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
basest of the people Let Ministers be basely accounted of and the people with a little help will quickly learn to despise Magistrates Besides the judgement from the Lord there is a natural tendency in the one to the other It will be Honourable Sir and becoming reforming times that men learned laborious and godly such as are so and can be content to approve themselves so to those who are able and authorized to judge that they find more countenance then those who are not so qualified Men ignorant are impetuously zealous to cry down learning that their snuffs might seeme to give some light which if countenanc'd and that such and find equall favour will bring the next age to a dark Ministry expose our children as a prey to the wolves of Rome And as for these levelling Quakers I must need say The revilings and reproachings of our gifted brethren who of late years have made it much of their business to render the Ministers of this nation Antichristian have made way for them And they of all men have least cause to be offended with them though they prevaile most with their Congregations For the call of the one is as good as the others though there be some difference in their doctrines Truly Sir I had almost forgot what I was about se writing a Dedicatory gratulatory Epistle And to whom One that is full of great and weighty imployments Whither won't love carry a man It made me overbold and tedious Pardon I beseech you my boldnesse and accept of my love I consecrate this first fruit of my labours in this kind to your name that it may live in you and that you might live in God according to the Great Mystery of Godlinesse through the grace and power of that Jesus Christ which died at Jerusalem whom the Quakers vilifie To him I heartily commend you and all your great and high affairs craving this farther favour that I may still continue to be and have leave to subscribe my self as I am From my house in Bristoll the first day of January 1654 5. Sir Your Honours true faithful and most observant Servant in the Lord RA FFARMER A Monitory Epistle to the Reader Honest but simple hearted Reader FOr thee principally is this work intended It being a high act of Charity to be Legs unto the lame and Eyes unto the blind I can't adventure to come in print with an apology And therefore let me plead my excuse For the truth is I thinke it is a sault that so much pay is spent as now adaies to so little purpose For Scriblimus we may say indocti c. Every foole must be a foole in print or else he is no body And some folks will be tinckering though they get others to stop the cracks both of sense and English And if I should have bin forward to do so too as well as some of my neighbours who could as the times are quarrell with me But I have ever been backward to this kinde of worke as being loath to be one of the Company I have been sufficiently provokt as my Country-men know by a couple of Beagles of the tribe of Rahshekah the railer A lying Almanack-maker and an Apostatiz'd Minister who have appeared in print against me But I was above them And thought not them worthy of so much paines of the blotting of a sheet of paper I took and do take my self as a traveller that is limited to his time and businesse And such a one must not make a stop at the barking of every dog But consider 'T is then ature of the beast And therefore rides on and answers them with his horses heeles But now I confesse I could forbeare no longer Foole or Madman what the world pleases for I care not and I can be content to be or be esteemed any thing for Christ I am engaged He who never spake in all his life when he saw one comming to kill his Father the string of his tongue was loosed and he brake silence to prevent danger There are a generation of men if I may so call them lately come quaking into our City who in their mad and frantick fits offer violence to God and Christ and Gospel and all its ordinances And who here could be â—â—lent that as a watchman who should foresee and forewarne of the danger This was done and is done by the rest of my brethren here in their pulpit-labour with good successe And I as well as they might there have rested For I conceive not that we stand bound to be in print upon every occasion That which brought my backward spirit to this work was The Lord was pleased by the help of some friends to bring to my hands a piece of the Anabaptists which to me made a cleare discovery of the mysterie of these seducers And gave me more light of their designes then others of my brethren who have not seen that paper had In which perswasion I publikely made some discovery And being convin'd that it might be more usefull if more publike I beggd of God to fix my resolution to what might be most conducent to his glory Being perswaded never to have appeared to the world in this way But by his overruling hand I have here presented to thee this discovery under the title of the mysterie of Ungodlinesse And because thou shouldst not onely know the evill to avoid it but the good also to follow it I have therefore laid before thee good and evill The mysterie of Godlinesse and Ungodlinesse both together And it s now thy duty and yet it will be thy wisdome to improve advantages for thy estalishment And to that end Take a little advise In reading the mystery of Godlinesse take but paines to turne to the quotations of Scripture in the margin and see how they prove the thing intended Especially doe so in such truths as thou findest thy self most affected with or seeme most strange unto thee if any should so seeme which me-thinks should not Chiefly Any truth thou most takest notice of under what consideration so ever tax and examine the proofes This double benefit will arise First The thing it self will be more cleare And Secondly what thou receivest as a truth will be received on a divine authority And so thy faith shall not stand or be built on man who may deceive But on the un-erring word of God The not observing this rule in reading mens writtings is the maine ground of peoples instability For this is sure What ever is imbrac't upon meere humane considerations Upon the like considerations may be shaken off He that believes a thing barely because such a man of whom he hath a good opinion and that he will not lie told him so when another shall come of whom he hath an higher and better perswasion and shall tell him the contrary to what he had been perswaded his perswasion is staggered if not altered But now what is entertained and believed upon his word
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
faith in the 14 of John v. 12. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me the work that I do he shall do also and greater works then these because I go to the Father But all these Scriptures be hid from thine eyes and thou art one of those that Isaiah prophesied on and that Scripture is fulfilled on thee which saith He hath blinded their eyes and hardned their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts Now blessed be the Lord that hath discovered thee and such blind guides as thou art so we have answered thy Queries in the eternal light and life of God and we have given judgement upon thee and them which thou shalt eternally witness without roving or wandring but thou who art out of the light art roving and wandring and stumbling in darkness who hath put forth these stumbling Queries which we have answered lovingly and plainly and in the Scripture language and terms and with the eternal light and life of God set thee in thine own place which thou shalt eternally witness These are matters of great concernment and if you refuse to answer them in writing spare your tongues and spare your papers for I will henceforth neither hear the one nor read the other Ans Thou saith these are matters of great concernment we see that that which makes thee manifest and such as thou art and which laies thee open to poor ignorant people which is deceived by thee and led into the ditch and their souls kept in death by thee to make this manifest is of great concernment as these black dark stumbling Queries and thy conjured words hath done which thou hast no Scripture for as ambiguity efficacy exclusively antecede and non-imputation assume and assumption Now let all people read and consider what they do that hold such as thee up who is shut out from God and shut out from the Saints life and language and art shut out of the Scriptures though thou makes a trade of them for money and deceives poor people but thou knows nothing of the Life and Power that gave them forth So thou art to be condemned with the Light and with the Life that gave forth the Scripture Let all people read Deuteronomy 18. from the nineth verse to the fifteenth there the Priests and the Levites which was ordained of God was to have no inheritance among the people but the Lord was their inheritance and they were to have it of that which was offered up to the Lord. And this is a figure of the Everlasting Priesthood which ministers out of the Everlasting Treasure and the Lord God commanded Israel that not to do as they did when they came into the Land nor to go after their abominations as you may see But gave Israel their Land to possess that did hearken unto such as the Lord had not sent which was abomination to him And the Lord saith to Israel Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God Vers 15. The Lord thy God will raise unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy Brethren like unto me unto him shall ye hearken and so to the end of the Chapter He that hath an eye may see and the Lord is the same that he was and he will not suffer the abominations that is committed in this Land but is discovering the abominations of it A horrible and a filthy thing is committed which Jeremiah cried against Covetous men preach Drunkards preach Swearers preach Liers preach Strikers preach and Proud men preach O wonderful where is your eyes Try your Priests by the Scriptures see if they be not found in the same Generation that all the false Prophets and the Deceivers were in which the true Prophets of God cryed against and discovered and in the steps of the Scribes and Pharisees that Christ cryed wo against and see if they be not the Antichrists and the Deceivers which are entred into the world which John speaks of which cannot confess Christ come in the flesh but transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ so hath not God neither knows but preaches for sin and against perfection and denies the light which enlightens every one that cometh into the world and so keeps people in blindness and ignorance and out of the knowledge of God and never any that follows them shall ever come to the knowledge of the true and living God therefore all people see where you are and minde the light in your Consciences which is pure and which testifieth against all sin and it will let you see all your blinde guides which deceives you to be in sin and ignorant of God for they deny that which should make him manifest therefore beware what you hold up and give over going after them to that in your Consciences I speak which shall witness me eternally to speak the truth if you obey it and shall condemn you eternally if you disobey it These blinde guides that are in this Land denies the Prophets which Moses wrote of which is the substance of the Priesthood which was before and here they are found in the same generation in the Sorcery and in the Witchcraft which the Lord commanded should be put out of the Land where the children of Israel went to possess And now the other Paper I commend to thy reading is this THE Sword of the Lord Drawn and Furbish'd against the MAN OF SIN OR Something in Answer to a Paper set forth by three of the chief Priests of London whose names are THOMAS GOODWIN and one NYE and SYDRACH SYMPSON which they have put forth to the propagating of the Gospel signed by him that is the Clerk of the Parliament whose name is HENRY SCOBEL With their deceits and deceitful actings laid open and cleered from Scripture that they have no example in Scripture for their practice Therefore I was moved by the Lord God of life to lay open their deceit by the spirit of truth as it was made manifest in me from the Lord that the simple might not be deceived by them but might have the knowledg of the Truth from that which is for ever and shall not change nor fade away By one whose name in the flesh is Christopher Atkinson who am one whom the World doth scornfully call a QUAKER LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Giles Calvert c. 1654. The Sword of the Lord drawn and furbished against the Man of Sin THere coming a Paper unto my hands put forth by three of the chief Priests of London whose names are Tho. Goodwin one Nye and Sydrach Simpson called the Principles of Faith put forth to the Committee of Parliament for the propagating of the Gospel as they call it and finding them out of the Apostles rule and the Prophets rule acting those things which they have no example for therefore am I moved of the Lord to lay open their deceits and to declare the living truth of God
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