Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n
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A66289
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The principles of the Christian religion explained in a brief commentary upon the church catechism. By William Wake, D.D. rector of St. James Westminster, and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty.
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Wake, William, 1657-1737.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing W258; ESTC R217651
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113,834
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200
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former of which we have Received the Scriptures of the Old from the latter those of the New Testament Q. How do you know that these Books were written by the Assistance of the Holy Spirit A. By the Authors who wrote them who were doubtless no less inspired in what they Wrote than in what they Taught of the Gospel of Christ. 2. By the Design of God in the composing of Them which was to leave thereby a Constant Infallible Rule of Faith to the Church in all Ages of it 3. By the Opinion which all Christians from the time that they were publish'd have had of Them and the deference which upon that account they have paid to Them And lastly By the Subject-matter of Them and those internal Marks of Divine Wisdom and Piety which are so conspicuous in all the Parts of Them Q. Do you look upon these Scriptures as the Only present Rule of your Faith A. I do Nor is there any Other certain Foundation on which to build it Q. What think you of the Tradition of the Church A. Could I be sure that any thing not contain'd in the Scriptures came down by a certain uninterrupted Tradition from the Apostles I should not except against it Nay I do therefore receive the Holy Scriptures as the Rule of my Faith because they have such a Tradition to warrant me so to do But because there is no such Tradition for any thing besides therefore neither do I build my Faith upon it But on the contrary do suppose that by the Providence of God the Holy Scriptures were purposely written to prevent those Doubts those Forgeries and Deceits which his Infinite Wisdom foresaw an Oral Tradition would always have been liable unto Q. Can the Holy Scriptures alone make your Faith perfect A. They Can Nor ought I to believe any thing as an Article of my Faith which is not to be found in them or cannot plainly be proved by Them Q. What do you think of the Church's Definitions A. That I ought to submit to them in whatsoever they define agreeably to the Word of God But if in any thing they require me to believe what is contrary to the Word of God or cannot be Proved thereby I ought absolutely to reject the One and am under no Obligation to Receive the Other Q. But is not this to make your self wiser than the Church A. No by no means but only to make the Word of God of more Authority with me than the Word of Man Whilst I chuse rather to Regulate my Faith by what God has deliver'd than by what Man Defines Q. Are the Holy Scriptures so Plain and Easy to be Understood that every One may be Able to judge for Himself what he ought to Believe A. In Matters of necessary Belief they are very plain even to the most Ordinary Christian Yet we do not deny but that every Man ought to hear the Church and attend to the Instructions of those who are the Pastors of it Only we say that neither the Church nor its Pastors ought to teach any thing as an Article of Faith or Require any Man's assent to it as such that cannot be shewn to have been either expresly deliver'd in the Word of God or by a plain and necessary Consequence be Proved thereby Q. But how shall the Unlearned be able to know what the Scriptures propose seeing they are written in a Language which such Persons do not understand A. By Reading them in their Own Vulgar Tongue into which every Church has or ought to have them faithfully translated for the Benefit of Those who do not understand the Languages in which they were Composed Q. Do you then think that the People ought to be suffered promiscuously to Read the Holy Scriptures A. Who shall forbid Them to Read what was purposely designed by God for their Instruction The Scriptures are as much the Voice of the Apostles and Evangelists to Us of these Times as their Preaching was to those of the Age in which they lived And it may with as good Reason be Ask'd Whether we think the People ought to have been promiscuously Suffer'd heretofore to hear the Apostles Preach as whether they ought to be Suffer'd promiscuously to Read their Writings Now. Q. But amidst so many Things as the Holy Scriptures deliver how shall the People be able to judge what is necessary to be Believed by Them A. Let them Believe All they meet with there and then to be sure they will Believe all that is necessary But for the sake of those who either want Ability to Read or Capacity to judge what is most necessary in Point of Faith to be known and profess'd by Them the Church has from the beginning collected it into a short Summary which every Person of Old was Required both to Know and assent to before he was admitted into the Communion of it Q. What is that Summary of which you speak and which you account to comprehend all the most Necessary Articles of our Christian Faith A. It is commonly called The Apostles Creed not that the Apostles Themselves Composed it at least not in the very Form in which we now have it but because it seems to come the Nearest of any to the Apostles Times and does with the Greatest Simplicity of Expression comprehend a short Summary of the Apostles Doctrine Q. What mean you by the Word Creed A. It is the same in Latine as Belief in English And it is so called in both from the first words of it I BELIEVE and which in Sense though not in Expression Run through every Article of it SECT VI. Q. REhearse the Articles of your Belief A. I Believe in God the Father Almighty c. Q. You said that those Words I BELIEVE were not only the First Words of your Creed but the most Material as running in effect through Every Branch of it Tell me therefore what do you mean when you say I Believe A. To Believe in the General is to Assent to the Truth of any thing upon the Sole Authority of the Person who delivers it Who if He be a Man only the Assent which I give to what He says produces in Me a Humane Faith if as here He be God then the Assent which I give to what is deliver'd by Him is properly a Divine Faith Q. What is the difference with respect to Us between these Two A. It is very Great For because a Man though never so Wise and Careful himself may yet not be honest and so Impose upon Me Or should he be never so Upright may yet after all his Care be Mistaken himself and thereby lead Me into Errour therefore in Assenting to what such a One proposes I can at the most give but such a Belief to it as is suitable to a meer Humane Testimony I may Believe what he says to be True but yet so as not to exclude a Possibility of its being Otherwise Whereas God
THE PRINCIPLES OF THE Christian Religion EXPLAINED In a Brief COMMENTARY UPON THE Church Catechism By WILLIAM WAKE D. D. Rector of St. James Westminster and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for Richard Sare at Grays-Inn Gate in Holborn 1699. THE PREFACE THE Design of the following Treatise being to Instruct those who are yet to learn in the Principles of their Christian Religion I shall not think it necessary to make any Apology for my Publishing of it It is so proper a Part of our Ministerial Office not only to Teach these Things but to Use our Utmost Endeavours to Inculcate them upon the Minds of those who are committed to our Charge that we never more truly pursue the Business of our Calling than when We are doing of it And no One ought to make an Excuse for doing that the Neglect of which would Need an Excuse or rather would not admit of Any It has pleased God to whose Providence I desire in All Things to Submit my Self to engage me in a Cure in which 't is next to Impossible in the Ordinary Method of Teaching to instruct All Those who belong to it Neither will Our Churches Receive Them nor can I hope by any Private Application effectually to supply what I am sensible must be Wanting in our Publick Ministration To make up the Defects of Both I knew no way so Ready as to compose a Short Summary of what is most Necessary for Every Christian to know and to Order it in such Wise that every One who pleases may partake of the Benefit of it This I have done in the present Treatise Which as it was design'd by me particularly for those of my Own Parish for whose Instruction I am principally concern'd so to Them I must beg Leave in a more Especial Manner to Recommend the Use of it I am not aware 〈◊〉 that there is any Thing in it Above the Capacity of the most Ordinary Christian to comprehend who will but duly Consider what he Reads and is not utterly a Stranger to the Principles of his Religion 'T is true I have inserted many Things into this which are not wont to be handled in Other Catechisms As designing it not for Children for whom such Treatises are commonly framed but for Men and Women for such as either have or I am sure Ought to have already pass'd the First Rudiments of the Gospel of Christ. But I have endeavour'd to express my self with so much Clearness and Perspicuity that I hope All sorts of Persons may be able to profit by what I have done and see in a short Compass both what that Holy Doctrine which we profess is and upon what Grounds we build our Belief of it I have chosen to do this in the Form of a Catechism not only because I look upon that to be the Plainest and most Natural Way of Instruction but because it is certainly the Shortest and most Easy to the Memory And would but Parents take Care to teach their Children at a Competent Age to Answer the Questions here proposed they might possibly thereby not only take a Good Method for the Instruction of Them in the Knowledge of that Religion into which they were Baptized but might at the same time improve Themselves too in the Understanding of it It has been the Wisdom as well as Piety of the Church of England to make a Suitable Provision for the Instruction of all Sorts of Persons in her Communion in the Knowledge of their Christian Profession In Order hereunto she has appointed Catechetical Exercises for Younger Persons as well as Sermons for those of a Greater Age and Understanding And has Obliged Masters and Parents no less to send their Children and Servants to the One than to come Themselves to the Other How Others may judge of this Her Pious Care I cannot tell But for my Own Part I must freely profess that I never think my Self employ'd to better Purpose than when I am discharging this Part of my Ministry And I am confident that would all sorts of Persons but duly attend upon these Instructions they would Reap a more substantial Benefit by them than from those Other Exercises which have I know not how so universally Crept into the Place of them It being certain that the only Way either judiciously to hear or truly to profit by Sermons is to lay a Good Foundation for both by a previous Catechetical Institution in the Principles of Religion And which if Men have neglected when they were Young the best way to Remedy that Defect will be not only to send their Children but to come Themselves also to our Publick Catechizings where not only the Ignorant may be Informed but those who are the Best Improved may possibly meet with Somewhat either to Confirm their Faith or to Direct their Practice I have divided the following Treatise into 52 Sections that so taking of one Every Lord's Day the Whole may be Gone through Once in the Year I have more or less Referr'd to Scripture-Proofs for every Point that I have proposed And that not only to shew upon what Ground I build my Answers but moreover to accustom the Pious Reader to a better Acquaintance with those Holy Writings And I have purposely made the Sections very short that so He may not only Peruse what I have written but may be Encouraged thereby at the same Time diligently to compare it with and examine it by the Great Rule of our Faith The Word of God If by what I have done I shall minister to the Improvement of any Good Christians in the Knowledge of their Religion but especially to Those of my Own Cure I shall think my Pains very happily bestow'd If not yet at least I shall have this Satisfaction that I have done what in me lay to Supply their Necessities And that it must be in some Measure their Own Faults if they shall still continue Ignorant of what was needful to have been Known by them in Order to their Salvation THE PRINCIPLES OF THE Christian Religion explain'd IN A BRIEF COMMENTARY UPON THE Church-Catechism SECT I. Q. FRom whence is the Word Catechism derived A. From a Greek Word which signifies to Teach by Word of Mouth And therefore it has been used particularly to denote such a kind of Instruction as is made by way of Question and Answer Q. What is that you call your Church-Catechism A. It is a plain and summary Institution of the Principles of the Christian Religion set forth by Authority and required to be learned of every Person in order to his being Confirm'd by the Bishop and prepared both for the profitable Reading and Hearing of God's Word and for the worthy Receiving of the Lord's Supper Q. What do you look upon to be the proper Subject of such an Institution A. It ought to comprehend all such things as are generally necessary to be known of All Persons in order to their due serving of God here