the Bellows of Sedition or Rebellion or of an envious hurtful Zeal or a snare for the Innocent or a Pistol to shoot at the Upright in Heart These are not they that have been the shame of their Profession the hardning of Ungodly Men and Infidels and that have caused the Enemies of the Lord to blaspheme If any Man will make a Religion of or for his Lusts of Papal Tyranny or Pharisaical Formality or of his private Opinions or of proud censoriousness and contempt of others and of Faction and 〈◊〉 warrâ—ntable Separations and Divisions and of standing at a more observable distance from common Professors of Christianity than God would have them or yet of pulling up the Hedg of Discipline and laying Christ's Vineyard common to the Wilderness the Storm is coming when this Religion founded on the Sand will fall and great will be the fall thereof When the Religion which consisteth in Faith and Love to God and Man in mortifying the Flesh and crucifying the World in Self-denyal Humility and Patience in sincere Obedience and faithfulness in all Relations in watchful Self-Government in doing Good and in a Divine and Heavenly Life tho' it will be hated by the ungodly World shall never be a dishonour to your Lord nor deceive or disappoint your Souls A Short Catechism Quest 1. WHat is the Christian Religion Answ The Christian Religion is the Baptismal Covenant made and kept wherein God the Father Son and Holy Ghost doth give himself to be ouâ— reconciled God and Father our Saviour and Sanctifier and we believingly give up our selves accordingly to him renouncing the Flesh the World and the Devil Which Covenant is to be oft renewed specially in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Quest 2. Where is our Covenant-part and Duty fullier opened Answ 1. In the Creed as the Sum of our Belief 2. In the Lord's Prayer as the Sum of our Desires 3. And in the Ten Commandments as given us by Christ with the Gospel-Explications as the Sum of our Practice Which are as followeth The CREED I Believe in God the Father Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord which 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 arose again from the Dead he ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right Hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to Judg the Quick and the Dead I believe in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints the Forgiveness of Sins the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting Amen The LORD'S Prayer OUR Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily Bread And forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil for thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever Amen The Ten Commandments I. I Am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage Thou shalt have no other Gods before me II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image or any likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or that is in the Earth beneath or that is in the Water under the Earth thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve 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 unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandments III. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain IV. 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 Son nor thy Daughter thy Man-servant nor thy Maid-servant nor thy Cattel nor the Stranger that is within thy Gates For in six days 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 V. Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy Days may be long upon the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee VI. Thou shalt not Kill VII Thou shalt not commit Adultery VIII Thou shalt not Steal IX Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour X. Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's House thou shalt not cover thy Neighbour's Wife nor his Man-servant nor his Maid-servant nor his Ox nor his Ass nor any thing that is thy Neighbour's Quest 3. Where is the Christian Religion most fully opened and entirely contained Answ In the Holy Scriptures especially of the New Testament Where by Christ and his Apostles and Evangelists inspired by his Spirit the History of Christ and his Apostles is â—ufficiently delivered the Promises and Doctrine of Faith are perfected the Covenant of Grace most clearly opened and Church-Offices Worship and Discipline established in the understanding whereof the strongest Christians may increase whilst they live on Earth The explained Profession of the Christian Religion I. I Believe that there is one GOD an infinite Spirit of Life Understanding and Will perfectly Powerful Wise and Good The Father the Word and the Spirit the Creator Governour and End of all things our absolute Owner our most just Ruler and our most gracious Benefactor and most amiable Good II. I believe that Man being made in the Image of God an imbodied Spirit of Life Understanding and Will with holy Viâ—acity wisdom and Love to know and love and serve his Creator here and for ever did by wilful finning fall from his God his Holiness and Innocency under the Wrath of God the Condemnation of his law and the Slavery of the Flesh the World and the Devil And that God so loved the World that he gave his only Son to be their Redeemer who being GOD and one â—ith the Father took our Nature and became MAN being conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary called Jesus Christ who was perfectly holy sinless fulfilling all Righteousness over came the Devil and the World and gave himself a Sacrifice for our Sins by suffering a cursed Death on the Cross to ransom us and reconcile us unto God â—nd was buried and went among the Dead the â—hird Day he rose again having conquered Death And he fully established the Covenant of Grace that â—ll that truly repent and believe shall-have the love of the Father the Grace of the Son and the Comâ—union of the Holy Spirit and if they love God and â—bey him sincerely to the
cannot be subject to his Law This Corruption is hereditary and is become as it were a Nature to us being the mortal Malady of all our Natures And it is easie to know that such an unholy wicked Nature must needs be loathsome to God and unfit for the happy enjoyment of his Love either here or in the Life to come For what Communion hath Light with Darkness VI. Hence then it is easie to see what Grace is needful to a Man's Salvation So odious a Creature such an unthankful Rebel that is turned away from God and set against him and defiled with all this filth of Sin must needs be both Renewed and Reconciled Sanctified and Pardoned if ever he will be saved To love God and be beloved by him and to be delighted herein in the sight of his Glory is the Heaven and Happiness of Souls and all this is contrary to an unholy State Till Men have new and holy Hearts they can neither see God nor love him nor delight in him nor take him for their chief Content for the Flesh and World have their delight and Love And till Sin be pardoned and God reconciled to the Soul what Joy or Peace can it expect from him whose Nature and Justice engageth him to loath and punish it VII And Experience will tell you how insufficient you are for either of these two Works your selves to renew your Souls or to reconcile them unto God Will a Nature that is Carnal resist and overcome the Flesh and abhor the Sin which it most dearly loveth Will a Worldly Mind overcome the World When Custom hath rooted your natural Corruptions are they easily rooted up O how great and hard a Work is it to cause a blind unbelieving Sinner to set his Heart on another World and lay up all his Hopes in Heaven and to cast off all the things he seeth for that God and Glory which he never saw And for a hardned worldly fleshly heart to become Wise and Tender and Holy and Heavenly and abhor the Sin which it most fondly loveth And what can we do to satisfie Justice and reconcile such a rebel Soul to God VIII Nature and Experience having thus acquainted you with your Sin and Misery and what you want will further tell you that God doth not yet deal with you according to your deserts He giveth you Life and Time and Mercies when your Sins had forfeited all these He obligeth you to repent and turn unto him And therefore Experience telling you that there is some Hope and that God hath found out some way of shewing Mercy to the Children of Wrath Reason will command you to enquire of all that are fit to teach you what way of Remedy God hath made known And as you may soon discover that the Religion of Heathens and Mahometans is so far from shewing the true Remedy that they are part of the Disease it self So you may learn that a wonderful Person the Lord Jesus Christ hath undertaken the Office of being the Redeemer and Saviour of the World and that he who is the Eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father hath wonderfully appeared in the Nature of Man which he took from the Virgin Mary being conceived by the Holy Ghost and that we might have a Teacher sent from †Heaven infallably and easily to acquaint the World with the Will of God and the unseen things of Life Eternal How God bare Witness of his Truth by abundant open and uncontrouled Miracles How he conquered Satan and the World and gave us an Example of perfect Righteousness and underwent the Scorn and Cruelty of Sinners and suffered the Death of the Cross as a Sacrifice for our Sins to reconcile us unto God How he rose again the third day and conquered Death and lived forty days longer on Earth instructing his Apostles and giving them Commission to preach the Gospel to all the World and then ascended bodily into Heaven while they gazed after him How he is now in Heaven both God and Man in one Person the Teacher and King and High-Priest of his Church Of Him must we learn the way of Life by Him must we be ruled as the Physician of Souls All Power is given Him in Heaven and in Earth By his Sacrifice and Merits and Intercession must we be pardoned and accepted with the Father and only by him must we come to God He hath procured and established a Covenant of Grace which Baptism is the Seal of Even That God will in him be our God and reconciled Father and Christ will be our Saviour and the Holy Ghost will be our Sanctifier if we will unfeignedly consent that is if penitently and believingly we give up our selves to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost in those Resolutions This Covenant in the Tenor of it is a Deed of Gift of Christ and Pardon and Salvation to all the World â—f by the true Faith and Repentance they will turn to God And this shall be the Law according to which he will judge all that hear it at the last for he is made the judge of All and will raise all the dead and will justify his Saints and judge them unto endless Joy and Glory and condemn the Unbelievers impenitent and ungodly unto endless Misery The Soul alone is judged at Death and Body and Soul at the Resurrection This Gospel the Apostles preached to the World and that it might be effectual to Mens Salvation the Holy Ghost was first given to inspire the Preachers of it and enable them to speak in various Languages and infallibly to agree in One and to work many great and open Miracles to prove their Word to those they preached to And by this means they planted the Church which ordinary Ministers must increase and teach and oversee to the end of the World till all the Elect be gathered in And the same Holy Spirit hath undertaken it as his Work to accompany this Gospel and by it to convert Mens Souls illuminating and sanctifying them and by a secret Regeneration to renew their Natures and bring them to that Knowledge and Obedience and Love of God which is the Primitive Holiness for which we were created and from which we fell And thus by a Saviour and a Sanctifier must all be reconciled and renewed that will be glorified with God in Heaven All this you may learn from the Sacred Scriptures which were written by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit and sealed by multitudes of open Miracles and contain the very Image and Superscription of God and have been received and preserved by the Church as the certain Oracles of God and blessed by him through all Generations to the sanctifying of many Souls IX When you understand all this it is time for you to look home and understand now what State your Souls are in That you were made capable of Holiness and Happiness you know that you and
all Men are fallen from God and Holiness and Happiness unto Self and Sin and Misery you know that you are so far redeemed by Christ you know as to have a pardoning and saving Covenant tendered you and Christ and Mercy offered to your choice But whether you are truly penitent Believers and renewed by the Holy Ghost and so united unto Christ this is the Question yet unresolved this is the Work that is yet to do without which there is no Salvation and if thou die before it is done wo to thee that ever thou wast a Man Except a Man be Regenerate by the Spirit and Converted and made a New Creature and of Carâ—al be made Spiritual and of Earthly be made Heavenly and of Selfish and Sinful be made Holy and Obedient to God he can never be saved no more than the Devil himself can be saved And if this be so as nothing is more sure I require thee now who readest these words as thou regardest thy Salvation as thou wouldest escape Hell Fire and stand with Comfort before Christ and his Angels at the last that thou soberly consider whether Reason command thee not to try thy State whether thou art thus renewed by the Spirit of Christ or not And to call for help to those that can advise thee and follow on the search till thou know thy Case And if thy Soul be a stranger to this sanctifying Work whether Reason command thee not without any delay to make out to Christ and beg his Spirit and cast away thy Sins and give up thy self entirely to thy God thy Saviour and Sanctifier and enter into his Covenant with a full Resolution never to forsake him to deny thy self and the desires of the Flesh and this deceitful transitory World and lay out all thy hopes on Heaven and speedily whatever it cost thee to make sure of the Felicity which hath no end And darest thou refuse this when God and Conscience do command it And further I advise you X. Understand how it is that Satan hindreth Souls from being sanctified That you may know how much to resist his Wiles Some he deceiveth by malicious Suggestions that Holiness is nothing but Fancy or Hypocrisie And if God and Death and Heaven and Hell were Fancies this might be believed Some he debaucheth by the power of fleshly Appetite and Lust so that their Sins will not let their Reason speak Some he keepeth in utter Ignorance by the evil Education of ignorant Parents and the negligence of ungodly Soul-murdering Teachers some he deceiveth by worldly Hopes and keepeth their Minds so taken up with worldly Things that the Matters of Eternity can have but some loose and uneffectual Thoughts or as bad as none Some are entangled in ill Company who make a scorn of a holy Life and seed them with continual Diversions and vain Delights And some are so hardened in their Sin that they are even past feeling and neither fear God's Wrath nor care for their Salvation but hear these things as Men asleep and nothing will awake them Some are discouraged with a conceit that Godliness is a Life so grievous sad and melancholy that rather than endure it they will venture their Souls come on it what will as if it were a grievous Life to love God and hope for endless Joys and a pleasant Life to love the World and Sin and live within a step of Hell Some that are convinced do put off their Coversion with Delays and think it's time enough hereafter and are purposing and promising till it be too late and Life and Time and Hope be ended And some that see there is is a necessity of Holiness are cheated by some dead Opinion or Names or Shews and Images of Holiness either because they hold a strict Opinion or because they joyn with a Religious Party or because they are of that which they think is the true Church or because they are baptized with Water and observe the outward parts of Worship and perhaps because they offer God a great deal of Lip-Service and Lifeless Ceremony which never savoured of a Holy Soul Thus Deadness Sensuality Worldliness and Hypocrisie do hinder Millions from Sanctification and Salvation XI If ever thou wouldest be saved oppress not Reason by Sensuality or Diversions But sometimes retire for sober Consideration distracted and sleepy Reason is unuseful God and Conscience have a great deal to say to thee which in a crowd of Company and Business thou art not fit to hear It is a dolesul case that a Man who hath a God a Christ a Soul a Heaven a Hell to think of will allow them none but running Thoughts and not once in a Week bestow one Hour in Man-like serious Consideration of them sure thou hast no greater things to mind Resolve then sometimes to spend half an hour in the deepest thoughts of thy everlasting State XII Look upon this World and all its Pleasures as a Man of Reason who foreseeth the end and not as a Beast that liveth but by Sense or present Objects Do I need to to tell thee Man that thou must die Cannot Carcases and Dust instruct thee to see the end of Earthly Glory and all the Pleasures of the Flesh Is it a Controversie whether thy Flesh must shortly perish and wilt thou yet provide for it before thy Soul What a sad farewel must thou shortly take of all that Worldlings sell their Souls for And O how quickly will this be Alass Man the Day is even at hand a few days more and thou art gone and darest thou live unready and part with Heaven for such a World as this XIII And then think soberly of the Life to come What it is for a Soul to appear before the living God and be judged to endless Joy or Misery If the Devil tempt thee to doubt of such a Life remember that Nature and Scripture and the Worlds Consent and his own Temptations are Witnesses against him O Man canst thou pass one day in Company or alone in Business or in Idleness without some sober Thoughts of Everlastingness Nothing more sheweth that the Hearts of Men are asleep or dead than that the Thoughts of endless Joy or Pain so near at hand constrain them not to be Holy and overcome not all the Temptations of the Flesh as Toys and inconsiderable Things XIV Mark well what Mind most Men are of when they come to die Unless it be some desperate forsaken Wretch do they not all speak well of a Holy Life and wish that their Lives had been spent in the most fervent Love of God and strictest Obedience to his Laws Do they then speak well of Lust and Pleasures and magnifie the Wealth and Honours of the World Had they not rather die as the most mortified Saints then as careless fleshly worldly Sinners And dost thou see and know this and yet wilt thou not be instructed and be
wise in time XV. Think well what manner of Men these were whose Names are now honoured for their Holiness What manner of Life did St. Peter and St. Paul St. Cyprian St. Augustine and all other Saints and Martyrs live Was it a Life of fleshly Sports and Pleasures Did they deride or persecute a Holy Life Were they not more strictly Holy than any that thou knowest And is he not self-condemned that honoureth the Names of Saints and will not imitate them XVI Think what the difference is between a Christian and an Heathen You are loath to be Heathens or Infidels But do you think a Christian excelleth them but in Opinion He that is not Holier than they â—s worse and shall suffer more than they XVII Think what the difference is between a Godly Christian and an Ungodly Do not all the Opposers of Holiness among us yet speak for the same God and Christ and Scripture and profess the same Creed and Religion with those whom they oppose And is not this Christ the Author of our Holiness and this Scripture the Commander of it Search and see whether the difference be not this that the Godly are serious in their Profession and the Ungodly are Hypocrites who hate and oppose the practise of the very things which themselves profess whose Religion serveth but to condemn them while their Lives are contrary to their Tongues XVIII Understand what the Devil's Policy is by raising so many Sects and Factions and Controversies about Religion in the World Even to make some think that they are religious because they can prare for their Opinions or because they think their Party is the best because their Faction is the Greatest or the Least the Uppermost or the suffering Side And to turn holy edifying Conference into vain Jangling and to make Men Aâ—heists suspecting all Religion and true to none because of Mens diversity of Minds But remember that Christian Religion is but One and a thing easily known by its ancient Rule and the universal Church containing all Christians is but One. And if carnal Interest or Opinions so distract Men that one Party saith We are all the Church and another saith It is we as if the Kitchin were all the House oâ— one Town or Village all the Kingdom Wilt thou bâ—â— mad with seeing this Distraction Hearken Sinner all these Sects in the Day of Judgment shall concur 〈◊〉 Witnesses against thee if thou be Unholy because however else they differed all of them that are Christians professed the Necessity of Holiness and subscribed to that Scripture which requireth it Though thou canst not easily resolve every Controversie thou mayst easily know-the true Religion it is that which Christ and his Apostles taught which all Christians have professed which Scripture requireth which is first pure and then peaceable most Spiritual Heavenly Charitable and Just XIX Away from that Company which is sensual and an Enemy to Reason Sobriety and Holiness and consequently to God themselves and thee Can they be wise for thee that are foolish for themselves or Friends to thee that are undoing themselves or have any pity on thy Soul when they make a Jest of their own Damnation Will they help thee to Heaven who are running so furiously to Hell chuse better Familiars if thou wouldest be better XX. Judge not of a holy Life by hearsay for it cannot so be known Try it a while and then judge as thou findest it Speak not against the things thou knowest not Hadst thou but lived in the Love of God and the lively belief of endless Glory and the Delights of Holiness and the Fears of Hell but for one Month or Day and with such a Heart Hadst cast away thy sin and called upon God and ordered thy Family in 〈◊〉 holy manner especially on the Lord's Day I dare boldly say Experience would constrain thee to justifie a holy Life But yet I must tell thee it is not â—rue Holiness if thou do but try it with Exceptions and Reserves If therefore God hath convinced thee that this is his Will and Way I adjure thee as in his dreadful Presence that thou delay no longer but resolve and absolutely give up thy self to God as thy Heavenly Father thy Saviour and thy Sanctifier and â—ake an everlasting Covenant with him and then he and 〈◊〉 his Mercies will be thine his Grace will help thee â—nd his Mercy pardon thee his Ministers will instruct â—hee and his People pray for thee and assist thee his Angels will guard thee and his Spirit comfort thee and when Flesh must fail and thou must leave this World thy Saviour will then receive thy Soul and bring â—t into the participation of his Glory and he will raise â—hy Body and justifie thee before the World and make â—hee equal to the Angels and thou shalt live in the â—ight and Love of God and in the Everlasting Pleasures â—f his Glory This is the end of Faith and Holiness But 〈◊〉 thou harden thy Heart and refusest Mercy everlasting Wo will be thy portion and then there will be no remedy And now Reader I beg of thee and I beg of God on my bended knees that these few words may sink into thy Heart and that thou wouldest read them over and over again and bethink thee as a Man that must shortly die Whether any deserve thy Love and Obedience more than God and thy thankful Remembrance more then Christ and thy Care and Diligence more than thy salvation Is there any Felicity more desirable than Heaven or any Misery more terrible than Hell or any thing so regardable as that which is everlasting Will a few days fleshly Pleasures pay for the loss of heaven and thy immortal Soul or will thy Sin and thy Prosperity be sweet at Death and in the Day of Judgment As thou art a Man and as ever thou believest that there is a God and a World to come and as thou carest for thy Soul whether it be saved or damned I beseech thee I charge thee think of these things think of them once a day at least think of them with thy most sober serious Thoughts Heaven is not a May-game and Hell is not a Flea-biting Make not a jest of Salvation or Damnation I know thou livest in a Distracted world where thou mayest hear some laughing at such things as these and scorning at a Holy Life and fastning odious Reproaches on the Godly and merrily drinking and playing and prating away their Time and then saying that they will trust God with their Souls and hope to be saved without so much ado But if all these Men do not change their minds and be not shortly down in the Mouth and would not be glad to eat their Words and wished that they had lived a holy Life though it had cost them Scorn and Suffering in the World let me bear the shame of a Deceiver for ever But if God and thy
to all the adopted Sons of God to cause them with filial Affection and Dependance to cry Abba Father Know not desire not love not any Creature but purely as subordinate to God! Without him let it be nothing to you but as the Glass without the Face or scattered Letters without the Sense or as the Corps without the Soul Call nothing Prosperity or Pleasure but his Love and nothing Adversity or Misery but his Displeasure and the Cause and the Fruits of it When any thing would seem lovely and desirable which is against him call it Dung And hear that Man as Satan or the Serpent that would entice you from him and count him but Vanity a Worm and Dust that would affright you from your Duty to him Fear him much but love him more Let Love be the Soul and End of every other Duty It is the End and Reason of all the rest but it hath no End or Reason but its Object Think of no other Heaven and End and Happiness of Man but Love the final Act and God the final Object Place not your Religion in any thing but the Love of God with its Means and Fruits Own no Grief Desire or Joy but a mourning a seeking and a rejoycing Love V. Live in the belief and hopes of Heaven and seek it as your Part and End and daily delight your Souls in the sore-thoughts of the endless Sight and Love of God As God is seen on Earth but as in a Glass so is he proportionably enjoyed But when mourning seeking Love hath done and Sin and Enemies are overcome and we behold the Glory of God in Heaven the Delights of Love will then be perfect You may desire more on Earth than you may hope for Look not for a Kingdom of this World nor for Mount Zion in the Wilderness Christ reigneth on Earth as Moses in the Camp to guide us to the 〈◊〉 and of the Promise Our perfect Blessedness will be where the Kingdom is delivered up to the Father and God is All in All. A Doubt or a strange heartless thought of Heaven is Water cast on the sacred Fire to quench your Holiness and your Joy Can you travel one whole day to such an End and never think of the Place that you are going to which must be intended in every righteous Act either notedly or by the ready unobserved Act of a potent Habit. When Earth is at the best it will not be Heaven You live no further by Faith like Christians than you either live for Heaven in seeking it or else upon Heaven in Hope and Joy VI. Labour to make Religion your Pleasure and Delight Look oft to God to Heaven to Christ to the Spirit to the Promises to all your Mercies Call over your Experiences and think what matter of high Delight is still before you and how unseemly it is and how injurious to your Profession for one that saith he hopeth for Heaven to live as sadly as those that have no higher hopes than Earth How should that Man be filled with Joy who must live in the Joys of Heaven for ever Especially rejoyce when the Messengers of Death do tell you that your endless Joy is near If God and Heaven with all our Mercies in the way be not reason enough for a joyful Life there can be none at all Abhor all Suggestions which would make Religion seem a tedious irksome Life And take heed that you represent it not so to others for you will never make them in love with that which you make theâ— not perceive to be delectable and lovely Not as the Hypocrite by forcing and framing his Religion to his carnal Mind and Pleasure but bringing up the Heart to a holy suitableness to the Pleasures of Religion VII Watch as for your Souls against this flattering tempting World especially when it is represented as more sweet and delectable than God and Holiness and Heaven This World with its Pleasures Wealth and Honours is it that is put in the Ballance by Satan against God and Holiness and Heaven And no Man shall have better than he chooseth and preferreth The Bait taketh advantage of the brutish part when Reason is asleep and if by the help of Sense it get the Throne the Beast will ride and rule the Man and Reason become a slave to Sensuality When you hear the Serpent see his Sting and see Death attending the forbidden Fruit When you are rising look down and see how far you have to fall His Reason as well as Faith is weak who for such Fools-gawds as the Pomp and Vanitles of this World can forget God and his Soul and Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell yea and deliberately command them to stand by What Knowledge or Experience can do good on that Man who will venture so much for such a World which all that have tried it call vanity at the last How deplorable then is a Worldâ—ings case Oh fear the World when it smileth or seems sweet and amiable Love it not if you love your God and your Salvation VIII Fly from Temptations and crucify the Flesh and keep a constant Government over your Appetite and Seâ—â—â—es Many who had no designed stated Vice or worldly Interest have shamefully fallen by the sudden surprize of Appetite or Lust When custom hath taught these to be greedy and violent like a hungry Dog or a lusting Bâ—ar it is not a sluggish Wish or Purpose that will mortify or rule them How dangerous a case is that Man in who hath so greedy a Beast continually to restrain that if he do but neglect his Watch one Hour is ready to run him headlong into Hell Who can be safe that standeth long on so terrible a precipice The Tears and Sorrows of many Years may perhaps not repair the loss which one Hour or Act may bring The â—ase of David and many others are dreadful Warnings Know what it is that you are most in Danger of whether Lust and Idleness or Excess in Meats or Drinks or Play and there set your strongest Watch for your Preservation Make it your daily Business to mortify that â—ust and scorn that your brutish Sense or Appetite should conquer Reason Yet trust not purposes alone but away from the Temptation Touch not yea look not on the tempting Bait keep far enough off if you â—esire to be safe What Miseries come from small beginnings Temptation leads to Sin and small Sins to greater and those to Hell And Sin and Hell are not to be played with Open your Sin or Temptation to some Friend that shame may save you from Danger IX Keep up a constant skilful Government over your Passions and your Tongues To this end keep a tender Conscience which will smart when in any of these you sin Let Holy Passions be well ordered and selfish carnal Passions be restrained Let your Tongues know their Duties to God and Man and labour to be skilful and
Death they shall be gloriâ—â—ed with him in Heaven for ever And the Unbelievers Impenitent and Ungodly shall go to everâ—â—sting Punishment And having commanded his Apostles to Preach the Gospel to all the World and promised his Spirit he ascended into Heaven Where he is the Glorified Head over all Things to the Church and our prevailing Intercessor with the Father who will there receive the departed Souls of thâ— Justified and at the end of this VVorld will come again and raise all the Dead and will Judge all according to their VVorks and justly execute his Judgment III. I believe that God the Holy Spirit was given 〈◊〉 the Father and the Son to the Prophets Apostles 〈◊〉 Evangelists to be their Infallible Guide in Preachâ—â—â— and Recording the Doctrine of Salvation and the Witness of its certain Truth by his manifold Divine Operations and to quicken illuminate and sanctifie all true Believers that they may overcome the Flesh thâ— VVorld and the Devil And all that are thus sanctified are one holy Catholick Church of Christ and mâ—â—â— live in holy Câ—mmunion and have the pardon 〈◊〉 their Sins and shall have everlasting Life Believing in God the Father Son and Holy Spirit do presently absolutely and resolved 〈◊〉 give up my self to him my Creator and reconciled God and Father my Saviour and Sanctifier And repenting of my Sins I renounce the Devil the World and the sinful desireâ— of the Flesh And denying my self and taking up mâ— Cross I consent to follow Christ the Captain 〈◊〉 my Salvation in hope of his promised Grace and Glory A Short CATECHISM for those that havâ—â— Learned the first Quest 1. WHat do you believe concerning GOD 1 Assent Answ There is one onely God aâ— Infinite Spirit of Life Understanding and Will mâ—â—â— perfectly Powerful Wise and Good The Father the Word and the Spirit The Creator Governour and end of all things Our Absolute Owner our most Just Ruler and our most Gracious and most Amiâ—ble Father Quest 2. What believe you of the Creation and the nature of Man and the Law which was given to him Answ God created all the World And made MAN in his own Image an imbodied Spirit of Life Understanding and Will with holy Liveliness Wisdom and Love to know and love and serve has Maker here and for ever and gave him the inferiour Creatures for his use But forbad him to eat of the Tree of Knowledge upon pain of Death Qu. What believe you of Man's fall into sin and misery Ans Man being tempted by Satan did by wilful sinning fall from his Holiness his Innocency and his Happiness under the Justice of God the condemnation of his Law and the slavery of the Flesh the World and the Devil whence sinful guilty and miserable Natures are propagated to all Mankind And no meer Creature is able to deliver us Quest 4. What believe you of Man's Redemption by Jesus Christ Answ God so loved the World that he gave his only Son to be their Saviour Who being GOD and One with the Father took our Nature and became MAN being conceived by the Holy Ghost Born of the Virgin Mary and called JESUS CHRIST who was perfectly holy without sin fulfilling all Righteousness and overcame the Devil and the World and gave himself a Sacrifice for our Sins by suffering a Cursed Death on the Cross to ransom us and reconcile us unto God and was buried and went among the Dead the third day he rose again having conquered Death and having sealed the New Covenant with his Blood he commanded his Apostles and other Ministers to Preach the Gospel to all the World and promised the Holy Ghost And then Ascended into Heaven where he is God and Man the Glorified Head over all things to his Church and our prevailing Intercessor with God the Father Quest 5. What is the New Testament or Covenant 〈◊〉 Law of Grace Answ God through Jesus Christ doth freely give to all Mankind himself to be their Reconciled God and Father his Son to be their Saviour and his Holy Spirit to be their Sanctifier if they will believe and accept the Gift and will give up themselves to him accordingly Repenting of their sins and consenting to forsake thâ— Devil the World and the Flesh and sincerely though not perfectly to obey Christ and his Spirit to the end according to the Law of Nature and his Gospel Institutions that they may be glorified in Heaven for ever Quest 6. What believe you of the Holy Ghost Answ God the Holy Spirit was given by the Father and the Son to the Prophets Apostles and Evangelists to be their Infallible Guide in Preaching and Recording the Doctrine of Salvation and the Witness of its certain Truth by his manifold Divine Operations And he is given to quicken illuminate and sanctifie all true Believers and to save them from the Devil the World and the Flesh Quest 7. What believe you of the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints and the Forgiveness of Sins Answ All that truely consent to the Baptismal Covenant are one sanctified Church or Body of Christ and have Communion in the same Spirit of Faith and Love and have the forgiveness of all their sins and all that by Baptism visibly Covenant and that continue to profess Christianity and Holiness are the universal visible Church on Earth and must keep holy Communion with Love and Peace in the particular Churches in the Doctrine VVorship and Order Instituted by Christ Quest 8. What believe you of the Resurrection and Everlasting Life Answ At Death the Souls of the Justified go to Happiness with Christ and the Souls of the Wicked â—o Misery And at the end of this World Christ will â—ome in Glory and will raise the Bodies of all Men â—rom Death and will Judge all according to their Works And the Righteous shall go into Everlasting Life where being made perfect themselves they shall 〈◊〉 God and perfectly Love and Praise him with Christâ— and all the glorified Church and the rest into Everâ—asting punishment Quest 9. You have told me what you Il. Consent Believe Tell me now what is the full Resolution and Desire of your Will concerning all this which you Believe Answ Believing in God the Father Son and Holy â—pirit I do presently absolutely and resolvedly give up my self to Him my Creator and reconciled God and Father my Saviour and my Sanctifier And Repenting of my Sins I renounce the Devil the World and the sinful desires of the Flesh And denying my self and taking up my Cross I consent to follow Christ the Captain of my Salvation In hope of the Grace and Glory promised Which I daily desire and â—eg as he hath taught me saying Our Father which 〈◊〉 in Heaven c. Quest 10. What is that Practice which by this Covenant 〈◊〉 are obliged to Answ According to the Law of Nature and Christs â—nstitutions I must desiring Perfection sincerely Obey him in a Life of Faith and Hope and