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A41968
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A brief summe of Christian religion, or, Of things most necessary for a Christians knowledge, practice, and comfort composed by Thomas Greaves.
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Greaves, Thomas.
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1656
(1656)
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Wing G1805; ESTC R28682
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14,893
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30
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while make you perfect stablish strengthen setle you To him be Glory and Dominion for ever Amen The Epitome and Contents of this Summe very fit and easie to be remembred THe only way to eternall happiness is taught in the Scriptures which shew unto us 1. The Nature and works of God 2. The Misery of man by sin 3. Our Redemption and deliverance by Iesus Christ of which we are made partakers by Faith ioyned with Repentance and holiness of life 4. Our Duty to believe in Jesus Christ To shew our faith by obedience to Gods Commandments To use the Sacraments and constant Prayer To confess and forsake our sins Continually to give thanks and praise unto God which are the Meanes of Grace leading Gods people to eternal Glory 2 Tim. 1. 13. Hold fast the forme of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Iesus The Chief Articles of Christian Belief contained in the Scriptures and generally received by the Ancient modern Churches of God as doth appear by their joynt Confessions I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and earth And in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord which 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 on the Right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to Judge the quick and the dead I believe in the Holy Ghost the holy Catholike Church the Communion of Saints the forgivenesse of sins the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting The Ten Commandements 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 Thou shalt have no other Gods before me Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquities of the Fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandments Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy man servant nor thy maid servant nor thy cattel nor thy stranger that is within thy gates For in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day hallowed it Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy dayes may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife nor his man servant nor his maid servant nor his oxe nor his ass nor any thing that is thy neighbours The Lords Prayer OVR Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from Evil For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen This Summe may easily be reduced to the usual Form of Gatechismes by Questions Answers to which end that it may also serve I have here distinctly set down the most materiall Questions to which the Propositions in the Summe being equal in number are direct Answers and may be readily applied Question  Answer 1 Which is the Way to eternal happiness Prop. 1 * 2 What is the Word of God Prop. 2. 3 What doe the Scriptures chiefly declare Prop. 3. 4 What is the Nature of God Prop. 4. 5 Who is the True God Prop. 5. 6 Which are the chief Works of God Prop. 6. 7 What was Mans first state Prop. 7. 8 How did Man loose his first happiness Prop. 8. 9 What is the Misery of Man Prop. 9. 10 What is Sin and the punishment due unto it Prop. 10 11 How are we freed from sin and all misery Prop. 11 12 What was Gods Covenant Prop. 12 13 What is the Office of Christ Prop. 13 14 What Benefits hath Christ obteined for us Prop. 14 15 How are we made partakers of Christs Benefits Prop. 15 16 What is it to Believe in Christ Prop. 16 17 How ought we to receive Christ Prop. 17 18 What is inseparably joyned with saving Faith Prop. 18 19 What is Repentance Prop. 19 20 What is Christian Obedience Prop. 20 21 How may we attain to Faith and all other Graces Prop. 21 22 Which are the principal meanes to Work Faith other Graces Prop. 22 23 Which are the chief points of Christian belief Prop. 23 24 What is the rule of Mans duty and practice Prop. 24 25 What doth Gods Law command and forbid Prop. 25 26 What is the End and summe of the Law Prop. 26 27 Why were the Sacraments ordeined Prop. 27 28 What is the Church to which alone the Sacraments do belong Prop. 28 29 What are Sacraments Prop. 29 30 What Benefit have we by Baptisme Prop. 30 31 What is further confirmed unto us and required of us in Baptisme Prop. 31 32 What is the End and Benefit of the Lords Supper Prop. 32 33 Who are fit Receivers of the Lords Supper Prop. 33 34 What is the Work and Office of Ministers Prop. 34 35 What is the Use and efficacie of prayer Prop. 35 36 What is the best Rule and Forme of Christian Prayer Prop. 36 37 What is to be joyned with Prayer Prop. 37 38 What maketh our prayers and all other Duties acceptable to God Prop. 38 39 How may we continue increase in Grace Prop. 39 40 Who are Gods Elect and Heires of of Salvation Prop. 40 2 Tim. 2. 23. Foolish and unlearned Questions avoid knowing that they do gender strifes Some special places of Scripture expressing the whole Duty of man So Worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets And have hope towards God that there shall be a resurrection of the dead both of the just and the un just And herein do I exercise my selfe to
A BRIEF SUMME OF Christian Religion OR Of things most necessary for a Christians Knowledge Practice and Comfort COMPOSED By THOMAS GREAVES a Minister of the Gospel Deut. 11. 18 19. ch. 6. 6 7. Ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul and ye shall teach them your Children speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way when thou liest down and when thou risest up August de trad. Symb Simplex breve plenum Ut simplicitas Audientium consulat rusticitati brevitas memoriae plenitudo doctrinae It is plain brief full that plainness may be an help to the unlearned briefness to memory fulness to the instruction of the Hearers Printed at London 1656. SEt your hearts unto all the words which I testifie among you For it is not a vain thing for you because it is your Life Deut. 32. 46 47. I pray God that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spirituall understanding That you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitfull in every good work and encreasing in the knowledge of God Col. 1. 9 10. MAny Testimonies of Scripture for the fuller confirmation of the Doctrine here delivered are in due order annexed ought to be diligently considered Sometimes the same place though but once quoted hath reference to several parts of the same Proposition which I thought unnecessary to iterate All joyned together prove the whole proposition and every branch thereof To the Christian Reader THis short Treatise I chiefly designed for that Congregation to which as a Minister I have peculiar reference which consisting for the greatest part of plain and unlearned people plainness and brevity was purposely sought and intended by me that so being clear to their Understanding and easie for their Memory it might be the better conceiv'd and retein'd The Scriptures themselves do often Summarily express the chief points conteined in them giving us an abridgement of the Law the Gospel and Means of Salvation which Precedent I have willingly followed endeavouring to omitt nothing that is Necessary and likewise to insert nothing but what is agreeable to those holy Writings received by the Ancient and present Orthodoxe Churches I have chosen such words and expressions as are for the most part used in Gods Word and therefore of greatest significancy and weight I hope the plenty of Quotations will not be accounted a superfluity which I added the more copiously at first for my own and now for the Readers satisfaction Better that of such there should be a redundance then a defect and where they most abound I conceive there is greatest need of them as in the 14th Proposition where almost every word requires a several Testimony in this and other places the cited Texts may supply my very brief mention of such weighty Mysteries which in regard of their use and importance deserve the ampler confirmation Controverted Points I have laboured to express in temperate and amicable Terms and to present the Truth with such indifferency and moderation as might reconcile rather then exasperate disagreeing Parties To have severally expounded the Precepts of the Decalogue would have been inconsistent with the brevity here intended therefore I have added one Proposition the 25th as a general explication of all So likewise concerning the Creed and Lords Prayer I desired to mention that which might be some explanation of them yet very brief and proportionable to the rest of the summe Those Secrets of Gods unsearchable Decrees I have sparingly mentioned inculcating rather the Meanes which lead us to the best assurance and certainty here and to a blessed fruition at last of eternal salvation Concerning Ministers I was willing to add the 34th Aphorisme specially for the Peoples sake who not considering the excelloncy of that sacred Office do exceedingly offend God and gratifie their enemy the Devil some by Usurping most by Despising it undervaluing one of the highest fauours and providences of Christ towards his Church for the building whereof and perfecting the Saints as the Apostle affirmes they are peculiarly set and assigned The Doctrines and most of the Expressions also being conteined in the Scriptures I need not be solicitous to make an Apology or give a further account Gods Truth whether we receive or reject it still reteins the same authority and strength and is notwithstanding all our Opposition and Differences the perfect Rule by which we must now Judge and hereafter be judged to which in this summe I only appeal and refer both my self and the Reader I confess that what I here publish is but small yet I cannot say that my labour and study in composing it hath been such also for I think that with as little pains I might have written a large volume To make hard things plain to joyn brevity and perspicuity and comprehend much in little without detriment to the sense and matter to convey the highest things to low capacities is a matter of great Difficulty and industry the very attempt whereof I hope will be favoured though I much fail in the performance As I so others making experiment will I believe acknowledge the words and Observation of a * Person most eminent for piety and learning who with others hath encouraged me to publish this Treatise to be most certain and true that Try it when ever we please we shall finde that to lay this groundwork rightly will put us to the triall of our skill and trouble us a great deal more then if we were to discuss a Controversie or handle a subtile point in the Schools Thus He concerning the Difficulty of this Work and that which he adds concerning the Necessity also is in our careless daies to be sadly consider'd The neglecting hereof is the frustrating of the whole work of the Ministery for let us preach never so many Sermons to the people our labour is but lost as long as the Foundation is unlaid and the Principles untaught upon which all other Doctrine must be builded The Consideration hereof hath chiefly moved me to this labour and my last desire and advise to the Reader is in the words of our Saviour Take heed that you despise not little things and intended chiefly for little ones because they are such without which none can truly be Great or Eternally glorious and happy THO. GREAVES A Brief Summe of Christian Religion 1. THe sure and only way to obtain eternal life and happiness is to know God and his Son Iesus Christ and to honour and serve him as he hath appointed in his Word 2. The holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word and Oracles of God wherein he hath revealed his Will and Truth unto us unto which we ought most diligently to attend 3. The Scriptures principally declare unto