such like words and more than I mention here did you say which is clear to me that you are not onely fallen from grace but you have trampled the blood of the Covenant under foot and counted it an unholy thing even that whereby you should have been sanctified by faith had you held out to the end you should have been saved by this Commission of the Spirit for there is no salvation under heaven to be found in these days but in the belief of this Commission of the Spirit given of God to John Reeve and my self for our Commission is as true as the Apostles Commission was at that time and we as true Prophets as they were Apostles so that whoever shall make a profession of this and fall away afterwards and speak evil of that they once owned I say they trample the blood of the Covenant under foot now as they did in the Apostles time and do count that an unholy thing that should have given