from your Rebellion, nor help you to the Knowledge of Truth, now they are all dead; but this live Prophet shall torment you, and thofe dead ones shall not deliver you from my Power.

And as you have walked in the Steps of Korab, Dathan and Abiram, thofe notable Rebels, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron: And what was the Fruits of their Rebellion? Did not Mofes, the Prophet of the Lord, caufe the Ground to open and swallow them up alive, And this you fhall know, though I cannot cause the Earth to open its Mouth as Mofes did, yet this I can do, by my Commiffion of the Spirit, I can open Hell's Mouth, and that fhall fwallow you up alive, and keep you there eternally, where your Worm of Confcience fhall never die, and the Fire of Hell fhall never go out, that you may know to your endless Pain and Shame, that you rebelled and forfook the Bleffing of a true Prophet alive upon Earth at this Day. And for all your Pride, Prefumption, and Vapouring, lifting yourself up against the Lord's anointed chosen Prophet. And it will be a Wonder, if God's Vengeance doth not make you exemplary in this World, to be a Fugitive and Vagabond upon the Face of the Earth before you die, besides your Damnation hereafter; for Sins of this Nature are punished with a greater Punishment than any other Sin whatfoever, but Murder; and it would have been good for you and Medgate, if you had never been born. Therefore, in Obedience to my Commiffion, for this your Wickednefs, in falling from the Faith you once had in the Prophet, now alive, to Rebellion against him and against God, and for many base, proud prefumptuous Speeches in your Letters, I do pronounce you curfed and damned, in Soul and Body, from the Presence of God, Elect Men and Angels, to Eternity. And now do you fee whether God will take Notice of you, to deliver you, or whether he will own you or me; or whether your Faith be ftronger than mine; or whether you have declared Truth or I; neither fhall any of this Faith eat or drink with you, or trade any more with you, if I can help it; for you are caft out of God's Sight for ever, and caft out of the Prophet's Sight, and caft out of the Affembly, or the Society of the Believers, for ever; and now you may seek new Acquaint

ance

tance in the World, and fee if you can find a better Sort of People than those you find Fault with. And you need not fear as Cain did, that every one that meets you will kill you; but your own evil deceitful Heart to your Principles, and rejected Spirit, may meet your Conscience, and kill the Peace of it.

Written by

January 23, 1671.

LODOWICK MUGGLETON.

to

A COPY of a LETTER written by the Prophet Lodowick Muggleton, to Mr. James Whitehead of Braintree in Effex, bearing Date June 13, 1682.

I

Loving Friend in the true Faith, James Whitehead,

Received a Letter as from you, but I fuppofe not of your Hand-writing nor inditing; but I perceive you do own it as your's by the Direction of it, and your Name being at the latter End of your Letter, being your own Hand-writing, wherein your Defire and Requeft is, That I would answer those fix Queries you have laid down, as followeth.

Query 1. Whether there be fuch an Eftate attainable in this Life, that a Man may be certainly affured of eternal Life on the other Side of Death?

Anfwer. To this I fay, That the Scripture is full to prove, that the Fathers of Old, as Mofes and the Prophets do declare, and there was fuch an Estate attainable of the full Affurance of their eternal Happiness in the Kingdom of Glory after Death, even while they were in this mortal Life; elfe how could

D

Abraham,

Abraban, Ifaac, and Jacob have bleffed their Children? Shall any Man imagine, that their Bleffing did extend no further than the Things of this Life? Or fhall any Man think, that those they bleffed had not the Affurance of eternal Life in themselves?

As for Example, Chrift said when on Earth, Whoever 'believeth in me fhall not perish, but have everlasting Life abiding in him. So that, if Chrift, when on Earth, was affured of his own eternal Life and Glory after his Refurrection, when he had paffed through this firft Death, I fay the very fame Affurance was attained unto in this Life in every true Believer in that Commiffion, who continue ftedfaft to the End.

For this you must understand, that thofe Men God hath chofen, and hath given Power to bless and curfe, must needs have Affurance of eternal Life in themselves, else they could not give a Bleffing of eternal Life to those that believe them : So that Person that doth truly believe hath the fame Affurance of eternal Life abiding in himself, as he hath that gave the Bleffing, elfe what Peace and Satisfaction can any Person have in this Life; and if this Peace and Affurance be not attainable in this Life or in this World, it will never be attained to in the Life to come; but I know that you and many others have attained the Bleffing and the Affurance of everlasting Life in yourselves now in this prefent World, which will endure to Eternity.

Query 2. If attainable, whether a Man having once attained it, can finally fall away, and be reduced to a State of Damnation ?

Anfwer. That if a Man hath attained the Affurance of eternal Salvation, and that it doth abide in himself, he cannot finally fall away, nor be reduced to a State of Damnation; but if a Man do attain to the Affurance of eternal Salvation in his Head and in his Tongue only, fuch a one may finally fall away, and be reduced to a State of Damnation. Why? because this Affurance of eternal Life did not abide in him, that is, it did. not fink down into his Heart, it remained in his Head and Tongue only, fo that it taketh no Root in the Heart; fo that the Affurance of eternal Life in fuch Men it

Springeth

fpringeth up, and maketh a fair Shew quickly; but a little Oppofition caufeth it to wither, and finally to fall away, and be reduced to a State of Damnation.

This I have had Experience of, by fome Perfons you know, for he that hath attained the Affurance of eternal Life after Death, abiding in his Heart, then it is in himself, for it is faid, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart, with all tby Soul, with all thy Strength, fo that, whoever hath attained the Affurance of eternal Life here in this World in his Heart, fhall hold out to the End of this natural Life, and shall not fall away, nor be reduced to a State of Damnation.

Query 3. Whether our Juftification and Peace of Mind arifeth not purely from the Act of Faith from the true God?

Anfwer. That the Juftification and Peace of our Mind, it doth arise first from the Act of Faith in the Meffenger of God; for a Man muft firft believe he is a Man of God, ar fent from God, elfe why should any Man enquire of him after heavenly Things: Therefore it was the Prophet faid; Who bath believed our Report, or to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed? So that if People do not believe the Prophet's Report, that bringeth glad Tidings of Life and Salvation in the firft Place, he cannot have any Act of Faith in the true God, because it is the Prophet that doth declare the true God; which is the Prophet's Doctrine; fo that our Act of Faith doth first arife in believing the true Prophet, and that leads us to the Act of Faith in the true God; for there muft be a receiving which is believing, which is an Act of Faith in him that God fent in the first Place, and then you fhall receive God that fent him.

And fo Juftification and Peace of Mind arifeth purely from the Act of Faith in the true Prophet, who hath declared unto you the true God, which is the Rock to build your Faith upon, that will fay unto you in that Day Come, ye Bleffed, because you believed my poor defpifed Meffenger, when on Earth, enter into the Joys of Heaven, which is Life eternal, which my Meffenger I fent declared unto you; and in as much as you believed him which I fent, you believed in me.

D2

Thus

Thus do true Believers come to have Juftification and Peace of Mind in this Life, by the pure A&t of Faith that arifeth in their Hearts while here on Earth.

Query 4. Of what Ufe is the Moral-Law to us who have received the Commiffion of the Spirit in the Love of it, and have yielded Obedience thereunto, and have chose rather to fuffer under the Odium that evil Men have laid upon it than to enjoy the good Report the Men of this World give to false Worshippers.

Anfwer. That the observing and yielding Obedience to the Moral-Law is of great Ufe to all thofe who have received, and that have Faith in this Commiffion of the Spirit, and that have yielded Obedience unto it in the Love of it. Why? Because the Moral-Law is the fecond Commandment; for as Christ faid, when on Earth, There is but two Commandments; that is, one Commandment on God's Part, and the other on Man's Part.

The Commandment that is for God, is evangelical, fpiritual, and heavenly; that is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart, with all thy Soul, and with all thy Strength. This Commandment no Man, in the World, can keep, or perform, but thofe that do truly believe in this Commiffion of the Spirit: Why? Because no Religion in the World, at this Day, doth know the true God in his Form and Nature, but thofe that believe in this Commiffion of the Spirit. Therefore no Man can love God with all his Heart, nor with all his Soul, nor with all his Strength, because he doth not know God. For how can a Man love him with all his Heart, which he doth not know; but by Reading the Scriptures or the Hiftory of a God, a Man may know God in his Head by the Imagination of Reason, and in his Tongue to talk of a God, and fo love that which he doth not know with all his Head, and all his Tongue, and all his Imagination,

This is the State and Condition the whole World lieth in, as well Profeffors of the Scriptures, as others; For none can love God with all his Heart, but fuch as know God by Faith in this

Com