must beget fear and reverence p. 232 ERRATA PAG. 19. lin 12. for accepted read was accepted p. 34. l. 29. for And half Faith r. An half Faith. p. 36. l. 13. for such as do r. such do p. 41. l. 1. for of sufficiency r. of the sufficiency p. 70. l. 24. for men in Bethlehem r. men of Bethlehem p. 113. l. 17. for do danger r. no danger p. 150. l. 15. for this peerless Majesty r. his peerless Majesty p. 154. l. 7. for in wickedness contracting r. iâ— wickedly contracting The Practical Believer PART I. Of the Nature and Certainty of Christian Faith c. CHAP. I. Of Christian Faith. The Contents What is meant by Faith in Christ. When this suitably affects us it justifies or avails to Righteousness An account of several particulars of Christian Belief with the respective Affections and Practices that are suitable to them All these are reasonably to be expected from them though they do not follow where Men will act inconsistently to their Principles and against Reason Faith with its suitable effects the same as Faith and Repentance On this account such effects ascribed to it when alone as are due only to it and Repentance in conjunction This Faith with its suitable effects was that which justified the Old Testament Worthies And is to justifie all good Christians When S. Paul opposes justifying-Faith to the Deeds of the Law he speaks of the Deeds of the Jewish Law. That which fits Faith for these effects and distinguishes the Faith of Saints and Sinners is First The sincerity of it Secondly Its strength and firmness This consists in its being assured And honest or seated in one that makes conscience to keep his word And resolute In what sense Faith may be called an act of Recumbency or leaning and rolling on Christ for Salvation And the hand to receive and apply him 'T is no part of Faith to believe our sins are pardon'd nor of infidelity to doubt of it Of the innocence many times of such doubts And of some good Mens confidence of their own forgiveness Question SInce Men are made to live for ever and have Souls capable of Eternal Salvation What must they do to save them Answer Believe in Christ and repent For Faith and Obedience which where Men have sinn'd before is call'd Repentance are the conditions of Salvation Quest. Is Faith in Christ one thing necessary to Salvation Ans. Yes He that heareth my word says our Saviour is passed from death unto life and shall not come into condemnation John 5. 24. He that believeth the Gospel and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16. 16. Quest. Will all Faith save Men Ans. No for the Devils themselves believe says S. James Jam. 2. 19. But the saving Faith is only that which suitably affects us and works Repentance Repentance as well as Faith being necessary to Eternal Happiness Quest Since Faith is in it self one part of the condition of our Happiness and instrumental also to work the Rest it is necessary to understand well what it is and wherein a saving Faith differs from other sorts of Faith. Pray what is meant by Faith in Christ Ans. In general it is the believing all that is declared to us by Christ and sometimes more particularly some things that are declared of him The believing what is said by him is called Faith in Christ as his Authority and Credit is the Ground and Reason of our Belief and the believing things said of him as he himself is the object of it And when this belief suitably affects us and we so resolve and practise thereupon as may be reasonably expected from Persons under such Persuasions then is it imputed to us for Righteousness Quest. Is Faith in Christ believing all that is declared to us by Christ or a giving trust and credit to his Word Ans. Yes and so the Scriptures intimate when they call it faith of Christ that is of his Teaching and Directing and as it is sometimes in the Original faith to Christ that is to him testifying and declaring and Faith or belief of the Gospel and of the truth the Gospel being that Word of truth which on his Credit and Authority he testifies and declares to us Besides Faith or Belief in Christ is expressed in Scripture by these several Phrases of hearing and receiving the word of Christ of receiving the word of God of receiving Christ of receiving the testimony of Christ of coming unto Christ. All which as is evident from the places alledged being made only so many other words for believing show plainly that Faith or Belief is the crediting of his Word and assenting to those things that are declared by him Which declarations for their surer derivation to After-times were all put in Writing by his Holy Apostles and Evangelists before their Deaths and are all contain'd in the Holy Scriptures Quest. Indeed if Faith in Christ be a belief of Christ's word it plainly implies hearing and receiving it and that Word being sent down to us by him from God receiving it is a receiving the word of God and believing it on Christ's Authority is receiving his testimony But how do the two other Phrases of receiving Christ and coming unto Christ shew the Faith they denote to be a belief of his Word Ans. To receive one notes different things as it is apply'd to different cases Men receive a Guest when they entertain him in their Houses a Ruler when they become his subjects a Friend when they admit him to intimacies but a Prophet and Teacher under which notion Christ claims belief when they credit his Doctrine and Message And because they who thus believ'd him came personally to attend and learn of him and associated themselves with him as they that retain'd to and followed him therefore was this belief of him in a literal sense a coming to him Quest. Doth Faith in Christ signifie also in Scripture the believing some things concerning Christ Ans. Yes and those too such things as are apt to beget trust and confidence in him For so though the Devils know and believe the truth of all Christ has declared yet S. James says they want the right Faith because they only tremble at it and cannot hope in the least that ever he will do them any good Jam. 2. 19. Quest. What are we thus particularly to believe concerning Christ Ans. Not only in the general That he is the Son of God and the Christ or Messiah for professing whereof S. Peter was pronounced Blessed Mat. 16. 16 17. but also particularly to believe that he died for our sins to reconcile us unto God by his Death whence it is especially called faith in his blood Ro. 3. 25. That he rose again from the dead which whoso believes in his heart says S. Paul shall be saved Rom. 10. 9. And that he is now ascended into Heaven and seated on the
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
grace and were aimed all for boasting as S. Paul says of them And several Rules of estimate and valuation they had to secure this to themselves one was from the number and tale of their good deeds if they had but done one more good than bad actions to make their merits preponderate their demerits Another was from their weight and importance if they had either the Skill or good Fortune to make choice of such as God set most by which might be put in the Scale against several others Nay such in their account was the desert of every good work if they continued to keep any one of their Sixteen hundred and thirteen Precepts out of Love to it and not from any worldly respect though at the same time the rest were neglected Or if when they had nothing else to produce they could but say they were the natural Seed of Abraham a ground of Jewish confidence tax'd by S. John the Baptist and were literally circumcised they thought there was enough in them to merit the future reward And being thus liberal in undervaluing what came from God and over-valuing what they did for him whilst they thus set their own rates they were sure not to want desert enough for the greatest recompences Yea so far as to make out their common saying that all Israelites shall have a portion in the world to come And for all these things sufficient testimonies are produced by learned Men out of their own Writings Quest. So that I perceive the Jewish deeds set up for Righteousness by their Doctors were the deeds of their own Law especially those distinguishing Laws which were peculiar to themselves And those not any secret and spiritual but only external acts such as fell under the cognizance of their own Courts of Justice Which were cried up for Righteousness as performed in virtue of their own strength and meriting the reward by their own worth and excellence Ans. Very right And the asserters of such works must needs be under a great surprise to hear of Justification by Gospel-duties Extending not only to Overt-Acts but their Hearts and Spirits which were to be performed by the help of God's inward Grace and rewarded through Christ's merits and God's merciful acceptance And their way of meriting acceptance by meer external Mosaick works performed in vertue of their own free-will and Humane strength being in all its points a way of their own setting up but disowned and rejected by God S. Paul calls their own Righteousness and opposes to the other of being esteemed Righteous through Christ's merits and God's merciful acceptance on Faith and Obedience to the Gospel wrought by the help of God's Grace which he calls God's Righteousness and the Righteousness of faith Phil. 3. 9. Rom. 10. 3 5 6. Quest. Do the Apostles in their disputes of Justification with the Jews set themselves to beat down these points Ans. Yes and more especially S. Paul both at Rome and Galatia and other places For in this matter they declare how by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified so that the Gentiles must not live like Jews but only by faith and obedience of Christ or faith working by love so that the natural Jews must live as Christians That this Obedience avails when it is not only with the outward but also with the inward Man containing together with the external Practice a renewal of the mind a circumcision of the heart and spirit and a new creature That 't is wrought in us not through meer humane strength but the internal grace of God so as to be truly the fruit of â—he Spirit and the renewal of the Holy Ghost And that the Gospel offering such inward Grace is thereupon a ministry of the Spirit and a ministration of Righteousness but that the Law wanting it is therefore only an external Revelation a ministration of the letter of death and condemnation which seeing it could not give the life it required but only an outward direction how to lead it therefore Righteousness could not come by it That this is counted Righteousness only in virtue of Redemption by Christ and of the merit of his Sacrifice first purchasing the pardon of our sins and then the acceptance of our services Christ being the end of the law for Righteousness and we being justified through the redemption that is in Jesus whose blood is a propitiation for our sins and who is made to us of God redemption and righteousness That in him God accepts and rewards it not for its own merits but out of his meer bounty and free grace without and infinitely beyond its deserts We being justified freely by his grace And that this way as God's free Grace is exalted so all Jewish boasts are excluded Lastly instead of the Jewish barter and exchange in weighing out good against bad actions or merits against demerits they tell us that he who continues to offend in one point is as liable to be condemned though not to so sore a punishment as he that is guilty of all And that he who sincerely endeavours to keep all after he has done the most must say he has done no more than his duty and is still an unprofitable servant All which with sundry others every where observable by any careful peruser of the Apostolical Writings are directly levelled against the foresaid Jewish Tenets Quest. And such Jewish Deeds you say are the deeds of the law which S. Paul opposes Rom. 3. 28. Ans. Yes Quest. Indeed the Apostles Disputation there of Justification is evidently against the Jews Ans. Yes and the way whereby they sought to be justified was by the Law of Moses That they cried up as the great Rule and Dispensation of Righteousness and Perfection they stumbled as he declares at that stumbling stone Rom. 9. 31 32. And they looked to be justified by it in virtue and merit of their own works as I have shew'd not through the merit of Christ's Sacrifice and the Grace of God pardoning their offences which made S. Paul declare to all who would be justified by the Law that Christ was become of none effect to them and that they were fallen from grace Gal. 5. 2 4. Quest. But is it clear he speaks of such Jewish deeds Ans. Yes because as I say such were set up by the Jews against whom he argues Nay as he adds they were such as would make it necessary for all Men to turn Jews For that way says he God would be the God of the Jews only and not of the Gentiles verse 29. Besides they are such works as are a ground of boasting verse 27. and make the reward reckoned out of debt or desert without grace or being beholden for it Rom. 4. 4. excluding grace as being inconsistent with it Rom. 11. 6. And so the Jews believed and taught of theirs accounting Heaven a just and deserved Wages for
their works without any need of Redemption by Christ's Sacrifice as I have already shewed Quest. And S. Paul though he denies such Jewish works asserts works after the Christian Faith wrought in us by God's Grace and accepted through Christ's Sacrifice to justifie and make us Righteous Ans. Yes in the very same Verse wherein he rejects the Law of works that is Jewish works he declares we are justified by another Law viz. the Law of Faith in performing what it imposes Rom. 3. 27. And the Faith which avails to Righteousness in Christ Jesus he says is a working Faith Gal. 5. 6. And the same S. Paul speaking of the Faith which justified the Ancient Worthies particularly notes those correspondent Affections and Practices which it produced in them to make them Righteous As Noah's holy fear and obedience in building of the Ark though all the while he was laughed at for his pains by a merry and secure World and Moses's quitting the highest hopes and honours of Egypt to associate with the persecuted People of God and Abraham's leaving his Country and sacrificing his Son at God's command and all the other instances above-mentioned Quest. By what you have said I plainly perceive that a working Faith or a Faith that suitably influences and affects us is the Faith that always did and always must recommend Men to Almighty God Which when the Scripture contents it self barely to imply the effects it simply calls Faith when it would speak out and express both it calls Faith and Repentance Ans. Very right Quest. But since all Faith doth not atchieve these noble feats and all Graces do not grow upon this single stock in all Believers Pray what are the great properties that fit Faith for these effects and distinguish the Faith of those that show these Fruits from the Faith of those that want them Ans. They are reducible I think to these Two the sincerity and the strength of it Quest. What mean you by the sincerity of this Faith Ans. First That it be real and unfeigned Not a meer pretence of Faith under which Infidels may disguise themselves among Christians to be trusted or emploied Nor a meer outside profession which unthinking Men may chuse and put on as they do their Cloathes without looking for any further reason than to be in the fashion and which they can as easily and readily alter again as they do their Habit when the Mode shall turn But a real inward belief and persuasion It is an unfeigned Faith that S. Paul commends in Timothy 2 Tim. 1. 5. and an unfeigned Faith out of which flows charity 1 Tim. 1. 5. and the Faith or Wisdom which makes Men pure and peaceable c. says S. James is without Hypocrisie Jam. 3. 17. So that they are never like to be fruitful Believers who follow Jesus as some Jews did only to run in with the Crowd or for the sake of the Loaves more than out of inward Convictions Secondly That it be Hearty and Affectionate Not a meer speculative Opinion and careless Notion as of things wherein we are not much interested but a moving and influencing perswasion wherewith all the powers of the Soul are affected Our Opinions must form our Passions and advance into Love Desire Hope Fear Care Endeavour and the like according to the different nature and power of the things believed The Belief that saves says S. Paul is a Belief with the heart as well as with the head Rom. 10. 9. And the Faith which avails to Righteousness works by love Gal. 5 5 6. And therefore they are never like to prove fruitful Believers who read and credit the Story of Jesus and the things of Christianity as they would the Story of Caesar or Alexander of the Assyrian or Persian Empire as things that are very remote in Place or Time and being of little concern to them do not much either delight or afflict them Such indifferent and unconcern'd Believers are like to make no better than Christian News-mongers whose Christian Faith furnishes them only to talk and tell stories Quest. Besides this sincerity is it necessary to a saving and effective Faith that there be moreover a good degree of strength and firmness in it Ans. Yes for such a strong Faith it was that made Abraham and other Holy Men obey God whereupon they were accepted Abraham says the Scripture was not weak or sickly but strong in Faith whereby he gave glory unto God Rom. 4. 19 20. the Faith that fits us for Christian Privileges and the Blessings of Baptism as Philip told the Eunuch is a belief with all the heart Act. 8. 37. If good Fruits do not spring from Faith it is because there is but little of it why take ye thought O ye of little faith Matth. 6. 30. 8. 26. or because there is very small or no life in it Faith being as dead as the body is without the spirit when it stands alone and no vital motions or effects stream from it Jam. 2. 17 20 26. Quest. I perceive this strength of Faith is necessary to enable it to do its work and conquer all that doth oppose it But in what doth this strength consist Ans. In three things especially 1. That it be assured and confident 2. That it be honest or seated in one that makes conscience of being just to his word 3. That it be resolute Quest. Must the Faith that produces these suitable effects be assured and confident Ans. Yes for a wavering Opinion will not accomplish its work It must make us forego many grateful things and undergo many ungrateful ones and attempt many that are very difficult and laborious And Men will not run these ventures and bear these losses on uncertain hopes but only on firm and certain expectations And therefore right and acceptable Believers are exhorted to draw near to God with full assurance of faith and to hold fast their profession without wavering Heb. 10. 22 23. and to shew diligence to the full assurance of hope tâ— the end Heb. 6. 11. And half Faith makes such Believers to be like King Agrippa only half and almost Christians Act. 26. 28. Quest. Must it also be honest that is haâ—e a â—â—â—d Conscience accompanying it and be seated in one who is careful to be just to his word Ans. Yes as it implies the owning of Doctrines and Propositions so it leads to ingage in Promises and Undertakings the good performance whereof includes not only Understanding and Knowledge but also Honesty and good Conscience So that a fruitful Faith must not be a bare skilfulness in Opinion but also a trustiness and integrity in discharging a Profession It effects Obedience only in just and upright tempers that make Conscience to perform their promises to fulfil their pretences and answer all just expectations Among all those several sorts of hearers by whom it was received the word believed brought forth fruit only in an honest and good heart as our Lord himself notes
Luke 8. 15. And to draw us near to God with a full assurance of faith we must joyn a true heart and a clean conscience Heb. 10. 22. and the charity which the Law requires flows then only from an unfeigned faith when 't is accompanied with a pure heart and a good conscience 1 Tim. 1. 5. And therefore in Simon Magus it bore no Fruit because his heart was not right in the sight of God Act. 8. 13 21. So that we must not wonder if we see a crue Faith prove barren and producing no obedience in a dishonest and false Man. Since it is not Faith alone but Honesty that must make a Man careful to remember and perform his undertaking and false unjust Persons how right soever they may be in their belief and apprehensions will be as like to break their word with God as they are with their Neighbours Quest. Must it also lastly be resolute and fully fixed after all things are well considered That so when any hardships arise in the way of Faith we may not be soon staggered in mind and put to deliberate anew whether or no to go on in it Ans. Yes when they want this resolvedness Men are not like to hold on in a way of difficulties and such as do every where occur in Faiths race Every true Believer must have cast up all the cost and pains of his way beforehand as our Saviour tells us in the Parables of the wise builder and of the king going to war Luke 14. 28 31. They must stand prepared to run all hazards and sustain all losses setting Faith above all things else and resolving to stick to it whatever prove its trials and discouragements And such Believers as these the Scripture calls grounded and settled in the faith Col. 1. 23. and rooted built up and established in it Col. 2. 7. And the believers or receivers of the word who fell off in tribulation are said to have had no root in themselves Matth. 13. 21. A deliberate resolution is a sure Ground-work and what is built on that may be like to stand a Storm and after all the Assaults that are made upon it remain unshaken Quest. So that the Faith whereon all the fore-mentioned Fruits are like to grow must not be a meer pretence of Faith but sincere and undissembled it must not be â—n empty profession and formal out-side out inward in the apprehension of the mind â—t must not be a wavering Opinion but confident and well assured it must not â—e a speculative cool and unmoving Notion but hearty concerning and affectionate it must not be in a careless forgetful and failing but in a conscientiously careful just and performing Man it must not act on an irresolute heart which will be easily daunted or soon staggered but one that upon good reason and after due deliberation is fully fixt and resolved to follow it Ans. Yes the Faith that influences the Heart and Life and stands in all times and trials must be thus qualified And the Faith which is either dissembled formal wavering unaffecting careless or irresolute some one or other of which the Faith of all Sinners is is like to have no such Blessed Fruits proceding from it As Simon Magus's had not whose heart was not right â—or Agrippa's whose Faith was but almost â—or the Temporary Believers whose faith â—ell away because it wanted root So that these different attendants and various qualifications of Faith make the difference in its Fruits and Effects and distinguish the Faith of Saints from the Faith of Sinners Quest. It has been often said of Faith by some that it is an act of Recumbency or leaning and rolling our selves on Christ for Salvation Are such Phrases applicable to Faith in a literal and common understanding of them Ans. No for Faith is an act of our Spirits and though Bodies lean and rest on Bodies yet Spirits have none of these Bodily Gestures and Affections When such words are used in expressing mental acts they are Metaphors which are applied to them on account of some Similitude and Resemblance Quest. What acts can the Faith of a Man's mind exert about a Person which may answer these forms of recumbing or leaning upon him Ans. Either Believing some Doctrine which he teaches or relying on some Promise which he makes These may be set off by the acts of recumbing leaning and rolling For as these are ways of Bodies resting and depending so are those of a Man's mind's doing the same upon any Person They acquiesce and rest on his Judgment in what he says and on his Fidelity in what he promises which gives them the same ease and settlement as the acts of rolling leaning and recumbing do to Bodies Quest. Faith is also called by some the hand of the Soul that reaches at and apprehends and applies Christ's Merits What is there in this Spiritual Grace that can answer these expressions Ans. Reaching at them is assenting to some Propositions about them And laying hold of and applying them is consenting and complying with some Overtures or fulfilling some terms and conditions whereby they become our own Putting out these mental acts has the same effect and use to our Souls as stretching out the hand to apprehend and apply things has to our Bodies that is to bring the thing desired down to our selves Quest. So that to roll and lean upon Jesus Christ is in plain English only to believe what he says and to rely upon what he promises And to apprehend or lay hold on Christ and apply his Merits in clearer and more intelligible Language is only to fulfil the Gospel-terms or to have Faith with its fore-cited effects that is to believe and repent whereby his benefits become ours Quest. Yes that I take to be the true meaning and explication of these obscure Phrases I confess I am a great lover of plain and intelligible Speech And above all things else I love to hear Men speak plain in the great Truths of Religion and Points of Salvation wherein there is the most need of all to inform and edifie Men's understandings And therefore I heartily wish these dark and intricate words were less used or wholly laid aside in these important matters they being words of Mens invention which the Holy Scripture no where uses about them and such words too as I am sure do more amuse than instruct those that hear them But if any think fit still to use them or meet with Faith set off by them in Books or Discourses this and no more in a true sense and in plain intelligible English I think is the meaning of them Quest. If Faith in Christ be a Faith in his Word then is it no part of Faith for any Man to believe his sins are pardoned nor of Infidelity to doubt of it because particular Men have no word of his for that Ans. Very right He tells us in the general he will pardon Penitents but in his Word he has not descended to
dead I believe in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints the Forgiveness of Sins the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting Amen Quest. Doth this Creed contain all points of Doctrine necessary to be believed by every Christian Ans. Yes for it was given for a Confession of Faith that should fit Men for Baptism and shew any Person to be a Christian and they had better have made no Rule or Confession of Faith at all than an imperfect one Quest. What do you make the first Article in this Creed Ans. I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth Quest. How doth it appear that there is a God Ans. From this vast World that he has made Even as we are unquestionably assured of the Being of a Skilful Architect where we see a stately and well contrived House erected or of a learned Author from an excellent and well-penned Book or of an Ingenious Artificer from a Watch of exact and various Movements or other elaborate and curious piece of Workmanship And this shows us not only that there is a God on whom we and all this created World depend but also that he is most Wise Powerful and Good because the greatest Power Wisdom and Goodness are every where apparent in the contrivance and formation of it For the invisible things of God even his eternal Power and Godhead are clearly seen from the Creation of the World being understood by the things that are made as S. Paul says Rom. â— 20. Quest. Indeed nothing in reason seems more obvious than that all this World must have an Architect and that we and all the things about us which every where spring up and perish could never make our selves and that things of such admirable Order Harmony and Usefulness could not any one and much less all of them be put together by blind and uncontriving chance And therefore methinks this proof of God's Being from the voice of his Works must needs convince all his reasonable Creatures Ans. Yes and ever since the World began so it has There is neither speech nor language where their voice is not heard their â—iâ—e is gone out through all the earth and their words unto the end of the world Psal. 19. 3 4. On this or other Arguments all People in every Age and Nation believed and acknowledged that there is a God and delivered down that Belief to those who followed them And therefore no Person can ever oppose this and pretend to reason since thereby he sets up himself against all People of every place and time and against what passed for the plainest and most uncontestable Principle of humane reason ever since there was any such thing So that if therein he has reason he has it to himself alone and all the present World besides yea and all Ages too that went before him had none Quest. What things are we to know and believe concerning God Ans. First His God-head and Divine Attributes Secondly His Providence Quest. There is nothing in all Religion more necessary or useful for us than to have a right apprehension of Almighty God. Is he like any thing which we behold with our Eyes or feel with our Hands or discern by any Bodily Senses Ans. No in Scripture indeed he is said to have Ears and Eyes and Hands and Feet But therein as the Jewish Rabbins say the Law speaks of God with the Tongue of the Children of Men. And we are to understand not that he has any such parts but only that he has as full perceptions and performs the same things as we do by them The invisible God whom no man hath seen or can see 1 Tim. 6. 16. is a Spirit says our Saviour John 4. 24. And this must teach us in all our Services which we pay to him never to think of putting him off with outward Shows Gifts and Ceremonies but to be inwardly affected in all we do or say and always to offer him our Hearts and Spirits For he being a Spirit must be worshipped as Christ said in spirit and in truth John 4. 24. And moreover never to make any Bodily Images and representations of him or fancy to give him Worship and Honour by them since a pure unbodied Spirit is not represented but belyed not honoured but debased by any such thing Ye saw no manner of similitude of God when he came and spake to you said Moses to the Jews therefore take good heed left ye corrupt your selves in making any of him Deut. 4. 15 16. And thou shalt not make to thee any likeness of any thing either in Heaven or Earth to bow down to them said the Law Exod. 20. 4 5. Quest. But although we cannot see him with our Eyes yet we may apprehend several things of him in our minds And one you say is his God-head what mean you by that Ans. His Sovereignty or being the Supreme Being that depends on none and that all other things depend upon Particularly Men who were at first made by him and still absolutely depend on him In him we live move and have our being Act. 17. 28. Quest. If he depends on none he must be an eternal Being which never had beginning Ans. Yes because there was nothing before him to give beginning to him So that if he had not been from all Eternity he could never have been at all Quest. And if all things else but especially all Men do absolutely depend on him that will make all careful to serve and please him and found Religion Ans. Undoubtedly so it should And where it is not only believed but seriously laid to heart so it will. Quest. What are the Divine Attributes or Properties of God which will show us how he stands affected and what will please him Ans. He is all Holiness Goodness Justice Faithfulness Wisdom Almighty every where present and can never change Quest. What is meant by God's Natural Purity and Holiness Ans. His absolute exemption from all sin in himself and his perfect aversation and immutable hatred of it in all others He can take no pleasure in wickedness he hates all workers of iniquity and therefore evil shall not dwell with him Psal. 5. 4 5. Quest. If this be his unalterable Nature he can never be reconciled to Mens sins nor take delight in any Man whilst he goes on to be a sinner Ans. No as soon may we hope to bring Light and Darkness Snow and Fire to dwell together So far is he from living with it that he cannot endure to look upon iniquity Habak 1. 13. Quest. Since God's Holiness bespeaks such absolute abhorrence of all vice and wickedness I see it implies something more than barely his affectation of External Decency or his hatred to be treated rudely and unmannerly Ans. Yes so it doth It implies that too For God's Holiness often notes his supereminent Power and Greatness And to use this peerless Majesty or any things
appropriated to it without that separate Honour and visible Reverence which is due to them is to unhallow and prophane him which he says in Ezekiel the Priests did when they put no difference between the holy and prophane Ezek. 22. 26. Our great and matchless Creator must have a distinguishing respect and honour visibly paid him in our outward behaviour And when in Gifts and Presents some would shew visible neglect and dishonour of him he complained they did not treat him as a Great and Dreadful King adding that herein their undutifulness might evidently appear because they durst not go so to pay respect to any Temporal Governour or Superiour Mal. 1. 8 13 14. But though this hatred of External irreverence be one thing implied in it yet is it but the outside of God's Holiness And therefore no Man must ever think to content him by Ceremonious Formalities as being extreme nice and scrupulously careful about the Place the Garb the Posture or other decent Dress or circumstance of his Worship and Service except at the same time he shun all sin and wickedness which affront him most of all and bear the directest opposition to his Holiness As this without the other is Spiritual ill Breeding and Clownish Rusticity so is the other without it mere Form and Complement and an empty unprofitable Ceremony Quest. If this Holy God is so irreconcileably set against sin sure he can never be the Author of it Ans. No let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither doth he tempt or incite any man to it James 1. 13. The Devil tempts us who is called the Tempter in the Scriptures Matth. 4. 3. And wicked men who are his Instruments And our own Lusts most of all when they draw us away and intice us to evil as S. James says James 1. 14. But as for the most Holy God the concern he has about our sins is in no wise to decree or help them on but only to forbid and punish them He has no pleasure in wickedness or as the Septuagint translate it he doth not will it Psal. 5. 4. Quest. But doth not God himself say That he had hardned Pharaoh's heart and the heart of his servants Exod. 10. 1. and Chap. 14. 4 17. and is it not also said that he moved David to number Israel and Judah 2 Sam. 24. 1. Ans. Yes but God did these not by way of positive influence and efficiency as a concurrent cause but only by withdrawing his Grace and leaving Men to be hardned by their own Lusts and by evil Spirits And thus of Pharaoh 't is said that he hardned his own heart Exod. 8. 15 32. and of David that Satan moved him to number the people 1 Chron. 21. 1. Quest. But doth not his withdrawing of his Grace show a willingness to have sin take place and that although he is loth to do it himself yet he is free Men should be hardned by others Ans. No 't is only when he is put to it as a Wise and upright Judge in way of Justice For he never withdraws his Grace and thereby leaves Men to their own Lusts and malignant Spirits till they have first made a forfeiture of it by reiterated repulses and affronts or some high provocations Thus in the Story of Pharaoh in Exodus except what is said Chap. 7 13. he bardned Pharaoh's heart which as the Learned note may as well be rendred Pharaoh's heart was hardned as the same word is rendred verse 22. God is not said thus to harden Pharaoh's heart and send all his plagues upon his heart chap. 9. 12 14. till Pharaoh had several times wickedly disobeyed and wilfully hardned his own heart chap. 8. 15 32. And when 't is said that God moved David to number the people 't is added that their sins had provoked him to Anger which made him give him up to it 2 Sam. 24. 1. God's Grace and Holy Spirit is always repulsed and driven away before he recals it from Men and thereby gives them up to an evil Lust or an infernal Spirit to harden and work in them Quest. What say you when God threatens Men with Spiritual Blindness that they shall look on without seeing and hear without understanding Isaiah 6. 9. Which Judgment S. Paul testifies was befallen the unbelieving Jews Rom. 11. 7 25. As our Lord himself also noted Matth. 13. 14 15. Ans. Not that he instils into them any errors or pushes and precipitates them on to any wicked act without opening their Eyes But only that he leaves them to their own violent and blind prejudices which will neither let them hear nor see any thing that makes against them and withdraws clear means of knowledge after they have long slighted and abused them as our Saviour did from the blinded Jews therefore as he says speaking to them in Paxables because seeing they saw not and hearing they heard not that is they would not be made to see and hear by plain Speeches Matth. 13. 13. This infliction of Spiritual blindness S. Paul in the case of the Romans calls giving up to a reprobate sense Rom. 1. 28. Whereto God then gave them up when they of themselves having already gone far in wickedness contracting it he justly left them to it Whilst they knew God they gave him no due glory and acknowledgment and thereupon he gaue them over to a reprobate mind verse 21 28. Their reprobate sense verse 28. was the woful consequent of their own foul lusts and precontracted foolishness noted verse 21 23 25 26. God did not leave them till they had first by false worship and filthy practices not only deserted but driven him and his enlightening Spirit away from them Quest. But what say you to Ahab's case did not God himself deceive him Ans. No but only left him to be deceived by a wicked Spirit and that not till Ahab had sold himself to work wickedness and thereby most justly deserved to be deserted by him The wicked Spirits though they have will enough to hurt us yet are held in Chains and Fetters and are not let loose or in power to work their wills till they have God's Licence And therefore when the good Angels from their several earthly charges return back to God to make their reports some wicked ones as 't is represented in the Story of Job still croud in among them to gain Commissions either for trial or punishment and see who will be delivered into their hands Thus Satan did when he obtained power against Job for a trial of his patience Job 1. 6. And thus on another set day when God publickly decreed the fall of Ahab an evil Spirit presents himself and voluntarily offers to be a lying Spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets to encourage him to his fall at Ramoth Gilead in deserved punishment of his wickedness And God not only foretels that Ahab would hear him but bids him
to the day of judgment to be punished 2 Pet. 2. 9. And in proportioning this continuance he uses great care and tenderness to his Servants that their sufferings may not outlast their patience or wear out their hope in him The rod of the wicked shall not rest or make a fixt abode and stay too long upon the lot of the righteous lest it put them upon desperate counsels and the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity Psal. 125. 3. Quest. If wicked Men are thus an instrument in God's Hand then whatever evils we suffer from them we must not look only at the immediate actors but see beyond them to Almighty God and own his Providence Ans. Yes and that will not only teach us to please him and to apply our selves to him for redress but teach us patience too because how undeserved soever they may be from others yet we have deserved a thousand times worse at his hands Let him curse says David of wicked Shimâ—i and would return no ill again for the Lord hath bidden him 2 Sam. 16. 10 11. and I was dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it Psal. 39. 9. nay it will teach us willingness in submission For be the Cup untoothsome and bitter as Gall and Wormwood yet he is both our God and our Father that offers it and we should not suspect any hurt in what comes from his Hand The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it said our Blessed Lord of the unparallelled injuries he suffered John 18. 11. Quest. But if when Men wickedly afflict us you say God sends these afflictions will it not excuse them to say God gives them success against us and they follow Providence Ans. No in no wise For God doth not excite or tempt them to injure us But when they are injurious of themselves his Providence sets us in their way that their wickedness may spend it self upon us to exercise our Faith and Patience or to chastise our disobedience So that they are accountable for their own wickedness and when they will be wicked all he doth is to over-rule it to serve his own designs as he did in the murder of our Blessed Saviour which he ordered for the Salvation of the World though the Jews slew him by wicked hands Act. 2. 23. When we suffer by other Mens sins God who punishes us by them will punish them for them as he declared of the Assyrian the rod of his indignation Is. 10. 5 12 17. and as all wicked Slanderers Oppressors Thieves Rebels and Murderers shall find to their cost in the end It is not acting successfully but acting according to our Duty which will justifie what we do when God comes to judge us Quest. But if 't is Providence that sends wicked and violent Oppressors since it is the Patron of Justice as well as the Chastiser of Undutifulness sure God will not continue to such Men the Power to oppress always Ans. No the more violent and boisterous any wicked Oppressor is the sooner will his Power fail him and spend it self The wicked Oppressor says Solomon passes as a whirl-wind which may for a while storm terribly and bluster but is quickly over Prov. 10. 25. The rod of his anger shall fail that is the Might or even the Authority whereby he scourges shall not bear him out or preserve him in unjust violence but by abusing Power he shall soon lose it and then reap that trouble he has justly deserved Prov. 22. 8. And therefore when any are oppressed by Potent Neighbours or Men of Violence they may support themselves to think that God sees all their wrongs and in due time will give them ease Quest. I see those evils which befal our selves in our own particulars are the allotment of Providence But if there be any miscarriages of State and Government must the People look upon these too to be of God's sending Ans. Yes and generally as a punishment for the wickedness and provocations of a Nation For the transgressions of a land many are the princes thereof Prov. 28. 2. And through the anger of the Lord being kindled against Israel God moved David that is left him to be won by Satan moving him to number the people 2 Sam. 24. 1. So that in any publick miscarriages we must not spend our selves in exclaiming against Ministers of State and the Instruments concerned therein but look up to the Justice of Almighty God and reflect with patience and penitent hearts upon our own sins which are punished in them Quest. But must we think God's Providence directs and disposes when Publick Affairs are most tumultuary and irregular and seem to shew forth fewest footsteps of his perfections Ans. Yes the Lord reigns though the people tremble through convulsive and distracting fears he sitteth between the cherubims though the earth be moved with the violence of stirs and tumults Psalm 99. 1. And this must support all good Men in the most dangerous and distracted times because even then they are still under God and are not at the Mercy of all the ill chances and threatning evils that fly round about them which how loose soever they may seem to fly abroad are yet all bound up in God's Hand Quest. If 't is God that sends all these evils then whensoever any of them threaten and hang over us we must look up to him and have Faith in his Providence Ans. Yes and that too though we seem reduced almost to irremediable extremities For God loves to delay deliverance to the last that our Faith and dependance may be more throughly tried and then shows himself nearest to us when we have no more hope left in our selves or in any humane means Thus he appeared not to save Isaac's life till Abraham's hand was stretched out to take it away Gen. 22. 10 11. And then God comes as a present help when we are in the very time of need Psalm 46. 1. Heb. 4. 16. He chuses the time of our distress to give us a more affecting sense of our deliverance And then too he often works it by those very things which seem not only unprofitable but opposite and apt to hinder it that no part of the honour of it may go to humane means but that the whole of it may be ascribed to himself Quest. You have shown that God orders all those ill events which cross accidents or ill Men bring upon us But what say you to those which we bring upon our selves by our own gross faults or follies Must they be ascribed to God's Providence Ans. No this Solomon taxes in fond sinners that when the foolishness of man perverteth his way and he falls because he is Ignorant or rash and hasty with his feet yet for all this his heart fretteth against the Lord as if not his own pure folly but God had brought him to it Prov. 19. 2 3. The most Holy God forbids all our faults and the most Wise God
hinder them from doing This also a ground of trust in God. And to keep us in any distress from flying to unlawful aids How God will use this Power 2. His Sovereignty and Power to command and order all things This includes 1. Empire as a Sovereign Ruler What things God may command The unalterableness of some commands 2. Dominion as a Sovereign Proprietor In what cases God allots good and ill out of his Power of Prerogative not according to Mens pre-dispositions Where he dispenses Arbitrarily he doth it always most Wisely and Reasonably Saving Grace he allots not in way of Arbitrary Prerogative but according to Covenant Rules And Heaven and Hell in way of Legal Trials A brief account of the Rectitude of God's Nature which limits his Sovereign Will from the Scriptures This Sovereign Lord and Proprietor an All-sufficient so no selfish Being Several good uses of God's Sovereign Dominion God's Majesty and Almightiness must beget fear and reverence Question THE Almighty Power of God is one thing particularly professed in the Creed and when God would give a Character of himself he told Abraham he was the Almighty God Gen. 17. 1. Is this Attribute of so great account that in so short a Summary it should be singled out and particularly mentioned Ans. Yes for since God has an Almighty Power over all all must fear and submit to him Since he is able to do all things his Friends and Servants have cause to trust in him and depend on him and in all their wants to seek and address to him for convenient supplies So that his Almighty Power is a main ground of all Religious Service of Fear and Faith or Trust in God and all Devotion Quest. What is meant by God's Almightiness Ans. Two things 1. That he has Might and Strength to effect and do And 2. That he has Sovereignty and Power to command and order all things Quest. Has God all Might and Strength to effect and do all things Ans. Yes all that are the object of any Power and all that are not repugnant to his own Nature He made all this World and can at his Will make more and nothing shall be impossible with God Luke 1. 37. Quest. Why do you say all that are the object of any Power Ans. Because contradictions are the object of no Power and though an Almighty Arm must be sufficient for one part of them as who by his bare Word can at his Will speak all things either out of or into nothing yet it is no way concerned to fulfil both at the same time Thus is it diminution to the Power of God that it cannot make twice two cease to be four or that which is past not to have been or one and the same Body to be at once in many and far distant places and yet under all this multiplicity to be but one because they all imply a contradiction that is that a thing should be somewhat and withal that it should not be it at the same time Quest. And why do you add All that are not Repugnant to his own Nature Ans. Because as God's power is infinite foe is every other Attribute and one must not destroy or weaken another but all must consist together Thus though as Christ said to God all things are possible Matth. 19. 26. yet as St. Paul saith it is impossible for God to lye Heb. 6. 18. He cannot be sick or weary or sleepy He cannot be unjust or cruel or unfaithful or delight in ill or be ignorant of any thing or change any of his excellencies or cease to be himself or make other Gods besides himself or be any other ways imperfect more than he can be weak and impotent The properties and perfections of the Divine Nature are unalterable by the Divine Power and it is no more a matter of God's Power to hinder himself from being Pure or Just or Good than it is in the power of the Sun to restrain it self from giving Light or of the Fire from giving heat or of any other thing from doing what is natural and necessary to it Whatsoever the Divine Pleasure can will that the Divine Power can execute but God's Will that controuls all things else doth never contradict his own Nature but is always suited to and ruled by it Quest. And when God exerts this Power in doing things doth it create him any labour and pains Ans. No he makes or unmakes every thing with a bare word of his mouth as he did at the Creation We indeed are imperfect Natures and activity spends our Powers and the things we go to alter and act upon are stubborn in sticking to their own Natures and make resistance on which accounts our actings cause trouble and weariness But all things obey every inclination and tendency of God with an intire submission and his Power is Absolute and Infinite so that if he doth but will any thing immediately it is done And therefore it is a vain fancy and ignorant complement of the Epicureans of old and of all the Enemies of Providence in later times who would exclude God from the Inspection Ordering and Government of the World in pretence thereby to secure his ease and self-enjoyment and to keep back trouble and toil from him Quest. Can God do whatsoever any things in the World can do Ans. Yes for he gave them all their Power of doing it And retaining still the same Power in himself which he communicated to them as he ordinarily doth things by them so when he pleases can he do the same without them Thus can he preserve Life without Meat as he did to Moses Elias and our Saviour Christ in their forty days fast and restore Health without the help of Physick and give Children to those who are past Child-bearing as he did to Sarah and make a Maid a Mother without the help of a Father as in the Generation of our Saviour and give us Bodies without all help of Parents as he did out of the dust of the earth at first to Adam and as he will do at last to all in the general Resurrection Quest. What must this teach us Ans. Not only to believe him in those Articles of Religion which seem hardest in Nature to be brought to pass as Christ ' being born of a virgin and the general resurrection but also to take heart and courage in all honest and prudent enterprizes and not suddenly to desist or despair of success through the number and greatness of discouragements All virtuous publick and generous undertakings are both acceptable and honourable to God and so more like to have a sure Friend of Providence And when God espouses any cause though there be little probability and preparation for it in Natural appearance yet will it surely come to pass since he has the Power and Probability of all his Creatures in himself Quest. Indeed Men so backed must needs speed designs where there are fewer visible preparations and find success