litia, for my person to come before them; for not appearing upon the Trained Bands, they fined me five pounds; and I being not at home, but he thought I was, so he in fury threatened my wife and Mrs. Brunt, and caused my wife to open the door, which she need not; but when he got into the chamber, he seized upon the best and heaviest chest, and caused two porters to carry it away to Guildhall, for five pounds, for not appearing upon the Trained Bands. The chest had in it books and linen to the worth of fifteen or sixteen pounds; so after he had done, he knew that he could not justify this act of his, by virtue of a military warrant, before the man of the house was apprehended; and he heard that I would sue him at the law for burglary and felony, to take away a man's goods before a man is convicted by the law; he hearing of this, pretended a great deal of love to my daughter White, as if he for her sake would do her father what good he could to get the chest again for a small matter, before the chest was broke up in the open court; and because I was not willing the court should see the books, for there were twelve pounds worth of books in it; but if they had been any other goods, I would have suffered it to have been broken open, and have seen whether they durst have sold them; but because of the books, I desired my daughter to comply with them, and get the chest off as cheap as she could; so with the help of this marshal she got the chest again, unbroken-up, for a matter of thirty-three shillings. After this it came to pass, about Michaelmas last, there came eight or ten stationers, and other officers, and some of them the king's messengers, thinking to apprehend me for the old business at the first, and as it happened my wife was not at home neither, for if she had been at home, they would have broken in, pretending to search for me, and there were many books at that time very easy to be taken; but she being not at home, they being very angry, went and searched the bookbinder's house for unlicenced books, so they found three of mine that were binding, and they took them away, and charged the bookbinder to bind no more; so there they fleeced thirty shillings more from me; so now I have removed my books out of my house, and shall prevent them from taking away any more; but now all their drift is to catch me, that they might get more money out of me, but I shall do my best endeavour to keep out of their hands, for I have not been at home to lodge these five months, nor shall not all this winter. Thus in brief you may perceive some part of the troubles I have met with this year; and as for any spiritual matters, there is no other but what you have heard and seen; and if there were, it would be too tedious to write the revelations of faith; and as for parliament news, there is none here in London, neither hath the parliament determined any thing yet as I hear of, only to raise money for the king; but that way you speak of, is but talk; as to talk, there is no such thing, neither can there be any such thing as the state of things stands now. This is all at present, being in haste, only my love, and my wife's love remembered unto yourself and your wife. I rest and remain your friend in the eternal truth, LODOWICKE MUGGLETON. London, December 17, 1670. You may direct your letter to me as formerly, as your last, for my wife is always at home. A Copy of a Letter written by the Prophet Lodowicke Muggleton to Mrs. Ellen Sudbury, of Nottingham, bearing date January 13, 1671. Dear Friend in the eternal Truth, Ellen Sudbury, I RECEIVED your letter, with the Quaker's letter inclosed, and I confess it hath been a long time since I sent unto you; and I think I did receive two or three letters from you, and one or two from Mrs. Parker, and I gave you no answer, because I had no matter of concernment to write unto you; yet nevertheless my love was as great to you both as ever, though I did not write unto you; also I have hardly had time to write unto you since, for my time hath been much taken up all this summer with several Quakers that are fallen off from them, and are very firm in the belief of this commission of the Spirit, and are very well grounded in it, and their faith very firm, and none of the smallest persons neither; yet, as some have been exalted in their minds, and settled in the knowledge of heavenly things by me, so on the contrary, some, that were exalted in their knowledge by being in my favour, have rebelled against me, for which rebellion they have been cast down and out of my sight, because several innocent persons were drawn aside to join in their rebellion; but I have separated the sheep from the goats, that is, the obedient from the rebellious; and this act of rebellion hath been in agitation this whole year, but now it is brought to a period; and this hath taken up much time in writing and talking to other believers, to satisfy them in this rebellion; so that all are satisfied now, and more firmly fixed to me than before, only three or four of the grand rebels I have cast out, three cast out for ever, but one of the four repented quickly, and humbled himself, and I forgave him, but the others are hardened. And who do you think is one of the rebels? Even Walter Bohenan the Scotchman, his rebellion is great, for he hath joined with the other two without a cause, and he hath undertaken to plead their cause, and make their cause his own, and he hath written two base letters to other believers, to persuade them to rebellion against me, and to cleave unto the Scriptures; so that I see there is no place of repentance will be found for him; but perhaps you may hear more of this hereafter, for it would be too large to give you an account of the ticulars and ground of this rebellion, therefore I shall not trouble you no further at present, only let you know we are all well at present; so with my love and my wife's love remembered unto yourself, and to our dear friend Mrs. Parker, par I rest and remain your friend in the eternal truth, LODOWICKE MUGGLETON. The Postern, London, And as for the Quaker's letter to the woman you sent, there is nothing in it to ground any answer unto it, neither by the woman, nor none else; they do as little children do, ask their parents such questions as cannot be answered by the parents, no more than the child that asks can tell; and do not they shew their ignorance and darkness to put queries to simple ignorant women to answer, which they cannot answer themselves, for they know not how to answer those queries they have put to the woman than a dog doth; if the mouth of the dog were opened to speak, he would say as much to those Quakers as they can; for if they knew how to interpret those Scriptures and queries, why did they not give the women to know them while they were of their faith; but now they be departed from them, now they come to learn knowledge of the women, and propound queries to them, as if those that depart from the Quakers people and principle are immediately endued with such knowledge as to answer any thing they do propound; and for the queries themselves, they have been answered over and over again in the Quakers Neck Broken, and in Fox's Looking-Glass, the women may read the answers to the Quakers there, and save themselves a labour. But there is one thing in the queries that I never heard before, that is, what complexion God is of; as for his stature and bigness is shewed in Fox's Looking-Glass, and for his complexion I could shew that also, but what good will that do Quakers to know; yet to satisfy you, I shall give you a little knowledge of it, what complexion he was of when he was upon earth, and what complexion he is of now; as thus, God became flesh, and dwelt amongst men, as in the first of John; likewise when he became flesh he was a Nazarite, as the Scripture saith. Now what complexion Nazarites were of, you may see in the Lamentions of Jeremiah, chap. iv. verse 7. The words are these: The Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in their bodies than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire. This was the complexion of |