not you find eternal life by them, because you have judged and despised those whom God hath chosen, anointed, and sealed, to be the interpreters of the law and testimony; therefore, your repairing to the law and to the testimony now, will signify but little benefit to you; so that now you are in the old way of your father Cain.

Fourteenth. You say, and his promise, he that doth his will, shall know of his doctrine, whether it be of God or man.

Answer. That is as true a saying of yours, that he that doth God's will, shall know his doctrine; but you never did know his will, therefore you know not his doctrine, whether it be of God or man; neither are those promises in Scripture made to the seed of the serpent, such as you are; but the promises in the Scriptures were made to the seed of faith, who are made to believe God's messengers; and so they come to know God and his doctrine; for the doctrine of -man cannot declare what the true God is in his form and nature, and those books do, which you so much despise; but there can be expected no better from that seed you are of.

Fifteenth. Also you say, what shall we think of those precious souls, who have spent themselves for us in the Lord; you name Hooker, Cotton, Heldersham, Marshall, Burroughs, and Simpson.

These you say taught us, and brought us another doctrine than is contained in your papers.

Answer. You may think what you will of them, I know them to be false ministers, and their doctrine to be false also, because they had no commission from God to be ministers of the gospel; for he that preaches -without a commission from God, cannot preach true doctrine; and as for some of those precious souls, as

you call them, I know them to be damned devils; that Cotton, I suppose, was of New England, and that Holland Simpson, I suppose you mean, was of those precious souls that spent themselves for you; it was but the devil that spent himself for the devil, for that Cotton I know to be damned to eternity; there is none of the others will escape you speak of, before they were sent, though we the witnesses of the Spirit did not pass the sentence of eternal damnation upon them all; yet they taking upon them to preach the gospel without a commission from God, though much good may be done by it; yet it will be said unto them by the Lord Jesus, Depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I know ye not; for Christ will know none but those he hath sent; and as for that Cotton, I am as certain that man will be damned to eternity as Cain and Judas; if they escape, then he shall; and as for the other of your gracious souls, as you call them, must to damnation also, for preaching without a commission from God, because we, the witnesses of the Spirit, did not pass the sentence of damnation upon them, as we did upon Cotton; so they have not the seal of it as he had, yet they were all false, and taught a false doctrine for this I must tell you, that no man can teach or preach true doctrine, but he that is sent of God; and those gracious souls, as you call them, did bring, as you say, another doctrine than what is contained in those books and papers; for how can a man preach true doctrine, who knows not the true God, nor the right devil; for these men you speak of, their doctrine which they brought in, was their own lying imagination, which they did imagine out of the letter of the Scriptures, merely from the strength of reason, even as a tradesman doth his trade; and as tradesmen deceive others that are not skilful in that art, so did

X

these men become deceivers by their doctrine, and you and the captain, with many hundreds more, were deceived by them, for all the hearers of them, so long as they followed them, were, and are as blind as beetles in any spiritual and heavenly matters; neither hath God forbid them to be deceivers, nor you from being deceived by them; for the blind hath led the blind, and you will both fall into the ditch of eternal destruction; and as we and our doctrine shall enter into our master's joy, because we did not go before we were sent, but have been faithful to declare the truth, as it is in Jesus, the only wise God, blessed for

ever.

I have spoken of most of the chief things contained in your letter, concerning your wicked speeches against as pure truth as ever was spoken by prophet or apostle, for you would have said as much by them, if you had been living in their times, as you do by us the prophets of the Spirit; but I perceive you think to deal with prophets as you do with priests of the nation; you can speak evil, and find fault with them and their doctrine when they please not your humour; and when they speak any thing from the letter of the Scriptures that pleaseth you, you are good friends again; so that the shepherd and his doctrine must be judged by his sheep. This hath been the custom of formal christians ever since the ten persecutions; but you must not think to do so by prophets that have a commission from God; for he is no true minister of the gospel that hath no power to pronounce those blessed that receive his doctrine, and those cursed to eternity that despise it; therefore this doctrine and commission of ours will seem strange to the seed of the serpent, for little did you think, when you met with those books and papers, that you

met with men that have authority from God; neither do we speak or write as the Scribes, viz. as the priests and speakers of the nation; therefore, because you shall know that there is a true prophet in England, to give judgment upon despising spirits, in that you have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit that sent us; for whosoever receiveth him that is sent, receiveth him that sent him, even God; so, on the contrary, he that despiteth a prophet, despiseth him that sent him, even the Spirit of the Lord Jesus; which thing you have done, and that in a high nature, in calling the doctrine, contained in those books and papers, erroneous, strong delusions, and the wiles of the devil, wild notions, diabolical notions, with many more wicked speeches, as I have before mentioned.

Therefore in obedience unto my commission, for these your wicked and hard speeches against the doctrine of truth declared by us, the witnesses of the Spirit, I do pronounce you cursed and damned, both in soul and body, from the presence of God, elect men and angels, to eternity.

Deliver yourself from it if you can.

July 11, 1664.

Written by

LODOWICKE MUGGLETON.

A Copy of a Letter written by the Prophet Lodowick e Muggleton, to Mr. Thomas Tompkinson, of Sladehouse, in Staffordshire, bearing Date from London, December 9, 1664.

Loving Friend Thomas Tompkinson,

I RECEIVED your letter, bearing date October 2d, 1664, with the token. Also I have perused your letter, but had not time to give you an answer before now to it; neither have I time as yet, but because I am to go into Cambridgeshire before Christmas, I shall give you some lines for your satisfaction, before I go, which are as follow:

I have taken notice of some passages in your letter, which I shall give some answer unto.

The first thing is, whether Christ did know himself to be the only God when he was in a state of mortality, or no? You say you cannot tell; yet the seventh chapter of our commission-book doth say he did: but Mr. Claxton, in his Wonder of Wonders, saith he did not know himself to be the only God.

As to this I say, it is not much material, whether Christ himself did know himself to be God the Father, or not, when he was in a state of morality; but the comfort and benefit that will redown to us; it is for us to believe and know, that Jesus Christ was in the state of mortality, and is the only God and everlasting Father. So that the happiness that will be unto us, it is to know and believe that he is the only God, and everlasting Father; but whether he knew himself