that God is but one And that there neither is nor can be any more And thus I believe in God. I believe in God the Father I believe that this one God is the Father of all things of Men and Angels because they are his Off spring by Creation and that he is in a more peculiar manner the Father of all those whom he regenerates by his Spirit whom he adopteth in his Son as Heirs and Co-heirs with him whom he crowneth with the Reward of an eternal Inheritance in the Heavens But far above all this besides his general Off-spring and peculiar People to whom he hath given power to become the Sons of God I believe him in a more eminent manner to be the Father of one singular and proper Son his own his beloved his only begotten Son whom he hath not only begotten of the Blessed Virgin by the coming of the Holy Ghost and the over-shadowing of his Power not only sent with special Authority as the King of Israel not only raised from the Dead and made Heir of all things in his House but before and in order to all this hath begotten him from all eternity in the same Divinity and Majesty with Himself whereby I acknowledge him to be always a Father as much as always a God. And in this Relation I believe That as he is the Original Cause of all things because they were Created by him so he is the Fountain of the Son begotten by him and of the Holy Ghost proceeding from him Almighty I believe that this Father is not subject to the Infirmities of Age and that there is no weakness attending the Ancient of days but on the contrary I believe that Omnipotency is part of the Being of the God-head and that thereby he has not only power to work or do any thing but Authority and an eternal Right both of making what when and how he pleaseth and of possessing whatsoever he makes and of using and disposing all things which he thus possesseth I believe that this power is most absolute because he that has it depends upon none neither is he to give any account for the Use and Exercise of it that it is infinite for largeness as being a power over all things without exception that it is full and perfect as being over every thing without limitation to be Eternal as having neither Beginning nor End. Maker of Heaven and Earth I believe that both Heaven and Earth and all things contained in them have not their Being of themselves but were made in the beginning that there was nothing at first but God who produced most part of this World out of nothing and the rest out of that which was formerly made out of nothing This I believe was done by the most free and voluntary Act of the Will of God of which no Reason or Motive can be given but his Goodness And that this was done by the determination of his Will at what time he pleased probably within an hundred and thirty Generations of Men most certainly within six or seven thousand years I acknowledge this God who is the Creator of the World to be the same God who is the Father of our Lord JESVS CHRIST And thus I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth Article II. And in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord. I Believe that there was and is a Man whose Name by the Ministry of an Angel was Called Iesus I believe this Iesus to be the Saviour of the World in that he hath revealed to the Sons of Men the only way for the Salvation of their Souls and has wrought out this Salvation for them by his own Blood obtaining Remission for Sinners making Reconciliation for his Enemies paying the price of Redemption for Captives and that he shall at last actually confer this salvation which he hath revealed and procured upon all those that unfeignedly and stedfastly believe in him I acknowledge that there is no other way to Heaven than this which he hath shewn us that there is no other means that can procure it for us but his blood and that there is no other person that shall confer it on us but himself And in Iesus Christ. I believe that there was a man promised by God foretold of the Prophets to be the Messias the Redeemer of Israel and the expectation of the Nations I believe that this Messias is already come that the Man born in the days of Herod of the Virgin Mary who by an Angel from Heaven was Called Iesus is that true Messias so long and so often promised that as he was the Messias he was also the Christ that is the Anointed of God and that he was anointed to three special Offices belonging to him as the Mediator between God and Man that he was a Prophet revealing to us the whole Will of God for the Salvation of man that he was a Priest and hath given himself a Sacrifice for Sin and so hath made an atonement for us that he is a King set down at the Right hand of God far above all Principalities and Powers whereby when he hath subdued all our Enemies he will confer actual perfect and eternal Happiness upon us I believe that this Unction by which he became the true Messias was not performed by any material Oyle but by the Spirit of God which he received as the Head and conveyeth to his Members His only Son. I believe that Iesus Christ the Saviour and Messias is the true proper and natural Son of God begotten of the substance of the Father which substance cannot be multiplyed or divided and yet it is so totally communicated to the Son that he is of the same Being with the Father God of God Light of Light very God of very God. And as he is the Son of God so he alone was begotten of God by a proper and natural Generation all God's other Sons which are said to be begotten being Sons only by Adoption Our Lord. I believe that Iesus Christ the only begotten Son of God is the true Jehovah whose Being is of it self from all eternity and on whom all other things do depend and therefore he hath an absolute supream and universal Dominion over all things as he is God and is invested with all Power in Heaven and Earth as he is Man. That he hath this Power partly for the compleating our Redemption and the Destruction of our Enemies that this Power is to continue to the end of all things and then to be resigned to the Father That he has this Power also partly because the God-head and Manhood is united or it was due to him for suffering so obediently and therefore this Power must be eternal because it belongs unto that Kingdom which shall have no end And though he is thus Lord of all things by right of the first Creation and constant Preservation of them yet he is more peculiarly the Lord of us who by Faith are
THE Poor Man's Help BEING I. An Abridgement of Bishop Pearson on the Creed shewing What he is to Believe II. A short Exposition of the Lord's Prayer directing him What to Beg of GOD. III. The Ten Commandments Explain'd teaching him his Duty both to GOD and Man. With Some Additional Helps for his Private Devotion The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them among Princes and to make them inherit the Throne of Glory 1 Sam. 2. 7 8. London Printed for R. Clavell at the Peacock in Paul's Church-Yard 1689. TO THE PARISHIONERS OF St. Mildred's IN THE City of CANTERBURY My Friends COnsidering how convenient and beneficial little Books are for such as cannot reach the Price of bigger I here present you with an Explication of the Creed Lord's-Prayer and Ten Commandments as small as the Subject will permit And being that in my Iudgment the Creed cannot be better or shorter Paraphras'd than the most Learned and Iudicious Prelate Dr. Pearson has done it I have transcribed mine from thence that those most sound and necessary Truths might not be confined to those alone who are able to purchase that most Learned Work. And that the meanest capacity might not lose the Knowledge of such a safe and wholesome Exposition I have changed the more Eloquent and Difficult Words for such as are more Plain and Obvious The Lord's-Prayer is the same in Substance that I delivered to you Three Years ago when I Catechized the Children which I have now Expounded in the Form of a Prayer that the Poor Man may upon any pressing occasion know how to Express himself at large upon any Petition The Precepts of the first Table you know I Expounded to you all the last Summer till Advent the Heads of which bating the Points in Controversy I here present you with And those of the second I shall in due time Treat of if God prosper my Studies in the mean while to compleat the Exposition I here give you the Substance of them And being that in several Discourses immediately after Christmas last I did press the necessity of a daily Service to God from the Words of Zacharias Luk. 1.74 75. I have added a short Morning and Evening Form to be used before and after your daily Work A Prayer against the Temptation of the Flesh to any particular Sin to keep your Bodies in subjection to your Reason Another for your use in the time of Sickness And when at other times you shall have particular occasion for other Services I have given a short Direction where to be furnished in the Psalms And this I did not to hinder any that are able from buying Books of more peculiar use but to comply with the necessities of those that are not of which I am very sensible there is too great a number I had no other inducement to meddle with this but my Charity to the Souls of the Poor for whom Christ died as well as for the Rich And if hereby I shall gain but one Soul I shall thank God for making me an Instrument of so much good And if none be better'd by it yet I have this satisfaction that I have endeavoured for God's sake and your own to shew my self Your Affectionate Pastor and Servant Hump. Bralesford The Poor Man's Help OR A SHORT DIRECTION What he is to Believe The Creed I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth And in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord who was Conceived by the Holy Ghost Born of the Uirgin Mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate was Crucified Dead and Buried He descended into Hell the third day he rose again from the Dead he ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the Quick and the Dead I believe in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints the Forgiveness of Sins the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting Amen Article I. I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth ALthough these Articles of my Faith which are contained in the Creed are not apparent to my sense though they are not of themselves evident to my understanding nor appear true to me by any Natural or Necessary Cause yet being they are contained in the Scriptures the Writings of the Blessed Apostles and Prophets being that those Apostles and Prophets were Endued with miraculous Power from above and immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost and consequently what they delivered was the Word of GOD and not of Man being that GOD is of such universal Holiness and infinite Wisdom that it is impossible he should be deceived of that perfect Holiness that it is not imaginable he should intend to deceive me and consequently what he has delivered for a Truth must be necessarily and infallibly true I readily and stedfastly assent unto them as most certain Truths and am fully and absolutely and more concernedly perswaded of them than of any thing I see and know And because that God who has reveal'd them has done it not for my benefit alone but for the advantage of others nor for that alone but also for the Manifestation of his own Glory being that for these Ends he has Commanded me to profess them and hath promised an Eternal Redemption upon my Profession of them being that every particular person is to expect the Justification of himself and the Salvation of his Soul upon the Condition of his own Faith As with a certain and full perswasion I assent unto them so with a fixed and undaunted Resolution I will profess them and with this Faith in my Heart and Confession in my Mouth to the whole body of the Creed and to every Article and Part of it I sincerely readily and resolvedly say I believe I believe in God. Forasmuch as the Eternal Power and Godhead is made known by all the things that are Created and the dependency of the Creatures proves That there must be an infinite Being that depends on nothing whereas all things are made for some End and all their Operations are directed to it though they cannot understand the Reason why they are and why they work therefore both their Creation and their Work must be guided by some Universal and Over-ruling Wisdom Seeing that God is not only revealed in his Creatures but has frequently declar'd his Deity by most infallible Predictions and supernatural Operations therefore I freely acknowledge clearly profess and fully Believe that there is a God. Again seeing that there is one Being that depends upon nothing that does suppose that all other Beings must depend upon it seeing that the intire Fountain of all Perfections cannot have a double Head and the most perfect Order of the World declares the supream Dominion of one absolute Lord upon this Account I believe
I believe in Iesus Christ who shall judge the Quick and the Dead Article VIII I believe in the Holy Ghost I Believe that besides all others whatsoever to whom the Name of Spirit is or may be given there is one particular and peculiar Spirit who is truly and properly a Person of a true real and personal Subsistence not a Created but an Uncreated Person and is therefore the true and one eternal God That though he be God yet he is not the Father nor the Son but the Spirit of the Father and the Son the third Person in the Blessed Trinity proceeding from the Father and the Son I believe that infinite and eternal Spirit to be not only of all perfect and infallible Holiness in himself but also to be the immediate Cause of all Holiness in us revealing the pure and undefiled Will of God inspiring the Blessed Apostles and enabling them to lay the Foundation and by a perpetual succession to continue the Edification of the Church illuminating the Understandings of particular Persons rectifying their Wills and Affections renewing their Corrupt Natures uniting their Persons unto Christ assuring them of the Adoption of Sons leading them in their Actions directing them in their Devotions by all ways and means purifying and sanctifying their Souls and Bodies to be fully and eternally accepted in the sight of God. This is the eternal Spirit of God and must consequently be Holy And thus I believe in the Holy Ghost Article IX The Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints I Believe that Christ by the preaching of the Apostles did gather unto himself a Church consisting of thousands of believing Persons and numerous Congregations to which he daily added such as should be saved and will successively and daily add unto the same unto the end of the World so that by the Virtue of his all-sufficient Promise I believe that there was hath been hitherto and now is and hereafter shall be so long as the Sun and Moon endure a Church of Christ one and the same This Church I believe to be Holy in general in respect of the Author the End the Institution and Administration of it and in particular in the Members whom I acknowledge to be really though but imperfectly holy here and shall be perfectly holy hereafter I look upon this Church not like that of the Iews limitted to one People confined to one Nation but by the Appointment and Command of Christ and by the Efficacy of his assisting Power to be spread over all Nations to be extended to all places to be propagated to all Ages to contain in it all Truths necessary to be known to require absolute Obedience from all men to the Commands of Christ and to furnish us with all Grace necessary to make our Persons acceptable and our Actions well pleasing in the sight of God. The Communion of Saints I believe that such Persons as are truly sanctified in the Church of Christ while they live among the Crooked Generations of men and struggle with all the Miseries of this World have Fellowship with God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost as dwelling with them and taking up their Habitations in them That they partake of the Care and Kindness of the blessed Angels who take delight to minister for their benefit that besides the external Fellowship which they have in the Word and Sacraments with all the Members of the Church they have an intimate Union and Conjunction with all the Saints on earth as the living Members of Christ nor is this Union separated by the Death of any one but as Christ in whom they live is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World so they have Fellowship with all the Saints which from the Death of Abel have ever departed in the true Faith and Fear of God and now enjoy the presence of the Father and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth And thus I believe the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints Article X. The Forgiveness of Sins I believe that whereas every Sin is a Transgression of the Law of God upon every Transgression there remains a Guilt upon the Transgressor and that Guilt brings an eternal Punishment so that all men being concluded under Sin they were all obliged to suffer the punishment of eternal Death yet it pleased God to give his Son his Son to give himself to be a surety for this Debt and to release us from these bonds And because without shedding of blood there is no Remission he gave his Life a Sacrifice for sin he laid it down as a Ransom even his precious Blood as a Price by way of Compensation and Satisfaction to the Will and Justice of God by which Propitiation God who was by our sins offended became reconciled and being so took off our Obligation to eternal punishment which is the Reward of our sins and appointed in the Church of Christ the Sacrament of Baptism for the first Remission and Repentance for the constant Forgiveness of all following Trespasses And thus I believe the Forgiveness of Sins Article XI The Resurrection of the Body I believe that as it is appointed for all men once to dy so it is also determined that all men shall rise from Death that the souls separated from our bodies are in the hand of God and live that the bodies dissolved into dust or scattered into ashes shall be gathered together again in themselves and re-united to their souls that the same Flesh which lived before shall be revived that the very same bodies which shall fall shall rise that this Resurrection shall be universal no man excepted no flesh left in the Grave that all the just shall be raised to a Resurrection of Life and all the Unjust to a Resurrection of Damnation that this shall be performed at the last day when the Trump shall sound And thus I believe the Resurrection of the Body Article XII And the Life everlasting I believe that the Unjust after their Resurrection and Condemnation shall be tormented for their sins in Hell and shall be kept there in Torments for ever so as the Justice of God shall never cease to inflict them nor the Persons of the wicked cease to be and suffer them And that the Just after their Resurrection and Absolution shall as the Blessed of the Father obtain the Inheritance and as the Servants of God enter into their Masters joy freed from all possibility of death sin and sorrow fill'd with all imaginable nay inconceivable fulness of Happiness confirmed in an absolute security of an eternal Enjoyment of this blessed state and so they shall continue with God and the Lamb for evermore And thus I believe the Life everlasting The LORD'S PRAYER Expounded in a Prayer The Order of the Petitions O Father of Mercies and God of all Pity who by thy eternal and only begotten Son Iesus Christ hast taught us to pray lend a gracious Ear to the Petitions of Creatures and