at his mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts Mal. 2. 7. And so are the Ministers of Christ among us Christians Loe I am with you teaching them all things whatsoever I have commanded and that always even to the end of the World. That is with you during your own lives and the Pastors and Teachers your Successors for ever after your deaths Mat. 28. 20. So that if we would give ear to Christ and own him for the Prophet of the Church we must seek the mind of God from the Holy Scriptures and from the mouths of our Bishops and Pastors who are his established Ministers to inculcate and explain those Scriptures Quest. Another Office you say he was design'd and anointed to was the Office of a Priest. Wherein doth that consist Answ. In two things 1. The payment of a Price to make Reconciliation and expiate mens sins with God. And 2. Interceding for ever after that they should have the benefit and blessing of it A Prophet is employ'd from God to men to declare his will and pleasure to them But a Priest is employ'd from men to God ordain'd as St. Paul says for men in things pertaining to God Heb. 5. 1. So that a Priest stands for the Church to make Reconciliation and intercede for it Quest. And did Christ act the part of a Priest for the Church paying a Price to make Reconciliation with God and in virtue of that to intercede for it Answ. Yes he reconciled us to God by dying in our stead We are reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 10. And being now raised from the Dead he is entred into Heaven where he ever lives to make intercession for us Heb. 7. 25. Quest. Doth he intercede that men may have this Reconciliation whilst they go on in sin Answ. No but only when they forsake it and Repent that their sins may be blotted out Act. 3. 19. So that till they amend they must never expect that he should move for them Quest. What doth the consideration of Christ's Priesthood teach us Answ. To hope for the Mercy of God for our sins upon our true Repentance If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous who is the Propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. And having him our High-Priest we may draw near with full assurance of Faith if once our Hearts are sprinkled and cleansed from an evil Conscience Heb. 10. 21 22. And in general it teaches us whensoever we want any Mercy or Favour from God to apply to him by Jesus Christ who is anointed to be the sole Intercessor or Great Master of Requests from whom he will receive our Prayers Quest. You said thirdly that Christ was invested with the Office of a King to his Church what doth that imply Answ. Two things 1. That he govern it by his Laws and Officers the Bishops and Pastors 2. That he protect it from all visible and invisible Enemies by his Spirit and Providence And both these Parts of Regal Power Christ exercises over his Church He is our Lord to command the Head over all things to his Body which is the Church Eph. 1. 22 23. and sits now as a Protector at God's Right-hand till his Enemies be made his Foot-stool Psal. 110. 1. Quest. 'T is plain he exercises his Kingly Power of Governing us by his Laws which are contain'd in the holy Scriptures But doth he also govern his Church by his Officers viz. the Bishops and Ministers making them his Deputies here on Earth Answ. Yes for they are called his Pastors Eph. 4. 8 11. which is the Scriptural word for Governours to feed and to rule being used promiscuously in the holy Language That saith of Cyrus he is my Shepherd that is my Deputy in Power or Substitute in Government Isa 44. 28. And God brought David to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance that is to Rule them So he fed them according to the Integrity of his Heart and guided them according to the skilfulness of his Hand Psal 78. 71 72. His Ministers are his Substitutes in Government whom we are to hearken to and obey in his place Know them that are over you in the Lord and admonish you 1 Thess. 5. 12 13. and obey those that have the rule you for they watch for your Souls Heb. 13. 17. Quest. What must this teach us Answ. To submit to our own Bishops and Ministers acting for and under him as we would to Christ himself if we would own him to be King over us For they are his Deputies to Rule the Church in his place And whilst they act according to his Commission he Decrees and Sentences Binds and Looses Speaks and Acts by them as every Royal Prince doth by his Representatives and Ministers in all Authoritative Acts whereto they are commission'd by him which when done by them have the same Authority and Force as if performed by himself in Person And therefore if we reject them in such cases we shew that we will not have him to Reign over us He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Luk. 10. 16. And accordingly St Paul both in binding and loosing declares he acted in the person of Christ 2 Cor. 2. 10. and commends the Galatians for receiving him as Christ Jesus Gal. 4. 14. Quest. And wherein must we shew this Submission Answ. In uniting with them in Prayers and Sacraments they having the charge of ministring in his Worship and Service and what he solemnly and openly receives in his Princely Dependancies being from the Mouths and Mediation of his own Stewards and Officers In hearkening to their Godly Admonitions because he has left them to instruct and rebuke Sinners In meekly undergoing their deserved Censures and seeking again the Peace of the Church by true Repentance And lastly in chearfully conforming to all their Church-Laws and Constitutions when they do not thwart or oppose his Christ himself our Soveraign Lord and King has given Laws for all necessary things but has left them to regulate Rites and Ceremonies which are variable matters and to take care of the Order and Decency of Worship in the publick Assemblies Let every thing be done decently and in order in the Church 1 Cor. 14. 40 is a Precept given to Church-Governours for they have the care of God's Publick Service And when they make any innocent or useful Appointments in these things we must cheerfully obey and conform our selves Obey them that have the Rule or Guidance over you for they watch for your Souls Heb. 13. 17. Quest. Is it another part of his Kingly Power to protect his Church from all visible and invisible Enemies Answ. Yes he guards it against all inward and invisible Enemies by his Spirit and from all outward and visible Enemies by his Providence But the security he gives against these is not that it shall never be eclipsed and persecuted but only
Luke 8. 15. And to draw us near to God with a full assurance of faith we must joyn a true heart and a clean conscience Heb. 10. 22. and the charity which the Law requires flows then only from an unfeigned faith when 't is accompanied with a pure heart and a good conscience 1 Tim. 1. 5. And therefore in Simon Magus it bore no Fruit because his heart was not right in the sight of God Act. 8. 13 21. So that we must not wonder if we see a crue Faith prove barren and producing no obedience in a dishonest and false Man. Since it is not Faith alone but Honesty that must make a Man careful to remember and perform his undertaking and false unjust Persons how right soever they may be in their belief and apprehensions will be as like to break their word with God as they are with their Neighbours Quest. Must it also lastly be resolute and fully fixed after all things are well considered That so when any hardships arise in the way of Faith we may not be soon staggered in mind and put to deliberate anew whether or no to go on in it Ans. Yes when they want this resolvedness Men are not like to hold on in a way of difficulties and such as do every where occur in Faiths race Every true Believer must have cast up all the cost and pains of his way beforehand as our Saviour tells us in the Parables of the wise builder and of the king going to war Luke 14. 28 31. They must stand prepared to run all hazards and sustain all losses setting Faith above all things else and resolving to stick to it whatever prove its trials and discouragements And such Believers as these the Scripture calls grounded and settled in the faith Col. 1. 23. and rooted built up and established in it Col. 2. 7. And the believers or receivers of the word who fell off in tribulation are said to have had no root in themselves Matth. 13. 21. A deliberate resolution is a sure Ground-work and what is built on that may be like to stand a Storm and after all the Assaults that are made upon it remain unshaken Quest. So that the Faith whereon all the fore-mentioned Fruits are like to grow must not be a meer pretence of Faith but sincere and undissembled it must not be â—n empty profession and formal out-side out inward in the apprehension of the mind â—t must not be a wavering Opinion but confident and well assured it must not â—e a speculative cool and unmoving Notion but hearty concerning and affectionate it must not be in a careless forgetful and failing but in a conscientiously careful just and performing Man it must not act on an irresolute heart which will be easily daunted or soon staggered but one that upon good reason and after due deliberation is fully fixt and resolved to follow it Ans. Yes the Faith that influences the Heart and Life and stands in all times and trials must be thus qualified And the Faith which is either dissembled formal wavering unaffecting careless or irresolute some one or other of which the Faith of all Sinners is is like to have no such Blessed Fruits proceding from it As Simon Magus's had not whose heart was not right â—or Agrippa's whose Faith was but almost â—or the Temporary Believers whose faith â—ell away because it wanted root So that these different attendants and various qualifications of Faith make the difference in its Fruits and Effects and distinguish the Faith of Saints from the Faith of Sinners Quest. It has been often said of Faith by some that it is an act of Recumbency or leaning and rolling our selves on Christ for Salvation Are such Phrases applicable to Faith in a literal and common understanding of them Ans. No for Faith is an act of our Spirits and though Bodies lean and rest on Bodies yet Spirits have none of these Bodily Gestures and Affections When such words are used in expressing mental acts they are Metaphors which are applied to them on account of some Similitude and Resemblance Quest. What acts can the Faith of a Man's mind exert about a Person which may answer these forms of recumbing or leaning upon him Ans. Either Believing some Doctrine which he teaches or relying on some Promise which he makes These may be set off by the acts of recumbing leaning and rolling For as these are ways of Bodies resting and depending so are those of a Man's mind's doing the same upon any Person They acquiesce and rest on his Judgment in what he says and on his Fidelity in what he promises which gives them the same ease and settlement as the acts of rolling leaning and recumbing do to Bodies Quest. Faith is also called by some the hand of the Soul that reaches at and apprehends and applies Christ's Merits What is there in this Spiritual Grace that can answer these expressions Ans. Reaching at them is assenting to some Propositions about them And laying hold of and applying them is consenting and complying with some Overtures or fulfilling some terms and conditions whereby they become our own Putting out these mental acts has the same effect and use to our Souls as stretching out the hand to apprehend and apply things has to our Bodies that is to bring the thing desired down to our selves Quest. So that to roll and lean upon Jesus Christ is in plain English only to believe what he says and to rely upon what he promises And to apprehend or lay hold on Christ and apply his Merits in clearer and more intelligible Language is only to fulfil the Gospel-terms or to have Faith with its fore-cited effects that is to believe and repent whereby his benefits become ours Quest. Yes that I take to be the true meaning and explication of these obscure Phrases I confess I am a great lover of plain and intelligible Speech And above all things else I love to hear Men speak plain in the great Truths of Religion and Points of Salvation wherein there is the most need of all to inform and edifie Men's understandings And therefore I heartily wish these dark and intricate words were less used or wholly laid aside in these important matters they being words of Mens invention which the Holy Scripture no where uses about them and such words too as I am sure do more amuse than instruct those that hear them But if any think fit still to use them or meet with Faith set off by them in Books or Discourses this and no more in a true sense and in plain intelligible English I think is the meaning of them Quest. If Faith in Christ be a Faith in his Word then is it no part of Faith for any Man to believe his sins are pardoned nor of Infidelity to doubt of it because particular Men have no word of his for that Ans. Very right He tells us in the general he will pardon Penitents but in his Word he has not descended to
crucified dead and buried he descended into Hell. Quest. What did Christ suffer Answ. Besides his previous Sufferings particularly in the Garden where the wrath of God was strongly represented and Hell let loose upon him under which 't is said he was exceeding sorrowful even unto death Mat. 26. 37 38. and thrown into an Agony wherein he sweat great drops of Blood Luke 22. 44. Besides these previous Sufferings I say he suffered also after his Apprehension all manner of rudeness from the inraged Rabble and Soldiery who mocked him spit upon him buffeted and scourged him bound his Head about with a wreath of sharp Thorns which every where like Darts pierced his tender flesh and at last nail'd his Hands and Feet to a Cross a most acute and lingring Death and to make that most ignominious Suffering more ignominious still hung him in the midst between two Thieves Quest. Who were the Executioners of all these Cruelties Answ. The Jewish Rulers and People went as far in it as they could But because the Romans who had conquer'd them had not left among them as they say any Power and Authority to put any man to death Joh. 18. 31. they drew in Pontius Pilate the Roman Governour to sentence his Crucifixion against his Conscience Quest. Did not Pilate believe Christ to deserve all this Answ. No he knew they had delivered him for envy and malice Matt. 27. 18. He declared he was a just person Matt. 27. 24. and that upon examination he found no fault at all in him Luk. 23. 4 14. No nor yet Herod when he sent him to be judged by him v. 15. But because by their importunity a tumult was made he yielded to pass sentence against him for his own quiet Matt. 27. 24. and to content the people whom he durst not offend Mar. 15. 15. Luk. 23. 23 24. Quest. What need had he to fear them that such an abject fear should betray him into so unjust and vile an Action Answ He had incensed them and made himself obnoxious to be articled against by his former violences being a man very Cruel and Tyrannical for which on the complaint of the Samaritan Jews he was presently after removed as Josephus reports And in this case they terrified him moreover by threatning to accuse him to his jealous Governour Tiberius Caesar as no friend to him for letting Christ go who called himself a King which they said was speaking against Caesar Joh. 19. 12. Quest. Christ did testify indeed before Pilate that he was a King and that for this end he came into the World that he should bear witness of this Truth Joh. 18. 37. And did not this give Caesar just cause to be afraid of him Answ. No because as he declared his Kingdom was not of this World neither should his Servants fight for him as the Subjects of worldly Princes do for them Joh. 18. 36. so that he would take nothing from the Emperor nor pretend to thwart him or resist his just Power But his Kingdom was in relation to another World a Spiritual Kingdom set up in men's Hearts and administred by the expectation of future Rewards and Punishments leaving Princes still to govern as they did in all the Affairs of this life And this did not intrench any thing upon the Prerogatives of the present Powers whom he left all in the same Authority and their Subjects under the same Duty as he found them As Pilate plainly perceiv'd by Christ's Answer wherewith he was satisfied and pronounced him innocent upon it Quest. These Sufferings of Christ you mention were most barbarous and horrible things But amidst all these bodily Tortures had he not ease within and great support of inward spiritual Comforts as he afforded the Martyrs and Confessors afterwards in theirs Answ. No the Horrours of his Mind were beyond the Anguish of his Body as if he were design'd to suffer the extremity of what Nature could bear His Soul was troubled Joh. 12. 27. very heavy Mat. 26. 37. Sore amazed Mark 14. 33. Exceeding sorrowful even unto death Mat. 26. 38. and in such an Agony as I noted at the apprehension of the Divine Wrath he was conflicting with as put a most unwonted force upon Nature and made him sweat as it were great drops of Blood Luk. 22. 44. Under all which he was so over-born with the Burden that he needed an Angel to be sent to strengthen him v. 43. Quest. Could Christ have avoided these Sufferings if he would Answ. Yes he could have had Legions of Angels for his Rescue Matt. 26. 53. But for our sakes he voluntarily submitted to them I have power to lay down my life and to take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self Joh. 10. 18. Quest. And was God consenting to them Answ. Yes they came about not only by his Permission but by his Counsel and Determination He did no ways excite the Jews to this abominable Act but left them to their own envy and malice which were more than enough to push them forward But when they of themselves were wicked enough to do it he by his infinite Wisdom accomplishes what his Son and he had before agreed viz. the working our Redemption by it He suffered according to what was determined Luk. 22. 22. He was delivered to them by the determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God Acts 2. 23. Herod and Pontius Pilate did only what his Hand and Counsel had determined before to be done Act. 4. 28. And he was a Lamb fore-ordain'd to be slain before the foundation of the World 1 Pet. 1. 19 20. His death and his exaltation therefore to be a Mediatory King and our Redeemer was a Bargain driven and a Matter concerted long before betwixt him and his heavenly Father My Father hath appointed the word is covenanted to me a Kingdom that is in the everlasting agreement between God and him it was promised as the Reward of his undertaking Luk. 22. 29. And on this account his Servants are said to be given to him as a Retribution He gave himself for them that is to purchase them Tit. 2. 14. Thine they were says he to his Father and thou gavest them me that is on this consideration Joh. 17. 4 6. Quest. But since the things he endured were the absolute perfection of shame and sorrow why should Christ submit or God bring Christ to that end was it to punish his own sins Answ. No he did no sin 1 Pet. 2. 22. He was tempted in all points of Natural Infirmities as we are but yet without sin Heb. 4. 15. Quest. For whose sins was it then for all death is the wages of sin Rom. 6. 23 Answ. For ours for we had sinned and were all to die but he comes by the Allowance of God and bears our iniquity by dying in our place God laid on him the iniquities of us all Isa. 53. 6. He tasted death for every man Heb. 2.