n r^=r 
 
 ' -n 
 O 
 
 <AME-UNIVERS/A 
 
 ^v * C? 
 
 c= 
 
 oo 
 
 3O 
 
 J

 
 
 AN 
 
 ANSWER 
 
 TO 
 
 ISAAC PENNINGTON, ESQ. 
 
 HIS BOOK ENTITULED, 
 
 'OBSERVATIONS ON SOME PASSAGES OF 
 LODOWICK MUGGLETON'S INTERPRE- 
 TATION OF THE llth CHAPTER OF 
 THE REVELATIONS.' 
 
 ALSO, SOME PASSAGES OF THAT BOOK OF HIS 
 ENTITULED, 
 
 'THE NECK OF THS QUAKERS BROKEN.' 
 
 AND IN HIS LETTER TO THOMAS TAYLOR. 
 
 Whereby it might appear what Spirit the said LODO- 
 WICK MUGGLETON is of, and from what God his 
 Commission is. As by what authority his Spirit is 
 moved to write against the people called Quakers. 
 
 Written to inform those that do not know the Antichristian spirit of false 
 Teachers, in these our days, 
 
 BY LODOWICK MUGGLETON. 
 
 WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1669. 
 
 ILontron: 
 
 PRINTED BY SUBSCRIPTION IN THE YEAR 1719 ; 
 And Re-printed in the Year 1831, by R. BROWN, 26, St. John-street, Clerkenwell.
 
 

 
 Annex 
 Cage 
 
 ~~"T 
 
 . 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 ISAAC PENNINGTON, ESQ, 
 
 IT way be you will blame me for giving you that 
 
 title, being a Quaker. It is the same you have given 
 
 yourself formerly when you printed books, and it was 
 
 always my nature to give every man his birth-right in 
 
 temporal things, but in spiritual things I am much like 
 
 unto Jacob, subject to steal away the blessing from my 
 
 brother Esau : so that I can now truly give honour to 
 
 whom honour belongs, and tribute to whom tribute doth 
 
 belong. Or thus, I have learned to girc God the things 
 
 that are God's, and Caesar the things that are his: so that 
 
 I know that title is your birth-right; for I knew your 
 
 father many years ago, when I was a zealous Puritan; 
 
 in those days your father was Lord Mayor of London: 
 
 I had no acquaintance with him, but by sight I knew 
 
 him; but as for yourself I do not remember I ever saw 
 
 you in my life; I do remember several letters of yours to 
 
 John Reeve, and of his unto you, some are yet to be seen; 
 
 and this I say your language was then very high, only it 
 
 was groundless and I suppose you had no faith in what 
 
 you writ yourself, if you had, sure you would not have 
 
 left that high language, and have fallen to the silly 
 
 Quakers principles, where there is neither head nor foot, 
 
 bottom, nor top. For if you Quakers did lay down what 
 
 principles, or points of doctrine is of absolute necessity 
 
 for people to believe, let them be few or many, then peo- 
 
 ple would know what the Quakers faith and doctine is; 
 
 there are a multitude of people that are Quakers t and 
 
 B2
 
 IV. 
 
 hare respect to them and hears them at their meetings, but 
 knoir no more why they should believe the Quakers, nor 
 what doctrine they ought to cleave unto, than a child of 
 eight years old. 
 
 You did express in a letter to John Reeve, these, or the 
 like words as follows: l Who knoweth 1 say you l the vast 
 Spirit of the Lord which , taketh all things into itself. 
 Certa inli/,' say you, 'heaven and hell were at union in 
 the root. Thence,' say you, ' they come, thither they shall 
 return again.' This was an high language, but it was 
 the depth ofsatan that is the depth of reason, the devits 
 imagination; it is as much as to say, that God and devil 
 were friends in the root, though there be some difference, 
 between them here in their fruit; one brings forth good 
 fruits, and the other br ing eth forth evil; but the vast 
 Spirit of the Lord taketh the evil spirit to itself again, r/.s 
 you imagined at that time from whence it came: 'for' 
 say you, ' thence they came, thither they shall return:' so 
 that by consequence, the spirit of reason, the devil, came 
 out of God and shall return into God again: This is the 
 foundation of the Quaker's faith; but it was not set to be 
 made public to all, but I perceive your mind is changed 
 to bring forth better fruit now than you did then ; yet the 
 root of your spirit I perceive is the same, and doth think 
 that your spirit of reason came out of God, and so it shall 
 return to God again. But I say, no; your spirit never 
 came out of God neither shall it return to God again, 
 no, nor see God to eternity, and as for your travels 
 towards the Holy Land in the days when you were 
 a Puritan, which you speak of in the latter end of 
 your book. I do approve of your experience in that 
 condition very well, for it is much like the experi- 
 ence which I had myself when I was a Puritan, so 
 cal/ed, in i/ e.r/jerience was great in that ivay, it would lie 
 too large a volume to tell what I suffered in wy mind, 
 whilst 1 n-as an hearer of the Puritan Ministers: yet I 
 was alien i/a kept from actual sin from my childhood to
 
 V. 
 
 this day; for if I had been guilty of actual sin, God 
 would never have chosen me to be his Messenger; but I 
 speak no more of that here. I see that your spirit hath 
 moved you in the behalf of the Quakers, to write against 
 the revelation of the Spirit of God; for you ought and 
 are bound to believe the revelation declared by us the wit- 
 nesses of the Spirit, as you are the Scriptures ; for we 
 have the same authority for our doctrine, as the prophets 
 and apostles had for that they writ ; and our commission 
 is from the same God, and there is as true and deep things 
 declared and revealed in that interpretation of the llth 
 Chap, of the Rev. you so despise, as in the Scripture, 
 and things of a more high nature, and giveth more satis- 
 faction to those who understand and believe them, than 
 the Scripture doth. There were several other books 
 written by us the witnesses of the Spirit, which you make 
 no mention of , as if you had never seen them: asjfrst, a 
 Transcendant Spiritual Treatise. Secondly, a Divine 
 Looking Glass. Thirdly, the Mortality of the Soul. 
 Fourthly, the Interpretation of the whole book of the 
 Revelations. Fifthly and lastly, a book called, a Look- 
 ing Glass for George Fox the Quaker. That would have 
 informed you of many of those things you spake of in 
 your book, and have shown you how Godmay be said to 
 Jill heaven and earth and to be infinite, and what the 
 nature ofinjiniteness is; but perhaps you have not seen 
 them yet; but you have undertook to pick at a few things 
 in those books you have read over, to write against those 
 things you have writ against, in the Neck of the Quakers 
 broken, which hath been writ against by the Quakers 
 over and over again, by Richard Farnsworth, and 
 George Fox. That Looking Glass to George Fox, is 
 an answer to more places in that book, than you mention. 
 Sure you Quakers do not know one another's mind, nor 
 what one another writes. I did expect to have had a 
 great volume from you Quakers, in answer to that Look- 
 ing Glass, but the Quakers were so many of them damned, 
 and some of them gone out of the body, that they could
 
 not find f>nt a win f/mt 7/v/s able, that was not under the 
 sentence but yourself. JSo that they have laid the burden 
 upon you it seems', Inn there is nothing in your book 
 which I expected, seehty you tuere not under the sentence 
 of this commission before. I shall give some answer to 
 it for the satisfying of others more than for myself; if 
 you had read the Looking Glass for George Fox, you 
 might have saved yourself a great deal of labour ; for 
 all those things and a great deal more did George Fox 
 write against in the Quaker's Neck Broken, and Tho- 
 mas Toylor's letter; you did but go over the same 
 things again which your brethren hath gone over al- 
 ready, and il".Migli 1 have answered sufficiently already 
 to those things you write against me, more than any 
 man in the world could do at this day ; yet because you 
 are one of the must eminent writers, thought to be of the 
 Quakers now alive, excepting George Fox, your father, 
 who is the head of you all. I will trouble myself so far 
 as to give answer to those things that are needful, to in- 
 form the reader more than I have written already, lest 
 it should be said by you Quakers that Isaac Penning- 
 ton writ such a book against Muggleton that is unan- 
 swerable ; therefore in as brief a manner as I can, I 
 shall say as follows. 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 i 
 . 
 
 ! 
 
 - 
 ' 
 
 
 f
 
 a $ 
 
 ;>'/, > i .--'t^* <-i M:>4ii<|l 
 
 AN 
 
 . 
 
 ANSWER 
 
 -Ofc 
 
 TO 
 
 //. , 
 
 ISAAC PENNINGTON, ESQ. 
 
 Muggleton's Words. THE law is not written in the 
 seed of faith's nature at all, but in the seed of reason's 
 nature only; and that the spirit of reason in man is the 
 devil. 
 
 Pennington's Observation. To this he saith, 'The 
 sum of the law is even to love God above all, and our 
 neighbour as ourself ; and this love which is the sum of 
 the law, God writeth in the hearts of his spiritual seed.' 
 
 Mug. Words. Is this a good answer to the above- 
 said? Let any sober man judge. 
 
 2. Mug. Words. That say ing of the devil was true, 
 when he said to Christ, 'All the kingdoms of the earth 
 are mine.' 
 
 Pen. Observ. He saith, ' The earth is the Lord's 
 and the fullness thereof;' and saith 'The devil hath no 
 right in it;' and saith, ' God himself is judge,' and quotes 
 'Psalms Ixxv. 7. Daniel iv. 2, 5.' 
 
 Mug. Words. Is this a sufficient answer, that the 
 kingdoms of this world is not in the devil's hands; for 
 God's kingdom is above the stars, and the devil's king- 
 dom is here upon earth ; though God created this king- 
 dom of the earth, yet he it gave into the hands of the 
 devil to be the governor of it. 
 
 3. Mug. saith, 'There never was no enmity between 
 the person of the serpent, and the person of the woman ; 
 but the enmity which lay between them was in the two 
 seeds. 
 
 Pen Observ. 'Is not' saith he, 'the enmity as ex-
 
 8 
 
 pressly placed by God, between the serpent and the 
 woman, as between their seeds ; I will put enmity be- 
 tween thee and the woman, and between thy seed and 
 her seed,' Gen. iii. 15. 
 
 Mug. Words. Is not here a poor answer? let all so- 
 ber people judge. 
 
 4. Mug. Words. In Page 21 he saith, 'that now 
 God himself is not capable to dissolve himself into seed 
 or nature as he was before. 
 
 Pen. Observation, saith he, * Is God changeable, is he 
 one tiling to-day and another thing to-morrow? and 
 can ho be any more than what he was yesterday? his 
 God may be so ; but,' saith he, 'the true God is not so. 
 I the Lord change not;' and saith, ' his nature, his seed, 
 his lii'e, his spirit, his power is the same for ever. 
 
 Mug. AVords. What a weak observation is this of a 
 wise man, cannot I prove by Scripture that God doth 
 change, and hath changed several times when his own 
 will moves him unto it; that is a true prerogative power 
 that can change when he will, and not change when he 
 will. 
 
 5. In page 21 Mug. saith, * that the two seeds they 
 were spiritual bodies, which were called by the revela- 
 tion ot Moses two trees. 
 
 Pen. Words. * O the depth of imagination from the 
 spirit that giveth imaginations to them, and will receive 
 them,' and saith, * he that is taught of God never learned 
 thus.' 
 
 Mug. Words. Here he begins to creep towards the 
 sin against the Holy Ghost, in that he judgeth the pur> 
 truth revealed by the spirit and revelation of faith, 
 which is God's own divine seed and nature, tube deep 
 imagination and deceit, as may be seen in page 41 of 
 his book. 
 
 6. Mug. saith, t Knowledge proceedeth from life and 
 hath wisdom in it.' itml 
 
 Pen. Observations. 'The li\ing knowledge doth; 
 but, 1 saith he, 'there is a knowledge which comes not
 
 9 
 
 from the true wisdom, nor doth convey life, but death;' 
 and saith ' such is the knowledge he hath from his God. 1 
 and saith, 'It poisons and corrupts the mind.' 
 
 Mug. Words. Here he hath crept a little further to- 
 wards the sin against the Holy Ghost. 
 
 T. In page 4 Pen. saith, 'That Mug. declares by re- 
 velation, that Moses acted his commission of the law in 
 the person of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, 
 in the form of a man. 
 
 But saith Pen. ' Doth not he call this tree the serpent?' 
 and saith, ' Had Moses his commisssion from the ser- 
 pent? Every one that is of God,' he saith, ' will say no.' 
 
 8. Mug. saith, ' It was the serpent tree that tempted 
 Adam. 
 
 But, saith Pen. 'The serpent tempted Eve to eat of 
 the fruit of the tree.' 
 
 9. Mug. saith, Moses acted as a God in the person of 
 the Angel, or Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. 
 
 But, Pen. saith, ' Moses was faithful in all his house, 
 and a servant,' and saith, ' Nor did he act in the person 
 of the serpent, for the serpent was the devil, and was 
 out of truth long before Moses's time,' and saith, <7 Who 
 can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, or an holy 
 commission out of the devil. 
 
 10. Mug. saith, 'The law of Moses is just and good, 
 and doth enlighten reason to do as he is done unto, and 
 not as he would be done unto. 
 
 Pen. saith, ' If Christ may be believed, he saith other- 
 wise ; for he saith, All things whatsoever ye would that 
 men should do to you, do you even so to them, for 
 this is the law and the prophets,' Mat. *l. 12. 
 
 Also in page 5. Pen. saith, ' That God gave man rea- 
 son in his creation, and made him reasonable. Also he 
 speaketh against the interpretation, Revelation 12. And 
 saith, 'That the law is not trodden under foot by the 
 commission of the spirit, or the righteousness of the law, 
 which signifies the moon should be trodden under foot 
 by the righteousness of faith and the gospel of Jesus 
 Christ, called the sun who had the moon under his feet.'
 
 10 
 
 11. In page 27 of the Revelations, Chap. 11. Pen. 
 abuses and belies the true meaning of the words, as if 
 I did affirm that none of the prophets were commission- 
 ated to write Scripture ; when as it is altogather to the 
 contrary, as my words following will clear the sense; 
 for in all my writings I have justified all the prophets to 
 be pen men of holy writ, in their time, more than any, 
 but reason the devil, will pick and quibble at words] 
 and take a place that will serve for his purpose, and 
 leave the rest in obscurity that will clear the matter. 
 This the Quakers do more than any other people what- 
 soever, because they are more Antichistian spirited than 
 any other. 
 
 12. Mug. saith, ' As for what I have written concern- 
 ing the infinite vast great Spirit that doth not know it- 
 self, it is a pure truth and plainly and clearly opened at 
 large already in that book of Revelations 11. 
 
 Pen. Words. * Here,' saith he, <is dark imagination 
 indeed; and saith, 'He that cannot read in the Spirit, 
 let him rend that place, Tsa xl. 12 according' to the 
 plainness of the letter, and see if God can be less than 
 infinite and incomprehensible. 
 
 Mug. Words. Here is another step to tin- sin against 
 the Holy Ghost; he creepeth towards damnation by de- 
 grees ; likewise the reader may see how Quakers can 
 read in spirits if there were no letters nor words; but 
 if any can read in spirits what they were before the 
 world was as you skilful Quakers can, then such may 
 read in the letter of the Scriptnre, as in Isa. xl. 12. 
 
 13. In page 8 Pen. rehearseth my words, where I say 
 death being the first-born of the law, it went forth as a 
 conqueror of all life both in God and man. 
 
 Observe what Pen. saith to this, * The law,' saith he, 
 ' is holy, just and good, and bringeth forth only that 
 which is holy. Sin,' saith he, 'is not of the law, but 
 against the law, and the wages of sin is death, yet/ 
 saith ho, ' neither sin nor death could conquer the* life 
 of God; for,' saith he, ' God's kingdom is an evelasting '
 
 11 
 
 kingdom, which sin, nor death, nor hell could ever con- 
 quer ; that life which Christ did give up, none took 
 from him as a conqueror, but he laid it down freely at 
 the requiring of the Father, knowing his glorious power 
 was able to restore and raise it up again. 
 
 Mug. Answer. Here Pen. hath shewed his gross 
 ignorance of the strength of the law, and of the con- 
 quering power of sin and death, and how that death did 
 conquer, and get victory over the life of Christ for 
 a moment ; and that life of Christ that was conquered 
 by death for three days and three nights, it was the 
 life of God, or the Godhead life, else Christ could not 
 be God as well as man ; neither could all the fulness 
 of the Godhead dwell in Christ bodily, as the Scripture 
 saith ; neither do we read in Scripture that the Father 
 did require any such thing ; but Christ said of himself, 
 * He had power to lay down his life of himself and 
 power to take it up again, and whosoever believed in 
 him he would raise him up at the last day. Here was 
 no help required of the Father in that great work, nei- 
 ther could any lay down his life and take it up again, 
 but the Godhead life only ; but sin as I said in that 
 book brought death upon all mankind, and upon the 
 life of God also ; but by the Godhead life quickening 
 again, he hath got power over death ; so that his own 
 image even the children of Adam, shall not be kept un- 
 der death in the grave, not eternally, but he will raise 
 them up at the last day to eternal happiness with him- 
 self. Nay, the seed or children of the serpent, as most 
 of you Quakers are, shall not be kept under death in 
 the grave, but shall be raised at the last day and j shall 
 be cast into a living death, where many of you Quakers 
 and others, shall never die, nor never live in comfort to 
 eternity ; for it shall be a living death and a dying life, 
 always dying and yet never dead ; then will death be 
 conquered, when death is cast alive into the lake of 
 fire, then will that saying of Scripture be fulfilled. ' O 
 death I will be thy death;' for the punishment of death's
 
 12 
 
 death, will be a living death, or a death that always 
 lives in misery ; if any hath understanding in these se- 
 crets, let him understand, and it it will be for his good. 
 
 14. Mug. saith, Eternity did become time, and time 
 shall become eternity again. 
 
 Pen. saith, 'Eternity did never become time, but is 
 unchangeable in its nature, spirit, life, and being for 
 evermore. 
 
 Mug. answer, Here the reader may see the black 
 darkness that lieth upon the antichristian Quaker's 
 spirit; for the Quakers do say, they were in Christ be- 
 fore the world was, but since the world was, the body 
 of Christ hath been seen by multitudes of people, as the 
 scriptures are full to prove, and it is believed now by 
 those that look for benefit by the visible body and blood 
 of Christ that was crucified. Now I would ask Pen. 
 the Quaker, (seeing his eternal spirit clothed itself 
 with a pure natural body) \vhether God cannot change ; 
 for you may see by the scripture, that God became flesh, 
 aud dwelt amongst men. Now I think none of you 
 Quakers will say, that God was clothed with flesh be- 
 fore the world was, therefore God did change when the 
 word was made flesh, and that flesh was in time, and 
 that flesh is meat indeed, and that blood was and is 
 drink indeed, to every one that truly believeth the flesh 
 of Christ to be the flesh of God, and the blood of Christ, 
 to be the blood of God, then it is meat and drink indeed, 
 as I shewed in all my writings. 
 
 Here the reader may see that eternity became time, 
 for that body of flesh was not eternal before the world 
 \vas, and this body of flesh is now become eternity again; 
 because the eternal God, who was a spiritual body from 
 eternity, laid down his spiritual he had from eternity, 
 in the womb of a virgin, and changed into a pure na- 
 tural body, in all things like unto man, sin only excep- 
 ted, this is the great mystery of God manifested in flesh, 
 which the scriptures are full to prove, and several places 
 of scripture do prove that God can, and doth change,
 
 13 
 
 when his glory doth move him to it ; so that it is a true 
 saying of mine, ' That eternity became time, and time 
 became eternity again. 
 
 Pen. page 12. saith, 'That the immortal nature of 
 Christ could not die.' He is woefully troubled here to 
 make it out, yet in a lame manner he says somethnig of 
 it for he overthrows himself; for saith he, * I am the re- 
 surrection,' saith Christ. Now if Christ be the resur- 
 rection and the life, he must needs be God, he poureth 
 Out his soul unto death ; then the Godhead life suffered 
 death. Yet the Quakers saith, The life of Christ did 
 not die, but left the body of Christ to suffer ; for saith he 
 'The life and power of the father, which dwelt in, and 
 was revealed through the body, died not with the body, 
 but remained alive to raise the body.' This is right anti- 
 christian, that denies the power of Christ's Godhead, 
 who said, 'He had power to lay down his life, and 
 take it up again ;' as I said before. But I perceive Pen. 
 believes that the Godhead spirit, or life that was in 
 Christ, slipt out of the body as he was suffering death, 
 and left the body to suffer all, and after he was buried, 
 the Godhead spirit or life might enter into the body, 
 and raise it up again. 
 
 This is a pretty juggle, and little benefit shall any 
 man find by the death of Christ, if his Godhead, life 
 and spirit slipped out and suffered nothing, but left the 
 body to suffer without any life in it, then it cannot pro- 
 perly be said, that Christ died or was offered up through 
 the eternal Spirit, or that his soul was heavy unto death, 
 or poured out his soul unto death as the Scriptures doth 
 abundantly prove, but he that hath any true light in him, 
 may see by what light the Quakers are led and guided, 
 even the absolute spirit of Antichrist in these last times. 
 Also it is an infallible truth that the Quaker's ministry have 
 not received the same spirit as the prophets and apostles 
 had, not in no measure at all, but the Antichristian spirit 
 of reason, the devil, theyhave received in a great measure. 
 f;i;f Pen. saith, page 17. 'The Quakers keep from griev- 
 
 .711011!'.) tl* eVflwfjl OtSW tlU'f
 
 14 
 
 ing God's Spirit, much more from sinning the great un- 
 pardonable sin against it.' 
 
 Mug. reply. Yet in the next place he sinneth that 
 unpardonable sin, in these words, page 8. 'Oh! cease 
 deceit, for shame be silent ; thy cursing is manifested 
 too narrow;' also you say in the same page, 'But he 
 hath manifestly in these things, as in several others 
 also discovered himself to be a false witness, and,' say 
 you, 'a false witness can never be a true judge.' 
 
 'Nay, alas,' say you, ' his judgment is of and like his 
 spirit, which manifestly is not of God, and his know- 
 ledge,' say you, which he holds forth, leads not to God, 
 nor to life, but to the chambers of hell and death.' 
 
 Pen. saith, 'That the sum of the law is love, even to 
 love God above all, and our neighbour as ourself. 
 
 Mug. reply, The sum of the law, which is love in one 
 thing, and the law written in the seed or nature of rea- 
 son is another. 
 
 Page 3. Pen. saith, ' The earth is the Lord's, and the 
 fulness thereof. The devil, saith he, hath no right to it, 
 and said, God never gave it to him. 
 
 Answer, That God hath given the kingdoms of this 
 world into the devil's hands, I shall prove. 
 
 Page 3. Pen. saith, 'The enmity is as exactly placed 
 by God himself, between the serpent and the woman, 
 as between their seeds. 
 
 Answer, That the enmity between the serpent and 
 the woman, it was properly placed by God in the two 
 seeds, else the persons of the seed of the serpent, and 
 the persons of the seed of the woman, would never have 
 joined themselves in copulation, as they have ever since 
 the sons of God looked upon the daughters of men, and 
 saw that they were fair, and they went in unto them, 
 and begat giants. These daughters of men, were the 
 daughters of Cain, who was the serpent himself, and 
 the sons of God were the sons of the seed of the wo- 
 man. Yet the persons of these two did like one ano- 
 ther very well, but their seeds and natures did not 
 agree, but were always at enmity.
 
 15 
 
 Peu. N sakh, page ,8. 'Is God changeable, is he one 
 thing to-day, and another thing to-morrow. 
 
 Answer That God is capable to change his person 
 and mind ; that I shall prove, he hath both changed his 
 own spiritual body into a pure natural body ; and that 
 he hath changed his word and his mind several times, 
 I shall prove by Scripture. 
 
 Pen. saith, page 4. 'In the feeling sense and expe- 
 rience he knoweth the two seeds. 
 
 Answer. It is necessary you Quakers should feel, 
 that is, have the sense of feeling ; for I am sure you 
 Quakers are more stone blind in spiritual matters than 
 any professors, and cannot see the true light of life 
 eternal no more than the Sodomites did see where Lot's 
 door was, for the two angels had smote them blind. 
 So have we the two ; witnesses of the Spirit, smote you 
 Quakers blind in the knowledge of the Scripture, and 
 what God is ; so that you may feel after the door of 
 heaven, but I am sure you shall not see the door of hea- 
 ven, no more than the Sodomites did Lot's door. 
 
 Pe# r , saith, page 4. ' Had Moses his commission 
 from the serpent ; surely,' saith he 'every man that is 
 of God will say , no. -ufo 
 
 Answer. Moses acted his commission in the person 
 of the serpent, before the serpent was cast down from 
 heaven upon this earth, that pure law was written in 
 the serpent angel's nature before his fall ; and Moses 
 being chosen of God to be a law-giver, he gave forth 
 that pure law of the serpent's seed to practise and walk 
 by here in the state of mortality, even that law that was 
 written in the serpent's seed and nature before its fall ; 
 and the law written in his seed was also pure. And 
 Moses may be said to act as a God, in the person of the 
 reprobate angel, or tree of knowledge of good and 
 evil ; in that he gave forth a pure law, that was written 
 in the serpents nature before his fall, for the seed of 
 the serpent to walk by, now the serpent is fallen and 
 become mortal; therefore it is said in Scripture, 'that 
 
 f ) r Ai oJ ono
 
 16 
 
 the law was given by the dispensation of angels (mean- 
 ing Moses,) so that Moses did act his commission in 
 the person of the serpent angel before his fall ; as is 
 more largely opened in the interpretation of the llth of 
 the Revelations you speak against. 
 
 Pen. page 5, seems to contradict that saying of mine, 
 that reason, or the law of reason, is to do as he is done 
 unto, not as he would be done unto ; against this he 
 pleads the words of Christ, * Whatsoever you would that 
 men should do to you, do you even so to them.' 
 
 Answer, These words of Christ were a new law, which 
 was written in the seed of faith's nature, the seed of 
 Adam, and not in the angel's nature, nor in the law of 
 reason ; for the law of reason speaks on this wise, and 
 so doth the law of Moses say, 'An eye for an eye and a 
 tooth for a tooth ; and thou shalt love thy friend, and 
 hate thine enemy.' This did Christ say was of old time 
 (meaning Moses) and the law of Moses which he gave 
 to Israel. But, saith Christ, ' I say unto you, resist not 
 evil, if one smite thee on the one cheek, turn to him the 
 other And when it has been said of old, thou shalt love 
 thy friend and hate thine enemy. Christ said, love 
 thine e nemy, and such like sayings of Christ, which the 
 law of Moses, nor the law of reason, did not bind men 
 to, but the law of Christ is the law of love, or law of faith, 
 differing from the law of reason, or the law of Moses, 
 like unto a new law God would write in the hearts of 
 his people, and cause them to walk in his statutes; that 
 was to believe in his apostles doctrine of Christ's death, 
 resurrection and ascension, it was not the old law of 
 Moses made them to believe the apostles doctrine, but 
 the new law of faith written in their hearts made them 
 to believe. So it was the new law of Christ gave to 
 those that had power to receive it, they could do as he 
 advised them to do, and had power to become the sons 
 of God, even as many as believed in his uame. But I 
 see Pen. cannot distinguish between the new law of 
 faith, from the law of reason, the old law, they are both 
 one to the Quakers.
 
 IT 
 
 Pen. saith, page 0. 'See if God can be less than infi- 
 nite, and incomprehensible, and saith he, ' He that 
 knoweth the nature and spirit of God, knoweth God to 
 the eye of reason. 
 
 Answer, That God is infinite and incomprehensible, 
 I do acknowledge , but not without a body ; for the seed of 
 faith doth comprehend God also, now it is life eternal, 
 to know, if a man cannot comprehend God, he cannot 
 know God. Indeed if God were a formless, bodiless 
 Spirit as the Quakers do vainly imagine, then God 
 could not be comprehended indeed, neither by faith, 
 nor by reason; but the seed of faith doth know God is 
 infinite, and can comprehend him, because he hath a 
 body of his own, his wisdom, power, and glory are 
 indeed incomprehensible, both to faith and reason, and 
 his ways are unsearchable, and past finding out ; but he 
 himself may be comprehended by the seed of faith, and 
 known in his form and nature, as at this day by many ; 
 for we know what the nature of infiniteness is. But 
 Pen. doth not know what the nature of infiniteness is, 
 so doth not know what God is ; for there never was, nor 
 never will be any such infinite Spirit without a body of 
 his own, as the Quakers do vainly imagine. 
 
 Pen. page 8, saith, ' The body of man is not the To- 
 phet, or Hell, but ,' saith he, ' Tophet is that whereinto 
 the souls and bodies of the wicked are to be cast. 
 
 Answer. Those that I have cursed shall never be 
 cast into any other Tophet or Hell, but their own bo- 
 dies, the which shall be that Tophet, where the spirit 
 of reason, the devil in you , shall burn in your bodies, 
 being barred up close prisoners in your bodies to eter- 
 nity, and you shall find no wicked in your Tophet, but 
 your own souls in particular. You shall have every 
 one of you despisers, a Tophet distinct of yourselves ; 
 you shall not go one to the other, but every one of you 
 shall abide in his own Tophet, his dark spiritual body 
 to eternity. 
 
 Pen. saith, page 9, ' Eternity did never become time, 
 
 c
 
 18 
 
 but is unchangeable in its nature, spirit, life and being,' 
 as he saith. 
 
 Answer. That eternity did become time, and did 
 change itself into time, nay, the eternal nature, spirit, 
 life, and being of the eternal God became changeable, 
 which will appear thus, as in John i. 1. 'In the begin- 
 ning was the word, and the word was with God, and the 
 word was God.' 2nd verse, ' The same was in the be- 
 ginning with God.' The 3rd verse, l All things were 
 made by him, and without him was not any thing made 
 that was made.' The 4th verse, ' In him was life, and 
 the life was the light of men.' And in the 14th verse, 
 ' And the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.' 
 And here the reader may see that eternity became time, 
 and changeable, for this word that was in the beginning 
 was with God, and the word was God, and all things 
 were made by this word that was in the beginning is 
 called Him ; and in Him is life, and the life is the light 
 of men ; and I think there is none that professeth the 
 Scriptures that will deny this word in the beginning to 
 be any thing else but God who is eternal ; for who 
 should have life in himself, and give light and life to 
 men, but the eternal God ; for by him were all things 
 made that were made, and without him was not any 
 thing made that was made ; therefore the word spoken 
 of by John, in the beginning, must needs be the eternal 
 God : yet we read that this word became flesh, and 
 God manifested in flesh ; the Scriptures are full to 
 prove God to be made flesh, pointing to Christ's body 
 of flesh ; so thus the flesh of Christ was that word that 
 became flesh, which word was with God, which word 
 was God, and this God was made flesh, and dwelt 
 amongst men here upon earth. Now will you Quakers 
 say, that eternity did not become time, or that God 
 could not change. You may see that God had no body 
 of flesh in the beginning, nor from eternity : yet you 
 may see if you are not stone blind, that God ^became 
 pure human flesh in time, sin only excepted. So like-
 
 19 
 
 wise, see 1 Tim. iii. 16. where it is thus written, 
 1 Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, 
 God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, 
 seen[of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on 
 in the world, and received up into glory.' Here you Qua- 
 kers if you were not stone blind, might see and under- 
 stand, that eternity became time and that God became 
 flesh, or God was manifested in the flesh, even in that 
 pure flesh of Christ, which the apostles did witness 
 unto. Now will you Quakers say, that God had a 
 body of flesh, or that flesh of Christ was from eternity ? 
 if not then God did change his eternal Spiritual body 
 into a pure natural body of flesh and bone, which 
 was visibly seen by the natural eyes of man, and 
 handled by the hands of man, and by Thomas after he 
 was risen again ; and this visible flesh of Christ was 
 God manifested in flesh ; this was the faith of the apos- 
 tles and saints, they preached unto in their time. 
 
 Now I ask you Quakers, hath not God been changed 
 in this thing, and hath not eternity been changed into 
 time! how should God be manifested in the flesh, or 
 God be made flesh, if he could not change when his own 
 will moves him to it. 
 
 So Colos. 2. and 9. verses, The Apostle pressing 
 them to beware of philosophy, and vain deceits, which 
 is not after Christ, for in him dwells all the fulness of 
 the Godhead bodily. Now if all the fulness of the God- 
 head, bodily dwells in Christ's body of flesh (as the 
 word doth imply) what need any man look any further 
 to find out God, than to the body of Christ, there is all the 
 fulness of the Godhead there, in that body of Christ to 
 be found truly, and known, and no where else ; there 
 is the infinite spirit, light, life and power, that created 
 all things, and gave light and life unto men; this is the 
 faith the apostles preached, and it is the faith of us the wit- 
 nesses of the spirit, and that which we teach. ButyouQua- 
 kers will have all these texts of scripture in a mystery, 
 so that there is no reality in your mystery of iniquity, 
 for you will say, God is manifested in your flesh, and 
 
 c 3
 
 20 
 
 that you are bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, and 
 that the fulness of the Godhead, being a great vast spi- 
 rit without a body, dwells in every Quaker's body, and 
 in all bodies else ; and the life of every creature is the 
 life of God, and so the life of God dwells in every man's 
 body, and in every man ; this is indeed the Quaker's 
 mystery of iniquity, in these last times, in opposition to 
 the mystery of God manifested in flesh in the single 
 person of Christ, declared by us the witnesses of the 
 spirit. 
 
 How a prerogative power can change, and repent 
 when it will ; and how a prerogative will not change, 
 nor repent, when it resolves it own will not change, nor 
 repent, and such is the nature of infiniteness ; for that 
 which is infinite hath a prerogative power, and is 
 above all law, and may give laws to his creature, which 
 he knows his creature cannot perform, and if he please, 
 may forgive his creature that punishment due for the 
 offence, and if he will inflict the punishment upon ano- 
 ther creature, whose offence may be less than the other 
 he pardoned, who shall gainsay it? for who shall strive 
 against his maker, or reply against a prerogative power, 
 this is infinite? and above all law, who can bring 
 glory to his own prerogative justice, in punishing his 
 creature for sin, which he knew the creature could not 
 avoid, and hath raised to himself an increase of honor 
 and glory by his mercy he shewed to the other, he par- 
 doned and forgave, who committed a greater offence 
 than the other. This is a true infinite prerogative 
 power which is in God, and not in any creature what- 
 soever; this power have I submitted myself unto, and 
 have found mercy, and blessed and happy are all 
 those that do as I have done in this; Numb. 23. 19. 
 It is said, ' God is not a man that he should repent, hath 
 he said, and shall he not do it,' Sam. i. Chap. 15. 11. 
 verse, it is said, 'It repented God that he had set up Saul 
 to be a king.' And in the 29th verse it is said, 'The 
 strength of Israel will not lie, nor repent, for he is not 
 
 ,f*e wwo/io
 
 21 
 
 a man that he should repent,' Gen. 6. 6. ' It repented the 
 Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved 
 him at his heart; for he said, 'It repenteth me that I 
 have made them. The Scriptures are full of such ex- 
 pressions, that sometimes God did repent of that which 
 he had made, and of those punishments which he had 
 threatened, and at other times he would not repent of 
 what he had set up, or made for destruction, nor repent 
 nor revoke the punishment he had threatened against 
 such an offence, the Scriptures are full to prove ; as in 
 Mai. iii. 6. ' For I am the Lord, I change not, therefore 
 ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.' Also you may see 
 Gen. xxii. and the 1st verse, how God tempted Abra- 
 ham to offer up his son Isaac, and gave him a command 
 to do that which was against nature and reason. You 
 may see in the 12th verse, God changed his mind and 
 said, ' Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do any 
 thing unto him.' Here you may see God's command to 
 Abraham was a mere temptation in God, for the trial 
 of Abraham's faith, and God seeing his faith would 
 have performed God's commands, even against nature 
 and reason, God changed his mind and would not suffer 
 him to do that which he had commanded him to do. 
 So that'it may be clear that God doth tempt man when 
 his will moves him to it, and when he will changeth his 
 mind ; this doth belong to the prerogative power of God, 
 and who shall reply against it ; for this ought to be ob- 
 served, that though God hath a prerogative power to 
 tempt man for the trial of his faith, or otherwise, yet 
 man ought not to tempt God, because God made man to 
 serve and obey him, and not to tempt his maker ; for in 
 so doing he becomes a devil, that tempts the Lord his 
 God ; for there never was, nor ever will be, that ever 
 did, or ever will do, to tempt the Lord his God, but 
 man only. 
 
 Therefore, James 1st saith, ' Let no man say, when 
 he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be 
 tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.' The
 
 22 
 
 meaning is, that evil minded men do tempt God ; but 
 their temptation do not prevail with God to consent 
 unto them as they do in evil men ; neither doth God 
 tempt any man to the evil of lust, theft, murder, or any 
 such like evil which proceeds out of the evil heart of 
 man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away 
 of his own lust and enticed. For there is a great dif- 
 ference in God's tempting of man and man's tempting 
 of God ; for the one is the Creator and the other his 
 creature, who ought to serve and obey his Maker. Do 
 not you Pen. see that Paul contradicts your assertion 
 of Christ his being the seed of Abraham after the flesh, 
 Rom. ix. 8. He contradicts that saying in the 3rd and 
 5th verse, the words are these, 'They which are the 
 children of the flesh are not the children of God, but 
 the children of the promise are counted for the seed. 
 Now if the children of God be not the children of the 
 flesh of Abraham, then Christ cannot be said to be of 
 Abraham's seed according to the flesh. For though the 
 Jews were the seed of Abraham, yet they were not all 
 counted the children of God, of whom Christ came, to 
 whom the promise was made or did belong unto. ~ 
 Therefore it is said, ' They are not all Israel that are of 
 Israel ; but because the Jews came in general out of 
 the loins of Abraham, the apostle Paul could not dis- 
 tinguish which were the children of Abraham, after 
 the flesh, or the children of Abraham after the promise ; 
 but as he seeth the seed of faith arise in them so he 
 knew them to be the seed of Abraham by promise, and 
 so the children of God ; and this seed of faith in Abra- 
 ham, was that seed Christ took upon him, and not the 
 nature of angels which is the seed of reason. But Paul 
 not knowing how many of these Jews, nor every par- 
 ticular person that should believe, or that was of the 
 seed of faith, he spake in general to them all, that they 
 were Abraham's seed according to the flesh ; but yet 
 makes a distinction that those that were unbelieving, 
 were never the better for being Abraham's seed, they
 
 23 
 
 were but the children of the flesh of Abraham, they 
 were not children of the faith of Abraham, nor children 
 of the promise of whom Christ came. So that Christ 
 taking the seed of Abraham, and the faith of Abraham 
 upon him, he clothed that faith or seed, with pure flesh 
 and bone ; and in this sense Christ may be said to come 
 of Abraham after the flesh and no otherwise. 
 
 Pen. page 11, Speaks against interpretation of scrip- 
 ture from men without, may easily be deceived, but 
 saith, 'That kept not the anointing within, may easily 
 be deceived. 
 
 Page 14. Pen. saith. ' Mind reader what is the rea- 
 son he revileth us above others, meaning the Quakers; 
 but because he saith, * We stand most in the way, be- 
 cause we cannot receive him as a law-giver. 
 
 Answer. Your saying is true, you do stand most in 
 the way, and are the most and greatest fighters against 
 the true God of any, and your antichristian spirit doth 
 stand most in the way of any other people ; therefore I 
 have cut down so many of you Quakers, in less than 
 seven years, with the two edged sword that is put into 
 my mouth, and it would have been well for you, and 
 many more of your brethren, if you had received me 
 as a law-giver, as Moses was a law-giver, and all those 
 that received him so, were happy in so doing, in being 
 obedient to the law-giver; but on the contrary, those 
 people in his time, that did not receive him as a law-gi- 
 ver, but were rebellious against him and his laws, were 
 they not plagued by Moses, if he spake but the word, 
 the ground opened its mouth and swallowed up the re- 
 bellious and disobedient. And do you Quakers think 
 to escape now! What I have said for your rebellion, 
 a despising a personal God and me his messenger ; for 
 if you had received me you should have received him 
 that sent me, the true Christ. And do you think that 
 Christ w r ithin you shall deliver you Quakers from that 
 curse I have pronounced upon you. Nay, I know hell 
 will open its mouth and swallow you up alive, according
 
 24 
 
 to the words and sentence I have passed upon you Qua- 
 kers, as the ground did open its mouth and swallow 
 those that rebelled against Moses, and then you shall 
 know that God has made a mortal man like yourselves, 
 a law-giver, and shall think you are damned for nothing 
 else but for your disobedience to this law-giver you 
 have so much despised. 
 
 Pen. saith, page 19, 'God is not known by the des- 
 cription of words, of the earthly wisdom, but of his own 
 feeling spirit and life. 
 
 Answer. What pretty tricks the Quakers have, 
 they can know God by feeling, without seeing or hear- 
 ing of words of the earthly wisdom. I marvel there are 
 so many Quakers speakers, they are but earthly words 
 they speak to the people, earthly men ; why do not you 
 Quakers go all a feeling after Christ, and let outward 
 words and seeing and hearing alone ? for you Quakers 
 do feel that you were in Christ before the world was, 
 and you do feel that you were in the light before dark- 
 ness was indeed. You may very well be suffered to 
 feel after Christ, the light of heaven ; for I am sure you 
 see neither of them, neither have you ears to hear the 
 truth when it is declared unto you and if you could not 
 feel neither, your case would be sad indeed ; for this 
 commission of the Spirit hath smitten the Quakers stone 
 blind in spiritual matters, as the Sodomites were smit- 
 ten blind in the natural, by the two angels that came to 
 Lot's house ; so that the Sodomites did feel after the 
 door, but could not find it, because they could not see. 
 So it is with you Quakers in the spiritual, you feel after 
 the truth, and true knowledge, and after the door of 
 heaven, but the Lord's two messengers have smote you 
 blind in the Spirit, so that you cannot see, but have 
 left you to feel after the door of heaven, but you shall 
 never find it, nor get to it, no more than the Sodomites 
 did Lot's door. 
 
 Pen. saith, page 22. ' The bow of the Quakers abides 
 in strength, and the hands of their arms have been made 
 strong.'
 
 25 
 
 Answer. To this, I say, their arms have been made 
 strong against the temporal persecutions, which hath 
 made them to increase and multiply, the sufferings of 
 the Quakers by temporal persecutors, have mightily 
 increased their number, and many fall to the Quakers, 
 because of their sufferings, but can no more give a rea- 
 son of the Quaker's faith and doctrine, than a Parrot, 
 nor so much as as a Parrot can in words, though a 
 Parrot hath no reason in him, yet he will speak better 
 reason than many Quakers can ; but this commission 
 of the Spirit hath broken your bow in pieces, so that 
 your bow hath little strength in it now, and your hands 
 are become feeble and hang down, many of your valiant 
 captains are cut down and fallen, neither are you like 
 the people you were at first, their power and witchcraft 
 fits are mightily abated ; you Quakers can hardly now 
 produce a witchcraft fit in you, which formerly the 
 power of witchcraft was strong in the Quaker's people, 
 then their bow was strong witchcraft power, but now 
 it is made weak, and your hands feeble, by the power 
 of two men sent from God, the true God, the Man 
 Christ Jesus. I confess you Quakers do, as it was 
 said of Israel, increase as the sand on the sea shore, 
 yet but a remnant of you shall be saved. And though 
 you have multitudes that are Quakers amongst you, and 
 when one is cut down, another is set up in his room ; 
 so that you Quakers will never want a ministry while 
 the world do last ; for if men may take up the ministry 
 from the light within man, I am sure there never will 
 want labourers in the vineyard ; for there are too many 
 sent forth by the light within man in these our days 
 already as there was in Jeremiah's time, by the powers 
 of the nation without man. And this I say, though you 
 Quakers have defied my God of five or six foot high, 
 and bid him stand forth, and see if he be able to defend 
 himself and me from the stroke of their great and dreadful 
 majesty, who hath neither form nor substance of his 
 own, which they call God ; yet this I say to you people 
 
 D
 
 26 
 
 called Quakers, if there were as many of you as would 
 stand six abreast, between York and London, yet I my- 
 self, which am but one man and there is not another, nor 
 never will be, with the help and faith I have in that God, 
 who is in the person of a man of five or six foot high, 
 whom you Quakers have defied, shall be too hard for 
 you all, and cut you down, even as the uncircumcised 
 Philistines were destroyed, and scattered before David, 
 when he slew ten thousand to Saul's one thousand ; so 
 have many of your champions and valiant men been 
 slain by the two-edged sword of the Spirit, from that lit- 
 tle God who is but the stature of a man, and the rest of 
 you will be scattered in your principles, as chaff before 
 the wind. This I know will come to pass among you 
 Quaker's people. 
 
 Pen. proves, that God abides in himself ; from that 
 saying, God spake to Moses when he went to the Is- 
 raelites in Egypt, God saith, I Am hath sent thee to 
 them. Did the Israelites, or any Quakers in these our 
 days, know ever the more what God is in his form and 
 nature, or how he abides in himself for reading those 
 
 * 
 
 words? No but now I do clearly see, that saying of 
 the prophet Isa. justified in these my days, as it was in 
 Christ's time, that God hath blinded the eyes of all you 
 Quakers, and made your ears deaf as adders, and hard- 
 ened your hearts, lest you should believe the true doc- 
 trine of Christ's death, resurrection and ascension, de- 
 clared by the two last prophets and witnesses of the Spirit, 
 and be converted and saved, as many can witness at this 
 day; indeed you Quakers have eyes and see not, and ears, 
 but hear not; you have hearts but understand not. 
 The Lord made your hearts fat with a conceit of a 
 light of Christ within you ; and this I plainly see, and 
 know that the Quaker's people are to finish the mystery 
 of iniquity, or the mystery of Babylon, in opposition to 
 the mystery of God declared, and will be finished by us 
 the two last witnesses of the Spirit. And further, I have, 
 seen and do know, that the wrath and vengeance of
 
 this personal God have fallen upon you Quaker's people 
 more than upon any others, and his vengeance will yet 
 fall upon you Quakers, more than any other, even in 
 this life, besides your damnation hereafter ; because 
 you Quakers have defied the living personal God, even 
 Christ Jesus, who is now in the form of a man in heaven, 
 in the same stature, height and bigness, as he was when 
 he was on earth, which is judged to be about five or six 
 foot high ; this God have several of you Quakers defied, 
 even as Goliah did the God of Israel, when David slung 
 a stone into his forehead ; so have several of you Qua- 
 kers defied and trampled, as they said, and bid him 
 stand forth, if he be able to deliver himself; these 
 things I have in writing to shew from you Quakers ; as 
 for this thing I ask, hath the stone of God's vengeance 
 smote the foreheads of your eminent Goliahs ; for defy- 
 ing the living God in the person of a man, and more of 
 you will feel his stroke e'er long, and perhaps may 
 come to public view hereafter, that the generations to 
 come may see what a wicked principle you Quakers 
 own. 
 
 Pen. page 20, saith, ' O thou despiser, reproacher, 
 and belier of the work of God in the hearts of his Chil- 
 dren.' Because I have discovered the true righteous- 
 ness that cleanseth the Quaker's hearts, and their per- 
 fection they glory in ; as maybe read in Thomas Taylor's 
 letter sent unto him. 
 
 Pen saith also, 'I am not yet cleansed from lying 
 lips ; for ' he saith, ' he doth own the death of that body, 
 which the Father prepared for his Son, which suffered 
 without the gates of Jerusalem.' See here the gross 
 darkness of the Quaker's principles, that a wise man 
 hath shewed himself more dark in this point than the 
 rest of his brethren. I ask, did that body of Christ 
 suffer death without life or soul I Did that body do the 
 will of his Father, without life or soul ] Are bodies ca- 
 pable to suffer the pains of death without lives ? is it 
 not life that suffers pain? Is it not the soul that sins 
 
 D2
 
 28 
 
 shall die ? What benefit shall any man receive by the 
 death, or suffering by Christ's body without the gates 
 of Jerusalem, if his soul and life did not suffer and die. 
 But I know the Quaker's juggle ; you look upon the 
 Spirit that was in Christ's body to be the Spirit of God, 
 and that guided that body in all righteousness, and did 
 assist his body with wisdom and strength, till the body 
 was brought to a tree to be crucified ; but when the 
 nails was struck into his hands and feet, the Spirit of 
 God that had comforted, and had strengthened him be- 
 fore now slipped out of him, and left the body to suffer 
 alone. Is not this the faith of you Quakers, you are 
 ashamed to own it openly, but I am sure it is your very 
 principle of faith. You own in secret amongst the 
 most knowing Quakers, but the ignorant simple multi- 
 tude doth not know what the Quakers' princples of 
 faith are, no more than a child doth. 
 
 Pen. page 21, saith, 'The Quakers bow abides in 
 strength, and the hands of their arms have been made 
 strong.' I say no, your bow is broken, and made weak 
 by the commission of the Spirit ; how many of your 
 eminent Quakers have fallen by the edge of the sword 
 of the Spirit put into my mouth, and your antichristian 
 spirit destroyed to your everlasting shame and confu- 
 sion. Indeed you have a great many shatter-brained 
 people, who are laden with sin and ignorance, that fall 
 in amongst the Quakers, and knows no more what the 
 Quaker's principles are than a child, as beforesaid. 
 
 Pen. saith, page 21. ' If any man preach any other 
 God than he who is created anew in the true light; 
 death and destruction, and the curse are his portion 
 from the hand of the Lord. 
 
 Answer. You Quakers preach another God, which 
 did not create the worlds, a God without a body ; when, 
 as the Scripture saith, speaking of Christ which hath a 
 body, ' By him the worlds were made, and without him 
 was not any thing made that was made.' Therefore 
 the curse belongs to you Quakers ; indeed it has laid
 
 29 
 
 hold upon many of you already, for preaching another 
 God than what the prophets, apostles, and we the wit- 
 nesses of the Spirit have preached and believed. 
 
 Pen. saith, page 21, 'Now, O people, any of you that 
 reads this man's writings, (meaning me,) and admire 
 them, saith, what Spirit are you of ? What do you feel 
 in you? not the truth, I am sure, saith he, but that in 
 you, that must perish and come into death.' 
 
 Page 22, he saith, that he ' certainly knows that the 
 knowledge and notions w r hich he holds forth, are not 
 pure nor able to cleanse the heart of any that receive 
 them.' Also he saith, * O wait on God, that you may 
 be enabled by him rightly to distinguish between re- 
 ceiving notions concerning God and Christ, for deceit 
 may enter in at the one, but cannot at the other ;' and 
 after a little rambling about the feeling power, which 
 he calls the power of God, received from him, saith 
 ' Here his enemies and deceit are at an end ;' yet knows 
 not what God is, nor by what power the Quakers' hearts 
 are cleansed, nor what they are cleansed from ; neither 
 doth the true God live in the hearts of the Quaker's peo- 
 ple at all, for they have no faith in the true God, to 
 purify or to cleanse their hearts, no more than the Hea- 
 thens have, only the law written in their hearts, as I 
 have shewed in the Looking Glass to George Fox ; for 
 what power hath the faith of a Quakers in his God, or 
 what holiness is in a Quaker more than a Heathen. 
 
 Pen. page 22, concludes with a kind of prayer for 
 me ; yet his prayer is more blasphemous against the 
 Holy Spirit that sent me than all the rest of his book, 
 his words are these, * First,' saith he ' notwithstanding 
 all that he has done against the Lord, and his dear peo- 
 ple,' (meaning the Quakers.) Secondly he saith, 'That 
 he might examine wherein he hath provoken and sin- 
 ned against the Lord, that the Lord should thus leave 
 him, not only to be deceived himself, but to become 
 head, or root of deceit to others, and so bring the blood 
 of many souls upon him, which will be his burden and
 
 30 
 
 misery in the day of the Lord upon him ;' and saith, 
 ' When the Lord shall rebuke him for blaspheming his 
 name, his light, his spirit ;' and saith, ' shall justify in 
 the sight of men and angels, those to be his heritage, 
 and everlastingly dear unto him,' (meaning the Qua- 
 kers,) and saith, whom he hath reproached, misrepre- 
 sented, and cursed to eternity. But,' saith he, 'they 
 are gathered by God into the blessed seed, which he 
 knoweth not. 
 
 Answer. I have examined myself, and do know, and 
 am very well satisfied, that I have done nothing against 
 the Lord, nor against his people, but have been faithful 
 in the commission of the true God, as Moses was faith- 
 ful in all his house, so have I been these seventeen years ; 
 I have not been partial in all my judgments; I have pro- 
 nounced upon men and women, let them be high or low, 
 rich or poor, if they have come under the sin against 
 the Holy Ghost, as near as I can, I never let them es- 
 cape the curse and sentence ; I minded not whether 
 they were righteous otherways or wicked, let that be to 
 themselves ; if they did well according to the outward 
 law, the righteousness of it would be rewarded in 
 this life ; and if they did ill, sin would lay at the door 
 of conscience without my judging them ; for I never 
 condemn any man or woman for any other sin, but for 
 the sin against the Holy Ghost only ; as the Quakers' 
 people have committed that sin more than any others, 
 tor which cause I have cursed so many of them ; so that 
 I certainly know that the Quakers' people are none of 
 God's dear people ; but this I perfectly know, that the 
 generality of them are the seed of Cain, that wicked one, 
 and there is never a Quaker I have cursed shall escape 
 that curse, for I know you Qnakers are fallen from that 
 traditional and outward faith, which we Puritans, thirty 
 years ago did profess. But the Ranters and the Qua- 
 kers are those spoken of by Paul, that should in the 
 last times fall away from the faith of Christ without 
 men, which Paul and the rest of the apostles did preach
 
 31 
 
 to a Christ within men, a mere allegory and antichrist ; 
 for the Ranters were the first that fell away to the mys- 
 tery of iniquity and their practice was nothing else but 
 iniquity, according to their doctrine ; so you Quakers 
 have taken up the doctrinal part of the Ranters, but left 
 their practice ; and because the Quakers practice is not 
 so wicked and vile, they grow so proud and conceited 
 of their outward righteousness, as if they were more 
 holy than others, when as they are more antichristian 
 and enemies to the true God than any others. Also I 
 say further, that if the Lord hath left me (as you say) to 
 be deceived myself and to deceive others, then I say, as 
 I have said in all my writings, both in the Quakers' 
 Neck broken, and in that called a Looking-Glass for 
 George Fox, and in other letters to several Quakers ; 
 I say, let the curses I have pronounced upon all you 
 Quakers, and others let them be upon my head, and you 
 shall go free. 
 
 Further, I say, if I have deceived any man or woman, 
 of their salvation, or in the saving of their souls, in the 
 day of the Lord, then let their blood be upon my head. 
 Nay, if I have not been an instrument to save the souls 
 of many, and to bring them out of darkness into God's 
 marvellous light, then I say let their blood be required 
 at my hands ; I do expect no mercy from the God of 
 truth in this matter, if I am a false prophet and deceived 
 myself, and have deceived others. 
 
 But if I be true, as I know I am, as sure as the divine 
 nature of God can make a man, sure, how then will you 
 Isaac Pennington, and all the rest of your Quaking 
 brethren and sisters do to escape that curse I have pro- 
 nounced upon you for your sin against the Holy Ghost, 
 in speaking evil of the things you know not. 
 
 First, you have called the revelation < f the true Spi- 
 rit, a deep imagination and deceit. 
 
 Secondly, you have called that wisdom and knowledge 
 revealed by God's true messenger, saying, ( It doth not 
 convey life, but death ;' and that it poisons and corrupts 
 the mind.
 
 32 
 
 Thirdly, the opening of the revelation concerning 
 that infinite vast Spirit that doth not know itself, this 
 Penning;ton saith, is dark imagination indeed. 
 
 ' o 
 
 Fourthly, he saith, ' O cease deceit, and for shame be 
 silent ; thy cursing is manifested too narrow.' And 
 that I have discovered myself to be a false witness ; and 
 that the knowledge I hold forth leads not to God, but 
 to the chambers of hell and death. 
 
 Fifthly, he saith, ' O thou despiser, reproacher, belier 
 of the work of God in the heart of his children,' (mean- 
 ing the Quakers' people.) 
 
 Sixthly, he saith, i Thou art not yet cleansed from 
 lying lips.' 
 
 Seventhly, that the doctrine declared by this com- 
 mission of the Spirit, ( are notions, devices, and deceits. 
 Nay, the head or root of deceit.' 
 
 Eighthly, that I shall be ' rebuked for blasphemy.' 
 
 Now out of your own mouth shall you be judged, even 
 from your own hand writing, for you have written what 
 was in your heart, and now the proof whose God is the 
 true God, your God or my God; if the true God be an infi- 
 nite Spirit without a body, or which cannot die ; or 
 whether my God, the man Christ Jesus, who hath a 
 body now of his own, who is both God and man in one 
 single person, who did die and hath redeemed me, and 
 many more with his blood, who is distinct from angels 
 and men, and from all other creatures. I say, in the 
 same spirit and power as Elias spake when he was upon 
 earth, if his God whom he served was God, then let fire 
 come down from heaven and burn up the sacrifice in 
 the sight of the people ; but if Baal be God, let him 
 bring fire from heaven, without putting natural fire to 
 the sacrifice, and all Israel shall serve and worship 
 Baal. So say I, if the Quakers' God or Christ within 
 them, be able to deliver them from that curse I have 
 pronounced upon them, from a commission from my 
 God without me, and distinct from me, even the man 
 Christ Jesus, as beforesaid. I say, then let it be wit-
 
 33 
 
 nessed upon me, and all those that believe the doctrine 
 of the true God, declared by me ; else let all the speak- 
 ers of the Quakers, who have deceived many people 
 with their great God, that cannot be known nor compre- 
 hended ; I say, let them be cut off from the face of the 
 earth. I have known several of them cut off in these 
 six years time, and shall see many more of them cut off 
 this earth before I depart this life, besides their eternal 
 damnation hereafter ; but I know you Quakers will be- 
 lieve nothing but what you see with your natural eyes, 
 except you were served as Elijah served the priests of 
 Baal, to cause four hundred of you to be cut off at once, 
 visibly in the sight of other people ; but I know there 
 is more than four hundred, or four thousand either, of 
 you Quakers, that will suffer the vengeance of eternal 
 fire hereafter, for despising this personal God who died, 
 and did rise again by his own power, and me his mes- 
 senger ; but because it is to be hereafter or after death, 
 you make slight of it, and think there is no such 
 thing as the resurrection of the dead with bodies ; for 
 I know you will say, as they did in Paul's time, ' With 
 what bodies shall the dead rise V Paul answered, ' With 
 bodies as God shall give them ;' every seed its own 
 body, the seed of reason which you call the light of 
 Christ within you, shall rise a dark spiritual body, who 
 did not believe that God could not, or would not raise 
 them again ; so likewise the seed of faith shall be raised 
 spiritual bodies, light and swift able to ascend at their 
 pleasure, every seed its own body, in that the seed of 
 faith did believe when on earth, that God could and 
 would raise it up at the last day, and give it a spiritual 
 body, like unto himself. 
 
 I have viewed your book seriously over, and find that 
 you have not been so wrathful and fiery as others of 
 your brethren has been ; you have been more moderate 
 than many of them have, but I perceive your faith, 
 doctrine, principle, and God is the same as the Qua- 
 kers' is ; also you have brought yourself within the sin 
 
 E
 
 34 
 
 against the Holy Ghost, as well as others, in that you 
 have despised and spoken evil of the revelation of the 
 Spirit, and the doctrine declared by us the witnesses of 
 the Spirit. You have spoken evil of that God that sent 
 us, even the man Christ Jesus, above the stars in heaven ; 
 in that you have spoken evil of the Revelation declared 
 by me, and you have utterly denied yourself of any be- 
 nefit by the death of Christ; for you say the Godhead 
 Spirit of Christ did not die ; therefore no virtue nor 
 eternal life can be had for you by his death. 
 
 Now I shall name your words and passages in your 
 book which make up the sin against the Holy Ghost. 
 
 First, you have called the revelation of the true Spi- 
 rit, a deep imagination and deceit. 
 
 Secondly, you have called that wisdom and know- 
 ledge, revealed by God's true messenger, saying, it 
 doth not convey life but death, and poisons and cor- 
 rupts the mind. 
 
 Thirdly, you say, it is dark imagination indeed. 
 
 Fourthly, you say, O cease deceit, thou hast dis- 
 covered thyself to be a false witness, and that my know- 
 ledge leads not to God, but to the chambers of hell and 
 death. 
 
 Fifthly, thou sayest, O despiser, reproacher, belier, 
 thou art not yet cleansed from lying lips. 
 
 Sixthly, you have called the revelation of the Spirit, 
 notions, devises, deceits, and head and root of deceit. 
 
 These I have viewed, and considered, and find these 
 sayings of yours to be the sin against the Holy Ghost, 
 a sin which God will not forgive. 
 
 And, inasmuch as God hath chosen me, his messen- 
 ger to be the judge of blasphemy, against the Holy 
 Ghost or Spirit. 
 
 Therefore in obedience to my commission from God, 
 for these wicked sayings aforesaid; I do pronounce 
 ISAAC PENNINGTON, Quaker, cursed and damned, 
 soul and body from the presence of God, elect men 
 and angels, to eternity.
 
 35 
 
 Now do you see, whether your God, who moved you 
 to write against me and my God, can deliver you from 
 this curse I have passed upon you, by a commission 
 from a God that did die, and is alive again, and behold, 
 he is alive for evermore. 
 
 I give not judgement upon you out of any malice or 
 hatred, but had rather you had been quiet, and still as 
 you have been many years since you wrote to John 
 Reeve; neither can you say that I gave sentence 
 against you at uncertainty ; therefore you can plead no 
 excuse for yourself; for if you had not written to me, 
 against me, and my revelation, I should have let you 
 alone ; for I never did judge any man or woman till 
 they did judge me first, in one kind or other ; either 
 they judge me to be a blasphemer, liar, deceiver, false 
 prophet, deceit, deluder, or delusion ; with other words 
 of judging, before ever I give my judgment upon them. 
 It is a marvellous thing you should be so in love with 
 the Quakers' doctrine, thatyou will venture the sentence 
 of eternal damnation upon their principles, and sandy 
 foundation. 
 
 F i N i s.
 
 UNW. OF CAUF. UBRARY, LOS ANGEL$
 
 A\\F UNIVERS/A 
 
 ^AHvaaii-t 
 
 JE-UBBARVQc 
 
 \\\E UNIVERSE 
 
 ^LIBRARY 
 
 ^ ,"-?
 
 ERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FAC