Degrees in good things need a like Indulgence from this compassionate and benign Judge Answ. Yes and find it too For these heighths and eminent degrees of Virtue he proposes to all with more resplendant Crowns of Glory to recompence them and noble examples that lead on to them but not as indispensable Articles of Salvation They are required as Things which are hard for any to attain praise worthy to attempt and pardonable to miss of them They are Gems that adorn and set off or Radiant Crowns which surround the brightest Stars but Stars they are still which want these Glories Quest. By this there must be a great Latitude in virtuous attainments on the side of Bliss and Christ will not screw up all he saves to the same certain Standard of perfection or require them all to be of the same size Answ. No the Tenor of the Law it self is only to obey God with all our strength but that strength is more in some than it is in others There are weak as well as strong among Christ's accepted Servants And as different Magnitudes among the Glorified Saints as there are among the Sun Moon and Stars in the Prophet Daniels and St. Pauls or the different Rooms and Mansions of a Stately Palace in our Blessed Lords resemblance Nay St. Paul could say he labour'd more abundantly than they all even among the Blessed Apostles themselves 1 Cor. 15. 10. Thus do very widely distant and unequal virtues all meet in the place of Bliss and are each Beatified in their several Proportions He that soweth much shall reap much and he that soweth little shall reap little saith the Apostle but both are to reap something 2 Cor. 9. 6. And in the Parable according to their several Abilities one Servant improved his Pound to ten Pounds Luk 19. 16. another his to five Pounds v. 18. and a third only doubled his Mat. 25. 22. But yet all these were welcomed with a well done thou Good and Faithful Servant And as he that gain'd Ten Pounds had the Rule over ten Cities and he who gain'd five had Authority over five Cities so he that only doubled his Talents was recompensed with a proportionable Reward Luk. 19. 17 19. and Mat. 25. 22 23. Quest. I see Christ will not require us all to be as tall in Spiritual stature as Apostles but will graciously accept of inferiour virtues and encourage them with proportionable Recompences But what will you say if even these small and slender things are performed with much Difficulty and Reluctance It may be in the little good we do we are not forward to catch at good motions nor presently yield to a virtuous Discourse or good Advice but adhere a while to our own self-will chiefly in cases against our own humour inclinations or former opinions though we do the thing at last after some disputings with our selves And will this gracious Judge accept of such slow and backward services Answ. Yes he that stood out at first and said he would not go work in the Vineyard but after he had better considered of it repented and went is judged by our Saviour to be of the number of those that do the will of his Father Mat. 21. 29 31. Easiness and alacrity in closing with good is a perfection of virtue and shall receive a greater Recompence But if we obey at all though it be with Reluctance and Disputings we shall be in the List of Servants and not of Rebels and receive rewards still though in smaller Proportions Albeit the Flesh lust against the Spirit yet if we do not fulfill its Lusts but the Spirit prevails we walk in the Spirit and are truly Regenerate as St. Paul says Gal. 5. 16 17. Quest. But alas the little good we do is not only thus defective in degrees but is oft-times polluted by impure mixtures When we do an act of honour to God for instance we are too apt perhaps to make it serve our own vanity more or less and to seek thereby our own Praise In censuring and reproving others Vices it may be in some degree we gratifie our own peevishness or other corrupt passions And so in other Cases And can we expect any reward at the hands of this Benign Judge for such impure Services Answ. Yes through his infinite mercy and goodness He is so Candid and inclined to make the most of what is good that he is ready to overlook some compassionable and lesser ill which is twisted with it passing by the ill when they are humbled and sorry for it and not throwing away the good for the evil's sake Thus in the mixt action of the Egyptian Midwives he commends and rewards their Pious Charity and passes over their Officious falseness Exod. 1. 19 20 21. And in Rahab's case he recompences her Faith in the true God and friendship for the Spyes and winks at the insincerity of her feign'd excuse Jam. 2. 25. and Josh. 2. 4 5 9. yea in censuring not only the virtues but the liberties of men when they are justifiable in the main but culpable in some pitiable circumstance he is apt to observe in the Action what may bear it out and when they are humbled for the rest to draw a vail over what may pitiably be connived at as our Lord did in mentioning David's eating of the Shew-bread vindicating him on account of that necessity which authorized not censuring him on account of that falshood whereby he procured it Mat. 12. 3 4. Quest. But is it not said that if we Pray or give Alms or Fast for the Praise of men we shall lose our reward Mat. 6. 2 5 16. Answ. Yes when the main design of our Prayers or Alms or other good Deeds is to be commended and we should not do them but in hopes of that For in Acting Principally for commendations sake we serve our own Pride and Vanity but do not serve God. But when our chief aim in it is to please God he accepts a Good work though some pitiable defect adhere or pardonable faultiness be unwarily let in and combined with it Quest. But in contemplating all this Indulgence of our Judge we must not think his favour will pass into fondness which will bear with all we do and spy no faults in us Answ. No as he is a good and candid so as I noted before is he a most Righteous and just Judge What he will give to our infirmities St. Paul calls moderate and reasonable allowance Heb. 5. 2. He bears in him the most exact temperament of Mercy and Severity being most prone to Mercy in every compassionable Case and as inexorably bent on Justice where 't is reasonable and fit â—o inflict Vengeance Quest. You have shewn me that Christ will use all this Candor in constructions and make these favourable Allowances when we are brought to his Bar upon our Tryals Would he not have us in the mean time to promise to our selves and expect all this
excellent Glory of God the Father we heard when we were with him in the Holy mount and were eye-witnesses of his Majesty 2 Pet. 1. 16 17 18. And the same he repeated again a third time before a Multitude when Andrew and Philip brought the Greeks to him For before them all Jesus Prayed Father Glorifie thy Name And thereupon came a voice from heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again John 12. 28. And this is a most sensible and satisfactory way of God's declaring himself not meerly by shows and resemblances of things which are impressed by Visions and Dreams upon Mens imaginations but by plain proper and significant words such as he used in conversing with Adam in paradise Genesis 3. 8 9. and with Moses at the bush Exodus 3. 4. when assuming a Glorious Light the usual way of shewing himself particularly present he spoke to Men out of it in an audible Voice as sensibly and intelligibly as a Man can talk and discourse with his Friend Quest. Did the Father also testifie Jesus to be the Christ by raising him from the Dead and shewing him openly in full possession of his pretences Ans. Yes on the third day he rose again as we profess in the Creed And Almighty God as S. Peter saith raised him up And hereby he did plainly testifie and vouch for him For after the Jews had done their worst condemning and cruelly executing him in raising him up again God visibly reversed their Sentence and undid what they had done and justified him as one that deserved not to continue under the Power of Death but to live again He was put to Death in the Flesh but justified in the Spirit viz. by that Divine Spirit which raised him from the Dead 1 Tim. 3. 16. He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1. 4. Nay after his Resurrection he set him in Heaven at his own right Hand surrounded with a Divine Glory the usual Symbol of God's Presence and Majesty In which august form he shewed him to Stephen to prepare him for his Martyrdom and to Saul at his Conversion Jesus appearing to them from God's right Hand in a Glory that surpassed the Brightness of the Sun. And having enthroned him there he intrusted him with the Holy Ghost to dispose of it as he pleased a plain Evidence of his having all Power in Heaven as well as on Earth as he pretended Which Power he visibly manifested to all Men not only by sending down the Holy Spirit in all variety of most stupendious Gifts upon his own Apostles but enabling them by imposition of Hands in his Name to confer the same upon innumerable Multitudes of his followers as appears from the Acts of the Holy Apostles and from other Scriptures Quest. I will not ask you for any more Evidence in this great point of Jesus being the Christ such demonstrations as you have insisted on being abundantly sufficient to gain belief from every honest mind that is careful to inquire and willing to be informed And as for others who are wantonly captious or wilfully blind and incredulous they are not to be convinced by Reason and Arguments But building on this now as most unquestionably sure That Jesus is the Christ doth not that undeniably prove the Divine Authority of the New Testament which is his Word Ans. Most certainly it doth For that contains only what he either spoke or acted himself in his Life or ordered his Apostles to do and teach in his Name after his Death The same Proofs and Testimonies which justifie him do authorize it since it only sets out to us all that Word in declaration whereof all the Evidences urged hitherto are to gain him credit Quest. I am fully satisfied of the certainty and have heard enough to convince me of the usefulness and efficacy of Faith in Christ. I would desire now to hear something more of the particular points of that Faith whereof we are to be thus firmly persuaded and whereby such admirable things are to be performed Ans. Those as I hinted at first are summed up in that short Creed into the profession whereof we are all Baptized And that I shall next endeavour to discourse on and explain to you THE Knowledge of GOD OR AN EXPLICATION OF THE Divine Attributes AND PROVIDENCE The Knowledge of God or an Explication of the Divine Attributes and Providence CHAP. I. Of the Being and Attributes of God. The Contents The World declares there is a God. He is an eternal Spirit on whom all things depend Of God's Holiness Several things explained which seem to infringe it as when God is said to harden Mens hearts To inflict Spiritual blindness and a reprobate sense To send a false Spirit to deceive Ahab and strong delusion God oft gives Men up to the delusion of evil Spirits Cautions to prevent this To give Men a Spirit of slumber An account how notwithstanding God's irreconcileable hatred of sin it is still suffered in the World. Of God's Goodness Several false Notions of it In what things it chiefly consists Of God's Justice or Righteousness This shown in giving Righteous Laws And passing Righteous Judgments according to them without respect of Persons His Punitive Justice cleared from misplacing punishments in punishing one for another's sins And from misproportioning them in allotting eternal punishments to momentany sins Some false aspersions on this just God wiped off Of God's Presence in all places The effect of this Of his Faithfulness This shown by inviolable performance of his Promises And interpreting them without evasion or secret reserve according to their plain meanings And by constant adherence to his Friends and Faithful Servants which is no encouragement for any to return to their former sins Of God's Wisdom This shown in setting a just rate and estimate on all things so that he is neither gained nor lost by worthless services In discerning the just power and force of all Means and success of all Methods which should beget the greatest Reverence for all his Ordinances In seeing the best times and seasons for every purpose so that we must never think any Deliverance too long delayed or Affliction too fast hastened No reason to pretend to the Love of God without loving and imitating these Divine Excellencies Question WHat are the Articles of Christian Faith or particular points which we Christians are to believe Answer They are all contained in this Creed commonly called the Apostles Creed I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended into Hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right Hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the
Jewish Doctors note the Power of a destroying Angel on such as have not received the initiatory Rite of Circumcision answerable whereto is that old tradition among them that God exempted their Nation from the Power of the Angel of death to which he subjected the rest of the World when he chose them for his own People and gave them the Law. Or when being once enter'd they either burst out of it themselves or by just excommunication which as our Lord says brings Men back into the state of the Heathen are cast out into the World again For then the Devils obtain more Power over them as S. Paul notes saying of those that grow turbulent in the Church and oppose themselves that they are taken captive by him 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. and calling excommunication a delivering over unto Satan as it throws them out into his Territory and within the verge of his Dominion 1 Cor. 5. 5. 1 Tim. 1. 20. Yea probably their attempts are more greedy and violent upon those who for a while were rescued out of their hands than on others who were held always under them And accordingly in the Parable of the unclean Spirit we are told that if being once driven out of a man he find him empty and naked of Guards and so fit to be made a prey again he takes with him seven Spirits worse than himself when he seeks to enter into him the second time Matth. 12. 43 44 45. 2 Pet. 2. 20. Quest. Would you note any thing else that is like to provoke God to abandon and give us up to these deluding Spirits Ans. Yes to omit others buying and selling of the Truth or acting for Gain against God and a good Conscience When Men forsake God or a good way or thing not out of sincere convictions but secular interests and for worldly gain then doth the Devil enter and take possession of them For his great way is to open the Door by a golden Key and by the offers of gain to get admission And thus he enter'd into Judas taking possession of him by thirty pieces of silver which he preferred before his Master Luk. 22. 3 4 5. And into Ananias getting him into his Power and filling his heart by a desire of keeping the price of his land to himself Act. 5. 3. When Men once put themselves into Satan's hands by putting away a good conscience and professing or acting against convictions they are in the ready way as S. Paul says to make shipwrack of the right Faith and fall under a delusion of their understandings 2 Tim. 1. 19. Quest. But doth not God himself do more than suffer and give way to sin by leaving them to their own Lusts or to Satan as you say to push them on when he talks of giving men a spirit of slumber Rom. 11. 8 10. Isaiah 6. 10. Is not that something positive of his inflicting Ans. 'T is like it is a sending a sluggishness of thought or a dulness and drowsiness of apprehension on them Not such as makes them quite unable to apprehend but only like a drowsie Man more listless heavy and slow in it 'T is eyes wherewith they should not see and ears wherewith they should not hear that is such wherewith they would not because they could not do it easily Rom. 11. 8. Such abatement of intellectual perspicacity and power God sometimes threatens to obdurate sinners saying he will smite them with madness or blindness or astonishment and stupidity of heart Deut. 28. 28. And this is very just thus to impair the perfection of our minds as well as the health and strength of our Bodies in punishment of our sins For both these being his gratuitous and undeserved gifts are reversible in what measure he pleases And he never withdraws them in his wrath from contumacious sinners but on forfeiture and high provocations when they have winked long against the Light and would not see with quick and clear senses It is all in way of Justice and Judicial Process so that there is nothing but what shows a Holy a Just and Good God too in all this Quest. But if God so irreconcileably hates sin why doth he not employ his Power to keep it out Were it not easie for an Almighty God to prevent sin in the World if he would Ans. It is not fit he should make it impossible by putting it out of our power to chuse it And as for such ways as infer no force upon our wills but consist with our free and rewardable avoidance of sin he has not been wanting in them which is all that is to be expected on his part Quest. Why to ease both himself and us of the evil of sin might not God make it impossible and put it out of our power to chuse it Ans. Because that is inconsistent with our Natures who having Flesh as well as Spirit must needs be free to Evil as well as Good. It would leave nothing in us to be commended or rewarded when we do abstain from it there being no thanks due to any Man for omitting what he was utterly incapable to act To make sin impossible is to offer violence to our free and reasonable Natures and to set aside all Laws all Censure and reward of Actions Which no reason will expect a Holy God should do who looks not only at his own Power and Holiness but at the displaying of his Governing-Justice too and the Freedom and Liberty of his Creatures and will take such ways to keep out sin as best comport with all these So that an utter incapacity for it is no way of hindring us free and rewardable Creatures who are not to be irresistably forced and compelled but drawn and persuaded Quest. And has God done all that can reasonably be expected that way to prevent sin Ans. Yes he has given his own Son to die a cruel Death thereby to purchase Mercy for all that truly repent of their sins he has plainly showed and forbid all sin that no Person need be ignorant of it he has threatned it with the most insupportable punishments that all may be afraid to come near it he offers the most incomparable rewards to all that will overcome it and promises the aid of an unconquerable Spirit and Grace to enable all who will strive as they ought to prevail against it In summ having stupendiously brought about by the meritorious Death of his own Son that Mercy should be offered to all Men to pardon and Grace to extirpate and abolish sin he has left nothing wanting but their own wills to perfect the conquest of it And he has done all that for them and set all those things before them which should not force their wills indeed but bend and persuade them to resolve upon such conquest And that is all which ought to be done with free Creatures whose wills are not to be forced but won and persuaded towards its exclusion So that if after
Place of Bliss Of Eternal Life wherein there is Full and unmixed Happiness Of the satisfaction of their Senses Their clear and distinct Knowledge Perfect Holiness And without Reluctance Blissful Companions Perfection of Love and Kindness Honour and Eminence of Place All these to be injoy'd in the Highest Heavens without satiety or weariness For evermore Of the miseries of the Damned in Tormenting Passions The worm of Conscience Fire and Flames Disgrace Under all which no favour of God. No company but of Tormenting Devils and damned Spirits None to condole when they cannot relieve No rest and sleep for Recruit of Spirits No end of their miseries The Use of this The Practical Believer PART II. Of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ. CHAP. I. Of the Office and Natures of Jesus Christ. The Contents In what Salvation by Christ consists Being Christ notes his being 1. A Prophet to teach his Church We must hear and learn of him in the Holy Scriptures and at the mouths of his Ministers 2. A Priest to Redeem and Intercede for it 3. A King to Govern it by his Laws And by his Officers whom we are to submit to in his place Also to Protect it against all visible and invisible Enemies Jesus Christ is the Son of God as having receiv'd from the Father the Nature of God. And the Power of God. On both these Accounts and others he is our Lord. And to be worshipped What we learn from his being our Lord. Of Christ's being Conceiv'd of the Holy Ghost and Born of a Virgin. He was truly Man. And why he was so Quest. WHat is the Second Article of the Creed Answ. And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord. Quest. Jesus signifies a Saviour from what doth Christ save us Answ. From two things 1. Our sins 2. Those eternal Torments which are the Punishment of them Quest. If he prove a Saviour to us must he Reform and save us from our sins Answ. Yes for this is the main Reason why that Name was given him Thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall save his People from their sins Mat. 1. 21. Quest. Will he save none from the Punishment but whom he saves from the sins first Answ. No for except ye Repent ye shall all perish Luke 13. 3. and at last he will say Depart from me ye workers of iniquity Mat. 7. 23. Quest. But when once they are delivered from their sins they may make sure of being freed by him from Eternal Death too Answ. Yes for there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. Quest. Christ signifies anointed among the Greeks as Messiah doth among the Hebrews Messiah if interpreted being the Christ or anointed as St. Andrew said John 1. 41. But what mean you when you call Jesus the Messiah or Christ that is the anointed Answ. His being invested with the Office of a Prophet to teach his Church of a Priest to make Reconciliation and intercede for it and of a King to Govern and Protect it Quest. Why do you call such Investiture his Anointing Answ. Because anciently Investitures into these Offices were according to the Eastern Custom by pouring Oyl upon them as in the case of the Arch-Prophet Elisha 1 Kings 19. 16. and High-Priest Aaron Lev. 8. 12. And in Kings as the Jewish Doctors note when they received not their Office and Authority by Succession but by extraordinary Designation as in the case of King Saul 1 Sam. 9. 16. 10. 1. and King David 1 Sam. 16. 13. Answerable to which Messiah's Designation to his Office which was to include all these is call'd his being Anointed Isa. 61. 1 2 3. Quest. Was Christ invested in these Offices by pouring Oyl upon him Answ. No but by pouring a nobler thing the miraculous Powers and Gifts of the Holy Ghost which install'd him and answer'd to their anointing God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and with Power Acts 10. 38. Quest. Was Christ in the Office and Quality of a Prophet to teach his Church Answ. Yes he was a Teacher sent from God John 3. 2. What he said he spake not of himself but as the Father gave him Commandment so he spake John 12. 49 50. So that the People spoke a great truth when they said This is of a truth that Prophet who was to come into the World John 6. 14. Nay he was not in the rank of an ordinary Prophet but in a pitch of Eminence far above all others For he not only had a Prophetick Spirit resting always on him which the best of them enjoy'd but on certain times and occasions but he knew the will of God by Personal Acquaintance and immediate intuition not barely at second hand by the Message of an Angel or by a Vision or a Dream as they all did The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him John 1. 18. And on this account among others of all Prophets and Interpreters of God's mind he alone is call'd the Word because lying in God's Bosom he had his mind without any thing intervening as immediately as a word expresses ones meaning Quest. What must this teach us Answ. Whensoever we would know the mind of God to seek only unto him and never to hearken to any other New Lights or Enthusiastical Pretenders In all times both in the Apostles days and ours several Impostors and false Prophets have come with pretended Messages to shew men the will of God and the way to Happiness But we are to give ear to none of these this work of communicating God's mind to men not being left at random but peculiarly intrusted with Jesus Christ that great Prophet of the Church who is especially constituted by God and anointed for this purpose This is my beloved Son said God in the voice from the bright Cloud in whom I am well pleased hear ye him Mat. 17. 5. Quest. But how shall we do to learn of him since now he is no more among us here on Earth but is gone to Heaven Answ. Two ways he exercises his Prophetick Office to communicate the mind of God to us 1. By the Scriptures What God told him he first by Personal Converse and afterwards by his Spirit leading them into all truth told the Apostles and Evangelists and they put it in writing in the Book call'd the Holy Scriptures to be preached and published to all others thro' all times So that when we hear them read we must think we hear Christ our great Prophet speaking to us And to be debarr'd or debar our selves of the use of them what is it but to be debarr'd of this great Prophet's free Communication 2. By his Ministers whom he has left and appointed to declare God's mind to the People in his place Thus the Priests were appointed among the Jews The Priests lips should preserve Knowledge and the People should seek the Law
the World by these Pretences Answ. Yes For when the Lord cometh he will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the Counsels of the Hearts 1 Cor. 4. 5. He shall be of quick Understanding in the Fear of the Lord and shall not judge after the sight of his Eyes nor reprove after the hearing of his Ears i. e. barely from outward Appearances but with Righteousness shall he judge the Poor and reprove with Equity even the Meek upon Earth where they are Trespassers Isa. 11. 3 4. And therefore it nearly concerns us to be sincere in all the Goodness we make shew of and to be the same to God as we appear to be to Men For if we dissemble in any thing he will pluck off the Disguise and shew us openly to be Hypocritical Pretenders and disguised Sinners to all the World. Quest. I see we shall be judged then for all our sinful Actions But shall we judged too for all our sinful Omissions Answ. Yes for we are as much bound to do what God injoyns as to forbear doing what he forbids and at that Day he will call us to an account for both Go ye Cursed into everlasting Fire for in my poor Members I felt Hunger and ye gave me no Meat I was Thirsty and ye gave me no Drink a Stranger and ye took me not in Naked and ye Cloathed me not Sick and in Prison and ye visited me not All which are omissions of Duty and for them they are Sentenced Mat. 25. 41 42 43. Quest. I perceive we shall be sentenced for neglecting to fulfill Laws But will Judgment also pass upon us for neglecting to employ or improve our Talents Answ. Yes for the Lord orders the unprofitable Servant who had hoarded up his Talent and made no gain with it to be cast into utter Darkness Mat. 25 25 30. And therefore it concerns all men to whom God has given Leisure or Power or Wealth or Credit or Wit and Parts to look upon all these as Trusts and not to squander them away on Vice or Vanities Sports and Pastimes but as Wise and Faithful Stewards to employ them all for God's service remembring that all these were â—ommitted to them for their Master's â—se and that at the last Day they shall be called to give an account how they have spent them Quest. What say you to our words shall we be judged at the last Day for them too Answ. Yes for by thy words thou shalt be Justified and by thy words thou shalt be Condemned Mat. 12. 37. And this should make all men careful to Govern their Tongues since they must give so strict an account for the abuse of them Quest. Christ there says Men shall give account in the Day of Judgment for every idle word v. 26. what then will become of most men in this world For is not any man that Discourses with freedom liable to utter something that is Idle that is works no good or makes none the better for it Answ. By Idle word there is to be understood every False and Slanderous word such as the Jews had then cast out against him when they said he wrought Miracles through Beelzebub v. 24. Quest. But in this strict Judgment for all our sinful Actions and sinful Words will there be any account still further required for our inward Thoughts and Desires of ill which were never come to act Answ. Yes for at that Day God will Judge the Secrets of men Rom. 2. 16. And when the Lord comes to Judgment he will make manifest the Counsels of the Heart 1 Cor. 4. 5. Quest. But is not every man troubled more or less with ill Thoughts and unlawful Desires and like to be so whilst we bear these Bodies about us Answ. Yes for in the Regenerate themselves the Flesh Lusteth against the Spirit Gal. 5. 17. Quest. How then can any man stand in the Judgment if for these they shall be Condemned Answ. If the bare sudden Thoughts and Desires were Damnable they could not But that for which God will then Condemn men is not all stirring of them but only all yielding to fulfill them Make no Provision for the Flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof Rom. 13. 14. And this the Righteous do not commit or when they do before their Death they Repent of it and amend it Quest. What will be judged yielding to fulfill them Answ. 1. All inward Consent to the fulfilling of them in our hearts tho it may be we cannot do it for want of opportunity For when Lust has thus Conceived it bringeth forth Sin Jam. 1. 15. And our Saviour says Adultery may be committed in the Heart Mat. 5. 28. 2. All Contrivance for the acting and Fulfilling of them after we have consented to them He that Deviseth to do evil shall be called and dealt with as a mischievous Person Prov. 24. 8. And evil Thoughts that is Murderous Machinations and Contrivances are ranked in Guilt and Punishment with Murders themselves Mat. 15. 19. 3. All Actual accomplishment of them in Deed and Practice which is fulfilling the Lusts of the Flesh Gal. 5. 16. And this is more provoking still if it be in a settled Custom and constant Tenor of action which is walking or living after the Flesh Rom. 8. 1. 4. 13. Quest. I perceive then when Christ comes to Judgment we shall all be called to Account for all the sinful Deeds we have done and all the sinful Words we have spoken and all the evil Thoughts or Desires we have consented or endeavoured to fulfill and Condemned for them unless we have sincerely repented of them Answ. Yes Quest. But how will Christ proceed in Judging us for these Things Will he pass Sentence impartially without respect of Persons Answ. Yes All that are equal in Guilt shall be sure to have equal Punishment For the Judge is not capable of being Byassed by Fear or Favour by any Fondness or Indulgence towards any Criminals by any of their Flatterâ—◠〈◊〉 Complements Gifts or Services their Crafty insinuations or tiresom importunities by their Kindred or Families Sects and Opinions But absolutely setting aside all by-Respects he will regard only the Merit of Causes and what doth really influence the Case and Sentence every Man according to the Evidence that lyes against him At that Revelation of his Righteous Judgment there is no Respect of Persons with God. They that have sinned without Law shall Perish without Law and as many as have sinned under the Law shall be Judged by the Law. God will render to every man according to his Deeds Eternal Life to those that have continued in well-doing but Wrath and Anguish on every Soul that doth evil whether Jew or Gentile Rom. 2. 5. to 13. God without respect of Persons judges as every Mans work shall be 1 Pet. 1. 17. Quest. But in judging upon all these Points will Christ do it in Rigor pressing all the Punctilio's and taking all the Advantages of Law
must be in following our Callings with Prudent Care and Diligence And in like sort when we seek to him for any Virtues it must be in the use of such Probable and Discreet ways as are like to make us Masters of them Quest. Would you add any thing further about the use of these means Answ. Yes Fourthly that it be with a Faith in God's Power and Spirit and a confidence of success through that Assistance God has promised his Grace and Spirit to make us Good as well as his Mercy to Pardon us when we are so And we must eye this Promise of his Powerful assistance when we set about any Vertue and Goodness A Faith in his Power is as necessary to make us Good as Faith in his Mercy towards all good Men is to make us desirous of being Good. And to this Faith the Scripture Directs us in working out our Obedience Work out your own Salvation for it is God that worketh in you and so strengthen your Hands in that expectation Phil. 2. 12 13. And we are kept by the Power of God through Faith viz. in that Power unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1. 5. Quest. Is there any other Rule to be observed in seeking these Graces of the Holy Spirit Answ. Yes Fifthly that in all the Time we are endeavouring after them we do nothing to Grieve or annoy him 'T is with him as 't is with every ingenious Person he grows weary of staying where he finds he is not welcome and where men are still taking occasion to displease and pass Affronts upon him And therefore when we are warn'd against several sins to conclude all we are cautioned not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God which is to restrain us from them Eph. 4. 30. Quest. What things will grieve him Answ. The Apostle there particularly mentions obscene Talk and corrupt Communication ver 29. But he is grieved by our consenting to all sorts of Sin for he is a declared Enemy to all of them Especially if we commit any against many of his suggestions and checks of Conscience As David did in the Murder of Uriah after which he was sore afraid lest God should take his Holy Spirit from him Ps. 51. 11. or if we have sinned our selves up to a Custom or take delight in sinning Quest. Doth it offend him knowingly to Neglect and Slight his good suggestions Answ. Yes for he is concerned to have them take Place since he suggests nothing to us but what is most agreable to his own most Holy Inclinations the Honour of God and our Eternal Happiness Let us have that is use Grace that we may serve God acceptably Heb. 12. 28. And therefore let this pass for a Sixth Rule of obtaining his saving Graces to cherish the Good Suggestions he inspires and always improve the Grace he has already given to bring down more from him For to him that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance Mat. 25. 29. In things of Trust this is the way of all Discreet Persons and so 't is his Quest. If we idely neglect and fail to cultivate our Present Grace then he will withhold such further Measures as he Designed us Answ. Yes and after long Patience at last withdraw the former too For from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath Mat. 25. 29. Thus Felix when he trembled at St. Paul's Sermon not fomenting that Fear nor proceeding to improve and penitently resolve upon it fell back and as we have cause to think heard no more of it Act. 24. 25. Quest. These seem Good and plain Rules for the attainment of these Graces of the Spirit And when we are careful to use them may we be confident of his Gift and promise our selves that he will bestow them Answ. Yes for therein he fulfâ—ls the Design of Christ that sent him and gratifies his own inclination And this God has promised and ordered us to expect from him Bidding us seek and we shall find Mat. 7. 7. and declaring how to him that hath shall be given and God will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him Quest. You have shewed me how we are to attain the Graces of the Spirit But if they are thus to be our own Attainment how are they God's Gift And if as you said before God gives them what need we take all this care and Pains to acquire them Answ. If they were an absolute Gift indeed we should not need to do it For when a Gift is absolute no Conditions are required on our part And then no defects in us can hinder nor any dispositions of ours further and make way for it It depends not on any thing in us but is purely God's Act So that nothing is left for us to do towards it But these Graces are not an absolute but conditional Grant before the Spirit gives them he requires something towards them and works them not in all Men but only in those who are prepared for them Some things hinder them and they are to be carefully avoided Others further them and they are to be diligently pursued So that we are not to expect them from God's Grace and Spirit alone unless we our selves also in such sort as I have described concur and joyn with him Quest. By what you have said I perceive how careful the Holy Ghost is to fill our Souls with gracious dispositions Doth he not also refresh them with such Spiritual Joy and Comforts as are apt to result from them Answ. Yes For St. Paul reckons joy and Peace as well as Meekness and Temperaâ—ce for Fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22 23. and Prays that the God of Hope would fill them with all Joy and Peace in Believing and that they may abound in Hope through the Power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. And St Luke says the Churches walked in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost Act. 9. 31. And St. Peter of the Dispersed Strangers that in believing they rejoyced with Joy unspeakable 1 Pet. 1. 8. And therefore good Christians must not affect Scruples or think it any sign of Spirituality to be of a Down-looked and Melancholy Religion Since Joy and Peace a Filial Hope and ingenious chearfulness are Fruits that he loves to produce in them Quest. But doth the Holy Ghost inspire these comforts into all minds wherein he displays his saving Graces which are the Ground of them Answ. He is inclined to do it in all And doth it in one degree or other not always producing Raptures and Transports of Mind indeed but ease and quietness an inward complacency and comfortable Hope if they themselves do not put a Bar against him But some minds he sanctifies are of a Melancholly Temper that is prone to sadness and suspicions especially of themselves Or are frighted by undue-thoughts of God as if he were Stern and Rigorous soon offended but very difficult to be reconciled Or mistake the Gospel Terms as if they were over-rigid
Foundation What mean you by the Foundation of Faith Answ. Such points of it as are the very Bottom and Ground-work of the Christian Covenant whereinto we are all Baptized and whereon the Church is Erected They are such Articles as are the Root of all that Worship and Obedience we are to pay to God of all that Submission Trust and Adoration we are to shew towards Jesus Christ and of all that Labour and Success we are call'd to here in the Prosecution of an Holy Life All the Points of our Christian Faith are a-like True but all Truths are not a-like useful nor all useful Truths a-like necessary 'T is necessary for us to believe all when we are sufficiently shew'd that Christ has taught them But 't is moreover necessary for us all to see he has taught some which are not only to be Believed because they were Revealed but were therefore Revealed because necessary to be Learned and Believed of all that retain to him And these Points which are not only Profitable but necessary to the Worship and Service of God by Jesus Christ and to the maintenance of the Christian Covenant and of the Church which is Built upon it are called Fundamentals Quest. Can you shew me what points are such Answ. One is the common foundation of all true Religion Mosaical and Natural as well as Christian and that is the Belief of the one True God not only of his Being but also of his Providence and Care to Reward those that seek him Thus St. Paul sets down Faith towards God as one Article to be first laid Heb. 6 1. For he that comes to God in any way saith he must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. This Faith in the one true God is overthrown not only when Men overlook or deny him but also when they joyn any Gentile Gods who were Apostate Spirits in Copartnership with him For every true Church must have Repentance from Idols towards God as well as Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Act 20. 20 21. And this is Life eternal says our Saviour to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17. 3. And he is Antichrist saith St. John that denies the Father and the Son 1 Joh. 2. 22. If she cast off the Belief of the one true God the common Principle of all true Religion she is the Congregation of some Faln Spirits which set up for false Gods and not the Church of the Great God of Heaven As well as if she have not Faith in Christ she is no longer Christian. Quest. But when a Church professes Faith in the one true God the common Ground-work of all true Religion What is the Particular Foundation of the Christian Religion Answ. Belief of Jesus being the Son of God and the Christ and of Salvation by his Merits and Mediation When Peter confessed Jesus to be the Christ the Son of the living God our Saviour said upon this Rock will I build my Church Mat. 16. 16 18. And St. Paul says the Foundation which he had laid and other than which no Man can lay is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3. 11. And the compass of saving Knowledge marked out by our Lord himself as I noted is together with the Knowledge of the one true God to know Jesus Christ whom he has sent Whilst any Church retains this Faith in Christ it is Christian and has Right to Baptism as St. Philip declar'd to the Eunuch who was Baptized upon his making this Confession Act. 8. 37 38. But if it denys this Authority of Christ and its dependance upon him for salvation it is thereby unchurched and becomes unchristian like Jewish Mahometane or Heathen Churches and is put out of the ordinary way of Salvation there being no Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we may be saved but his alone Act. 4. 12. Quest. But doth not this Grand Article of Jesus being the Christ and Saviour imply in it sundry other Articles Answ. Yes if we Believe Jesus to be the Christ we must believe all the Holy Scriptures as his Word and they contain all Articles But it more especially implies his Incarnation Passion Resurrection and other great Articles of the Creed which must be expresly owned by every one that rightly understands it And accordingly in the various Repetitions of this Grand Article and Representations of the saving Faith one or other of these is oft-times added and given as the instance of it Believing Jesus to be the Christ the Son of God you may have Life through his Name saith St. John shewing the necessity of this main Foundation Joh. 20. 31. But St. Paul speaking of this Grand Doctrine says I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him Crucified setting out the knowledge of Christ in the knowledge of his Passion 1 Cor. 2. 2. And if thou confess the Lord Jesus and believe God raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved exemplifying the saving knowledge of Jesus in the Belief of his Resurrection Rom. 10. 9. And when he commanded us to preach him saith St. Peter he commanded us to preach and testifie that it is he who is ordained of God to be the Judge both of quick and dead illustrating the Preaching Christ by preaching the Judgment to come Act. 10. 42. Every Spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is of God And every Spirit that confesses it not is Antichrist and not of God saith St. John explaining the Confession of Jesus Christ by the Confession of his Incarnation 1 Joh. 4. 2 3. And speaking of the Record or Witness God had given to the Christian Doctrine he thus declares the matter attested by him This is the Record God hath given us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life Setting off the Christian Religion and the Saving Faith by the Belief of the Life everlasting 1 Joh. 5. 10 11 12. And as for the Belief of the Holy Ghost the necessity of that and of our Dependance on him to make any man a Christian our Saviour has sufficiently expressed by ordering our very Baptism which initiates us into Christianity to be into his Name Mat. 28. 19. All these Points are the very Ground and Foundation of our Subjection to the Father Son and Holy Ghost the Parties we contract withal in the Christian Covenant of all our Adoration Trust and Submission to the Blessed Jesus of our worshipping and serving God by him and of all that Holiness of Life which must gain us the Divine Acceptance on all which Accounts they are necessary and Ground-work Articles of Christian Faith and properly call'd Fundamentals Quest. By this it may seem as if the Believing Jesus to be the Christ were in more explicit words to believe the Apostles Creed since that sets