lie in the ready way to make his fortune Ans. No when all is done prudent integrity is the best counseller and the surest way to maintain a present station or advance higher or to have a good support and such a kind Providence as will make amends when thereby we miss of either He that walketh uprightly walketh surely saith Solomon Prov. 10. 9. The integrity of the upright says he again shall guide and direct them yea in any dangers it shall deliver them But if by wicked craft and ungodly policy Men shall chuse to do ill to serve a turn the perverseness of such transgressors shall destroy them And instead of being saved or advanced they shall fall by their own wickedness and be taken in their own naughtiness Prov. 11. 3. 5 6. Whilst righteousness keeps him that is upright in the way by God's usual and just Judgment wickedness overthrows the sinner Prov. 13. 6. Quest. Since God gives promotion is not this enough to make all Men contented and satisfied when they rest in a lower state and see others exalted Ans. Yes because their lower state is what God allots who can easily exalt them if he sees it convenient for his own Glory and their good against which no wise Person would desire it And it is not only the highest duty but the truest interest of all Men to let God chuse for them every estate because he alone knows perfectly all the troubles and temptations of it and their fitness for it He understands us all far better than the wisest of us understand our selves and therefore best sees what condition is proper for us Besides if he give us less here the day of Judgment will make up all the seemingly unequal distributions of this World so that we may hope for the more hereafter Lazarus though a very good Man was extreme poor and full of sores and in this World received his evil things But his more than ordinary wants in this present life were abundantly made up by the surplusage of bliss in Abraham's bosom Luke 16. 20 21 22 25. And when Persons of equal goodness have not equal encouragements of Providence allotted them in this life they have the more in reversion and greater things to expect afterwards Quest. Doth God also give all that favour we find in the Eyes of Men Ans. Yes the Lord gave Joseph favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison Gen. 39. 21. and gave him favour in the sight of Pharaoh Act. 7. 10. and Israel favour in the sight of the Egyptians Exod. 3. 21. and Daniel favour and tender love with the prince of the Eunuchs Dan. 1. 9. The skill and goodness of some excellent and useful Persons may deserve to be favoured but favour is not always to men of skill but only where God bends the hearts of Men and bestows it Eccles. 9. 11. All the favour which any Men shew us is our good God's who conveys it to us through their hearts and hands Quest. When we come to them for any favours is it God that helps us to address with moving Speech and with clear and persuasive Reason and Arguments Ans. Yes and inclines them too to hearken to it and return us soft and gracious Answers As the preparation of the heart in him that pleads and craves favour so the answer of the tongue in him that grants it is from the Lord Prov. 16. 1. And therefore in all our suits and dependances on Men we must first seek to and place our trust in God. For if our suit please him he will help us so to deliver our requests and to prefer them at such times that they shall be sure to receive and be pleased with them too Quest. And will they be sure to do this though at the same time they are solicited and inclined very different ways and have in their Eye and Intention many other projects which are ready to oppose and justle out ours Ans. Yes for when there are many devices in a man's heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord or that device among them all which God espouses it shall stand Prov. 19. 21. And therefore in any matters which God loves and espouses let no good Men despond because of the instability and unsettledness or because of the number interest or oppositeness of other Counsels whereby he is exercised who has the disposal of them For God can quickly alter his measures and turn his deliberations as he will and fix the determination where he pleases Quest. If we cannot have the favour of Men but by the gift and blessing of God must not this teach us never to commit any sin to please Men nor do the least offence to him in hopes thereby to ingratiate our selves with them either to gain their favour or to keep and retain it Ans. Yes it must teach us this For if we fall out with God he can quickly spoil our credit and favour with Men too But if we keep favour with him by holding punctually to well-doing he rules the hearts of all Men and can either preserve us in their favour or protect us from their displeasure Nay in all likelihood he both can and will not only continue to us our old Friends who must needs secretly approve our upright dealings though we comply not with their own private ends but also add more For when a man's ways please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him Prov. 16. 7. So that Men must never neglect their own duty or commit any sin to please great Persons or to keep peace with their violent or malicious Neighbours Let them adhere strictly to their duty which will secure the favour of God and then his Providence will add the favour of Men where he sees that will do them good or make their lives competently happy and comfortable without it or however make good the want thereof to them abundantly in another World. Quest. I see 't is Providence that gives us Children to recompence our cares and perpetuate our memories and success to our honest labours and wealth and honour and favour and is it not the same God still that gives us both life and health to injoy them Ans. Yes for in him we live move and have our being Act. 17. 28. When he hides his face all things are troubled he takes away their breath and they die and are turned to their dust Psal. 104. 29. And for this we are not only thankfully to own his gift but since we every minute live upon him we ought by all means continually to live to him and not lay out our health and strength in vice or vanities For whensoever these are shamefully mis-spent 't is but for him to hold his hand and we are in sickness pains or death the next moment Quest. If God is thus the giver and the restorer of health then when Men are in sickness fervent Prayer is one step to a cure And when they send
as well as our own danger will constrain us not to live unto our selves but unto him that died for us 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Quest. We believe that he is now in Heaven at God's right Hand to present our Prayers and intercede for us and procure whatsoever we stand in need of What effect ought this to have upon us Ans. Make us look up to him with affiance in his Patronage and apply to God by him with confidence in all our distresses Having such an high-priest now passed into the heavens says the Apostle let us come boldly unto the throne of grace Heb. 4. 14. Quest. We believe that as by his Death he purchased so in Heaven he is now taking up and preparing Mansions of Eternal Bliss for all such holy Souls as by purity of heart and life are fit to partake of and delight in them What must every Man of this belief do to be true to his own sentiments Ans. Purifie himself that he may be meet to enjoy and qualified to relish the immaculate pleasures of that pure and spotless Place Every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure 1 Jo. 3. 3. Quest. We believe that at the last day Christ will judge all men according to their deeds 2 Cor. 5. 10. Eternally rewarding all that are truly Pious Humble Temperate Just True and Peaceable and eternally condemning all that are otherwise What should every Person do in common care and prudence that is fully persuaded of this Ans. Faithfully serve and fear God who will call him to this strict account He should be sober and watch unto prayer 1. Pet. 4. 5 7. and be temperate in all things 1 Cor. 9. 25. and owe nothing but love to any man Rom. 13. 8. and follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. Quest. We believe the Holy Ghost is ready to assist us in every good act and help all that will use his aid to be as Holy as God requires they should be What would all that seriously attend to this belief do upon it Ans. Obey his motions and concur with his assistances and never wilfully do any thing that will forfeit the aid and influence of so desireable and Divine a Guest as he is Have that is use Grace that you may serve God acceptably Heb. 12. 28. Work out your own salvation for it is God that worketh in you Phil. 2. 12 13. and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God Eph. 4. 30. Quest. We believe the communion of Saints which implies an obedient submission and adherence to our common Rulers and particularly a communion in Prayers and Sacraments What would God or Men expect from a Person of this belief Ans. To keep the unity of the Church and frequent the publick Assemblies where these Saints are to meet and unite in all Divine Offices Quest. So that to name no more these Points of Belief already mentioned if duly attended to would influence and act on all serious embracers of them into love of God and Honour and godly Fear and make them rest contented in all estates and trust God with all Futurities and have affiance in him in the greatest Difficulties and shew patience and perseverance under the most tedious Delays and purifie their Hearts and Lives and render them universally Righteous as God is and keep them Holy and Humble and Temperate and Just and Peaceable thereby to come off well at the Great Day of Accounts It would cause them to love honour and obey their Saviour Christ and repent truly of all their sins and put them upon Prayers and Devotions and keep them in the unity of the Church and the Publick Assemblies and make them encourage the Grace of God and joyn therewith their best endeavours all which are only the forecited particulars Ans. Yes where a belief of these things is these fruits may reasonably be expected from it For they naturally follow on such apprehensions and accordingly are ascribed to them and intended to result from them in the Holy Scriptures Quest. And as it appears in these so I suppose it might be made appear how we are led on by some Points of Belief to every other Point of Practice Ans. It might so but I judge these to be abundantly enough Quest. But although all among us profess to believe these Principles yet are few thus affected with them or influenced thereby into these practices Ans. Too true alas But therein they act most unreasonably and are false to their own persuasions Whereas if a Man has a real belief of these things and will both attend or dwell upon it and be true to it following on whither it leads him in its own natural tendency and according to all reason it would affect and influence him as has been declared From this Faith such Fruits are reasonably to be expected though where Men act out of reason and either forget themselves or to gratifie some unlawful lusts are wilfully false to their own opinions no such things will follow it Quest. If Faith be such a sertile Grace and so apt to usher in all others though it be but one in the Root and Cause yet in the Fruit and Effect it will be all Virtues Ans. Very right and so it is What in Nature Pleasure and Pain are among the Passions that in Religion Faith is among the Graces viz. the Source Root and Ground-work of all the rest which are only its different expressions according to its various Aspects as it looks several ways and is conversant about several Objects For as Pleasure simply offer'd and apprehended begets Love if offer'd as absent especially as remote it turns Desire if as attainable chiefly when that attainment seems near it becomes Hope if as attainable surely Confidence and as Pain doth the like with the Passions opposite So Faith as I have observ'd when it is of God's Precepts turns Obedience when of his Threatnings Fear and holy Awe when of his Promises Hope and Trust when the things promised are to be sought of him it becomes Prayers and Devotions when they are delaied Patience and Perseverance when they are bestow'd and receiv'd Thankfulness when 't is of his Providence it turns Contentedness when of the horrible nature and effects of sin Repentance when of the spotless rewards of the other World purification of our Hearts and Lives when of the last Judgment universal Innocence that may stand the trial of it when of God's Purity and Perfection Imitation of him or being Righteous as he is when of Christ the Lord and his Laws keeping the Commandments when of the Holy Spirit and his assistances godly Care and good Endeavours when of the Communion of Saints keeping Unity in the Church and attending Publick Ordinances So that according to several objects and occasions this one Principle of Faith transforms it self into all shapes and becomes all Duties which are all therefore ascribed to
it in the Holy Scriptures As when it is said to quench the â—â—ery darts of the wicked Eph. 6. 16. to overcome the world 1 Jo. 5. 4. to puriâ—ie the heart Act. 15. 9. to be the Grand Parent of all Righteous doings which are therefore called an obedience or righteousness of faith Rom. 4. 11 13 c. 16. 26. And when the good deeds of the best Men such as Noah Abraham Moses Daniel c. are attributed to it Heb. 11. Quest. And is it from this effecting all Virtues that it stands adorn'd with all Privileges and that such Promises are made to it when named alone as are due only to it and all others in conjunction Ans. Yes such as that thereby we are the children of God Gal. 3. 26. and abide in the Son and in the Father 1 Joh. 2. 24. and have Christ dwelling in us Eph. 3. 17. That it justifies us Rom. 5. 1. makes us righteous Rom. 10. 10. gains the remission of sins Rom. 3. 25. saves us Joh. 5. 24. All which though they manifestly require Repentance and Obedience are yet in the places cited ascribed to Faith because as opportunity serves and objects call for them it is productive of them both Quest. You have fully shewed what are those suitable affections which Faith is to work in us And thereby I perceive plainly that Faith with its suitable effects is the same in other words with Faith and Repentance which at first you said was the way for Men to save their Souls But will not Faith save us and be imputed unto us for Righteousness till we are thus affected with it and act according to our persuasions Ans. No without this it did not save good Men in old Times nor will now save us Quest. The Old Testament Worthies both before the Flood and after were accounted Righteous and saved by their Faith as the Scripture testifies But was not Faith accepted of them unless it thus influenced and affected them Ans. No 't is plain it was not from the particular accounts of those Worthies Quest. Pray make that out in instances which will be a clear proof in this case Ans. First Noah became Heir of the Righteousness by Faith by believing in a sinful and secure Generation that God would bring the general Flood upon the World. But that was when he fear'd and acted as one so persuaded or being moved with fear prepared an Ark at God's command to the saving his own house from it By which Fear and preparation of the Ark upon his Faith as S. Paul notes he condemned the world and became heir of the Righteousness which is by faith Heb. 11. â— Again Moses was accepted for believing the poor Israelites who were then all oppressed slaves in Egypt to be for all that the People of God. But that was as in pursuance of that belief he refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter the greatest Honour and Worldly good he had in Egypt and chose rather to side and bear affliction with them Yea further as at God's command and in confidence of his Presence with them he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King who as he must needs think would be most highly incensed at his carrying away so great a Body of a Laborious and Drudging People from him Heb. 11. 24 25 26 27. His Faith is also cried up for believing God would pass over all the Houses of the Israelites when he went to slay all the first-born among the Egyptians But the acceptance of this as S. Paul notes was as through that Faith he obey'd God to keep the Passover and the sprinkling of blood upon the lintel and the two side posts of their Doors which God had made the condition and token of their being preserv'd verse 28. 'T is celebrated lastly for believing God's Promise to divide the waters of the red sea and make them stand as a Wall on either side till he was passed over But all the Praise of this belief was as in virtue of it he ventur'd himself and People betwixt those Mountains of Water and passed through as if it had been dry land as God directed verse 29. Thirdly The Harlot Rahab was preserv'd as S. Paul and justified as S. James says for believing that the God of Israel was stronger than all Gods and had given Jericho to the Israelites But that as we are expresly told was only as in pursuance of that belief she turn'd to that side which she saw God espoused and concealed the spies and sent them away in peace James 2. 25. Heb. 11. 3â— Lastly Abraham whilst he dwelt in Mesopotamia accepted for believing that God would give him another land wherein he should grow to be a great nation But that was when in vertue of that belief at God's command he left his own country and obey'd to wander not knowing whither he went in search of that Seat and Inheritance which God had chosen for him Heb. 11. 8. He was especially justified for believing God when he promised to make his Son Isaac a numerous and blessed people But this was as in Power of that Faith he stuck at nothing but at God's command readily offered him up when he was tried accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead to verifie that Promise to him Heb. 11. 17 18 19. His offering up Isaac in virtue of that Faith fulfilled that Scripture which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness as S. James saith Jam. 2. 21 23. Quest. I see plainly from these instances that Faith when it had these suitable effects was the thing God imputed for Righteousness to the Old Testament Worthies They were all Righteous through Faith not whilst Faith was only an idle belief and speculative Notion but when they feared and acted as any rational and considerate Man would do under such persuasions What have you to add more to shew the same of us Christians Ans. The Faith that will avail and save us we are plainly told is a Faith that 1. Affects our Hearts and renews all within us It must beget Hope and Trust in God the Devils faith being rejected because they only tremble at God's Word and dare not trust it will do them any good Jam. 2. 19. It must produce Charity which says S. Paul fulfils the Law of the Second Table and leads into every other Duty For Charity is the end of the Law out of faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. 5. and the Faith which avails to the hope of righteousness is a Faith which worketh by love Gal. 5. 5 6. In summ lastly it must cleanse the Heart whence as our Saviour observes all evil doth procede purging out the Old Man of Pride Anger Envy Lust c. and planting therein the New Man of Humble Pious Pure and Virtuous Tempers in its stead purifying the heart as S. Peter says Act. 15. 9. and 1 Pet.
on being under his Protection and going on lawful Errands Matth. 8. 24 25 26. God very commonly suffers good Mens dangers which at last he designs to remove to go on first to the greatest extremities that their Faith and Trust may pass through a more full trial and illustrious exercise Quest. Must it teach us any thing else Ans. Yes Secondly in no case to forsake God and fly to any Foreign and unlawful Aids For if we stick to him this over-ruling Power when things are at the worst can with a Word put all the evil by and rescue us And if we forsake him he can as easily turn that Power against us and make us fall by our own succours For as this Almighty Arm is able to bring all things about for us so when it pleases can it also bring them about against us in spite of all probabilities Quest. This is a stupendious height of Power how will God employ it Ans. In making good all his Promises and executing all his Threatnings heaping Favours on his Friends and faithful Servants and Judgments on his Enemies So that all Holy Men shall taste the sweetness of it in endearing Providences in this World as Jacob Joseph David and the Patriarchs and pious Men of old did and in Glorious and endless Rewards in the next And wicked Men shall feel the smart of it in all the crosses and penal inflictions of this Life and in the everlasting torments of the Life to come Quest. If this irresistible Power were not to be thus justly and kindly used though we should basely fear and dread yet should we not love and value him that has it Ans. No for nothing is so hateful as power in the hands of malice which makes us have such an utter hatred of the powers of darkness And this must teach all ambitious Men never to covet and all Potent Men never to employ their Power to oppress or tyrannize to accomplish unlawful Lusts or to work their wills on others But only to encourage Virtue and reward it to protect the innocent relieve the oppressed curb the vicious or some way or other to do good with it Quest. Another Branch of God's Almightiness you said is his Sovereignty and Power to command and order all things What mean you by God's Sovereignty Ans. His Supreme Authority being accountable to none but having Power to order and injoyn all things as seemeth fittest to his own Wisdom Quest. What doth this imply Ans. Two things both Empire that is a Power to injoyn and command as a Ruler and Dominion that is a Power to allot and dispose as a Proprietor God may give any Commands and exact them of any Persons as an absolute Governour and make any distributions of Things or allotment of States and Conditions as an absolute Lord and Proprietor And he is Sovereign in both these being bound to please none but only to order as seems best to himself Quest. Doth God exercise over the World a Sovereign Empire Ans. Yes all other Rulers as the Apostle says are but his ministers Rom. 13. 4. but he still keeps the controlling Power and the Reins of Government in his own Hands being the blessed and only Potentate King of kings and Lord of lords 1 Tim. 6. 15. He hath prepared his throne in heaven and his kingdom ruleth over all Psalm 103. 19. And this Empire he exercises in giving and exacting all Commands and guiding and directing all Actions and turns in the World as he pleases Quest Has God an absolute and unlimited Power to command all things Ans. Yes all that his Creatures by his Grace are capable of doing and all that his most Holy and Perfect Nature is capable of injoyning Quest. Why do you say all his Creatures by his Grace are capable of doing Ans. Because his most just and equitable Government cannot impose an impossible thing His Laws indeed might be impossible to us considered naked in our own strength but not as consider'd under those assistances and that strength which he is ready to afford us He doth not reap where he has not sown and whatsoever his Laws require his Spirit will assist Men to perform His commandments are not grievous 1 John 5. 3. and his yoke is easie and its burden light Matth. 11. 30. Quest. Why do you add also all that his most Holy and Perfect Nature is capable of injoyning Ans. To shew he doth not give Commands out of unlimited Will and Arbitrariness but doth all according to unalterable Principles of Goodness and Justice He may command whatsoever he will but then he cannot will all that we may fancy but only all that is like himself i. e. all that is Wise and Good. He never Wills against the Perfection of his Nature because he will do it Quest. I perceive then that God having commanded Holiness and Justice and Mercifulness and Truth and Faithfulness and the like which are his own Natural Perfections there is no possibility of his reversing these Commands to shew unlimitedness of Will and commanding their contraries Ans. No in commanding these Virtues he only commands us to be like himself to be holy as he is holy perfect in kindness as he is perfect as the Scripture says And being Transcripts of his own Perfections these Virtues are a limitation to his Will and whilst he is himself he can never will them to be otherwise Indeed it is his Command which makes them become duties to us and instances of our obedience but that which made him command them was the Goodness they had antecedent to his Command as being Draughts of his own Perfections He willed them because they were Good and like himself And he being unchangeable they must be always like him and upon that account he must always will them whence they are said to be duties of Essential and Eternal Goodness and Obligation Quest. Doth God exercise this Empire also in guiding and directing all Actions and Turns in the World as he pleases Ans. Yes he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What doest thou as Nebuchadnezzar most justly acknowledged when he returned to himself Dan. 4. 35. He presides in all Councils and directs and over-rules all Actions and Events I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things Isaiah 45. 7. And this Administration of things is called his Providence which has already been discoursed of Quest. Has God also a Sovereign Dominion to dispose of all things and allot all their different states and conditions as a Supreme Proprietor Ans. Yes his Hand made all things bestowing upon them both the Workmanship and the Materials and his Power still preserves them and all this for what uses he pleases Thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 11. As the clay is in
or will he do it with Equity and Candor as one plainly inclined to shew all reasonable favour Answ. He will be the most Fair Equitable and Candid Judge our Hearts can wish for He is our Judge who is our Advocate and has all along espoused our Cause our Friend that Loved us better than his Life and shed his Blood for us So that when we are brought before him we may promise our selves all the Favour that is consistent with Justice Quest. Will he favourably interpret our Performances when they come before him and make the best of every thing that it can justly bear and be as ready to note what may make for us as what may make against us Answ. Yes for in the Description of the last Judgment Mat. 25. he assigns good deeds to those on his Right-hand viz. the Feeding and Cloathing and Visiting him which in strict Truth they had not done having never seen him but only by a favourable interpretation from their having done so to his Brethren for his sake which shews had they seen him in that want they would much more have done it to himself Come ye Blessed of my Father for I was an hungred and ye gave me Meat thirsty and ye gave me Drink c. And when they shall answer Lord when saw we thee to do any of these things for thee He tells us he will reply in as much as ye have done it to the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me v. 34. to 41. Nay to assure us further of his extraordinary Favour in Censuring of his Friends behold his marvellous Candor in judging of the worst Actions of his Enemies and that too at a Time when if ever he should have been prone to pass a hard Construction For representing the most Barbarous Murder of himself to God as he hung upon the Cross and had a most pungent sense of it he imputes it to the most Pardonable Principles and says they acted so through Ignorance the only possible thing that could be suggested for their excuse censuring that horrid Act which he of all Men had cause to make the worst of not as an Accuser but rather like a retain'd Advocate Luk. 23. 34. Thus in that Day will the most benign Judge be of Counsel for all the Prisoners and spye all their Virtues and make the best he reasonably can of every bad Case And as for good Men he will impute their Failures to the most pardonable Causes and Remember their good Services when they have forgot them setting them off by a kind interpretation and thinking better of them than their own Humility and Modesty would allow themselves to do Quest. But what say you to the seeming Rigor of his own Laws which require us to Love and serve him with all our Heart and strength And if this be drawn out to a full stretch and strained to mean our utmost Possibilities no Candor to our Performances can construe them to come up to this pitch Answ. The seeming Rigor of that Expression he will interpret with great condescension to the Measures of Men. He will reasonably allow and abate for our many Temptations and Distracting Thoughts our Natural Backwardness and Forgetfulness and other Frailties so incident to our present State and Circumstances And when all that is candidly deducted the rest which in our Circumstances we are honestly and fairly able to Do will pass for serving him with all the heart and strength according to the Commandment Quest. How will you make that out Answ. Because the Scripture Declares he will bear in Reason with our Infirmities Heb. 5. 2. And because he has done so in several judged Cases expresly declaring of several that they have kept this Commandment when they needed these abatements Thus of Asa it is said that his Heart was Perfect before God 1 King. 15. 14. And of David that he followed God with his whole Heart Yea that he turned not aside from any thing he commanded him all his days except in the matter of Uriah 1 King. 14 8. and c. 15. 5. And of Josiah that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord neither declining to the Right Hand nor to the left 2 King. 22. 2. And of Zachariah and Elizabeth that they walked before God in all the Ordinances of the Law Blameless Luk. 1. 6. Now all these were Persons of our own Frailties and Infirmities They were defective in their Care as we are and though they went beyond the pitch of others yet fell below the utmost of their possibilities as the Scriptures have recorded of them in several instances They served God indeed with all their Souls in one sense of the Precept as that notes their adhering only to his Worship and allowing no part of their Heart to any Idol God. But as it note◠the intireness of Degrees in serving him Such failings as were pardonable under humane Circumstances and infirmities were first taken out and so much as they were able to do after that abatement was judged their serving God with all their Heart according to the Commandment Quest. Will Christ then after he has thus made the most of their good Performances make reasonable Allowances also for mens Slips and Failures either in committing ill or in omitting Good things Answ. Yes when they fail in either through some innocent and well meant Error or Ignorance Or when they slip through pure haste and unadvisedness and are surprized into some ill Thoughts or sudden Passions or rash words but correct themselves as soon as they consider what they have done and do not continue in it with Observation He will then have Compassion on these when he comes as our Judge as now he has when he acts as our Priest and intercedes for us For as the Jewish Priests had so can he have compassion on the Ignorant and Erroneous or as the †word notes he can Suffer in moderation or reasonably bear with them Heb. 5. 2. Quest. But what if men are Ignorant because they neglect to learn their Duty nay perhaps stop their Eyes and Ears and Refuse to see or be told of it Answ. Then that will be no excuse to them where they fail of performing it they being as St. Peter says willingly Ignorant 2 Pet. 3. 5. Quest. I perceive he will shew Favour towards our involuntary Failures But this will not avail us if he be Strict and Rigorous in judging of that Involuntariness For alas what man doth all that is Possible to prevent Ignorance or Surprize And if we do not all we can against them he may say they come through our own wills and sufferance if he will judge in Srictness Will he therefore shew Candor in judging any escapes to be Pitiable and unwill'd Miscarriages without which all his Candor in other Things will not support us in his Presence Answ. Yes He will shew all Reasonable Favour in admitting Actions for involuntary
in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus Abrahams Bosom And the care of conducting them thither as Christ noted in the account of Lazarus is committed to some good Angels For some of these as ministring Spirits always attend the death-beds of God's Saints and receive the departed Soul into their care to guard it from all frights and molestations of envious Fiends as it passes thro' the Regions of the Air which are the Principality or Territory of the Powers of Darkness and to guide it in all that long passage of new and unknown ways which lead to the Blessed Receptacles of departed Spirits Whereas the Souls of the Wicked when they are thrust out of their Bodies are left naked and defenceless to be seiz'd by those greedy and implacable Furies and hurried away upon the award of their most just Judge in extream anguish and despair to their most wretched Prisons Quest. But at the Resurrection I see both Good and Bad shall return to their Bodies again And shall that Life last for ever Answ. Yes for after once they are reunited their Souls and Bodies shall never part any more but the good shall continue in everlasting pleasure and the wicked in everlasting pain Quest. What happiness is there in that Eternal Life of the Righteous Answ. All possible happiness their hearts can wish or their Nature is capable of They shall see and enjoy God who will give himself to them and that implies every thing that is Beatifying all the Blessedness we can imagine and infinitely more being contain'd in God and communicated together with him Quest. And shall this Blessedness never be imbitter'd to them with any care or fear or grief or crosses as all the happyness of this present Life is Answ. No They shall neither hunger nor thirst any more Rev. 7. 16. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more Death nor sorrow nor crying nor Pain for all those former things are passed away Rev. 21. 4. Quest. Shall all their Senses be gratified with the most delightful and agreeable enjoyments Answ. Yes such as the Scripture is wont to set off by Feasts and Banquets and Marriage-Entertainments by melodious Songs and joyful Hallelujahs by transporting sights of all the Beauty the Glory and Magnificence of the Heavenly Court the Majesty of God's Throne and the Splendor of all the Heavenly Host that do surround it Indeed their exalted and refined Senses are above the gross delights of Eating and Drinking and giving in Marriage But such as these the Scripture uses because our present state places so much in them And whatsoever delight and satisfaction they may express to our present Capacities that and abundance more shall the enjoyments of that life yield to our glorified and improved Bodies Quest. 'T is a great heappiness to have clear and distinct knowledge of things and not to be distracted with doubts or posed with difficulties Shall the Righteous in that Eternal Life have such clear and advanced understandings Answ. Yes they shall get rid of all darkness and doubtfulness of mind and know every thing they desire without study or pains Now we see as in a Glass darkly but then face to face Now we know in part but then shall we know even as also we are known 1 Cor. 13. 12. Quest. 'T is a singular Point of Bliss to be perfect in Holiness which is one of the most Blissful Attributes of God himself Shall they also be such perfectly Holy Persons Answ. Yes they shall excel in every Virtue and Grace wherein Christ himself doth for when he appears we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3. 2. And those they shall enjoy free of all those weaknesses and defects whereby their Virtues are obscur'd and lessen'd in this World. For in new Jerusalem the Spirits of just men are made perfect Heb. 12. 23. Quest. And shall they exercise all this Holiness without trouble and reluctance which makes the practice of it painful here on Earth Answ. Yes for they shall neither have any inward Lusts to oppose it nor outward Temptations to draw them from it They hear no advice nor see any example but of what is good Their inclinations are all rectified and become Holiness to the Lord. Their Nature is perfect in good and duty is become their delight so that in conforming entirely to the will of God they do in the highest measure gratifie their own wills too Quest. And with this height of knowledge and of Holiness shall they also be inwardly pleased in their own minds and think themselves happy without which no man is happy Answ. Yes they must needs be infinitely pleased in every thing they have and in every thing they do for whatsoever comes to them is pure happiness and whatsoever proceeds from them is full of Wisdom and Goodness without the least word or action to repent of Their State is all Joy and Peace enter thou into the joy of thy Lord Mat. 25. 21. It is not bid to enter into them being infinitely more than they can hold but they into it as into a vast Ocean of Bliss whereof they shall always drink to the full but never empty or exhaust it Quest. Indeed such compleat Knowledge and perfect Holiness must needs give them cause of greatest satisfaction from themselves But what sort of Company must they keep will they be equally happy in that too Answ. Yes unimaginably happy For they will live always in the presence of God who will ineffably Communicate himself to them and of Jesus Christ who will infinitely rejoyce to see how happy he has made them and of the Holy Ghost who will eternally Congratulate the reward of his own Graces in them and converse with Angels Apostles and Glorified Saints and all their Godly dear Friends whom they valued as their own Souls and whom they clave so fast to in their hearts that they could have followed them into the other World when they were taken from them Quest. And all this God-like Society are every way fitted to be the most happy and delightful Companions Answ. Yes to be the most Blissful that possibly can be thought of For they are all light and quickness in their understandings and all love and tenderness in their Affections and most sweet and obliging in their carriage being perfectly free from all Anger Crossness Scorn or Contempt and every thing that may give offence They all look pleased and inviting in their countenances and are exquisitely wise useful and entertaining in all their Discourses and all agree in the same Opinions and speak the same things and pursue the same ends and are pleased in the same Objects and have no strife among them but who shall love highest and oblige most and be most like to God and agreeable to each other for evermore Quest. You say there shall be no strife but who shall love most Indeed a state of love which is not cooled by any unkindnesses nor crossed