reverence be it spoken must acquit the man though in himself ungodly for payment being made satisfaction given by the surety it is but just that the debtor be acquitted and discharged shall not the judge of all the world do right yea God is just and will declare his righteousnesse by justifying him that believeth in Jesus Now God the Father having thus reconciled the world unto himself by Christ for the farther carrying on of this work commits the ministery and service of this reconciliation to his Apostles and Ministers in their successive generations who as Heralds and Ambassadors authorized and commissionated by him should publish and in his na e preach the glad tydings of salvation this everlasting Gospell And to let all men even the Gentiles see what hope there is of their fellowship and participation of the blessings and benefits of this mysterie of godlinesse which from the begining of the world have bin hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ no nation people or person being now excluded or shut out the partition wall of Jewish ordinances being broken down and both Jew Gentile bond and free male and female all may come drink freely of that well of salvation which Christ hath opened for all persons that will come unto him whereof for his part he is so free being no niggard of his blood and merits that he intreats all to come and partake of And by his servants making a full tender of himself as Priest Prophet and King to all that will receive him And to as many as thus receive him giving them right power and just claime to become the sons of God and heires of the kingdome which he had purchased But now man by his fall being dead in the dark yea darknesse it self and so in his natural state and blindness unable to receive and comprehend this glorious and gracious mysterie of being righteous by anothers righteousness and of being saved by anothers sufferings all men Jewes and Gentiles doting and being fruitlesly set upon seeking life and happiness by their own doings and performances Therefore together with the revelation of this mysterie by the ministry of his servants sent for that purpose Christ over and above that common work of the Spirit by which he enlightens every man that comes into the world gives unto those who are given him of the Father and who are to be called according to the eternal decree and purpose which he purposed in himself and whereby he surely knowes those that are and shal be his to them he gives a mind and understanding to know him and to receive him and to be in him and to be one with him who is the true God and eternal life And now a believer having Christ who is eternal life hath eternal life in and by Christ whereas those who thus have him not sc by believing have not eternal life because what in them lies they make God a liar not entertaining and closing with that testimony and record that he gave of his son which was that in him he was well pleased not onely with him for so he could not but be in justice forhe had never offended him But in him he was well pleased being in mercy and loving kindnes satisfied for the sins of all those who come unto God by him who therefore are received as sons and daughters by free grace and adoption And now that those who thus believe in Christ might have the witness in themselvs of their Sonship because they are sons God sends forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts whereby they are imboldned to call upon God as Sons crying Abba Father being thereunto the more imboldned because by the same Spirit they are sealed and marked out unto the day of redemption And which is given to them as a pledge and earnest in hand for an assurance to them of their full inheritance when their adoption and son-ship shall be compleated by the redemption of their bodies from the power of Corruption as now their soules are from the reign and power of sin The same spirit also in the meane time leading them into all saving truth comforting them in all their troubles and helping them in all their infirmities And thus hath a Believer in himself the testimony both of blood and of the spirit witnessing to and with his spirit that he is a son and child of God But then as there are three in Heaven that bear record and give testimony to this great mysterie of godliness sc The Father the word the holy Ghost So there are must be three witnesses on earth i. The heart of a true believer before the work can be compleated which are three the Spirit Blood and Water For Christ came not by blood alone for justification nor by water onely for sanctification but by water and blood both which Sacramentally flowed forth from his precious body when he hung upon the Crosse a Sacrifice for our redemption thereby shewing forth the end of his suffering viz. both the justification sanctification of his people And therefore he that hath not the witness testim within himself of all three hath not the witness of either he whose heart conscience cannot witnes to him his faith believing in that blood of Christ shed for his justification cannot have the witness of this blood as water for cleanâ—ing and sanctification For Christ sanctifies none but whome he justifies he whose heart cannot witnes to him his faith operating on the blood of Christ as water for sanctification canot have the testimony of blood and his interest in it for justification For Christ justifies none but he also sanctifies the n. And he that hath not the testimony and witnesse in himself of his intrest in blood and water for justification sanctification cannot have the testimony and witnesse of the spirit sealing for these three agree in one all beare witness to one the same truth sc Christs comming dying to redeeme us from sin and all iniquity both in the guilt and in the filth of it both from the condemnation and from the domination of sin For the grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teacheth us that denying ungodlinesse and world y lusts we shâ—ud live soberly righteously and godlily in this present world looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeeme us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar and choice people zealous of good works And for asmuch as no uncleane person can enter into the Kingdome of Heaven where the inheritance is For know ye
then whom none is more true more faithfull there 's a sure foundation a rock vnmoveable And then know further No truthe's thine own till thou art got up into the power of it And that thou square thy beliefe and life accordingly The onely way to be establisht against error and heresie As for the Mysterie of Ungodlinesse concerning it I shall give thee directions when thon commest unto it It is meet the mystery of Godlinesse should have the first place that it might take the first possession of thee as a season against the poysons of heresie and ungodlinesse And then the more full the discovery the more thou wilt abhor and avoid it This is the aime of my labour which end if I shall attaine I shall rejoyce In hope whereof I commend my labours to thee And thee and them to him who a lone is able to make all profitable Alwaies remaining Thy faithfull friend in the service of the Gospel of that Jesus Christ which dyed at Jerusalem above sixteen hundred years agoe R A. FARMER ERRATA Reader I Am to beg thy favourable excuse in regard of some errors in the printing My desire was that the Title at the head of every page should have run thus sc The great Mysterie of Godliness to the first part which extends to page 18. And the Great Mysterie of Ungodliness from thence to the end The Title The great Mysterie of Godliness and Ungodliness being intended only for the Title-Page There are some other faults in not observing full stops And new Sections marginal notes and quotations of Scriptures transposed and disordered in the first The Mysterie of Godliness which though they alter not the sense in the body of the Discourse yet they hinder the advantage that might be made by those who would examine the quotations This may possibly occasion a new impression of that part by it selfe which is but little And therefore in the mean time need not much trouble thee Some Errata which may alter the sense I have observed which I intreat thee to correct with thy pen ere thou read In the Epistle Dedicatory Page 1. line last but one r. Genius p. 2. l. 14. r. a breath p. 3. l. 9. r. But because l. 10. dele you I excuse my own misnaming at the end my self Epistle to the Reader P. 1. l. 5. r. without an Apology l. 6. for pay r. paper p. 2. l. 10. r. briefly l. 11. r. try In the Book Pa 1. l. 14. r. goodly l. 19. for observe r. subserve ib. for Ministry r. Mysterie p. 2. l. 8. dele if l. 9. for tie r. tree l. 27. r. into l. 33. after these words perversness of spirit add proneness to all manner of evil p. 3. l. 14. r. continue p. 4. margin note at the bottom for of faith by nature r. of both by nature p. 5. l. 17. dele the word all l. 35. dele fig. 1. ib. margin r. shut up as in a prison p. 8. l. 9. r. when p. 9. l. 23. dele to read that he might break p. 1. Mar. dele new sect p. 12. l. 15. for are three r. three are p. 13. l. 11. for inheris r. enter l. 27. for this r. these p. 14. l. 31. r. that though where p. 15. l. 26. dele is p. 16. l. 37. exercises p. 18. l. 10. r. freely l. 13. r. differing p. 2. l. 3 r. They are l. 21. for waders r. Readers l. 36. r. proposed l. 37. r. as their usual l. 39. for cry r. say p. 23. l. 6 for for r. to l 9. dele thou l. 10. dele the interrogative points read perceive them l. 11. for such r. thing l. 6. after old add foundations p. 24. l. â—5 for powerful r. wonderful l. 36. for works r. marks l. 39. for within r. which in p. 30. l. 31. r. these p. 32. l. 7. for this r. h s. l. 29. r. give you in here p. 34. l. 6. r. proposes p. 59. l. 9. for flesh r. flash l. 22. dele yea l. 26. r. naturally p. 71. l. 11. for law r. light p. 76. l. 13. r. hypocritically l. 24. for reading r. pleading p. 88. l. 35. for an unknown r. one unclean The great Mystery of Godlinesse and Ungodlinesse 1 Tim. 3. 16. Without controversie great is the Mystery of godlinesse God was manifest in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into glory THe eternal invisible only wise God Father Son and holy spirit who only hath immortality dwelling in that light which no man can approach unto and which no man hath seen or can see and live who being the Authour and beginner of all things orders disposes all things as their end for his own glory This mighty God intending to make his power and god-head and glory known in the beginning of time created the godly frame of Heaven and Earth as a place wherein to manifest much of that glory And having made the Angels creatures of an intellectual spiritual and so of an invisible nature alwayes to stand before him ready to obey and execute his Commands as ministring spirits to observe and bring about this great Ministry intended made also other creatures to dwell upon the earth of a grosse and bodily substance subject unto the eye of sense and subservient also to this great design of his immortal glory And last of all as the abridgement and compendium of the whole Creation and the choycest piece os his workmanship by whom he would be most glorified he makes man consisting of a soul an immortal and spiritual nature to serve him as an Angel in a spiritual manner and of a body a grosse and visible substance to serve and honour him above and beyond other Creatures Angels and bruit Beasts in a visible and outward way of worship And to that end endowed him with his own blessed Image of righteousnesse holinesse and excellent knowledge and gave him also soveraignty and dominion over the rest of the visible Creation all things being made subservient to him By which means he was eminently qualified for special communion with and enjoyment of his Creator The whole man being in a sweet frame of holy conformity unto his soveraigns will by obedience whereunto he might have been everlastingly blessed and happy Now the Lord having made man in this estate of honour to make way for his own glory in and by this great Mystery of Godlinesse leaves him in the hand of his own counsel under a strict Command of not eating of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil with a kind of a Covenant and condition of everlasting life upon obedience to it And if the contrary upon the breach and disobedience of it Which tie and the Command concerning it was as a
have accounted it as happinesse earned and would have given in the reward as due in by and for working And would have allowed him in his glorying But you see clearly that that way of salvation is quite shut up For by the works of the law and by obedience thereunto can no man be justified and therefore hath the Lord concluded and shut up all under sin that by saving those who are saved by free rich and undeserved and unearned grace and mercy he might take away all matter and occasion from man of boasting and glorying in any work or thing done or performed in or by himself by any strength or power how ever received which he might call his own and that he that glories might glory in the Lord that he is a God that exerciseth loving kindness in the earth and that there is none like unto him that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remant of his heritage his chosen heritage and who retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy and in mercy hath freely given his own Son as before to do that for us which we were no wayes able to do for our selves viz. to fulfill all righteousness in his own person for us that we only beliving in him as to the justification of our persons and acceptation with God might not perish but have everlasting life Nay a little farther to set forth the fulness and freeness of this grace so free is it that whereas this righteousness of Christ is made ours onely by our closing with and receiving Christ as tendred to us by the Father and to those ends and purposes before mentioned that very grace or hand as I may so call it whereby we do receive him is freely given to us For whereas all men have not faith without which it is impossible to please God and to be accepted with him and without which no man can receive and close with Christ Jesus for righteousness and life and whom whosoever hath not hath not life the Lord himself gives faith it self to the heires of salvation the chosen and called according to his purpose whereby they do believe And whereas they are naturally unwilling to deny themselves and to come to Jesus Christ he makes them who of themselves are not able so much as to have a good thought willing and able and whereas their faith is weak he strengthens it And when their faith is ready to fail he secures it nay whereas there is an utter inability in man to this saving work and so much reluctance in corrupted nature against it the Lord puts forth Exercises more then common and ordinary power to accomplish this work in the hearts of his children not only power but great power yea exceeding great power even the same by which Jesus Christ was raised from the dead which is no common and general power So that there is such a change wrought in a believer that the work is called as it is there being none of this in man before a new creation And the man a new man And he hath a new heart and a new Spirit whoever attains this hath another spirit then he had before And all this is freely given them of God and of meer grace that God might have all the glory and man might cry Grace grace unto it For grace is free else grace were not grace To God alone therefore be glory A second reason why the great mysterie of godlinesse is thus contrived respects the Saints true Christians t is for their security certain attainment to and establishment in the glory and happinesse proposed God at first when he had made man good and happy left him to himself and to his own freedome not engaging in any sort to preserve him in that condition And man shewed himselfe a creature though good yet mutable But now Jesus Christ the second Adam and the head of this new creation hath entred into a Covenant with God and made an agreement with the father establisht upon better termes and better promises for whereas the Condition of the first covenant and agreement between God and us for happinesse was exact obedience to be performed in our own persons Man you see made righteous and holy and without sin in him to prompt him to disobedience yet did not keep himself so but irrecoverably fell for ought that he could doe to help himselfe from that blessed Condition And if he could have helpt himself which was impossible he that fell once might fall away again and so could never be secured of his happinesse But now contrary to the custome among men A tenure in Capite is better then fee-simple To have and to hold salvation by Christ our head is better more secure lasting then when in our own keeping God won't trust us nor Christ won't trust us with our selves nor with our righteousnesse by which we shall stand upright and in favour with them any longer if our righteousnesse were in our selves supposing we were redeemed from our former Captivity yet if when we were truely good and had no experience of sin and corruption in us we did then faile much more should we do so now But it now being in Christ who is more then a bare Creature and now become our surety and undertaker he will keep it for us and us for it And will not faile us So that now the promise of righteousnesse life and salvation is sure to all the seed of Christ Believers I will not be long here neither lest my book should swell but reader blessed God for Jesus Christ and be thankfull And now lastly to come to a conclusion and wherein I will be brief This great mysterie is thus ordered That the Lord might thereby more sweetly and in a way agreeable to his own nature draw man unto himselfe And more strongly ingage him to him There 's nothing so sweetly freshly and strongly drawes and ingages a rational ingenuous nature as love mercy And by how much the greater the Distance and disproportion was between the parties deferring And by how much the greater the misery and unworthinesse of him was to whom the mercy was extended by so much the greater sweeter stronger powerfull and prevailing is that grace and mercy shewed Reader enlarge these things in thy meditations till thy heart be warmed and then admire and adore and love and serve And conclude and say withodt Contriversie great is the mysterie of Godlinesse God was manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of angels precheth unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into Glory From whence we expect him to come to judge both quick and dead Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly MYSTERIE BABYLON THE GREAT OR The Great Mystery of Vngodlinesse
as it is made manifest in me and to declare what Faith we own and practise and what we do deny to that end that the simple may be informed and the way of truth cleered from such deceivers who are perverters of the Scriptures who would constrain people to follow their imaginations instead of truth as these men have done whose names are subscribed And now a few words in answer to that you call your first Principle First Principle That the Scripture is the rule of knowing God and living unto him which whoso doth not believe but betakes himself to any other way of discovering God instead thereof cannot be saved Answ The Scriptures are not the Saints rule of knowing God and living unto him but that which was before the Scriptures were written by which all the holy men of God knew him and here ye have made your selves manifest that ye have not the rule which Moses had which is the spirit of light by which he made himself known unto the sons of men and ye that teach people to walk in another rule are those that put light for darkness and darkness for light shewing forth the spirit of error and here ye pervert the Scripture and Moses words which prophesied of Christ Moses bad not the people walk by the Scripture neither did he tell them that living therein was the rule of knowing God but he directed them to the Life without which all their profession was abominable but ye are not come to walk in the Letter whose lips and practice doth not concord with it who are found acting those things which it declares against Matth. 23. who are called of men Master stand praying in the Synagogues which our Lord Jesus Christ cryed wo against and here your Faith and your Principle is descryed who are not so much as found acting in that which you call your rule Now lest you should boast in your glory and the simple be stumbled by your subtilty I am moved of the Lord to open and discover unto all that your Faith is no more then all the ungodly in this Nation doth profess and also that the Rule whereby the Saints are guided is that which was before the Scripture was First it is professed generally in this Nation that believing in the Scriptures is the rule of knowing God this have you preached for Doctrine among the people and yet the way of God is hidden from their eys who are found acting in the abominations of the Heathen as doth plainly appear by the sins of this people nay what sin is there that is not committed amongst this people which have professed the Scripture to be their rule and you that pretend to be their teachers are the greatest examples of their wicked practices Crying peace peace unto them when there is no peace one building a wall and another dawbing it with untempered morter but ye shall proceed no further but your folly shall be made manifest to all men Our rule is that whiâ—h Moses walked in and Abraham and David and all the Prophets which is Christ Jesus the light of the world which whosoever believeth not in him hath not God Moses walked in him Abraham believed in him and David delighted in his Law which is perfect and here we deny you who deny that rule in which the holy men of God walked in Second Principle That there is a God who is the Creator and Judge and Governor of the world and is to be known by Faith Answ The Saints God ye are ignorant of who put light for darkness and darkness for light and before him ye cannot stand in judgement who are found working wickedness making people believe that believing in a thing without them will bring them to the knowledge of God which none can know or understand but through death and if ever ye come to know this God whom the Saints worship in Spirit and Truth ye must witness a day of vengeance to pass through therefore stop your mouths ye proud and lustful ones the day of recompence is come in which ye shall receive double for all your wickedness The Lord is our Iudge our Law-giver and our King and this we witness though we had never seen the Scripture And here we deny you and your principles which is no more than that which the world professeth Therefore be ye ashamed ye wicked and ungodly ones who live in the beastly nature who knows no more of God than what ye have without in the Scriptures which they spoke forth that witnessed him before the Scriptures were written him we own and witness to be our King by him we are redeemed out of your generation glory to his name for ever who hath made himself manifest in us and hath brought us to that which was before the Scripture was Third Principle That this God who is Creator is eternally distinct from all other Creatures in his being and blessedness Ans God ye know not neither can ye see him but are found persecutors of him who would divide him from what he is by heathenish inventions which ariseth out of the corrupt sensual part which never shall inherit the Kingdom The being of God is not distinct from them that are begotten by him For as the Father and the Son are one without distinction so are they that are begotten by him and here you perverters of the truth are shut forth from God with all your distinctions and imaginations which ariseth out of the dark mind by which ye have all this while deceived the people Woe unto you ye enemies of God your foundation your compass and your end is made manifest unto the children of light who would divide God from his children whom he hath begotten unto himself through the word of faith in which we live and abide for ever And here I challenge you before the Lord to produce one Scripture which speaks of God being distinct from them that are begotten by him and if you cannot prove your words by plain Scripture let shame cover your faces and stop your mouthes for ever And for your fourth thing That God is three persons or substances this is also another of your lies never such a word is declared of in Scripture and thus have you made your folly manifest to all men and have cleared your selves from the Scriptures God is a mystery in whom the foundation of all things stands and he is but one in all though ten thousand times ten thousand Woe unto ye you perverters of the truth who blinds the eyes of the simple making them believe your imaginations and conceivings in stead of truth and this you run to the powers of the earth to propagate Ye men of sin did ever the Prophets declare of such Gospel as this or did ever the Apostles preach any such doctrine as this which ye would compel people to believe and would have the powers of the earth to propagate Here I challenge you again to prove your example
That Jesus Christ is God and man in one person which as before most blasphemously they answer was a lie What doth he mean to alter their words and to call him only the man of God not God and man as they express it Whereas you say in the eight saith he that this Christ the man of God is God and man in one person it is a lye If he did believe him to be God and man would he have altered their words and given him such a diminishing appellation as the man of God a title given to meer creatures And as for the humane nature of Christ his distinct particular and proper body do they not deny it For a query being put to George Fox Whether Jesus Christ have a body in heaven and whether it be the same that appeared among men in the flesh c. Thou shalt find him answering That Christ hath but one body which is saith he the Church and he saies he remains in the heavens but he will not say he hath a humane body there And being asked as before Whether it be the same that appeared amongst men He answers It is the same that did descend the same did ascend not acknowledging any other body than what did descend And in the eighty page being asked with what bodies the Saints shall arise and dwell and live in for ever And whether every particular Saint shall have a particular body He answers The Saints shall arise in that body which Christ doth live in for saith he he is the Saviour of the body he is the head of the body and the resurrection and the life of the body and his body is but one So that here thou seest that Christ and the Saints have no distinct bodies of their own and but one common body all blended together And as they thus offer violence to Jesus Christ in his nature and person so do they also to him in his death bloudshed and merits This in part appears by what hath been shewed already in their scoffing at our hopes of being saved by that Jesus Christ that died at Jerusalem and in saying that they are redeemed by the blood of Christ but not at Jerusalem onely but say they made manifest in us So that there is something in themselves whereby they are redeemed Truths Defence pag. 95. and in the 86. page of the same Book they say There is that light and power in every man which if he take heed to it and wait within there he shall find his Saviour Mark there within he shall find his Saviour And affirming the elect were never defiled c. But it appears further in that they hold the sufferings of Christ now in the Saints to be satisfactory for sins past present and to come For Howgill and Borr. as thou maist see in their Answer herewith printed before to the seven Queries say thus Thou blasphemer askes thou knows not what is not Christ the same now as ever and is not the sufferings of Christ satisfactory wherever Nay which is more horrid if we take the question and answer together do they not in effest say for they will not yet speak out all their mind that the sufferings of Christ now in the Saints is all the satisfaction to or which the Justice of God looks for for sins past present and to come For that as thou maist see was the question and they answer as thou seest Are not these men their own saviours and as they make satisfaction for their sin by their own sufferings so they hold they are justified by their own righteousness This also shalt thou find in the last quoted book in their answer to the 9 query where they rail upon the querist for asking Whether there be not another righteousness by which the Saints are justified meaning the righteousness of Christ as in the former query then that righteousness which Christ works in them and by them viz. the saints For this they most wretchedly revile and rail upon the querist because he would have another righteousness then the righteousness of Christ which he works in the Saints and by them Reader if thou be a Christian and knowst any thing of Christ and the Gospel tell me woulst not thou have another righteousness than that righteousness of Christ which he works in thee and by thee I know thou wouldst have and shalt and must have if ever thou be saved the righteousness of Christ wrought in thee and by thee for thy sanctification But dost thou not look for and rely upon another righteousness for thy justification viz. the righteousness of Christ wrought in his own person and made thine by faith and imputation Reader as I told thee before so I tell thee again I am weary with raking in the filthy puddle of their blasphemous opinions and I will follow them no further here If thou wouldst be confirmed in this that these are their received opinions and more of the same nature I refer thee to two Books written by those who dwell amongst them and have most to do with them and have known them longest viz. The perfect Pharisee and The brief relation of the Irreligion of the Northern Quakers both before mentioned But as for these men and their opinions and particularly as to the last mentioned I profess in the presence of the great God were I to chuse my Religion I would rather be a Papist then of these Quakers perswasion for the Papist though he bring in inherent righteousness and righteousness wrought in us and by us as the matter of justification yet he grants and owns another righteousness as necessary yea as most necessary viz. the righteousness of Christ wrought in his own person which these Quakers deny as thou hast seen Nay further in express English they deny it In their answer to the 15 Query I own no righteousness but what is of Christ and wrought by thee Oh fearful blasphemy against the Gospel Thus they offer violence to Jesus Christ And lastly which naturally and must necessarily follow they offer violence to all the ordinances of the Gospel As they deny an outward Christ or a Christ without as they call him so do they deny all outward ordinances So Fox and Nailor in their book A word from the Lord We deny them whose law is without their law without their Church without their baptism prayers and singing without their Christ without their righteousness without c. If they had denied that which is only without they had said somthing but thou seest it is otherwise here 's all outward ordinances worship and Christ and righteousness without struck off at one blow And those Quakers before mentioned in their Answer to the seven Priests say that who are of the Lord are freed from the ordinances of men so they call Gospel-ordinances and outward means and for it most wratchedly abuse these words For where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty And Truths Defence says
him tell one of the Quakers That he had a Devil in him but he should cast it out and that he should quake and tremble which accordingly he did Then the Devil bad him to speak to him to fall flat on the ground which he did and presently rose again whereupon Gilpin asked him Whether now the Devil was gone out of him to which he answered not but the Devil told him That he was now ejected c. A while after he began again to question Whether in all this he were not deluded by Satan which made him fall into a great fear and then the Devil told him That all this while he had been serving him and blaspheming God and that now it was too late to repent Hereupon he fell into dispair for a time Thinking that every thing which he either saw or heard was the Devil that came to fetch him away Sometimes he thought That he should be taken away in a flame of fire other times That the Earth would open and swallow him Yet at last it pleased God as it seems to give him repentance and peace in his Conscience whereupon he published a Narrative of these things to discover the danger of these ways and to be for Caution to others to take heed how they go out of Gods ways and forsake his Ordinances least falling into the error of the wicked they decline from their former stedfastness and least not receiving the love of the truth that they might be saved God gave them over to strong delusions to believe a lie This is attested under the hand of the Major of Kendal the Minister School-master and some others And now Reader are not these Arguments of Diabolical Possessions and in the last story was not the Devil many times devout as it were and seemingly-humble and religious I wont enlarge But remember the Devil will advise to some good things with a purpose to deceive And there thou maist read our Quakers Mortification and the end on 't sc to overthrow Religion And thus you see on whose errand these men come and whose work they do either their own the Popes or the Devils or all three But sure not from God it being his neither for matter nor manner and they having no call either ordinary or extraordinary For besides the no-satisfaction given to us by them before the Magistrates in this particular which they all attest a Merchant of this City upon the Road discoursing with one of them and demanding of him what miracles they wrought to justifie their extraordinary call he answered We do work miracles but thou hast no eyes to see them Much after the conceit of a dame of this Town now of the gang who some few years since having some conference with one once a Minister in this City from whom I received it She affirmed she was God Why then said he you can do all that God can do I can said she And there lying upon his Table a Greek Testament why then said he make me such another Book as this is To which she replied It is done Let me see it then said he where is it In my fancy said she And indeed this is a short Summary of all their Religion it is all in their fancy and no where else I thought to have set forth the effects of their doctrines for their fruits discover them and will do more and more As breaking the bonds of duty in all relations which we evidently finde here already Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants Magistrates and Subjects Ministers and People I need not instance it is so evident though I bless the Lord I finde it not in my Family nor Congregation And I look upon it as a singular mercy There are one or two things which seem to take much with people sc The multitude of followers and the effect of their teaching in prevailing with people to lay aside pride and worldly contentments I will say little to the first not much to either To the first Novellism is the reigning sin of this age the multitude are as unstable as water they are led by opinion run for company and are sufficiently ignorant And for those few who seem to know more then others and pretended to Religion They are for the most part if not all very fanatick and withal proud of their knowledge and self-conceited And stepping beyond their line and call to teach others by degrees have come to scorn to be taught by others And at length as error is fertile they have come to slight all outward Ordinances as too gross and carnal for their more refined spirits Which hath been nurst and cherished by some flattering Teachers which they heap up unto themselves for that purpose All others being an abomination to them And now if such as these be given up of God to delusions to believe lies Is it a wonder I conclude this Multitude of followers is no Argument of truth If so Antichrist were the best Christian and St. Peter 2 Epist 2 Chapter at the beginning tells us We must look for many Seducers and many followers As for the second Laying aside pride and worldly contentments Laying aside Apparel is not always laying aside pride nay may not the putting off Apparel be the putting on of pride What else prompted the Pharisees to disfigure themselves and to look ugly But that they might appear to men to be religious that they might see they fasted and exercised acts of Mortification Was not this pride I could enlarge here but I will not because I fear too large already But may not an unknown Devil go forth to make way for more What may the meaning be of that Luke 11 24 25 26. Of an unclean spirit going out of a man and returning again findes his house swept and garnished and then goes and takes seven Devils worse then himself and they enter in and dwell there And so the mans end is worse then the beginning Worse then when that unclean Devil was in him Cannot the Devil change sides and shapes and gain by it What think you of the mortifications pennances whippings fastings pilgrimages c. of the Papists is not think you the Devil well pleased with it Doth not he farther it all he can to confirm them in their Superstitions and Idolatries and to draw others to their perswasions It is but one Devil giving way to another or more to advance their masters service and if there be not seven Devils in these mens hearts worse then that one Devil upon their backs Let all men judge by what I have discovered If ever men were possessed with spirits of lying railing proud censuring blaspheming dissembling equivocating prevaricating forging and falsifying the writings both of God and men These men are Reader I suppose I have demonstrated all this clearly to thee I will give thee but a Testimony of one of their own Countreymen that knew them sooner longer and better then I have concerning