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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80790	The doctrine of faith. Or, The prime and principall points which a Christian is to know and believe. Handled in sundry sermons upon texts of scripture selected and chosen for the purpose. Wherein the method of the creed, (commonly called the Apostles Creed) is observed; and the articles thereof are confirmed, explained and applied, for the instructing of the ignorant, and the establishing of all in the truth. / By Christopher Cartwright, Minister of the Word at York.	Cartwright, Christopher, 1602-1658.	1650 (1650)	Wing C687; Thomason E1231_1; ESTC R14778	283,812	488

unto Israel and forgivenesse of sins Act. 5. 31. And Act. 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out Now repentance importeth 1. Sorrow for sin I will be sorry for my sin said David Psal 38. 18. Ephraim repenting smote upon his thigh Jer. 31. 19. And the penitent Publican smote upon his breast Luk. 18. 13. This sorrow for sin presupposeth knowledge of sin and produceth acknowledgement and confession of it I will declare mine iniquity Psal 38. 18. I * Or know Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acknowledge mine iniquity and my sin is ever before me Psal 51. 3. If we confesse our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us 1 Joh. 1. 9. viz. if with a true penitent heart we confesse them but this sorrow for sin must be godly sorrow that is sorrow for sin as sin not so much as sin is bitter unto us but especially as it it evill in the sight of God a thing whereby he is injured and dishonoured This is to be sorry after a godly manner 2 Cor. 7. 11. This godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of v. 10. 2. Turning from sin He that covereth his sinnes shall not prosper but he that confesseth and for saketh them shall have mercy Prov. 28. 13. P●●nitentiam agere est perpetrata mala plangere plangenda non perpetrare Gregor hom 38. in Evang. Peccati paenitentia est ab eo quod paenitendum intellexeris destilisse Hilar. in Psal 118. s●u 119. in Pe. In the Hebrew repentance is called Teshubah which properly signifies turning And so these are joyned tother Repent and be converted Act. 3. 19. 3. Forgiving of others this also is requisite for the obtaining of forgivenesse So Christ hath taught us to pray Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us Mat. 6. 12. he adds v. 14 15. For if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father wil also forgive you But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither wil your Father forgive your trespasses And when Peter came unto Christ saying Lord how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him untill seven times Christ answered I say not unto thee untill seven times but untill seventy times seven Mat. 18. 21 22. And immediately he propounded a parable whereby to shew how much it concerneth every one to forgive others if he would have God to forgive him The parable is of a King who having a servant that ought him a huge debt which he was no whit able to pay upon his humble submission and intreaty forgave him but hearing that the said servant would not forgive his fellow-servant a small debt was exceeding wroth with him and exacted his debt of him So likewise said our Saviour making application of the parable shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses Vse 1. Novv for the use of the point 1. VVhat comfort is here for the people of God Although in themselves they be guilty of sin both original and actuall though they vvere born in sin Psal 51. 5. and have lived in sin Isai 53. 6. though continually they are falling into sin Jam. 3. 2. Yet this is their comfort and greater comfort then this they need not desire thorough Christ they are reconciled unto God all their sins are pardoned and done away as if they had never been See what expressions are used in Scripture whereby the forgivenesse of sins is set forth vnto us 1. VVhen sins are forgiven they are said not to be imputed God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them 2 Cor. 5. 19. Sins are injuries done unto God offences committed against him but though we have offended him and have been injurious unto him yet if we lay hold on the Covenant that he hath made with us in Christ he will forgive us and not impute the sins that we are guilty of unto us 2. Sin when it is forgiven is said to be blotted out According to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Psal 51. 1. Sins are debts Forgive us our debts so it is according to the Originall Mat. 6. 12. As God hath a note-book for good deeds A book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought on his Name Mal. 3. 16. And in reference to this book Nehemiah prayed saying Remember me O my God and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God c. Neh. 13. 14. So he hath also a debt-book for sins but if we humbly and unfainedly turne unto him he will blot our sins out of his book he will never charge them upon us never exact payment and satisfaction of us seeing Christ hath made it for us having with his blood blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us c. Col. 2. 14. The Prophet Esay useth this same metaphore of blotting out but he fetcheth it another way I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins Esa 44. 22. There sinnes are compared to a cloud a thick cloud which interposeth betwixt God and us and keepeth off the bright beams of Gods favour and the light of his countenance from shining upon us Your iniquities have separated betwixt you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you saith the same Prophet Esa 59. 2. But sins being remitted the cloud is blotted out it is dispersed and dispelled it vanisheth and is gone that we may behold the face of God as of a loving Father reconciled to us in Christ Jesus 3. Sinnes are said to be covered when they are pardoned Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people thou hast covered all their sin Psal 85. 2. By this expression is signified that the people of God even his true and faithfull people have sin in them but their sin being forgiven it is as it were covered and hid from the sight of God he doth no more impute sin unto them then if he did see no such thing in them If in this sense onely the Antinomians did hold that God sees no sin in his people I should readily side with them but they have a perverse meaning in it See Mr. Gatakers book intituled Gods eye upon Israel viz. that a child of God cannot sin need not nay ought not to be humbled for sin which opinion is as agreeable unto Scripture as that which is most repugnant to it 4. Sins are said to be cast behind Gods back when he doth forgive them Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy backe said Ezekiah to God Esa 38. 17. God sets the sins of the wicked before his face they are before my face saith he Hos 7. 2. But for such as turne unto him he casts

The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple Psal 19. 7. The entrance of thy words giveth light it giveth understanding to the simple Psal 119. 130. therefore God would have the book of the Law read before all the Congregation of his people men women and children that saith he they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God and observe to do all the words of this Law and that their children which have not known any thing may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God c. Deut. 31. 11 12 13. 2. To confute the Enthusiasts who rely on immediate inspirations and revelations of the spirit and so vilifie and despise the Scriptures but let them boast of the spirit as much as they will certain it is that whilest they contemn the word as they do the spirit which they are led by is not that spirit which Christ promised the Spirit of Joh. 16. 13. Spiritus veritatis Isa 19. 14 Spiritus vertiginis Vulg. truth but that which the Prophet saith the Lord had mingled in the Egyptians a perverse spirit God in his perpetual and unchangeable Covenant hath joyned his spirit and his word together Isai 59. 21. And therefore most presumptuous are they who wil disjoyn them one from the other 3. To confute many opinions that are started up among us in these times they are called new lights but whether they be new or old they are falsly called lights being opposite to that true light the Scripture to which we must take heed 2 Pet. 1. 19. Isai 8. 20. as to a light shining in a dark place they that broach these opinions speak not according to the Law and the testimony and therefore there is no light in them That the moral Law is now of no use to a believer that he is not to confesse sin nor to be humbled for sin that the soul is not immortall that Christ is not God coessentiall with the Father if these and many such like doctrines which are now spread abroad in the Land be lights I wonder what we shall call darknesse Certainly the Prince of darknesse even in the darkest times of Popery did never devise such damnable heresies and hellish blasphemies as are now maintained I say with S. Peter Seeing you know these things before beware least ye also be carried away with the errour of the wicked and fall from your own stedfastness But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 17. 18. Vse 2. Secondly if matters of faith be fully contained in the Scripture let it be our care to acquaint our selves well with the Scripture to embrace the doctrine therein delivered and to hold it fast There are 3. branches of this Exhortation 1. Let us acquaint our selves well with the Scripture Search in the book of God and read Isai 31. 16. Search the Scriptures John 5. 39. Let us consider 1. That God hath ordained the Scriptures for this end that we might be instructed and edified by them They were written for our learning Rom. 15. 4. 2. That it is a singular mercy that we have the Scriptures David magnifies the goodnesse of God towards the Israelites in this respect He hath given his word unto Jacob his statutes and his Ordinances unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation c. Psal 147. 19 20. So Paul notes this as the great priviledge which the Jews had above others that unto them were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 1 2. The greater the mercy is the more grievous is the contempt of it I have written unto them saith God the great things of my Law and they were counted as a strange thing Hos 8. 12. 2. Let us embrace the doctrine delivered in the Scripture Not every doctrine that is preached or printed no take heed of that Believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God for there are many false Prophets gone out into the world 1 John 4. 1. Prove all things 1 Thes 5. 21. And how must we prove and try every doctrine but by the Scriptures so the Bereans did and they are commended for it Act. 17. 11. But having 1 Pet. 2. 8. tried a doctrine and found it agreeable to the Scripture we must embrace it we must take heed of stumbling at the word as Peter ●aith some do Some stumble because of the many opinions that are abroad because some hold one thing some another therefore they will hold nothing Take heed of this consider 1. That it hath been thus of old in matters of Religion In our Saviours time there were severall opinions concerning him Some said he is a good man others said nay but he deceiveth the people Joh. 7. 12. See also Joh. 7. 40. 43. and Mat. 19. 13 14. 2. The Scripture hath foreshewed that there shall be false doctrines and heresies There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets c. Mat. 24. 24. But there were false Prophets also among the people even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies c. 2 Pet. 2. 1. 3 Such is the malice of Satan that he will doe what he can to pervert the truth where God sowes good corne he will sow tares Mat. 13. 39. 4. God suffers it to be so first to try those that are his There must be heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest 1 Cor. 11. 19. See Deut. 13. 1 2 3. 2. That the truth may be more cleared and confirmed then otherwise it would be if it were not impugned and opposed See Acts 15. 1. 2. 6. 7 22. c. 30. 31. It is observed that the Doctors that were before Pelagius wrote more securely concerning grace and free will but when Pelagius arose and asserted free will so as that he overthrew grace then Austine and others bestirred themselves and made it evident that without Gods grace man hath no power nor ability in him to do any thing whereby to please God But again some stumble at this that such as were eminent for profession fall into grosse opinions but neither is there any cause to stumble at this For thus also it hath been even in the Apostles time Nicolas was of no mean repute in the Church as appears Acts 6. 5. Yet it seems he became the Author of a detestable Sect called the Nicolaitans Rev. 2. 15. So what account Paul made of Demas we see Col. 4. 14. and Philem. verse 24. yet he proved an Apostate 2 Tim. 4. 10. 2. This also is fore-told The Spirit speaketh expresly that in the later times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits c. 1 Tim. 4. 1. The falling away of Professors should make us take heed to our selves and cleave the more close to the truth as Peter admonisheth 2 Pet. 3. 17. Take heed lest ye also

one God For these three are one 1 Joh. 5. 7. though three Persons yet one God Vse This serves first to confute the Papists to prove them guilty of Idolatry For though in word they confesse onely one God yet in deed they make many Gods giving divine worship and honour unto Saints and Angells they make vowes and prayers unto them whereas this honour belongs unto God only Call upon me saith God Psal 50. 15. When ye pray say Our Father c. saith our Saviour Luk. 11. 2. Vow and pay unto the Lord your God saith David Psal 76. 11. so Solomon When thou vowest a vow unto God c. Eccles 5. 4 Bellarmine himself In Scripturis nomen voti semper accipitur pro promissione factâ Deo Nam cum Scriberentur Scripturae S. Nondum caeperat usus vovendi Sanctis Bellarm de Cultu Sanctorum lib. 3. cap. 9. sect Praetered confesseth that in the Scriptures the name of vow is ever taken for a promise made to God And marke his reason For saith he when the holy Scriptures were written the use of vowing unto Saints was not begun It is without all question and therefore the more to blame they who besides and against the authority of the Scriptures did begin it afterwards So also they do in effect make the Pope a God taking themselves bound to believe all his determinations and to obey all his injunctions not presuming to examine and try whether they be true or false right or wrong whereas God only is capable of this honor Let God be true and every man a liar Rom. 3. 4. Call no man your Father upon earth so as to yeeld absolute obedience unto him for one is your Father which is in heaven Mat. 23. 9. yet Bellarmine sticks not to say that if the Si Papa erraret praecipiendo vitia vel prohibendo virtutes teneretur Ecclesia credere vitia esse bona virtutes malas nisi vellet contra conscientiam peccare Bellar. de Pontif. lib. 4. c. 5. §. Secundò quia tunc Pope should erre so as to command vices and forbid vertues all were bound to believe vices to be good and vertues to be evill except they would sin against their conscience He takes it for granted that all should do whatsoever the Pope injoynes without daring once to enter into the examination of it This is to make the Pope above an Angell and therefore equall with God for the Apostle doubted not to say If an Angell from heaven preach unto you any other Gospel then that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed Gal. 1. 8. Vse 2. But to leave them there are also many others who though they pretend to believe that there is but one God yet indeed they make more Gods then one for the voluptuous person makes his belly his God Whose God it their belly saith the Apostle of some Phil. 3. 19. so the covetous makes mammon or riches his God If I have made gold my hope and said unto the fine gold thou art my confidence Job 31. 24. Job abhorred this but the covetous man is guilty of it The rich mans viz. the covetous rich mans wealth is his strong City saith Solomon Prov. 10. 15. and so Prov. 18. 11. The rich mans wealth is his strong City and as a high wall in his own conceit Hence the covetous person is called an Idolater Eph. 5. 5. and covetousnesse is called Idolatry Col. 3. 5. so whatsoever it is that any set their heart upon and put their trust in they make it their God the proud person also and the vain-glorious makes himself his God seeking himselfe in all that he doth and arrogating the good successe that he hath in any thing unto himself They sasacrifice to their net and burn incense to their drag because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous Heb. 1. 16. that is they ascribe all their plenty and prosperity to their own industry By the strength of mine hand have I done it and by my wisdome c. Thus vaunted the King of Assyria Esa 10. 13. and therefore he is taxed Esa 14. 14. as saying I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will be like the most high So God bade the Prophet Ezekiel say unto the Prince of Tyrus Thus saith the Lord God because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said I am a God I sit in the seat of God c. Why was this charged upon him because he ascribed all his greatnesse unto himself With thy wisdome and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasuries Vse 3. Let us therefore have a care to know and acknowledge the only true God to serve and worship him and him only Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Mat. 4. 10. Thou shalt have none other Gods before me Exod. 20. 3. This is the first and great Commandement Mat. 22. 37 38. with Mar. 12. 29 30 the true God is a jealous God as he stiles himselfe Exod 20. 5. he will indure no corrivall no copartner My glory will I not give unto another saith he Esa 42. 8. 48. 11. Let 's know and consider that if we be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we have more Gods then one we have none at all but are even without God as the Apostle saith the Gentiles were who had a multitude of Gods Eph. 2. 12. And let us take heed of Polytheisme as in opinion whether directly with Pagans or by consequence with Papists so in practice in which respect we are much more prone unto it Let 's remember that of our Saviour Ye cannot serve God and mammon Mat. 6. 24. so not God and any lust whatsoever God will have our whole heart he will not yeeld that any besides him but only in subordination unto him should have any part of it Their heart is divided now shall they be found faulty Hos 10. 2. THE FOURTH SERMON 1 JOH 5. 7. There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one BEfore I build any thing upon this Txet or deduce any thing from it I must assert and vindicate the Text it self I had rather that you should heare what is objected so as withall to heare what is answered then that as otherwise it might happen you should meet with the Objection and not know what Answer can be given unto it In this respect I like not that matters of controversie should be medled with but so as that the principall Objections should be produced and answered for otherwise the opposers of the truth may have great advantage and people are apt to be seduced or at least to stagger when either in books or conferences they find things objected which before they never had any notice of This therefore I will not now

dissemble that the adversaries of the Doctrine concerning the Trinity do except against this place as not written by S. John nor any part of the Scripture and they have some colour for this exception For it is confessed that in some Greek copies these words are not extant nor in the Syriack Translation which is ancient and of good account as likewise that Chrysostome and some other ancient writers in their Commentaries upon the Epistle make no mention of these words which argues that they did not find them in those books which they perused But to this I answer 1. That this Text for the matter contained in it fully agrees with other places of Scripture so that although this Text were not yet the truth which it containeth may otherwise sufficiently be proved 2. Those words in the Verse following in earth shew that these words in the seventh Verse are genuine and not to be omitted for those words in that Verse in earth answer to these in this Verse in heaven 3. Most of the Greek copies have this Text in them and so hath the vulgar Latine Translation Hierome also as ancient as Chrysostome reads it as part of the Epistle and so doth Cyprian Cyprian de vint Eccles one more ancient then them both neither doth it appear that these words were ever questioned untill after such time as the Arrian Heresie impugning the Divinity of Christ was growne up so that it is most probable that as Hierome and others conceive these words were scraped out by the Arrians as making sore against them and so came to be wanting in some copies and to be omitted by some Commentators The Heresie of the Arrians for a while prevailed Ingemuit orbis se miratus est factum esse Arrianum Hieron much and bore great sway in the world especially in the Eastern parts of it And it hath been the wicked policy and practice of Heretikes to expunge such places of Scripture as were most pregnant against them which they might do in some copies though not in all Tertullian chargeth Marcion an Arch-heretike with this crime and thereupon calls him the Mouse of Pontus the Countrey of which Marcion was because like a Mouse he gnawed the Scriptures and cut away some part of them so farre as he was able Gods prooidence and goodnesse towards his Church is to be admired in preserving the Scripture notwithstanding all the machinations and devices of heretiques and other professed adversaries to abolish it And thus much for the vindication of the Text. I will not stand about the coherence of the words but something must be said for the explication of them There are three viz. three Persons which are presently after expressed that beare witnesse in heaven viz. to the truth spoken of v. 6. namely that Christ came both by water and blood both to sanctifie and to justifie and to be a perfect Saviour of his people from their sins by taking away both the staine and the guilt of them The Father the first person of the Trinity so called in reference to the second Person commonly called the Son The Word that is the Son the second Person of the Trinity for that is here meant by the Word Thus also the second Person is termed Joh. 1. 1. 14. and Revel 19. 13. For there by the Word of God is not meant the Word of God either written or spoken but the substantiall Word Christ the Son of God the second Person of the sacred Trinity as is evident there by the context why the second Person is called the Word is not so clear by the Scripture divers reasons are alledged and some such as seem over-Philosophicall and too remote from the simplicity of the Scriptures That which seems to have most ground in the Scripture is this that the second Person the Son taking upon him the nature of man became the Interpreter of the Father and as his Word making knowne his will unto men No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Joh. 1. 18. These words follow but a little after those wherein this only begotten Son is called the Word so Heb. 1. 2. It 's said that in these last times God hath spoken unto us by his Son In this respect may the Son be called the Word or because he is the Word or * In the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word is also put for thing and so in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 20. 3 Acts 8. 21 5. 6. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk ● thing so much spoken of by the Prophets To him give all the Prophets witnesse Act. 10. 43. Howsoever this is clear and this may suffice that by the Word both in the Text and elsewhere in the Scripture the Son is meant And the Holy Ghost The third Person of the Trinity called the Spirit the holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost God as God is a Spirit Joh. 4. 24. and so is holy and therefore this appellation of Spirit and holy Spirit or Holy Ghost belongs also to the Father and to the Son yet it is more peculiarly attributed and in a manner appropriated to the third Person why it is so I will not now stand to inquire And these three are one Some most Orthodox expound it thus agree in one as it is expressed of those other three that beare witnesse in earth v. 8. And this is true yet the phrase used here differing from that which is used v. 8. I see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 8. not that they are to be taken as equivalent and importing both one and the same thing some one or two copies indeed are said here to have the same phrase as v. 8. but generally it is otherwise Unum sunt not in unum and so Cyprian read it are one not agree in one and he was before the time of Arrius by whom or by some of whose sect probably this place was either razed out or corrupted This therefore is the meaning of the words and so much the phrase imports that these are essentially and substantially one that they are one essence and one substance one God This Exposition is agreeable to other places of Scripture to the words themselves and is generally imbraced From the words thus explicated there ariseth Doct. this Doctrine That the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are three distinct Persons yet but one and the same God First they are three dictinct Persons differing each from other so that the Father is not the Son nor the Holy Ghost neither is the Son the Holy Ghost they are clearly distinguished Mat. 3. 16 17. And Jesus when he was baptized went up straitway out of the water and loe the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him And loe a voyce from heaven