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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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4 Heb. v. 10 vi 20 vii 14 c. Q. What is the Order of which you speak A. It is evident that when God chose the Tribe of Levi and the Family of Aaron to minister unto him under the Law He took them instead of the First-born of Every Tribe and Family who by virtue of their Birth-Right had the Priesthood belonging to them Exod. xix 22 xxiv 5 Now Melchisedeck living before this was done was a Priest by that ancient Right and not According to the Law But then besides this He was a King too and so the High-Priest over his People Now such a Priest and Prince together was Christ over his Church Heb. vii 1 2. Again Of Melchisedeck we know not either who went before him or who succeeded Him in these Offices So that his Priesthood as to us was a solitary Priesthood in which as He succeeded None so neither does it appear that any succeeded Him And such also is the Priesthood of Christ There was never any such High-Priest before nor shall there ever Rise up Any like him Heb. vii 3 6. 23 24. Q. Wherein did He exercise this Office A. In all the Parts of the Priestly Function He offer'd up himself a Sacrifice for our Sins Heb. vii 27 ix 12 26 28. Having done this He Ascended into Heaven there to Appear in the Presence of God for Vs Heb. ix 12 24. And He Blesseth us not only by delivering Us hereby from the Punishment of Our Sins but by Sanctifying our Souls and so freeing Us in great Measure even from the Present Power of Them Heb. ix 14 x. 10 14 16 17. Q. How does it appear that Our Lord was not only a Prophet and a Priest but a King also A. The Scripture expresly calls him so Jo. xii 15 xviii 37 and that Authority which He has all along exercised over his Church proves him to have been so Q. What is that Authority A. While he was yet upon Earth He gave Laws unto his Church for the Regulation of the Lives and Actions of Those who should become Members of it Mat. vii 24 26. These Laws he establish'd with the Royal Sanction of Rewards and Punishments Mat. vii 19 21. He settled a Ministry for the Conduct of his Church under Him Jo. xx 21 22 23. He Rules in the Hearts of the Faithful by his Spirit He has already begun to subdue our Enemies Sin the Devil and Death And he will hereafter utterly destroy them 1 Cor. xv 24 25 26. He now sits in full Power at the Right-hand of God Interceeding for Us And at the End of the World he will descend from thence with Glory to Judge the World and so put in execution his Promises and Threatnings by Infinitely Rewarding Those who shall be found to have Observed his Laws and exceedingly Punishing those who shall have broken them Mat. xxv 31 c. SECT IX Q. WHAT is that Relation which Christ is here said to have to God A. He is His Only Son Q. In what Respect do you believe Christ to be the Son of God A. He is called so in the Holy Scriptures upon several Accounts * As he was Conceived by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary Luk. i. 45 * As He was anointed by the Holy Ghost to the Office of the Messiah Jo. x. 34 * As he was Begotten again of God when he Raised Him from the Dead Act. xiii 33 Rom. i. 4 And lastly * as being Raised from the Dead He was made by God the Heir of All things Heb. i. 3 Q. In which of these Respects do you here profess to believe that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Son of God A. Precisely speaking in none of them all though yet I acknowledge the most of them to be so proper to Him as not to be capable of being applied to any Other But when I here profess Christ to be God's ONLY Son I do it upon a much higher and more excellent Foundation namely upon the Account of his Eternal Generation and that Communication which God the Father thereby made of the Divine Nature to Him Q. Do you then look upon Christ to have been made by God Partaker of the Divine Nature and so to have been from all Eternity God together with Him A. If I believe the Scriptures to give a true Account of the Nature of Christ so I must believe For I find the same Evidences in them of the Godhead of Christ that I do of that of the Father Q. What be those Evidences A. First they give the Name of God to him and that in such a Manner as plainly shews it is to be understood in its most proper Import and Signification Jo. i. 1 xx 28 Rom. ix 5 1 Tim. iii. 16 1 Jo. v. 20 Phil. ii 6 Secondly they ascribe the most proper and incommunicable Attributes of God to Him Such as Omnipotence Jo. v. 17 Rev. i. 8 xi 17 Omniscience Jo. xvi 30 xxi 17 Luk. vi 8 comp Jo. ii 24 Rev. ii 23 Immensity Jo. iii. 13 Mat. xviii 20 xxviii 20 Jo. iii. 13 Immutability Heb. i. 11 12. xiii 8 and even Eternity it self Rev. i. 8 17. xxii 13 Prov. viii 22 Mich. v. 2 Isa. ix 5 To him Thirdly they ascribe such Works as can belong to None that is not God The Creation of the World Jo. i. 3 10. Col. i. 16 Heb. i. 2 10. The Preservation of it Heb. i. 3 Miracles Jo. v. 21 36. vi 40 The Mission of the Holy Ghost Jo. xvi 7 14. xiii 26 And in short all the Works of Grace and Regeneration Jo. v. 21 x. 16 xiii 18 Act. xvii 31 xx 28 Eph. v. 26 c. Add to this Fourthly that he is there shewn to be Honoured as God Jo. v. 23 Heb. 1.6 Prayer fs made to him Act. vii 59 1 Cor. i. 2 Faith and Hope are directed to be put in Him Jo. xiv 1 Psal. ii 12 Praises and Thanksgivings are Given to Him Jo. xiv 1 Rev. iii. 5 Glory and Honour are rendred to Him Rev. v. 13 compare iv 11 And no wonder since Lastly the Nature of God is therein also expresly ascribed to Him Heb. i. 3 Phil. ii 6 Col. ii 9 compare Col. i. 15 19. Q. But if Christ therefore be God as well as the Father how can He be called the Son of God A. Because he Received his Divine Nature from the Father who is the Beginning and Root of the Divinity and has communicated his Own Essence to Christ Who therefore though he has the same Nature and so in that is Equal with the Father yet is He in Order after him as being God of God Q. How does it appear that Christ Received his Divine Nature from the Father A. It can only be known by that Revelation which God has made of it in the Holy Scriptures Where he is for this Reason said to be the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person Heb. i. 3
more comprehended in this Article with relation to God the Father A. This only That as God at the Beginning thus Created All things so having Created them he has ever since continued to Support and Preserve them Heb. i. 3 And that so particularly that there is not the least thing in the World to which his Providence does not extend it self Mat. vi 26.30 x. 29 30. Q. How do you profess to Believe all this of God A. Because though some part of it might have been discover'd by Natural Reason and accordingly was found out by the Wiser Heathens yet the full and perfect Knowledge of all this is due to Revelation And by the Accounts we have of these things in the Holy Scriptures we both more clearly Understand Them and are more firmly perswaded of the Truth of Them SECT VIII Q. WHAT does the Second Part of your Creed contain A. It contains a short Summary of all Such things as are Necessary to be known and believed by Us concerning our Lord and Saviour JESVS CHRIST Q. How is He here described to Us A. By his Person his Office his Relation to God and to Vs. And in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord. Q. How is his Person set out in this Article to Us A. By the Name Which he went by whilst He was upon Earth JESVS Q. How came our Saviour to be called by that Name A. He was so called by the express Command of God deliver'd by an Angel first to the Blessed Virgin Luk. i. 31 and then to Joseph Mat. i. 21 Q. Is there any particular Significancy in that Name that should move God in such an Extraordinary manner to give it to Him A. There is For it denotes a Saviour and was given by God to our Blessed Lord to shew that He was to be the Saviour of the World and that No other was to be so Mat. i. 21 Thou shalt call his Name Jesus for He shall Save his People from their Sins Acts iv 12 Neither is there Salvation in any Other for there is none other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be Saved Q. How was this Jesus to Save the World A. By delivering Us both from the Power and from the Punishment of our Sins and by putting us in a way of attaining unto Everlasting Salvation Tit. ii 11 c. Rom. vi 4 5 c. Q. What is the Title given to our Blessed Lord with respect to his Office Q. He is called CHRIST which is the same in Greek that MESSIAS is in Hebrew or Syriac And is as much as to say the Anointed Joh. i. 41 We have found the Messias which is being interpreted the Christ. Joh. iv 25 I know that Messias cometh which is called Christ. Q. Why had our Saviour this Title given to Him A. To shew that as by the Ceremony of Anointing heretofore God consecrated Those whom he called to some certain Offices so was this Jesus to be separated though not by a Visible Vnction yet by the Invisible Power and Grace of the Holy Spirit for all those Offices to which Men were Anointed by God's Command under the Law Act. x. 38 God Anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power Q. What were those Offices to which Men were consecrated by the Ceremony of Anointing under the Law A. They were chiefly Three to the Office of a Prophet a Priest and a King Q. Was our Saviour to be consecrated to All These A. He was and that by express Prophecies before his Coming into the World See Psal. xlv cx Deut. xviii 15 18 c. Isa. ix 6 lxi 1 Q. How did God Anoint him to these Offices A. The Holy Ghost came upon him and God by a Voice from Heaven declared him to be his Son and commanded all the World to Hear him Mat. iii. 16 17. And he Received the Spirit without Measure for the Discharge of all of Them Joh. iii. 34 Q. You say that God before Prophesy'd of such a Christ Did the Jews know that He had done so A. Yes and at that very time that Christ came into the World they Generally expected the coming of Him Mat. xi 2 Joh. iv 25 vii 31 Luke iii. 15 Q. How then came it to pass that They did not more readily Receive Him A. Because they had flatter'd themselves with the Expectation of a temporal Prince who should deliver them from their Enemies and Restore again the Kingdom unto Israel And therefore they could not bear the disappointment of Receiving such a Messias as our Saviour professed himself to be Luke xxiv 21 Act. i. 6 Q. What Security have we that this was indeed the Messias of whom Moses and the Prophets Spake A. The Greatest that can be Imagin'd a He came at the exact Time that the Messias was to Come a Gen. xlix 10 Malach. iii. 1 Dan. ix 25 26. He descended of the Tribe out of which the Messiah was to proceed Gen. xlix 9 10. Isa. xi 1 10. comp Mat. i. Luk. iii. He was born at the Place where the Messias was to be born Mich. v. 2 Mat. ii 1 He was conceived of a Virgin as the Messias was to be conceived Isa. vii 14 Mat. i. 25 Luk. i. 27 34. Besides all which he had such extraordinary Witness born to him as is not to be Gain-said God raised up a Singular Fore-runner to prepare the Way for him Being come into the World He Own'd him by a Voice from Heaven to be his Son Mat. iii. 17 He himself wrought such Miracles as no One ever did Joh. vii 31 He empower'd his Disciples to work the Same Miracles in his Name and for the Confirmation of his Authority Mat. x. 7 8. Mark xvi 17 18. Being put to Death at the Instigation of the Jews He was by God raised again the Third Day from the Dead and in the presence of his Disciples visibly taken up into Heaven where he now sitteth at the Right-hand of God Acts i. 3 9. Q. You said that Jesus was called Christ because he was to be consecrated by the Holy Ghost to the several Offices to which Men were Anointed under the Law Tell me therefore How does it appear that this Christ was a Prophet A. It is manifest that He exercised all the Parts of the Prophetick Office He foretold things to Come Jo. ii 19 Mat. xvii 22 23. xxiv 2 c. He declared God's Will to the World And he commission'd his Disciples to Go and Publish the same Doctrine of Salvation to all Mankind Mat. xxviii 19 20. Mar. xvi 15 Q. How do you believe Christ to have been a Priest seeing He was not descended of a Priestly Tribe or Family Heb. vii 14 A. As the Scriptures teach me to believe I believe him to have been a Priest not according to the Legal Institution but of another and more ancient Kind after the Order of Melchisedeck Psal. cx