therefore no Persons to whom God has given Estates must think them a priviledge for being idle and careless or for spending them wholly upon sports and pastimes as if wealthy Persons were made for no other business but diversions and much less for laying them out in ostentation of Pride and Vanity or in ministring to Vice and Luxury Health and Wit and Wealth and other Temporal advantages being only Loans of God are to be Faithfully stewarded and laid out not slothfully neglected wasted embezelled or abused Quest. Are we to learn from it any thing further Ans. Yes Fifthly to be humble and think modestly and soberly of our selves under any preeminence of Body or Parts Power or Possessions When these advantages puff Men up with pride and vain fondness and self-conceit they arrogate all the fancied honour and estimation of them to themselves as if they were Proprietors But when they own them as God's Gifts and Trusts and themselves as holding them only during Pleasure by uncertain Tenures they will ascribe all the Honour of them to him and learn Modesty Care Dependance and Thankfulness And withal never insult or deride the want of them in others remembring that he who mocketh the poor and the case is the same in all other Natural Defects or Calamities reproacheth his Maker who disposed of him in that condition as Solomon says Prov. 17. 5. Quest. By this I see God Almighty is an immensly Great Being How must the thoughts of such an irresistible Might and absolute Sovereignty affect us Ans. With the greatest submission of Humility and Reverence For such immense Greatness and Majesty should strike us with holy fear and submission in the highest degree every time we think or speak of this Great God especially in all acts of Adoration and Worship which we pay to him Thou must fear this glorious and fearful name the Lord thy God Deut. 28. 58. He is the excellency of Jacob Amos 8. 7. the most high over all the earth Psal. 83. 18. a great God a mighty and terrible Deut. 10. 17. glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Exod. 15. 11. Holy and reverend is his name Psalm 111. 9. Quest. By this Almighty Power 't is easie to believe God made the World. Ans. Yes thereby in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth Gen. 1. 1. And by the same Power he still Governs and Preserves it as I have before explained The End of the First Part. Imprimatur Liber cui Titulus The Practical Believer Part II. Guil. Needham R. R. in Christo P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. á Sacr. Domest June 28. 1688. THE Practical Believer PART II. OR THE KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST By John Kettlewell Minister of Coles-Hill in Warwick-shire LONDON Printed for Robert Kettlewell and are to be sold by R. Clavell at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-yard and W. Rogers at the Sun in Fleetstreet 1689. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. OF the Office and Natures of Jesus Christ. In what Salvation by Christ consists Being Christ notes his being 1. A Prophet to teach his Church We must hear and learn of him in the Holy Scriptures and at the mouths of his Ministers 2. A Priest to Redeem and Intercede for it 3. A King to Govern it by his Laws And by his Officers whom we are to submit to in his place Also to Protect it against all visible and invisible Enemies Jesus Christ is the Son of God as having receiv'd from the Father the Nature of God. And the Power of God. On both these Accounts and others he is our Lord. And to be worshipped What we learn from his being our Lord. Of Christ's being Conceiv'd of the Holy Ghost and Born of a Virgin. He was truly Man. And why he was so CHAP. II. OF the Sufferings of Christ. An Account of what Christ suffer'd and from whom Both he and God the Father were consenting to it What he suffer'd was for our sins to save us from suffering for them when we truly repent of them Pardon on Repentance the design of his Satisfaction and the Merit of his Death This is a free Grace which implies that it is not given in Recompence of our Deserts not that it requires no Conditions An Account why God would not grant this Grace of Pardon to Penitents without Christ's dying to satisfie for them And how his Death serv'd all the designs of God's Justice full as well as their own would have done Christ's Sacrifice but once offered but daily commemorated Several useful inferences from Christ's dying for us Christ's dead Body was Buried Of his descent into Hell. CHAP. III. OF the Resurrection of Christ and his sitting at God's Right-hand An Account how Christ may be said to have been three days in the Earth His Resurrection proved The necessity of it He ascended to Heaven What is meant by his sitting at the Right-Hand of God. There he 1. Intercedes for us as our Priest. This intercession not vocal by Words and formal Pleas but by presenting himself and his own meritorious Sacrifice He intercedes only for Covenant-Mercies and on Covenant-Terms He is an Intercessor of absolute Power with God and truest Affection for us One part of his intercession is to hand and present our Prayers to God. Therefore whensoever we pray for any thing 't is both our duty and wisdom to apply by him 2. Governs his Church as a King. In what Acts this consists 3. Instructs his Church as a Prophet by sending to it the Holy Ghost Christ's Body having now taken up its fixt abode at God's Right-Hand we are not in any Ordinances to expect his Bodily Presence but only a Presence by his Spirit which is more to be desired Some Inferences from Christ's sitting at God's Right-hand CHAP. IV. OF the Future Judgment The necessity of the Future Judgment All men are judged and made happy or miserable at their Deaths But not so fully then as they will be afterwards The Compleat and General Judgment is at the end of the World. In that Jesus Christ is to be the Judge Who are to be Judged In that Judgement no Condemnation but for breaking God's Laws So not for indifferent things Men shall be tryed and sentenced for all their sinful Actions with regard to their lasting Effects For their most secret ones And such ill deeds as were disguised under the fairest Pretences For their sinful Omissions And Neglecting to employ and improve their Talents For sinful Words And Thoughts and Desires For all these Men shall be judged impartially without respect of Persons But with Equity and Candor not in Rigor The Benign Judge will be very ready to observe what makes for us and make the best of our Performances And interpret the seemingly Rigorous Expressions of his own Laws with great condescension to Humane Measures He will allow for involuntary Failings And judge Candidly and Favourably of that involuntariness And for Natural Infirmities And for Providential disadvantages as Multiplicity of
it cut off all hopes of impunity and utterly discourage all future offenders Answ. Because God has no more Sons to die for us and when he was sollicited to remit the punishment of our sins he would not do it upon a less exchange When man sinn'd against the Law of unerring Obedience upon the Merits and Death of his Son God pardon'd that and admitted them to favour again upon their Repentance But if they shall offend against this Law too and be finally impenitent there are no Sons of God to suffer again to purchase their Forgiveness Quest. So that Christ's Suffering for us salved all the Honour of God's Attributes and served all the Purposes of his Justice that would have been served by our suffering for our selves Answ. It did so and to the full as well too the punishing of his own Son when he answered for Sinners shewing a more implacable hatred of sin and inexorable Justice than he could have shewn by punishing all the World who were Sinners themselves And therefore his death was a satisfaction to God for the sins of the whole World. Not only a satisfaction to Benevolence and yielding Goodness as when easy and indulgent Natures are appeas'd by any small returns and incompetent Recompences but a Satisfaction to Justice by way of full Compensation and Equivalence Christ by his one suffering displaying the Honour of all God's Attributes as much as God could have display'd them by punishing the whole Humane Race Quest. If the Death and Sacrifice of Christ were so full a satisfaction at first there is no more now to be paid and it need never be repeated Answ. No nor ever must it The Jewish Sacrifices needed constantly to be repeated because being of little worth and very imperfect their virtue was soon spent so that year by year they were continually offered Heb. 9. 25. and 10. 1 3. But his being full and perfect from the first and leaving nothing to be added He is not to be offered often but at once hath he put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Heb. 9. 25 26. and 10. 14. But altho his Sacrifice is no more to be really acted as it needs not the whole effect of it being as fresh and full now as it was at first yet is it daily still commemorated and the virtue thereof apply'd in every good Prayer but especially in every Sacrament Quest. What learn you from Christ's dying a Ransom for our sins Answ. 1. To abhor sin since it is so odioâ—â— to God that he can spare it in no person no not in his own Son when he took other men's sins upon him And if he spared not him when he would bear the punishment for us how can we hope he will in the least spare us when we come to undergo it for our selves If these things were done in the green Tree what shall be done in the dry Luk. 23. 31. 2 To give our selves up to the service of Christ who hath bought us for his own property at so dear a rate This is the least we can do in Equity and Justice Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Bodies and Spirits which are God's by such costly purchase 1 Cor. 6. 20. And if there is any spark of Love and Gratitude in our Hearts we can do no less in Resentment of such stupendious kindness For the Love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge that if Christ died for all they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Quest. Ought it not also to teach us Faith in God and to beget in us a firm Trust that he will perform whatsoever he has promised Answ. Yes as plainly shewing that nothing is too great for his love to make good He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32. Quest. Must not his Patience and Charity in his Sufferings not reviling again but praying for his Enemies teach us the same when we are called to suffer Answ. Yes for in suffering thus without threatning and when he was reviled not reviling again he hath left us an example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2. 21. 23. Quest. Should not God's imposing so many and great secular hardships and sufferings on his own most dear Son make us have easier thoughts of these things than others have and reconcile us to Affliction Answ. In all Reason it should For it shews how inconsiderable worldly Goods and Glories are in Gods Eyes how temporal evils are allotted to the dearest persons how proper they are to Discipline and improve the most virtuous how they perfect Piety and what a step they are to Felicity and Glory Jesus himself tho' he were a Son yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered Heb. 5. 8. He was made perfect through suffering Heb. 2. 10. He ought to suffer and so enter into his Glory Luk. 24. 26. We see him for suffering death crowned with Glory and Honour Heb. 2. 9. And seeing Sufferings not only thus providentially allotted but also thus profitably undergone and highly recompenced in him the blessed Apostles and primitive Saints whose Ambition it was to be in all things his true followers did not repine and mourn but rejoyce and glory in them Quest. And since in dying for us he has shewed us such stupendious Love must not that mutually endear us and teach us if we would be his followers most tenderly to love one another Answ. Yes if God so loved us we ought also to love one another 1 Joh. 4. 11. Nay since hereby we perceive the love of God to us because he laid down his life for us we ought upon just occasion to lay down our lives for the Brethren 1 Joh. 3. 16. Quest. In the Creed you say dead and buried When Christ expired upon the Cross was his Body taken down and buried Answ. Yes it was laid in a Tomb and a great Stone roll'd before its mouth according to the Jewish Custom And for fear his Disciples should come by night and steal him away the Jewish Rulers when they had sealed the Stone got a Guard from the Governour to watch it Mat. 27. 64 66. Quest. What mean you by Christ's descent into Hell Answ. His abode in that state of Death and Separation or his Soul 's being in the place of Separate Souls till it was united again to his Body at his Resurrection as it is written Thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell Acts 2. 27. which St. Peter there says was fulfilled in the Resurrection of Christ when he ceased to continue under the power of death and gloriously arose to triumph over it v. 30 31. Quest. Doth the word Hell sometimes signifie only the state of the Dead or the place of Souls departed Answ. Yes as David says of all men What man is he that
Justification Rom. 4. 25. and who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again Rom. 8. 34. Quest. Was his Resurrection necessary on any other Accounts Answ. Yes for 2. In virtue of his death he was to be our Mediator to intercede with God for us and our Saviour and Deliverer to protect and rescue us from our Spiritual Enemies And these great works suppose a live man and are not to be performed by a dead person And being thus necessary to discharge his continual care of us it must be equally so to support our Faith and Trust in him When men are dead we expect no service or succour from them And therefore were he still in the Grave we should not fix our Hope and Trust in or make our Addresses to him Quest. Was it necessary to shew him to be the Messiah and to prove his Religion Answ. Yes for he had appealed to it as a sign of his being a true Prophet Mat. 12 38 39 40. And therefore by the way of tryal which God prescribed the Jews viz. the accomplishment of predictions he had appear'd to be a false Prophet had he failed in it So that if Christ be not risen saith St. Paul your Faith is vain 1 Cor. 15. 14. Quest. In his Death and Resurrection methinks we have a plain and palpable instance of the immortality of Humane Souls and of a future Life beyond the Grave where God may reward or punish us Answ. So we have For his Soul manifestly did exist apart from his Body during the time of their Separation till on the third day it was reunited again So that mens Souls can subsist without as well as in their Bodies and when they depart hence go into another place where they are capable of being called to account for all they have done in this life On which account as well as others St. Paul might well say That God hath given assurance of a future Life and Judgment by raising Christ from the dead Acts 17. 31. And St. Peter That God hath begotten us to the hope of an Eternal Inheritance thro' the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. Quest. We read of several others that rose from the Dead as well as Christ had he any thing singular in his Resurrection above them Answ. Yes he raised himself by his own power but they were all raised by him he was not only the first that rose but as the First-Fruits and all the World besides rise as the ensuing Crop which depends upon him Destroy this Temple saith he and in three days I will raise it up Joh. 2. 19 21. I lay down my life and take it up again Joh. 10. 18. He is the first-born from the Dead Col. 1. 18. Rev. 1. 5. As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive but every man in his own order Christ the First-fruits afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming 1 Cor. 15. 22 23. Quest. But did not Lazarus rise before Christ John 11. 44. and Jairus's Daughter Luk. 8. 55. and the Widows Son of Nain Luk. 7. 12 14 15. and how then is he said to be the first of the Dead that returned Answ. They returned to die again but he was the first that rose to life everlasting He being raised dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6. 9. Quest. By his Resurrection Christ got Glory and Happiness to himself even that Joy for which St. Paul says he endured the Cross Heb. 12. 2. But did he thereby acquire any Power over us Answ. Yes his Death purchased and his Resurrection invested him with an absolute Power and Dominion over us For this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living Rom. 14. 9. And after his Resurrection saith he All Power is given to me both in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28. 18. Quest. If so his Resurrection lays an obligation upon us to obey him Answ. Yes like as he rose from the dead so must we rise to newness of life Rom. 6. 4. Quest How long stay'd he upon Earth after he was risen again Answ. For the space of forty days discoursing and speaking of the things concerning the Kingdom of God Acts 1. 3. Quest. Whither went he when he left it Answ. To Heaven whither he was taken up in a bright Cloud all the Apostles looking up after him till he was taken up out of their sight Acts 1. 3 9. And now he is there he sitteth at the right hand of God. Quest. What mean you by his sitting at the right hand of God Answ. His advancement to the heighth of Dignity and Authority in the presence of God. The Right-hand of a Prince is the place of peculiar Favour and of highest Honour and Respect as Solomon when he would do Honour to his Mother Bathsheba set her at his Right-hand 1 King. 2. 19. To be placed at hand by the priviledge of nearness gives opportunity for Conference and Address And to be placed at the Right-hand the Hand of use and business is to be in the way both of presenting all Offers and receiving of Returns whence it is a known mark of special Favour and Honour with all Potentates And so by Christ's sitting at God's Right-Hand is expressed his Soveraign Honour and Power in the presence of God. Or perhaps moreover his sitting in his humane shape on the Right-hand of that Bright Throne or Resplendant Glory which visibly accompanies and manifests some extraordinary presence of God as he appeared to Stephen in his Vision who saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing on the Right-hand of God that is I suppose at the Right-hand of that visible Glory wherewith God appeared Acts 7. 55. And this probably is what the Scripture means by his sitting at the Right-hand of Power Mat. 26. 64. and on the Right hand of Majesty Heb. 1. 3. That is on the Right-hand of such Glory or bright Appearance which is the usual Symbol of God's Power and Majesty which at other times is expressed by his sitting on the Right-hand of the Throne of God Heb. 12. 2. or on the Right-hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens Heb. 8. 1. Quest. It was most just that he should be exalted thither in recompence of his meritorious sufferings as the Apostle notes Phil. 2. 8 9. and Heb. 12. 2. But is he gone thither to carry on any Designs for us Answ. Yes and those of the greatest importance For there in the highest manner and to the fullest effect he exercises all his Offices in our behalf Quest. I pray you explain the Designs he carries on for us there Answ. First The work of Intercession as our Priest. For he stands before God to mediate on our behalf and to obtain for us whatsoever God has promised or he has purchased or we stand in need of He is enter'd into
the Tenor of Christ's own Laws For then they only speak the Language of Christ's own Rules and as Tertullian says are a true anticipation or Fore-hand Draught of the great Judgment And when his Officers only pronounce and say after him there is no doubt but he will confirm what they have pronounced in his Name Quest. But from what you have formerly discoursed I perceive that some things in Religon being against the Prime and Fundamental Doctrines are so Damnable in themselves as not to be capable of any Favour or Allowances And that others being only against inferior Truths are Damnable only as accompanied with an Evil Mind but capable withal of being incurred under Pardonable circumstances Now in these last Points many Persons that mean well and serve Christ sincerely in the main and essentials of a Christian may yet be unhappily mislead into wrong Opinions or Practices And if for their fixedness and obstinacy in these they happen to be cast out of any Church do you think they are always cut off from Christ too and that he will Finally Anathematise and condemn them in his Sentence Answ. No. For the Church as all humane Judges being unable to see into Mens Hearts give sentence in these cases according to outward Actions But Christ in his judgment of them looks also at the mind and heart of the Actors Rateing exactly not only the Punishableness of the Offences but also the Degrees of voluntary and involuntary which makes a Pardonableness or Punishableness of the Offenders And making these Allowances on such scores as fall not under their Notice 't is reasonable to believe he will still own and receive several compassionably mislead who are cast out on these accounts by the Churches Censures Quest. This validity and effect of Church-Censures you say is when they proceed according to Christ's own Rules and upon just cause But if they bind where the Gospel says they should loose and Excommunicate against Reason I suppose those Censures are meer Scare-crows that may serve to make a show but bring no hurt with them Answ. Very true Blessed are ye says our Saviour when Men shall separate you from their Company and expunge or cast out your Name as evil for the Son of Mans sake for so persecuted their Fathers the Prophets Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy for your Reward is great in Heaven Luk. 6. 22 23. If good Christians are Excommunicated in any Church for not going against the Scriptures and complying with it in ill things as poor Protestants are by the Romish Church they lose nothing thereby with God who will not ratifie a wrong sentence but will increase their Reward for having bravely suffer'd in his Cause Quest. By what you have said I see how God forgives Sins But when they are committed against us we are bid to forgive them too and that as we our selves hope to be forgiven I pray you what doth that imply Answ. Not our remitting Future punishments which lye at God's mercy not in ours Nor always that we sit still without offering to defend our selves when we are assaulted or to seek redress when we are injured But only that we bear no malice to them in our hearts and if the case require Redress that we seek it not in Spiteful ways and that beside the Reparation of our own Wrong we aim not at our Adversary's Prejudice nor seek his hurt afterwards nor Pray to God or to the Magistrate for vengeance as the Jews might to ease an angry mind when we are able to do no more against him our selves Quest. What use must we make of this Belief of the Forgiveness of Sins Answ. Admire the mercy of God who can forgive such Profligate and Provoking Offenders And the wonderful love of Jesus Christ who could dye to procure this Forgiveness for his utter Enemies And not despair of mercy but stedfastly hope there is place of Pardon after any of our sins And above all to shew true Repentance and forgive others and perform all those things which are the condition and Terms of Forgiveness thereby to secure it to our selves Quest. And when we are once forgiven may we embolden our selves from God's readiness to forgive to Repeat our sins Answ. No by no means Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound in pardoning God forbid Rom. 6. 1 2. Now thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come upon thee said our Saviour Joh. 5. 14. Such ingratitude and abuse of Grace is not only most provoking to the Spirit and tempts him to withdraw from us and calls down from God heavier and surer Punishments But also it brings in force against us all the old scores which were all struck off as I said only on presumption of our Perseverance in repenting of them CHAP. XI Of the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting The Contents 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 Place of Bliss Of Eternal Life wherin there is Full and unmixed Happiness Of the satisfaction of their Senses Their clear and distinct Knowledge Perfect Holiness And without Reluctance Blissful Companions Perfection of Love and Kindness Honour and Eminence of Place All these to be injoy'd in the Highest Heavens without satiety or weariness For evermore Of the miseries of the Damned in Tormenting Passions The worm of Conscience Fire and Flames Disgrace Under all which no favour of God. No company but of Tormenting Devils and damned Spirits None to condole when they cannot relieve No rest and sleep for Recruit of Spirits No end of their miseries The Use of this Quest. WHat is the Eleventh Article of the Creed Answ. I believe the Resurrection of the Body Quest. May not the Resurrection be interpreted only of a Spiritual Resurrection from sin Answ. So some taught of old as St. Paul testifies saying the Resurrection is passed already i. e. when Men rose from a State of sin to the fear of God and these says he get credit and overthrow the Faith of some 2 Tim. 2. 18. But the Resurrection we expect is a Resurrection of the Body Our Bodies after we have laid them down by Death shall at the Day of Judgment be quickned and raised up again Then all that are in the Graves shall hear Christ's voice and come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation Joh. 5. 28 29. This mortal Body must put on immortality and this corruptible must put on Incorruption that so all that being revived which Death destroyed Death may be swallowed up in Victory 1 Cor. 15. 53 54. Quest. The
Resurrection of a Body which had been crumbled into Dust seemed an incredible thing when it was preach'd at first When the Philosophers heard of a Resurrection some mocked Act. 17. 32. What can make it credible or fit to be Believed Answ. The Omnipotent Power of God when that is ingaged for it For no one can think it impossible for God to raise up a Body out of dust that at first made it out of dust yea that raised all things out of nothing Ye err saith our Saviour to the Sadduces about the Resurrection not knowing the Power of God Mat. 22. 29. And this Power he has given us a sensible proof of by raising up Christ. If Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no Resurrection of the Dead i. e. in regard his Rising is such an irrefragable instance and example of it 1 Cor. 15. 12. Quest. Shall the Bodies of the Saints be raised up by the Power of the Holy Ghost Answ. Yes he that now makes them his Temples by displaying in them his Holiness shall at last display in them his Omnipotence breathing into their scatter'd dust the Breath of Life as at first he breathed Life into all things If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he shall at last also quicken your mortal Bodies as he quickned his Rom. 8. 11. Quest. The Rising of the Saints will no doubt be very Glorious But what Perfections shall their Bodies receive at the Resurrection Answ. First Immortality Nothing after that shall ever be able to pain decay or annoy them they shall not be liable to suffer nor to dye any more This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality 1 Cor. 15. 53. They cannot dye any more Luke 20. 36. Secondly Spirituality it is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body 1 Cor. 15. 44. Whereby is not meant that it shall be a Spirit in Substance but that it shall have those Perfections of Spirits wherein they excel Bodies As 1. being above the gross Pleasures of Sense such as Eating Drinking and carnal Injoyments In the Resurrection they neither Marry nor are given in Marriage but are as the Angels Mat. 22. 30. And Meats for the Belly and the Belly for Meats but God shall shortly destroy both it and them viz. in the Resurrection when men shall live without them 1 Cor. 6. 13. 2dly Vigor and Activity such as may answer and keep pace with the vehement Transports and quick Emotions of Glorified Souls and be capable to support their Joys bear their Raptures and express their Activities And 3dly Agility or Spriteliness in their motions moveing towards all Points upwards into the Air and Clouds as St. Paul notes of the Saints in their new Bodies as well as downwards And to Places at any distance with the quickness of Spirits whence they are able in a moment to appear or disappear as the Soul pleases as our Saviour's Body did after his Resurrestion and our raised Bodies must be like his being in this respect also equal to the Angels Luke 20. 36. Quest. Shall they receive any more Perfections Answ. Yes Thirdly not only a perfect Beauty instead of any Mishape or Deformity but also a marvellous Brightness or Glory It is sown in Dishonour but it is raised in Glory 1 Cor 15. 43. The Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father Mat. 13. 43. Christ shall change our vile Body that it may be like unto his Glorious Body Phil. 3. 21. And that was full of glittering Splendor Whilst he conversed with his Disciples after his Resurrection here on Earth he laid it aside because fleshly eyes were not able to behold it as appeared by its Striking Saul blind Acts 9. 3 9. But in Heaven he shines with a dazeling Lustre Thus he appeared from thence to Stephen Acts 7. 55. and to Paul who describes the light of his Presence to have been above the brightness of the Sun Acts 26. 13. And his head and his hairs were white like Wooll yea as white as Snow his Eyes as a Flame of Fire his Feet like fine Brass burning in a Furnace and his Countenance as the Sun shining in its strength in that Vision St. John had of him in the Revelations Rev. 1. 13 14 15 16. Quest. This will be a most happy Resurrection of the Just But what kind of Bodies shall the Wicked have shall theirs be immortal too Answ. Yes but to their cost and for no other end but that they may be immortally punished For when they always fry in Eternal Fire they shall never be consumed by it Quest. And shall their raised Bodies be sensible of Torment Answ. Yes far more than their Bodies are now and they shall always have the smartest and most terrible things in Nature to Torment them viz. Eternal Fire Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting Fire Mat. 25. 41. There they shall be tormented in the Flames and not have so much as a drop of Water to cool their parched Tongue Luke 16. 23 24. Quest. If it be thus extream violent it will soon consume them or as extremity of pain sometimes causes dictraction so over-power their Souls that they shall not be able to mind or attend to it Answ. No as their sense of pains shall be most exquisite and insensible so shall their Bodies be indissoluble and their sense insuperable As an Almighty Vengeance shall ever inflict the most tormenting strokes upon them so at the same time an Almighty Power shall continue their strength to bear and an exquisite sense or feeling to be most piercingly affected with them Quest. Must not this Belief of the Resurrection of the Body comfort us upon the death of Friends when we lay their Bodies in the Graves Answ. Yes because those Bodies are not perished but only faln asleep and shall be infinitely more perfect and glorious and full of strength when they awake out of it I would not have you ignorant Brethren concerning them that are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope For if we believe that Jesus dyed and rose again even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thess. 4. 13 14. Quest. And ought it not to arm us against the fear of our own death too Answ. Yes for since when our earthly House of this Tabernacle is dissolved we have a Building of God Eternal in the Heavens in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloath'd upon with our House which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5. 1 2. Quest. What is the Twelfth and last Article of the Creed Answ. I Believe the Life Everlasting Quest. When good mens Souls leave their Bodies what becomes of them Answ. They are carried into a place of Bliss and Refreshment which Christ in his discourse to the Penitent Thief called Paradise and
cut off as a Malefactor by corrupt Judgment noting the main circumstances both previous and concomitant and the particular and then unusual manner of his punishment And that after his Death he should return from the Grave and appear alive again All this the Psalmist and the Holy Prophets plainly foretel of him When we shall see him says Isaiah it will be without form or comeliness he is despised and rejected of men Isaiah 53. 2 3. He is to be betrayed and sold to his Adversaries for thirty pieces of silver Zach. 11. 12. And when he is in their Hands he shall be judged as a prisoner Isaiah 53. 8. his back shall be scourged and his face shall be spit on Isaiah 50. 6. He shall be tried and condemned and cut off out of the land of the living Isa. 53. 8. And as for the manner of his Death that shall be by the piercing of his hands and feet and keeping his Body between them so at stretch saith the Psalmist that they may tell all his bones a plain description of a Death on the Cross which being a Roman punishment and brought in among the Jews by their Conquest must needs be unknown in David's Age and so more observable to be foretold by him so many hundred Years before in describing the sufferings of Messiah Besides under this Execution they relate the very words wherein he should express the bitterness of his Sorrows and wherein the starers on would vent their cruel Scoffs and how they should seek to sharpen his Pains by a draught of vinegar and pierce or thrust him through as Zechary declared in a Text which the old Rabbins applied to Christ and when he was Dead share his garment by casting Lots for it They pierced my hands and my feet I may tell all my bones they part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Whilst they stare upon me and laugh me to scorn saying He trusted in God that he would deliver him let him deliver him if he delight in him says the Psalmist Psalm 22. 1 7 8 16 17 18. Which Psalm and these passages of it according to the Letter never fully verified in the Story of David after the Jews of old the New Testament applies to Christ Matth. 27. 35 43 46. John 19. 24. These places evidently foretel the method of his Death and Humiliation And then after Death the same Prophets as evidently foretel that he should not lie to see corruption but return from the grave to a long happy and successful Life When he shall make his Soul an offering for Sin he shall prolong his days so that after his dying as a Sacrifice he was to be a live Man. Nay the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand He shall see of the travel of his soul and shall be satisfied so that he was also to be an active undertaking and successful Man verse 10. yea I will divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong that is be most Wealthy Potent and Victorious amongst Men verse 12. All which long active and happy Life was to be bestowed on him not only after his Death but as a recompence and reward of it He shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death and was numbered with the transgressors that is was condemned and executed in the herd of Malefactors verse 12. Quest. I see all this was plainly prophesied of Messiah and was it fully made good in Jesus Christ Ans. Yes For he appeared in a poor and despicable condition as a carpenter's son He was sold by his own Servant for thirty pieces of silver which did the Traytor no good but by an over-ruling Providence was cast to the Potter or to buy the Potters Field for a Burying place as Zechary had foretold He was put in Bonds as a Prisoner and led about before the high-priest Herod and the Roman Governour They scourged him and spit upon him they condemned and cut him off according to the word of Isaiah not only as a Malefactor but also in company with them executing him †between two thieves as the Evangelists relate of him And as for the manner of his Death though Crucifixion was no Jewish but a Roman Punishment and after the High Priest had pronounced him guilty of Blasphemy by the constitution of the Jews and the Law of Moses he should have been stoned yet by the special ordering of God he suffered by the piercing of his hands and feet and hanging so at stretch upon the Tree that his bones might be numbered according to the words of David In his extremities though the custom of the Nation was to offer stupefactives as Wine and Myrrh to benum the Sense and ease the pains of dying Persons yet to verifie the saying of the Psalmist they brought him Vinegar to whet and sharpen his The chief Priests with the Scribes and Elders most inhumanly staring on him said with cruel scorn He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him the very words which the Holy Psalmist had so long before set down for them and he himself cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The very words again which that Holy Prophet spoke for him in his extremity As he hung upon the Cross a Soldier pierced his side and thrust him through to fulfil the words of Zechary And when they saw he had expired the four Soldiers that stood by and were to share his Cloathes would not divide his seamless coat but cast lots for it according to the Prediction of the Psalmist Amidst all which strange congruities he had one other qualifying circumstance which the Prophet Isaiah remarks viz. to make his grave as with the wicked by dying for a pretended crime so with the rich in his death Isaiah 53. 9 which was verified by his being wrapt in fine linen and Entombed as by his care so in Joseph of Arimathea's own Sepulchre who was a rich man and an honourable counsellor And then as for his return to life again to be an undertaking successful and most potent happy Person that has been most notoriously and eminently made good in our Blessed Saviour's Resurrection and in the unparalleled success of his Religion in all places since that time And this again especially his Resurrection is another note which as it fits Jesus to be the Messiah so beyond dispute excludes all other Men. For though Theudas and Judas as Gamaliel observed and other false Christs in just reward of their Impostures have been condemned and slain yet was never any of them seen to return to life again to carry on their pretences and to prosper and thrive in them Quest. Have you any other notable and appropriating marks to add from
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
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.
liveth and shall not see death and shall he deliver his Soul from the hand of Hell Psal. 89. 48. And as Jacob talked of going down to Hell to Joseph when he thought some evil Beast had devoured him Gen. 37. 33 35. In both which places the word translated Grave in our Bibles in the Greek is Hades the very word that stands for Hell here in the Creed Oft-times indeed especially in the New Testament Hell fignifies not in general the state of the Dead but particularly the state of the Wicked and the place of Torment In which sense it is not likely that Christ descended into Hell after his death because in his dying hour he told the Penitent Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luk. 23. 43. CHAP. III. Of the Resurrection of Christ and his sitting at God's Right-Hand The Contents An Account how Christ may be said to have been three days in the Earth His Resurrection proved The necessity of it He ascended to Heaven What is meant by his sitting at the Right-Hand of God. There he 1. Intercedes for us as our Priest. This intercession not vocal by Words and formal Pleas but by presenting himself and his own meritorious Sacrifice He intercedes only for Covenant-Mercies and on Covenant-Terms He is an Intercessor of absolute Power with God and truest Affection for us One part of his intercession is to hand and present our Prayers to God. Therefore whensoever we pray for any thing 't is both our duty and wisdom to apply by him 2. Governs his Church as a King. In what Acts this consists 3. Instructs his Church as a Prophet by sending to it the Holy Ghost Christ's Body having now taken up its fixt abode at God's Right-hand we are not in any Ordinances to expect his Bodily Presence but only a Presence by his Spirit which is more to be desired Some Inferences from Christ's sitting at God's Right-hand Quest. How long did Jesus Christ abide in the state of the Dead till his Body was corrupted Answ. No he staid not so long God did not suffer his Holy one to see Corruption Acts 13. 35 36 37. but reunited his Soul and Body and raised him from the dead on the third day before the time Corruption usually seizes the Bodies of dead men Quest. Christ said of himself as the Jews told Pilate That after three days he would rise again Mat. 27. 63. And as Jonas was three days and three nights in the Whales Belly so says he shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth Mat. 12. 40. But if he died as we commemorate his death upon Good-Friday and rose early on Easter-day in the morning there were only part of two days and one entire day between Answ. That is three days according to common computation of days both Ancient and Modern and particularly in Scripture reckoning Thus Lazarus is said four days dead though the fourth day whereon Jesus raised him up was one of them Joh. 11. 39. And eight days are said to be accomplished for Christ's Circumcision but the day of his Birth and Circumcision too went both in to that Reckoning Luk. 2. 21. And the Priests in their courses were appointed and reputed to Minister before the Lord eight days though the time of Entrance and Release was every Sabbath day morning And accordingly what in the currant way of expression is thus sometimes termed three days our Saviour speaking more exactly at other times expresses by on the third or within three days Jesus shewed his Disciples he should rise again the third day Mat. 16. 21. and 17. 23. and 20. 19. And destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up Joh. 2. 19. or within three days as the Jews who otherwhere call it after three days related it Mark 14. 58. Quest. How doth it appear that Christ was raised again from the dead Answ. It might appear to any who had the curiosity to look into the Sepulchre for they would see he was gone Quest. What said the Watch who stood to guard him Answ. They knew it full well for when the Angel with a Countenance like Lightning descended in an Earth-quake to roll back the Stone the Keepers saw it and shaked and became as dead men Mat. 28. 2 3 4. But the Jewish Rulers bribed them to say his Disciples came by night and stole him away while they slept v. 11 12 13 14. which was a foolish lie and bore along with it its own Confutation Quest. How so Answ. Because if they were asleep how could they tell any one stole him If they had any thoughts of what others did then it could be only in a Dream unless they would pretend to sleep with their Senses awake and their Eyes open Quest. But this saying saith St. Matthew is commonly reported among the Jews and passes for a Truth with them Mat. 28. 15. And by what other ways can you convince them that Christ is risen Answ. By those that saw him and conversed with him after his Resurrection For he appeared for the space of forty days to his Apostles and to satisfie them he had a real Body eat and drank with them after he was risen Acts 10. 41. Luk. 24. 43. He appeared to Thomas who searched the holes the Nails had made in his Hands and thrust his Finger into his Side where the Spear had pierced it before he would believe him Joh. 20. 27 28. To five hundred Brethren all at one time 1 Cor. 15. 6. To Stephen in a bright Glory from Heaven at his Martyrdom Acts 7. 56. and to Saul at his Conversion Acts 9. 3 4. Yea after he was risen and gone to Heaven he sent down the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles and followers which shewed not only that he is alive again but also that he lives in Power Quest. The Apostles seem extraordinary careful to confirm the Resurrection of Christ and call the ordaining one to be an Apostle ordaining him to be a witness of it Acts 1. 22. Was it necessary that Christ should rise from the dead Answ. Yes to shew the debt he died for was discharged and that his satisfaction was accepted He died as a Sacrifice to satisfie for our sins and till God raised him up again it did not appear that he was satisfied with what Christ had done for us If Christ be not risen ye are yet in your sins 1 Cor. 15. 17. Quest. But was not his death a full payment and on the Cross did he not relate to that when he said it is finished Joh. 19. 30 Answ. It was so indeed the price of Redemption then was fully paid But till he raised him up again God had given no publick Acquitrance nor done any open Act to shew we were discharged by it So that by his Resurrection we are said to be justified that is declared to be so He died for our sins and rose again for our
to send them from the Father Joh. 15. 26. the Holy Ghost was to act the Part of an Advocate as the word Paraclete signifies and is accordingly render'd 1 Joh. 2. 1. which was to plead his Cause to the unbelieving World. For when this Comforter or Advocate is come saith our Lord he will reprove or convince the world of these three Things Of Sin because they believe not on me i. e. of the sinfulness of infidelity Of Righteousness because I go to the Father i. e. of my being a Righteous Person and of Gods owning me for such though the Jews condemned me as a Malefactor And of Judgment because the Prince of this World is judged i. e. of the downfall of Idolatry and Demon-worship because the Devil is to be cast out of the Heathen Temples by this Almighty Advocate and all his Oracles silenced Joh. 16. 8 9 10 11. Quest. The first of these Gifts bestowed upon the Apostles you say was the Gift of Inspiration which revealed Christ's Religion fully to themselves Did the Apostles receive their Religion from God and were they inspired by the Holy Ghost in what they Taught Answ. Yes all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God 2 Tim. 3. 16. Thus God inspired Moses and the Holy Prophets of old for no Prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation nor came by the will of man i. e. therein the Prophets did not speak their own sense and reason but Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. And after the same manner Christ promises the Apostles that the Holy Ghost should teach them The Holy Ghost when he shall come shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Joh. 14. 26. And when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth Joh. 16. 13. Quest. But had not Christ been their Teacher for several years together and then what need was there for the Holy Ghost to come after him for a further Instructer Answ. Christ taught them by outward and humane means as one man doth another And in this way though he took care abundantly to propose Things to them yet after all they being Persons of slow and rustick understandings were very liable to forget or misconceive them as 't is plain they did the Nature of his Kingdom the Reasons of his Death and his Resurrection But when the Holy Ghost came upon them he inwardly enlightned their minds and fill'd them with all variety of Heavenly Truth bringing to their remembrance whatsoever Christ had said and supplying whatsoever he designedly omitted till they were better able to bear it And though he did not teach them all things at once they being ignorant for some time after his descent of the calling of the Gentiles yet in a moment he made a strange progress with them and so far illuminated their minds that immediately upon his coming down they understand and apply Scriptures and expound Prophecies and set up for Teachers of other men Act. 2. Quest. And what knowledge they had of their Religion you say was of his inspiring Answ. Yes after once he took the conduct of them Their way of knowing all things as St. John told the Church in their Age was by an unction from the Holy one 1 Joh. 2. 20 27. And the Gospel which was preached by me saith St. Paul is not after Men i. e. of Mans devising For I neither received it of Man neither was I taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Gal. 1. 11 12. And of all Holy Scripture it is declared that it is given by inspiration of God 2 Tim. 3. 16. Quest. 'T is plain indeed they say they are inspired and taught of God. But have we any more than these Testimonies of Scripture that is their own word and saying for it Answ. Yes the Miracles they wrought in confirmation of it They preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the word with Signs following Mar. 16. 20. Quest. I perceive the Holy Ghost did reveal God's will to them and in the Holy Scriptures they have revealed it unto us But in those Scriptures have they done it fully Answ. Yes for in that Epistle which St. Paul sent last to Timothy before which the greatest Part of his other Epistles and of the Gospel-Canon was writ he Declares of all the Scriptures then extant that they are able to make us wise unto Salvation being Profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for instruction in Righteousness That the Man of God may be Perfect throughly furnished out of them unto all Good works 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. Nay some single Books of Scripture as the Particular Gospels are full enough to this end And accordingly St. Luke testifies of his Gospel that it contains those Things which all Christians most surely believed and wherein Theophilus an Excellent Person and no way Defective in saving Knowledge had been Principled and instructed Luk 1. 1 3 4. and all that Jesus began to do and teach till he was taken up Act. 1. 1 2. All necessary Christianity was Faithfully preached by Jesus Christ and they Faithfully set out his Life and Preaching And what St. Luke added afterwards in the Acts of the Holy Apostles was only an Historical Account of the Method they took what they suffered and how they succeeded in Preaching this Doctrine And as for the Epistles of the several Apostles which were accidentally and occasionally writ for the Emergent Benefit of the Churches they either repeat and press the same Things or Comment upon them in fuller Explications or Determine some Controversies started in the Church about them or confute some unchristian Opinions and Heretical corruptions of Gospel-Truths as is obvious to any careful and intelligent comparer of them Quest. Having therefore these Scriptures Faithfully conveyed to us by God's Blessing we must not look for or listen to any New Revelation Answ. No not of the Way to please God and go to Heaven Christ our Great Prophet who was to Seal up Vision and Prophesie having inspired his Apostles and fully Revealed all these things to us once already by them it is a vain thing to fancy he should do it over again Quest. The Gift of Inspiration then or of having Religion immediately Revealed to them was necessary only to Apostles and Evangelists who were the first Publishers of it from God Answ. 'T is very true And accordingly in Suiting the Gifts and Ministries reckned up 1 Cor. 12. to the word of Wisdom or Gospel Revelation which is the First and Chiefest in the List of Gifts v. 8. St. Paul adapts the Order of Apostles as its Correspondent and the first and chiefest in the Number of Ministries ver 28. Inspiration of Religion was only to fit and Qualifie them for that Office. Hence it is probably that it is by St. John called
To prove any thing Sinless and Lawful then it is not necessary to produce a Law or Example for it since a Law commanding it would render it not barely Lawful but necessary but it is enough that there be no Law against it Answ. Very right for till a Law forbids a thing there is no sin in it Quest. What is a Wilful Sin Answ. A Sin against Knowledge or doing what we know to be displeasing to God. And this either when we are aware of the Evil at the Time we commit it or should have been so but that we have accustomed our selves to it which makes us sin without observing that we do so Quest. If a Man by custom brings himself to Swear or Lye or the like without thinking of it his Sin you say say is wilful for all he doth not bethink himself in committing it Answ. No doubt of it for he wilfully contracted this Custom and Habit which is so far from being an excuse for his Sin that it is one of the greatest aggravations of it The Habit of Sin is called the Law of sin Rom. 7. 23. and the Body of Death ver 24. Quest. What if a man has such a mind to a Sin that he will not see it but checks and stifles all Thoughts that would arise in his mind against it Nay perhaps endeavours to deceive himself and come to a Persuasion that there is no Fault or it may be some Praise in it Answ. He is a wilful Offender indeed because his own Will makes him ignorant as it did the Pharisees and other Jews who were wilfully Blind Mat. 13. 15. Quest. When is a wilful Sin against Conscience Answ. When 't is acted against the present checks of our own minds and under Fears and Relentings Quest. And when is a Sin against Conscience called Deliberate which I suppose is a higher pitch of Wilfulness Answ. When 't is committed after Fears and Debates and we consider'd and disputed with our selves for some time whether to do it or no before we ventur'd on it Quest. What is a sin of Ignorance Answ. When we do an Evil thing not knowing it to be a sin nor seeing its sinfulness Quest. Doth Ignorance excuse any Offences Answ. Yes when men are not ignorant through culpable Neglects nor blinded by wicked Lusts. For in this ease 't is said Christ can have compassion on the Ignorant and Erroneous Heb. 5. 2. But when they have no mind to see a Thing nor care to find it out that Ignorance is faulty because chargeable on their own wills Quest. What say you when their Judgments are resolv'd on the wrong side and they act under Erroneous Opinions Are they not excusable in any Actions so long as they only follow their Conscience Answ. No except their Conscience Errs so pitiably as to be reasonably qualified for excuse The Jews followed their Consciences when they crucified Christ Act. 3. 17. and 1 Cor. 2. 8. but yet God esteemed them wicked Murderers Act. 7. 52. Paul verily thought that he ought to Persecute the Church Act. 26. 9. But in that he declares he was the greatest of sinners 1 Tim. 1. 13 15. The times are coming saith our Lord that they who kill you will think therein they do God service Joh. 16. 2. But yet God would take vengeance on them for the Blood of these Righteous Persons Mat. 23. 35. 'T is no sufficient warranty in what a Man doth that he follows his Conscience except he take care to have a right Conscience or when 't is wrong it err only through misfortunes not out of a wilful Neglect a wicked Lust or an unteachable Temper Quest. What is a Sin of inadvertence Answ. When in the general we know a thing to be a sin but are not free at the time of acting it to consider and reflect upon its sinfulness This generally happens because we do the evil suddenly e're we can bethink our selves whence they are called sins of Surreption i. e. which steal upon us unawares and sins of Surprise And thus it falls out in the many sudden envious lustful repining or otherwise ill thoughts or Desires the beginnings of Anger the rash Words and Censures Good People are Guilty of All which till they can come to observe them if then they are careful to check and Repress them are pitiable inadvertences and surprises which because we are all apt daily to fall into more or less are call'd sins of Daily incursion Quest. What think you of sins of Passion when either mens own Consciences or other Friendly Monitors tell them they are doing ill but they go on notwithstanding because Passion is strong and Lust or Anger hurries them away being very high in them Answ. These are not perfectly wilful because when their Passions are at such height their Wills are captivated and have little Power over them for that time But they are punishable as wilful sins are because it is Mens voluntary Fault if they do not mortifie all such inordinate Passion and they that belong to Christ must not suffer Passion to arise so high that it can captivate and reign in them They that are Christ's have Crucified the Flesh with the Affections or Passsions and Lusts Gal. 5. 24. Quest. From what you have said I perceive what Sin is but what is meant by the Forgiveness of it Answ. A Release of the Punishment which is due to it For then God forgives a sin when he acquits Men of the Punishment of it And because this is a passing over sins as if they had never been and taking no notice of them it is called covering sins and not imputing them Rom. 4. 7 8. Quest. What are the Punishments due to Sin Answ. Death and Diseases and all the Miseries of this World. But especially the Eternal Torments of Hell Fire in the next Quest. The Eternal Pains of Hell must needs be acquitted when a Sinner is pardon'd For we can never think any sin pardon'd whilst the Sinner is eternally suffering for it But when the everlasting Punishments of the other Life are released are all the Temporal Inflictions in this Life struck off too Answ. No for Death is the Wages of sin and that still is all Mens Portion And when Men by their sins have greatly dishonoured God or given great Scandal unto others to manifest the justice of his Providence God oft-times here chastiseth them by present Judgments yea even after they have Repented and he has thereupon remitted to them all eternal Pains Thus when Nathan told Penitent David that God seeing his Repentance had put away his sin so that as to the last account he would be acquitted Yet because thereby he had given occasion to the Enemies of God to Blaspheme he should be punished here and the Child should die for it 2 Sam. 12. 13 14. And at Corinth several of those who on the score of their Repentance should not be condemned with the Wicked World at last Yet for their
by Disappointments nor made unfortunate by the Follies or Sufferings of those we dearly love is absolutely the most agreeable pleasant and satisfactory Employment in the World. And amidst all these Companions shall the Righteous be Perfect in this Love Answ. Yes most Perfect For God is Love and he that dwells in God dwells in Love 1 Joh. 4. 16. Quest. Will all that blessed Company entirely love us Answ. Yes as they do their own Souls they were full of Love while they lived here loving even their Enemies after Christ's Precept and Example but especially the servants of God in whom they discern'd his Image But in Heaven they shall love us in Perfection and be full Ripe and Compleat in this as they are in all other Graces Quest. And shall we entirely Love all them Answ. Yes they shall all be so absolute in all amiable excellencies and continually discover such a boundless Love for us and our Natures will be so wholly framed for Love and Kindness that we cannot chuse but love them and that with the greatest fervour and intenseness of Affection And this will be all Pleasure and no Pain because they are incapable of doing any thing that may either shame or disgust us God is all in all in them and therefore they can do nothing but what we who entirely love God and them may perfectly delight in Quest. If we shall have such entire Love for all the Saints in Bliss we shall as all true Friends do partake in all their Joys and all their Happiness will be ours Answ. It will be so for Love of Happy Persons multiplies Happiness as oft as it multiplies Objects Because when we entirely love them we esteem and are pleased with all their Happiness as with our own And this way every Saint will be as full as if they had a Monopoly of Bliss and draw all the Happiness of Heaven to themselves Quest. But amidst all these inward excellencies and happy Company and Blissful intercourse of kindness shall they live in Honour and be eminent in Place Answ. Yes as Kings and Princes They shall Sit on Thrones and wear Crowns and Scepters and be Sons of God and Brethren and Joint-heirs with Christ they shall inherit all things and not only have the Priviledge to stand about Christs Throne but what would surpass belief if Truth it self had not assured us of it sit down with him thereon To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne Rev. 3. 21. And besides this glory of their State and eminence in Place their Bodies as I observed shall be cloathed with the most Radiant Light and surpass even the Sun it self in Brightness Quest. In what place must they live to wear these Glories and Feast on all this immense Happiness Answ. In the Heaven of Heavens a Place scituate on High †far above all visible things unspeakably vast in extent and magnificent in structure and illustrious in Glory the Presence Chamber of the great God and King where he lives incircled with Lustre and Light inaccessible which no mortal Eye can approach unto for no Man as he told Moses can see my Face and live Exod. 33. 20. Here shall all Righteous Persons with their immortal Eyes ever see God and shine in his Glory and feast on all the forecited joys and fulness of Pleasure which is at his Right hand for evermore Psal. 16. 11. Quest. But if this happy enjoyment last long will they not grow weary of it in the end since humane Appetites are wont to love change and loath the best things if held constant to them Answ. No as the enjoyments are so is the desire and relish of them always the same The Goods are pure having no ungrateful mixtures to be discover'd and tasted by time and the Appetite and Relish perfect subject to no ebbs or flows no weariness or alterations So that we shall still desire as well as enjoy these pleasant things and find an inexpressible sweetness and satisfaction in them Quest. And to Crown all and render us secure in this Blessed State shall the happiness of it be no fading transitory Thing as all worldly pleasure is but everlasting Answ. Yes it will be always in its Spring and look fresh and flourish thro' Eternal Ages The Pleasures at God's Right Hand are for evermore Ps. 16. 11. the weight of Glory is Eternal 2 Cor. 4. 17. the Kingdom cannot be moved Heb. 12. 28. the Crown is incorruptible 1 Cor. 9. 25. that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 5. 4. 'T is not a limited happiness held only for a term of years or Ages but an Eternal Life 1 John. 5. 11. Quest. This is such a perfection of Bliss as is enough to make all Righteous men impatient of living here and long to dye as St. Paul did thereby to be possess'd of it Answ. It is so indeed if it contain'd no more than I have described But when they come to enjoy it they will find infinitely more than I have said yea than any Tongue can express or heart imagine and apprehend For Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it enter'd into the heart of man to conceive the Things God has prepared for those that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9. Quest. I perceive how Blissful the Eternal Life of the Righteous is But the Wicked too shall be raised to an Eternal State and what shall their Life be Answ. The most perfect misery both of Body and Soul whence in Scripture when by Life is meant not only the continuance in being but the happiness of it their state is call'd everlasting death 2 Thes. 1. 8 9. Rev. 2. 11. Quest. What sorrow and torment shall the Wicked for ever endure in their Souls Answ. The torment of all vexatious Passions being continually wracked with Envy Anger Fruitless Cares and Boundless Fears utter despair of all relief and yet extream desires of it And the Sting of Conscience which shall pierce them thro' with bitter remorse and gnaw perpetually like a Worm upon their Hearts and Vitals their Worm dieth not Mark 9. 44. Quest. Indeed all these mention'd Passions when at the heighth are so many Furies especially distracting and amazing Fears and Horrors And shall wretched Souls be wholly seized by these Answ. Yes as much as we may imagine they can possibly who are surrounded on every side with the most mischievous and spiteful Enemies and are left among them in the Dark which were it possible would magnify their Fears by fancy and make them infinite To express which utter uncomfortableness and insecurity they are said to be cast into utter Darkness Mat. 22. 13. and reserved unto Blackness of Darkness for ever 2 Pet. 2. 17. Quest. What is implyed in the Worm of Conscience Answ. Bitter and cutting remorse for their own wretched folly which has call'd down upon