quoted Abundance of Texts of Scriptures, which would be too tedious to cite,

L. M. Reply. Here you that have any true faving Light in you, you may judge whether this Man hath proved me a falfe 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 fealed of God for the Work of the Ministry; that is confeffed and owned by me, that the Prophets and Apoftles of old, they had a Commiffion from God to ordain other Men for the Work of the Miniftry; but what doth this prove that God hath not given a Commiffion to John Reeve, and Lodowick Muggleton, because the Prophets and Apostles were anointed and fealed, and had a Commiffion of God; neither will their Commiffion authorize any Quakers, nor no other Man, for the Work of the Miniftry; but when the Prophets and Apoftles were living, they had Power to authorize any Man which they did discern fit for it; but the Reading of their Com miffion now they are dead, will not impower a Man to be a Minister or Meffenger of Chrift; yet this is the Course that you Quakers, and most Men in the World, doth take to prove a live Man's Commiffion to be falfe, by a dead Man's Commiffion; but you will find it to the contrary in the End.

Again, Though the Apostles were anointed and fealed of God for that great Work, will it follow therefore that you Quakers, because you read their Writings, that you are anointed and fealed of God for the Work of the Miniftry? Surely no; neither will it follow, because they were true Witneffes of Christ, therefore I must needs be falfe; for this I fay, that my Commiffion is from the fame God as theirs was, and is as true as theirs was; neither have I my Commiffion from them, but from God himself, as they had; fo that it will prove a vain Conceit of you Quakers, and others, that are under the Sentence of this Commiffion of the Spirit, to tell me, that they were, that is, the Prophets and Apoftles, were anointed and fealed of God: What is that to you, what they were? Their being true Witneffes of Chrift, will never a Whit diminish or

weaken

weaken that Power and Authority which God hath given me, but confirm and ftrengthen it the more, in that I know, that they had the like Power in their Time, according to the Nature of their Commiffion, as I have: And now I certainly know, that they were true, and what their Power was, in that I know myself to be true, and what my Power is now; fo that I cannot be deceived, as you Quakers are, with other Mens Commiffions, that are dead, you not knowing the Extent of their Commiffions, nor when they began, nor when they did end; and your Ignorance of thofe Things makes you fight with the dead Letter, against a living Spirit, just as if a Man fhould fight with the Sheath against him that hath a two-edged Sword in his Hand, fo do you Quakers with me.

And as for my fleeing from Chesterfield to Backwel, for Fear of a few Stripes, or a Whipping, when the fame was but threatened against me, this is utterly false; for I did not know that any fuch Thing was threatened against me, neither was I ever at Backwel in my Life, to my Knowledge; neither did it lie in the Power of the Magiftrates in that Country to do any fuch Thing, in Cafe they had catch'd me, at that Time; I fay, it was more than their Law would bear them out to do; but however, if I had fled for Fear of the Devil's Malice, I did no more than other Prophets and Apoftles, which were Ambaffadors of Chrift before me, they did the fame; as Eliab fled from Jezebel, and Paul fled for Fear of Perfecution; and Chrift gave Advice to his Difciples, that when they were perfecuted in one City, to flee into another; fo that it would have been no new Thing, neither should I have been e'er the more a falfe Witnefs or Ambaffador of Chrift, if I had fled for Fear of a Whipping.

And whereas you fay, that I was threatened for my falfe Judgment and Doctrine, as you call it, faying it was reviling, curfing, and damning: As for my curfing and damting, I do own that I did pafs the Sentence of eternal Damnation upon fome Quakers and others; that was but according to the Tenor of my Commiffion from Chrift, and I am very well fatisfied in fo doing: But, as for my reviling of any Man or Woman, I never did, it was always contrary to my natural Temper, before I knew what a Commiflion was, to revile any Man or Woman, much lefs now: That I think the Pricft

I

Priest of Chesterfield will witnefs, that when I was catch'd, and brought before the Mayor thereof, and examined by the Prieft, I gave him, nor no other Man there, no reviling Speeches; but, as I am a Prophet, and a Witness of the Spirit, difcerning that the Prieft was of the Seed of the Serpent, and of a perfecuting Spirit, which would have took away my Life, if it had lain in his Power, or in the Power of the Laws of England, he would have done it, though I never had any Prejudice, nor no Speech with the Man, in my Life before, yet his Envy and Malice was fo great to me; for which I did pass the Sentence of eternal Damnation upon him; but no Ways reviling, but did give him civil Respect, as a Priest of the Nation, which I think he will witnefs, notwithstanding his Malice and Envy was great to me, which did him no Wrong, nor no Man else in that Town; yet he caused me to be sent unto Derby Gaol, where I did remain until the Affizes; fo that the Malice of Men hath been excercifed upon me, as much as lieth in their Power to do; and it is only upon this Account, they cannot endure that God fhould give Power to a Man like themselves, to blefs and curfe to Eternity.

Neither do I curfe any, until he judge me first, much less revile any: You may as well fay that a Judge, when he paffeth Sentence upon a Malefactor, to be hanged for the Breach of fuch a Law, that is capable of Death, you may as well fay, that this Judge doth revile, curfe, and condemn the Man that hath broke the Law, when as the Judge can do no otherwife, but according to the Tenor of his Commiffion, which he is authorised by Commiffion from the King; fo that every Judge is made a Saviour of Life and Death; for the one he condemns to die, according to the Law, and the other he doth acquit and fet free; and is this any less than a temporal Bleffing and Curfing, and no Reviling at all? Even fo it is with me, I being one of God's chofen Witneffes and Ambaffadors, by Virtue of his Commiffion given unto John Reeve and myself, I am made Judge of Men and Womens fpiritual and eternal Estate, what fhall become of them after Death; yet this I would have the Reader to understand, that though a Judge of the Land be Judge of many Countries and Shires, yet his Power is feen moft, in thofe that he doth acquit or

condemn ;

condemn; fo is it with me, my Power is moft feen in thofe that receive and believe me, and fo are bleffed to Eternity, and in those that defpife and perfecute me, in that they are curfed and damned to Eternity; for I never blefs none but those that truly believe it, neither do I curfe any, but those that despise or perfecute me, upon that Account; but all that doth neither. receive it nor defpife it, I let them alone, and meddle not with them, but leave them to stand or fall, as the two Seeds within them fhall uphold them, or let them fall. And as for your faying, that I have reviled, curfed, and damned the beloved People of God, meaning you Quakers: To that I fay, I never did curfe any of them till fuch Time as they did judge or defpife my Commiffion firft; for I never do judge first, so that I am certain, that moft Part of the Quakers are the Seed of the Serpent, and not the Beloved of God: So that those Quakers which I have curfed fhall not escape, they being the Seed of the Serpent, and have despised to be taught any other Way but by the Light within them. But I have opened that more clear, in thofe Letters to Samuel Hooton and W. S. and to Richard Farnefworth himself; therefore I fhall fay no more in that Point.

I fhall pass by thofe ten Particulars, repeated by R. F. to prove me not a chofen Witnefs of the Spirit, and fhall come to that which is of more Concernment for the Reader to know; that is, that God hath chofen me now in these last Days, to be an Ambaffador and Witness of the Spirit, and fo chief Judge in the World, concerning the fpiritual and eternal Estate of Men and Women after Death, and that I do go by as certain a Rule as the Judges of the Land do, when they give Judgement according to Law, as may be feen aforefaid, in the Letters to the Quakers.

Here R. F. would seem to prove me a Liar: Firft, because faith he, thou art both Judge, Accufer, and Witness thyself, and faith, that I do condemn and give Judgment at my Will and Pleasure contrary to Truth. And he further faith that I do not go in fo doing by fo certain a Rule as the Judges of the Land do. Secondly, he faith, That I go not by fo certain a Rule when I pass the Sentence of Death and Damnation upon the Souls and Bodies of Men, as the Judges of the Land doth; I 2 for

for which Purpofe he doth quote Judge Cook upon the Confirmation of the Charters of the Liberties of England, who fayeth this Clause is worthy to be written in Letters of Gold. Now what that Claufe is, would be too tedious to write: But the Sum of all is, that the Judges of the Land have certain outward known Laws, as a Rule of Direction, to guide and lead them to Judgment, when they give it according to Law: But, faith he, thou Lodowick, haft no certain outward known Laws, either of God or the Land, as Rule of Direction, and so forth. Likewife he quoted many Places of Scriptures, and some out of the civil Law, fome out of Edw, the third, and Cook's Inst. and with the Proverbs of Solomon: He had paid me with Solomon's Words, and fo bids me take Notice of that which I do take great Notice: For I fee by that, that the Proverbs of Solomon is as good Scripture to the Quakers as any, and how well the Quakers knows the Scriptures, I am never a Whit deceived in them People, for they seem to have the greateft Light, but are the darkest People of all in the Knowledge of the Scriptures, and in the Interpretation of Scriptures; according to the common Senfe, the Priefts of the Nation doth go far beyond them, for the Quakers are fo choaked up with hearkening to the Light of Chrift within them, that they de fpife the Body or Perfon of Chrift without them, but I have difcovered their Antichrift Spirit more large in other Letters unto them, fo that I fhall fay the lefs here.

L. M. Reply. The great Thing to be known is, how I will do to prove myself to be the chief Judge in fpiritual Matters, and that I do go by as certain a Rule as the Judges of the Land do, when as they give Judgment according to Law, feeing he hath brought fo many Places of Scripture, and the Proverbs of Solomon, and Acts of Edw. 3. and Judge Cook's Judgment of the Law, all to prove me a falfe Judge, and that I do not go in my Sentence by any known Law, either of God nor the Land; fo that if this be answered, moft Part of his Pamphlet will be answered; for it doth confift moft Part of it upon this Thing; therefore I fhall give Answer to it, that others may be the better informed in themselves, though I am fatisfied in it as to myself, yet this I do ingenuously confefs, that I never did pretend the Knowledge of the Civil Laws of the Land,

neither