A Copy of a Letter written by the Prophet Lodowicke Muggleton to Isabella Malum, Quaker, dated from London, October 1, 1674, and directed to her at Nottingham.

: Isabella Malum,

I RECEIVED a letter, dated Nottingham, the 12th of the fifth month, 1674. I know it is not of your hand-writing, but it is the testimony of your own heart, as you have declared; wherein you have shewed what seed and nature you are of, even the seed of the serpent, in that you have been left to the reasonings of your own heart, as King Saul was, to reject the prophet of the Lord, in sinning against the commandment of the prophet Samuel, and go to a witch; so that the good Spirit of the Lord departed from him, and an evil spirit of the Lord, was sent unto him; so it is with you: you have rejected and despised me, the prophet of the Lord, and have given your testimony against the good Spirit of the Lord, and did strive with your evil spirit of reason, the devil in you; which good spirit would have led you through that narrow gate which leads to life eternal, which few do find, or enter therein. But I perceive the evil spirit of reason in you hath prevailed, and hath the victory over you, and hath led you captive, insomuch that it hath caused you to despise and reject the good Spirit of the Lord, in his messenger, which brings glad tidings of salvation to all that truly believe in him.

1. This Spirit of truth you call a seducing spirit of Lodowicke Muggleton, which you say leads to

death and destruction; so that the good Spirit of the Lord that did strive with you, and had almost per-. suaded you to join with it, as you have expressed in your testimony, is now departed from you; and the evil spirit of reason in you is now to be your guide ; and the good Spirit shall strive no more with you; for you shall be given up to a reprobate mind, as Saul was; and the hope of such hypocrites as you shall perish.

2. You say, it is now upon your heart to declare something how you came to lose your condition, and to backslide from the Quakers, and from that light within, which you call the light of Christ, which did reprove you of sin, and convince your conscience of the vanities, and customs, and fashions of this world.

As to this, I say, if you had been at rest, and peace of mind, in the Quakers principles and practice, you would never have backslidden from them. For the cause why people run from one thing to another is, because they are not at rest where they are. For this I say, if religious people could find peace, and rest of mind, in the doctrine and practice of the seven churches, there would never a man or woman believe me; for there is none believes me, but those that are lost; for I am in the same condition as Christ was when upon earth; he came but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, not to those that were settled in a form of religion, as the Scribes and Pharisees were, and as all the seven churches are now: so that if you had found rest in the Quakers way, why did you not keep there? Why did you backslide from them? Certainly, if the Quakers way had been the truth, (as you say now,) it would have given you rest then. And are you so bewitched, to

think that you shall find more peace in that truth you backslided from now, than you did when you were in your innocency? Will the Quakers love backsliders better than they did before? I am sure, the true God, nor his messengers, doth not love backsliders, nor hypocrites, nor rebels, as they do integrity and uprightness of heart. But the Quakers people being ignorant of the true God, perhaps their God, an infinite Spirit without a body, or that God in them, will be more merciful than the true God: perhaps their God, an infinite Spirit, will love you better for your backsliding from them; and the more because you had like to have been catched in Muggleton's snare, as you say. But I can do as Peter did by his, pick out of his snare or net the good fish, and cast the bad away. I can spare such as you are very well. And whereas you say you backslided from that light within you, which you call Christ, which did reprove you, and convince your conscience of sin, and of the vanity of this world; this light of Christ was nothing else but the law written in your heart, which did accuse you when your mind was vain; and when your mind did not run after vanity, the law written in your heart did excuse your conscience.

Indeed this law was written in every man's heart by Christ, the only God; therefore may be called the light of Christ, that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world: but Christ's person is distinct from this law written in man's heart; and this light of the law is distinct from Christ; and whoever maketh the law written in his heart, that accuseth and excuseth, to be the very Christ, as the Quakers do, that Christ within them shall prove the greatest devil to all eternity.

3. You say, you desired to see Lodowicke Mug

gleton's books: you say you heard some places here and there read, and you were asked the question, whether ever you heard friends declare such things? And you said, nay. Likewise you do confess, you were bid to take heed of judging or speaking against him. Here was the desire of reason, the devil in you, to see those books: and you say you heard them read. Did those that shewed you those books, force them upon you, without your desire, and contrary to your mind? They were lent unto you; for I am sure you bought none. What provoked you to desire to see them for your own hurt? Likewise you had a charge given you, not to speak against them; but you contrarily have spoken evil of them in a high nature, insomuch that you have spoken against your own soul; for had you not been of that reprobate seed, you would have had a care of speaking evil of those books that were so lovingly lent you: they cost you nothing had you been of the elect seed, though you could not have believed them, or not liked them, you would have been kept from speaking evil of them.

4. You say you had got some of his books, and reading of them, your heart became dark, having lost your guide, which caused you not to believe in him, as the only prophet and messenger of the most High God. Here the spirit of reason was struck dark in you, by reading those books, because the doctrine contained in those books did so far surmount the doctrine or principles of the Quakers, as the sun in its brightness doth the twinkling star; so that the light of the law in you, which was but as the light of a star in you, which is nothing else but the light of nature, which guideth men to do things honest and just between man and man. And this light of nature

is that light of Christ in you, and that truth you so much talk of; for this I know, that there is never a Quaker in the world that hath any other light of Christ in him, but the light of nature, not as he is in the state of a Quaker; and this was the cause you were stark dark in the reading those books, because the light in you was put out, and caused you to walk in darkness; having lost the light of nature, you lost your guide; which, if you could have stood still awhile in patience, you should have seen the salvation of the true God, and have been brought out of that darkness into his marvellous light, which is heavenly, far exceeding the light of the law in you; which would have caused you indeed to believe him to be the true prophet and messenger of the most high God; but you being the seed of the serpent, heaven was not appointed for you, but hell only.

5. You say, I sent a letter to a follower of mine at Nottingham, that if the two women that were fallen from the Quakers, would turn to them again, let them return; but if they do, they will perish for ever. Likewise I said in that letter, if I be in the truth, all that believe in my commission shall be saved; but if I be not in the truth, all shall be damned that believe in me. These, or to this effect, you say, was part of my letter. Further you say, the hearing of this letter struck you to the heart, and much trouble seized upon you, that you should venture your salvation upon the words of a mortal man.

Also you say, Oh! how you cried to the Lord, that you might once more be worthy to be a door-keeper amongst the congregation of the faithful, before you go hence, and shall be seen no more.

As to this, I did send a letter to a follower of mine at Nottingham, that if the two women that were