in that he led captivity captive Eph. 4.8 8. Q. Is there need of sitting or use of seats in Heaven A. No for glorified bodyes are not subject to weaknesse 1 Cor. 15.43 Rev. 21.4 9. Q. Why then is Gods throne and his sitting thereon mentioned Dan. 7.9 Rev. 4.2 A. To set forth God to our capacity by the similitude of a Judge 10. Q. Is not then the right hand of God here properly to be understood A. No for God is a spirit Joh. 4.24 11. Q. What meaneth this then And sitteth on the right hand of God A. It is a borrowed or figurative speech signifying his supreme dignity above all creatures and his government over his Church Eph. 1.20 21 22. and his mediation Rom. 8.34 and his power over his enemies 1 Cor. 15.25 12. Q. What doe you gather for practise out of all aforesaid of the sixth article A. That I must now endeavour to ascend unto Christ in affection Col. 3.1 and in conversation Phil. 3.20 Secondly that I must hope to ascend to him at last bodily and in person Thirdly that I may not think of receiving Christ corporally in the Sacrament because so he is in heaven and shall be to the end Act. 3.27 Fourthly that I must be constant in Gods service seeing Christ hath triumphed over the Kingdome of darknesse Fifthly That I must goe boldly to the Throne of grace Heb. 4.16 Sect. 16. Of the seventh Article or next following 1. Q. WHat is the seventh Article or next following A. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead 2. Q. VVho shall come A. Christ in his humane nature Act. 1.11 10.42 17.31 Ioh. 5.22 3. Q. From whence and whither shall he come 4. From thence that is from heaven Come that is to us on earth as Act. 1.11 4. Q. When shall he come A. It is not revealed Mat. 13.32 5. Q. How shall he come A. In power and great glory Mat. 24.24 30. Luk. 23.30 6. Q. How or wherein shall this judgement be A. Only in trying and in rewarding or answering 2 Cor. 5.10 7. Q. Shall all works then be rewarded or answered according to their worth or merit A. Evill works shall but good works rather according to their evidence and testimony then according to their merit In which sense the word for is to be understood Mat. 25.35 Luk. 7.47 8. Q. But how shall all works be truly tried A. Gods knowledge and our own consciences shall agree as Register books to discover all Rev. 20.12 Gen. 4.7 Num. 32.23 9. Q. Shall there be any other Iudgement A. Yes every soul shall be particularly judged at the hour of death Eccles 12.17 Heb. 9.27 Luk. 16.22 10. Q. What needeth then a second judgement A. Not to amend or alter any thing formerly done Eccles 11.3 but to confirm all publickly by the voice of all 1 Cor. 6.2 And that the body may also be judged 2 Cor. 5.10 11. Q. What mean you by the quick and the dead A. All mankind that shall be then at Christs coming quick and alive or dead and departed 12. Q. What learn you for practise out of all aforesaid of the seventh article A. To rejoyce that he who is my Saviour shall be my judge 2 Tim. 1.12 Secondly to wait and prepare for that which is so certain and uncertain and terrible Mat. 13.35 Thirdly to avoyd secret as well as open sinning because all must come to light 1 Cor. 4.5 Sect. 17. Of the eighth Article or next following 1. Q. WHat is the eighth Article or next following A. I beleeve in the Holy Ghost 2. Q. What is it to beleeve in the Holy Ghost A. To put my trust in him as in my God and sanctifier as before in the first and second Articles 3. Q. How can he God who is said to be sent Joh. 14.26 15.26 and to be received Joh. 20.22 Act. 19.2 and to be given Joh. 14.16 A. That is spoken not in respect of his person but of his gifts or effects 4. Q. Is the Holy Ghost then another from the Father and the Son A. He is another person Ioh. 14.16 another Comforter though they be one in essence 1 Ioh. 5.7 5. Q. What is his personall propriety A. Proceeding equally from the Father and the Son Ioh. 15.26 6. Q. Why is he called holy A. Because he is the worker of holiness Rom. 1.4 the spirit of sanctification 7. Q. How far doth he prevail in this work A. To make us spirit that is spirituall Ioh. 3.6 and partakers of the godly nature 2 Pet. 1.4 8 Q. And is this which is proper to the Elect the alone and onely work of the holy Ghost A. No he worketh many other works common to the reprobate in faculties both temporall as courage Iud. 6.34 14.6 and artificiall skill Ex. 31.3 and also spirituall as understanding the truth Mat. 7.22 and rejoycing in it Mat. 13.20 9. Q. But is the work of regeneration alike in all A. Yes in nature and quality if we respect Adoption Justification and the application of Christ to us though not in quantity if we respect sanctification and faith and the application of us to Christ for in that respect it may be divers in the same person or subject at divers times as the Sun is in his light and heat 10. Q. May the Holy Ghost be then finally and totally lost in the regenerate A. No though in respect of sense for a time he may seem lost as Ps 51.10.12 yet he never finally faileth in the elect Pro. 24.16 Ps 37.24 11. Q. Hath the Holy Ghost been alwaies a worker A. Yea and that not onely in creation Gen. 1.2 and illumination 2 Pet. 1.21 but also in sanctification Ier. 1.5 12. What meaneth that then Joh. 7.39 The holy Ghost was not yet given A. It must be understood of the full revolution of the holy Ghost and exhibition of his miraculous gifts after Christ 13. Q. What doe you learn for practise out of all this aforesaid of the eighth Article A. To worship one God in three persons Secondly to seek and ascribe grace and holinesse from and to the right author Iam. 1.17 Thirdly to take heed of resisting the holy Ghost Act. 7.51 and of grieving the holy Spirit of God Eph. 4.30 lest I disprove my regeneration and quench the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 Sect. 18. Of the ninth Article or the next following 1. Q. WHat is the ninth Article or the next following A. The holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints 2. Q. What word is wanting here A. I beleeve 3. Q. Why not I beleeve in A. Because that implyeth trust and confidence which we must yeeld to God 4. Q. What mean you by the word Church A. Gods chosen and called people Act. 20.28 5. Q. When were they chosen A. Before the foundation of the world Eph. 1.4 6. Q. When were or are they called A. In their severall times and turns 7. Q. Whence
action and instruction of Christ but rather referre them to all his actions and instructions yea to all the will of God revealed in his word Hee that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven saith Christ Mat. 7.21 The matter I say wherein our knowing and doing must be exercised is Gods revealed Will his Will revealed in his Word And in a word I may refer you for the totall of it to that of the Psalmist My hands will I lift up to thy Commandements there 's work for his hands and my study shall be in thy statutes there is the same work for his head It is Gods Commandements and Statutes Gods Will revealed in his Word that we must know and do If ye know these things blessed are ye if ye doe them Here therefore some go too far and some come too short Some go too far for they will not be contented with Gods revealed will but they must needs dive into his secrets as into the incomprehensible mysterie of the Trinity into the unsearchable counsell of Reprobation into the secret and hidden time of generall judgement But in these and the like things we should not enquire but admire and stand amazed with David and say such knowledge is too wonderfull and excellent for me I cannot attain unto it Psal 139. and cry out with St. Paul How unsearchable are his judgements and his waies past finding out Rom. 11. For secret things belong to the Lord our God but things revealed to us and to our children Deut. 29. We must know and doe revealed things but leave secret things to God and not meddle with them no more then David did I do not exercise my self saith he in great matters that are too high for me Again on the contrary part others there are that come too short for they will have nothing to be the revealed will of God but what is so in plain terms and proper words expressed or what their private spirit interpreteth or conceiteth to be implyed But if they would stand to the rule they should lose the use of many things because there be no plain words for them in the Scriptures which yet neverthelesse they doe and may lawfully use and with a good conscience because though not in plain words yet by sufficient consequence the Scripture doth approve them Non nostrum est tantas componere lites I cannot think to stint this great strife yet I may presume to give my advise as one that hath also obtained mercy 1 Cor. 7.25 And that is that we be not so affraid of the shaddow as to lose the substance nor stand talking so much of the proportion of the doores and windows as to forget to build the house Nor to make our selves like to the Picture of Justice that is to have ears and mouth but no eyes nor hands to be all for hearing and speaking and yet be blind in knowledge lame in good works Or if we have eyes that we be not like the Idols that have eyes and see not Nor be so troubled with the beam of blind zeal or with the motes of dissention or with the scales of self-conceit as to be pore-blind and to see but unperfectly as he that saw men walking and could not discern them from trees Mar. 8.24 And if wee have hands that they be not hands that handle not or else withered hands that handle without feeling or else such hands as the souldiers were Mat. 27.27 busied in nothing but renting tearing the body of Christ that is the Church with wounds of Schism dissention And our learning and knowledge be not such as St. Paul saith puffeth up And what knowledge is that that puffeth up ye may see it 1 Tim. 6.3 If any man consenteth not to the doctrine that is according to godliness he saith not to the express words of Scripture but to the doctrine that is according to godliness he is puft up Finally that wee think the judgement of our betters to be better then our own and that we owe much to the consent and authority of the Church Knowing this first that no prophecie of scripture is of any private interpretation 2 Pet. 1.20 The fourth point observed is that neither knowing alone nor doing alone sufficeth unto blessednesse but both are required If ye know these things blessed are ye if ye do them We are mixt creatures compounded of the four Elements not all of the light ones nor all of the heavy ones but indifferently of both we must not therefore be all levitie to ascend nor all gravity to descend but of both indifferently mixt Not all of the fire aspiring beyond the Moon hot and dry hot in knowledge dry in works Nor all of the water cold and moyst moyst and fluent in works but cold in knowledge Not all of the air nothing but a subtill lightnesse of knowledge nor all of the earth nothing but a grosse massie heap of actions but having faces looking upward to heaven we should ascend up to God in knowledge and having feet treading upon the earth wee should descend to our brethren in our actions For it is not enough to know onely nor to doe only but both must go together to make us blessed If ye know these things blessed are ye if ye do them First that knowing is not sufficient I told you before that knowing if it be right doth imply doing And that knowledge indeed is a beleeving and therefore a working and therefore a saving knowledge and therefore it is sufficient But knowledge according to the common acceptance is such as the Devils have I know thee who thou art saith the Devill to Christ Mar. 1.24 And this is an unbeleeving therefore an idle therefore a condemning knowledge Scientia quae illuminat intellectum non accendit affectum A knowledge that doth lighten understanding but doth not enflame the affection And of this knowledge ye may read Rom. 1. That it did them no good that had it for when they knew God and did not glorifie him as God God gave them up to their own hearts lasts Nay so far is such knowledge from being sufficient that it will rather accuse then excuse us and make our condemnation the greater He that had five Talents delivered him had more to answer for then he that had but one For to whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required and to whom men much commit the more of him will they ask Luk. 12.48 Therefore Solomon saith He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow Eccl. 1. because the more a man knows the more he must doe and the more hee hath to answer for if he doe it not Therefore also St. Peter saith It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousnesse then after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandement 2 Pet. 2.21 Therefore St. Augustine prayeth Sic doce me ut agam non tantummodo ut sciam quid agere debeam Teach me O
toto totum in qualibet parte whole in the whole and whole in every part and yet not In loco not included in place 2. Again in time God is mindfull of man secondly in preserving him For God is not like a Shipwright or Carpenter who leaveth his work or building to it self as soon as he hath set it up but God is mindfull of man as well in preserving as in creating him Yea this also to the expresse of Gods perfection may be said that he cannot do he cannot make any thing to be or subsist of it selfe without him For so there should be something where at his power should be limited and whereto his strength should not extend And so hee should not be infinite he should not be almighty he should not be himself he should not be God therefore 't is of necessity that to every work which God maketh hee adde also a butteresse a prop or supporter of his of his power to sustain it which whensoever he taketh away the work what ever it be soon decayeth and perisheth For in him we live and move and have our being Act. 17.28 And when thou hidest thy face they are troubled when thou takest away their breath they die and are turned again to their dust Ps 109.29 And in that Psalme we have a large discourse of the mindfulnesse of God towards man in providing him wine that maketh glad the heart of man and oile to make him a chearfull countenance and bread to strengthen mans heart Yea his providence extendeth to the least things that do concern us There cannot a tear fall from our eyes but he doth bottle it up Put my tears into the bottle P. 56.8 there cannot an hair fall from our heads but he doth take notice of it for even the hairs of our head are all numbred Luk. 12.7 Yea which is of us more considerable because to us more terrible there cannot a word fall from our mouths but he doth register it for every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account hereof in the day of judgement Mat 12.36 3. Again God is mindfull of man thirdly in time in redeeming him And this work hath many parts too many for me to speak of at this time I can but name them His miraculous incarnation his charitable life and peregrination his painfull and shamefull death and passion descension resurrection his ascension And hereto also pertaineth his calling us his sanctifying us his justifying us and his pawning and pledging everlasting life unto us 4. Again fourthly and lastly God is mindful of man in time in raising him hee is mindfull even of our very dust and ashes when we be dead and rotten For saith Job I shall see God in my flesh Job 19.26 And he shall change our vile body and make it like to his glorious body saith Saint Paul Phil. 3.21 And this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality 1 Cor. 15.53 And then shall Ezekiels mysticall or parabolicall vision be literally fulfilled Every bone shall come again to his bone and the flesh and sinewes shall grow upon them and the skin shall cover them Ezek. 37. And Saint Aug. de Gen. ad lit lib. 3. ca. 17. is very punctuall and emphaticall upon this point Quasi vero quicquam intersit ad nostram utilitatem ista caro jam examinis per quos transitus eat c. As though saith he it were any thing considerable what becomes of our body being dead seeing that by whatsoever passages it shall go It shall thence be drawn out again by the almighty power of the Creator to be new formed And again in another place Enchirid. ad Laur. cap. 88. Non autem perit Deo terrena materia de qua mortalium creatur caro the earthly matter of mans body is never lost to God sed in quemlibet cinerem pulveremve solvatur but into whatsoever dust or ashes it be dissolved In quoscunque halitus aurasve diffugiat Into whatsoever spirits or airs it fly away In quorumcunque aliorum corporum substantiam vel in ipsa elementa vertatur Into whatsoever substance of other creatures be it into the very elements it be turn'd In quorumcunque animalium etiam hominum cibum cedat unto whatsoever food of other creatures be it of mankind it be converted Illae humanae animae puncto temporis redit It shall at last in a monent of time return to that soul Quae illam primitus ut homo fieret cresceret viveret animavit which did at first it that it might be made a man and live and grow 3. As before time in time so also 3ly and lastly after time God is or shall be mindfull of man in or by eternal everlasting glorifying him After time I say after nunc finiens or terminationum the end or consummation of created time For the day of judgment is called the last day Jo. 6.39 40. and Rev. 10.6 the angell sweareth that time shall be no more Yet then I say when all distinction of time shall grow up into one perfect constant day of eternity then shall God be mindfull of man in bringing him to and preserving him in the fulnesse of joy and pleasure for evermore For we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we be ever with the Lord. 1 Thes 4.17 O infinite love O unmeasurable mercie O beginlesse O endlesse providence what is man O Lord what is man that thus before time in time and after time thou art mindfull of him I shall include this point and so the whole text with a brief touch of a twofold use This last Doctrine of Gods mindfulnesse of man teacheth us to be thankfull and it teacheth us not to be carefull 1. Vse First it teacheth us to be thankfull For seeing Gods providence is such and so great toward us and it is all Gratis It is but our thankfulnesse that hee requireth for all for he saith who so offereth praise glorifieth me Ps 50.23 And David saith My goodnesse extendeth not to thee Ps 16.2 what a shame will it be for us then to be found unthankfull Praise him therefore for thy soul and for spirituall blessings praise him for thy body and for temporall blessings according to that Ps 101.1 Blesse the Lord O my soul and all that is within me blesse his holy name Blesse the Lord O my soule and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thine iniquities there 's for the soule and for spirituall things And ver 5. which satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the Eagles ther 's for the body and for temporal things 2. Vse Again it teacheth us not to be careful This is our Saviours teaching Mat. 6.35 I say unto you take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink c. And why ver 26. behold the foules of the air they sow not neither do they reap c. And ver 30. If God so cloath the grasse of the field shall he not much more cloth you Oye of little faith Hee argueth à majore ad minus from the lesse to the greater I may therefore doubtlesse in this argue a majore ad minus from the greater to the lesse He doth the lesser saith Christ therefore he will much more do the greater may I in my sense say therefore he will much more do the lesser He provideth for the soul spirituall things here and eternall things hereafter And if he deal so freely and liberally in those greater matters shall he not much more do the same in these viler earthly things what man having received wine of his friend will be doubtfull whether he would afford him water or no What man seeing his friend send his son to help him will make question whether hee would spare him his servants or no What man seeing his friend offer his life for him will suspect or be jealous whether hee would impart unto him his goods or no And seeing God hath given us the wine of spirituall joyes shall we be doubtfull whethether hee will afford us the water of temporall comforts Seeing God hath sent his son to help us shall we make question whether he will spare us his servants his creatures to serve us Seeing our Saviour hath given his life to redeem us shall we be jealous that he will not impart to us his goods his corne and wine and oile to sustain us No no but cast all our care upon him because he careth for us Yet cast it in humility acknowledging our vilenesse acknowledging our unworthinesse For so humbling our selves we shall be sure to be exalted FINIS