have his Maker and his God turn Idolater he bids him that dwelleth on high fall down such a fall too as would be lower then the divel 's own fall for it must be below him it must be to him Fall down and worship me Oh impudent blasphemous absurdity what divel could put such thoughts into Satan's heart such words into 's mouth that God whom all the Gods worship should himself worship For he knew very well whom he had to doe with in this encounter that he was the Son of God having been often cast out by him confessing it here with an If. And whom what wouldst thou have him worship an image an idol stocks and stones why thou canst not perswade any men that have their reason about them to doe so What is 't some Saint or Angel Thou knowst his Angels have charge of him and are bid worship him what then speak Lucifer me Oh diabolical pride oh unsufferable rudeness which a poor creature can hardly have patience to hear that God at whose name the divels tremble should be tempted by the divel to worship that divel that tempts him Me thinks one cannot read this passage without a great horrour and an agony of fear that God should suffer his onely Son God equal to the Father to be tempted by the divel to the foulest of sins Idolatry to the worst of creatures the divel What care and vigilance ought we to have what fear and jealousy How should we watch and fast and prepare our selves for spiritual conflicts and beg strength from above that our hearts may be garrison'd and kept by grace And since Christ himself was thus brought into the clutches of Satan what great reason have we to pray that we may not be led into temptation Now there is a twofold temptation one for tryal whereby God doth keep the graces of his Saints in exercise so God searches the hearts and tryes the raines of the children of men as silver is tryed in a fornace Thus Abraham's faith Iob's patience c. were tryed nay sometimes God leav's his best servants to themselves and lets them catch falls to keep them humble and to let them know that their strength is from him God tempts for tryall the divel onely tempts for sin and sometimes too God imployes the divel in his tryals to heat the fornace which he does with an intention to destroy but God orders for experiment and probation Another is for hurt when we are tempted to sin to presumption or dispair Thus God tempts no man but judicially hardens impenitent sinners that harden themselv's in their evil way and gives them up to their lusts and into the power of the divel Thus we read he harden'd Pharaoh's heart put sometimes a lying spirit into the mouth of the Prophets let Satan tempt David to carnal confidence and the pride of numbring his people and our Saviour after the divel had filled Iudas heart bid him doe what he meant to doe quickly meaning that horrid treason of betraying his Master And of this kind of sinfull temptation is this especially to be understood though it mean also the other kind of tryals BUT DELIVER US FROM EVILL This infers the contrary that since we have so many to lead us into temptation God would rather lead us out and keep us from evil then lead us into it The opposition lyes in the words Lead us not but Deliver us i.e. bring us not into temptation but when we either of our selves fall into it or are by others led into it do thou bring us out and lead us forth rescue us out of the tempter's clutches and set us at liberty for so the word properly denotes deliverance out of an evil we are already in though the preposition will very well bear this sense that God would keep us totally from it as the Church teaches us to pray as well in time of health plenty as mortality and dearth from plague pestilence and famine good Lord deliver us We are kept from evil by preventing or restraining grace we are deliver'd out of it by assisting grace God keeps us from being tempted by the restraints of his grace and providence by alarming conscience by quenching lust by denying opportunities for sin by imploying a man and filling all his time with duty For 't is the idle soul that commonly proves the tempters prey Diligence in one's calling is a good preservative against vain thoughts and checks the approach of temptation shutting the doors windows by which it should enter God delivers us out of temptation by proportioning it to our strength so that we may not faint or grow evil under it which he doth either by lessening the burthen or strengthning the shoulders by supporting and bearing us up in conflict by making our faith victorious with heavenly supplyes of grace by the aid at the charge provision of his spirit and in fine by giving us a joyfull issue out of our temptations as he did with Ioseph by making his brethrens envy an occasion of his advancement with the Israelites by a wonderful delivery from a cruel bondage with Iob making his righteousness break forth as the Sun before his setting after those dismal storms and clouds which had darkned it Thus 't is Gods usual course to heighten the rewards of his tryed servants which have fought a good fight and layes up a crown of glory for them Indeed in every temptation the tempter comes by the worst and 't is to the divel 's disadvantage for if it take 't is true 't is his hellish delight to see souls perish yet however it increases his guilt as being accessary to anothers sin and consequently must needs increase his punishment improve his torments If it meet with repulse it cannot choose but be great torment to this spightful spirit to see that he has been instrumental in raising the happiness and furthering the salvation and heightning the gloryes of the Saints every baffled temptation is a step higher into glory and if I may say it we get up to heaven on Satan's back by trampling him under our feet A Saint goes triumphant with a train of conquer'd lusts and as Samson carried away the gates of Azza breaks the gates the powers of hell to force his passage None in so high a form of glory as those who have most scarrs to shew and who have the buckler of their faith batter'd and shatter'd with temptations We are to fight under Christ's banner and he will be most blessed who shall be found likest his master and have the marks of Christ's wounds imprinted not so much upon their body as the Legend has it of St. Francis I mean by outward sufferings as upon his soul by the violent assaults of temptation St. Paul indeed sayes of himself I wear the marks of our Lord Iesus in my body it may be that which in another place we render a thorn in the flesh
bringing a mortality upon himself and his posterity so that he not Cain was the first murderer then was lost even that awe authority which he had over the other creatures who after man turn'd rebell withdrew their allegiance too And 't is not unlikely that by the sin of man the affections of the very brutes have been debauch'd from their natural temper Hence possibly those enmityes and antipathies which some kinds of creatures have to others that before in the golden age of innocence liv'd at peace hence those quarrels animosityes which those of the same kind exercise hence perhaps those I may say vitious miscarriages and enormous misdemeanours of several indiviudal creatures those especially which are man's domesticks have a more familiar acquaintance with his manners as dogs swine c. which sure had man continued innocent would have kept to rules of meekness modesty and such other virtues as was fit for the goodness of the supream Law-giver to prescribe for the preservation of peace and good order amongst his creatures Thus hath the Fall of Man put whole nature into disorder spoil'd the natural principles of honesty and justice and by abusing the Liberty of doing good or evill brought us all into a sad necessity of doing nothing else but evill that whereas he had only a possibility of sinning 't is impossible for us not to sin Wherefore when God saw that those notions and inclinations which he had implanted were by the fall so batter'd and marr'd that they could be no longer usefull for those great purposes of his own service man's felicity that man had now darkned his understanding deprav'd his will and corrupted his affections made himself in all his faculties and members a vassal of sin he was graciously pleas'd out of the rubbish of those endowments that law which he had written in man's heart to collect and set down in writing a Law by which man might be instructed to his duty that humanity might not wholly degenerate into beast and withall to show that God hath not lost his right to command though man have lost his ability to obey 'T is true that all the time before the flood and some good while after man-kind was govern'd by an unwritten Law by inbred notions of right and wrong and traditions handed to them by the Patriarks from the fathers to the children such as was the worship of God by offering sacrifice and first fruits by calling upon his name and keeping the Sabbath those precepts which were given to Noah and his three sons and thus some remnants of the primitive integrity were alwayes visible in the customes and usages of the most savage people that had no positive law to walk by whence arose that which we call the Law of Nations all nations agreeing in some common principles at least of publick justice and God instructing them by his Sun and his rain though he did not teach them by his word and messengers Yet when the number of men was multiplyed into so many nations which began to difference themselv's by manners religions as much as by languages and countries and their lives shortened so that tradition could not be conveyed so purely to posterity as formerly it pleased God to choose to himself a peculiar people among all the nations of the Earth even the family of his friend Abraham to whom he might make more particular discoveries of his will and having four hundred years affliction in Egypt and a miraculous delivery thence prepar'd the children of Israel for the receiving of his Law he did in open audience from the top of mount Sinai with his own Mouth pronounce aloud and afterwards with his own Hand fairly ingrave on two Tables of stone the Ten Commandements which though they be in a special sense termed the Law of God yet the whole Scripture may be and is so stiled often in as much as the History of the Bible doth but serve to represent examples of obedience or disobedience to this Law and the Prophetical writings are but explications and comments upon it and the Psalms and other sacred pieces are but Meditations and pious descants This is that we call the Moral Law the rule of manners and the guid of life which teaches every man how he is to behave himself both towards God and towards man whether as he is considered barely in his person or in his relation There is mention made also of other Laws of Gods making which were peculiar only to the Iews the Ceremonial Law which sets down rules for sacred persons places times assemblyes vests utensils sacrifices and other rites and for the ordering of all Ecclesiastical affairs and the Iudicial Law which provides for the securing of propriety and peace for the creation of Magistrates and administration of Iustice and all politick concerns Now though these were indeed so proper to the lewish State and Church that no other Nation is strictly obliged to their observance although the Levitical Priesthood is ceast and the Ceremonies being but types and shadows of Christ which was to come were at the rising of that Sun of righteousnesse made void and useless to the Iewes dangerous to Christians since the use of them would tacitely imply a denial of our Lord 's coming in the flesh and so indeed prove down right Antichristian he being the Antichrist which denies that yet I know not why Statesmen should not think themselves obliged to respect the lawgiver's wisdome and the equity of the thing though the law it self doth not oblige as in the case of thieves a fourfold restitution would look like a more proportionable punishment then present death no goods amounting to the value of life and a Bridewell or Plantation be a sorer course to chastise the malefactor for his mischievous actions surer to recover him from his wicked habits then the goal and gallows Again God's Law hath given adultery it's due punishing it with death the honour of the sufferer being irreparable whereas man's law commonly is so remisly either made or executed that all the satisfaction the injured person must expect is from his own patience fearing least by a challenge of justice he make himself but the object of a publick reproach Nor do I see why the use of any innocent Ceremony in gesture or vesture c. should now be deemed unlawful upon this ground because the Levites perhaps used one not much unlike or why the Governours of the Christian Church may not in things indifferent order the same observances as were used in the Iewish and yet not lye under the scandal of Iudaisme as to instance shall a white vest now be less becoming because the Levites wore linnen surely if this argument hold blacks will be much more mis becoming the holy order as being the colour by which the Idolatrous Priests were distinguisht But 't is not perhaps the thing so much discontents as the imposition They
Sunday as their Sabbath whereon our Saviour rose again from the dead and shew'd himself to his Disciples Another difference betwixt us is that we are not obliged to that Iudaïcal strictness but are allow'd a chearfull freedom yet not so as to make it a day of pastime for it follows that it is THE SABBATH OF THE LORD THY GOD as appointed by him or To the Lord thy God as dedicated to his especial service a day wherein thou art to contemplate the works of the Lord wrought in the Creation and the mercyes of thy God shown forth in thy Redemption a time set apart not for thy business much less for thy sport but for God's glory and publick worship to be spent wholly in performances of holy dutyes IN IT THOU SHALT DO NO MANNER OF WORK Nothing of common drudgery of thy ordinary vocation of thy weeks work none of thy work for it 't is not meant that we should sit still and doe nothing but works of piety as going to Church and the Priest's offering their Sacrifices in the Old Law c. are God's work and works of necessity as provision of food c. are the works of Nature and works of Charity as healing the sick taking the oxe or ass out of the pit c. are works of Grace And these must and may be done without any violation of the Sabbath THOU God here cals all the family to an account so careful he is of his own day And whereas in the other Commandements Thou is directed to every body here it carryes a special warrant to the superiour seeming to require of him that he not onely keep it himself in his own person but take care also that all in his charge keep it too Thou whether thou art magistrate master or mistress of the house father tutor or whatever governour imploy thy authority to see my Sabbath duely observ'd Yet not so as that the superiours negligence shall be an excuse for the inferior's for they are all spoken too here by name AND THY SON Children are naturally more apt to neglect their duty then able to perform it or indeed willing to understand it They must be taught it then and kept to it Acquaint thy son therefore with my wayes and instruct him in my fear Train him up in good courses that he may not be prepossess'd with vicious customs Bring him to Church let him be couversant in Scripture and learn the principles of Religion and seek me early that he may grow up as in stature so in wisedom and grace and favour with God and good men AND THY DAUGHTER No age nor sex priviledg'd from sabbath-Sabbath-duty And these two words include all inferiours who are not in a servile condition all children pupils scholars citizens subjects whose respective governours are particularly to heed their observance of this day THY MAN-SERVANT AND THY MAID SERVANT All thy servants whether hired or bought all that doe thee work and receive thy wages Neither thy Avarice nor their own lust shall imploy them and cause them to absent themselves from my service Servants that day 〈◊〉 God's servants and their master's fellow-servants yet to be commanded and overlook'd by their masters that they do serve God And indeed it is the master's great interest to see that this day be well observ'd in his family since he cannot well expect that his own work should prosper if God's work be neglected or that those servants will be faithfull in his service who doe not care to serve God THY CATTLE The Greek reads here as 't is express'd in Deuteronomie and thy oxe and thy ass and thy cattle i.e. all labouring beasts which man makes use of for tillage of the ground for carriage of burdens for going of journeys c. that they also may rest from their usual labour and may have a time of refreshment for there is a charity too due to these brute-servants and the good man is mercifull to his beast But does God take care of oxen Though they have a share in his providence yet what are they concern'd in his Law which is spiritual and holy 'T is for man's sake whom they serve in whose charge they are that they are here mention'd And indeed should the cattle have been left out it might have look'd like an allowance to worldly-minded men to have set them on work the attendance of that would have prov'd the imployment of men too for that beasts will hardly work alone without the direction oversight of men NOR THY STRANGER THAT IS WITHIN THY GATES He that sojourns with thee within thy city so the Magistrate is concern'd or thy guest in thy house and so 't is the duty of the Master of the family to see that strangers of what countrey or religion soever comply with this Law and doe not violate the Sabbath-rest by travell keeping market following their merchandise or any other worldly occasions The Hebrew words are sometimes taken in a special strict sense so as that the stranger means one of another countrey converted to the Iewish profession and observances call'd otherwise a Proselyte and the Gates being the place of session or assize where the Iudges and Magistrates met for the tryall and decision of causes mean the civil power and jurisdiction But they are here questionless to be taken in the larger and more common sense FOR IN SIX DAYES THE LORD This is the reason of the Command and shews farther the equity of it that we would not think much to doe as God himself did and indeed the morality of it too for this reason concerns all mankind Heathen as well as Iew wherefore to intimate the universal obligation it hath it sayes not the Lord thy God as before but only the Lord. MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH THE SEA AND ALL THAT IN THEM IS He finish'd the work of creation and did all which he had to do in that first week of the world And it would be worth our imitation to consider how God takes a review of every day's work and it would be well for us that we could every night before we take our natural rest take account of our actions and see that they are good and at the weeks end before we enter upon this spiritual rest survey the work of the whole week and say of it not that it were exceeding good but that at least it were not exceeding evil Two things in the method of God's working may be worth our particular notice that the evening is mention'd still before the morning as if God had taken counsel o're night what he should doe next day and that God made man last on the very Sabbath-eve as if he had made him for no other purpose then to keep the Sabbath in the admiration of his works and the celebration of his praise AND RESTED THE SEAVENTH DAY God might have been working on still and set forth his power in new productions for Omnipotence cannot be
The Grounds Of RELIGION Perlegi hunc libellum in quo nihil reperio orthodoxae fidei vel bonis moribus contrarium quo minus cum publicâ utilitate imprimi possit Ex Aed Sabaud Decemb. 24. 1661. GEORG STRADLING S. Th. Dr. Rev. in Christo Patris Gilberti Episc. Lond. Sacellanus Domesticus SOLOMON'S GATE or An Entrance into the Church Being A Familiar Explanation of the Grounds of Religion conteined In the Fowr Heads of CATECHISM viz. The Lord's Prayer The Apostles Creed The Ten Commandements The Sacraments Fitted to Vulgar Understanding By A. L. 1 Cor. XIV XXVI Let all things be done to Edification LONDON Printed by R. DANIEL 1662. To the Most Illustrious Princess ANNE Duchess of YORK c. Increase of Grace Here the Improv'd Rewards of Glory Hereafter MADAME THe Design of This plain Treatise being to Infuse Notions of Peace Obedience into the Minds of the Multitude by a familiar Declaration of the Grounds of Christianity I could not think how to recommend it to publick Use with fairer Advantage then from Your Highness Hands who as You are in Your Person both for Natural Endowments and Moral Excellencies the Miroir of Your Sex so in Your Relations are the Wife of a Prince whose Heroical Vertues render'd Him the Delight Terrour of Forreign Nations and the Daughter of a Statesman whose Wisdom is the Pillar of publick Interest and His Counsels the Buttress of our Peace Indeed the Subject doth of it self challenge a Reverence from the Reader Usefulness is a just Apology for Plainness besides that Sacred Truths shew best when they are seen in their own Light and have that Native Beauty about them that they stand not in need of Additional Helps of Art Yet to secure the Authour from that Censure the Work from that Contempt which the Vulgar Dress and mean Language they appear in is too apt to Betray them to the Lustre of so Great a Patronage was even to Necessity Convenient and will beyond all Doubt be Sufficient Your Highness Name will be Amulet against the Censorious Charm to the Rude Wherefore that I have thus for the Publick sake presum'd to Address a particular Respect will I hope be Interpreted a pardonable Ambition in Him who is MADAME Your Highness most Humble and Devoted Servant ADAM LITTLETON To the REVEREND My ever Honour'd Father Mr. THOMAS LITTLETON RECTOR of Suckley in the Diocese of Worcester Honour'd Father THat old complaint of St. Jerom that Divinity is become every ones Trade was never more seasonable then of late times amongst us when all Professions invaded the Pulpit and God's word was rudely handled by those that were Bunglers at their own trades To vindicate me from that imputation of unseemly meddling with sacred things if my Education which hath been all along in Letters and the Imployment I am in which requires of me sometimes to perform the place of Catechist will not serv yet the Relation which I and this Treatise both have to your self will abundantly plead a defence For if the Church hath accepted services of this nature from several of her sons in the Laity then I hope I that am not only a Son of the Church but the Son of a Church-man too shall escape censure especially when I own my self in this small work no other then your Amanuensis and do but copy out those notions of Truth and Duty wherewith you by your early institutions season'd my Youth So that in effect the Book I present you is as much your child as the Writer of it and this Explanation what it is is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filia vocis the veneration I owe to a Father will justifie the Allusion I mean the Echo the rebound and report at distance of your Instructions and those discourses you made a score of years ago at Hales-Owen Sir It was then your custom constantly on Sunday-afternoons with all familiar plainness to set forth the Grounds of Religion and Principles of Christianity an exercise though perform'd in the Desk of as great necessity and tending as much to edification as that other I was going to say Idoliz'd way of Preaching Yet the sad truth is that in this age of disorders Preaching hath not been so much abus'd as Catechizing with other holy ordinances hath been disused And indeed to this neglect we may mainly impute most other miscarriages When the Ground-work sinks 't is no wonder if the Building totter and run to decay and if these Foundations should be shaken it may iustly be fear'd that the whole Fabrick of Church and State will goe to ruine and fall into confusion An ungrounded Christian will be easily perswaded to give himself up to any wild opinion or loose practise to turn Heretick or Rebell and prove a fit Instrument for the managery of Satan's designs I must confess that much hath been writt already upon these Subjects so that the very Titles of those Books which have been intended Comments and Expositions of Catechetical Heads and Enarrations of the Grounds of Religion would take up more paper then this whole Discourse wasts And I know there are many Excellent Treatises of this kind even in our own Language yet I have not met with any one hitherto that hath comprehended all the Rudiments of Christian Doctrine for so I think I may safely call these Heads of Catechisme in one Manual or delivered the plain meaning of them in so familiar a Phrase Method For whilest others ingage in controversie and spin out all School-Divinity out of these plain Truths and fill their margin with quotations out of the Fathers and accommodate Humane Learning to Sacred purposes as if they meant to print only Ad Clerum laying out their vast abilities out of the Peoples reach I judg'd it more suitable to publick Vse and to the scant measures of my Skill to give only a Grammatical account by an easie Paraphrase and exegetical interpretation of every clause word by word and then of the whole sentence together Nor have I been wanting as occasions have invited up and down to bring in Practical considerations nor fear'd sometimes to enter the Lists against the Romanists and their Proselytes our Sectaries yet not so as to fetch in strength from Authority without but make use of those weapons only the present place afforded me I have been the larger in my Discant upon the Lords Prayer becasue indeed it is the Ground of all Liturgy In the Creed I did not think it safe or fit to mention those old Heresies so long since exploded for fear least a weak Confutation should teach them seeing there have been too many in our late Separations too industrious to revive them and bring them into Credit but contented my self with a short and I hope Orthodox explication of the Mysteries of our Faith When I was upon the Decalogue I could not but make National reflections upon each Commandement yet so as to convince the whole People not
to upbraid any one Party For though the Act of Oblivion injoyns us to forget Injuries done to Men yet Religion will oblige us to remember our Sins against God The Sacraments I have handled with that brevity that I have not there much insisted on the Rites wherewith our Church administers them but elsewhere in the Book have in the general offer'd somewhat to their defence Where I plead Admission of all to the holy Table I would not be understood to speak for those which are under Church-censures On every of these parts I have said little of the much which might have been said and for ought that I know nothing that has been said by others having had a special care all the way of the Eighth Commandement Sir You are the onely Author that I have consulted and these sheets have not been the travail so much of my Invention as of my Memory while I have been recovering those Notices your Institution lodg'd in my young head and heart Wherefore what I have fail'd in Elegance of expression or Solidity of matter I must first here beg your Pardon for seeing that contrary to the method of the Resurrection what was sown in strength is now raâ—s'd in weakness And next crave your Blessing upon the Book and Me that God would make us both serviceable to the Publick For I very well understand what hazard of censure I run by appearing thus in Print and what Obligations I now lay upon my self to walk carefully and order my conversation aright since he that puts forth a Book of Religion and leads an irreligious life doth but libell himself and scandalize his Book Sir As it was your great care and love to send me in my younger years to several places for my education so 't was my no lesse happinesse that I was principled in Religion by your self and though Scholar to sundry Masters was your Catechumenus I thought it then the most fitting Gratitude to return you what I receiv'd and design your own Instructions the Memorial of my Dutie That the God of all Consolation would crown your Old age with Honour and Ioy and after these many years of Suffering and Persecution wherein you have had so large a share heap upon you the blessings of Peace and a long Life that you may see and partake the prosperity of Jerusalem shall be the dayly prayer of Dear Father St. Thomas-day 1661. Your most dutifull and obedient Son Adam Littleton Sentences out of Scrip ure Heb. V. 12. FOr when for the time ye ought to be Teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first Principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk not of strong meat 1 Tim. I. 13. Hold fast the Form of sound Words which thou hast heard of me in Faith and Love which is in Christ Iesus Prov. XXII 6. Train up or Catechise a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Psal. XXXIV 11 12 13 14. Come ye Children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life and lovâ—th many dayes that he may see good Keep thy Tongue from evil thy lips from speaking guile Depart from evil do good seek Peace and pursue it Prov. IV. 23. Keep thy Heart with all diligence or above all keeping for out of it are the issues of life Psalm CXI 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom a good Vnderstanding or good success have all they that do his Commandements Eccles. XII 13. Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and Keep his Commandements for this is THE WHOLE DUTIE OF MAN An Explanation of the GROUNDS OF RELIGION RELIGION is the Fear of God i.e. the acknowledging worshipping of God God is known by his Works and by his Word There was never any Nation which did not profess the worship of God An Atheist was alwayes counted a monster Now most Countries following Nature as their guid have mistaken either in the matter or manner of their worship The Heathens therefore such as Indians Scythians Turks c. worship either a false God or with false worship But God's people being guided by the light of Scripture do embrace the true Religion the Iewish Church in the time of the Law the Christian Church under the Gospel For after the coming of Christ the Religion of the Iews hath now no longer use since it was but a shadow and type of Christ to come For Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse being risen the Ceremonies like shadows are scatter'd and fled away Christian Religion then is that Doctrine which Christ himself taught when he was on earth confirm'd by miracles and holinesse of Life and sealed with his precious Blood dying on the Cross. Christian Religion is at large conteined in the holy Scriptures i.e. in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles who were the Pen men of the holy Ghost But it is chiefly compriz'd in the four Heads of Catechism which we call the Principles of Religion Now Catechism is a brief and plain Institution which explains the Mysteries of Faith and the Duties of a holy Life in that manner that they may be easily understood by any even the most vulgar apprehension Wherefore 't is call'd the Sincere milk of the Word as being fitted to the capacity of little children which as yet cannot bear more weighty discourses which are compar'd to solid meat This Doctrine then is plain that it may be receiv'd by the Understanding and short that it may be held in Memory yet full too that it may instruct us in all things necessary to salvation For it is made up of four parts whereof the First teacheth us what we are to believe concerning God and the Church the Second what duty we owe to God and man the Third describes a method of praying the Fourth delivers those Sacred seals by which this doctrine is confirm'd The Confession of Faith is set down in the Apostles Creed The Law of God contein'd in the Ten Commandements is the Rule of life The Lord's Prayer is a most absolute form and pattern of Prayer And lastly the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper are instead of Seals These are the Pillars upon which not onely the Church but every faithfull soul is in the Spirit built up to perfect knowledge and blessednesse to grace and glory AN EXPLANATION Of the LORD'S PRAYER The Lord's Prayer OUr Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our dayly bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdome the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen The LORDS PRAYER PRAYER is a calling upon God in time of
other recreation to entertain himself with but to set gins and snares to catch souls in it being the design of his implacable spight to see man who by his means fell from Paradise the place of bliss to an accursed earth fall yet lower into the torments of Hell to be a companion to the damned spirits He 'l accompany thee to Church and watch thee into thy closet whatever thou art about hee 's at hand he intermeddles in thy civil affairs in thy religious duties hee 'l bear a part and suggest vain thoughts hee 'l buy and sell with thee nay hee 'l watch and pray with thee Our Saviour himself was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted where after the preparation of a forty dayes fast for the conflict he was to enter the lists and vanquish this grand enemy of our salvation O blessed preparatory Lent O happy encounter when the Captain of our salvation with the buckler of faith and girt with the sword of truth and meekness upon his thigh was pleas'd to meet this spiritual Goliah in the field and combate with him that he might tread him under our feet break his head his strength and his policy and give his flesh to be meaâ— for his people in the wilderness that as the viper's flesh proves an excellent Antidot against the poyson of the viper and is a great restorative to nature which the creature it self would destroy so temptations might turn to advantages and the malice of Satan improve our bliss How little able should we be to resist him who made such fierce assaults on the Son of God himself How little hope can we have to escape being tempted to the fowlest and most horrid sins when he had the impudence to tempt God himself for such was Christ to the fowlest Idolatry to fall down and worship the Divel Oh dreadfull blasphemy Oh outragious confidence O a Divel void of all ingenuity past all shame and fear All these things will I give thee if thou fall down and worship me All these things all which things Base bold feind hast thou any thing to give All too all at a clap false pretender thou hast nothing to bestow of thy own but evil hell and death the wages of sin All that 's good is God's already or if thou hast any thing to give dost know saucy creature who it is thou speakest to wilt thou offer thy maker any thing dost think that hee 'l take any thing at thine hand If he stood in need would he pass by all his creatures canst imagin to accept thy kindness And why feind this unusual bounty so great a present to him thou hatest What wouldst thou have him doe for 't wouldst thou purchase his favour Hast a mind to buy thy peace and compound for pardon spare thy gifts bring thy self repent and beg that thou mayst have leave to fall down at his footstool and worship before the mercy seat canst thou confess and forsake thy sins Thou hast Scripture for 't and thy former discourse shews thee well read in Scripture thou shalt find favour And what an opportunity hast thou The Saviour of the world in thy company who came on purpose to reconcile sinners and save what was lost will be easily intreated to intercede for thee and get admittance for a faln Angel nor is all his charity tyed to faln men thy brother Angels whom thou left'st in heaven trust in him and worship him And why maist not thou hope the day of thy return is coming now that heaven gates are set open to all that will enter the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence And thou hast greater reasons to prevail with thee for repentance then miserable men have as knowing the great happiness thou hast parted with and having so long felt the torments of an evil conscience thy own hell and of that hell which thou art heating for others If any man were in thy case who yet is of a shallower understanding and sense then thou art would he not willingly leap out of those flames in which thou fryest would he not gladly be freed from the wrath of God which thou hast for so many ages lain under and which for ever thou must lye under unless thou canst repent And to what end shouldst thou stand out any longer in an enmity to him that overpowers thee to whom thy hatred can doe no hurt who constantly baffles thy counsels defeats thy strengths and has bound thee with everlasting chains one would think this very conflict might sufficiently convince thee how poor thy malice shows and how successless all thy attempts No Repentance is a doctrine to be preached only to men as the good Angels cannot sin so neither can the bad repent The Divel is but enraged with the tidings of salvation and his dispair imboldens him and he is resolv'd to be damn'd for ever He has an inveterate hatred and implacable malice against God which has call'd him forth now unto this defiance He hates the very thoughts of being blessed because he cannot be so out of God's company he hates God as God hates sin with a perfect hatred and would treat with God upon no other terms then this that God would not be Out of hatred to God he hates himself and is contented to foregoe his happiness rather then to acknowledge it and buyes his spight with endless torments If God should reinstate him as he is in heaven and inlarge him from his bonds he would look on the favour as a more painful imprisonment and account heaven his worse hell Though he knows aforehand that nothing he doth against God shall prosper he thinks it success enough of his plots that he has shown a contempt and in this very temptation of Christ nothing pleases him so much as the effrontery of it that he could as his servant Herod after did mock him and set him at nought when he was not suffer'd to doe him any more hurt For what is it he tempts him to that which he could not have impudence to hope would be hearkned to that which he knew was impossible for Christ in his very nature as well as in his will to doe to sin the holy one to commit a sin Oh audacious tempter couldst thou offer to corrupt him who knows no sin with a bribe couldst thou fancy the judge of all the earth could be made doe wickedly for reward when every upright judge scorns to have justice bought many an honest lawyer will not be hired to be an advocate for wrong But oh Divelish impudence what sin He had tempted him before to distrust and then to tempt providence and seeing Scripture as he applyed it would not prevail is not dismayed by a double repulse but that he might go of with a boast seeing he could not with conquest shews himself right Divel and belcheth out a blasphemy big enough to fill the wide mouth of hell He would
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