mischievous wherein Christian moderation and patience hath not place By doing nothing to serve our own passion or interest but all for God's glory onely and publick benefit And to let our hearts even bleed in pitty over those wicked wretches who dye by the hand of Iustice and abate rather then improve the rigour of the law any farther then is necessary for the terror of evil works Such was Ioshuah's carriage to Achan My son saith he give glory to God who nevertheless was ston'd to death We desire then in this petition that God would blot out all our iniquities and remember our sins no more that he would not impute our sins to us but cover our iniquities that he would pardon all that we have done amiss that he would not deal with us according to our iniquities nor reward us according to our sins But that he would deal bountifully with our souls and of his free grace pardon us that he would accept of what Christ his Son our surety hath done and suffer'd for us to take away the sins of the world that he would look upon his death as a sufficient ransome and a perfect atonement for sin that he would sprinkle us with his blood for justification and cloath us with the robes of his righteousness that as our sins were imputed to him for a shameful and cursed death so his righteousness may be reckon'd to us for glory and immortality That he would nail the hand-writing of the law against us to the Cross and bury our sins in his grave that they may never rise up against us neither to shame us in this world nor to condemn us in the next That he would break the rule and dominion of sin as well as free us from the guilt and punishment of it That he would create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us That he would loose us from the bands of death and quicken us to newness of life killing sin in us by the virtue of his death and raising us by the power of his resurrection who dyed for our sins and rose again for our justification That he would sprinkle our consciences from dead works wash away the stains of our natures of our lives though our sins be as red as crimson make them as white as wool That he would keep us from presumptuous sins cleanse us from our secret sins That he would lay the restraints of his grace upon us that we may not break out into foul enormities That he would mortify our lusts and subdue our corruptions and earthly affections That the pollution of our nature and original uncleanness may be done away by the water of Baptism in the layer of regeneration That he would forgive us all the evil of our doing our neglects in duty the sins of our youth and the sins of our riper age the vain imaginations and the evil concupiscence of our hearts every idle and unsavoury word all our wicked and ungodly deeds whereby we have dishonour'd him injur'd our neighbour or abus'd our selves our own sins and our other folks sins our national and our personal sins our civil our religious sins our rebellions apostasyes and our hypocrisy our righteousness our prayers our charity and our very forgiveness it self all the transgressions and violations of his law and the breaches of his holy commandments sins we have committed knowingly or ignorantly wilfully or weakly deliberately or upon surprise with temptation or without all that we know by our selves and that he knows by us who knows our folly and our frailty and how brutish we are that as his mercy is over all his own works so he would stretch it over all our works That he would be graciously pleased to doe what he requires us to doe to love his enemies and bless his persecutors That he would magnify his mercy in pardoning great sins and not let the mercy of man exceed it that he who is abundant in loving kindness and full of compassion would not come short of his creatures that since he has commanded us if our brother offend seventy seven times we should forgive him he would take pattern from his own command and pardon us our repeated abominations wherewith we provoke him every day that he would work in us the grace of repentance and charity and assure us of the forgiveness of our sins by our readiness to forgive others AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION As it was not enough that God should give unless he would also forgive us so neither will a bare forgiveness serve our turn to quit all that 's past unless we may have his assistance to prevent faults to come so that in the preceeding petition we desire to have our former debts struck of the score in this we beg a stock of grace and the supplyes of the spirit that we may run in debt no more nor fall into any more sin So that we intreat God to deal with us as a tender mother with her little one that 's yet unable to goe alone who takes it up when it catches a fall and holds it when 't is up that it may not fall again There we call'd for pardon here we ask for strength having been often foil'd by the tempter we implore spiritual aid that God would enable us to resist Satan that he may fly from us to withstand evil so that having done all we may stand That belong'd to justification whereby we are reconciled to God this pertains to sanctification whereby we are made like unto God who is both all good and is not tempted of evil AND. The Petitions which concern us have mutual connexion with and dependence upon one another Give us and forgive us and Lead us not but deliver us whereas the others which concern God stand apart and are not so coupled and joyn'd together because they are of themselves intire and compleat and one granted naturally infers the rest every thing that belongs to God being like himself infinite His Name his Kingdom and his Will each in a manner severally including the other two so that his glory is sufficiently provided for if any of them hold good For his name cannot be hallowed unless his Kingdom come and his will be done too And if his Kingdom come his will must needs be done and his name will be hallowed Or if his will be done t is a certain sign his Kingdom is come and his name as sure will again be hallowed But the benefits we crave for our selves are partial and such as God often disjoins gives apart as 't were by piece-meals For many times he bestows bread and an outward estate where he doth not vouchsafe pardon and peace of conscience nor gives grace alway to prevent the commission of future sins where he forgives sins past Some men are rich to their hurt and their fulness of bread is a curse whilest their abundance doth but
in the New He that believes shall be saved That Covenant of Grace I say is not without good reason styl'd the New Covenant according as God himself promis'd by the Prophet even in the time of the Law that he would make a new Covenant I will be their God sayes he and they shall be my people And seeing that Christ's death hath put an end to the sacrifices formerly us'd for the ratifying of that Covenant though in substance God's Covenant both with the Iews and with the Christians be all one yet in respect of a different administration and a new and clearer dispensation This may well be call'd the New Testament That the Old WHICH IS SHED Truly yet mystically and spiritually in this Sacrament as sure as the wine by which it is represented is now powred out into the cup for your use For it cannot be conceived that when he spake these words he did really bleed it being before his Passion but he having taken our flesh and our blood on no other purpose then to break the one and shed the other for us he speaks of that as already done which was in God's everlasting counsel decreed to be done in which sense he is call'd the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Which is shed then is no more then which is to be shed which shortly will be shed and which partly had already bin shed for Christ spilt not all his Blood at once but at several times as at his Circumcision when he paid the first fruits of it to the Lord in his agony when he swet clots of blood at his scourging when he was cut with whips at his crowning when the thorns pierc'd his sacred head and the scoffs more his heart and lastly at his Passion when the nails fastned his hands and feet to the Cross the launce gored his blessed side so that there gushed out water and blood in such streams that his most holy Soul together with his Blood left him FOR YOU In your stead and to your benefit For I having taken upon me the office of a Mediator betwixt God and men am to undergoe that punishment which was due to to man for sin wherefore because by the decree and Law of God there is no atonement without shedding of blood I also am ready to powr forth mine that you being sprinkled with it may be acquitted from the sentence of the Law and justified in the sight of God Seeing that it will be but just that what I your surety have done and suffer'd in your behalf should satisfie the Iustice of God and discharge you from guilt and the penalty of the Law all one as if you your selves had done and suffer'd it One Evangelist hath it For many or rather Concerning many and then it may be understood of things to wit Sins which Christ's Blood did atone Wrath which it appeased the Law which it satisfied Guilt which it frees from Filth which it washes off and the Ceremonies which it put an end to And to all these purposes was Christ's Blood shed But if it be taken for persons it may have the same meaning as that For you The Greek word frequently importing the whole multitude so the Apostle to the Romans layes the comparison betwixt the old Adam the new that as by one man's disobedience all men became sinners so much more by Christ's obedience should many be made righteous Now the advantage of this comparision would come to nothing were not Christ's death of as universal influence for the justification of mankind as Adam's sin was for the condemnation though indeed the benefit thereof doe redound to none but those who doe with true Faith lay hold upon it i.e. to the elect alone and true believers who yet in respect of the rest that perish in their sins through unbelief cannot be call'd the many For many are call'd but few are chosen And no question but it was Christ's intent to tast death as 't is said for every man none excepted but who would wilfully run into damnation by despising so great salvation And that the many may thus mean the All is clear by other places where a word of the largest extent is us'd to wit the world which cannot in propriety of speech be applyed to signify the Church onely God so loved the world that he gave his Son and Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world and is a propitiation not for our sins alone viz. that are believers but for the sins of the whole world also FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS Whereas the Law doth pronounce sentence of death upon those that transgress it for the soul that sinneth shall dye And all men are concluded under sin for there is none righteous no not one and in thy sight shall no flesh be justified It was impossible for one that was meer man either to perform the Law or avoid the punishment had not Christ who was God as well as Man interposed For no man was ever either by gifts of nature or by the supplyes of grace advanc'd to that pitch of perfection that he could perform an exact obedience to all God's commands We have sinned all saith the Apostle and if we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us Nay supposing one's life never so spotless yet cannot we make amends for that natural uncleanness of original sin which we are born with and which as soon as we live forfeits us to death according to the threatning In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death Wherefore what was wanting in us Christ made up with the merits of his obedience who having fulfill'd the Law and being in himself altogether free from guilt became sin for us and was reckon'd amongst transgressours that we might be justified by his blood and sanctified by his spirit Our sins then are by his death done away so that if we lay hold on him by Faith that we may receive the benefit of his death we that are guilty must be acquitted because our surety that was guiltless was condemned we shall live because he dyed we shall escape the wrath which he underwent and our sins must be forforgiven because his innocency was censur'd so that now God stands oblig'd by his faithfulness and justice too to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all iniquity He is but faithful when he keeps his word and performs his part of that Covenant which he made with us in his Son and he is but just when our surety has paid the debt to discharge us Now this Sacrament being a seal of the Covenant doth assure us of that forgiveness and seals to our heart by the sprinkling of blood and the operation of the spirit a pardon of our sins and does withall oblige us to Faith and repentance which are the conditions without
and a praise to the good And as he hath corwn'd all mankind with honour and dignity giving them dominion over their fellow-creatures so he hath put that Majesty upon rulers whom he hath appointed to govern their fellow-men who else without lawes and order would be little better then beasts that they may be looked upon and observ'd with that reverence as if they were earthly Gods I have said ye are Gods but ye shall dy like men They are God's anointed ones and honour'd of him accountable only to him required therefore to do their homage and kiss the Son least he be angry And as they must like all other men dy so they must also appear before the judgement-seat of God Kings to their subjects dreadful stand O're Kings themselv's is Gods command He hath all the royalties that belong to an Imperial Crown a righteous Scepter righteous lawes loyal subjects glorious priviledges blessed rewards for the obedient and great punishments for the disobedient Not ought Kings of the earth to be impatient at mutinous and rebellious spirits when God himself wants not those who rise up against him and which may set them a copy of princely clemency to write their acts of grace after gives gifts to the rebellious leaving some of them as monuments of his mercy though too others he make trophies of his justice I might note that sure Kingship is the best form and model of government since God himself rules under that title that the Regicide is a kind of Deicide and when subjects dare mate their soverain and contrive a Common-wealth to justle out the Kingdom they do but challenge divine vengeance for that which perhaps their injur'd princes forces cannot chastise and call upon themselves Lucifer's fate who left his first estate by clambering higher whose pride prefer'd him to the principality in Hell where he gnashes his teeth and curses God who questionless hath been that Angel of light that hath cloak'd sedition with the name of Godliness and taught the late teachers to despise dominion and speak evil of dignities and blaspheme the name of Kings And all nature hath by instinct followed divine example gathering it self as much as may be into oneness making every sort of creature almost submit to monarchical rule and preaching as it were the Apostle's lesson Be not many masters But the sad experience of these nations in the time of tyranny and the wonderfull providence of God in the restitution hath sufficiently convinc'd all honest English of this truth that That government is best which is likest God's to wit a Monarchy a Kingdom Now God hath a twofold Kingdom one universal at large all the world over the other particular and special his Church For he is King of the nations and King of the Saints or we may say a threefold Kingdom in respect of the different administration of this later according to the different condition of the church militant here on earth or triumphant in heaven to wit a temporal spiritual and eternal Kingdom or the Kingdom of his power the Kingdom of grace and the Kingdom of glory By his power he governs the whole fabric of the world disposes of all things appoints seasons sets bounds to human power over-rules their purposes stills the raging of the Sea and the madness of the people raises up casts down kills and makes alive strikes the earth with his thunder and darts forth his lightnings the winds obey him blow only where he lists All things are his servants and he doth what he pleaseth both in heaven and in earth By his grace he governs his Church sets up his throne in the hearts of his people appoints officers gathers the elect and rules them by his word and spirit conquers sin and death kills our corruptions subdues our lusts and treads Satan under our feet and breaks the powers of hell that the gates thereof shall not prevail against the church guids the faithfull ones in his wayes tryes their patience exercises their faith teaches them his lawes that they may observe his statutes and ordinances defends the Saints and is a sun and shield to direct and protect them that neither the Devil nor wicked men can doe them any hurt rewards those that doe or suffer any thing for his sake punishes offenders and persues the impenitent and such as obstinately stand out his calls and tenders of grace and go on presumptuously in their evill way with the fury of his indignation afflicting them with bodily plagues temporal calamities and spiritual judgements as blindness of mind hardness of heart c. giving them up to their own shamefull lusts and a reprobate mind into the power of the divel and either passing final sentence upon them in this life or reserving them till the great Assises of the last judgement In the Kingdom of glory as he himself is call'd the King of glory he sits on his Throne incompass'd with millions of Angels and blessed Saints who fall down before him and sing praises to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb. This is to have it's beginning when the other two end not to be compleated till the last day when the Angels gather the elect from the four corners of the earth whom God shall reward with everlasting bliss when he shall send the ungodly to Hell where the worm never dyeth and the fire never goes out Then those who were sufferers shall be conquerers and wear a never-fading crown I have fought a good fight saith St. Paul and henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness All the Saints then shall be Kings there shall be the glorious orders of pure Virgins that defiled not themselves of blessed Coâ—â—essors that were not ashamed of their profession of holy Martyrs who lov'd not their soules to death of Prophets the Harbingers of Christ and Apostles the heralds of the Gospell and all the quire of Heaven singing Halleluiahs This is that Kingdom of Christ which he said was not of this world for which he despised the shame with which his servants that have a tast of the heavenly gift and are afforded the earnest of their meditations a sight of the heavenly Canaan and glorified transfiguration as from Pisgah and on mount Tabor are so ravished and deeply affected that they must needs cry come Lord Iesus come quickly Thy Kingdom come COME i.e. appear and show it self may its interest be promoted may it get ground and inlarge it self may it be seen that the Lord is King let the people be never so unquiet may it come into our hearts and rule there and beat down every proud imagination that lifts it self up against God may Christ hasten his coming illustrious presence which the Iews Liturgy is ful of even to this day the coming of Messias Now there is a twofold advent or coming of Christ mentioned in
the head this in the heart Again Faith is divided into Historical Temporal and Saving Faith The first the Divels have who believ and tremble The second is of hypocrites who believe for a time and fall off The last doth properly belong to the elect who are therefore called Believers and the faithfull who hold out to the end live by their Faith Now Faith is a full perswasion of mind and a sure confidence by which we depend upon him in whom we believ IN GOD. We are said to believ a God when we acknowledge that there is a God and he that is such an one as he hath discovered himself in his word and works to believ God when we are perswaded that his word is the very truth and that whatsoever he hath promis'd or threatned in holy Scripture shall surely come to pass to believ in God when we place all our hope and trust in his power and goodness who both will help those that trust in him because he is a Father and can because he is Almighty God is of an infinite nature which exceeds all bounds of time or place much less can be comprehended by our shallow understanding we cannot know but we must believ and this very Faith doth as much exceed reason as reason doth sense in evidence and certainty The Holy Trinity by which three Persons are one God and the Incarnation of the Word by which two Natures meet into one Person are high and deep mysteries not to be reached by the eye not to be fathom'd by the plummet of our reason but Faith takes the heighth with a Iacob's staff and humble Hope fastens her Anchor in the bottom of this depth and diffusive Charity embraceth the whole compass of Divine truth THE FATHER The Deity is distinguished into three Persons the Father the Son and Holy Ghost and these Three are One and the same God the Father begets the Son the Son is begotten of the Father the Holy Ghost proceeds from both the Father and the Son God is the Father also of all things for of him and to him and through him are all things ALMIGHTY Who can doe all things and doth whatsoever he pleaseth both in Heaven and in Earth neither is there any thing too hard for him for who hath resisted his will Yet God cannot lye call back yesterday or make the same thing to be and not to be at the same time for these are marks of extream impotence not omnipotence and God would not be God if he could doe them MAKER God's power is not idle Even before he made he decreed to make and his thoughts were busy about the work of creation from eternity He made not as workmen doe of stuff lying before them for he made all things of nothing nor with pains and weariness for he spake and they were made He did not only make the world and then leave it to it's self as Masons doe houses they build but he preserves and governs too and disposes all events to his own glory OF HEAVEN AND EARTH That is of the whole world whereof heaven and earth are the principal parts He spred out the earth as a floor and built up the wals and laid the roof of heaven he stored the elements with several creatures the heaven with stars as lamps hung out the aire with birds the water with fishes the earth with beasts He made heaven earth and all things therein contained in the space of six dayes but the chief of all his works were Angels the citizens of heaven and Men the inhabitants of the earth made after his own likeness and indued with understanding and excellent gifts But some of the Angels with Lucifer by reason of pride left their station and turned Divels All mankind fell in Adam by disobedience from a state of innocence and happiness into a state of sin and misery so that by nature we are the children of wrath but by grace become the children of God and that by means of the Son of God who became the Son of Man that he might save the children of men The second Article Here begins the part of the Creed concerning Christ the second Person Now Christ is considered either in his Person or in his State which is two-fold the state of Humiliation and the state of Exaltation And in Iesus Christ his onely begotten Son our Lord. The Person of Christ consists of two natures Divine and Humane for as soul and body make up man so God and man are one Christ. He is described here by his names titles The names are Iesus and Christ by which are noted his offices The titles which are given him that he is the only Son of God and our Lord shew partly his essence partly his dignity AND. He who believes the Father must also believ the Son for he who denieth the Son hath not the Father IN. It must be the same saith by which we believ Father and Son since both Father and Son are the same God I and the Father are one saith he and therefore as Ye believ in the Father believ also in me JESUS That is Saviour for he came into the world to save sinners that he might reconcile God and man and recover fallen man out of the state of sin and misery into a state of grace and glory He saves from sin and from the punishment due to sin and freeth us as well from the power as guilt of sin CHRIST Messias in Hebrew and Christ in Greek is all one as in Latin anointed Now three kinds of men were wont to be anointed that is to be consecrated to their office by powring oyl upon their heads to wit King Priest and Prophet Christ was anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows that is extraordinarily furnisht with gifts of the holy Spirit Melchizedeck was King and Priest Samuel Priest and Prophet David Prophet and King Christ alone the thrice greatest King Priest and Prophet King by subduing our enemies the world the flesh and the Divel and ruling our hearts by his word and spirit Priest by offering up a perfect sacrifice for us satisfying divine justice for our sins and by blessing us by a perpetual intercession Prophet by revealing the will of the Father and discovering to us all things which belong to salvation HIS ONELY BEGOTTEN SON God hath many sons but Christ is the onely begotten God is stiled the Father of lights and the Father of spirits and the Angels are called the sons of God Magistrates children of the most High because they resemble him in power and dignity and all Godly men are by grace made the children of God Now there is a vast difference betwixt Christ and these All creatures by creation blessed spirits by imitation Princes and Rulers by institution Believers by adoption become God's children But Christ alone is his Son by eternall generation of
beam and his holy feet closed together to the upright beam of the Cross exposed him naked to publick shame being hung betwixt two theevs in a place without the city at the Feast of Passeover and when he had given up the ghost with many pains and groans a souldier pierced his side with a launce that that saying might have place they shall look on him whom they have pierced DEAD By the separation of soul and body for his body remain'd upon the Cross and his soul return'd immediately to God as himself told the penitent theef This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He was not born after an ordinary manner neither dyed he a common death for as much as beside the extream pain he suffered whilest he hung with the weight of his body upon the Cross and the great shame to which he lay open he lay under a curse the Law pronouncing him cursed that hangs upon the tree AND BURIED Taken down from the Cross embalm'd with spices wrapped up in fine linnen and laid in a tomb where none had lay'n before by the care and cost of Ioseph of Arimathea And the malice of his enemies persued him beyond death and attended him to his very grave who that he might not rise again as himself had promised rolled a great stone to the mouth of the tomb and clapping on their own seals set a guard to watch him HE DESCENDED INTO HELL That is he went down into the lower-most parts of the earth and for the space of three dayes remain'd in the grave amongst the dead Or as some expound it he suffered the pains of Hell and the wrath of God due to our sins and underwent the curse of the law and terrours of conscience to which we were lyable Others take the words as they sound of the place that he did coveigh himself into the regions of darkness and discovered to the divels and to the wicked spirits the glory of his presence and routing the powers of Hell leading captivity captive and trampling Satan that old serpent the enemy of mankind under his victorious feet according to the first Prophesie of Christ The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head And in this sense this article is the beginning of Christ's exaltation The other degrees are his Resurrection his Ascension his Sitting at the right hand of God the Father and his Coming to judgement THE THIRD DAY After that he had lain three dayes in the grave as Ionas who ws the type of the Son of Man continued three days in the whale's belly It being observ'd that on the fourth day the body begins to corrupt which was not to happen to Christ David thus speaking concerning him My flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption Wherefore early in the morning on the third day which was for that reason appointed the Christian Sabbath HE ROSE AGAIN Partly raising himself by his own virtue and divine power as himself saith I lay down my life that I may take it up again I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Partly being raised by God the Father who when his Iustice was fully satisfied released Christ out of the prison of the grave and to that purpose sent his Angels to roll away the stone death having now no more dominion over him who having finisht the work of our redemption rose again for our justification FROM THE DEAD He return'd to life appeared to his Disciples and others several times shewed the wounds which he had received on the Cross and made Thomas who was hard of belief to feel his side that he might know it was a true body And having for fourty dayes together conversed upon earth and given orders to the Apostles how they should goe into all the world and preach the Gospell and plant churches promising them the assistance of the spirit he took his leave of them in this manner as followeth HE ASCENDED In the sight of his Apostles from the top of mount Olivet where he had bin formerly used to spend much of his time in holy retirements and spiritual exercises he lifted up himself from the ground and so mounting upward through the aire was received by a cloud and to the wonder of them all carried aloft out of sight two Angels telling them as they stood gazing that as they had seen him goe away so he should come again INTO HEAVEN The seat of the blessed where God sits on his Throne attended by millions of Angels far above the sphear of the stars the sky to wit the highest heaven For having dispatched the business for which he came down on earth he return'd to the Father by whom he had bin sent to intercede with him in our behalf and make out to us thence the benefit of all those things which he had done and suffer'd for us here And having conquer'd sin and death and broken the power of Hell what remains but that he should as in triumph ride upon the wings of the wind ascend to Heaven as the prize of his glorious conquest AND SITTETH To note that he hath fully accomplished the work of our Salvation he is said at last to sit down that he may as it were rest from his labours For the servant stands or goes whilest he is employ'd and sits not down till his work be done Now Christ put on the form of a servant and came as he saith of himself to wait not to be waited on That he sits also is a token of that authority which the Father hath given him having delivered unto him all power both in heaven and in earth and put all things under his feet So God sits in Heaven to order all things at his pleasure Again to sit sometimes signifies stay he sits there not to return before the end of the world Lastly by this word is expressed the blessed and glorious condition of the Saints in the life to come who shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore to shew the greatness of the dignitie to which Christ according to his humane nature is advanced is added At the right hand of God the Father Almighty The right hand usually expresseth strength and honour power and glory besides to give the right hand is a sign of fellowship and friendship wherefore God calls him the man my fellow Now to speak properly God hath no right hand or left nor any bodily parts but that he may apply himself to our capacities he doth use to speak of himself after the manner of men Becuse earthly Princes are wont to place those at their right hand whom they favour and would shew a particular honour as Solomon entertained his mother The meaning is that God hath raised him to the highest pitch
of honour set him above Angels principalities and powers and hath committed to his trust the Government of the world FROM THENCE To wit out of Heaven whither he ascended and where he now is Christ God Man at the last day in the end of the world riding upon the clouds shall shew himself and HE SHALL COME Attended with innumerable Angels and Saints with the voice of a Trumpet in a glorious manner to the joy of his servants and the terrour of his enemies TO JUDGE For all mankind shall be gathered together from the four quarters of the earth and we must all appear before the Iudgment-seat of Christ to give an account of our works Then shall the books be open'd and every man's conscience shall witness against him and that which hath bin done in secret shall be made known and the thoughts of the heart shall be discovered Then righteous sentence shall proceed from the Iudges mouth according to the Law and the Gospell Then shall be put a difference betwixt the good and bad the righteous and the wicked when God shall reward his servants with a Crown of Glory and destroy his enemies with an everlasting destruction endless torments There is a twofold coming of Christ Christ came first to be judged the second time he will come to judge THE QUICK Those who shall then be found alive who shall be suddenly changed in the twinckling of an eye and without death shall pass from death to life AND THE DEAD For the dead shall rise again as many as from the beginning of the world throughout all ages have lived upon the face of the earth and though they have been mouldered into dust or torn by wild beasts or buried in the waves of the Sea yet they shall take up the very same bodies again to which the soul may again be united God's power bringing this about and his justice so requiring it that every man may in his body reap the fruit of those things which he hath done in the body I BELIEV With the same Faith by which I believ the Father and the Son I believ also in the third Person of the holy and blessed Trinity Being verily perswaded that he is true God and the power of the most High depending upon his assistance and finding by experience that whatsoever good I either doe or have comes all from him IN THE SPIRIT He is therefore called Ghost or Spirit because he partly proceeds from the Father and the Son by way of breathing partly because he breaths into us good thoughts and holy desires wherefore it is added HOLY Seeing that he is not only Holy in himself with such holiness as far exceeds all other blessed Spirits both Angels Saints but also makes us holy by an effectual working of grace in our hearts He it is that applyes the benefits of Christ's death unto us and makes us partakers of the salvation which he hath purchased for us by his blood The holy Prophets and Apostles were the penmen of the Holy Ghost who wrote as they were inspired by him He gathers the Church by the Preaching of the word having furnisht the Apostles with the gifts of tongues provided a ministry and other holy ordinances for the propagation of the Gospell filling up the number of the elect and bringing souls to life THE CHURCH The company of believers whom God hath ordained to life before the foundation of the world was laid whom he hath called out of a state of sin to the profession of Faith in Christ and a holy conversation whom he also doth rule by his Word and Spirit HOLY Gathered and guided by the Holy Ghost distinguished from the rest of the world by holy appointments adorning their profession with holy works CATHOLICK or Vniversal in respect of time place and persons being to last through all ages of the world spread abroad over all quarters of the earth consisting of men of all ranks and conditions God having shut the gate of his Kingdom to none but such as wilfully refuse to enter Now the Holy Ghost bestows upon the Church which he gathers by the word and sanctifies by grace these Blessings which follow THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS Whereby the Saints who are the faithfull ones the chosen and the children of light are united to Christ as their head and amongst themselves as members of the same body the Church drawing virtue life and efficacy from Christ and performing to one another all offices of Charity as being knit together with a spirit of love and bond of peace THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS Which the spirit on our unfeined repentance assures us of by applying the merit of Christ and sprinkling our consciences from dead works with his blood which he powred forth to be a price of souls neither doth he onely seal to our hearts a pardon of former offences shewing us the favour of God reconciled in his Son but doth withall give us power to resist sin for the time to come cleansing us from every defilement of the flesh and spirit subduing our lusts changing our wils and renewing our natures according to righteousness THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY For in the last day when Christ shall come to judgement the trump shall sound and the dead shall arise with the very same bodyes that they had before and every one shall receive according to his works For as much as the wicked shall be thrown into Hell there to be tormented with the Divel with the worm which never dyes and the fire which is never quenched But the good shall enter into LIFE EVERLASTING Where they shall rest from their labours and enjoy God for ever living in abundance of joys and pleasures which neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor can the heart of man conceiv And all these things I believ not onely with an Historical Faith but appropriate unto my self being fully perswaded that God made me by his power preserves me by his goodness and provides for me both in soul and body by his infinite wisdome And that the Son of God whatsoever he hath done or suffered he performed and underwent for my sake that I through him might live And that the Spirit of God dwelleth in me working in me Faith Repentance that I am a true member of the Church that my sins are forgiven me that I shall rise again and see my Redeemer with these eyes who shall out of his free bounty reward me his unworthiest servant with the Glory which shall have no end FINIS THE EXPLANATION OF THE TEN COMMANDEMENTS The Ten Commandements Exodus xx GOD spake all these words saying I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth
Mercyes to them and theirs after them who have a respect for me and a care to keep my commands Now if we would take notice how full the world is of Idolatry when neer three parts of four in the whole habitable world are Mahumetans and Pagans and the greatest part of Christianity is ingag'd in Image-worship what cause have we to fear the severest judgements of a jealous God How guilty has this Land of late been of the basest Idolatry in the blasphemous addresses to usurping powers and imputing the villanous artifices of wicked men to the holy Spirit of God How have schisms like armyes of locusts over-spred and eat up the Churches of God in these Nations every one severally inventing falâ—â— wayes of worship and setting up thâ—â— abomination of desolation How has Idolatry and Antichristian doctrine prevail'd amongst us and been eagerly assisted by a seeming opposition How many Corahs Dathans and Abirams have been own'd follow'd by giddy multitudes that have offer'd strange fire and maintain'd rebellion against the sacred orders and institutions of the Church What credit hath Sorcery and Astrology of late years gotten that many have forsaken their own prudence and God's providence too and given themselves up to a lying spirit How is Self and Sin made the great Idol of all our devotions and how do we every day provoke God to jealousy with our lusts Sure then we have great reason to pray in the Churches words Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law As the second gives order for the carriage of our Body so the third sets down a rule for the chief part of the body the Tongue That prescribes postures This regulates our speech That takes care for Gods Worship This for his Name It likewise consists of two parts the Precept it self and the Reason of the precept THOU SHALT NOT TAKE to wit into thy mouth thou shalt not mention make use of God's name in thy ordinary discourse And more particularly thou shalt not swear as the three Eastern Interpretations have it exactly to the Hebrew phrase for to lift up God's Name signifies to swear and so in the 24. Psalm He that hath not lift up his soul to vanity is expounded by the words immediately following That has not sworn deceitfully THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD. God's Name is here put not only for those appellations whereby he is distinguish'd but for the divine Attributes also for his Word and his Works and all other discoveries which he makes of his Essence power wisdom goodness as has been said before in the first Petition of the Lord's Prayer IN VAIN Idly to no purpose rashly upon every slight or silly occasion in common talk or in any frivolous matter without due reverence and heedfulness or falsly in the defence and justification of a lye and thus the word in its latitude includes the three qualifications of an Oath that it be made in judgement in justice and in truth The reason follows FOR THE LORD WILL NOT HOLD HIM GUILTLESS THAT TAKETH HIS NAME IN VAIN i.e. He will not clear and acquit him and let him scape unpunish'd that shall dare to call the all-knowing God to witness a lye Two Observes that word Iehovah or Lord helps us to as having a double Emphasis One is that however a false or a vain swearer may pass as to the notice and penalty of humane Lawes God will find out the offender and punish him Another is that it is said here only the Lord whereas before 't was said the Lord thy God to shew that perjury and rash oaths are sins of that nature that God will not only punish his own people for but even the Heathens and Infidels whose Lord indeed he is but he is not their God And Heathen story is full of such examples wherein the breach of oath has been constantly followed with remarkable vengeance And that is intimated in that negative threat which signifies more then it speaks out He will not hold him guiltless meaning that he will most certainly punish The sense of the Command then is this Thou shalt not use my Name upon a design of cheat and to cover a lye thou shalt not forswear thy self by calling me to witness a known falshood and thus call some heavy vengeance upon thine own head But thou shalt when thou art call'd by the Magistrate thereunto bear faithfull witness to the truth which thou knowst and shalt make good thy promises Thou shalt not blaspheme my Name by rash and needless oaths nor upon every mean paultry occasion make mention of it but shew a reverence and a regard to it and take it into thy mouth with solemn care and weighty consideration When necessity so requires and Authority commands for the decision of strife and to put an end to controversie thou shalt swear by me and by me alone who onely know the secrets of hearts and am able to avenge the falshood Thou shalt have an awfull respect for every thing that belongs to me thou shalt peruse my word with diligence and attention reading and hearing and meditating in it day and night It shall never depart out of thy mouth Thou shalt honour my Ministers the Preachers of my Word the dispensâ—rs of my holy Ordinances Thou shalt magnifie and praise my Name in the remembrance of all my wondrous works Thou shalt take notice of my Iudgements and my mercyes and in all events speak well of my Name and whatsoever falls out in the affairs and interests of the world to say still the Name of the Lord be praised And to conclude Thou shalt walk in my fear in thy distress call upon my Name be frequent in Prayer and in praise lift up thy heart and thy voice to me who hear in Heaven and so order thy conversation that thou mayst not cause my Name to be evill spoken of but shalt live suitably to thy holy profession that all that see thy good works may glorifie me and by thy example may be taught to love and fear my Name Let us but take a view of our selves and see whether we are such as the Lord will hold guiltless Have not we taken the Lord's Name in vain when generally it has been used as a stale to base interest and a cloak for hypocrisie and tyranny when our Pulpits have prefix'd the Name of the Lord to the blackest designs and those who would be thought strictest in prosessing the Name of the Lord have set on foot rebellion under the title of the Cause of God when there has been such breaking of Oaths and making of Covenants against the Laws of God and man In so much that for our swearing backward and forward as the villany of these late times has taught men to doe we may justly be term'd the perjur'd Nation when our orthodox teachers have been thrown into corners with indigence and contempt that the basest of the
commands partly promises The command hath in it a mission Goe a commission teach and Baptize The promise is that whosoever believeth and is Baptis'd shall be saved GOE YE INTO ALL THE WORLD Christ himself being sent to the lost sheep of the House of Israel confin'd his own walk within the bounds of Iewry but at his death the vail of the Temple being rent in twain and the partition wall broken down all other Nations of the world were receiv'd into the covenant of grace and made partakers of that salvation which the Iews put from themselves In order to this the Apostles were furnisht with the gift of tongues to the end that they might discourse with all people in their own language of which they gave a notable essay at the Feast of Pentecost and not long after they had meeting and agreed amongst themselves what quarter of the world every one should take upon him as his Province and accordingly travell'd some one or other of them over all the parts of the known world at least there being yet remaining in several places of the East in Asia as amongst the Chineses and the Indians and of the South in Africk as amongst the Abyssines under the command of Prester Iohn that is the Apostolick Prince c. several monuments of the Apostles preaching Nor are there wanting in America it self footsteps of the Gospel as in the Island of the Holy Cross. AND TEACH ALL NATIONS or preach the Gospell to every Creature Now indeed does the Sun of rightteousness being the light that enlightens every one that comes into the world set forth upon his course and makes his compass from one end of Heaven to the other darting forth the rayes of his heavenly Doctrine to all Nations and diffusing light and heat by the Apostles no otherwise then the Sun in the Firmament makes his passage through the twelve signs of the Zodiack By this means Churches were planted up down Cities and countryes converted to the Faith and the sound of the Gospel went throughout the world What an excellent story would the rest of the Acts of the Apostles have made if they had bin committed to writing or preserved as St. Paul's and Peter's were whereas we have scarce any thing of them but fable and the variety of changes since and ferity of the nations at present makes it almost impossible to find out the truth of their travels acts and strange successes BAPTIZING This hath a double meaning either Teach and Baptize or Teach by Baptizing The former is thus After you have instructed people in the faith and made known to them the Gospel of Christ and acquainted them with the will of God touching their salvation receive them into the Church and washing them with water assure them of the pardon of their sins engage them into a profession of the Christian Faith and of a holy life The later speaketh thus Teach by Baptizing that is to say preach the Gospel to all and whomsoever you shall find willing to renounce their former error to give up themselves to the obedience of the Gospel make them my Disciples which indeed is the importance of the Greek word by dipping or sprinkling them with water by which ceremony as by a peculiar badge my Church which is the company of believers shall be distinguish'd from the rest of the world From both we learn that the administration of the Sacraments doth properly belong to those whose duty it is to preach the Gospel to wit the Ministers of God's Word and that they are to Baptize who are to Teach the Sacraments being but the seals and appendages of the doctrine THEM Men and women and children persons of all conditions sex age whole countryes whole cities whole families according as your preaching shall find success And this no question was the practise of the Apostles at first as hath been of the Church ever since to admit all even little ones as Christ did suffer little children to come to him and the Infants of believers to Baptism for so Circumcision in place of which Baptism came was performed upon children of eight dayes old And why should the sign of the Covenant be denied little babes who are in Covenant with the God of their Fathers who hath promis'd to be our God the God of ours What an unkindness is it that a parent should shut the gate of life against his child and deprive it of the priviledge of a new birth seeing that believers children are born heirs of the promise and have as good title to the spiritual blessing of their Fathers as they have to their temporal estate if the word of God be good evidence What hard-hearted person can look upon it's child no otherwise then a heathen brat then the young one of some brute damm I will not say lamb or kid or calf which God appointed to be offered to him and accepted in the Iewish service And will any one then be backward in bringing his child to the Temple and presenting him to the Lord or fear God's displeasure for so doing O rigid course to pass a sentence of excommunication upon children till they come to years of discretion And why so because they have no faith Suppose they have not The very Baptising a child makes him a Disciple if thou understandest Greek And art afraid of making thy child a Disciple too soon Besides who dares to be so peremptory and void of charity as to deny little ones faith since faith though it do ordinarily come by hearing yet it is a grace infus'd by God into the soul capable of such infusion nay holy writings have left it upon record that some children were sanctified in the womb and that Iohn the Baptist â—eapt in his mother's belly at the entrance of the Virgin Mother layes it down for a general observe that God hath out of the mouths of babes sucklingâ— ordained strength or prepared for himself a strong and solid praise IN THE NAME i.e. by virtue force of a divine command and appointment and by that authority which is deliver'd to the Son by the Father and which through the Spirit I doe also impart to you my Ministers Or into the Name for so the words sound in the Greek i.e. into the profession of Christian Faith and of Gospel-obedience Now the highest point of Christian Doctrine is to believe in God distinguished into three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost OF THE FATHER Who made us and begets us a new by his word and ordinances OF THE SON Who redeemed us and washes away our stains with his Blood AND OF THE HOLY GHOST Who sanctifies us for we are born again of water and the spirit Each Person hath its peculiar operation is severally represented in the holy rite of Baptism For whereas by washing of water is meant the doing away of sin the Father pardons sins the Son purchased the pardon the Spirit by
that in the old Law there was no attonement for sin without blood for in the blood lay the life the life of the sinner was to answer for his sin wherefore 't was not so much the flesh of the sacrifice which was partly burnt into ashes partly eaten by the Priest or congregation that appeas'd God's wrath as the blood which was sprinkled round the Altar Nor did the eating of the Passeover which was the type of this Supper secure the Israelites from the destroying Angel but the blood which was struck upon the lintell of the door Nor can the Papists plead the no necessity of administring the Cup because the children of Israel in the celebration of their Passeover and the Priests and people in their sacrifices onely eat of the flesh of the lamb or bullock and not drank the blood but either spilt it or sprinkled it up down For first we have here Christ's express command Drink ye all of it whereas they were bid to the contrary And then which is the main thing Christ's merit as was said before lay most in his blood so that to give our selves an interest in his sufferings we must partake of his blood as well as of his body But why is the Symbol of his precious Blood call'd a Cup whereas that by which his holy Body is represented is plainly termed Bread now bread and cup are not direct opposites nor answer one another but bread and wine This by the Papists own confession must be allowed to be a figure call'd Metonymie of the vessel containing for the liquor contained the Cup for the wine in the cup. Now therefore if the Cup be not really turn'd into the blood of Christ neither is the bread changed into flesh For just as it 's said of the bread This is my Body so he sayes of the Cup This is my Blood And if there be a figure in one place why not in both or can we suppose that our Saviour in a thing of so great concernment would not have spoke properly here too as he did before But the truth on 't is we should on all hands run our selves into a world of absurdities should we take words strictly as they sound and not allow them a fair meaning according to popular use and custom of speaking For by this means we should have cities with wals up to heaven Christ would be turn'd into one rock Peter into another Herod would be Metamorphosed into a fox and Ovid's fables would hardly seem more strange then Scripture But Rhetorick teacheth us the convenience and vulgar custom the necessity of using figures no question but our Saviour made use of the liberty in this sacred Institution Now the ground of this figure whereby the Cup is put for the wine whereas the other part of the Sacrament is properly express'd by the name of bread may be this because bread being of a solid substance is of it self easily laid hold on and taken up with the hands but wine is of a fluid liquid nature so that it cannot be meddled with to any use unless it be first put into some vessel as a cup c. Likewise also These two particles imply partly that Christ did as well appoint the use of wine as of bread to make this holy Supper an entire Sacrament in so much that if either should be taken away the mystery would be maimed and imperfect partly that he did in like manner and after the self same fashion consecrate the Symbol of his precious Blood as he did that of his holy Body using the same actions and almost words for as he took the bread and gave thanks and gave it to his Disciples bidding them eat and telling them that is was his Body which was broken for them and charging them to doe it in remembrance of him Iust so he took the Cup too and gave thanks and gave it amongst them and bid them drink and told them withal that it was his Blood which was shed for them and charged them to do it in remembrance of him Some little difference we may meet with both in the actions and in the words either by adding or leaving out First here is added a more special note of the time when the cup was appointed to wit after Supper which is but generally expressed in the other part to be the night in which he was betrayed And a more punctual command when he sayes Drink ye all of it contenting himself of the bread to have said onely Eat it with a particular declaration of the nature of this Sacrament where he tells them 't was the Blood of the New Testament which he sayes not of his Body and of the use and end for which it was appointed for the remission of sins i.e. for sealing that pardon which he purchased by his blood Besides a precept at least an advice of frequent receiving implyed in those words As oft as ye drink it Then here is left out the action of powring out of the wine which answers the breaking of bread for he broke the breaa but it is not said that he powred out the wine So that it may be supposed the cup was full of wine when he took it Yet the words of consecration doe make out this action also for as he said This is my Body which is broken for you so he saith This is my Blood which is shed for you And lastly he sayes of the bread Take eat but of the wine onely Drink which yet they could not do without taking it Now herein perhaps lay the difference that of the bread being broken into small pieces every one could at once take his part and all partake together at the same time but the cup being not capable of such a partition they handed it to one another the second staying till the first had drunk and so on to the last The Cup to wit being full of wine for so himself sayes afterward that he would drink no more of the fruit of the vine till he drank it new with them in the kingdom of his Father Now wine was the fittest to express the nature and use of the Blood of Christ it being the noblest liquour that which most refreshes the heart of man Give wine as the Proverb saith to the sad in heart that they may forget their misery Wine was used also in the curing of wounds as 't is said of the good Samaritan that taking the man â—hat had lighted amongst thieves into his care he powred wine and oyl into his wounds the wine to search and cleanse as well as the oyl to heal and skin them Christ's Blood hath the same virtue and efficacy to quench the spiritual thirst of a sinner who being scorch'd with his guilt longs for Christ's righteousness as the hart panteth after the water-brooks to cheer the spirits which lye drooping under the sense of sin to supply new strength to a Christian believer that he shall rejoyce