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 Commandements III. 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 IV. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Six dayes 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 cattell 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 Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it V. Honour thy father thy mother that thy dayes 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 neighbours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife nor his man servant nor his maid-servant nor his ox nor his ass nor any thing that is thy neighbours THE TEN COMMANDEMENTS GOD when he had erected the stately frame of the World and furnished the scene of nature with various kinds of creatures prescribed an order course in which every thing should move for his command doth as well determine the actings of his creatures as it did produce their beings Thus the great wheel of nature keeps an orderly and constant course and as in a watch or some other curious piece of workmanship every small parcel of his work observes the rule of it's motion and is by that principle the workman's hand put into it guided to those ends for which it was made And this is the Law of Creation by which all creatures pay an obedience to their Creatour for as they depend upon his power to Be so 't was fit they should be directed by his wisdom to Act. This is indeed the Law of Nature which God as supreme Soveraign and absolute Lord and proprietour of all things has the sole right of imposing By this the heavenly bodyes dispense their influences and steer their motions which when excentrical are not irregular The Sun knows his place of rising and setting and it must be miracle that either stops him in his wonted rode or puts him back The Moon is constant to her changes and all the stars fixt to their stations nor doe the wandring stars rove out of those bounds which God hath set them The very inconstancy of weather and vicissitude of seasons is order'd by this Law and when any thing in the Elements happens extraordinary as that fire should refuse to burn water deny to drown c. 't is because a more particular warrant hath superseded the general commission which was sign'd at first for the law giver has power to alter his own laws make what exceptions he please which was the ground of Abraham's Faith who though by the general precept forbidden to kill any one yet upon special command thought himself obliged to sacrifice his own and onely Son To this Law are subject the Sea also ebbing and flowing from towards the shore God having appointed it its bounds beyond which it may not go and the Earth with all plants and fruits which grow on the surface of it and stones and minerals in the bowels of it according to the rules of each kind Of this Law a paricular branch is that which we call natural instinct whereby living creatures which are indued with sense and motion and a faculty of propagating their like to wit Birds Beasts Fishes and creeping things are regulated in the managery of their care and converse Hence springs that tender affection which all damms have for their young ones the conjugal fidelity of pairs the rules of order and government amongst societies such as Sheep Bees c. After this manner it pleas'd the faithfull Creatour to provide a Law for the well-being of his creatures without which the universe would have been still a meer Tohu and Bohu void and without form This is that ligament which binds the jarring Elements in a league of amity and sets every thing a work quietly to its own ends so as to preserve the whole and were it not for this all things would run into confusion But man being a creature of a more excellent make and having the imprese of divinity stamp'd upon him being made in the likeness of God was not to be coop'd up within the same measures as his fellow-creatures and be guided to his duty by blind instincts and a reason without him but had a greater latitude as of knowledge so of liberty allow'd him for it was thought fit that he who was to have dominion over the rest and to act Soveraign among other creatures should be intrusted with the government of himself Wherefore he had an understanding a will given him whereby he might see and choose his rule and might determine himself to a generous obedience And these faculties of his were as all things else were that God made at first very good his understanding right and wise his will holy and just of perfect sufficience to lead him to the right and of as perfect an indifference to leave him to the wrong besides his affections pure and free from all disorder Now that man might not pride himself in the reflection upon his own excellencies and that God might from this his Vicegerent and Prince of the Creation have some small acknowledgment of subjection it pleased him to make a command of tryall in a slight matter indeed the eating of an Apple but loaded with a grievous threat In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dy the death The breach of so easy an injunction upon so solemn a denunciation aggravating the ingratitude and the contempt of the offender And see how hard it was to persist in good even for him who before never knew evill How slippery a State Innocence when there is but the least temptation to debauch it How frail a thing the best of men if he be left to himself A toy tempts Adam from his obedience and his happiness together and from Eve's hand which administred the sin he took his death too Then were forfeited all the glorious priviledges of his Creation then were defaced all the resemblances of divine perfections then was his soul as well as body left naked of all graces and virtues his original righteousness turn'd into original sin then were his dayes cut short by
Scripture The one was when he came in the flesh in the form of a servant to die for us that he might reign upon the tree as some readings have it in the Psalms The other will be when he shall come in the clouds with power and glory attended with Angels to judge the world at that great and dreadful day when the trumpet shall summon all to appear before the tribunal And when that 's done he shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father and the time of this his coming and the end of the world he hath left here to be the subject of our prayers and not of our inquiries to exercise devotion not curiosity the uncertainty of the time being an argument to quicken our diligence in preparing for it that we may watch and pray he having told us afore-hand that he will steal upon us as a thief in the night But what need we trouble our selves about the age of the world when our own time is so uncertain that we cannot call the next hour our own and know not how soon the arrest of death may hurry us away to judgement He that dies now in the Lord rests from his labour his good works follow him and if we cannot properly say that the Kingdom of God is come to him we may safely say he is gone to it At the end of the world then is Christ's great coming and the general judgement but at every single death there is a particular doom past when the soul immediately after it's delivery out of the body is dispatched either into the regions of life or lodged in the chambers of death so that in this sense Christ may be said to come too And there is a gracious visit when he comes and knocks at the heart and calls to his beloved by his word When he comes into us to a feast and banquet of love furnished with the consolations of the spirit The sum of this request is that God would declare his power even to the heathen that know not his name and make discoveries of his Majesty by his outward administrations not leaving himself without witness but convince profane spirits that there is a God that rules in the world that he would manage the affairs of the world for his peoples good and for the advancement of the Kingdom of his Son that he would bless the civill societies of men that he would fill Soveraigns with wisdom to go in and out before the people and people with loyalty to their rulers and with love to one another That he would establish the state wherein we live in peace and order preserving us on one hand from the tyranny and oppression of superiours and on the other hand from rebellion and conspiracy of inferiors That he would save the King whom he hath set under himself our supream Head and Governor from all treasons and treacherous designs that he would subdue the people under him cloath his enemies with shame and upon himself let his crown flourish that he would give the King his judgements and make our Magistrates men of courage fearing God and hating covetousness That he would preserve us from all dreadfull calamities the plague pestilence and famine from wars fires inundations from murder and sudden death That he would take a special care of his Church and his chosen ones that he would send labourers into his vineyard that he would endue his Ministers with righteousness that he would illuminate all Bishops and Pastours with true knowledge and understanding of his word that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly That he would inlarge the tents of Japhet remember his ancient people the Iewes gather in the remnant of the gentiles send forth his Gospell into the dark corners of the earth and publish the glad tidings of salvation unto all mankind that he would fill up the number of his elect and hasten the glorious appearance of Christ That he would confound the devices of all that have evill will to Zion and turn the hearts of hereticks schismaticks and bloody tyrants That he would assist those that suffer for the testimony of a good conscience with strength from above and send them the comforter That he would destroy the man of sin with the breath of his mouth That he would garrison our hearts with his grace that he would teach us his laws that we may walk in his statutes and keep his commands That he would mortify the desires and lusts of the flesh subdue us to himself and make us a willing people in the day of his power That he would open our hearts for the receiving of his word and rule in them by his spirit That his Kingdom may first enter into us that we may enter into it Lastly that we may have our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospell live in a constant exspectation of our great change that when our Lord comes he may find us doing his will on earth as it is in Heaven And blessed is he whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing THY WILL BE DONE The nature of God is not made up of a body and soul nor hath he bodily parts as eyes hands feet c. or faculties of mind as understanding memory affections and 't is no less improper to say of God that he knows or wills any thing as that he walks sees c. which are metaphorical expressions taken from men God being pleased in holy writ to condescend to our capacity and speak of himself after the manner of men God is all understanding all will nor is there any thing in God which is not infinite i.e. himself His will then is not a thing really distinct from his understanding or indeed from his essence neither is it a blind power as it is in us that needs the guidance of reason and the light of another faculty to be convey'd into it to represent the object and advise it to choose the good and eschew the evil but is of it self most free most wise most good It self is a law and rule to it self determins it self and is the measure and standard of all goodness righteousness and holiness The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works And his pracepts are more to be desired then gold yea then fine gold sweeter then hony the hony-comb Now there is a twofold will of God that of his decrees and that of his commands Nor do these two cross and oppose the one the other as if God decreed one thing should be and commanded the contrary but they keep a sweet harmony and mutuall correspondence God's word and his providence may seem sometimes to clash and justle one another yet they do keep the same road of righteousness nor does God ever contradict himself or speak one thing and mean another Let God be true and every man a lyar '
thou say the Lord's Prayer this way or that so thou say it one way or other either with this addition according to St. Matthew so as to be one of the Christian multitude or without it according to St. Luke so as to be one of the disciples we shall not quarrel only do not thou quarrel at his wisdom who thought fit to vary some expressions in the self same form on purpose to please thee that thou mightst have a liberty of choice there being an express command to use it and thou left to thy freedom to take which thou wilt One thing may yet perhaps be objected why the Church should follow St. Luke in this omission and take the rest from St. Matthew whose words in expressing the fourth and fift petitions differ from St. Lukes To this some perhaps will answer that the Doxologie is of a questionable authority as suppos'd to have crept in out of the scholion or margent into the text wherefore it being without all doubt omitted in St. Luke's Gospel being doubted in St. Matthew's the Vulgar Arabic Translations having it not that the use of it might breed no scruple it was thought fit to be quite left out But allowing it a full authority the Church may surely be allowed the same freedom which any private Christian hath of using which form it shall think fittest for publick service Wherefore seeing both the Evangelists doe agree so far as the petitions which make up the prayer the Church might judge it convenient to lay aside the rest and therein follow St Luke And again because St. Luke's language is more elegant and difficult St. Matthew's on the other side according to the simplicity of the Hebrew style being more plain and facil might consequently be deemed fitter for popular use especially when St. Matthew himself sayes that our Saviour did dictate it to the multitude which variety of style together with the custom of Interpreters who are used to render the same things differently being consider'd may also evince that this prayer though deliver'd by our Saviour upon two several occasions might be the very same in the Syriac language which our Saviour used though it be diversly express'd in the Greek St. Matthew perhaps more closely adhering to the words then St. Luke who according to his genius to keep an accurate propriety of the Greek tongue might take the liberty a little to vary And of this we might produce many instances in several discourses of our blessed Saviour related by them both which though variously reported by both nay by all four yet were plainly meant for the same so that both the forms though not exactly agreeing in all the words are but the same Prayer and he that uses either of the forms sayes the Prayer no less then he that should say it in Latine according to Pagnin's or Steven's or Beza's Translation who yet may differ in the plainest sentences as not using the same pen and possibly sometimes out of the meer study of variety shall be thought to say his Pater Noster in Latin only he that would use it in Latin would no question choose that Latin translation which he thought came nearest the Original which is here the Churches case AMEN This is a word our Saviour who was truth it self therefore call'd in the Revelation the Amen had in his mouth often and seldom began any discourse of weighty moment but he fronted it with this asseveration many times doubled too Amen Amen I say unto you i.e. Truly Truly as St. Luke expounds it or Verily Verily But the chief use of it is at the end of our Prayers especially in public devotion where the Priest's blessings and services are to be attended with the peoples acclamation an ancient custom as appears by the Psalm And let all the people say Amen It has a double significancy in it not only to gather up the whole Prayer which went before and throw it out at a word with a fervent desire that our requests may be heard and granted But also to denote a confidence of obtaining and an assured trust that what we have been praying for will not be denied us It claps a Fiat to the Prayer as the Septuagint render it So be it and seems to demand performance FINIS THE EXPLANATION Of the APOSTLES CREED THE APOSTLES CREED I Believ in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth 2. And in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord. 3. Which was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary 4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried 5. He descended into hell The third day he rose again from the dead 6. He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty 7. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead 8. I believ in the holy Ghost 9. The holy Catholike Church the communion of Saints 10. The forgiveness of sins 11. The resurrection of the body 12. And the life everlasting Amen Of the Apostles CREED THe Apostles as some deliver it before they went into the several quarters of the world to preach the Gospell to all Nations according to Christ's command met and agreed upon the common form of Doctrine which they should teach in each Province wherein the sum of Faith might be set down Others are of an opinion that some grave and pious men did at the beginning of the primitive Church gather the sense if not the very words out of the Apostles writings Now Symbolum bears a double meaning for it signifies first a military badge or watch word by which a souldier may know one of his own side from an enemy So this distinguisheth a true Christian from an Infidel or an Heretick Secondly a shot or club when every one payes his share towards the reckoning Because the Apostles laid their heads together and every one contributed his peice Wherefore it is also divided into twelve Articles according to their number but it is more conveniently distributed into three main parts that it may answer the Trinity of Persons and their three-fold operation thus The first part treats of God the Father the work of Creation whereby he made the world and all things that are contained in it The second of God the Son and the work of redemption whereby he restored mankind fall'n by sin and by his death and resurrection purchased Salvation for us The third of God the Holy Ghost and the work of sanctification whereby he doth apply to the Church that is to the company of believers the benefits purchased by Christ to wit Pardon Grace and Glory The first Article I BELIEV This word belongeth to all the parts of the Creed We pray for others we believ only for our selves Thy Faith hath saved thee saith our Saviour Faith is either taken for the Doctrine which we believ or the grace by which we believ That is in
tired nor Infinity be exhausted but he was pleas'd to put a period to his own extraordinary actings and by his own will determin the products of his boundless power Again if he had pleas'd he could have dispatch'd all his works in a day in a moment and not have made such leisurely progress and have done all at once But he chose a number of dayes to accomplish his great design in six dayes that there might be an orderly proportion and distance of time betwixt the productions of the several creatures and but six that the glory of his workmanship might not receive any disparagement from a seeming delay Now whether these six dayes in which the world was making were meant to signifie the continuance of the world for so many thousand years a thousand years being in Gods reckoning but as a day and the seaventh day of rest to typifie another thousand years of Christ's reign or an everlasting Sabbath in Heaven or whether any other mystery lye hid in the number of seaven whence fond antiquity might appropriate the seaven Planets each to his day and fonder Art divide the week according to planetary hours may be guess'd but cannot certainly be known Wherefore it may suffice us that it pleas'd God so to order his work and so to appoint a holy rest and he sure had very great reason for observing that order and making this appointment THEREFORE THE LORD BLESSED THE SABBATH-DAY AND HALLOWED IT He stamp'd upon it a particular respect set it aside from common imployment and business of life for holy and spiritual exercises that it might be spent in the commemoration of his wonderful works And if the institution were so solemn upon the account of Creation how much more will the memory of our Redemption heighten the solemnity and improve the observance of this holy day which our blessed Lord and Saviour the holy Iesus blessed by his rising again from the dead and hallowed by his apparition and discourse with his holy Apostles who have by their example recommended to the Church of God as the Christian Sabbath the first day of the week the day of our Lords Resurrection for which reason it is also call'd the Lord's Day Besides this weekly solemnity and day of rejoycing it is acknowledg'd even by those who are no great friends to the Churches authority that the Church hath power to appoint and set aside for the publick worship of God other peculiar dayes as occasion shall require such as are Anniversary Fasts and Feasts nor is the commemoration of the benefits obtain'd by Christ as his Nativity Passion Ascension c. and of the holy Apostles and other Scripture-Saints more ancient though it be handed to us from the most ancient and the best times then 't is convenient the fundamentals of religion being thus scatter'd through the course of the year and the Holy-dayes next to the Lords-day being the great remarks cognisances of Christianity This reason drawn from the creation which is the moral reason of the precept is in Deuteronomie which is the repetition of the Law omitted and another of a politick concern brought in stead of it as if the command were grounded upon an indulgence to servants and that upon a reflection upon the condition of the Israelites in Egypt where they had been made serve in a cruel bondage mention'd in the Preface Though those words there I suppose might be added only as a reason for the servants and the cattles rest and an argument to inforce the equity of that rather then to be the bottom and ground of the Sabbath it self and yet it seems strange that immediately after Moses tells them God spake these words and no more The sense of the command is this Thou shalt take great heed to the observation of my day and shalt sanctify my Sabbath and keep it holy with exercises of publick private devotion Thou shalt wait upon me in my sanctuary and appear before me in the great assembly Thou shalt come to my house in my fear and enter my courts with due reverence Thou shalt attend to my word obey my voice and shâ—lt bestow this sacred time wholly on the meditation of my Law Thou shalt receive my word with faith and wait upon me in the use of my ordinances Thou shalt set one day in seaven aside from all worldly concernments and thy usual employment and dedicate it and thy self to me Thou shalt prepare thy self and forecast thy business that no other thoughts may distract thee Thou shalt keep it a holy rest to the Lord shalt cause all that belong unto thee to keep it Thou shalt not do thy own works nor speak thy own words nor think thy own thoughts on that day but be taken up with the study of God's word and with the consideration of his works Thou shalt serve me faithfully on thy six dayes of work in a diligent attendance upon the dutyes of thy calling that thou mayst on my day of â—est meet with a blessing find pardon for thy failings and receive strength for thy performances Thou shalt breed up thy children in my fear and acquaint them with my wayes Thou shalt instruct thy houshold and make me known unto strangers Thou shalt be merciful to thy servants and thy cattle and shalt let them injoy the benefit of the Sabbath-rest Thou shalt so observe this rest as not to give thy self up to sloath and idleness nor spend the time in sports and vain recreations but make it a rest from sin as well as from work Thou shalt more particularly imploy thy self in remembring the Lord thy Creatour and thy Redeemer and thankfully acknowledging his benefits Lastly Thou shalt so pass this weekly Sabbath in holy meditations and a heavenly conversation that thou mayst fit thy self for the celebration of an everlasting Sabbath to be kept hereafter with Angels and Saints in Heaven after thou art deliver'd from the troubles of a wicked world How far have we come short of the observation of the Sabbath in these our times who forget the day and neglect the duty who neither labour on the six dayes nor rest on the seaventh as we should doe who profane the sanctuary and pollute the holy place using no reverence and behaving our selves in Gods presence with more rudeness then we would in the presence of men who have made our devotions but a lip labour and plac'd religion in the ear and have excluded God's word contained in the holy Bible and the wholsome forms of the Church to make room for the bold conceits and seditious discourses of men who have preferred Enthusiasms before the written word who have preach'd up rebellion and sacriledge and demolish'd the Churches of God in the Land broken down the sacred ornaments with axes and hammers who have multiplied sects and heresies and dishonour'd God in his solemn worship and in the publick assemblyes who have made void God's ordinances refus'd to
take up the yoke and bear the burden quietly and cast it upon the Lord who will bring it to pass That we may not boldly pry into his decrees nor presume upon a rash confidence or despair in distrust of his love but adhere to the plain rule of his word and busy our selves in doing his will That we would tread carefully in the path of duty and mind the business of our general and particular calling and trust God with the success in the use of all lawfull means That we may not be discontented peevish and froward when our humours and interests are cross'd and when his providence answers not our desires but bless God when he takes away as well as when he gives and give him the glory whatever befalls us That we may resign all to his blessed will and rest fully satisfied with his determinations that in all cases we may say with our Saviour Not my will but thine be done That he would write his laws in our hearts and teach us his statutes and acquaint us with his will that we may doe it That he would assist us with his grace and strength from above for the performance of his commandements That he would mortifie our lusts and the corrupt desires of the flesh that we may not set up them in opposition to his Holy will but bring every proud imagination in obedience to him That we may be so acted by his spirit that we may be quickend in every good way and work and be carried on from strength to strength till we come to perfection That we may have a holy emulation for the blessed spirits above and endeavour to imitate them in yielding an obedience without delay without murmuring and without weariness That we may endeavour to the utmost to find out what that good that acceptable and perfect will of God is and to perform it and never think we can doe too much for him or suffer too much for his sake That we would lay aside all worldly cares and serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life and fit our selves for the business of eternity by having our conversation in heaven whilest we are here on earth Thus the three Petitions do immediately concern God and may also have particular reference to the three Persons of the Trinity That the name of the Father who is God blessed for ever may be exalted and glorified That the Kingdom of his Son and his glorious presence may be hastned That the spirit would frame our hearts to the obedience of his will And to the three offices of Christ By whose name as he is our Priest we are saved whose name is above every name holy and excellent who as King rules in our hearts and will come in triumphant manner at the last day to own his faithfull subjects and be avenged of his enemies And who lastly as Prophet hath declared unto us the will of the Father and came to do his will on earth as it is in Heaven with an exact unsinning obedience Nor is the word Thy idle but hath a great significance commending to us that great Gospel-duty of self-denial which is indeed the essential character of a right Christian who can be content to part with all so God may have his due For so the opposition is to be understood Thy name not our honour Thy Kingdom not our interest Thy will not our humour And thus the three petitions seem to be levell'd at the world's Trinity Honour Riches and Pleasure We ought not to study our own honour but to doe all for the glory of God we must not strive for deceivable riches but set the Crown upon Christ's head We should not follow our own pleasure and pursue our own satisfactions and contents but submit to God's will It is no wonder that this holy form of Prayer was so displeasing to the ambitious and factious spirits of these latter times a generation of self-seeekers who meant to advance their own names and get the power of the Kingdom into their own hand and pretended a divine authority for their own will as if they would have prayed rather Our will be done in heaven as it is on earth nor did they stick to say as much when they father'd all their mischiefs on providence and from their successes concluded God's approbation of their wickedness These last words On earth as it is in Heaven may seem to look back upon the three precedent Petitions after this manner on earth as in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done May we men on earth praise and glorify thy name adore thy power and Majesty perform thy commands and submit to thy holy will even as the Angels those ministring spirits and the blessed Saints doe in Heaven saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth Now follow the Petitions which concern us and our necessities which are either temporal supplyes of food and a comfortable subsistence and a dayly provision and sustenance or spiritual wants such as are the Pardoâ— of our sins and justification by the blood of the Son of God which was shed for the remission of sins and the strength of assisting grace whereby we may resist and overcome temptation sanctification wrought by the spirit of God dwelling in us and cleansing our hearts by faith So that these three also may have respect to the three persons seeing that they seem particularly directed to the Father for maintenance to the Son for pardon to the Spirit for grace BREAD What more natural for children to ask or for a father to give Bread is the staff of life the stay and support of nature the chief nourishment and that which alone will keep nature in repair and the body in health but is usually taken by a Synecdoche for all manner of food whatsoever even for flesh meat and drink whence to eat bread with one was a common form of speech meant for sitting down at table dining or supping and being entertain'd and indeed feasted with varieties And yet more largely sometimes as here it is for all the provisions and accommodations of life not only food but raiment habitation health strength money friends estate preferment vigour of mind soundness of body success in our undertakings a blessing upon our labours comfort from our relations with all other temporal concernments as seasonable weather the early and the later rain fruitfull fields plenty peace deliverance from dangers long life and a good old age with all those good things of mind of body and of fortune as we call them which may be the objects of a right order'd natural desire and all those additional advantages which the custome of countryes hath made convenient and agreeable to people according to their severall ranks and qualities which are all here comprehended under the name of Bread to teach us frugality and contentedness that if we have but bread we
other recreation to entertain himself with but to set gins and snares to catch souls in it being the design of his implacable spight to see man who by his means fell from Paradise the place of bliss to an accursed earth fall yet lower into the torments of Hell to be a companion to the damned spirits He 'l accompany thee to Church and watch thee into thy closet whatever thou art about hee 's at hand he intermeddles in thy civil affairs in thy religious duties hee 'l bear a part and suggest vain thoughts hee 'l buy and sell with thee nay hee 'l watch and pray with thee Our Saviour himself was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted where after the preparation of a forty dayes fast for the conflict he was to enter the lists and vanquish this grand enemy of our salvation O blessed preparatory Lent O happy encounter when the Captain of our salvation with the buckler of faith and girt with the sword of truth and meekness upon his thigh was pleas'd to meet this spiritual Goliah in the field and combate with him that he might tread him under our feet break his head his strength and his policy and give his flesh to be meaâ— for his people in the wilderness that as the viper's flesh proves an excellent Antidot against the poyson of the viper and is a great restorative to nature which the creature it self would destroy so temptations might turn to advantages and the malice of Satan improve our bliss How little able should we be to resist him who made such fierce assaults on the Son of God himself How little hope can we have to escape being tempted to the fowlest and most horrid sins when he had the impudence to tempt God himself for such was Christ to the fowlest Idolatry to fall down and worship the Divel Oh dreadfull blasphemy Oh outragious confidence O a Divel void of all ingenuity past all shame and fear All these things will I give thee if thou fall down and worship me All these things all which things Base bold feind hast thou any thing to give All too all at a clap false pretender thou hast nothing to bestow of thy own but evil hell and death the wages of sin All that 's good is God's already or if thou hast any thing to give dost know saucy creature who it is thou speakest to wilt thou offer thy maker any thing dost think that hee 'l take any thing at thine hand If he stood in need would he pass by all his creatures canst imagin to accept thy kindness And why feind this unusual bounty so great a present to him thou hatest What wouldst thou have him doe for 't wouldst thou purchase his favour Hast a mind to buy thy peace and compound for pardon spare thy gifts bring thy self repent and beg that thou mayst have leave to fall down at his footstool and worship before the mercy seat canst thou confess and forsake thy sins Thou hast Scripture for 't and thy former discourse shews thee well read in Scripture thou shalt find favour And what an opportunity hast thou The Saviour of the world in thy company who came on purpose to reconcile sinners and save what was lost will be easily intreated to intercede for thee and get admittance for a faln Angel nor is all his charity tyed to faln men thy brother Angels whom thou left'st in heaven trust in him and worship him And why maist not thou hope the day of thy return is coming now that heaven gates are set open to all that will enter the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence And thou hast greater reasons to prevail with thee for repentance then miserable men have as knowing the great happiness thou hast parted with and having so long felt the torments of an evil conscience thy own hell and of that hell which thou art heating for others If any man were in thy case who yet is of a shallower understanding and sense then thou art would he not willingly leap out of those flames in which thou fryest would he not gladly be freed from the wrath of God which thou hast for so many ages lain under and which for ever thou must lye under unless thou canst repent And to what end shouldst thou stand out any longer in an enmity to him that overpowers thee to whom thy hatred can doe no hurt who constantly baffles thy counsels defeats thy strengths and has bound thee with everlasting chains one would think this very conflict might sufficiently convince thee how poor thy malice shows and how successless all thy attempts No Repentance is a doctrine to be preached only to men as the good Angels cannot sin so neither can the bad repent The Divel is but enraged with the tidings of salvation and his dispair imboldens him and he is resolv'd to be damn'd for ever He has an inveterate hatred and implacable malice against God which has call'd him forth now unto this defiance He hates the very thoughts of being blessed because he cannot be so out of God's company he hates God as God hates sin with a perfect hatred and would treat with God upon no other terms then this that God would not be Out of hatred to God he hates himself and is contented to foregoe his happiness rather then to acknowledge it and buyes his spight with endless torments If God should reinstate him as he is in heaven and inlarge him from his bonds he would look on the favour as a more painful imprisonment and account heaven his worse hell Though he knows aforehand that nothing he doth against God shall prosper he thinks it success enough of his plots that he has shown a contempt and in this very temptation of Christ nothing pleases him so much as the effrontery of it that he could as his servant Herod after did mock him and set him at nought when he was not suffer'd to doe him any more hurt For what is it he tempts him to that which he could not have impudence to hope would be hearkned to that which he knew was impossible for Christ in his very nature as well as in his will to doe to sin the holy one to commit a sin Oh audacious tempter couldst thou offer to corrupt him who knows no sin with a bribe couldst thou fancy the judge of all the earth could be made doe wickedly for reward when every upright judge scorns to have justice bought many an honest lawyer will not be hired to be an advocate for wrong But oh Divelish impudence what sin He had tempted him before to distrust and then to tempt providence and seeing Scripture as he applyed it would not prevail is not dismayed by a double repulse but that he might go of with a boast seeing he could not with conquest shews himself right Divel and belcheth out a blasphemy big enough to fill the wide mouth of hell He would
the head this in the heart Again Faith is divided into Historical Temporal and Saving Faith The first the Divels have who believ and tremble The second is of hypocrites who believe for a time and fall off The last doth properly belong to the elect who are therefore called Believers and the faithfull who hold out to the end live by their Faith Now Faith is a full perswasion of mind and a sure confidence by which we depend upon him in whom we believ IN GOD. We are said to believ a God when we acknowledge that there is a God and he that is such an one as he hath discovered himself in his word and works to believ God when we are perswaded that his word is the very truth and that whatsoever he hath promis'd or threatned in holy Scripture shall surely come to pass to believ in God when we place all our hope and trust in his power and goodness who both will help those that trust in him because he is a Father and can because he is Almighty God is of an infinite nature which exceeds all bounds of time or place much less can be comprehended by our shallow understanding we cannot know but we must believ and this very Faith doth as much exceed reason as reason doth sense in evidence and certainty The Holy Trinity by which three Persons are one God and the Incarnation of the Word by which two Natures meet into one Person are high and deep mysteries not to be reached by the eye not to be fathom'd by the plummet of our reason but Faith takes the heighth with a Iacob's staff and humble Hope fastens her Anchor in the bottom of this depth and diffusive Charity embraceth the whole compass of Divine truth THE FATHER The Deity is distinguished into three Persons the Father the Son and Holy Ghost and these Three are One and the same God the Father begets the Son the Son is begotten of the Father the Holy Ghost proceeds from both the Father and the Son God is the Father also of all things for of him and to him and through him are all things ALMIGHTY Who can doe all things and doth whatsoever he pleaseth both in Heaven and in Earth neither is there any thing too hard for him for who hath resisted his will Yet God cannot lye call back yesterday or make the same thing to be and not to be at the same time for these are marks of extream impotence not omnipotence and God would not be God if he could doe them MAKER God's power is not idle Even before he made he decreed to make and his thoughts were busy about the work of creation from eternity He made not as workmen doe of stuff lying before them for he made all things of nothing nor with pains and weariness for he spake and they were made He did not only make the world and then leave it to it's self as Masons doe houses they build but he preserves and governs too and disposes all events to his own glory OF HEAVEN AND EARTH That is of the whole world whereof heaven and earth are the principal parts He spred out the earth as a floor and built up the wals and laid the roof of heaven he stored the elements with several creatures the heaven with stars as lamps hung out the aire with birds the water with fishes the earth with beasts He made heaven earth and all things therein contained in the space of six dayes but the chief of all his works were Angels the citizens of heaven and Men the inhabitants of the earth made after his own likeness and indued with understanding and excellent gifts But some of the Angels with Lucifer by reason of pride left their station and turned Divels All mankind fell in Adam by disobedience from a state of innocence and happiness into a state of sin and misery so that by nature we are the children of wrath but by grace become the children of God and that by means of the Son of God who became the Son of Man that he might save the children of men The second Article Here begins the part of the Creed concerning Christ the second Person Now Christ is considered either in his Person or in his State which is two-fold the state of Humiliation and the state of Exaltation And in Iesus Christ his onely begotten Son our Lord. The Person of Christ consists of two natures Divine and Humane for as soul and body make up man so God and man are one Christ. He is described here by his names titles The names are Iesus and Christ by which are noted his offices The titles which are given him that he is the only Son of God and our Lord shew partly his essence partly his dignity AND. He who believes the Father must also believ the Son for he who denieth the Son hath not the Father IN. It must be the same saith by which we believ Father and Son since both Father and Son are the same God I and the Father are one saith he and therefore as Ye believ in the Father believ also in me JESUS That is Saviour for he came into the world to save sinners that he might reconcile God and man and recover fallen man out of the state of sin and misery into a state of grace and glory He saves from sin and from the punishment due to sin and freeth us as well from the power as guilt of sin CHRIST Messias in Hebrew and Christ in Greek is all one as in Latin anointed Now three kinds of men were wont to be anointed that is to be consecrated to their office by powring oyl upon their heads to wit King Priest and Prophet Christ was anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows that is extraordinarily furnisht with gifts of the holy Spirit Melchizedeck was King and Priest Samuel Priest and Prophet David Prophet and King Christ alone the thrice greatest King Priest and Prophet King by subduing our enemies the world the flesh and the Divel and ruling our hearts by his word and spirit Priest by offering up a perfect sacrifice for us satisfying divine justice for our sins and by blessing us by a perpetual intercession Prophet by revealing the will of the Father and discovering to us all things which belong to salvation HIS ONELY BEGOTTEN SON God hath many sons but Christ is the onely begotten God is stiled the Father of lights and the Father of spirits and the Angels are called the sons of God Magistrates children of the most High because they resemble him in power and dignity and all Godly men are by grace made the children of God Now there is a vast difference betwixt Christ and these All creatures by creation blessed spirits by imitation Princes and Rulers by institution Believers by adoption become God's children But Christ alone is his Son by eternall generation of