Christianity the Great Mystery, Postscript
A LETTER In POSTSCRIPT TO THE Author of the Treatiſe on his Second Edition, with Enlargements, and the Addition of His Name.
SIR,
JUST, as the very laſt of the preceding Diſcourſe was Printing off, your Second Edition came to my Hand with your Name prefixed; which to me, makes no Alteration; it being the Name of a Perſon wholly unknown to me; nor do I deſire (as I ſaid at firſt) to make any Enquiry; For, be it never ſo Great, it can add no weight to the main importance of the Debate, which is a purſuit after Truth; nor can any ſuppoſable Diminution (tho I ſuppoſe none) Abate the Intrinſic value of Any Argument: I leave that therefore to its Juſt value with any, that know it; The Regard, and Deference, The Book may ſeem to h…ve Right to, on the Account of a Second Edition, in my Judgment, depends wholly on the Sterlyn worth of the Diſcourſe it ſelf; For if that be Maſſy, and of the Alloy of Truth; it is an Honour to thoſe, who have ſo great a Guſt of it, as well as to the Diſcourſe, that ſo well Deſerves; If That, being on ſo High a Point, have not juſt Merit, it is only a Character of the Degeneracy, and Irreligion, as well, as the Inſipience of the Many of the Age: Leaving therefore thoſe things that have no Intereſt in the preſent concern, I come to what is more material.
And in the firſt place, I would, with all due modeſty Remonſtrate to you the method, I have obſerv'd in order to the Anſwer of your Treatiſe; which hath not been I confeſs, to Follow you, as they ſay, foreign, or Paragraph by Paragraph; that I might avoid any ſmall inſignificant Remarks, and the Tediouſneſs Conſequent thereupon; as alſo, becauſe there are many Tendencies of your Diſſertation, that I exceedingly concur with you in; As the Deteſtation of what ever comes near, or hath any Allyance with the Myſtery of Iniquity, or what you call Pr ſt Craft, and Secular Intereſt in the Miniſtry of the Goſpel; whatever ſhelters Ignorance, or Sloth, or Covers Implicit Faith and Blind Obedience in the Profeſſors of Chriſtianity: All that ſpeaks Humbleſt Adorations of the Divine Majeſty, and gives Glory to the Goſpel of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, and to the Supreme Light of it; and the True Reaſon Flowing from Him, the Sovereign Reaſon, in and throughout, I moſt Humbly Joyn in; Tho I acknowledg there is great Reaſon of Caution when the Deſignation of Goſpel-Truth is not Univerſal, and Uniform; Leaſt there be an Advantage given to the Prince of Darkneſs or any of his Artifices, becauſe of ſome Flaſhes of an Angel of Light from Him: Or a bidding good Speed to thoſe, who Bring not this Doctrine; viz. of The Son of God, as the Apoſtle ſtiles it. 2 John 10. Laſtly, I have not been Minute in the Proſecutions of your Periods, becauſe there are many things, that fly off from the Principal Matter; And it is of no concernment to what is Principal in my Eye, whether they are one way, or other.
I have therefore made it my Aim, and I hope, it hath been my Buſineſs to Diſcover (as I may ſay) the Foundation to the very Neck. And in theſe Things I have Eſpecially placed my main intention, and my Argumentation.
1. To uphold the Honour, Glory and Authority of the Stile of the New Teſtament in the word, Mystery: Fitted by it ſelf to its own Revelations; and that it may not be waved or removed from upon any Forreign Suggeſtions; nor particularly on that very weak one, pardon me, in ſo plainly Expreſſing it; that becauſe it Names the Myſtery of Iniquity; and that on the Forehead of Babylon, there was written, Myſtery; Note, that Myſtery is made the Diſtinguiſhing mark of the Falſe or Antichriſtian Church; and therefore; that as Far, as any Church allows of Myſteries, ſo far it is Antichriſtian, and may with a great deal of Juſtice, tho little Honour, claim Kindred with the Scarlet Whore: If this be not the Argument of one Driven to Shifts I know not what is! Who muſt not of neceſſity infer, if the once mentioning the Myſtery of Iniquity, and once more, Myſtery on the Forehead of Babylon, can be ſo ſuppoſed to the Diſadvantage, and Diſhonour of Myſtery, the ſo often Recording it for the Honour of the Goſpel, and of the Doctrines of it muſt not be much more to the Glory of the Word and Thing, Myſtery? and that the other Naming of it, was not indeed to the diſhonour of it, but of that Iniquity only, to which it is Joyned: And further, Is it not plain? That the Myſtery of Iniquity, is a Counter Myſtery to the Myſtery of Godlineſs? And that the Counter Mystery were nothing, if the Grand Myſtery, did not ſuper-Exiſt to it; Even as Antichriſt is to Chriſt, and Antichriſtianiſm is to Chriſtianiſm; ſo is the Mystery of Iniquity, to the Myſtery of Godlineſs; Antichriſtianiſm hath not ſo much as a ſhaddow of Appearance without that great Subſtance, Chriſtianity; nor Antichriſt without, The Chriſt; the Former infers the Latter; and it might be as well ſaid, Chriſtianity is a Note of a Falſe Church, becauſe Antichriſtianiſm hath any Allyance of Sound, or ſo much, as that ſound implies of Relation to it; or that it were the Note of a Falſe Chriſt; That Antichriſt hath the laſt Syllable of his Name from Chriſt, as that the mystery of Godlineſs is ſo, becauſe the myſtery of Iniquity is out of all doubt the mark of the Falſe Church. Whereas indeed, the dark ſide of the Pillar in Each, is a demonſtration of the other ſide full of Light, and Glory: This therefore could no way deſerve to be among the Enlargements of the Second Edition which ought to be upon Refinement of Thoughts; and yet it is found, p. 107. of the Second Edition.
2. I have been ſo zealous of mystery, leaſt any of the Great Doctrines of the Goſpel ſhould be Clandeſtinely withdrawn under the Pretenſion of Chriſtianity not myſterious; that is, If Reaſon, as it is now ſo Fallen, Co rupted, and even Detruncated (but as Reſtor'd by the Supreme Reaſon) cannot pleaſe it ſelf in any of the great Truths of the Goſpel, It ſhould be Rejected; and herein I have eſpecial Regard to that great Doctrine of the Father, the Word, (who is the only Begotten Son of the Father) the Spirit, Who are One, The One God; and to the Redemption of Jeſus Chriſt by the Sacrifice Offered by the Eternal Spirit. As I have at more full debated in the Anſwer.
3. I have eſpecially deſired, that the Scripture Word, and Notion of Myſtery may be Conſidered, as it ſhews the neceſſity of Dependence upon the Divine Grace, upon the conſtant Superintendency of the Spirit of Wiſdom and Revelation; For that being always in the Hearts of his Servants a Spirit of Wiſdom and Revelation, Enlightning them into the great Truths of the Goſpel; they muſt according, even to the Acknowledgment of the Author be Myſtery, becauſe a continual Internal Revelation is neceſſary not only to the Firſt Reception, but to the Progreſſion of Chriſtians; their growing in Grace, and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jeſus Chriſt: Which great conſideration I would moſt Humbly, and yet moſi Affectionately Recommend to the Author, with All his Favourers; That ſeeing they ſeem to Re-due ſo much to Sacred Oracles, They would with all ſeriouſneſs conſider theſe great Words, Grace, Free-Grace, Gifts from above, Wiſdom from the Father of Lights, and Exchange that ſo Admired Word, Reaſon, as it is now, or as Human, for that Adorable word, Grace; that they would Attently Contemplate the Cenſure of the Holy Spirit in his Word upon all Human Intellectuals, till there be a Renovation in the Spirit of the mind; and this would moſt eaſily Conciliate to Them the True Scripture-Notion of Myſtery: And ſeeing the Author hath Promiſed an Undeceiving of thoſe whom he ſuppoſes Deceived, concerning the Illumination, and Efficacious Operation of the Divine Spirit; I deſire of Him to have a Particular Regard herein to my ſelf, how Triflng or Abſur'd an Adverſary ſoever I may appear to him; And that he would do it in the meekneſs of the Spirit of Chriſtianity, reſpecting only the Subſtance, and Merits of the Point, and of what I have ſaid; I find nothing further in the Enlargements of the Second Edition, that I have not conſidered in the Anſwer to the Firſt; and therefore beſeeching the conducts of the Spirit of Truth into All Truth; and that the Greater Proportions of Reaſon, or Intellectuals, and Elocution, the Author, or any of his Friends have; the more they may aſcribe, and dedicate themſelves to the Supreme Reaſon and his Grace, This ſhall be the Prayer of,
SIR, In All Truly Chriſtian Offices, Your Friend and Servant, T.B.
Pardon ſome ſmaller miſtakes, particularly, P. 1. Margin, read foreign, l. ult. foreign, p. 14. after Egypt, put in to. P. 16. l. 23. before Affirm, put in whereof they. P. 46. r. foreign.
End of the text · Thomas Beverley, Christianity the Great Mystery (1696)