Psal 139.12 13. and hidden lusts A man that made a work can easily espie the least fault that another makes in it so God can see all the disorders that Satan and thy wicked heart hath wrought in thee and this must make thee walke in feare of offending such a God and with a resolution to doe all things to the honour of him that made thee Every man that makes a thing doth desire to have the comfort and credit of it much more doth God who made man for himselfe Prov. 16.4 as well as all things else Vse Therefore Whether thou eate or drink 1 Cor. 10.31 or what ever thou doe doe all to the glory of thy God Doe to his glory in thought word and deed do to his glory in disposing thy selfe in all the occurrences of this life Thou mayst make other comfortable reflexions upon thy soule from this point if thou weigh the Texts in the margine Psal 149.2 Psal 119.73 Psal 100.1 2 3. Job 30.13.15 but I leave them to thy own meditations as God shall quicken thy heart with a love to the good word of God Tell me next 2. Q. Who Redeemed thee A. Jesus Christ Mark my good child Christ Redeemed us 1 Tim. 2.6 It is Christ that gave himselfe a ransome for us even the ransome of his blood by which he hath redeemed us out of all the world Apoc. 5.9 To redeeme is to buy thee again when thou wert lost in thy enemies hands Thou wert lost by the sinne of Adam As thou seest when a Carp is taken by a Fishers hooke or net and dieth thousands of spawnes in his belly are caught and die with him so was it with thee and all mankind We were all in that one man in his first transgression Therefore Blessed Paul saith Rom. 5.12 14. By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and passed upon all men even over those that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression for that all have sinned When thou wast in this cursed condition with all mankind Christ came and bought thee again Joh. 10.11 by laying down his life for thee Vse Remember this and make such use of it as Paul would have the Corinthians Ye are not your own 1 Cor. 6.19 20. for ye are bought with a prize therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirits which are Gods If you buy any thing you expect the comfort of it whether it be for the health of your body or of your soule Thinke but the same of Christ and you will be willing to live to him that died for you 2 Cor. 5.15 and rose again Tell me next 3. Q. Who sanctified thee A. The holy Ghost Mark here The holy Ghost doth sanctifie us If I should aske thee What it is to be sanctified it is to be made holy But when I aske thee who sanctified thee it is to make thee holy and this is the worke of the holy Ghost Therefore Paul telles the Corinthians when they were changed in their state That they were sanctified by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6.11 Now the holy Ghost doth sanctifie thee by taking away of sinne and giving of grace As if thou wert to give entertainment to a great and good friend thou wouldst first sweep out the dust and brush down the cobwebs and then lay out thy carpets cushions and other ornaments so the holy Ghost takes the besome of destruction the hammer Jer. 23.29 and fire of the word and sweeps out thy raigning sinnes by Repentance and the spirit of Judgement Esa 4.4 Gal. 5.22 23. Eph. 3.17 1 Cor. 3.16 and then brings in the graces of the Spirit to make thee an holy Temple for Christ to dwell in by faith All this the holy Ghost works by the Word Sacraments and Prayer By the Word for Christ prayeth Joh. 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth By the Sacraments for Paul saith Eph. 5.26 That he sanctifies and cleanseth his Church with the washing of water by the word and that We being many are one bread and one body 1 Cor. 10.17 for we are all made partakers of one bread Implying that in the Lords Supper we are sealed up into the body of Christ and we cannot be properly without holinesse By Prayer for Christ saith that if we aske the Father he will give us his spirit Vse Therefore my deare child ply the holy Ghost in this way wherein thou art sanctified and shalt encrease it more and more 2 Cor. 7.1 till thou grow to or perfect thy holinesse in the feare of the Lord. If there were but one Mart or Market where all necessary commodities were to be had thou wouldst ply that upon all urgent occasions so must thou deale with the Word Sacraments and Prayer if thou wouldst have the holy Ghost shine upon thee in the beautie of holinesse Tell me next because thou namest the Father the Sonne and Holy Ghost even these three 4. Q. How many Gods are there A. There are three persons and to us Christians but one God Goe to Jordan and thou shalt see the heavens opened There are three persons Matth. 3.16 17. whence the Father sent a voice from heaven the Sonne baptized and the Holy Ghost descending like a Dove to make up three persons Reflect upon thy own Baptisme and thou shalt behold thy admittance into the Church in the name of the Father Matth. 28.19 and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost to make up three persons again Consider our witnesses and thou shalt finde that we have three that beare record in heaven the Father the Word 1 Joh. 5.7 and the Holy Ghost and that these three are one For though there are three names or persons in the Godhead Yet is there but one God 1 Cor. 8.5 6. and though there be many that are called Gods and Lords yet to us Christians there is but one God This heavenly mystery may be shadowed unto thee a little in a fiered coale There is the substance of the coale the light of the coale and the heat of the coale and yet but one fiered coale So soone as ever the coale is fiered there are these three the substance of the coale the light and heat of it So in the same Divine Essence though in a more transcendent way is there the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost Yea it may be shadowed in thy selfe So soone as ever thou art borne into this world thou art a creature to God a childe to thy Parents and a subject to thy King and yet art thou but one So so soone as ever as God is that is from all eternitie he is Father Sonne and holy Ghost and yet but one God Vse This will help thee mightily in cleaving to the Scriptures and in all thy devout prayers to God Art thou tempted to question the truth of
understandest of what I have said Tell me Q. Who must deliver thee from the curse of the Law A. Jesus Christ onely Q. Why is he called Jesus A. Because he saves his people from their sins Q. How many wayes doth he save thee A. Three by ransome by rescue by mortification Q. How by ransome A. By laying down his life for me Q. How by rescue A. By delivering me by strong hand Q. How by mortification A. By killing of sin in me Q. What means doth he use A. The Word of God Sacraments and Prayer Q. Why is he called Christ A. Because he is anointed Q. What is his anointing A. His having the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily Q. Why was Christ anointed A. That he might be a Prophet Priest and King Q. Why was he a Prophet A. To reveale his Fathers will to me Q. Why was he a Priest A. To offer himselfe in sacrifice and make intercession for me Q. Why was he a King A. To rule over me and over-rule my enemies Q. How is Christ a Lord A. By possessing me as his own Q. Why was Christ a Lord A. To maintaine his right in me and to call me to accounts Q. What is this Jesus Christ our Lord A. The Sonne of God made man Q. Why must the Sonne of God be thy Saviour A. Because he might give me what I wanted Q. Why must thy Saviour be a man not a woman A. Because man is the more noble sacrifice Q. Did this God and man sonne suffer for thee A. Yes he suffered the sorrows of death for me Q. What were these sorrows A. The sight of my sinnes and the sense of his fathers wrath Remember my child how farre thou art gone Thou wast made to serve God thou shouldst serve him as he hath commanded thou breakest all the commandements and so lyest under the curse of the Law Jesus Christ came into the world to deliver thee from this curse This Jesus Christ was the Sonne of God and though he were the Sonne of God yet becoming thy surety he suffered the sorrows of death to satisfie God and discharge thee It may seeme strange that the Sonne of God who is immortall should dye Tell me therefore 24. Q. Seeing Christ was God how could he dye A. He was God and man As he was God he died not but as man he died for my sinnes and rose againe for my Justification Here thou tellest me of the natures of thy Saviour How it could be that Christ could die and of the use he made of them for thy good As to his natures he was God and man as to his uses he used his humane nature to dye for thee and his Divine nature to rise againe for thy Justification First he was God and man Man he was certainly for in his whole course and carriage Phil. 2.8 he was found in fashion as a man not in appearance onely for as is here demonstrative of the truth of his humane nature As John saith Joh. 1.14 we saw his glory as the Glory of the onely begotten Sonne of God that is his glory was the glory of the true Sonne of God so in fashion as a man that is a true man Therefore Paul saith we have one Mediatour betwixt God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 Matth. 1.2 who is therefore often called the sonne of man the sonne of Abraham the sonne of David yea Heb. 2.16 the seed of Abraham according to the flesh He was as surely God For when he was given to us to be a Child a a Sonne his name is the mightie God Esa 9.6 Jer. 23.6 Rom. 9.5 and Jehovah our righteousnesse and over all God blessed for ever And John saith that this essentiall word of the Father who was with God was God Joh. 1.1 even from eternitie before and when God made the beginning of time Secondly As man Christ died Christ made excellent uses of these natures for thee of his Manhood he made this use to dye for thee For Christ suffered for thee in the flesh 1 Pet. 4.1 1 Pet. 2.24 and bare thy sinnes in his own body on the tree If the Sunne shine upon the body of a tree which thou hast a purpose to cut down thou canst cut the tree but thou canst not cut the shine of the Sunne that is united unto it and shines upon the gashes and dints thou makest in the bark heart sap and root So when Christ God and man was united for thee the unsuffering Divine nature could not suffer but the body of his flesh and blood that suffered and dyed for thee Man had sinned and man must dye It is not equall that another nature should suffer for man's sinne Therefore verily he tooke not on him the nature of Angels but he tooke the seed of Abraham that he might taste death Heb. 2.9 10. and be made a perfect Captaine of thy salvation through suffering Of his Godhead he made this use As God Christ rose againe Rom. 4.25 Rom. 1.4 to rise againe for thy Justification For he mightily declared himselfe to be the Sonne of God by the resurrection from the dead He was to deliver thee from a world of evil and to bring thee to a world of good things The guilt of sinne the wrath of God the power of hell the fear of death were to be wrought from thee by him The pardon of sinne the power from sinne the Inheritance of heaven were to be settled upon thee by him How could he ever have done any or all of these for thee if his Divine nature had not influence into his sufferings to bring thee the righteousnesse of God Rom. 3.25 26. Phil. 3.9 Let him have done all this for thee thou couldst never have been justified if he had not declared himselfe to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead This settles the merits of his death upon thee and assures thee that they are accepted by his father for thy discharge because death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6. but he comes triumphantly out of the prison of the grave whither thy sins had cast him Christ bare a double person for thee the person of a suretie Heb. 7.22 1 Joh. 2.1 and the person of an advocate What he doth for thee for the discharging thy debt and for the settlement of a full satisfaction upon thee as a suretie that he doth in thy roome and it stands in the Law of God and man as a discharge of thy score what he doth as an Advocate in appearing for thee pleading for thee and satisfying all offices in thy roome that is interpreted as thy act thou must stand to it and challenge it as thy own When thou seest therfore Christ dying a satisfying death for thee and rising a discharged resurrection for thee from further imprisonment thou hast a full quietus est or assurance that
MILK FOR BABES OR A. MOTHERS CATECHISM for Her CHILDREN Wherein chief saving Principles of Christian Religion through the body of it fit first to inform Children in are 1 Propounded 2 Expounded 3 Applied The sum of which is set down in the following Pages Together with the Questions and Answers which are the grounds of the Catechism Whereunto also annexed THREE SERMONS Preached at Andrews Holborn at a publike Fast and at Covent-Garden upon severall occasions By ROBERT ABBOT Preacher of Gods Word at Southwick in Hantshire PSA 34.11 Come ye children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord. LONDON Printed by John Legate for Philemon Stephens dwelling in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the gilded Lyon 1646. I Have perused this Catechism intituled Milk for Babes and these three Sermons on severall Texts And approving them as pious and profitable I license them to be printed and published IOHN DOWNAME The Sum of the following Catechism may be conceived thus IT speaks to a threefold state of ours Our estate 1 Of Creation Of which you may finde two points 1 Our Creatour who is 1 Confessed Q. 1. 2 Distinguished from the Sonne Q. 2. Holy Gh. Q. 3. 3 Described 1 By his unity in Trinity Q. 4. 2 By his Sufficiency Efficiency Q. 5. 2 His end in making us which is 1 Propounded Q. 6. 2 Amplified by the 1 Manner Q. 7. 2 Meanes teaching Q. 8. 1 Commandement 1. Q. 9. 2 Commandement 2. Q. 10. 3 Commandement 3. Q. 11. 4 Commandement 4. Q. 12. 5 Commandement 5. Q. 13. 6 Commandement 6. Q. 14. 7 Commandement 7. Q. 15. 8 Commandement 8. Q. 16. 9 Commandement 9. Q. 17. 10 Commandement 10. Q. 18. 2 Of Corruption of which it sets down our misery 1 By sinne Q. 19. 2 By punishment Q. 20. 3 Of Renovation Of which it teacheth us 1 The means working it Christ Jesus Q. 20. Who is further described by his 1 Natures Q. 22. 2 Work for use Set down two wayes 1 By the greatest manifestation of it at the latter end where two 1 His Passion Q. 13. 2 His possibility to undergo it 2 By the efficacy of it both in respect 1 Of the end Q. 24. 2 Of the persons for whom Q. 25. 2 The means applying it Faith described 1 By the nature of it Q. 26. 2 By the working of it in respect of 1 The beginning of it Q. 27. 2 The growth of it by means 1 Without us which are two 1 The Word of Christ 2 The Sacraments of Christ Q. 28. which are described 1 By their Nature Q. 29. 2 By their Number Q. 30. 3 By their use both of 1 Baptism Q. 31. 2 Supper of the Lord about which 1 What use of it Q. 32. 2 To whom Q. 33. 2 Within us and by us Prayer Q. 34. Which is further described 1 By the nature of it Q. 35. 2 By the matter The Lords Prayer Q. 36. Expounded by the 1 Preface Q. 37. 2 Petition 1. Q. 38. 3 Petition 2. Q. 39. 4 Petition 3. Q. 40. 5 Petition 4. Q. 41. 6 Petition 5. Q. 42. 7 Petition 6. Q. 43. 8 Conclusion Q. 44. A CATECHISM FOR Children thorough the chief points of the Body of Divinity to prepare them for the Lords Supper 1 Question WHo made thee A. God the Father 2 Q. Who redeemed thee A. Jesus Christ 3 Q. Who sanctified thee A. The Holy Ghost 4 Q. How many Gods are there A. There are three persons and to us Christians but one God 5 Q. What is God A. He is that Almighty one who made and governeth all things 6 Q. Wherefore did God make thee A. To do him service 7 Q. How oughtest thou to serve him A. As he hath commanded in his lawes 8 Q. Which are these lawes A. Those tenne words which God wrote in two Tables of stone and are set down in Exodus and Deuteronomy 9 Q. What is the first Commandement A. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me 10 Q. What is the second A. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image nor any likenesse of things that are in heaven above nor in the earth beneath nor in the waters under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shewing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandements 11 Q. What is the third Commandement A. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vain 12 Q. What is the fourth Commandement A. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy sonne nor thy daughter thy man-servant nor thy maid-servant nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates For in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it 13 Q. What is the fift Commandement A. Honour thy Father and Mother that thy dayes may be long upon the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee 14 Q. What is the sixt A. Thou shalt not kill 15 Q. What is the seventh A. Thou shalt not commit adultery 16 Q. What is the eight A. Thou shalt not steal 17 Q. What is the ninth A. Thou shalt not bear false witnesse against thy neighbour 18 Q. What is the tenth Commandement A. Thou shalt not covet thy neighhours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife nor his man-servant nor his maid-servant nor his oxe nor his asse nor any thing that is thy neighbours 19 Q. Art thou able to keep these commandements A. No let me do what I can yet I break them every day more then I can expresse 20 Q. What punishment is appointed for the breakers of Gods commandements A. Gods curse which is the everlasting destruction of body and soul 21 Q. How shalt thou escape this curse A. Onely by Jesus Christ our Lord. 22 Q. What is Jesus Christ A. He is the eternall sonne of God made man 23 Q. What hath Christ Jesus done for thee A. He suffered the pains of death for me 24 Q. Seeing Christ was God how could he dye A. He was God and man as he was God he died not but as man he died for my sinnes and rose again for my justification 25 Q. Are all men saved by Christs death A. No onely they are saved who have a true faith 26 Q. What is this true faith A. It is the resting of the soul upon Christ for salvation 27 Q. How must this faith be wrought in thee A. The Holy Ghost must work it in my heart
thou art subject to the miseries of this life and of the life to come The miseries of this life are all crosses to thy person comfort credit and state as sicknesses sorrows disgraces discomforts both within and without The miseries of the world to come are thy separation from the Lord and his Law the two principles of life for ever As when thy soul is separated from thy body a naturall death is made up so when thy person is separated from God and his word of comfort a spirituall death is made up which begins in this life and is continued for ever and ever Vse Oh my child feare and tremble under this burthen Thou art apt as all others to build up thy way to heaven with untempered morter saying to thy own soule that all is well when all is amisse This makes thee with an hard and impenitent heart to goe on in thy accursed courses But this doctrine of curses will teach thee that thou wert in danger before thou wast borne and ever since Thou mightst justly have been cast into hell before thou didst breath in this open world Thou hast all thy life been under the destruction of sinne and this hath enwrapped thee in the destruction of misery Thou feelest many paines and sicknesses which are but the light flashes of hell fire Thou art like a man condemned to a tormenting and dying death As if a man had a Caldron of boyling lead hang over his head and he starke naked under it First one drop falls upon his head another upon his shoulder another upon his arme another upon his hand another upon his backe another upon his belly another upon his legge upon his foot another which makes him start and shreeke but at the last the whole showre comes which makes him roare and tumble like a wild bull in a net So thou by this volley of curses art first nipt in one part then in another which makes thy joy to be interrupted and thy mirth many times turned into mourning But at last in death and Judgement comes an whole Sea of them which makes weeping howling and gnashing of teeth Weigh it seriously before it be too late It may be that God will leave a blessing behind to make thee search after a deliverance which is the next thing that comes to be skanned But first let me try thy profiting Thou toldest me that thou breakest all Gods commandements according to which thou shouldst serve him Tell me therefore Q. How many wayes doest thou breake them A. Three wayes Q. Which be they A. First in Adam secondly in the pronenesse of my nature thirdly in breaking one I breake them all Q. But the seventh part of time comes but once a weeke how canst thou break the commandement which concernes that every day A. I breake it before it comes and when it is gone Q. How before it comes A. By doing that upon the week day which makes me unfit to keep it when it comes Q. How when it is gone A. By not learning Gods wayes and not walking in his pathes Q. Art thou in danger of Gods curse A. Yes both in my body and in my soule Q. How doth God curse A. By inflicting of punishment Q. What punishment doth he inflict A. A destruction of my body and my soule Q. How doest thou know thy selfe to be destroyed A. When I am not used to that end that God made me for Q. What follows upon this A. A subjection to the miseries of this world and of the world to come Doe not forget how farre thou art gone God made thee thou art made to doe him service thou shouldst serve him as he commands thou breakest all his commands and therefore thou art under the curse and so a more miserable creature then a toade or any serpent if thou be not delivered Tell me then 21. Q. How shalt thou escape this curse A. Onely by Jesus Christ our Lord. Thou answerest rightly Christ is our deliverer from the curse Act. 4.12 for there is no name under heaven whereby thou canst be saved but onely the name of Jesus that is no authoritie power vertue or merit Gal. 3.13 It is he that hath redeemed thee from the curse of the law being made a curse for thee Col. 2.14 15. It is he that blotted out the hand-writing that was against thee and tooke it out of the way nayling it to his crosse and having spoyled principalities and powers made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in himselfe on the crosse and therefore when Paul groveled under the burthen of his sinne he could find no rest for his soule but in the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 7.24 25. and thus must it be with thee therefore it behoves thee to know him If thou didst owe millions of pounds yea and satisfaction to the law by death and hadst but one friend in all the world that would and could undertake to discharge thee from all thou wouldst know him or else thou wert unworthy to have benefit by him So thou must know Christ in his names natures offices and uses by which thou hast saving good by him or else thou art unworthy of him And because this is signified in his names thou must throughly know the sense and vertue of them for thee He is called Jesus Matth. 1.21 because he saves his people from their sins He saves thee three wayes By Ransome by Rescue and by Mortification He saves thee by Ransome by laying down his life for thee Joh. 10.15 Thou shouldst have died the first and second death for ever and ever Christ died the first death and overcame the second for thee He saved thee by Rescue by delivering thee by strong hand When God was satisfied thy enemies the world the flesh and the devill would not let thee goe Luk. 1.71 74 75. Therefore Christ saved thee from thy enemies and from the hands of them that hate thee that thou being delivered from them mightst serve him without feare of them all the dayes of thy life in holinesse and righteousnesse before him He saveth thee by Mortification by killing of sinne of thee least thou be killed in sinne When thou art ransomed and delivered yet sinne sticks closer to thee then thy skinne Therefore to perfect thy salvation Christ strengthens thee with might by his spirit in the inner man Ephs 3.16 17. Rom. 8.13 and dwels in thy heart by faith that thou mayst mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the spirit He is called Christ because he is anointed Psal 2.2 Col. 2.9 This anointing is his having the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily He was not onely made partaker of the divine nature as we are but he was full God and full man personally united Joh. 3.34 and so he received not the spirit by measure but was anointed with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes Psal 45.7 The reasons why he was anointed were that
in Adam the sonne of God by falling in him Joh. 8.44 thou becamest the sonne of the Devil thy Saviour comes to make thee the sonne of God againe without which thou canst not be the heire of glory Now marke God cannot give thee what he hath not The Father is not the Sonne neither is the Holy Ghost the Sonne but the Sonne is the Sonne Therefore he becomes thy Saviour to give thee sonship The Sonne of God becomes the sonne of man to make the sonnes of men become the sonnes of God He is made man that he might be a fit sacrifice Man is a more noble sacrifice then a woman Mal. 1.14 for cursed is he that hath a male in his flock and offers a corrupt thing Vse Now ponder seriously on this my child with thy selfe that thy Saviour is the eternall Sonne of God I tell thee that if thou have but any ingenuity in thee it will make thee both hate and avoid sinne Hadst thou such a Plague soare botch or boyle about thee that nothing could cure but the heart-bloud of the Kings sonne and the King should be so loving as to kill his onely sonne for thy health would'st thou not hate such a disease and take heed that thou never didst fall into such a disease againe This is thy case Thy sinne is a soare wound and plague that nothing could cure but the heart-bloud of the Sonne of God God out of his infinite love did send him into the world to take thy nature upon him that he might be reviled for thee spit upon for thee scourged for thee crowned with thornes for thee sweat drops of bloud for thee be crucified for thee and shed the bloud of his hands feet and heart for thee and all to cover and cure thy finne Wilt thou not now hate thy finne and be carefull to suppresse it and never fall into the like againe I hope thou wilt or else thy latter end will be worse then thy beginning Goe on now and tell me 23. Q. What hath Christ Jesus done for thee A. He suffered the paines of death for me Thou hast seene what Christ was What Christ hath done for us and is now sadly consider what he hath done for thee Thou happly mayst thinke it little for him to be borne for thee to live for thee though it were infinite love but because the purity of his nature and perfection of his obedience have influence into the value of his sufferings therefore thou doest mention onely these paines of death Peter mentioneth these paines of death Act. 2.24 and Paul cals them Rom. 6.9 the Dominion of death Phil. 2.8 and his humbling of himselfe and becoming obedient unto death even the death of the crosse What paines and torments Christ endured for thee then is unexpressible yet they may be valued a little Heb. 5.7 by his offering up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares to his Father and by sweating drops of bloud when he grovelled upon the ground in so cold a season as made Peter creep to the fire in the high Priests Hall Surely there was fire nigh which caused this sweat What may the cause then of these paynes and torments be Surely the sight of our sinnes charged upon him Heb. 7.22 and the sense of his Fathers wrath He stood a Surety in our roome and was to answer for all our sinnes to God and not be discharged till he had satisfied for them all Look therefore as if a man were bound for a million of thousand pounds for other men when he was once attached his whole charge would be put in against him and this sight would be fearefull to him especially if he considered that they were his chiefe enemies for whom he was bound and a nest of unthankfull creatures who did load him with disgrace and obloquy Just thus was it with thy blessed Saviour Though he had the testimony of his enemies that never man spake as he did Joh. 7.46 Mar. 7.37 Act. 10.38 and that he had done all things well because the Lord was with him Yet when he was under arrests and executions Esa 43.24 he was made to serve with our sinnes and was wearied with our iniquities 2 Cor. 5.21 for he was made sinne for us who knew no sinne when all our sinnes were charged upon him and he was to make satisfaction to God his Father for them And whose sinnes were these The sinnes of those that were his enemies Rom. 5.10 the sinnes of his Disciples who runne away from him the sinnes of Peter who denied him and the sinnes of Jewes and Gentiles who crucified him The Jewes and Gentiles bare a world of enmity against him Eph. 2.16 yet he reconciled both unto God in one body by the Crosse having slaine the enmity in himselfe Thinke seriously whether this was not a torment and paine of death to have all the debts presented unto him of such sinners to be satisfied for Besides when God his Father saw him thus covered with sin in the State of a surety though the holinesse of his person was never polluted he withdrawes the blessed vision of the divine nature Wheresoever it shined abroad upon others yet though hee was personally united unto it it shined not upon himselfe but left him to sweat drops of bloud and his soule to be heavy unto death and his heart and tongue to cry out Psal 22.1 Mat. 27.46 My God My God why hast thou forsaken me Is not this an unutterable paine and torment of death Was it not enough for him to die but he must endure the sorrowes of death thus Use Oh my deare child forget not this point It will humble thee for sinne drive thee from sinne and comfort thee against sinne It will humble thee for sinne to think that it should present such a cursed visage to God that such a fearfull load must be laid upon thy Surety for it It will drive thee from sinne to thinke that if thou neglect so great salvation as Christ hath offered unto thee thou shalt be for thy sins in a worse case then he was He was able to slay hatred and enmity but thou canst not by suffering millions of millions of ages and therefore thou shalt have thy sinnes lye before thee for ever and the wrath of God will presse thee to all eternity It will comfort thee against sinne to thinke that thy Surety having endured this for thee it were unjust for God to impose it upon thee againe Onely be sure that thou keepe the Covenant of the Gospel that is when thou hast been translated out of the kingdome of darknesse into the Kingdome of his deare Sonne that thou honour the Father in the Sonne by beleeving in him with a faith working by love and then thou wilt have cause to triumph as Paul Rom. 7.25 I thanke God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now let me see what thou remembrest and
all thy debts are payed If any man were bound for thee and cast into prison and after enjoying the libertie of a free subject thou mayst conclude that all thy debts are payd so mayst thou rest thy soule that God is well pleased and satisfied with what his sonne hath done for thee when thou seest by miracles acts and many testimonies that he is risen from the dead Vse Therefore my deare child feed thy soule comfortably with these natures of thy blessed Saviour and with the uses he made of them for thy good He was man to performe lowly offices he was God to performe exalted offices of love Is he to dye an accursed death He is a man Rom. 8.3 in the similitude of sinfull flesh Psal 24. Is he to rise againe He is the King of Glory the Lord mighty in battell who knows how to vanquish the last enemy 1 Cor. 15. death as well as any that appeared before He that is thy suretie so able so willing will satisfie to the utmost farthing He that is thy Advocate so faithfull so wonderfull in counsell will not leave any of thy worke behind till he have brought thee a Certificate of thy full discharge When thou repentest and art ready to be swallowed up of sorrow let thy poore soule rest here and thou shalt have joy by beleeving and come with confidence and boldnesse to the throne of grace But it may be that the extent of this benefit may something damp thy spirit Therefore tell me 25. Q. Whether all men are saved by Christs death A. No onely they are saved which have a true faith Right thus doth the Scripture teach If all were saved it were happy for the children of darknesse and sons of Belial Hell should soone be emptie and heaven fuller then ever God meant it God should be made the greatest tyrant in the world if he should require such repentance faith mortification Godly living of some and yet save all by Christs death who never touched any of Gods holy rules with their little finger Therefore certainly this salvation must be limited to them that beleeve Thus doth Christ Joh. 3.16.18.36 Whosoever beleeveth in him shall not perish and he that beleeveth on him is not condemned and he that beleeveth on the Sonne hath everlasting life and Luke saith That at Antioch when Paul and Barnabas preached as many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved This was the receit that Philip gave to the Eunuch Act. 13.48 Act. 8. Act. 16. and Paul and Silas gave to the keeper of the Prison and it must be thine For faith is the eye the foot the hand the mouth of thy soule yea it is all in all to give thee union with Christ for life and salvation It is the eye of thy soule therefore God saith by the Prophet Looke upon me and be ye saved Esa 45.22 O ye ends of the earth that is beleeve in me It is the foot of thy soule therefore Christ saith Joh. 6.35 He that comes to me shall never hunger that is he that beleeves in me It is the hand of thy soule therefore John saith Joh. 1.12 So many as received him to them he gave a free right to be the sons of God that is beleeved in him It is the mouth of the soule therefore Christ saith Except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man Joh. 6.53 and drink his bloud ye have no life in you that is except ye beleeve in him Yea it is all in all for uniting thee to Christ therefore John saith 1 Joh. 3. Rom. 1. Heb. 10. Gal. 2.20 Joh. 14. He that hath the Sonne hath life and Paul saith By faith we live because it is that excellent Instrument which unites us to Christ who is both our way truth and life Vse Therefore my deare child be not beguiled with the deceitfulnesse of Satan as too many are who dreame of the saving of all Christians if they doe but professe to beleeve in Christ upon a generall knowledge of the grounds of Christianity No no thou must have faith and thou must have a true and a living faith if thou wouldest have thy salvation by Christ The faith that ordinary professors at large dreame of is an easie way to heaven They may swallow downe all their sins with greedinesse and goe thither at an houres warning It is but knowing and assenting to the truth of Christianity and saying upon presumptuous grounds that Christ died for them and they hope to be saved by him as well as the precisest of them all But thou wilt find it an harder worke to have a true faith of Gods elect For thou mayst find that when sinners are brought into the straits of death sometimes they can not beleeve and sometimes they dare not beleeve They can not beleeve for their lives as Francis Spira who cried out that he could no more beleeve then the Devill If a man will ever runne he will runne when he runs for his life and if a man will ever beleeve he will beleeve when he beleeves for his life But poore sinners when the sight of their owne unworthinesse and Satans temptations are let loose upon them can not beleeve for their lives Sometimes they dare not beleeve as wicked Christians who see they must lose all if they beleeve in Christ They must lose father mother wife children houses lands and all sublunary contentments if they beleeve in Christ As a man that hath gotten a great deale by greedy scraping ravening and holding dares not beleeve that Covetousnesse is Idolatry for then he shall be undone So dare not a professor at large beleeve in Christ Phil. 3. because he knows that he must account all things losse and dogs-meat for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified He must deny all his rotten grounds of confidence as I keep my Church I am neither whore nor thiefe I wrong no man I am a good neighbour I have a good heart to God-ward I have a good meaning though I doe not pray as others yet God knows my heart though I cannot say as others yet I know the way to heaven as well as the best I doe as I would be done unto and the like he must I say deny all these rotten grounds which he dare not doe for then he sees that he shall be a dunghill and hath nothing to please himselfe in Get thou therefore true faith even the faith not of the world but of the Gospel In this I 'le helpe thee as I can and therefore tell me 26. Q. What is this true faith of Gods elect A. It is the resting of the soule upon Christ for salvation Understand this well as thou lovest the life of thy soule What true Faith is Some will tell thee that it is an assenting to the truth of the Gospel It is not assenting to the truth Jam. 2. and in truth thou must agree to the
ever He is not the best Archer that drawes the strongest Bowe and shoots the longest length but he that gives the best lose so he is the best Christian who hath so lived that he doth dye well Therefore be sure to have care of your souls in prosperitie adversitie and when death comes If you will ask me Reasons why you must havâ— such a care of your souls There is good cause why Because it is more to make soul good now then to create it at first Then there was onely Gods consultation 2 Cor. 5.19 A participle of the present time signifies a continuall terme of time without intermission Let us make man and his resolution and fiat let it be done and it was so but now God was in Christ Reconciling the world unto himself He was about it and is doing of it still and will never end till the world ends By how much harder it is to make a soul good by so much more you must care for your souls Secondly Matth. 16. nothing can make up the losse of a soul Christ saith What will it profit if a man gain the whole world and lose his own soul All that cannot make it up to us By how much greater the losse of a soul is by so much greater care must you have of your souls 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Thirdly the soul is not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious bloud of Christ By how much more precious the soul is by so much more must you care for it Fourthly there is no proportion betwixt the whole world and the soul Satan will give all â—â— r that Matth. 4. and think himself to have a â—â— od bargain as you see in his offer to â— rist That which is more worth then â—â— e world you must have a speciall care â—â— f and such are your souls Lastly if you â— ose your souls the losse must be made â— p not onely to you Mic. 6.6 7. but to God whose â— hey are and I pray tell me wherewith â— ill you come before God and bow your â—â— lves to the most high God Will you come â— efore him with burnt offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams and ten thousand Rivers of Oyl Will you give your first born for your transgression and the fruit of your body for the sinne of your soul All will be found too little to make up the losse of your soul to God and surely that which is not in the power of man to make up if he lose it must be kept with all care Use 1 Weigh therefore the truth of which I have convinced you and try your cares for your souls and be provoked to be more carefull Hos 4.15 Though Israel play the Harlot saith Hosea yet let not Judah sinne and though all the world be carelesse yet be you carefull of your souls Josh 24.15 When Joshuah saw the wickednesse of Israel he said Choose you this day whom you will serve but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord so say you let others suffer their souls like Lambs-grease to melt away in sinne yet I will have a care yea I will have care to keep my soul by Gods hands Ob. It may be you will say you have thiâ— care of your souls what ever men may think Sol. Then try and see impartially whaâ— you most pitch upon If a man could seâ— the whole care of men what could he finde One cares for the back another for the belly a third for worse but who cares for the soul That lies rotting in a thousand lusts though thou knowest not how soon thou shalt say to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my brother and sister Indeed you come to the Congregations pray devoutly hear reverently note diligently But will ye be all ear All for carrying in nothing for carrying out from the strength of prayer and preaching To eat much and have no evacuation will soon stifle and suffocate nature so the poor soul will be choaked if from the strength of what it feeds upon it do not work for the Grace of Christ and against the sinnes of nature and life Therefore try as you love your souls try your care Use 2 Secondly be provoked to be more carefull for your souls and as Solomon saith Prov. 4. Guard thy heart with all diligence so say I of thy soul which is all one Say as one when he was tempted to do fearfull things against himself Had it not been for this soul I had not been here now Charles the fift when he was sollicited by a great Counsellour Antonius de Lena to cut off all the petty Princes of Germany and then he should rule alone Anima anima cried out My soul my soul Nay saith that Tyger if your Majesty have a soul give over your Empire The Emperour had a care of his soul this bloud-sucker had none God keep our King and all Christian Princes from such Counsellers in these distracted dayes and ever Let men prize souls at never so low a value have you a care of yours The soul is for Christ to live in by faith The soul is the Master-wheel of all our acts The soul is the chief seat of the image of God The soul is the maker of all our actions good if it be good it self So much good soul as is in every act so much goodnesse is in it Therefore care for your souls Remember that Christ died for souls He emptied himself of glory for souls He swet drops of bloud for souls He cried out I thirst for souls What He that endured so much could not he endure a little thirst at the last Yes yes He thirsted that all the prophesies might be fulfilled for the good of souls Esa 53. How we must care for cur souls He made his soul a sacrifice for sin for souls Shall he do so much to shew so great care and will not you care a little for your souls Q. It may be you will ask me how shall I care for my soul A. I answer do what thou canst to get it out of natures clawes a kinde mother is turned into a cursed mother-in-law Oh put off concerning your conversation in times past the old man and put on the new yea be changed in the spirit of your mindes Let Christ dwell in your souls by faith for this work This hath a preserving power to keep thy soul from rotting Joh. 3.16 he that believeth shall not rot and perish Keep thy soul from the lusts of sinne Put it to a daily task by meditation and prayer for an idle soul will be a sinning soul 2 Sam. 11. Let thy soul work all her works before God think that he stands by with a Pen of Iron Jer. 9. and point of a Diamond to engrave all thy sins and vertues for memory Acquaint thy soul with death Job 18.14 This is the King of terrours which will rouze thee from the dead sleep of security And lastly 2 Cor. 8.5 Give thy soul to God in Christ O Lord when thou committedst my soul to me in Adam I lost it Oh trust me no more As thou wilt not trust me with my life for thou hast hid my life in Christ so trust me not with my soul Thou hast bought it with a price 1 Cor. 6. therfore I humbly and heartily and trustingly commit it it into thy hands oh keep the soul of thy servant Now the God of Peace trample Satan under your feet shortly for the good of your souls and he sanctifie you in body soul and spirit that ye way be found blamelesse in the day of our Lord Jesus Amen Glory be to God on high and in earth Peace and good will towards men FINIS