many eye witnesses assure us He rese again according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15.4 Q. When did he rise again A. The third day according to the Prophecy Catechist Himself had expressly foretold his enemies the Jews that after three days he would rise again Mark 14.12 and they were sensible of it that their malice would be apparent if he should do so and his cause would be glorious before all the world The latter errour they said would be worse than the first Matth. 27.64 Therefore they set a watch and did all they could to procure it But maugre the policy of Earth and Hell of men and Devils Christ rose again indeed and that at the precise time which he foretold The third day No sooner to shew that he was really dead No later lest his Body should corrupt should see corruption Q. Who raised him up A. Himself and this his rising by his own power proved him to be God and that he had fully satisfied for our sins Catechist He told them beforehand that he both could and would do it John 10.18 I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it again John 2.19 Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up Speaking of the temple of his body Now hereby he manifestly proved himself to be the Son of God and God Rom. 1.4 He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the dead And it was an infallible token of Gods justice being fully satisfied for our sins Rom. 4.25 He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our Justification Q. How long stayed he on Earth after his Resurrection A. Forty days Q. What to do A. To teach his disciples the things of his Kingdome that is to Commission and instruct them how to gather and fettle his Church throughout the World Catechist Act. 1.3 He shewed himself to his Apostles alive after his passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them Fourty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God which is his Church And for the gathering thereof we find Matth. 28.19 20. He gave them this Commission Go Teach all Nations or disciple all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And for the instructing and governing the Church so gathered He then gave them this General direction teaching them to do whatsoever I have commanded you And loe I am with you always to the end of the world is the gracious promise wherewith he then encouraged them in this work And during this time it was that he called upon Peter in special but doubtless therein requiring it of all the other Apostles Peter lovest thou me seed my sheep Lovest thou me feed my lambs John 21.15 16 17. Q. Whither went he after these Fourty days A. He ascended into Heaven Q. What to do there A. To prepare a place for us and continually to make intercession for us Catechist Heb. 9.11 12. Our High Priest entred into the most Holy place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us Act. 1.19 While they were speaking with him Luk. 24.50 While he blessed them the Disciples beheld and loe he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight Now of this speaks St. Ambrose's Song called Te Deum He opened the Kingdom of heaven to all believers For see what he himself said John 14.2 In my fathers house are many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am ye may be also Wherefore as the Apostle Heb. 7.25 inferreth hence He is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us Q. What place hath Christ now in Heaven A. He in our nature sits at the right hand of God Catechist So himself foretold his enemies Luk. 22.69 Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power And hereof many Texts assure us 1 Cor. 3.1 2. If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the Right hand of God Q Hath God any hands either right hand or left A. No God is a Spirit and hath neither bodily parts nor passions Catechist So doth Christ himself define God Joh. 4.24 God is a Spirit And Luk. 24.19 He thus describes a Spirit that it hath no bodily parts Handle me and see for a Spirit hath neither flesh nor bones as ye see me have Q. What mean you then by Christs sitting at Gods right hand A. I mean his fulness of Glory and Majesty as God-man with infinite power to destroy his and his Churches enemies Catechist So he told his Disciples Matth. 28.18 All power is given to me in Heaven and in Earth Such power that Psal 110.1 His enemies are his footstool Eph. 1.20 He is far above all principalities and powers and might and Dominion and every name that is named both in this world and the world to come For Act. 2.34 35. Him whom they crucified hath God thus made both Lord and Christ Q. Will Christ ever come again from Heaven A. Yes with Holy Angels in great glory at the last day Q. What to do A. To judge all men both them that are alive at his coming and all them that died from the beginning of the World Catechist Hereof Enoch the Seventh from Adam Prophecied Jude 14. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgment And so the Angels told his Disciples at his Ascension into Heaven Act. 1.11 Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus whom ye have seen go up into Heaven shall so come as ye have seen him go into Heaven 1 Thes 4.16 The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God And then 2 Cor. 5.10 we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ For Act. 17.31 God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he raised him up from the dead And see the reason why he hath ordained him to this great office in the next Answer Q. Why will God commit this judgment unto Christ A. To glorifie his Son who was so much vilified upon Earth and it is the Comfort of true Believers that their Saviour shall be their Judge Q. What manner of judgment shall it be A. A most strict Account must be given of all mens thoughts words and actions how they have agreed with or been contrary to his word and none can escape nor hide their sins from his Knowledge Catechist Read often I pray you what description the Apostle
honour to themselves which belongs to God alone and I shall content my self with citing the Pharisees question only which indeed is unanswerable however they mist it in the application because they would not believe Christ to be God or the Son of God Mark 2.7 Who can forgive sins but God only Q. How come any to be damned then if there be such forgiveness with God A. It is because they go on wilfully in their sins and will not be drawn to repentance but live in sin and at last either die without any sence of their sins or deceive themselves with a false and feigned repentance Catechist From hence it is that these two are so closely enjoyned and may not be parted for Luk. 24.47 Through his name are repentance and remission of sins preached For in order to their being forgiven he now commands all men every where to repent Act. 17.30 And to bring forth fruits meet for repentance Matth. 3.8 And thus they must indispensibly do that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by Faith which is in Christ Jesus Act. 26.18 To the next Article then the Resurrection of the Body To understand which I ask you Q. After Death what becomes of the Souls of men A. They return to God to receive the sentence of Absolution or Condemnation Q. And what becomes then of their Bodies A. Being laid up in the Grave they shall at last be raised up to be again inseparably United to their Souls Catechist What becomes of mens Souls Solomon tells you plainly Eccl. 12.7 When the Dust i.e. the Body returns to the Earth as it was The spirit i.e. the Soul returns to God who gave it i. e to be judged by him An instance whereof you have in Luk. 16.22 23. The Rich man died and immediately went into hell-torments and Lazarus died also and was carried by the Angles into Abrahams Bosome And even so Heb. 9.27 It is appointed to all men once to die and after that the judgemen i. e. the judgment of their Souls by either Absolution or Condemnation And then for the bodies rising from the dead at the last day the Prophet Daniel had a clear foresight thereof chap. 12.2 Many of them which sleep in the dust shall rise again some to everlasting life and some to shame and perpetual contempt Nay Christ saith All shall rise John 5.28 The hour cometh in the which all that are in the Grave shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation Now this is a great matter and you had need have good grounds to believe it Q. What is it then that assures you hereof A. Christs being risen and God being our God the God of the Body as well as of the Soul the God of the whole man Catechist The 15 chap. of the first Epistle to the Corinthians discourses of the Resurrection of the body throughout and hath divers arguments to prove it and this for one ver 20. Christ is risen from the dead the first fruits of them that slept As therefore the first fruits was a pledge of the ensuing Harvest so was Christs rising from the dead of ours And by Gods being the God of Believers Christ convinced the Sadduces who denied the Resurrection Luk. 20.37 That the dead are raised up saith he even Moses shewed at the Bush when he called him the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob for he is not a God of the dead but the living They must therefore rise again that God may be their God and that for ever Q. What use must you make of this Doctrine of the Resurrection A. To reverence my Body and not to prostitute it to be an Instrument of sin or filthiness and neither to fear death my self nor to mourn immoderately for the death of my Friends Catechist Great cause have we to bear reverence to our own bodies so as not to abuse them to be instruments of sin or filthiness by overcharging them with surfeting or drunkenness or by fulfilling our fleshly lusts in fornication or beastly living seeing they are at present Temples of the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us 1 Cor. 6.19 And shall at last be raised up spiritual Bodies glerious incorruptible immortal 1 Cor. 15.42 43. And this may very much abate all fear of death seeing we shall rise again from the dead and then shall these our vile Bodies be fashioned like to Christs glorious Body according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3.21 And the Apostle teacheth us hence 1 Thes 4.1 not to mourn immoderately upon the departure of our dearest friends like the Heathens that are without this hope Q. Shall our Bodies being risen ever die again A. No the life to come is Everlasting Catechist After this Resurrection There shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying neither any more pain for the former things are passed away Rev. 21.4 The last enemy shall be destroyed even death 1 Cor. 15.26 Q. In what estate must all men live everlastingly A. Some in unconceivable Bliss others in torments intolerable Every man according to his works in this life good or evil Catechist You have it clear in Matth. 25.32 33. The sheep shall be separated from the goats And he shall set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left Then will he say to them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World But ver 41. To them on his left hand will he say Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels And ver 4. â— These shall go into everlasting punishment but the Righteous into Life eternal Q. Do the Godly Merit or deserve that Bliss as the wicked do that punishment and Torments A. No Our best good works are due debt and but imperfect and Gods Gift and bears no proportion to the reward and therefore though death be the wages of sin yet Eternal Life is the Gift of God Catechist If you mark these particulars you will easily discern the Papists Doctrine of Good works being Meritorious to be presumptiously proud and utterly groundless Our best good works cannot merit any good thing of God for they are but due debt as our Saviour teacheth Luk. 17.10 When we have done all we must say we are unprofitable servants We have but done that which was our duty to do And 2. Our best good works are imperfect tainted with many sins and infirmities so that they themselves stand in need of Gods pardon Isaiah 64.6 7. We are all as an unclean thing All our Righteousness is but as filthy rags and as a menstruous cloth and great are the iniquities of our most Holy things So
the Lord. Catechist I shall reduce this Question and Answer to these that follow for your better understanding their importance Q. What are the ordinary means of Grace and Salvation A. The Word Prayer and Sacraments Catechist Hence we call them Ordinances Now for the word of God read or preacht or the Reading and Preaching thereof by lawful Mininisters set apart and ordained to this Holy Function by those that have Authority in the Church to send forth labourers into the Vineyard for these I say being Gods Ordinances or ordinary means of mens Salvation it is plainly proved by divers Texts particularly that of the Apostle Rom. 1.16 I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to Salvation to every one that believeth whether Jew or Gentile Therefore he told the Jews Act. 13.26 That to them the word of this Salvation is sent And by the Gospels being published to the Gentiles he saith Rom. 11.11 That Salvation was come to the Gentiles And hence his charge to his Son Timothy 1 Ep. 4.16 Take heed to thy self and to thy doctrine continue in them for in so doing thou shalt save thy self and them that hear thee And it is an excellent place in S. James 1.21 Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity os naughtiness and receive with meekness the ingrafted word which is able to save your Souls And for both the Word and Prayer being such ordinances for mens Salvation there seems to be no less than a Demonstration in Rom. 10.13 14. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved But how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed or how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher And to shew that we can have no grounds to hope for Salvation by hearing any but lawfully ordained Ministers it follows How shall they preach unless they be sent Lastly for the Sacraments being ordinary means of mens Salvation what can be more express than our Saviours words for Baptism John 3.5 Verily verily I say unto you except a man be born again of water and of the spirit be cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved For the Apostle saith Gal. 3.27 As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ And he calls it therefore Tit. 3.5 The Laver or washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost And St. Peter saith expresly 1 Ep. 3.21 The like Figure whereunto speaking of Noahs Ark wherein he with Eight Souls was saved in the Deluge even Baptism doth now save us and for the Lords Supper being an Ordinance for mens Salvation as it is evident by the Rule of Contraries for if He that eats and drinks unworthily not discerning the Lords Body eats and drinks his own damnation 1 Cor. 11.29 then he that eats and drinks worthily discerning the Lords body eats and drinks his Salvation so Our Saviour spake punctually hereof Joh. 6.53 54. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day I have been the larger in proving all these to be Gods ordinances to save mens Souls that you may see good Children what cause you have to abhor the Quakers Sect as damnable Hereticks who utterly reject nay even make a mock at them especially both the Sacraments Know therefore in doing so they reject and despise the manifest Ordinances of God and certain it is that as for us Ministers in the Dispensation of the Word and Prayer and Sacraments consists that whole Ministration which we have received of the Lord for the Salvation of men so for you the people I speak in the Apostles words Heb. 2.3 How shall ye escape if ye neglect so great Salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord himself and was confirmed to the world by them that heard him and by them whom they Commissioned for it such as Timothy and Titus it was Committed to other faithful men from age to age successively able to teach others also 2 Tim. 2.2 Let us then go on Q. Who ordained the Sacraments A. Jesus Christ Catechist It is not in the Churches power to ordain new Sacraments it belongs only to God and his Son Christ Jesus For the Covenant is Gods and therefore it is his Prerogative to ordain Sacraments to be Seals of the Covenant And who but he can either give the Grace signified by the outward Signs or Elements or can punish the unworthy Receivers of them or such as be unfaithful to their part of the Covenant made and renewed in them Q. How many Sacraments then did Christ ordain A. Two only as generally necessary to Salvation Q. Why do you hold two Sacraments and no more A. Those other five which the Papists account Sacraments viz. Orders Confirmation Extreme Unction Penance and Matrimony answer not the Definition of a Sacrament for they neither were all ordained by Christ nor have they any visible sign representing some Spiritual Grace nor any promise to make them Seals of Grace and pardon unto us Catechist It is apparent Christ ordained two Sacraments Matth. 28.19 Go teach and baptize all nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and that his mind was that this should continue always in his Church is manifest from his promise and Loe I will be with you and your Successors so teaching and baptizing alway to the end of the world And for the Lords Supper Christs Institution thereof is to be seen in the Holy Gospel and it is as fully recited by St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. as by any of them ver 23. What I have received of the Lord that have I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night that he was betrayed took bread and brake it and gave it to them all saying ver 25. This do in remembrance of me in like manner he took the Cup c. and that it was his mind that this also should be a standing perpetual Memorial of himself in his Church appears ver 26. As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew forth the Lords death till he come that is to Judgement even till the end of the world These are plain Texts against the Anabaptists Catabaptists and Quakers who clearly abolish both these Sacraments But no apperance of any such Texts is there for the other five added to these two in the Romish Church I need but give you an abstract of what the Article of our Church saith that for Penance as the Papists use it and Extreme Unction they are no better than cortupt imitations of the Apostles without any shew of warrant for so-doing And others of them as Orders and Matrimony are states