Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
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A77379
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A Catechisme for communicants. Set forth for the benefit of the willing to be well prepared for the receiving of that great mystery of the Lords Supper. / By A wel-willer [sic] unto all the children and servants in this great citie, and the suburbs, but most especially those of the parish of Dunstans East, London.
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Bridges, Walter.
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1645
(1645)
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Wing B4483C; ESTC R173262
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50,770
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119
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Act. 2.17 and bee sure you cleave close to the performance hee requires of every gracious man If you looke into Heb. 1.2 Christ is said to bee heire of all things then look into Psal 2.8 and there God saith Aske of mee and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance c. You may conclude hence that what God meanes to give to his naturall Sonne hee yet meanes hee shall aske him How much more doth bee require of his adopted ones Therefore Ephes 6.18 19. Brethren pray alwayes with all manner of supplications in the Spirit and watch thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints and for mee Your servant in the Gospel and a suiter at the Throne of Grace for you all Walter Bridges Minchin Lane Novem. 23. 1645. A CATECHISME for Communicants Question WHat is God Answ God is a Spirit Joh. 4.24 and such a Spirit as hath life in himselfe Ioh. 5.26 Quest What doe you thinke concerning the holy Trinity Answ That there is a Trinitie of Persons I undoubtedly beleeve namely God the Father God the Sonne and God the holy Ghost because the Scripture telleth mee so plainely as in many other so in these places Matth. 28.19 Matth. 3.16 Ioh. 14.16 Ioh. 15.26 Q. But I beare some Divines expressing themselves in strange tearmes Trinity unity essentiall coessentiall c. how shall plaine people understand A. They are grounded on the holy Scripture for example 1 John 5.7 There are three and these three are one a Trinitie in unitie Essence of God meaneth the being of God shewed in the Scripture Exod. 3.14 I am and Rev. 1.8 hee was is and is to come Coessentiall meaneth one being together with another Joh. 14.10 For the being or essence of God is considered either without distinction as it is perfectly in God himselfe or with distinction with respect to the Persons in Trinity absolutely or relatively so is the expression Q. What ought I distinctly to beleeve concerning God A. These two things first That God is onely one in power nature essence deitie Secondly that there are three persons Father Sonne and holy Ghost Q. Where doe you prove that these three Persons bee all of them God A. The Sonne is proved to be God Rom. 9.5 the holy Ghost proved to bee God Act. 5.3 lied unto the holy Ghost and ver 4. thou hast not lied unto man but unto God The Father to bee God who doubteth Q. Where doe you prove that these three are one God A. In that before mentioned 1 Joh. 5.7 And these three are one Q. What similitude would you use to make this plaine by An. By this the Sun hath three things in it heat light and motion every one of these is separate from other and yet all together make up one Sunne the heat is not the light neither is that the motion so in the Trinity the Father is not the Sonne nor the holy Ghost but the Father Sonne and holy Ghost make up one God Qu. What similitude would you expresse the being in God by An. By the very same As in the Sunnes light there are degrees Morning Noone Twilight and yet all make but one light or as in the heat of the Sunne there are degrees too and yet all make but one heat so the persons of the Trinitie or diverse manners of being in God do not multiply the divine essence Qu. What is the summe of that then which you thinke meet for private people to learne concerning the Trinity An. The essence or being of God Deut. 6.4 The manner of being in three persons as is said before Qu. What more should I understand concerning the Trinitie An. That there is something common to all the three persons of the Trinitie as the Godhead power and nature and so the Father Sonne and holy Ghost are God There is something proper to them also as the severall properties of the three Persons for example it is proper to the Father to beget to the Sonne to be begotten and to the holy Ghost to proceed Qu. What short expression would you use to expresse the Trinitie by to a man which you would have understand you An. Such as this 1. God the Father is God understanding 2. God the Sonne is God understood 3. God the holy Ghost is God loved Qu. What workes of the Trinitie am I to give regard unto in every sever all Person An. These 1. The Creation which is the Fathers worke and that of government too 2. The Redemption which is the work of the Sonne 3. The application or sanctification which is the worke of the Spirit All which a Christian is to raise his affection with all that hee may bee the better stirred up to the due praise of the Lord Psal 136. Qu. In what estate is all mankind An. In a very sad because sinfull estate Qu. But why was our estate of innocency mutable and why was man left to fall and to a changeable estate An. 1. That God may bee knowne to bee the onely immutable one see the Scriptures Rom. 3. James 1.17 I am God I change not Mal. 3.6 2. That God may bee just in punishing sinne 3. That a way may be made to the salvation of a lost world wherein God had appointed to shew himselfe as just and mercifull in our recovery as wee had shewed our selves unjust and miserable in our fall See Rom. 3.26 Rom. 9.22.23 Qu. How long stood men and Angels in their estate of innocency An. Wee cannot tell but certainly they stood so but a very short time Qu. Was there a condition annexed to this estate An. Yes and it was this So long as you continue holy by obeying my word so long onely you shall bee happy by injoying my presence See Gen. 2.16.17 with Gen. 3.24 Qu. But what were the causes of and the manner of mans fall An. God certainly neither commanded nor yet counselled it Let all bee expressed to you to avoid tediousnesse by this similitude a wise father purposing to let his sonne see his owne wilfulnesse and intemperancy together with his love and fatherly affection toward him resolveth with himselfe to make him fall into some mortall sicknesse out of the which hee knoweth himselfe to bee able to recover him this hee will effect not by giving him poyson to drinke for then hee should bee the cause and justly beare the blame of that evill but by laying it in his way as it were a bait in some sweet meat which hee knoweth that his Sonne loveth and will eate as soone as hee feeleth it And lest hee should plead ignorance and so avoyd the blame of wilfulnesse the father forewarneth him of that kind of meat charging him very instantly to abstaine from it as being unwholesome and hurtfull unto him yet he doth not tell him what hee intendeth This young man comming where this pleasant meat is remembreth his fathers counsell and commandement yet is by the entisement of evill companions and his owne appetite
time of ignorance God winked at but now admonisheth all men every where to repent Act. 17.30 31. Light is come into the world and if men love darknesse because their deeds are evill they lie under the great condemnation John 3.19 20. Secondly and sound repentance will require of you sound heart-humblings expressed in Scripture by the pricking of the heart together with a diligent and indefatigable inquiry after that which yet you doe not know yet above all things ought to desire to know that is what shall I doe to bee saved See Act. 2.37 Act. 16.31 These are the generall uses Qu. What are the particular uses An. These and 1. Forasmuch as man hath lost the Image of his God wee learne 1. How unlike a man may bee to his father wee see some children much derogating from the honesty and religion of their parents Scripture teacheth this and our owne experience too 2. Wee learne that the onely remedy is that which the Apostle sets downe 2 Cor. 3.18 to gaze upon him with open face till wee bee transformed into the same Image with him from glory to glory Moses you know had his face shone by conversing with God and so will our faces Qu. What is the second particular use An. That it is a sad thing for the mind to bee in a spirituall captivitie if the heart bee not right no helpe unlesse from heaven Psal 51.10 Prov. 23.26 2. That wee must have great regard unto the language of holy Scripture to bee renewed in the spirit of our mind Rom. 12.2 and 2 Tim. 1.7 Qu. What is the third use from the conscience An. That man hath a conscience and the reason why it rouses not and flyeth in his face is not because it is not but because it wakes not a Lyon asleepe if hee waken once can bite and roare so will conscience 2. That no man can have a good conscience till a worke of grace bee vouchsafed him from God And this appeares to bee a good conscience 1. When its accusing is according to the Word 2. When its excusing is according to the Spirit Qu. What is the fourth use in respect of the memory An. That there is as well an art as an use of memory many complaine that their memory is naught now here is a helpe the Lord gives remedy for this a present remedy Qu. What is that An. To love heartily the things which God sets before us Oh how I love thy Law Psal 119.97 No man can love that which hee knowes not nor have that which hee loves not Qu. What is the fifth use in point of will An. That the cause of all our misery is the wicked will That the cure is here and here onely to bee discerned when God gives us a will or a mind to know him that is good 1 John 5.20 Qu. What is the sixt use An. To know where the worke of grace is in every good and sound Christian in his actions yes surely but that is not all in his affections too there to the life Matth. 22.37 Mat. 10.28 Luk. 10.20 And thus much of the first part of this Catechisme viz. the fall of mankind Now for the second part namely his recovery by Christ out of that miserable condition Qu. What purpose had God toward the creature in the fall An. No purpose of the finall destruction of the creature but the illustration of his owne justice and mercy Rom. 3.26 and Rom. 9.22 23. Qu. How may the mercy of God to his elect be herein considered An. Thus If hee bee compared to the Angels which fell they had no meanes of recovery out their fallen estate Iude 6. 2. If with the reprobate they had meanes indeed but they had no grace to use them Rom. 11.7 Qu. Is the estate of man better in the estate of regeneration or of innocency An. It is better in the estate of regeneration surely which appeares to bee so 1. Because it is immutable and not to bee changed 2. Because his happinesse and holinesse is greater Qu. What is the first part of the mercy of God to man in his recovered estate An. Mans happinesse which is 1. Partly in this life 2. Partly or rather perfectly in the life to come Qu. Wherein doth this happinesse of man consist An. In the vision of God so Rom. 1.20 So the naturall man sees God in the creature Again Heb. 1.1 2. Spirituall men never behold him but in the face of Christ which vision is operative 2 Cor. 3.18 2. In peace pacification and accesse Rom. 5.1 for hee that sees a King a King I say as his enemy and one ready to fall upon him with an act of anger and justice had rather never see him 3. In expectation for eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for those that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 A beleever sees God as the sonne seeth his father providing for him Qu. What is the second part An. Mans holinesse wherein the principal agent is God and the principal patient is man for man can stirre no more to the working of his owne holinesse without God then tooles can move without a workman to doe any peece of worke 1 Pet. 1.23 Qu. What are the considerations of mans holinesse An. These and such like 1. The miracle of it for it is no lesse in the apprehension of every naturall man John 3. 2. The meanes of it which are to be seene Rom. 10.14 3. The manner of it 1 John 3.8 as God dealt with Saul 1 Sam. 10.9 so doth hee with all his people he gives them another spirit Num. 14.24 4. The time of it Matth. 20.3.5 Men doe as Herod did they keepe their birth-day but the day of our new birth and the time thereof is not regarded 5. There are signes of it too in holy Scripture not to be neglected Qu. What is the third part An. Mans faith which is an affiance and trust in Christ Jesus for happinesse and is set purposely to repaire what infidelity hath ruined in us Qu. Whereby may this be set forth An. By this similitude A King or monarch hath many thousands of his subjects rebelling against him and refusing to performe obedience to his just Lawes the King seeing this rebellion purposeth so to deale in revenging of it as not onely his justice but that also and especially his mercy and love toward his naturall subjects may appeare and therefore hee meaneth to punish their offence in himselfe by putting to death his onely sonne who is of his owne nature and essence yea who doth raigne joyntly and equally with him being partaker of his riches glory kingdome and honour The death of this Prince being thus decreed by the King his father it is needfull that for the suffering of the course of Law together with the sentence of death he should debase him to the condition of a subject yet retayning all the aforesaid