1 Tim. 26. and by him all things are said to consist Coloss. 1. 17. Quest How can Christs vertue reach to them who are a far off Aliens and Strangers from him and enemies to his Crosse and sufferings Answ. It reacheth to them not immediatly by vertue of union with him as it doth to the Faithfull but after a secondary manner for his Elects sake For Christ by his mediation hath obteined of God that all the World which was made for mans use should be upheld by his generall providence that the Heavens and the Sun Moon and Stars should keep their course and continue in their naturall being and give light and influence to the good and the bad the just and unjust and that the Aire the Earth and the Sea should breed and nourish living creatures and herbes plantes fruit-trees and all other things usefull for men yea the wicked prosper and flourish in wealth and strength either that they may be a wall of defence to the Elect which live among them or that they may build houses plant vineyards and subdue the Earth for them as the cursed Canaanites did for Israel or that they may be progenitors and instruments to bring forth an elect seed as our fore-fathers the Heathen Gentiles were to us their Christian progeny or for the punishing and correcting of the sins of the elect as the Canaanites were kept alive to punish the Israelites when they sinned and for the tryall and exercise of their Faith and patience by unjust persecution Christ by his Mediation hath procured all these things for his elects sake to all creatures which otherwise should have perished with man being all stained and corrupted by his sin And hence it is that he is said to beare up the pillars of the world when the earth and the inhabitants thereof are dissolved Psal. 75 3. And thus farre we may grant and acknowledge an universall grace which Christ by his Mediation hath procured to all the world even to the wicked reprobates which perish Quest Hath not Christ procured to all man-kind grace and ability to beleeve repent and be saved if they will do as much as they are able for the obteining of regeneration and other saving graces of the Spirit Answ. No certeinely For Regeneration Effectuall calling Faith and all saving Graces are purchased and given by Christ only to the Elect for whom alone he prayed and doth still make intercession And they also while they remaine in the common state of Nature have no power in themselves either to will or to do any work truly good but are dead in trespasses and sins Ephes. 2. 1. They are aliens and enemies in their minds and all their thoughts incline to evill Colos. 1. 21. If all men even they who perish had power and liberty of will to beleeve and be saved certeinely some of them who are not elect would beleeve and be regenerate and use their liberty to the saving of their soules For it is given for that end that it might be brought into act and take effect if it never doth it is given by God in vaine But Nature as the Philosophers observed never gives power in vaine and much more doth the God of Nature abhorre to give men a vaine power which never comes into act Quest If it be not in their power to do any worke tending to life nor to beleeve and repent why are they condemned for infidelity impenitency and omission of good works Answ. Though they cannot beleeve nor repent to salvation yet they have a power left by common grace to use the meanes which lead to Faith and Repentance as hearing of the Word reading the Scriptures hearkning to Reproofes and to good admonitions and exhortations and this naturall power they refuse to exercise and wickedly and wilfully neglect and reject those outward meanes Also by their sin in Adam they have disabled themselves are become froward and averse from all actions truly good and are a cursed generation justly condemned Quest How come the Elect to bee redeemed and saved by the Mediation of Christ seeing they by nature have no more interest in Christ than others Answ. They are redeemed and saved by the most gracious supernaturall working of God in them according to his eternall Counsel Purpose and Decree For as he hath ordeined them to eternall life in Christ before the foundation of the world so it doth in the time appointed gather them to himselfe in and by the Lord Iesus Christ Quest By what meanes doth God worke saving grace in them Answ. By the Ministery and Preaching of his holy Word which is a worke of the Propheticall office of Christ For by that Word spoken to the Elect Fathers of old in Dremes Visions and Apparitions and after spoken and written by Moses the Prophets and Holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and since by the mouth of Christ and his Apostles Evangelists and their successors hee hath revealed and doth continually reveale himselfe to them in Christ teacheth them the onely right way to salvation cals upon them and invites them by gracious promises to come unto him and by the threatenings of the Law he drives them out of themselvs discovers their sins and the dangerous estate in which they are by reason of sinne and suffers them to find no place wherein to rest untill like Noahs dove they flee unto his Arke the true Church Quest Can the Word Preached bring men to Christ and to salvation in him Answ. It is the only outward ordinary meanes which God useth for that purpose and we never read of any who without the word beleeved were called effectually to Christ and saved All Heathen Infidels Turks and Pagans who either never heard the Word Preached or hearing do refuse and reject it do undoubtedly perish in their unbeliefe For he that beleeveth not is condemned already John 3. 18. and without the Word heard none can beleeve Rom. 10. 14. Quest What then shall wee thinke of infants borne of beleeving parents which dye before they heare or are able to beleeve the Word Answ God teacheth and inclineth them inwardly by his Spirit to long after Christ and to grope after him as they do after their mothers breasts for milk and bodily nourishment but yet not without the Word For by the Word preached to their Fathers hee workes Faith in them and makes his covenant of life in Christ with them and their seed and so by the Ministery of the Word their infants come to be in the Covenant And God doth often times sanctifie them by his Spirit from the wombe as we read of Jeremy and John the Baptist or in their baptisme at the Prayers of his Church And therefore we ought charitably to beleeve and judge that children of beleeving parents as they are from the wombe holy by dedication 1 Cor. 7. 14. and capable of baptisme so are inwardly baptized by the Spirit into Christ and if they dye
their actuall beliefe and exercise of their saving Faith Answ. They receive hereby First a comfortable sense feeling and fruition of their regeneration renovation effectuall calling union adoption remission of sins justification reconciliation and in a word communion of all Christs benefits and hence it is that they are said by Faith to turne to God to be united to Christ adopted justified and to obtaine remission of all their sins that is in their own sense and feeling And secondly by this actuall beleeving and by the sense and feeling which it brings to the beleevers all other graces are set a worke and more and more increased in them Quest How doth beleeving give to the Elect a feeling of their regeneration renovation effectuall calling union adoption and other saving works of God in them Answ. First as it is a fruit and work of the Spirit of regeneration and adoption which hee never workes in any but them who are regenerate made new creatures effectually called united to Christ adopted and have communion of all his benefits so it is a cleare evidence to them of those graces in themselves and by it the Spirit witnesseth with their spirits that they are the children of God by regeneration and adoption and are effectually cald and engraffed into Christ become new creatures heires of God and coheires with Christ Secondly the act of beleeving by a true saving Faith is an applying of the things beleeved to themselvs and by beleeving that they are regenerat renued effectually cald united adopted and have cōmunion of Christs perfect satisfaction intercession and righteousnesse they possesse and injoy all those graces and are in their own sense fully reconciled to God Quest How are they justified and have their sins pardoned by Faith Answ. They are justified and have their sins remitted by Faith not as by an instrumentall cause and meanes to make them righteous before God but as by the hand of the soule receiving and applying to themselves the righteousnesse of Christ to make them righteous in their own sense and feeling And their actuall beleeving that they are justified and pardoned is neither their righteousnesse nor the satisfaction for their sins nor any thing which in it selfe properly is accepted of God or reputed for righteousnesse and satisfaction but is only the applying of Christs righteousnes and satisfaction to themselves and an assuring of themselves that by communion thereof they are justified And by this beleeving they possesse and sweetly enjoy them and are in their owne sense and feeling justified and absolved from the guilt of al their sins and obteine this testimony from God that they are righteous Rom. 4. 3. Quest Can any man bee justified before hee doth actually beleeve Answ. If we take justification in the first most proper and principall sense as it is the act of God alone communicating Christs righteousnesse and satisfaction to his elect when hee doth first unite them to Christ by his Spirit and make Christ theirs with all his treasures Then it must bee granted that men may be and are justified before and without any expresse act of beleeving As for example elect infants which dye in their infancy when they are regenerated and united to Christ by his Spirit they have communion of his righteousnesse and are justified and made righteous and all their sins are abolished and blotted out and yet they do not actually beleeve nor performe any explicit and expresse act of Faith Also they who are not effectually called to the state of grace and to communion with Christ till they come to yeares of discretion though they have the gift of Faith immediatly at the same time infused into them yet Christs righteousnesse is in order of nature communicated to them and they are made righteous by it before God before they do actually beleeve or can truly beleeve that Christ is made to them righteousnesse or can by beleeving possesse and enjoy his righteousnesse for justification As a child may bee borne or made an heire to Lands Honor and riches and may have a true right and interest in them and bee Lord of all before hee hath wit to know his own estate or discretion to possesse actually and use them So men may be justified by Christs righteousnesse madetheirs in the first instant of their regeneration and spirituall union with Christ before they do actually beleeve and sensibly possesse and enjoy Christ and his obedience for justification But if we take justification in a secondary sense as it is an act wherein the elect themselves do cooperat and work together with God by receiving and applying to themselves particularly the gift of righteousnesse freely given unto them and by possessing and enjoying it then must actuall beleeving go before it as the instrumentall cause by which God justifieth them in their own sense and feeling and upon which he doth esteeme and account them righteous in the intercourse betweene him and them and gives them his warrant to esteeme themselves justified with him But if we take justification in a Iudiciary sense as it is used in Courts of Iustice and Iudgement for proving declaring and pronouncing men righteous Then not only Faith and actuall beleeving but also repentance amendment of life and all holy Christian duties and good works of piety mercy and charity must necessarily go before as evidences testimonies and proofes by which men must be justified that is judged declared and pronounced righteous First in the Court of their owne conscience so often as sin and Satan stand up against them to accuse them Secondly in the common judgement of men Thirdly in the generall judgement at the last day Of the first Iustification the Apostle speakes Rom. 5. 19. where he saith that by the obedience of Christ many are made righteous and Rom. 8. 4. and 1 Cor. 5. 21. Of the second he speakes Rom. 3. 28. and 4. 3. and Gal. 3. 8. where he saith we are justified by saith without workes or deedes of the Law Of the third Saint James speakes where he saith that Abraham was justified by works Jam. 2. 21. and Job 13. 18. where he saith Behold now I have ordered my cause I know that I shall be justified and this S. Paul cals justification of life Rom. 5. 18. because it is an adjudging of men to eternall life according to the evidence of their works as our Saviour sheweth Mat. 24. 35. Quest How doth justifying Faith differ from that which they call historicall Faith Answ. They both in the elect are one and the same Faith and differ onely as severall acts of the same Faith exercised about severall objects For when they beleeve the History of the Scripture and that those things are true which they heare or read out of Gods Word this is called historicall Faith But when they beleeve firmely and confidently that the promises of God in Christ belong to them and that Christ with his righteousnes is given to them of God made theirs this
THE KEY OF SAVING KNOWLEDGE Opening out of the holy Scriptures the right way and straight passage to Eternall life OR A Dialogue wherein the chiefe principles of Christian Religion are unfolded for the enabling of Christian people to understand the Word of God and to atteine to the true sense and meanâ—ng thereof Composed by GEO. WALKER B. of Div. and Pastor of S Iohn the Evangelists Church in LONDON LONDON Printed by THO. BADGER M.DC.XLI To his little flock the Inhabitants of the Parish of S. Iohn the Evangelist in Watlingstreet in London Georgâ— Walker their weake but wellwishing â—astor commendeth this small token of his unfeined love and hearty desire of their eternall happinesse in the fruition of God by their fellowship and communion with him in the Lord Iesus Christ BEloved in the Lord Christ seeing now I have spent one halfe of my dayes in Preaching to you and your predecessors the Gospell of Christ in expounding the sacred Scriptures in watching and labouring for the good of your soules to wit for the space of 29 yeares untill there is not one left alive of all those inhabitants who were masters of families at my first coming to this place and did all with one consent and voyce make choyce of me to be their Pastor I hold it high time for me to thinke of my departure from hence by putting off this earthly tabernacle and of leaving you as your predecessors who were my first flocke have left me their Pastor behind them to feed you a succeeding generation And least my labour and paines which I spent among them for the good of their soules should seeme to die with them and to bee buried in their graves I have thought good to renew the memory of them and to leave to the World some Monuments of that Doctrin I have Preached to them heretofore as also to you of latter times by Gods gracious assistance though in great weaknesse of body yet with a willing mind and with a courage never daunted with any menacings and threatenings of potent adversaries and malicious persecutors The principall heads and true platforme of which doctrine I have briefly comprised and compendiously set forth in this short Dialogue which containes in it the principles and foundations of Christian Religion and which I do here commend to you as a testimony of that unfeigned love which I beare to you and of my fervent desire of the salvation of your soules I have already published and have ready for the Presse divers larger Treatises wherein are conteined many particular doctrines which may be reduced to these principall heads and are there largely handled plainly opened and fully proved by Scriptures and the true use of them shewed in such manner as they have beene by my mouth publikly preached among you But this golden Key which is the quintessence of them all will open Heaven unto you if you can learn to use it aright It is made of divine metall even the Word of God revealed from Heaven which is more pure than the most refined gold It will teach you by a short and compendious way to know God not only in the unity of Essence in his essentiall attributes In the Trinity of persons and in his Works of Creation and actuall Providence overruling mans fall and disposing it and all the evils which entered in by it to his own glory and the good of his Elect but also in Iesus Christ in whom to know him the only true God is eternall life as our Saviour testifieth Iohn 12. 3. Here Gods eternall Counsell and Decree of Predestination is discovered Here you may learn the saving works of God in and by Christ God and man humbled in our nature What love God hath shewed in giving his Son for us and what Christ hath done and suffered for our Redemption Here you may see what saving works God works by his Spirit shed on his Elect through Christ as Regeneration Renovation effectuall calling Vnion with Christ Adoption Communion of his ransome for Redemption of his Righteousnesse for Iustification of his satisfaction for Remission of sins and Reconciliation And what Gods Spirit works in us and by us as Mortification Sanctification Faith Repentance and all holy graces and how and by what meanes he enables us to apply Christ and his benefits unto us and to enioy him and them for Salvation and also doth beget and increase grace in his Elect to wit by the Word preached and heard the Sacraments rightly administred and received faithfull and fervent Prayer and the like And how these worke in the Elect to eternall life and blessednesse and are abused by wicked reprobates to their owne everlasting damnation and destruction These things have I written to you Fathers and Masters that you may read them your selves and commend them to your children and families I commend them to you Young men that you may grow strong and may overcome the wicked one And I commend them to you litle children that you may learne to know his name and that your sins may be forgiven you for his names sake If after so much preaching teaching you be found ignorant unprofitable it is because the God of this World hath blinded your minds least the light of the glorious Gospell of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto you This word will be to you the savour of death unto death and this booke shall witnesse for me against you that you are wilfully ignorant and a lost people But if as I hope and pray fervently and wish from my heart You do chearefully receive the love of this Truth then shall my Doctrine bee to you the savour of life unto life and wee shall both together I of my worke and labour in preaching and you of your reverence in hearing and faithfulnesse in obeying the Word Preached receive the reward of righteousnesse which Christ hath purchased for them that beleeve and obey the Gospell even the Crown of glorie which never fadeth This briefe summe of Christian Religion with other more large Treatises I have written in my bonds for the common benefit of you and others to testifie unto you that the many waters of troubles and persecutions which I suffer for the Truth sake which I have preached unto you cannot quench my love to you nor my desire of your salvation nor hinder mee from labouring for your good In all which I seeke not yours but you And as I have preached the Gospell freelie to you never seeking any of your temporall goods for my ministring of spirituall things plentifullie unto you but spending besides my spirits much substance over and above the revenues of my smal Benefice which from you I have received so I commend to you freely this and all other works and labours of my love which if you do lovinglie accept and use and imploy to your own advantage I shall thinke my work in some good measure rewarded and shall ever remaine a faithfull
labourer for the good of your soules according to the utmost of my power and Your welwilling though weake Pastor GEO. WALKER A briefe Dialogue wherein the Father examineth his Son concerning the principles of Religion in which he hath formerly instructed him Quest MY deare Child why doest thou complaine because of thy sicknesse and many paines and infirmities which often doe befall thee seeing thou by thy sins pullest them upon thee and causest God thus to punish and correct thee Answer Indeed in my book of the of the Psalmes of David I am taught to confesse that I was shapen in iniquity and that in sin hath my mother conceived me but this is the fault of you that are my parents from whom I received in my birth and with my first being this sinfull corruption Quest It is true that wee brought thee into this world a poore sinfull wretch But doest thou not know that this corruption commeth not from our selves as the first causes of it but from our first parents in whom thou and we and all mankind have sinned against God and lost that image and likenesse of God in which wee were created and are so infected with the poyson aâ—d malice of the Devill which hee breathed into our first parents that wee have no power or will to do the good which God requireth of us in his Law but are forward to run into all sins which God forbiddeth Answ. I remember now when you put me in mind of it that you have taught me oftentimes that God created all things good at the first and in Adam he created all man-kind in his owne image and likenesse and that the Devill by the Serpent did tempt the woman and breathed into her his poyson and drew her into sin and by her infected Adam who was the root and stock of all man-kind and by drawing him into transgression did corrupt him and all man-kind defaced Gods image in us al and stained and defiled our nature so that eversince we are by nature children of wrath and disobedience who of our selves have no power to will or do any good but do run into sin and actuall transgression continually Quest I see and perceive by this that you are ready to forget those instructions of godlinesse which you have often learned and have need to have your memory often rubbed up And therefore I will stirre you up to remember the things which I have often taught you by asking you questions concerning the chiefe points of Christian Religion which you have learned that they may be more deeply printed in your mind and that you may have them more ready to put them in practise when occasion shall be offered Answ. I acknowledge my selfe bound in a double bond of thankefulnesse unto you both for your godly paines in tâ—aching me saving Knowledge and for your fatherly care to maâ—e me remember the things which you have taught me that I may both beleeve and practise the things which God requireth of me for the obteining of eternall life and blessednesse Quest My paines of teaching you are a pleasure to me when I see you willing to bee instructed And if you answer readily the questions which I shall aske you concerning the grounds of Religion which I have heretofore taught you I shall rejoice in hope and confidence that God hath chosen you to be a vessell of honour called you to the state of Grace and prepared you for the state of glory in Heaven Answ. I acknowledge with all thankfulnesse Gods infinite love mercy and bounty to me in that hee hath ordeined me to be borne of Godly and Christian parents who as they were meanes to bring me into the world a corrupt sinfull child of Adam so are Gods speciall instruments to beget me to God a new creature in Iesus Christ by instructing me in his holy Word by which his holy Spirit doth take possession of my soule worketh in me Faith and renueth me after the image of Christ wherefore I am ready according to my best understanding and memory to answer every question which you shall aske concerning the things which I have before heard and learned from your mouth humbly beseeching God to print in my heart and to enable me by his grace to practise in my life the things which by your often urging and pressing are printed in my memory Quest My first Question therefore shall be about that which is the first work of God by which he gave to man-kind their first being I meane the creation of Adam and all man-kind in him tell mee what you have been taught concerning it Answ. First I have learned that God created the whole world and all things therein Gen. 1. 2. Quest What God is he who did performe and perfect so great a work Answ He who is the one only true God and besides whom there is no other God Deut. 6. 4. Isay 45. 5. Quest What a one do you conceive this God to be Answ. I conceive him to bee such a one as his most proper name Jehovah doth signifie Quest What doth that name signifie Answ. It signifieth that he is and hath his being of himselfe from all eternity without beginning and without end and that bee giveth being motion breath life and all other things to all creatures which live move and breath and to all other things which have been are or shall bee in the world and without him nothing can â—e or come to passe Exod. 3. 14. Quest What do you learn from thence Answ. I learne First that God is most absolute of himselfe and depends upon none other neither needeth either for his being glory or blessednesse any help or for the increase of them Secondly that he is before all things and is the first cause of them Thirdly that he is eternall even one who was before all times and is and shall be the same for ever without beginning and without end Fourthly that he is immutable and unchangeable in his nature essence and being and in his counsels will and all other his attributes and properties Fiftly that he is most perfect one who wanteth nothing but hath in him all excellencies to the full so that nothing can bee added to him to increase his goodnesse or blessednesse Sixthly that he is infinite and incomprehensible no tongue can utter no eye can see nor eare heare nor heart conceive nor reason and understanding comprehend him or his excellencies Quest Wherein doth his infinitnesse consist Answ. It consists in this that he hath no bounds nor limits but is above all degrees of comparison his whole essence is at all times prâ—sent in all places and neither Heaven nor the Heaven of Heavens nor all places in the World can conteine him or measure his Substance He is infinit in Wisdome Knowledge Power Goodnesse Mercy Iustice Will Counsell and all other Attributes and Properties able to do whatsoever he will He seeth and knoweth all things which are have
the holy one of God and so was God and man in one person Quest How could hee bee borne a pure holy man without sinne of a woman a daughter of Evah and of the same nature with the rest of man-kind who are all corrupted in Adam Answ. God Almighty who alone is able to bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane did by his power over-shadow the Virgin his mother and the holy Ghost came upon her and framed out of her seed and substance an holy seed and so hee was conceived and borne without sinne perfectly holy both in soule and body and filled with the holy Ghost Quest How could he being so perfectly holy be subject to infirmities and to death and other punishments due to sin Answ Though he knew no sin yet he was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5. 21. and being most holy and righteous in himselfe he tooke all our sins upon him and bare all our sorrows and infirmities that he might thereby satisfie Gods infinit justice pay our ransome and redeeme and reconcile us unto God Isa. 53. 4 6. Quest How and by what meanes hath Christ redeemed us from wrath and wrought our salvation Answ. By executing and performing the office of a Mediator between God and men Quest How is he a Mediator Answ. As he is God the Son equall with the Father so he is a person of infinite value and worthy to be accepted and able to make a full satisfaction for all sin to Gods Iustice and to pay a ransome of infinit value And as hee is man of the same nature and substance with all man-kind and the first fruits of the whole lumpe so hee is fit to make satisfaction in the same nature which sinned and is our brother and friend and one who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities and is compassionate towards us and deales faithfully for us As he is God so he is too high to be a Mediator for man and as he is man so hee is too low to mediate and plead to God for us sinners But as he is God and man in one person so he is most fit to come as a Mediatour betweene God and men Quest Wherein doth Christs Mediation consist Answ. In the faithful execution of a threefold office The first of a Prophet The second of a Priest The third of a King Quest How did he execute the office of a Prophet Answ. By Prophecying Preaching and Revealing the Will of God from the beginning both in his own person and also by his Prophets Apostles and Ministers of the Word and Gospell In the old world he went forth in the Spirit and soake to the godly Fathers Enoch Methushelah Noah and others and by them preached to the wicked especially while the Arke was a preparing as the Apostle testifieth 1 Pet. 3. 19. He in the forme of man and sometimes of an Angell spake to Abraham Isaac and Jacob Gen. 18. 26. 32 24. Hee was the Angell of the Covenant which appeared to Moses in the bush and said I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Exod. 3. Hee spake also at sundry times and in divers manners as apparitions dreames and visions to the Fathers in times past and by his Spirit inspiring and moving the Prophets Heb. 1. 1. And in the dayes of his flesh he preached the Gospell with his own mouth And as after his Ascension he sent down the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles and gave them the gifts of Tongues and of Knowledge to Prophecy and Preach the Gospell to all Nations Act. 2. So he is with them in their true successors the Ministers of the Gospell to the end of the world Mat. 28. 20. And by his Spirit gives them knowledge and utterance to teach and expound the Scriptures and to bring men to the saving knowledge of the truth And in a word he is the great Prophet whom God promised to raise up to his people like unto Moses whom all ought to heare and obey in all things Deut. 18. 15. And no other Prophets or Preachers are to be heard but those which Preach in his Name truly according to his Word conteined in the holy Scriptures Quest Wherein doth the office of his Priesthood consist Answ. In making attonement betweene God and men both by offering up himselfe and all sufficient Sacrifice for all our sins in his obedience unto death and in suffering all punishments due to sin and by bringing in eternall righteousnes which is his perfect fulfilling of the Law in the obedience of his whole life Dan. 9. 24. Rom. 8. 3 4. 1 Cor. 5. 21. For in these two consists the whole work of mans redemption and the full ransome and sacrifice of attonement which is needfull to reconcile men unto God Quest How can the sufferings of one man satisfie for all men and the righteousnesse of one be able to justifie all that are to bee justified Answ. The man Christ as hee fulfilled the Law and suffered in our nature so his righteousnesse and satisfaction is humane and is proper only to mankind for as man sinned so man satisfied But as this man Christ is also God in the same person So his righteousnes and satisfaction is Divine of infinite value and worth even the righteousnesse and suffering of God and that is more than if all men had suffered eternall death and fulfilled in their own persons every jot and title of the Law and all the righteousnesse thereof Quest If Christs infinite Godhead doth adde so much to his obedience performed in our Nature and makes his sufferings of infinite worth and value What need was there of shedding his bloud unto death and of suffering all the stormes of Gods wrath was not as some say one drop of his bloud sufficient to redeeme the world Answ. Though Christ is a person of infinite value because he is God yet as he could not be a compleat and perfect Mediator if hee had taken into his person the body only of a man and not a complete Manhood consisting both of soule and body So suffering in part and obeying the Law in part could not bee made a complete satisfaction for justice requires a full suffering of all kinds of punishment due to man for sin even of death it selfe and a perfect fulfilling of the whole Law otherwise there is no righteousnesse If one drop of Christs bloud shed for sin had beene a sufficient price of redemption than it had been injustice in God to exact more and undiscreet and vaine prodigality in Christ to poure out all his bloud and his soule to death when one drop was enough Quest Is this all that Christ doth as a Priest Answ. This is all that Christ did in paying mans ransome and price of attonement but to make men partakers of it and of the benefit thereof he doth make intercession to God for them as appeares Rom. 8. 34. and Heb. 7. 25. Quest How doth
in their infancy are saved by the free Grace of God who worketh all things after the counsell of his own will Quest How doth the Word preached worke saving grace in men Answ. Not barely by it selfe nor by any divine vertue inherent in it but by the free grace of God and the inward operation of the Spirit working with it when and where and in whom he will For the Word preached doth not profit when it s notmingled with Faith in them that heare it Heb. 4. 2. as we see in the Iewes to whom Christ himselfe preached and yet they were not turned to God but the Word by him spoken through their infidelity turned to their hurt wrought to the hardening of them in their sins and left them without all excuse or any cloak for their wickednesse Iohn 15. 22. Quest What are those necessary works and saving graces which God by his Word and Spirit worketh in men to bring them to salvation in Christ Answ. They are works and graces which flow from Gods eternall election and are only wrought in the elect They are necessary because without them none can be saved and they are called saving works and graces because the persons in whom they are once wrought can never fall away and perish but shall certeinely persevere in them and be saved And they all may be brought under two heads The first are the works which God alone by his Word and Spirit worketh in his Elect. The second sort are the works which God so worketh that they also do cooperat with him and work together with his Spirit Quest Which are the works which God alone by his Spirit worketh in the Elect Answ. The first is regeneration from which all the rest do flow to wit renovation which is called renuing of the holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. Effectuall calling union with Christ adoption and Communion of all Christs benefits as of his ransome satisfaction righteousnesse and intercession for redemption remission of sins justification and perfect reconciliation Quest Which is the first saving grace Answ. The first which is the ground of al the rest is Regeneration Quest What is Regeneration Answ. It is that worke of God by which he sheds the Holy Ghost on his Elect through Iesus Christ of which Spirit given to dwell in them as his immortall seed they are borne again and become new creatures and spirituall members of Christ and children of God by a new birth and Generation Quest What is Renovation Answ. It is the work of God which he by his Spirit shed on them and dwelling in them doth work in them renuing them after the image of Christ and making them conformable to him both in his death by mortification and in his life by vivification Quest What is Mortification Answ. It is that work of Gods Spirit wherein hee deriveth the vertue of Christs death unto them and worketh in them such a sense of their misery sin and corruption and such a godly griefe sorrow contrition of heart loathing and abhorring of themselvs as doth tame their rebellious lusts and gives a deadly blow to the old man of sinfull corruption in them so that sinne can no more reigne in their mortall bodies but by grace they prevaile more and more over their corruption and do mortifie it continually Quest What is Vivification Answ. It is that worke of the Spirit by which he derives the vertue of Christs holy life unto them to quicken them and sanctifie them by inherit holines and to make them in the whole course of their life conformable to the holy and upright life of Christ Quest What gifts and graces are wrought in the Elect by Renovation Answ. The first which is as it were the root of the rest is Faith For as the Devill did first breath into Adam an unbeleefe and distrust of God and his truth so that hee beleeved not the Word and threatning of God but gave credit to Satans lyes and relyed on them and by his false beliefe Satan drew him on to a false opinion of God and a conceipt that God envyed his greater good whereupon hee began proudly to imagine that he might by eating of the forbidden tree become wise as God and did conceive enmity in his mind against God ambitious lusts and evill affections So God in renuing man doth first worke Faith in him which is the gift of beleeving in God and relying on his Word and Promises And by his Word beleeved he gives light of undeâ—standing and knowledge which drives out errors and false opinions and enables man to see his owne vilenesse and Gods goodnesse towards him whence ariseth the grace of humility and repentance also a sincere holy love of God feare and reverence of his Majesty joy rejoycing hope and delight in God and a will and desire to obey him in all things and in a word all Christian vertues by which a man becomes conformable to Christ Quest What is Effectuall Calling Answ. It is the work of the Spirit of Regeneration who by giving to the elect a new heart and spirit doth incline and enable them to follow the outward calling of the Word and to turne from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God Act. 26. 18. Quest What is the Vnion of the Elect with Christ Answ. It is not a making of their severall persons one undivided Essence and Substance with the person of Christ For that unity is only in God and in the three persons of the blessed Trinity Neither is it a making of them one person with Christ by such a personal union as is between his Godhead and Manhood and betweene the soule and body of every man Neither is it a bodily uniting of them with Christ by a bodily mixture and composition of the substance of their soules and bodyes with the substance of the soule and body of Christ as wine and water are mingled together For such an union makes the things united inseparable in place one from another so that wheresoever Christs body is there they must needs be and can be in no other proper place who are thus united Neither is this union only in heart and affection But this is a spirituall mysticall and substantiall union in which Christ sitting at Gods right hand above the Heavens and they dispersed over all the Earth are made one spirituall and mysticall body whereof Christ is the head and they members by meanes of the same Spirit dwelling and working in them after the same maner as he dwelleth and worketh in the humane nature of Christ from his first conception and framing in the wombe For by one Spirit they are all Baptized into one body whereof Christ is the head and being many members they make up one body even as all members in naturall body though they be many make up but one body because they all have but one soule and life the holy Spirit of which they are regenerate borne againe and made new creatures is
the sure spirituall band of union betweene Christ the head and them the members of the same mysticall body Quest What is Adoption Answ. It is a necessary consequent of the union of the Elect with Christ For Christ being the only begotten Son of God by eternall generation as hee is God and as hee is Man by personall union with God the Sonne and by a supernaturall and miraculous generation and so heire of all things Heb. 1. 2. It must necessarily follow that whosoever are in him one body with him and lead by his Spirit do thereby come under the account of children and heires of God and of coheires with Christ and so God the Father doth esteeme respect and accoumpt them the Spirit dwelling in them doth witnesse with their spirit that they are the children of God Rom. 8. 16. Quest What is the Communion with Christ of all his benefits Answ. It is a consequent that is a grace necessarily following from union with Christ For whosoever are by one Spirit baptized into Christ and made one spirituall body with him as really and substantially as all members in a mans body are one naturall body with the head they must needs have such a spirituall communion of all Christs treasures vertues and endowents as is the naturall communion which all the members in a mans body have with the head Christs sufferings satisfaction for sin righteousnesse ransome and intercession are theirs and they have a right and interest in them and communion of them all And thus God justifies and makes them fundamentally righteous by Christs perfect righteousnesse frees them from the guilt of all their sins by his satisfactory sufferings and accepts them for his redeemed and reconciled ones through Christs intercession and makes them actually accepted in his beloved Christ Eph. 1. 6. Quest What are the works of saving grace which God so worketh in the Elect that they also being moved by his Spirit do cooperat and worke together with him Answ. They are the actions of the Elect regenerat exercising by the motion of the Spirit those spirituall gifts and Christian vertues which were given them by renovation or renuing of the holy Ghost Quest Which is the first of them Answ The first is actuall Faith or Beleeving in God and in Christ for as the gift of Faith is the first of all spirituall gifts which by the renuing of the holy Ghost is wrought in the elect regenerate So the worke of their Faith that is actuall beleeving is the first of all which by the motion of the Spirit they performe after they are quickned and raised up to live a spirituall life Quest Why is the work of their Faith the first before the acts of knowledge repentance love hope and the rest Answ. Because Faith possesseth the whole heart and soule of man and informeth after a sort all the powers and faculties thereof even the understanding will and affections It is the opening of the understanding to take notice of Gods goodnesse and of the truth of his Word It is the inclining of the will to give assent to the whole Word of God and all truth therein revealed and to acknowledge all Gods Truth Goodnesse and Mercy in Christ It is the rectifying of the affections and the plyablenesse of them to trust in God to rely on him to hope in his mercy to love feare and reverence him and to hate all offence of his holy Majesty to sorrow for sin with godly sorrow to repentance to rejoyce and delight in the things of God and to bee zealous of good works and resolve to serve honour and obey God in a constant course of life This saving Faith sets a work all other graces and therefore all works of true godlinesse holinesse and righteousnesse performed by the Elect regenerate and sanctified are called fruits of Faith by which their Faith is openly shewed and made knowne as a tree by the fruits of it Quest Which is the proper work of true saving Faith Answ The proper work of it by which all other graces are set a work is a firme and stedfast beleeving with the whole heart of the Word of God and all things therein revealed which concerne their salvation by Christ that is both eternall life in the fruition of God and the way to it Quest What difference is there betweene this beleeving and that which is in Devils and in carnall hypocrites who beleeve these things or at least many of them at some times Answ. There is as great difference between them as between light and darknesse The beleeving of the Elect regenerat proceeds from a supernaturall cause and from a Divine and holyroot even the Spirit of God dwelling in them as Gods immortall seed and sanctifying them and therefore it is holy firme and stedfast and reacheth beyond all hope sense and reason But that of the Devils and carnall hypocrites proceeds from their own naturall reason convinced by sense experience and plaine arguments or by a common illumination of the Spirit shining from without into the hearts of hypocrites and temporary beleevers as we read of Simon Magus Act. 8. 13. and the hypocriticall Iews who beleeved in Christs name when they saw his miracles John 2. 23. And therefore their beleeving is carnall temporary and vanishing and goeth no further than sense and naturall reason do lead The beleeving of the Elect is the subsisting of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. That is they have the things which they beleeve as certainly as they beleeve that they have them and hope for them and their beleeving is a cleare evidence to them of their being in Christ and of their communion with him in grace and of their portion in Heaven which things are not seene with carnall eyes of sense or reason For the Spirit which works this beleefe hath united them to Christ and made Christ and all his benefits theirs already so that their beleeving is infallible and cannot deceive them But Devils carnall men and hypocrites cannot reach so far as to beleeve their own particular salvation in Christ or their having of things thereto belonging And if any of them do at any time Mich. 3. 11. it is but a false and vanishing beliefe In a word whosoever doth by a true saving Faith beleeve historically the Word of God and the truth therein conteined he hath withall an affiance in God and grace to beleeve by all other acts of Faith even to apply to himselfe all Gods promise by beleeving steadfastly that they belong to himself in particular For as the Spirit wch works this faith is the fountain of all grace and unites the beleevers to Christ makes him all his benefits theirs So this Faith necessarily produceth all acts of beleeving in them and makes them able by beleeving to apply to themselvs to enjoy all blessings which are to be found in Christ Quest What benefits do the Elect receive by
beleeving applying of Christs righteousnes to themselves is the justifying act of Faith And whereas the historicall saith of Devils and carnall men is only an assent unto the Word of God that it is true arising from carnal reason and arguments convincing the judgement without any affection to the truth or any relying on it On the contrary every act of beleeving any word or promise of God if it proceeds from a true Faith in the elect is not a naked assent ruled by humane and naturall reason but guided by Gods Spirit and joyned with a relying on God and his Word upon the Divine authority of the speaker and may be brought as an evidence of their salvation may in that respect be called a saving beliefe as we see at large Heb. 11. where beleeving that the worlds were framed by the Word of God And that God would bring a flood upon the world and destroy all except them that were in the Arke made by his appointment and that he would give the land of Canaan to the seed of Abraham the Israelites and after 400 yeares deliver them out of Aegypt and such like acts of beleeving proceeding from an holy spirituall Faith are declared to bee saving Faith Quest How doth actuall beleeving set a work all other graces and increase them more and more in the Elect regenerate and justified Answ. By the sense feeling and sweet fruition of Christ and his righteousnesse satisfaction and intercession it brings us to the sight and experimentall knowledge of the goodnesse bounty love and mercy of God to us in Christ And being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and hereby the holy Ghost sheddeth the love of God abroad in our hearts so that being inflamed with the love of God wee begin more and more to hate and abhorre our owne vile corruptions and sins which are offensive to his holy Majesty We are ashamed and confounded because we have by our sins so often provoked so gracious a God and mercifull Father wee grieve and mourne and sorrow with godly sorrow to repentance wee strive and wrastle against our lusts and by the assistance of the Spirit tame and subdue them so that sinne can no more reigne in our mortall bodies we contend to sollow hard after God to cleave to him in love and to bee still more more united to Christ in love and zealous affection of heart And in holinesse and newnesse of life we study and strive to be conformable to his image and in a word we are stirred up to use all care and endeavour that wee may abound in all good works and still forgetting those things which are behind may reach forth unto those things which are before and presse hard towards the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus In all which workes of saving grace as God moves us by his Spirit so we being moved enabled and made a free people do cooperate and work together with him till we come to the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ and be fitted to see God in glory Quest What outward meanes are to bee used whereby the Spirit of God may worke in the Elect and beget and increase Faith and beliefe with all other saving graces in them Answ. The chiefe outward meanes is the Word of God without which God doth not ordinarily shed his Spirit on them beget them again and by his Spirit work saving grace and the works of grace in them For they are borne again of incorruptible seed that is of the Spirit by the Word of God 1 Pet. 1. 23. and regeneration which is Gods shedding of the holy Ghost on them through Christ and the first saving worke even the ground worke of all other saving graces is not to be found where the Word is not Preached By the Word of Christ the holy Gospell only the Spirit speaks inwardly to mens hearts and leads them into all truth John 16. 13. By the Word preached hee begets Faith for Faith commeth by hearing and none can beleeve except heheare Rom. 10. 14 17. The Word is the whole and perfect rule of Faith and whatsoever the elect beleeve to salvation is conteined in the Word and there only to be learned John 3. 39. The threatenings of the Law are the meanes by which the Spirit discovers to beleevers the danger of sin and their own misery humbles them in their own eies and drives them out of themselves to Christ by repentance The precepts of the Law prescribe to them the right way in which they ought to walk and is a lamp to their feet and light to their steps Psa. 119 105. The Word of the Gospell is the Covenant of life and sets before them the goodnesse bounty love and mercy of God in Christ and by it the Spirit inflames them with the love of God with joy and delight in God and with zeale for his glory and stirres them up to imitate God in works of mercy love and charity and in all holinesse and sanctification till they be conformed to Christ and to serve honour and worship God And in a word the whole Scripture which is the sure infallible Word of God given by Divine inspiration is profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction and for instruction in righteousnes that the man of God may bee perfect thorowly furnished unto all good works 2 Tim. 3. 16. 17. Quest How must the Word of God bee used that it may be such an effectuall meanes of the Spirit to worke all these gracious effects in Gods elect people Answ. It must not only be read out of the Sacred Scriptures in which it is recorded by the Prophets and Apostles but also preached and expounded by godly able and learned Ministers who are called and sent of God Rom. 10. 15. For they are Gods watchmen who have a charge given to watch for mens soules Ezek. 3. 17. Heb. 13. 17. They are his Shepheards and Overseers to feed his flock with his Word the Bread of Life Act. 20. 28. Ezek. 34. 1 Pet. 5. 2. Ephes. 4. 11. And by delivering Gods message faithfuly they obteine this honour to themselves to bee called the Angels of the Lord Mal. 2. 7. and Gods Ambassadours 2 Cor. 5. 20. and to be spirituall Fathers under God who beget children to God in Christ by the Gospell 1 Cor. 4. 15. Quest What other meanes are to be used Answ None but such as God hath prescribed in his holy Word to wit the Sacraments which are seales annexed to the Word publike Prayers Invocation and Worship of God And also good education and private Prayers and instruction and often reading of Gods Word alone and in private Families Quest What is a Sacrament Answ. It is a religious action prescribed by God in which by using outward visible rites consecrated to be signes seales pledges and