1 phets gave Witness, in teftifying on the Behalf of Chrift, their Teftimony ftands as an Evidence againft, as you fay, my pretended Commiflion, and the Doctrine thereof. L. M. Reply. Let any Man, that knows what belongs to a tempor 1 Commiffion, judge whether thefe Places of Scripture which you have named, doth prove me a falfe Witness, and my Commiffion to be a pretended Thing, or no; for I do own and believe that the Prophets under the Law were true Witneffes of Chrift; that is, they did witnefs and teftify unto the People of the Jews, that Chrift, the Saviour of Mankind, was to come, and to be born of a Virgin; this I do faithfully believe. Alfo I do own and believe that the Prophets and Apoftles were true Witneffes and Ambaffadors of Chrift, and that the Apoftles were chofne Wtinffes of Chrift, to teftify and witnefs, that Chrift, the Saviour, was now born in their Time, when they did thus witnefs, as the Scriptures doth abundantly relate. Alfo I do own and believe, that Chrift is ordained to be the Judge of the Quick and the Dead. Alfo I do own and believe, that the Scriptures were fpoken as holy Men were infpired, and fo they may be called, and are owned by me to be, the Word or Words of God. Yet this I fay, by the Way, that no Man upon the Earth at this Day, doth know the Scriptures truly, nor can interpret them truly, but us the Witneffes of the Spirit; because all Men in these Days are ignorant of the Form and Nature of the true God, and the right Devil, as I have fhewed in thofe Letters to Samuel Hooton, and W. S. and to Edward Bourne, and to yourself. Thofe Letters do open it more at large. Again, Do you blind Quakers think that the Repeating of Scripture-Texts, which were other Mens Commiffions and Words, that it will prove me a falfe Witnefs, and my Commiffion to be a pretended Thing? Then I fay thofe Jews, which were under the Law of Mofes, might as truly have faid as you do by me, that the Apoftles Commiffion was but a pretended Thing, and their Witnefs, which they bore to Chrift, was a falfe Witnefs, and fo they did; therefore they perfecu H 2 ted ted them for it, as you would do me if it lay in your Power, as it did in theirs. 4. R. F. By their Commiffion they were to preach to the People, and the fame Commiffion, and the Doctrine thereof, they were to teftify to them, that Chrift was ordained of God to be the Judge both of Quick and Dead; but thou art not Chrift, to whom all the Prophets gave Witnefs, therefore it is evident that thou art not chief Judge, ordained of God, though thou prefume to say, that after Death they shall never fee any other God or Judge; but the Remembrance of that Sentence, which you, the pretended Witneffes of the Spirit, did pass upon them in this Life, because thou falfely faith, no Man knows the Scriptures but thyself, and that no Man can truly interpret the Scriptures but thyfelf, and that no Man ought to officiate the Office of a Minifter, Meffenger, or Ambassador of Chrift, but fuch as are appointed by John Reeve, and thyfelf. Which Affertions or Doctrines of thine are false, and not true: For this I fay, that the only Knowledge and Right of interpreting Scriptures belongs not to thyfelf, but to the Lord Jefus, and his bleffed Spirit, who is the true Judge, and hath Power to open Mens Understanding, and give them the true Knowledge and right Understanding of Scriptures, Luke xxiv. 32. LODOWICK MUGGLETON's Reply. The Reader may fee the grofs Darkness of the Quakers. Here he proves my Commiffion, as he doth think, to be false, and a pretended Thing, from the Letter of the Scripture, as if the Prophets and Apoftles Commiffion being repeated over fo many hundred Years fince, would make my Commiffion falfe, and to be but a pretended Thing; when as I do declare that I do not take up my Commiffion from the Letter of the Scriptures, as other Men do; for that is a pretended Commiffion, which doth counterfeit and pretend to do the fame Things as they did which had their Commiffions figned and fealed by the Voice of God himself; as Mofes and Paul, the Prophets Prophets and Apoftles, thefe I do own that they had a Commiffion from God, but what is this to any Quaker, or any other Man? Doth this prove, that the Reading of other Mens Commiffions will make a Man a Minifter, Meffenger or Ambaffador of Chrift? Surely no; neither will the Reading of the Scriptures prove my Commiffion to be falfe and a pretended Thing, as you fay it is; for I faid in those Letters to the Quakers, that my Commiffion is as true as the Prophets and Apostles Commiffions were, and of a more higher Nature then theirs were; this I own to be true; for my Commiffion was given by Voice of Words from God as theirs were, therefore it is, that I certainly know that God did give a Commiffion to Mofes and the Prophets, and unto his Apoftles. Alfo, as Mofes and Aaron were the two firft that God did chufe and gave a Commiffion unto, to act forth the Law, which did fignify the Water; fo likewife God hath chofen John Reeve, and Lodowick Muggleton, to be his two laft Witneffes, and Prophets of the Spirit; fo that the Repeating of the true Prophets and Apoftles Commiffions over again now, will never prove me a falfe Witnefs, nor my Commiffion to be a pretended Thing; for the Jews, which were under the Law of Mofes, might, and did as well fay, as you do by me, that the Apoftles Commiffion was falfe, and a pretended Thing, by their Repeating of the Law, and the Prophets : But the Repeating of other Mens Commiffions will not make void that which is given by Voice of Words from God, for that will stand for ever; and that you and many more shall know, to your eternal Pain and Shame, let your Pretences be what they will. Alfo I do own that the Prophets and Apoftles of Chrift did witness and teftify, that Chrift was ordained of God to be the Judge both of the Quick and the Dead. I alfo do own and believe the fame Thing myself; but what doth this prove therefore that I have no Commiffion from God, to be the chief Judge of Quakers and other defpifing Spirits? That doth no ways weaken my Power, but rather confirm and make it the more ftronger; for I do believe Jefus Chrift to be the only God, both God and Man Man in one Perfon, by whom the World was made, and from this Chrift God-Man, am I made Judge, and not from the Letter of the Scriptures, which were other Mens Commiffions; fo that I am no Minifter of the Letter, but a Minifter of the Spirit, and fo the chief Judge, ordained of Chrift by Voice of Words, as Mofes, Elijah, Paul, and Peter, other Prophets and Apoftles were; fo that tho' Christ be chief Judge of the Quick and the Dead, in that he hath Power to raise Mankind again at the laft Day, and fo give Foffeffion of eternal Happinefs to the Seed of Faith, and Poffeffion of endlefs Mifery unto the Seed of Reason, and in this regard Chrift is chief Judge both of the Quick and the Dead, yet this doth no ways prove me a falfe Judge, but rather the contrary; for all Prophets and Apostles which were ordained of God were Judges, and fome more chief then others, as Mofes 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 Commiffions; fo likewife the Apoftles were all Judges, yet Peter was more chief Judge then all the reft; fo is it now, John Reeve, and myfelf, being the last chofen Witneffes of the Spirit, we are Judges, but while John Reeve was living he was chief Judge; but he being fallen asleep I am chief Judge, much like unto Elijah and Elisha; yet in all this there is no dif-throning of Chrift, nor diminishing of his Honour and Power, of being the Judge of the Quick and the Dead. And as for my faying, that no Man knows the Scriptures, nor can interpret the Scriptures truly but myself, that is a ftanding Truth; neither fhall any Man or Woman, that I have paffed the Sentence upon, be delivered from it; and as for the Interpretation of the Scriptures belonging unto the Lord, as you fay, and not unto myfelf; to this I fay, God doth not come down from Heaven upon this Earth to interpret the Scriptures unto Men, but this was always God's Practice, to commiffionate particular Men, and furnish them with Gifts for that Purpofe; and what Interpretations of Scriptures they give, it is owned of God as if he had done it himfelf; therefore the People of the Jews would have Mofes to fpeak unto them, he being a Man like themfelves, they could better better hear him than God, becaufe God's Voice was fo terrible, that Mortals could not bear it; vet Mojes's Words are owned to be the Words of God, as if God had spoke them himfelf, and fo all Prophets and Apoftles could fay: Thus faith the Word of the Lord; fo that what Declaration or interpretation a Meffenger of God doth give, it may be fund it is from God, and fo ought to be received by Man; fo 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 fent of God, he may be faid to be taught of God; fo that the true and right Interpretation of the Scriptures, it lieth in those Men that God hath chofen, anointed, and fealed for that Purpose, and Men cannot come to the Knowledge of God, nor the true Meaning of the Scriptures, no other Way; fo that I knowing thefe Things to be true, that the Interpretation of Scriptures belong unto commissionated Men, and not unto Chrift himself, as the Quakers doth vainly imagine. 5. R. F. Doth fay, that the chofen Witneffes of Christ, who had a Commiflion from his bleffed Spirit, they were anointed and fealed of God. 6. Saith he, for the Ambaffadors, who had a Commiffion to preach, and were anointed, and fealed of God. 7. He faith, the Ambaffadors of Chrift, who were anointed, and fealed of God, and had the Miniftration of Reconciliation given unto them. 8. The Ambaffadors of Chrift, who were anointed, and fealed of God, and had the glorious Miniftration of the Spirit given unto them. 9. He faith, the Ambaffadors of Chrift, and chofen Witneffes of the Spirit, who were anointed, and fealed of God, they were Workers together with God. 10. He faith, the true Witneffes of the Spirit, and Ambasfadors of Chrift, by the Father of Mercies, and God of all Comfort, they were comforted themfelves in all their Tribulations, that they might be able to comfort them that were in any Trouble, by the Comfort wherewith they themfelves were comforted of God; for which Purpofe he hath quoted |