For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Q. Are we become now children of wrath by nature and in that state shall we never except we be borne againe see the Kingdome of God A. Eph. 2.3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others Joh. 3.3 last Except a man be borne again he cannot see the Kingdome of God And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Q. Are sinners or those that transgresse the Law accursed A. Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to doe them Deut. 28.15 16 c. But if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to doe all his commandements his Statutes which I command thee this day that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee Cursed shalt thou be in the City c. Q. Doth the soul outlive the body and is it immortall A. Luk. 23.43 And Jesus said unto him To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Phil. 1.23 For I am in a straight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is farre better Ecl. 12.7 Then shall the dust returne to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall returne unto God that gave it Matth. 10.28 And feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule Q. Shall the body rise again from the dead A. 1 Cor. 15.13 14. But if there be no resurrection of the dead then is Christ not risen And if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vaine and your faith is also vaine Mark 12.25 26 27. Joh. 11.24 Q. Shall the condition of the Devils and wicked men be cursed and miserable at and after the day of Judgment A. Mat. 25.41 46. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his Angels And these shall go away into everlasting punishment Cap. 8. Of Redemption by Christ Q. DOTH God leave all mankind in a sinfull cursed and miserable condition to perish therein everlastingly A. 1 Thes 5.9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtaine Salvation by Christ Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Rom. 3.21 22. But now the Righteousnesse of God without the Law is manifested even the Righteousnesse of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe c. Q. Will God acquit and justify the ungodly and unrighteous for the righteousnesse of Christ if they believe and repent of their sins A. Ro. 5.19 21. So by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous That as sinne bath reigned unto death even so might grace reigne through righteousnesse unto eternall life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 3.24 25 26. Being justified freely by his grace thorow the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sinnes that are past c. That he might be just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Q. Did God lay our sinnes upon Christ and did he beare them on the Crosse A. Is 53.5 6. But he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own selfe bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sinne should live unto righteousnesse by whose stripes ye were healed Q. Did Christ dye only to leave us an Example or to confirme his Doctrine or to be a Sacrifice or Offering for sin A. Eph. 5.2 As Christ also hath loved us and hath given himselfe for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour 2 Cor. 5.21 For he hath made him to be sinne for us who knew no sinne that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Is 53.10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to griefe when thou shalt make his soule an Offering for sinne he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Chap. 9. Of Predestination Q. HOW prove you that it was not the foresight of faith good workes or perseverance or of something else in the creature which were either as causes or conditions moving God to ordaine some men unto eternall life A. Eph. 1.9 11. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he had purposed in himselfe In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his own will Rom. 9.11 16. For the children being not yet borne neither having done good or evill that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of workes but of him that calleth As it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our workes but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began Q. How prove you that God who hath ordained them to the End eternall life hath also ordained them to the meanes to attaine thereunto Faith and good works A. 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ Eph. 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love chap. 2.10 For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Q. How prove you that all God's Elect children being fallen in Adam were redeemed by Christ A. 1 Thes 5.9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtaine salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Tit. 2.14 Who gave himselfe for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good works Q. How prove you that the Elect are in due time justified adopted sanctified have their sins pardoned are made the children of God and made holy A. Rom. 8.30 Moreover whom
Watson and Parsons here in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth and of latter times 'twixt the Jansenians and Jesuites abroad 2ly It may be said that for our present ruptures either you have made or else maintained and continued diverse of our breaches 3ly That when we come to heaven and not before we may expect that all men should be of the same opinion in every thing 4ly That the Protestant Churches doe agree in the maine and fundamentals of our Religion See the Harmony of Confess and wherein we differ I and 1000 s other Protestants desire to use Scripture Prayer and sound reason to convince those who are otherwise minded We desire to use soft words and hard reasons to draw men with cords of love and not to burne and consume them with coales of fire Yea I dare almost put it to your selves to be Judges whether there have not been in Queen Mary's daies in four yeers more Protestants put to death in England than there have been Papists in fourscore since And now if you object against the Protestant Churches for want of a right ministry pretending their want of succession or a right ordination or a right Government and jurisdiction to these it may be replyed 1 That succession in pure Doctrine is a better marke of a true Church than succession into the seats and places of former Orthodox Pastors 2ly That it is almost if not utterly impossible for you Papists to know who is the true Pastor the Bishop of Rome whom you pretend you must follow considering the many Schismes and the indirect corrupt waies whereby diverse have advanced themselves into the chaire 3ly Our first Reformers were ordained Ministers by your Church and Mr Mason shewes you a succession since To him you may adde a little piece of Sr John Harrington as a supplement to Mr Mason and Dr Ferne hath justified the consecrations of our first Bishops against those frivolous allegations made against them 4ly If you should quarrell with us now because Bishops are in a great measure laid aside as if no ordination could possibly be valid except by Bishops and therefore that if now we have true Ministers yet without Restauration of Bishops we can have none no Ministers long I answer that although I am not yet plerophorized that a Primitive Bishop or Episcopus praeses is utterly unlawfull yet I am not fully convinced that they are an Institution of Christ and essentiall or absolutely necessary to the very being of a Church or ministry I dare not so easily unchurch those of the Reformed Religion abroad who have no Bishops name or thing Bishops or Superintendents and in this I am not alone the late Reverend Dr Usher sometimes an Arch-Bishop himselfe was of the like judgment See his life and death by Dr Bernard Yea in the Church of Rome sometimes there hath been allowed Ordination by other hands than by Bishops if I mistake not And the Master of the Sentences holds but two orders jure divino Presbyters and Deacons See Pet Lumb And if I misremember not I have read that the Spaniards hindred it in the Council of Trent that it did not passe that all Bishops except the Bishop of Rome were jure humano or to that effect And Medina who disputed at the Councill of Trent touching the Superiority of a Bishop above a Priest affirms that Jerome was in this point of Aerius his opinion and that not only he but also Ambrose and Austin Sedulius Primasius Chrysostomus Theodoret Oecumenius and Theophylact maintained all of them the same Heresy So hee If the Charity so some Protestants be a stumbling block which lyes in your way to hinder you from leaving your Errors and professing the truth I shall endeavour briefly to remove that out of your way First Were I in your case and did not I resigne up my Judgment to the Scriptures according to that infallible rule to judge which is the true Church I would avoid that Church most where is professed and practised the greatest cruelty and joyne to that soonest where is professed and practised the greatest charity You professe at least many of you that 't is impossible for us to be saved that 't is absolutely necessary to salvation to be a member of the Roman Church to believe the Articles of the Trent faith and to live and dye in the communion of the Roman Church in subjection unto the Bishop of Rome whom you call Christ's Vicar and Peter's Successor Hear what a learned and religious Person saith to this point Must Paul be damned because he was not one of Peter's subjects doe not your consciences know he writes to the literate Romanists that swearing obedience to the Pope of Rome was a thing unknown for many hundred yeares yea that it is a novelty in the world Againe when I read so many plain promises in the Scriptures that whoever believeth in Christ shall not perish and that if by the Spirit we mortify the deeds of the body we shall live and that if we repent our sins shall be forgiven yea that Godlinesse hath the promise of this life and that to come and then when I find that the Papists for all these certain promises doe unchurch and damne us all because we believe not in the Pope of Rome as well as in Christ this satisfied me as fully that you are audacious Schismaticks as I am satisfied that you are Papists So hee Mr Baxter against popery The Papists will sometimes brag of their Charity they give perhaps a piece of bread to some of our poor and yet unchurch us poore and rich they would not stick I feare had they power in their hands to burne our bodies saying we are Hereticks and they doe as much as in them lyes to damne our soules and if this be their charity Oh my soule come not thou into their secrets And yet doe not the Papists lay too great a stresse on the charity of some Protestants considering the Assertion of Mr Perkins which saith that A Reprobate may in truth be made partaker of all that is contained in the Religion of the Church of Rome and a Papist by his Religion cannot goe beyond a Reprobate Perk. Vol. 1. p. 396. 404. And what Dr Usher said namely to this effect being asked by a Papist whether a Papist may be sav'd that one that holds all the Tenets of the Council of Trent and lives accordingly without Repentance cannot be saved he said there were two plaine places for it the places I did not heare but suppose them to be 2 Thes 2.11 12. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lye that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse And Rev. 14.9 10 11. If any man worship the beast and his image and receive his marke in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God And the smoke of
Saul and the Lord said they will deliver thee up Matth. 11.21 23. Woe unto thee Chorazin wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty workes which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long agoe in sackcloth and ashes And thou Capernaum which art exalted unto heaven shalt be brought down unto hell for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodome it would have remained unto this day Q. How prove you that God did not decree such and such things because he foresaw they would come to passe or come to passe upon such conditions A. Rom. 9.11 13 18. For the children being not yet born neither having done any good or evill that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth As it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth Chap. 6. Of the Creation and of the first estate of Man Q. VVAS the world Eternall or did God make heaven and earth and all things therein in the beginning A. Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth Heb. 11.3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which doe appeare Q. In what state did God make man at first did he make him after his own image in knowledge righteousnesse and holinesse upright having the law written in his heart induing him with power to fulfill the Law with dominion over the creatures A. Gen. 1.27 31. So God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him And God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good Col. 3.10 And have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him Eph. 4.24 and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Eccles 7.29 Loe this only have I found that God hath made man upright Rom. 2.14 15. These having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the worke of the Law written in their hearts Gen. 1.28 And God said unto them replenish the earth subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the Sea and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth Q. Did man continue in that state wherein God made him or did he hearken to the Divell that old Serpent and disobey God and so fell A. Gen. 3.6 13 23. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food she took of the fruit thereof did eate and gave also unto her husband with her and he did cate And the Lord God said unto the Woman what is this that thou hast done And the Woman said the Serpent beguiled me and I did eate Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken Eccl. 7.29 But they have sought out many inventions 2 Cor. 11.3 But I feare lest by any meanes as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Q. Was Adam the first man or were there any before him or was he a common Father from whom all Persons descended A. 1. Cor. 15.45 47. The first man Adam was made a living soule The first man is of the earth earthy Chap. 7. Of sin and of the bitter fruits of it Q. VHAT is sinne A. 1 Joh. 3.4 Sin is the transgression of the Law Q. Did all mankind sinne in and fall by the sinne or transgression of our first Parents A. 1 Cor. 15.22 For as in Adam all dye c. Act. 17.26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth Rom. 5.12 18 19. Wherefore as by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation c. For as by one man's disobedience all were made sinners c. Q. Can the Act or deed of the Father be imputed to the children is this as 't is the manner of men is it also agreeable to the Scriptures A. Heb. 7.9 10. Levi also who received tithes payed tithes in Abraham For he was yet in the loines of his Father when Melchisedec met him Q. Did Adam after the fall beget children after the image and likenesse of God in knowledge righteousnesse and holinesse or after his own likenesse A. Gen. 5.3 And Adam begat a Son in his own liknesse after his image and called his name Seth. Job 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Job 15.14 Joh. 3.5 6. Q. Is man since the fall born pure righteous or is he conceived and borne in sin A. Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sinne did my Mother conceive me Job 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one chap. 15 14. What is man that he should be cleane and he which is borne of a Woman that he should be righteous Joh. 3.6 That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the Spirit is Spirit Q. Can a man by nature now since the fall savingly know God without being spiritually inlightened A. 1 Cor. 2.14 But the naturall man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Joh. 5.20 And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true 2 Cor. 4.6 For God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Q. Can a man by the strength of nature now fulfill the Law of God A. Ro. 8.7 Because the carnall mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 7.18 For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing For to will is present with me but how to performe that which is good I find not Joh. 15.5 For without me ye can doe nothing 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God Q. Should our first Parents have dyed if they had never sinned did actuall death come in by sin A. Rom. 6.23 For the wages of sin is death Rom. 5.12 As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Gen. 2.17