A Brief and True ACCOUNT OF THE Notorious Principles and Wicked Practices OF THAT Grand Impostor Lodowick Muggleton, Who has the Impudence to Style himself one of the Two last Commissionated Witnesses and Prophets OF THE Most High God Christ Jesus.  
Collected out of his own Write, And made Public to undeceive those many poor Souls who are drawn aside by his Damnable Heresy.  
And is to take his Trial at the Sessions-House in the Old-bayly.  
Licenced and Entered according to Order.  
London, Printed for B●H● 1676   

A Brief and True Account of the notorious Principles, and wicked Practices of that Grand Impostor Lodowick Muggleton, etc.  
TO Trace this impious Impostor from his Original, who ever takes pains but to go into Cloak Lane, will there be informed by the Generality of the Inhabitants, that this Lodowick Muggleton was at first no other than a factious Journiman- Tailor, whose Extravagances being too large for the compitent allowance of about 10 s. p. week, began in the year 1651. to consult with one John Reeve (a brother both in Trade and necessity) how they might betake them to some more profitable employment, whose larded Incomes might more kindly indulge their Lukury; to this end they made some small inspection and progress into all sorts of Heresies (as he has since confessed to J. C. and others) but finding those Chairs already taken up, they resolved to be beholding to no body, but to contract such a competent measure of impudence and impiety, as should enable them to stifle all the oppositions of Religion, or Conscience, and set up for themselves. And that which gave them no small encouragement hereunto was the wonderful success and almost infinite Riches, two precedent impostors John Roubins and Joh. Tawny, had lately gained by the same damnable practice. The prosperity of these two rendered the private conditions of Reeve and Muggleton more unsufferable; so that the former being the more impudent, and having with some curiosity perused the Revelations of St. John, and found to his extreem sorrow that the Holy Ghost had never so much as dreamt of him throughout the whole Book, he resolves by the help of a feigned Enthusiasm or pretended Revelation, to force in the minds of Listening Ignorants, whose Gaping curiosity lay always open for the reception of any Novelty, a certain belief of a strange inspiration, and Commission then delivered unto him, whereby (forsooth) he not only pretends a Sovereignty over Mankind but assumes, a power to pass (upon the least contradiction of his wicked principles) a sentence of everlasting Condemnation, even upon the blessed Angels themselves: as is affirmed he hath authority to do, in a book of Muggletons, called the Quakers Neck broke, pag. 20.  
To exact this necessary Credulity from his Gazing admirers, he calls one Evening of Muggleton to go with him to the Tavern, from whence after they had Gorged their Guts with an excess of Wine, and Victuals, they resolved forthwith to go Chew the Cud both of their discourse and Viands upon their Pillows, whereon Reeve had not long laid his shallow skull, but whether caused by fumes a rising from an undigested Supper, or the important pressures of his designed greatness, I know not, but up he gets, runs to Muggleton, tells him as Muggleton does us in his nonsensical interpretation of the 11. chap. of the Revelation, pag. 158. That God spoke in the night unto him, and told him that he had given him more understanding in the Scriptures than all other men in the World. That he had put the two edged sword in his mouth, and in the next words following, and I have Chosen thee Lodowick Muggleton to be thy mouth: That I have given you power both to bless and curse, and whosoever either of you shall bless or curse it shall be in the power of no Spirit nor Angel, No nor as Mugleton says in page 40 in the Almighty's himself to revoke from eternal Damnation.  
This fallacy being blown about by some of their graceless Adherents, the greedy Vulgarity mistake it for a Verity, and to show their obedience, as well as Credulity, relinquish their former principles as eronious, to list themselves under the destructive Banners of of his forgeries and impostures.  
The promising superficies of this black design at first seemed to recompense the pains of these spiritual Engineers with a favourable progression, but Heaven who could no longer forbear to punish their impieties, sufficiently testified its displeasure in Beckoning Reeve, to give an account in the other World of those Damnable principles, wherewith he had tainted the minds, if not Ruined the Souls of divers in this; which one would have thought might have put a stop at least to the proceed of this Lodowick Muggleton, who now double Gilded with Brass, pretended also to have had left him by Reeve a double portion both of spirit, power, and commission; enlarging his Authority even beyond the prerogative of any deceased Saint, Prophet, or Apostle, as will by a Letter he sent R. Fransworth, and the said Book of his, entitled the Quakers Neck-broken, most obviously appear. In the Letter page 43. he writes thus; speaking of the power he pretends God has given him to bless, curse, etc. Neither (says he) will God give this power to any after me, neither can any man come to the assurance of the favour of God now in these days but in believing that God gave this power to John Reeve and myself. For there is no coming to know God or see God, but by the faith in this commission of the spirit, for I having the Keys of Heaven and Hell, none can get into Heaven unless the witness of this spirit doth open the Gate. Again in his Quakers Neck-broken, page. 20. He say. Neither doth any man know the Scriptures, neither can any man interpret them truly but myself, and in the same page he goes on. God hath put the two edged sword into my mouth, that whosoever I pronounce cursed, is cursed to Eternity. For I do not only say let him be accursed, but I have power to curse men or Angels to Eternity. And in Page 28. Speaking of his spiritual knowledge, how he has resolved all sorts of questions in Divinity, these are his words.  
Nay, some have gone so far as to ask who made God, and I have given answer to that also. Again in his letter to S.H. and W.S. who in a former letter condemned him for Cursing, to which Muggleton answers, page 17. As for my mouth being full of cursing, that is my commission. Again page. 18. Full of his Cursing I confess my mouth is, and I do rejoice in it too, I know that God is well pleased in the damnation of those I have cursed, and I am wondrous well satisfied in giving Judgement upon them according to the Tenelt of my condition. In fine Reader, I am a weary, and it makes my hair stand an end to Rake thus in the Naucious Dunghill of his horrid Blasphemies, his whole Volume is nothing but a promiscuous composition of Heresy, Delusion, irreligion and Blasphemy: Himself a person who for this 20 years and upwards has shaken hands with Morality, Discretion, and Piety, who for that inconsiderable Pelf, Honour and respect, he daily receives from the hands of his poor deluded, and without sudden conversion, I fear miserable Disciples, willingly surrenders his interest in Heaven; and as if he had too advantageous an exchange, throws the wretched Souls of his friends and acquaintance into the Bargain  
I would earnestly desire the Reader if he be not yet established in opinion, to endeavour to seek a settlement therein, first by his prayers to almighty God to that purpose, and after by the healing advice of some learned Divine, from whom he will certainly find more solid satisfaction than he can ever expect from these Quacks and Empirics in Divinity; who handle the soul, as others do their body, not so much for the patients good, as their own Interest. Who if they can make a seasonable approach to a Death bed, & there by a pretended commission wheedle the departing Disciple into a belief that they have received the Keys of Heaven; Can turn who they will into everlasting Joys, and hurry who they please into eternal Bliss; if by the charming Rhetorics of a Grey head, comely Visage, demure Countenance, and plausible tongue, he can but once persuade them to fall out with the World, and surrender these temporial blessings, in hopes of those spiritual ones (of which these sort of men make such large promises) there is none of them but will gladly part with, all their pretended Keys of Heaven, for one real one which unloks to a hundred a year upon Earth, or that would scruple to give a man a note of their hands for the securing his eternal bliss, provided the other would requite him with a considerabled Lease, to bestow among his sanctified children.  
Whether Muggleton and his Brethren have ever received any of these soul feeling blessings, I leave it to his and their consciences, and did I know it to be true I should scarcely put myself to the charges of a Tear to bemoan the cheat, for indeed, who can seriously pity those persons who having been Educated in the wholesome principles of the Church of England, when he shall see them like Bastards and not Sons, forsake those Teats whereout they often have, and still might, suck such nourishing milk; when he beholds them running after a nonsensical Impostor, fraughted up with nothing but interest and Imdudence; a kidnapper of Souls, who would sell them for less money to the Devil, than the other do Children to Barbados; a fellow who if a man can find any connextion in his writings, it runs directly Diameter to those of the Holy Scriptures, a wretch so arragant, that he dares to pretend a greater power than ever was delivered to any of the Prophets or Apostles, that denies both the real existence and absolute, and by all undoubted ubiquity of his Creator, pag. 34. pag. 23. That Nulls the Vallidity of several Texts of Scripture, and particularly denies Solomon to be endued with the Spirit of God, when he writ the Book of Proverbs. And in short is so ridiculous both in Divinity and Philosophy, as to define God to be a corporeal assence exactly in the shape of man, that his influence is confined within the narrow circuit of the upper Heavens only. And lastly which is enough to give any intelligible Reader a surfeit both of him and his Doctrine, he affirms his writings are in themselves more excellent, and aught to be by all men more respected and regarded than the Holy Scriptures.  
Now Reader after thou hast known all this of Muggleton, & yet wilt not be persuaded, but will adher to his Damnable principles, wert thou thereby cheated into any other loss than that of thy eternal Soul it would rather cause my derision than Pity: but since thereby thou art to forego thy everlasting prosperity, I cannot but behold thee with extreme compassion.  
FINIS.   

A modest Account of the wicked Life of that Grand Impostor, Lodowick Muggleton: Wherein are related all the remarkable Actions he did, and all the strange Accidents that have befallen him, ever since his first Coming to London, to this Twenty-fifth of January, 1676. Also a Particular of those Reasons, which first drew him to these damnable Principles: With several pleasant Stories concerning him, proving his Commission to be but counterfeit, and himself a Cheat, from divers Expressions which have fallen from his own Mouth. Licenced according to Order. Quarto, containing six Pages, printed at London for B. H. in 1676.  
LOdowick Muggleton was born of poor, though honest Parents, living at Chippenham, within fifteen Miles of Bristol: His Relations having but little Means, and a great Charge of Children to maintain, they were forced to send their Daughters to wait on their neighbouring Gentry, and to place their Sons to such Trades as cost little Binding them Apprentices; but, amongst all the rest of those of this worshipful Brood, they were blessed withal, they might have observed, even in his cunicular Days, in this Lodowick Muggleton, an obstinate, dissentious, and opposive Spirit; which made them desirous to settle him at some Distance from them, and also to bind him to such a Trade, and Master, as might curb him from that Freedom, which the Moroseness of his corpse Nature extorted from his too indulgent Parents: By which Means, as soon as he had made some small Inspection into his Accidence, without any other Accomplishment, besides a little Writing and Casting of Accounts, he was hurried up to London, and there bound Apprentice to one of the cross-legged Order, but of an indifferent Reputation in the Place where he lived, though by Trade a Tailor. We will pass over the Parenthesis of his Youth in Silence, therein being nothing but usual Waggeries, which generally recommend to our Expectation something remarkable, when the useful Extravagancies shall be seasoned with Age.  
When the Time of his Apprenticeship grew near its Expiration, so that he was admitted more Liberty, than formerly was granted him, he was observed to be a great Haunter of Conventicles; insomuch that there could not a dissenting Nonconformist diffuse his Sedition in any obscure Corner of the City, but this Lodowick Muggleton would have a Part of it; by which Means, continuing in the same idle Curiosity, and taking great Observation on that unknown Gain, many of that canting Tribe got by their deluded Auditors, he proposed to himself a certain and considerable Income to be got by the same Means, by which he had observed many of those great Pretenders gull both himself and others: For a rooked Conventicler, like a bankrupt Gamester, having, for some Time, been cullied out of his Money, learns the Trick, sets up Hector, and trades for himself.  
Thus did Lodowick Muggleton, by sliding out of one Religion into another, so dissatisfy his Judgement, and run himself from the solid Basis of his first Principles; first degenerating, from the orthodox Tenets of the Church of England, to Presbytery; from thence to Independency; thence to Anabaptism; thence to Quakerism; and, lastly, to no Religion at all.  
When Men have, thus, once fooled themselves out of Religion and a good Conscience, it is no Wonder, that their secular Interests draw them into all Sorts of Impiety and Profaneness, as it has done this Lodowick Muggleton; who, though, in himself, a poor, silly, despicable Creature, yet had the Confidence to think he had Parts enough to wheedle a Company of silly, credulous Proselytes out of their Souls and Estates: And, indeed, he has had such admirable Success in that wicked Enterprise, that, tho' we cannot absolutely conclude, that he has cheated them of the first; yet we can prove, if Occasion were, that he has defrauded them of the latter; as has been often told him, since the first Day of his Standing in the Pillory.  
It has been told already, how this impious Impostor lays Claim to a counterfeit Commission, whereby he has infected the Truths of many honest, ignorant People, with an extraordinary Power, that was delivered to him by as infamous a Blasphemer as himself, John Reeve; who, as he formerly rivalled Muggleton in Impiety, had he been yet living, should certainly have clubbed with him in his deserved Punishment.  
It is about twenty-one Years, since this impudent Creature began his Impostures; who, knowing himself as defective of Reason, as of Religion, made it one of the grand Maxims of his Policy, That his Proselytes should be fully persuaded, contrary to all Sense, or Probability. Reason was that great Beast, spoken of in the Revelation, and, consequently, not to be consulted withal, as to the Examining of any fundamental Point in Religion; whereby he secured both himself, and his shallow Disciples, from all those frequent Disputations and Arguing, which, otherwise, must necessarily have diverted them from adhering to his damnable, impious, and irrational Tenets; which I purposely omit, as being too unsufferably profane for the modest Ear of any sober, wellmeaning Christian.  
But we may judge a little of the Theoric by the Practic, I mean, of his Principles by his Practices, and of the Soundness of his Doctrine by those Duties he held himself, and his Followers, obliged to, in the Performance of it; which, indeed, were none at all; it being his usual Custom, when they met on the Sabbath-day, to entertain them with a Pig of their own Sow; I mean, with Wine, strong Drink, or Victuals; which either they sent in beforehand, or brought along with them; allowing them to be as licentious, as they pleased, in all Things that might gratify, or indulge their Senses.  
A Friend of mine was, one Sunday, walking in the Fields; and, meeting there an old Acquaintance of his, who was lately turned Muggletonian, with a young Baggage in his Hand, which, he did more than suspect, was light, he could not forbear Expressing his Admiration, to this Muggletonian himself, in these, or suchlike Terms: I cannot but wonder to see you, my old Neighbour, who have, for these many Years, busied yourself in the Study of Religion, and was, not long since, like to have gone mad, because you knew not which Opinion to stick to. I say, I cannot but wonder to see you Abroad, on the Sabbath-day, in this brisk Posture; you are altered both in Countenance, Apparel, and Manners, so that I almost doubt, whom I speak to. Ah, answered the Muggletonian, you know, Friend, how I have heretofore troubled myself about Religion indeed; insomuch that it had almost cost me my Life, but all in vain, till about six Weeks since; at which Time I met with Lodowick Muggleton, who has put me into the easiest Way to Heaven, that ever was invented; for he gives us Liberty, provided we do but believe in his Commission, freely to launch into all those Pleasures, which others, less knowing, call Vices; and, after all, will assure us of eternal Salvation. Behold, Reader, what a sweet Religion here is like to be.  
But, as Muggleton was liberal in the Freedom he gave his Adherents, so he was always careful to avoid the Prohibitions of the Law; he generally appointed his Bubbles to meet in the Fields, where he also permitted them to humour their Sensualities with any Recreation, not excepting Uncleanness itself; for which Profaning the Sabbath he was, in Oliver Cromwell's Time, committed to Newgate, where he had like to have been so dealt withal then, that Tyburn had saved the Pillory this Trouble now: But that perfidious Usurper, conscious to himself, that Muggleton could not he a greater Impostor in the Church, than he was in the State, upon the Consideration of Fratres in malis, restored him to his Liberty.  
Howbeit, a little before Oliver's Death, Muggleton, by continual Flatteries, had got into his Books, and, amongst other Prophecies concerning him, had declared, that Oliver should perform more wonderful Actions, than any he had yet achieved, before he died. But, he happening to departed this Life, before he had done any Thing else that was remarkable, Muggleton was demanded, Why his Prophecy proved not true? He answered very wisely, and like himself, viz. That he was sure Oliver would have performed them, had he lived long enough.  
But, since his Gracious Majesty's Return, he has driven on a much more profitable theological Cheat, having assumed the Liberty not only of infusing what Doctrine he pleased into the Minds of his ignorant deluded Followers, but writ several profane Books, which, to his great Advantage, he dispersed among them; poisoning their Minds thereby with a Hodgepodge of rotten Tenets, whereby they are become uncapable of relishing the more sound, wholesome, and undoubted Principles of the Church of England.  
I shall conclude with one Story more concerning Muggleton, and so leave him to the Censure of the ingenuous Reader. A timish Gentleman, accoutered with Sword and Peruke, hearing the Noise this Man caused in the Town, had a great Desire to discourse with him, whom he found alone in his Study; and, taking Advantage of that Occasion, he urged Muggleton so far, that, knowing not what to say, h● falls to a solemn Cursing of the Gentleman who was so enraged thereat, that he drew hi● Sword, and swore he would run him through immediately, unless he recanted the Sentence o● Damnation, which he had presumptuously cas● upon him. Muggleton, perceiving, by the Gentleman's Looks, that he really intended what he threatened, did not only recant his Curse, but pitifully entreated him whom he had cursed before; by which we may understand the Invalidity both of him, and his Commission.  
Thus, whoever considers the Contents of Muggleton's whole Life, will find it, in toto, nothing but a continued Cheat of above twenty-one Years long; which, in the Catastrophe, he may behold worthily rewarded with the modest Punishment of a wooden Ruff, or Pillory; his grey Hairs gilded with Dirt and rotten Eggs; and, in fine, himself brought, by Reason of his own horrid and irreligious Actions, into the greatest Scorn and Contempt imaginable, by all the Lovers of Piety, Discretion, or good Manners.  

●●ft up your Hearts, rejoice in him,  
For Work of his own Hand;  
For I of happy Tidings mean,  
To let you understand.   

Which cheerful will be sure to all,  
Of faithful English Blood;  
Whose Hearts did never hate the Truth,  
Nor Gospel yet withstood.   

A Man there was, a quondam great  
Of Might, of Pomp, and Praise;  
Of English Blood, though English Love  
Were small in all his Ways.   

As did appear by Roomishe Acts,  
Proceeding from his Hight;  
Which proved him not an English Man,  
But sure a Roman right.   

For never faithful English Hart  
Was Foe to native Soil;  
Yet he in native Land did seek,  
Christ's faithful Flock to spoil.   

A●● also then he wrought much Woe,  
To England's chiefest Stays;  
By seeking of their Death and Loss,  
Which loved Christ's Testament.   

And more than so, of worthy Wights,  
Of whom bereft are we;  
Which left their Wealth, their Ease, and Life,  
That Christ might gained be.   

And yet not so, this * Cyrus' left  
Much human Blood to spill;  
And so cease his devouring Rage,  
And most blasphemous Wil   

But more and more he sought Outrage,  
(As all his Mates were bend)  
By Lies and Tales, and Popish Toys,  
God's Gospel to prevent.   

As one in Place by Satan sent,  
God's Instrument of Ire;  
To daunt the Pride of England then,  
(Which did it much require.)   

And so no doubt this † Bonner did,  
He spared no Degree;  
Ne Wise, ne Grave, ne , ne Poor,  
Be pitied no Man he.