Business greatness of Temptations Bodily Indispositions For Pitiable Defects of Degrees in Duties Great Latitude on the side of Bliss and all not required to be of the same Size He will Reward Good Things tho' done with Difficulty and Reluctance yea when Pitiably stain'd with impure mixtures Our Judge will shew all this Candor and would have us expect it In Recompencing good Men he will consider the Difficulties and Oppositions And the hazard and cost of their Services And the hardships of Providence allotted to exercise good Men in this Life Of the Condemnation of ill Men. The Fire which is to torment them shall burn up and dissolve the World. Practical Inferences from the last judgment ☞ Through a Mistake there is neither 5th 6th nor 7th Chapters But tho' in the numbering of the Chapters there is this mistake yet there is no omission of matter CHAP. VIII OF the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost is God. What he hath done for our Salvation Of his extraordinary Gifts bestowed on Apostles and Evangelists which were for the Planting and Propagating Christ's Religion 1. The gift of inspiration in Revelations This bestowed upon the Apostles These Revelations they have fully set down in the Holy Scriptures after which we are not to look for any others This Gift of knowing Religion by immediate Revelation necessary only in Apostles and Evangelists And design'd for the Infancy of the Church Other Rules whereby to examine new Lights and Revelations in Religion As try them by the Scriptures Call for their Miracles wherewith God still empower'd men when he sent them to reveal new Things No need of Miracles when men pretend only to revive old and acknowledged Revelations If they shew Miracles for things plainly against Scripture they must work more than were wrought to confirm the Scripture An account of Joel 2. 28 29. Which seems to foretell the commonness of Revelations among Christians The first Inspirations were not only in Doctrinal Points but also in Devotions And about Temporal matters Subservient to this Gift of Revelations was the Gift of discerning Spirits This done afterwards by ordinary Rules And the Gift of utterance and boldness Their minds not influenced by this constantly and at all Times But ordinarily they were and especially when they had most need of it 2. Of the Gift of Miracles Miracles a Proof of Divine Revelation How discernible from Lying Wonders by the Doctrines built on them By their ends and usefulness and being wrought on needful Occasions Of the miraculous Gift of healing Diseases This sometimes by annointing with Oyl And Prayers Of casting out Devils and other Miracles Of delivering to Satan what it was and why so call'd Of Joy in Tribulations and what was extraordinary in that of the Apostles To the working these Miracles there was always required Faith in him that wrought them And sometimes Faith in him that received them 3. of the Gift of Strange Tongues The ends of this And of the Gift of Interpreting such Strange Tongues What is meant by the Holy Ghost being a Comforter The Sin against the Holy Ghost is a Sin against these extraordinary Gifts Why Blasphemy against him more irremisable than against the Father or the Son. Extraordinary Gifts no mark of a justified State. Of Offices appointed by the Holy Ghost Some of these Temporary others to continue through all Times the present Officers ordaining Successors of the Holy Ghost's ordinary Graces By these we may know he dwells in us Our care required towards these Of Preventing Grace in outward advantages and inward good motions Directions how we are to endeavour after saving Graces in six Particulars How God gives them though we are thus to acquire them The Holy Ghost works also in us Spiritual Joys and Comforts This he doth not in all the minds he sanctifies because some are unfit for them through intrinsick impediments But they are with-held from none through his Arbitrary withdrawing which some count Spiritual Desertion CHAP. IX OF the Holy Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints No assurance of Salvation by Christ but in his Church This Church Holy. And Catholick Admission into it by Baptism when regularly perform'd in any one valid in all Churches Excommunication is so too This Church is one Body by external visible unity Of the Communion of Saints in this Church Of their visible Union in Faith or Doctrine And in Prayers and Devotion Of communicating in Publick Prayers A Sin to separate without just cause Imposing Sins or Errours as Conditions of Communion is a just cause Not Lawful to separate for Things indifferent Nor for better means of edification Just to separate from a Church that doth not impose her Corruptions when her Errors in Faith overthrow the Foundation That is when she ceases to own the one true God. Or denys Jesus to be the Christ or Salvation by his Merits and Mediation Owning Jesus to be the Christ implies owning the Articles of the Apostles Creed which contains all Fundamentals Whilst any Churches hold to this Creed which is the Foundation Errors in other things do not unchurch them But such Erroneous are in a worse state than Orthodox Christians Nor is her Communion to be deserted meerly for such Errors tho' very gross if she doth not impose them Just to separate from a Church of a corrupt Worship when sinful things pollute her Publick Offices Or when good Devotions are put up in a strange Language not for Rites and Customs about indifferent matters Nor just to separate for scandalous Members where a Churches constitution is faultless Nor tho' it neglect Discipline which should reform them Of keeping Fellowship with the Apostles by submitting to our lawful Bishops their Successors Christians to communicate in Affections in Alms and Temporal good Things CHAP. X. OF the Forgiveness of Sins What Sin is Of wilful sins Of sins of Ignorance Surreption Passion Forgiveness of sin is the Release of its Punishment When Eternal Punishments are remitted Present and Temporal are often exacted What is the Time of Relaxing these Punishments Remission of all Sins but Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost And wilful Apostacy from Christianity Wilful sins forgiven when we Repent and forgive others Sins of Ignorance and inadvertence upon our Charity to others This forgiveness outwardly dispensed in Baptism The Eucharist And Sacerdotal Absolution The Power of the Keys lies in Retaining as well as Absolving which ought to beget a just dread of Excommunication What is meant by our Forgiving sins What use we are to make of the Forgiveness of Sins CHAP. XI OF the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting The Resurrection not meerly of our Spirits from sin but of our Bodies from the Grave This to be brought about by the Almighty Power of God. The Perfections of Glorified Bodies viz. Immortality Spirituality and Glory The Bodies of the Wicked Immortal And exquisitely sensible Some Inferences from the Resurrection of our Bodies Good Souls carried straight-way into a
and exacted more than can possibly or at least ordinarily be performed Or labour under some other cloudy and afflicting Error or distemper of mind which hinders a most comfortable Religion and peaceful Piety from creating any Joy or Comfort in them Quest. But when there are none of these intrinsick impediments to interpose betwixt his Joy and them doth not he sometimes Arbitrarily and without any provocation withdraw himself and hide his Face as if he were displeased with them Which withdrawing is oft given as the cause of many Good mens Grief and Dejection and is what some call Spiritual Desertion Answ. At this rate indeed all Spiritual Comfort must needs be most variable and uncertain as depending not on any Constancy of good and comfortable Dispositions in themselves but on the Arbitrariness of such unprovoked withdrawings to try Experiments upon Men. But this I think is all humane invention the Scripture on the contrary teaching us that when Sinners purify their hearts and draw nigh to him God doth not withdraw himself and shrink away but draws nigh to them Jam. 4. 8. It is an imputation on this good Spirit not at all agreeing with his inclination which is to be an immutable lover of goodness and of good men to be unalterably pleased with them whilst they do what is pleasing to him and to delight in having them take pleasure and joy in him It seems very opposite to his Office and Undertaking For his Work and Office as I have shewn is to engender Peace and Comfort as well as Goodness in the hearts of his Servants And since that is his business he will be as constant in pursuing it and no more withdraw his Comforts than he doth his Graces from them without being justly provoked thereto by some act of their own Nay on the contrary when their own melancholly humours or mispersuasions have intercepted his joyful presence from good men he is ready with the light of his Countenance to break thro' that darkness and in great pity very often restores that Comfort to their minds which their own errour or distemper had driven from it So that these arbitrary and unprovoked desertions whether in Grace or Comforts as they have no foundation in Scripture but there meet with opposition so are they not suitable to the Holy and good Spirit 's natural Genius or his Undertaking and Office He always loves and delights in good men and never voluntarily withdraws himself but is always driven from them CHAP. IX Of the Holy Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints The Contents No assurance of Salvation by Christ but in his Church This Church Holy. And Catholick Admission into it by Baptism when regularly perform'd in any one valid in all Churches Excommunication is so too This Church is one Body by external visible unity Of the Communion of Saints in this Church Of their visible union in Faith or Doctrine And in Prayâ—rs and Devotion Of communicating in Publick Prayers A Sin to separate without just cause Imposing Sins or Errours as Conditions of Communion is a just cause Not Lawful to separate for Things indifferent Nor for better means of edification Just to separate from a Church that doth not impose her Corruptions when her Errors in Faith overthrow the Foundation That is when she ceases to own the one true God. Or denys Jesus to be the Christ or Salvation by his Merits and Mediation Owning Jesus to be the Christ implies owning the Articles of the Apostles Creed which contains all Fundamentals Whilst any Churches hold to this Creed which is the Foundation Errors in other things do not unchurch them But such Erroneous are in a worse state than Orthodox Christians Nor is her Communion to be deserted meerly for such Errors tho' very gross if she doth not impose them Just to separate from a Church of a corrupt Worship when sinful things pollute her Publick Offices Or when good Devotions are put up in a strange Language Not for Rites and Customs about indifferent Matters Nor just to separate for scandalous Members where a Churches constitution is faultless Nor tho' it neglect Discipline which should reform them Of keeping Fellowship with the Apostles by submitting to our lawful Bishops their Successors Christians to communicate in Affections in Alms and Temporal good Things Quest. WHat is the Ninth Article in the Creed Answ. The Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints Quest. Is there no assurance of Salvation by Christ but in his Church Answ. No for Baptism whereby we are made members of the Church is compared to Noah's Ark whereinto all were to enter that would not perish with the World 1 Pet. 3. 20 21. Christ is represented to us as the Head of his Church and the Saviour of the body Eph. 5. 23. And God daily added to the Church such as should be saved saith St. Luke Act. 2. 47. In the Church all good men have a sure claim to God's favour by Promises and Compacts which ingage him in Faithfulness But out of it they stand to courtesie and can build at best only on presumptions and uncovenanted mercies the Covenant which God seals with us respecting his Church and being proposed and ratified in the Word which it preaches and in the Sacraments which it dispences Quest. Must not this make all careful to be Members of this Body and keep in Commâ—nion with Christ's Church who profess Christianity Answ. Most certainly as without which by their Religion there is not only a want of the set means and opportunities but also of all express Contracts and Promises of Salvation Our Saviour Christ has appointed not only the Christian Religion which all are to believe and practise but the Christian Church too wherein they are to profess that Faith and Communicate as Members And the same Baptism that lists us Professors of his Religion makes us Members of his Church also Quest. Why is the Church called Holy Answ. Because it is a Body of men that is Holy that is separated from the rest of the World and dedicated to Aâ—mighty God. Ye are a chosen Generation an Holy Nation a Peculiar People 1 Pet. 2. 9. And because whatever they prove in reality their Religion is a Profession of Holiness as their Baptismal Vow which is made at their entrance on Christianity sufficiently declares To the Church at Corinth called to be Saints 1 Cor. 1. 2. Quest. Why is it called Catholick Answ. To shew its Universality and that it is not confined to one Nation or Place as the Jewish Church was And the Catholick Church notes the whole Body of Christians diffused through all places and enduring through all times The Church is also call'd Catholick in relation to the Faith it holds which ought to be the same in all Places And in this sense particular Churches are sometimes stiled Catholick meaning thereby that they are Orthodox and live in the Faith and Communion of the Catholick Church not of any Heretical Combinations Quest.
himself in all things towards them and was correspondently treated by them as a Brother In any common Debates and particularly in the Council of Jerusalem he did not so much as preside as St. James there seems rather to have done but as an Equal gave his Reasons and his Voice among them Act. 15. 7. When his actings seem'd very Novel and Doubtful as his going in to Cornelius and his Gentile Friends the Brethren of the Circumcision freely required an Account thereof and stifly contended with him Act. 11. 2. And when they were really Blame-worthy as his dissimulation was at Antioch St Paul like his Com-Peer Apostle openly withstood and rebuked him Gal. 2. 11 12 13 14. These with sundry other like Passages shew how unknown such Universal Headship was in the Apostles time And the same may be made appear of the Church in the Ages following But that visible Unity which all Christians were obliged to endeavour after in the Church was preserv'd as I say by their joint readiness to communicate externally as Brethren not by a profest subjection of all Churches to one Visible Head and submitting to his Authority and Jurisdiction Quest. In this one Church indeed as it follows in the Creed there must be a Communion of Saints what is meant by Saints Answ. Christians By their Enemies they were styled Hereticks or Nazarenes But the Names they gave themselves were the Elect the Brethren the Christians or many times the Saints as is very commonly seen in the inscriptions or salutations of the Epistles writ to them by the holy Apostles Quest. And what is the Communion of these Saints or Christians Answ. Their joining in common in those things which make them Christians or in the common Offices and concerns of Christianity There must be Communion because of their Unity as one Body And this Communion must be in something sensible to shew a visible Unity which the World shall see and reflect upon as I noted from our Saviour Quest. In what doth this Communion consist Answ. In adhering to the same Doctrine Government and Worship both in Prayers and Sacraments For in these St. Luke places the Communion of the Primitive Church They continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and breaking of Bread and in Prayers Act. 2. 42. Quest. How must they keep to the same Faith and Doctrine Answ. By adhering to the Holy Scriptures which ought to be every where the same Rule of it And this Unity of Faith requiring not only that they inwardly believe the same things but also that they outwardly profess that Belief to make Unity in this Profession in the first days there is mention of its being drawn up into a Form of Sound words 2 Tim. 1. 13. This Form was as some think the Apostles Creed which contains all that Catholick Doctrine that is necessary to make any Man a Good Christian and which accordingly has been always received as the Form in Baptism the most learned not professing more thereat nor the most ignorant less through all Ages of the Church Quest. This united Adherence to the same Rule and Form will keep up a visible Union in Faith or Doctrine But how can they all be thus united in Prayers and Devotions not having one and the same Forms of Prayer and Liturgies Answ. By making them all according to the same Rules and for the same intents and purposes For all their Prayers are put up to one and the same God for one and the same common mercies on the same common terms and expectations through the same common Merits and Mediation and with the same common Affection and Brotherly concern for each other Which make them in Substance the same Worship and Devotions though put up in far distant places or in different Forms of expression or Languages Quest. According to what you said before of the Unity of the Church the Members of this one Body must not only worship and pray like each other but be ready to worship and pray together But how can we communicate or joyn in the use of Prayers and Sacraments with all Christians who are so far spread and widely distant in their Habitations Answ. With Foreigners we are bound to joyn only as we meet with them When we happen to be amongst them or they amongst us to shew we are all of the same Body and that the Church is one we must mutually Associate in worship and receive each other to Communion not sticking at any different Rites and usages we find in other Churches whilst there is no Sin in them And as for the Christians of our own Country there is no difficulty of joining thus in Worship yea and Government too with them because we are all under the same Laws and spiritual Guides and live among them Quest. Do you lay much weight upon Publick Prayers and think the People ought to place much in attending the Churches Service and Praying along with the Minister Answ. Yes For though God is ready to hear any Good man by himself alone Yet for the Countenance of the Publick Worship and the maintenance of good order he sets particular marks of Favour on those Prayers which are offer'd to him in Publick in concurrence with his Minister Thus in the Jewish Law he appointed the Priests to Offer and burn incense twice a Day for a Daily Service the end whereof was to present those Prayers which the People offer'd up during this Ministration as a sweet smell to God in these Perfumes And David when he would desire a great Recommendation to his Prayers begs they may come fortifi'd with this advantage to be set forth in God's sight like Incense Psal. 141. 2. In like manner the four and twenty Elders in the Revelations that is the Bishops or Pastors of the Church are represented as having every one like the Jewish Priests Golden Vials full of Odors which are the Prayers of the Saints Rev. 5. 8. And when any Persons in sickness would have Recourse to Prayers St. James directs them to present them by their Pastors and send for the Elders of the Church Jam. 5 14. And Jesus Christ that Angel who at the Golden Altar offers up the Prayers of all Saints is set out particularly as presenting those Prayers of theirs which came up with the smoke of incense Rev. 8. 3 4. Not to mention the many other Advantages of Publick Prayer as its being an addressing to God in a Body and united Number which in all Addresses is confessedly a way of most Force and Power and among them perhaps in conjunction with some of the best Souls and very likely with several more Holy and dearer to him than our selves for whose sake he may be more like to hear our joint supplications as he would hear Job for his Friends when he would not accept either their Prayer or Sacrifice at their own hands Job 42. 7 8. And therefore it is a most fond
of David and upon his kingdom to order and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever verse 6 7. Now this Person whose Title and Character is Wonderful The mighty God The everlasting Father The Prince of Peace and whose government on the throne of David was to be perpetually increasing is plainly no other but Messiah And he being the Person promised by Isaiah to be born of a Virgin that Prophecy however answered in some parts before could never be fulfilled and accomplished but in him Quest. But you said before it had respect to the Virgins Son of that time and was in part effected then And if it must still be meant of Christ and made good in him again some hundreds of Years after this makes the same words to be designed for several meanings yea such as must be verified at far distant times which seems a strange thing Ans. This is most usual in the Scriptures and especially in Prophecies which are often spoken of one Person next in view and near at hand in whom they are fulfilled in part but of another further off who though he lies hid till he is shown by the event is yet the Person chiefly meant whereof the other was only a Figure or Type and in whom they are fully to be accomplished Thus God's Promise to David 2 Sam. 7. 12 c. Of setting up his seed for ever after him and saying I will be his Father and he shall be my Son though it were spoken immediately and in part of Solomon as is most apparent yet was chiefly intended and fully made good in Christ. And the words of David about God 's not leaving his soul in hell c. Psal. 16. 8 9 10. though seemingly spoken and in part verified of his own Person were yet meant and fully accomplished in Christ's Resurrection whereto S. Peter applies them Act. 2. 29 c. And so when God said unto him Thou art my son and I will give thee the Heathen Psal. 2. 7 8. which had its full effect in Christ according to S. Paul's interpretation Act. 13. 33. And the same S. Matthew assures us of the Virgins Son which though it might have some regard to a Child of that time yet was then only fulfilled when Christ came Matth. 1. 21 22 23. Quest. But if this Virgins bearing a Son be meant of Christ How could it be given to Achaz and the House of Judah for a sign since he was then afar off and not to come till long after that Generation Ans. Because it was meant of another too who was to be conceived at that very time and would prove a sign to them And as this inferiour accomplishment would be a sign of this answerable Deliverance in that Age so would the miraculous Birth of Christ when it should more eminently fulfil this Prophecy be a much more illustrious sign of an incomparably greater to their Successors And this also answers the end of its being given here for a sign which is not limited to any Person or Time but indefinite to the House of David Hear says the Prophet not O! Ahaz but O! house of David c. verse 13 14. Besides in Ahaz's time the Faith of Christ's being born of a Virgin whilst only promised would give it the virtue of a sign as well as the sight of it when performed The end of it was to assure them that the Kings of Syria and Israel should not prevail against them verse 4 7 9 10. And this if they believed it 't was apt to do as an argument from God's intending for them a greater kindness to his readiness in performing a less for sending Messiah to be born of a Virgin and to be God with us must argue a greater power and kindness than would suffice to work this deliverance from these invading Princes And after all it is not unusual in the Scriptures to beget Faith and confidence by such signs as are remote and far off as God did to Moses Exod. 3. 12. and to Hezekiah and the Jews Isaiah 37. 30. Quest. By this I perceive this Prophecy of a Virgin bearing a Son was intended of Messiah But was it fulfilled in Jesus when he came Ans. Yes most miraculously For his Mother that bare him was a pure Virgin as appeared both from her own account and Joseph's her reputed Husband both Persons of known Integrity and unquestionable Credit And when after her espousal Joseph doubted of her Chastity because she was found with Child before their coming together an Angel is dispatched from Heaven to clear her Honour and to assure him that what was conceived in her was not any Humane Production but of the Holy Ghost Matth. 1. 18 19 20. The Holy Ghost as another Angel explained it to her self coming upon her and the power of the Highest overshadowing her when she objected the impossibility of her being a Mother because she was a pure maid Luke 1. 34 35. All which was so unquestionable and notoriously made out to the Apostles and Primitive Christians their greatest Enemies finding no pretence to cavil and start doubts upon it that they universally and firmly believed it and thought it a point of so great account as to deserve a place and make one Article in that short Summary and Abridgment of Christian Faith called the Apostles Creed For in that one thing we profess to believe concerning Jesus is That being conceived by the Holy Ghost he was born of the Virgin Mary Quest. No wonder it found a place there for it is a sign not more strange than convincing being of it self alone sufficient to prove Jesus to be the Christ since in this he has no Competitors the like I think being never known or pretended of any other Man. But besides this are there not other notable things set down by the Prophets as belonging to him which may serve still further to discover him Ans. Yes Secondly That an extraordinary Spirit not only of Wisdom and Goodness but also of Might or miraculous Power should not only descend now and then by fits but make a settled abode and rest upon him Concerning the branch that shall grow out of the root of Jesse says the Prophet the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of wisdom and understanding the Spirit of counsel and might the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord Isaiah 11. 1 2. And when once the former Prophecies had pointed out the exact Year and place of his appearing this sign of it self had been enough to discover him For being thus extraordinary not only for Wisdom and Piety but also for Might and miraculous Power when any would survey all the Men in Bethlehem in search of Messiah at the prefixed time he infinitely above all others must needs draw all Mens Eyes to him Quest. Are there any more things still belonging to him which confirm the same Ans. Yes Thirdly That he should be
forth all the Forecited Articles But doth it contain all Points of meer Belief that are necessary and Fundamental Answ. Yes For it was made for a Badge of true Christians and thereupon we may conclude was design'd to be no ways Defective in any necessary Articles of Christianity It has ever been the Form of Faith at Baptism and was all which not only the Ignorant but even the most Learned then professed So that it is sufficient to make any Person a Disciple and Member of Jesus Christ. It was held and Styled as is well known by the Ancient Fathers as the Canon the Sum the Perfect Sum of Faith that Token which was sufficient to shew who preached Christ according to the Doctrine of the Apostles and to distinguish Believers from Infidels that wherein the Church Educated and Catechized her Children and in sum which passed as the Test of common Christianity among them Lastly since the Compilers of it short as it is gave room to some things only Circumstantial as the Judge under whom Christ suffer'd and the Time of his Rising from the Dead 'T is not to be thought they would omit any thing essential and of the Body of the Faith which was necessary to be inserted Quest. Whilst any Church then professes this Creed which is the Foundation doth it continue a Christian Church tho' it tacks thereto many gross Errors and as St. Paul says builds Wood Hay and Stubble thereupon 1 Cor. 3. 12. Answ. Yes for they who profess this may be Baptized as I said and Baptism admits men into the Church and makes them Christians And some Churches in the Apostles days had imbibed sundry great Errors But retaining still their Faith in Christ they were owned notwithstanding as Churches of Christ and styled and treated so in the Apostolical Epistles to them And tho' it be a most sad thing to consider of the present divisions of Christendom yet God be thanked this Creed which is the full foundation of Faith is still unanimously own'd and profess'd by all Churches which make any considerable Figure and large spread or have attain'd at this day to become National in the Christian World. On account whereof how wide soever their differences or great the errors of many of them are in superstructures we must still look upon them as Churches of Christ tho' some alas are very degenerate and corrupt ones Quest. And may they be saved too Answ. Yes if they have nothing else to hinder their Salvation but such Errors and under them they sincerely fear God and work Righteousness For Christ is the Saviour of the Body so that retaining so much truth as may qualifie them to be of the Church and receive Baptism they have so much as is indispensably requisite to Salvation But that they are saved notwithstanding their great Errors which imply unbelief of some weighty and concerning Truths our Lord has revealed to us is on the score of their well meant and pityable ignorance or of their unmasterable Prejudices and Prepossessions Whilst men hold the Foundation and err only in superstructures tho' their corrupt superstructures their Hay and Stubble which they Build thereupon as St. Paul says shall be burnt and suffer loss yet for the Foundations sake if they do not hold the errors thro' an evil mind nor are obstinate in them against convictive evidence the Persons themselves may be saved who were such unskilful Builders 1 Cor. 3. 15. Quest. Are not such erroneous Christians or Churches then in as good a state as more sound and Orthodox ones Answ. No they are neither so sure of having any Reward nor if that falls right like to receive so much of it For their errors make their passage at the Day of Judgment to the side of the Blessed more hazardous errors being punishable in some as well as pardonable in others according as they have more or less of willfulness And if finally they do not hinder it they will at least render it more difficult and painful to them as the Apostle intimates in comparing mens escape from among such errors to ones escaping out of a House all on Fire about him Yea I add as with much pain and trouble so with much harm and loss too For their superstructed Works at that day suffering loss instead of receiving recompence their reward for the Foundations sake which they still hold will be less than the reward of other Christians who not only hold to it but also build thereon rewardable superstructures void of their Corruptions This the Apostle sets off by Fire which when it tryes solid Works like as when it proves Gold or Silver doth no harm but only makes them finer But when it meets with corrupt ones like as when it seizes Hay or Stubble it feeds upon and consumes them as combustible Matter If a mans work says he abide the Fire which tryes all Works at that Day he shall receive a reward for it But if any Man's Work be burnt he shall suffer loss yet he shall be saved but so as by Fire i. e. snatch'd out of the midst of those superstructures as are set all on Fire like a man rescued out of a House on Fire where he lay encompassed with the Flames which is a way of escape full of dammage as well as difficulty and danger 1 Cor. 3. 13 14 15. So that the reward of the pityable misled is neither so considerable nor so secure as that of the Orthodox and well directed Quest. And whilst a Church holds to this Foundation of Faith are we not to forsake her meerly for her building many gross Errors thereupon if she doth not impose them Answ. No for under such Errors as I have shewn it still remains a Christian Church and among all true Christians there should be the Communion of Saints i. e. a readiness to joyn mutually in the Worship and Offices of our common Christianity Requiring no unlawful terms of Communion we may unite with her without sin and then if we separate it is without just cause and it is always blame-worthy to separate causelesly from any Church And thus the Apostles taught the Christians to practise in their Days For many great Errors had then crept into the Churches Some indeed struck at the very Foundation as that of denying Jesus Christ to be come in the Flesh a Point the Profession whereof is necessary to our having both the Father and the Son and accordingly the denyal of it is given as a sure mark of an Antichrist by St. John and all Christians warn'd not to have any Communion or Society with him 2 Joh. 7. 9 10 11. Such also was the error of those at Corinth who deny'd the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 12. and that of the most rigorous sort of Judaizers who set up not only the necessity of the Law of Moses but its sufficiency without any need of Christs Sacrifice so casting off all dependance on his Blood for Salvation Both which the
Apostle loads with such heavy consequences telling the Judaizers they were faln from grace and Christ would profit them nothing or be of none effect to them and the Denyers of the Resurrection that then is Christ not risen they are yet in their Sins their Faith is vain and so is the Apostles Preaching c. as give us cause to think had they prevailed and become the common Profession in those Churches they would have rendred them Christians meerly in Name but in Truth would have unchurched them But other Churches that kept true to the Foundation did in those days build many great errors thereupon At Corinth they built Wood Hay and Stubble upon the Foundation and fell to hold not only speculative Errors but some very dangerous Tenets in practice such as the lawfulness of incestuous Marriages esteemed as may seem as a thing indifferent even by the Pastors themselves and of Communicating in Idol-Feasts wherein they thought they did not sin so long as they believed an Idol is nothing At Colos they were prone to superstition to place Religion in uncommanded Abstinencies such as touch not taste not handle not which were the Doctrines and Devices of men Col. 2. 20 21 22. At Ephesus St. Paul foretold that several would arise speaking perverse Things Act. 20. 30. And at Rome and abundance of Churches in the Provinces where the Jews had Synagogues besides those rigid Judaizers who deny'd the Redemption by Christ and merit of his Sacrifice there were others who believed these but yet maintain'd together with them the necessity of the Mosaick Rites observing the Jewish difference of Meats and Days and teaching the Gentiles to live as do the Jews Ro. 14. 2 5. Gal. 2. 14. But amidst all these errors which were held sometimes by Parties and Factions and sometimes by the greatest numbers in the Churches the Apostles preach'd to them to own the erroneous as Brethren whom upon the account of those great Truths they held God had received Rom. 14. 3. to beware of Schisms and Divisions as things that shew'd Carnal Professors 1 Cor. 3. 3. and to keep the Bond of Peace Eph. 4. 3. And upon these Christian Grounds and in correspondence to these Apostolical Ordinances it is that the Protestants of the opposite Confessions are ready to Communicate with the Lutherans notwithstanding their Errors of Ubiquity and Consubstantiation And that the Champions of our own Church have sundry times declared their readiness to Communicate even with the Church of Rome in any truly Christian thing notwithstanding the Errors that Church has added to the Foundation But that they have barr'd us all out by imposing their Errors and so staining and polluting their Worship that with a good Conscience we cannot joyn with them And accordingly whilst they were free to come and till the Pope forbid them the Romanists were for many years admitted to our Publick Service and Sacraments notwithstanding their different apprehensions in the first part of Queen Elizabeth's Reign Quest. I suppose you speak this of our uniting with them only whilst their Errors are meer Errors of Faith and consist in Opinion Answ. Yes for 't is not so when they found any corrupt Worship thereupon But if together with such unfundamental Errors they have a faultless Worship which they call us to joyn in we must not separate for their Errors whilst they keep them to themselves and we are under no necessity of sharing in them And that we never are whilst they do not impose them but leave us at liberty either to dissent where their errors are in little Matters or to gainsay and confute them where they are of more importance to Religion and mens Souls Quest. I think I see when a Church errs so foully in Faith that we ought to forsake her But another ground of withdrawing our Communion you said is Corruption of Worship And when is a Church so far corrupted in her Worship that we ought not to joyn in it Answ. That may be either in case of intrinsick impediments in the matter of her Offices Or when good Prayers and Devotions are put up to God but in an unknown Language Quest. When is she so far corrupted in the very matter of her Worship and Publick Services Answ. When she falls off either from Worshipping the one true God or by one Mediator Jesus Christ or mixes Sin in all her Prayers whereby Grace and Mercy are to be sought or in her Sacraments of Baptism or the Lords Supper wherein that Grace and Mercy are sealed and convey'd We cannot live Religiously without Prayers nor pray to any but the true God except we pray like Idolatrous Heathens nor Pray to him by any other but by Jesus Christ the defective Prayers of Sinners needing to be expiated as was †observed before they are preferr'd and not being acceptable from any other hands nor claim the benefit of his intercession for our Prayers 'till we are Baptized and made Members of his Church nor shew our selves worthy of such a Saviour and assure as much as may be the Blessings we pray for without partaking of the Lords Supper So that if any Church has embody'd Sin into her Service in these particulars we cannot perform the necessary parts and vital acts of Worship in her Communion with a good Conscience Quest. So that if the Publick Offices of any Church direct their Prayers and Adorations not only to God but also to Creatures either Rational Beings or senseless Images or if they prefer not these Prayers to God by Jesus Christ alone but make use of other Mediators as Departed Saints or Angels or if they pollute their Baptism and the Lords Supper by unlawful mixtures the twisting of these Corruptions into her Worship without any further Imposition is enough to bar all good People from joyning with her in these Offices Answ. Yes For as we must be careful publickly to Worship and serve God so must we be as careful not to offer up any sinful and forbidden Thing in service to him which is not to honour and please but affront and provoke him So that when any particular Office is thus tainted in any Church we must separate from that although at the same time whilst that will be allowed we be ready to joyn in others When 't is generally corrupt and sound and unsound lye intermixt thro all their service we must separate from them in all Offices Quest. But what if the Devotions themselves are good and directed only unto God by Jesus Christ but in a strange Language which we do not understand Were it enough to desert a Churches service for that reason Answ. Yes because God will have Prayers with the understanding 1 Cor. 14 15 16. and God being a Spirit receives such only as Christ notes who Worship him in Spirit which a man doth not whose Spirit is idle and understands not what he says to God John 4. 23 24. So that if
any Church locks up her Publick Prayers and Offices in an unknown Tongue good People must seek out another where they may offer up the same Services in a Language their Spirits can joyn in and Worship as the Scripture requires to Edification 1 Cor. 14. 26. We must not separate as I said from a sound Church only because it seems less edifying But we must separate when there is no Devotion but what is directly contrary to Edification Quest. If we may not separate where there are such real Faults in a Church then much less for the dislike of received Customs Rites and Usages when confessedly as you said in indifferent matters Answ. Most certainly To rend the Body and make disturbance for light things shews an ill Member in all Societies Not to yield to an innocent Custom as I noted before from St. Paul shews a man to be no lover of peace but a lover of contention 1 Cor. 11. 16. Nay if any man would shew himself a Catholick Christian he must not only readily comply with the indifferent Rites and Usages of his own Church which has Authority over him but as he has occasion to pass by them or converse among them with the Usages of other Churches or Christians tho' very different from his own so long as there is no sin in them a Catholick Christian must have a Catholick Spirit and be ready to shew he owns all other Christians 'till they are regularly cast out of Christ's Church for Brethren and fellow-members and never stick out from exercising with them the common Christianity whereby all Christians serve and honour Christ by reason of the particular Rites in any Church or Place which are no offence to him Quest. If we may not lawfully separate from a Church whose Constitution has some Faults yea some great ones as were among the Churches in the Apostles times I suppose we may much less separate when the Church it self in its constitution is faultless meerly for the ill and scandalous Lives of its Members Answ. Most certainly And accordingly St. Paul is most severe against the Schisms at Corinth tho' in the same Church he complains of the horrible prophaneness of many among them who came drunk to the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11. 21. and of the Wraths Envyings Strifes Back-bitings Swellings Tumults unrepented Uncleanness Laciviousness and Fornication for which he feared God would humble him when he came among them 2 Cor. 12. 20 21. The Church of God in all times under the Ancient Patriarchs and afterwards in the Nation of the Jews was a mixt Society of good and bad livers And in Christianity it is compared to a Net that catches Fish of every kind and to a Field sown with Tares as well as Wheat and wherein both must grow together till the Great and General Harvest 'T is always its misfortune here together with some true Saints to have some Hypocritical Professors So that were we to separate from a good Church for this Cause we must separate from all Churches and could hold Communion with no Church on Earth And therefore men must never think of leaving a good Church because it happens to have some corrupt People or scandalous Ministers From the Sins we must separate which give the scandal but unite and adhere to the Church which condemns them the good must not desert it because the bad will not obey and be ruled by it Quest. But what if it doth not use the Rod of Discipline to correct them Answ. We are not to separate notwithstanding as the Apostles told the Churches where the Sins were too strong And the Sinners too numerous for Discipline or the Pastors too remiss in using it Thus the Pastors were at Corinth who instead of mourning over the incestuous Person were rather puff'd up with him 1 Cor. 5. 2. And yet for all this St. Paul would not bear to hear of any tendenoies towards Schism among them 1 Cor. 3. 3. Thus also it was at Pergamus where several were infected with the scandalous Doctrines of the Nicolaitans Rev. 2. 15. and at Thyatira where the followers of Jezabel the False Prophetess were suffer'd to go on in their Spiritual Fornication and Sacrificing to Idols v. 20. And in other Churches which either out of necessity or neglect relaxed the reins of Discipline and tolerated scandalous Persons in the Apostles own times But yet no plea for separation would ever be admitted by them on this pretence In these cases the Church must answer for the neglect of its power and scandalous Sinners for the scandals they give but as for any private Christians whilst they neither help on their scandals nor imitate them their Consciences are not defiled with them Besides the growth of Schism has been one of the greatest weakners of Discipline one Congregation admitting and harbouring men when another rejects them And therefore to pretend want of Discipline for separation is not only a most dis-ingenuous thing but the way to bring Discipline which they complain of as too little already to be none at all Quest. By what you have discoursed on this Point I perceive we are never Guilty of Schism in separating from any Church when we have just cause But that all breaking off from any Part of Christ's Body is Schismatical which is Causeless Answ. Yes And so is all Driving others into Separation by imposing sinful Terms as the Condition of their Communion And then which is the last thing I shall note concerning it Schism from any Churches is most compleat when we do not only separate from their Religious Assemblies and Divine Offices but withal deny them to be Members of Christ's Body or Parts of the Catholick Church This is the Highest step in Separation and leaves not the least Ground for Church-Communion For 't is only the Members of Christ's Body that must Communicate under him their Head in the proper Offices of Christianity and the Communion of Saints profess'd in the Creed is only within the compass of the Catholick Church So that if we cut off any Societies from being Members of Christ and a true Church we must have no more Communion with them than if they were profest Heathens And this was the Sacrilegious Breach of the Donatists and Novatians the Consummation of whose Schism was their confining the Catholick Church to their own Party and allowing no Church no Sacraments or Promise of Salvation but among themselves Quest. There remains yet one instance of the Communion of the Primitive Christians mentioned by St. Luke viz. Continuing in the Apostles Fellowship Act. 2. 42. I pray you what is meant by that Answ. Owning their Authority and continuing under their Government They were appointed by Christ as his Deputies to Govern his Church and therefore adhering to them as the Delegates of Christ is call'd living in their Fellowship Quest. But how can we live in their Fellowship and adhere to their Government now they are dead Answ. By adhering to and
Advertisement THere is lately Re-printed An Help and Exhortation to Worthy Communicating Or a Treatise describing the Meaning Worthy Reception Duty and Benefits of the Holy Sacrament And Answering the Doubts of Conscience and other Reasons which most generally detain Men from it Together with Suitable Devotions added By John Kettlewell Vicar of Coles-hill in Warwickshire The Second Edition Printed for Robert Kettlewell and are to be Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster Price Bound 2 s. 6 d. THE Practical Believer OR THE ARTICLES OF THE Apostles Creed Drawn out To form a True Christian's Heart and Practice In Two Parts LONDON Printed for Robert Kettlewell and are to be Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1688. THE Practical Believer The First Part. OF THE NATURE and CERTAINTY OF Christian Faith AND The Knowledge of God OR AN Explication of the Divine Attributes and Providence Febr. 28. 1687. Imprimatur Liber cui Titulus The Practical Believer c. Guil. Needham RR. in Christo P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. Ã Sacr. Domest London Printed for Robert Kettlewell and are to be Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1688. THE PREFACE Reader I Here present thee with a Discourse upon the Holy Christian Faith which as we all profess seriously to believe so should we carefully endeavour to answer and adorn with an Holy and Christian Practice In this I have endeavoured to give such accounts of Almighty God as may encourage all good Men to love and serve him and deter all evil Men from presuming on his Favour or provoking his Displeasure I have drawn out the consideration of his Providence into the usual cases and occurrences and shown how we may live upon it and give our selves the true comfort and advantage thereof in all events and transactions And all the other Articles of the Creed I have endeavoured to set off in such particulars as we are most concerned to know and which may give them the greatest life and power with us In the whole I have aim'd to lay before thee the summ of Christian Doctrine that in an Age which abounds with unchristian falshoods we may keep stedfast in Christian Truths and that among all the Truths of Christianity we may lay out our Care and Zeal on those which are most important and worthy of all acceptance My great design in this Treatise is to lend what help I am able to those that sincerely desire and seriously set themselves to live as they believe and to make Faith a Governing Grace showing how we may serve our selves of it and give up our Souls to be ordered and directed by it in all our manifold and most important cases and concerns And looking all along at this mark in passing through all the Articles of the Creed I have not sought to fill up a Book by inserting all that may be truly or pertinently said But have applied my self to instruct thee in such as I thought the leading and governing Notions to inculcate those which seem to me the most concerning and powerful Truths to set off such particulars about them as seem fittest to affect us or lie nearest unto Practice and to note wherein we are to follow and attend to them in the course and various exigencies of our lives And hoping this may prove beneficial to the instruction and use of plain Christians who have neither leisure to peruse nor capacity to retain larger Volumes I have endeavoured to treat of these things with convenient brevity But withal to comprize so much not only of necessary but profitable Doctrine as may be sufficient to any Man's guidance and encouragement who will set himself diligently to learn and walk in the light of it I am not without hopes that this Discourse may in some degree or other serve the end for which it is sincerely sent abroad viz. of doing some honour and service to the ever Blessed Trinity and making an admirable and most efficacious Faith more lively and powerful in some that profess it And if thou good Reader shalt reap any benefit by it as thou wilt not fail to give God the praise for suiting and supplying thy necessity by the weakness of any he employs so one thing I heartily request of thee which is all the return that in this World I either expect or desire that thou wilt thus far remember the poor instrument of thy Mercy as in the fervency of thy Devotion to put up one Prayer to our common Father for his Salvation who with a very ready and willing mind has taken all this pains to promote thine THE CONTENTS PART I. Of the Nature and Certainty of Christian Faith c. CHAP. I. Of Christian Faith. WHat is meant by Faith in Christ. When this suitably affects us it justifies or avails to Righteousness An account of several particulars of Christian Belief with the respective Affections and Practices that are suitable to them All these are reasonably to be expected from them though they do not follow where Men will act inconsistently to their Principles and against Reason Faeith with its suitable effects the same as Faith and Repentance On this account such effects ascribed to it when alone as are due only to it and Repentance in conjunction This Faith with its suitable effects was that which justified the Old Testament Worthies And is to justifie all good Christians When S. Paul opposes justifying-Faith to the Deeds of the Law he speaks of the Deeds of the Jewish Law. That which fits Faith for these effects and distinguishes the Faith of Saints and Sinners is First The sincerity of it Secondly Its strength and firmness This consists in its being assured And honest or seated in one that makes conscience to keep his word And resolute In what sense Faith may be called an act of Recumbency or leaning and rolling on Christ for Salvation And the hand to receive and apply him 'T is no part of Faith to believe our sins are pardon'd nor of infidelity to doubt of it Of the innocence many times of such doubts And of some good Mens confidence of their own forgiveness p. 1 CHAP. II. That Jesus is the Christ from Ancient Prophecies Among those Prophecies which prove Jesus to be the Christ First Some prescribe the time of his coming This they mark out by the nearness of such notable Occurrences and Revolutions as would fall under all Mens observation And by fixing the very Year he should appear in Accordingly there was a general expectation of him at that time His coming not put off beyond the time appointed for the sins of the People An account why the Jews who read these clear Notes of the time in their own Prophets are not convinced by them Secondly Others assign many peculiar and visible Notes whereby he may be demonstratively pointed out from all other Men. As 1. His being born of a Virgin. This in some sense spoken of a Virgin of that time but principally
excellent Glory of God the Father we heard when we were with him in the Holy mount and were eye-witnesses of his Majesty 2 Pet. 1. 16 17 18. And the same he repeated again a third time before a Multitude when Andrew and Philip brought the Greeks to him For before them all Jesus Prayed Father Glorifie thy Name And thereupon came a voice from heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again John 12. 28. And this is a most sensible and satisfactory way of God's declaring himself not meerly by shows and resemblances of things which are impressed by Visions and Dreams upon Mens imaginations but by plain proper and significant words such as he used in conversing with Adam in paradise Genesis 3. 8 9. and with Moses at the bush Exodus 3. 4. when assuming a Glorious Light the usual way of shewing himself particularly present he spoke to Men out of it in an audible Voice as sensibly and intelligibly as a Man can talk and discourse with his Friend Quest. Did the Father also testifie Jesus to be the Christ by raising him from the Dead and shewing him openly in full possession of his pretences Ans. Yes on the third day he rose again as we profess in the Creed And Almighty God as S. Peter saith raised him up And hereby he did plainly testifie and vouch for him For after the Jews had done their worst condemning and cruelly executing him in raising him up again God visibly reversed their Sentence and undid what they had done and justified him as one that deserved not to continue under the Power of Death but to live again He was put to Death in the Flesh but justified in the Spirit viz. by that Divine Spirit which raised him from the Dead 1 Tim. 3. 16. He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1. 4. Nay after his Resurrection he set him in Heaven at his own right Hand surrounded with a Divine Glory the usual Symbol of God's Presence and Majesty In which august form he shewed him to Stephen to prepare him for his Martyrdom and to Saul at his Conversion Jesus appearing to them from God's right Hand in a Glory that surpassed the Brightness of the Sun. And having enthroned him there he intrusted him with the Holy Ghost to dispose of it as he pleased a plain Evidence of his having all Power in Heaven as well as on Earth as he pretended Which Power he visibly manifested to all Men not only by sending down the Holy Spirit in all variety of most stupendious Gifts upon his own Apostles but enabling them by imposition of Hands in his Name to confer the same upon innumerable Multitudes of his followers as appears from the Acts of the Holy Apostles and from other Scriptures Quest. I will not ask you for any more Evidence in this great point of Jesus being the Christ such demonstrations as you have insisted on being abundantly sufficient to gain belief from every honest mind that is careful to inquire and willing to be informed And as for others who are wantonly captious or wilfully blind and incredulous they are not to be convinced by Reason and Arguments But building on this now as most unquestionably sure That Jesus is the Christ doth not that undeniably prove the Divine Authority of the New Testament which is his Word Ans. Most certainly it doth For that contains only what he either spoke or acted himself in his Life or ordered his Apostles to do and teach in his Name after his Death The same Proofs and Testimonies which justifie him do authorize it since it only sets out to us all that Word in declaration whereof all the Evidences urged hitherto are to gain him credit Quest. I am fully satisfied of the certainty and have heard enough to convince me of the usefulness and efficacy of Faith in Christ. I would desire now to hear something more of the particular points of that Faith whereof we are to be thus firmly persuaded and whereby such admirable things are to be performed Ans. Those as I hinted at first are summed up in that short Creed into the profession whereof we are all Baptized And that I shall next endeavour to discourse on and explain to you THE Knowledge of GOD OR AN EXPLICATION OF THE Divine Attributes AND PROVIDENCE The Knowledge of God or an Explication of the Divine Attributes and Providence CHAP. I. Of the Being and Attributes of God. The Contents The World declares there is a God. He is an eternal Spirit on whom all things depend Of God's Holiness Several things explained which seem to infringe it as when God is said to harden Mens hearts To inflict Spiritual blindness and a reprobate sense To send a false Spirit to deceive Ahab and strong delusion God oft gives Men up to the delusion of evil Spirits Cautions to prevent this To give Men a Spirit of slumber An account how notwithstanding God's irreconcileable hatred of sin it is still suffered in the World. Of God's Goodness Several false Notions of it In what things it chiefly consists Of God's Justice or Righteousness This shown in giving Righteous Laws And passing Righteous Judgments according to them without respect of Persons His Punitive Justice cleared from misplacing punishments in punishing one for another's sins And from misproportioning them in allotting eternal punishments to momentany sins Some false aspersions on this just God wiped off Of God's Presence in all places The effect of this Of his Faithfulness This shown by inviolable performance of his Promises And interpreting them without evasion or secret reserve according to their plain meanings And by constant adherence to his Friends and Faithful Servants which is no encouragement for any to return to their former sins Of God's Wisdom This shown in setting a just rate and estimate on all things so that he is neither gained nor lost by worthless services In discerning the just power and force of all Means and success of all Methods which should beget the greatest Reverence for all his Ordinances In seeing the best times and seasons for every purpose so that we must never think any Deliverance too long delayed or Affliction too fast hastened No reason to pretend to the Love of God without loving and imitating these Divine Excellencies Question WHat are the Articles of Christian Faith or particular points which we Christians are to believe Answer They are all contained in this Creed commonly called the Apostles Creed I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin 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 Quest. Doth this Creed contain all points of Doctrine necessary to be believed by every Christian Ans. Yes for it was given for a Confession of Faith that should fit Men for Baptism and shew any Person to be a Christian and they had better have made no Rule or Confession of Faith at all than an imperfect one Quest. What do you make the first Article in this Creed Ans. I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth Quest. How doth it appear that there is a God Ans. From this vast World that he has made Even as we are unquestionably assured of the Being of a Skilful Architect where we see a stately and well contrived House erected or of a learned Author from an excellent and well-penned Book or of an Ingenious Artificer from a Watch of exact and various Movements or other elaborate and curious piece of Workmanship And this shows us not only that there is a God on whom we and all this created World depend but also that he is most Wise Powerful and Good because the greatest Power Wisdom and Goodness are every where apparent in the contrivance and formation of it For the invisible things of God even his eternal Power and Godhead are clearly seen from the Creation of the World being understood by the things that are made as S. Paul says Rom. â— 20. Quest. Indeed nothing in reason seems more obvious than that all this World must have an Architect and that we and all the things about us which every where spring up and perish could never make our selves and that things of such admirable Order Harmony and Usefulness could not any one and much less all of them be put together by blind and uncontriving chance And therefore methinks this proof of God's Being from the voice of his Works must needs convince all his reasonable Creatures Ans. Yes and ever since the World began so it has There is neither speech nor language where their voice is not heard their â—iâ—e is gone out through all the earth and their words unto the end of the world Psal. 19. 3 4. On this or other Arguments all People in every Age and Nation believed and acknowledged that there is a God and delivered down that Belief to those who followed them And therefore no Person can ever oppose this and pretend to reason since thereby he sets up himself against all People of every place and time and against what passed for the plainest and most uncontestable Principle of humane reason ever since there was any such thing So that if therein he has reason he has it to himself alone and all the present World besides yea and all Ages too that went before him had none Quest. What things are we to know and believe concerning God Ans. First His God-head and Divine Attributes Secondly His Providence Quest. There is nothing in all Religion more necessary or useful for us than to have a right apprehension of Almighty God. Is he like any thing which we behold with our Eyes or feel with our Hands or discern by any Bodily Senses Ans. No in Scripture indeed he is said to have Ears and Eyes and Hands and Feet But therein as the Jewish Rabbins say the Law speaks of God with the Tongue of the Children of Men. And we are to understand not that he has any such parts but only that he has as full perceptions and performs the same things as we do by them The invisible God whom no man hath seen or can see 1 Tim. 6. 16. is a Spirit says our Saviour John 4. 24. And this must teach us in all our Services which we pay to him never to think of putting him off with outward Shows Gifts and Ceremonies but to be inwardly affected in all we do or say and always to offer him our Hearts and Spirits For he being a Spirit must be worshipped as Christ said in spirit and in truth John 4. 24. And moreover never to make any Bodily Images and representations of him or fancy to give him Worship and Honour by them since a pure unbodied Spirit is not represented but belyed not honoured but debased by any such thing Ye saw no manner of similitude of God when he came and spake to you said Moses to the Jews therefore take good heed left ye corrupt your selves in making any of him Deut. 4. 15 16. And thou shalt not make to thee any likeness of any thing either in Heaven or Earth to bow down to them said the Law Exod. 20. 4 5. Quest. But although we cannot see him with our Eyes yet we may apprehend several things of him in our minds And one you say is his God-head what mean you by that Ans. His Sovereignty or being the Supreme Being that depends on none and that all other things depend upon Particularly Men who were at first made by him and still absolutely depend on him In him we live move and have our being Act. 17. 28. Quest. If he depends on none he must be an eternal Being which never had beginning Ans. Yes because there was nothing before him to give beginning to him So that if he had not been from all Eternity he could never have been at all Quest. And if all things else but especially all Men do absolutely depend on him that will make all careful to serve and please him and found Religion Ans. Undoubtedly so it should And where it is not only believed but seriously laid to heart so it will. Quest. What are the Divine Attributes or Properties of God which will show us how he stands affected and what will please him Ans. He is all Holiness Goodness Justice Faithfulness Wisdom Almighty every where present and can never change Quest. What is meant by God's Natural Purity and Holiness Ans. His absolute exemption from all sin in himself and his perfect aversation and immutable hatred of it in all others He can take no pleasure in wickedness he hates all workers of iniquity and therefore evil shall not dwell with him Psal. 5. 4 5. Quest. If this be his unalterable Nature he can never be reconciled to Mens sins nor take delight in any Man whilst he goes on to be a sinner Ans. No as soon may we hope to bring Light and Darkness Snow and Fire to dwell together So far is he from living with it that he cannot endure to look upon iniquity Habak 1. 13. Quest. Since God's Holiness bespeaks such absolute abhorrence of all vice and wickedness I see it implies something more than barely his affectation of External Decency or his hatred to be treated rudely and unmannerly Ans. Yes so it doth It implies that too For God's Holiness often notes his supereminent Power and Greatness And to use this peerless Majesty or any things
Answ. Yes or else considering the infirmities and defects of most if not of all his Followers we could never have any comfortable hope in him much less so great as to desire and Pray for his Appearance And yet the Apostles give this as the Character of good and acceptable Christians who may therefore hope to be made happy when they are qualified for it according to Humane measures The Crown of Righteousness is for me and all that love his appearing saith St. Paul 2 Tim. 4. 8. Look for and by your Prayers haste on the coming of the great Day of God saith St. Peter 2 Pet. 3. 12. Come Lord Jesus come quickly saith St. John Rev. 22. 20. And in our daily Prayers our Lord himself has taught us every day to say thy Kingdom come Quest. Are we not indebted for all this indulgence to the merit of his Death Answ. Yes for we are accepted in the Beloved in whom we have Redemption through his Blood Eph. 1 6. 7. And owing all to him we must both Pray and give thanks for it in his Name Joh. 14. 13. Eph. 5. 20. Quest. All these acts of favour you have recited are marvellous instances of Gods clemency to all his faithful Servants and the Gospel I see encourages us to expect them at his hands But are we sure at that Day God will stand to these Gospel Terms Answ. Yes most sure For he never repents of his promises nor can deny himself Besides the same Jesus who once came from God to make us these gracious offers is then to come and Judge us according to them and make good his own Proposals Nay since there may seem the same Reason for his retaining them on to the consummation as for his resuming them at the Resurrection he may probably come as some of the Ancients have thought with the Glorious Scars of the Spear and Nails and the signs of his Meritorious wounds which purchased all this Grace about him And then as all the Wicked shall look on him whom they have pierced with horror and consternation so shall the Righteous with unspeakable comfort most joyfully beholding in his wounds both the heighth of their most dear and compassionate Judge's Love and the Price and assurance of their own Salvation Quest. This indulgence of our Almighty Judge will be an inexhaustible Fountain of ravishing joy and comfort to all serious and considerate minds And indeed without such clemency as you have described the thoughts of the future judgment must needs be a very melancholly consideration to the best Persons But expecting so much Candor and Benignity from him they have cause enough not only to look for but to love and desire his appearing But what shall be the effect of all this to good men Answ. They shall be sentenced to an Everlasting Life and Rewarded with all the Glory and Happiness of an Eternal Kingdom For having fairly and impartially heard their Cause and made all these Allowances and found them Righteous he will say to them Come ye Blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Beginning of the World Mat. 25. 34. Quest. And in that Allotment and Proportioning of Rewards will he consider the Difficulties and Oppositions in Doing Good which some Men meet withal above others Answ. Yes As these Tryals and Temptations are Proofs of a greater Love they will in proportion be a Ground of a Greater Reward Thus St Paul says the adding of Affliction to his Bonds or Multiplying his Trouble in preaching of the Word would surely turn to his greater Salvation in the End Phil. 1. 16 19. Quest. Will he also consider the Costliness of it as when 't is done with hazard or Loss of their Friends or Estates or it may be of their Lives Answ. Yes one single Act under such hazards may shew as much Religious Love and Zeal as would suffice to great Numbers when they are free from such incumbrances When we obey God with present Damage he will not only consider our Services but our Loss in his Cause and recompence abundantly not only all we did but likewise all we suffered for him For every one that forsakes Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my Name 's sake says our Saviour shall receive therefore an hundred fold Mat 19. 29. And the Martyrs that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus shall rise first and Reign with Christ a thousand years but the Rest of the Dead not till the thousand years are finished Rev. 20. 4 5. And therefore whensoever God calls Men to suffer for Righteousness they must not look upon it as a Calamitous Scourge but as a Favour and Priviledge such Suffering being sent in Truth as opportunities of accumulating Bliss and securing to themselves not only more ample but when their Sufferings proceed to Blood more early shares of the Future Glories To you 't is given saith St. Paul in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Phil. 1. 29. Count it all joy saith St. James when you fall into diverse Temptations Jam. 1. 2. When you are Reviled and Slandered and Persecuted for Righteousness sake says our Saviour then think your selves Blessed and Rejoice and be exceeding glad for your Reward in Heaven shall be great for it Mat. 5. 10 11 12. As the Apostles did who when the Council had beaten them departed from their Presence rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ's Name Act. 5. 40 41. And the Hebrews who took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods as knowing they had in Heaven a better and more Durable Substance Heb. 10. 34. Quest. But numbers of the Evils we endure come not on us for keeping God's Commandments but only as our share of that Misery and Trouble which God has allotted for us in this Life And will he at that Day Rate these and consider any persons having endured more Poverty Oppression Shame or Sickness in this World than other good Persons who yet are no better nor Dearer to God than themselves Answ. I suppose he will for he is no Respecter of Persons And therefore when Persons of equal or higher Goodness through the present ordering of his Providence want much of their Brethrens Temporal Encouragements they may hope for a more Liberal share in a better place For his extraordinary Measure of Evil things in this present time Lazarus had a proportionable surplusage of Good in Abraham's Bosom Luk. 16. 24. Blessed are ye that live in Poverty and Hunger now says our Saviour for ye shall be filled Blessed are ye that weep now for ye shall laugh Noteing thereby such an ample Recompence for these present Evils in the next World as would render them to all good Men not the Miseries as this World esteems them but the truest Favours and Gainful Blessings of their Lives Luke 6. 20 21. This seeming
their Trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you Mat. 6. 14 15. And therefore when we pray for forgiveness our Lord allows us to do it only upon these terms Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us Quest. What if we have wronged any Persons is it not enough towards forgiveness to do so no more Answ. No it is not but withal we must make Restitution and amends for the wrong we have done already If thou bring thy Gift to the Altar and there remembrest thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy Gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Mat. 5. 23 24. Quest. I see we must hope to have forgiveness of our Sins of willfulness and also of our Sins of Passion which you shew'd to be of like guilt with them only upon our true Repentance and amendment of them But upon what terms shall our slips of ignorance and inadvertence be pardon'd since they are never perfectly amended but hang about us more or less as long as we are in this World Answ. Upon our great Charity to other men especially to their Souls in endeavouring their Conversion and Salvation And therefore that St. Peter recommends above all other Virtues and for this Reason Above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity shall cover the multitude of Sins 1 Pet. 4. 8. And if any of you err and one convert him let him know that he who converts a Sinner from the Error of his way shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a Multitude of sins Jam. 5. 19 20. Quest. For whose sake doth Almighty God allow us all this Benefit of Forgiveness Answ. For Jesus Christ's who as you have seen dyed for our Sins and gave his blood a Ransom to purchase for us all this Pardon of them He is set forth a propitiation for the remission of Sins that are pass'd thro' Faith in his Blood Rom. 3. 25. And then for his sake we shall receive all this mercy when with the dispositions before express'd in his Name we devoutly pray to God for it Quest. By the promises of the Gospel I see this forgiveness is assured to all Christians upon the terms you have described But is it in any Signs and Tokens outwardly dispensed to them Answ. Yes both in the Holy Sacraments and in Sacerdotal Absolution Which ways of ministring this forgiveness as well as the forgiveness it self are noted in some Ancient Creeds This Article being thus profess'd in St. Cyprian's Form at Baptism I believe the Remission of Sins by the Church Quest. Is this forgiveness dispensed to us in the Sacrament of Baptism Answ. Yes and that most amply the water of Baptism washing off the stain of all former Sins Be Baptized and wash away thy Sins said Ananias to Saul Acts 22. 16. Repent and be Baptized for the Remission of Sins said St. Peter to the Jews Acts 2. 38. And he hath saved us by the Laver of Regeneration i. e. the water of Baptism and the renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3 5. So that whateve pollutions men had before upon them if they come to Baptism with true Faith and Repentance they are thereby made clean again Quest. Is it also dispensed in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Answ. Yes if after the Baptismal cleansing they relapse and contract new guilt in that they are admitted to renew the same Covenant of Grace again and seal the Pardon of it For therein Christ gives us his own Blood which as he says particularly was shed for the Remission of Sins Mat. 26. 28. He entertains us there at his own Table which is an open profession to all worthy comers that he is reconciled to them and receives them again as Friends And therefore when any Baptized Christians are startled and terrified with the Conscience of their Sins let them repair to that Holy Sacrament to seal and assure the forgiveness of them But let them come with Faith and Repentance and Reconciliation to their Brethren which as I said are the Terms of our being Forgiven For the Holy Sacraments dispense this forgiveness to none but such as worthily receive them and those they do cleanse from all former Pollutions Quest. Is there also a dispensation of this Pardon in Priestly Absolution Answ. Yes for therein Christ has authoriz'd his Ministers that act in his place and stead to pronounce the Sentence of Pardon upon all true Penitents and bid them expect that what they regularly thus declare on Earth in his Soveraign Court in Heaven he will make good He breathed on them and said receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever Sins ye remit they are remitted and whose soever Sins ye retain they are retained Joh. 20. 22 23. And therefore when a true Penitent hears his Pardon solemnly pronounced by an Officer whom God has deputed and Commission'd for it he may quiet his heart as one whose case is judged and firmly hope God will pronounce the same at the last Judgment But this I say he must do only after true Repentance For 't is only the Ministry of Reconciliation saith St. Paul which God hath committed unto us 2 Cor. 5. 18. but the direction and ratification of it he has reserved to himself and then only ratifies what his Ministers do when they pronounce according to his own Rules and Orders So that if the Priest pronounce by mistake and absolve the impenitent God will judge right tho' he judge wrong and Condemn at last whom he had before erroneously absolved in his Judgment Quest. Christ says what they retain shall be retained as well as what they remit shall be remitted Ought not that to beget in all Christians a great dread of Excommunication and Reverence for Church-Censures Answ. Yes questionless when they proceed upon just Cause for then Christ will maintain the Honour of his Deputies and make good their sentence He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Luke 10. 16. If any Offender will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen man and a Publican Mat. 18. 17. In these Acts what his Ministers do Regularly and according to his Direction they do it as representing him by vertue of his Commission and Authority which having given to be sure he will stand by And accordingly St. Paul and the Church-Governours at Corinth under him exercising their Power by virtue of Christ's Commission Declares that both in binding and relaxing or forgiving he acted with the Power and in the Person or place of Christ 1 Cor. 5. 4 5. and 2 Cor. 2. 10. Quest. Do all Censures of the Church then where the Truth is on its side cut men off as from the Church which is his Body so from Jesus Christ who is the Head of it Answ. All those do which are passed for such sins or errors as are Damnable by
Foundation What mean you by the Foundation of Faith Answ. Such points of it as are the very Bottom and Ground-work of the Christian Covenant whereinto we are all Baptized and whereon the Church is Erected They are such Articles as are the Root of all that Worship and Obedience we are to pay to God of all that Submission Trust and Adoration we are to shew towards Jesus Christ and of all that Labour and Success we are call'd to here in the Prosecution of an Holy Life All the Points of our Christian Faith are a-like True but all Truths are not a-like useful nor all useful Truths a-like necessary 'T is necessary for us to believe all when we are sufficiently shew'd that Christ has taught them But 't is moreover necessary for us all to see he has taught some which are not only to be Believed because they were Revealed but were therefore Revealed because necessary to be Learned and Believed of all that retain to him And these Points which are not only Profitable but necessary to the Worship and Service of God by Jesus Christ and to the maintenance of the Christian Covenant and of the Church which is Built upon it are called Fundamentals Quest. Can you shew me what points are such Answ. One is the common foundation of all true Religion Mosaical and Natural as well as Christian and that is the Belief of the one True God not only of his Being but also of his Providence and Care to Reward those that seek him Thus St. Paul sets down Faith towards God as one Article to be first laid Heb. 6 1. For he that comes to God in any way saith he must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. This Faith in the one true God is overthrown not only when Men overlook or deny him but also when they joyn any Gentile Gods who were Apostate Spirits in Copartnership with him For every true Church must have Repentance from Idols towards God as well as Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Act 20. 20 21. And this is Life eternal says our Saviour to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17. 3. And he is Antichrist saith St. John that denies the Father and the Son 1 Joh. 2. 22. If she cast off the Belief of the one true God the common Principle of all true Religion she is the Congregation of some Faln Spirits which set up for false Gods and not the Church of the Great God of Heaven As well as if she have not Faith in Christ she is no longer Christian. Quest. But when a Church professes Faith in the one true God the common Ground-work of all true Religion What is the Particular Foundation of the Christian Religion Answ. Belief of Jesus being the Son of God and the Christ and of Salvation by his Merits and Mediation When Peter confessed Jesus to be the Christ the Son of the living God our Saviour said upon this Rock will I build my Church Mat. 16. 16 18. And St. Paul says the Foundation which he had laid and other than which no Man can lay is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3. 11. And the compass of saving Knowledge marked out by our Lord himself as I noted is together with the Knowledge of the one true God to know Jesus Christ whom he has sent Whilst any Church retains this Faith in Christ it is Christian and has Right to Baptism as St. Philip declar'd to the Eunuch who was Baptized upon his making this Confession Act. 8. 37 38. But if it denys this Authority of Christ and its dependance upon him for salvation it is thereby unchurched and becomes unchristian like Jewish Mahometane or Heathen Churches and is put out of the ordinary way of Salvation there being no Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we may be saved but his alone Act. 4. 12. Quest. But doth not this Grand Article of Jesus being the Christ and Saviour imply in it sundry other Articles Answ. Yes if we Believe Jesus to be the Christ we must believe all the Holy Scriptures as his Word and they contain all Articles But it more especially implies his Incarnation Passion Resurrection and other great Articles of the Creed which must be expresly owned by every one that rightly understands it And accordingly in the various Repetitions of this Grand Article and Representations of the saving Faith one or other of these is oft-times added and given as the instance of it Believing Jesus to be the Christ the Son of God you may have Life through his Name saith St. John shewing the necessity of this main Foundation Joh. 20. 31. But St. Paul speaking of this Grand Doctrine says I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him Crucified setting out the knowledge of Christ in the knowledge of his Passion 1 Cor. 2. 2. And if thou confess the Lord Jesus and believe God raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved exemplifying the saving knowledge of Jesus in the Belief of his Resurrection Rom. 10. 9. And when he commanded us to preach him saith St. Peter he commanded us to preach and testifie that it is he who is ordained of God to be the Judge both of quick and dead illustrating the Preaching Christ by preaching the Judgment to come Act. 10. 42. Every Spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is of God And every Spirit that confesses it not is Antichrist and not of God saith St. John explaining the Confession of Jesus Christ by the Confession of his Incarnation 1 Joh. 4. 2 3. And speaking of the Record or Witness God had given to the Christian Doctrine he thus declares the matter attested by him This is the Record God hath given us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life Setting off the Christian Religion and the Saving Faith by the Belief of the Life everlasting 1 Joh. 5. 10 11 12. And as for the Belief of the Holy Ghost the necessity of that and of our Dependance on him to make any man a Christian our Saviour has sufficiently expressed by ordering our very Baptism which initiates us into Christianity to be into his Name Mat. 28. 19. All these Points are the very Ground and Foundation of our Subjection to the Father Son and Holy Ghost the Parties we contract withal in the Christian Covenant of all our Adoration Trust and Submission to the Blessed Jesus of our worshipping and serving God by him and of all that Holiness of Life which must gain us the Divine Acceptance on all which Accounts they are necessary and Ground-work Articles of Christian Faith and properly call'd Fundamentals Quest. By this it may seem as if the Believing Jesus to be the Christ were in more explicit words to believe the Apostles Creed since that sets