right Hand of God there to intercede and mediate for us till at last he shall come again to judge the World and eternally reward or punish all according as their lives have been good or bad Quest. So that I perceive Faith in Christ is our believing the Gospel and all things contained therein concerning God our Selves or another World upon Christ's Authority And particularly believing what he therein declares concerning his being the Christ and Son of God who died roâ—e again ascended to God's right Hand and shall return again to judge the World as is also expressed in the Creed And that for the sake of his death to expiate sins God will be reconciled to Sinners upon their true Repentance Ans. Yes this is the true Faith in Christ upon profession whereof the Apostles at first enter'd Men as Disciples S. Peter without more ado Baptizing the three thousand that gladly receiv'd the Word wherein he had declared to them these very things Act. 2. 41. And the Christian Church ever since admitting them to Baptism upon their professing Faith of the Apostles Creed which contains the same particulars Quest. By this I perceive what Faith in Christ is Pray what wants this to make it saving and available unto Righteousness Ans. Only that it suitably affect us or work in us such Godly Affections Purposes and Practices as may justly be expected from Men of such persuasions Quest. Pray what are these suitable affections Ans. They will best appear by running over briefly some of the chief of those particulars which we believe on the word of Christ and which are to produce them in us Quest. We believe that God is our Father who at first made us and still preserves and provides for us with Paternal care and tenderness How must this affect us Ans. With Love Honour and dutiful Obedience If I be a Father where is my honour Mal. 1. 6. Quest. We believe him to be infinite in Justice and Almighty in Power able and ready as to conâ—er whatsoever is desirable on those that fear so to inflict whatsoever is dreadful on those that affront him What should this beget in us Ans. Reverence and godly fear Fear him who when he hath killed hath Power to cast both Body and Soul into Hell yea I say unto you fear him Luk. 12. 5. Matth. 10. 28. Quest. We beâ—ieve him to be perfectly Righteous that is most Holy and Just and True and Faithful and Merciful and Patient and pleased only with what is so How ought we in reason to be influenced by this belief Ans. Made Holy and Righteous as he is that so we may be like him the Supreme Object of all imitation and find favour in his Eyes If we know that he is Righteous we know that every one that doth Righteousness is born of him 1 Jo. 2. 29. Quest. We believe his Providence orders all events What should we do upon this Ans. Be content under all that happens and say as the Holy Psalmist I opened not my mouth because thou didst it Psal. 39. 9. or as old Eli It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3. 18. Quest. We believe that this Providence will never leave nor forsake those that fear God Heb. 13. 5. that it will make all the evil they meet with here to work for their good Rom. 8. 28. That the desire of the Righteous shall be granted Prov. 10. 24. That they shall not want any good thing Psal. 34. 10. And that when they seek first the kingdom of God all other things shall be added to them without their being solicitous about them Matth. 6. 33 34. What would one in reason expect from Men so persuaded Ans. That they trust in the living God 1 Tim. 6. 17. that they lay aside all distracting solicitude and thoâ—ghtfulness for outward things Matth. 6. 25 31 34. That they be careful for nothing but making their case known to God cast all their care upon him who careth for them Phil. 4. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 7. Quest. We believe he will not forget his word although the performance of it be long delaied but remember it faithfully and in due time give it effect What should this work in us Ans. Patience and Perseverance of Hope whereof all have need that after they have done the will of God they may receive the Promise It being God's way for some time to exercise Mens Faith of a Promise before he accomplish it Heb. 10. 36 37. Quest. We believe he is able to fulfil it when it is most improbable and unlike to take effect there being no word impossible with God Luk. 1. 37. and that he will do it What should be the effect of this Ans. To beget in us a firm Faith and unshaken confidence in his Promise such as Abraham's was for having a Child when both He and his Wife were past Age for Children and of having a numerous Issue by him when at Gods command he was just about to slay him Rom. 4. 20 21. Heb. 11. 19. Quest. We believe that for Christ's sake God will give good things to those that seek to him for them and that if they ask it shall be given Matth. 7. 7. What should follow upon this opinion Ans. Prayer and Devotion So that whatsoever Temporal or Spiritual Blessings Men stand in need of they should seek to God the Author and by Jesus Christ the procurer of them Quest. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ that was to come into the World. What would any serious and considerate Man do that is so persuaded Ans. Confide in him and worship and submit to him as a most just Object of our Homage Trust and Adoration Quest. We believe this same Jesus to be our Lord. What should he in reason do who believes and professes that Ans. Keep his Commandments and observe his Orders For why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say Luke 6. 46. Quest. We believe that he came down from Heaven in love to us to restore us to God's Favour and Eternal Happiness What would any ingenuous Person do that is convinced of this Ans. Love him most dearly that so loved us and thank him most heartily and intirely for having done and suffered so much for our sakes Quest. We believe the cause of his dying so painful and ignominious a Death upon the Cross was not any ill that he had done himself but only our sins and that at last they will bring us to Eternal Death unless we repent of them What can be expected of all that have this persuasion Ans. Irreconcileably to hate sin and to repent and sin no more lest they come to â—eel the same at last intolerably and that too without all hopes of remedy in their own Persons We must die to sin says the Scripture since he died for it Rom. 6. 6 8 11. And if we judge that he died for us his love
at the sight of Christ's great and wonderful works Matth. 11. 21. And this must beget in us the greatest Opinion and Reverence for all God's Ordinances So that no Persons must ever ask as some prophanely do what good it doth to go so oft to Prayers or say they can benefit as much by reading at home when they are called upon to go to Church and hear a Sermon or slightfully neglect or undervalue any other means of God's appointing Since God has prescribed Prayers and Sacraments and Preaching and the Authority of Spiritual Guides and the Unity of the Church c. as perpetual and powerful means of Faith and good Life who shall dare to accuse any of them of weakness or unfitness and pretend better to understand their efficacy than he that understands all things or put down his and set up their own Wisdom by neglecting the old and beating out new ways for themselves Quest. Doth God also see the best times and the fittest seasons for every purpose Ans. Yes so exactly as never in the least degree either to precipitate any business or stay so long till the fittest minute for it has over-passed him And this must teach us never to think any Mercies too long delaied or any Afflictions from his hand too fast hastned Though in case of good desired the present generally seems best to Flesh and Blood yet in truth God's own time is always fittest So that whether any things sent by him come too soon or too slow in respect of our wishes they come just when they should neither too early nor too late in respect of exactness of season and usefulness Quest. If the Character of the Great God be to be so Holy and Just and True and Faithful and Good and Patient c. as you have shewed then no Man who considers what he says can reasonably pretend to love God if he loves not these excellencies Ans. Very right He can only have a blind love as one that is fond of he knows not what Or a mistaken love as one that fancies God to be what he is not But he has no intelligent rational love of God unless he love those excellencies that make up the Godhead And if Men would worthily love these in God they must seek to attain and transcribe them out in themselves too Quest. At this rate no ungodly evil Man who is an enemy of these Divine Tempers can love God. Ans. No they may love some things in God when taken asunder as his Wisdom which will move their admiration or his Power whilst he employs it for them or his Goodness so long as they feel its bountiful effects But if they seriously consider they cannot love the Godhead where all these properties are put together For therein is an Holiness that is irreconcileable to their sins and a Justice that will be inexorable in punishing them a Faithfulness that will execute Threatnings as well as fulfil Promises and an Almighty Power to be employed in Eternally tormenting those that offend as well as in Eternally rewarding all that truly serve him And a God of this Character is all terrour unto them If they considerately view him they may soon see enough to make against them which will keep them from being truly in love with or desirous of him No Man can freely and intelligently be in love with God but he that is or desires to be like him and accordingly in Scripture the love of God doth ordinarily include Obedience to him Quest. If these excellencies make up God's Character then when any Persons by his Grace have once attained them they are like God and partakers of the Divine Nature Ans. Yes his Image consists in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4. 24. So that whosoever are endowed with these are truly good and Godlike Persons CHAP. II. Of God's Providence The Contents God preserves all things he hath made And governs them He observes all our actions And all our temptations He disposes of all good events For he gives the fruits of the Earth And Children And success in business How this should influence us in any enterprize shown in sundry particulars He gives promotion And the favour of Men. And life and health to enjoy all other Blessings And all Spiritual Mercies He disposes also of ill events As death of Friends Unfortunate accidents that afflict us in our Bodies or Goods Crosses and obstructions in our designs and business Sufferings from ill Men. How God stints and governs these No excuse of their unjust violence to say they are God's Instruments and follow Providence He sends also miscarriages of State and Government and presides in the most tumultuary and distressed times In these still have Faith in Providence But God must not be called the Author or sender of those evils which we bring down upon our selves by our own faults or follies Question YOU have already showed what we are to believe of the Being and Attributes of God. But another thing to be known of him you said is his Providence What mean you by that Ans. His Preserving and Governing us and all things which he hath made Quest. Doth God preserve all that he hath made Ans. Yes both in their Beings and in their Powers and Perfections He preserveth man and beast Psalm 36 6. He gives to all their life and breath and all things for in him we live move and have our being Acts 17. 25 28. In particular he preserves Men in their Persons and Faculties So that no Man loses either his Memory or Understanding or the use of any of his Senses or any other bodily Powers and Perfections but only when and so far as God orders or permits And this must teach all Persons under any apprehension of diminution or loss of their Senses or Intellectuals or other Powers and Perfections not to distract and afflict their hearts by fearing and fancying the worst For God that gave these Powers is still the continuer and preserver of them and 't is very hard if he may not be trusted with them Let us commit them cheerfully to him and he will either continue the use of them or supply the defect and repair the detriment that shall come by their loss or diminution Quest. Must it not teach us the same in all prospects of dangerous or tormenting distempers too Ans. Yes for he is the preserver of our health and strength as well as other faculties And therefore when any Persons are entring under any bodily Pains or Diseases let them endeavour to bear the present burden with patience But not make it heavier by painful anticipations of futurities fancying what they shall do if their Distemper grows up to the greatest extremities or if some other cross Distemper should at the same time incapacitate and deprive them of those helps which yield them their greatest ease and support under this or if their Pain and Sickness be prolonged to such a distance as will outlast both their strength and
of Messiah and then only fully accomplished when Jesus came This cleared from exceptions 2. His having the Spirit of Miracles resting on him 3. His Death with the particular manner and circumstances of it And his returning to Life again 4. His putting an end to the Jewish Sacrifices and Mosaick Covenant and bringing in a New one and a better to supply its defects 5. His erecting an Universal Empire and appearing as a mighty King. This not a Secular but Spiritual Kingdom 6. His converting the Heathen World from their Idol-worship Jesus silenced the Oracles and cast the impure Spirits out of their Temples This an Argument for him not only as accomplishing a Prediction but also as 't is plainly a Divine thing The Prophecies of an Universal Probity and Peace under Messiah cleared up by an account both of their meaning and accomplishment The fore-cited Prophecies understood of Messiah by the Ancient Jews though denied by some later in hatred to our Jesus p. 45. CHAP. III. Proving Jesus to be the Christ from other Divine Testimonies Jesus proved to be the Christ 2. From the testimony of John the Baptist. John knew this by Revelation and had it confirmed by a sign He was an acknowledged Prophet and of most clear and currant fame And gave this testimony before he was personally acquainted with Jesus 3. From the testimony of Jesus himself Several considerations shewing the validity of this testimony though it were in his own case This not impugned by Christ's words John 5. 31. nor gives any colour or advantage to Fanatical Enthusiasts 4. From his Miracles These no lying wonders as may appear because shewn in several instances not imitable by Demons As 1. Foretelling future Contingencies An account of Demon-Predictions among the Gentiles 2. Discerning Hearts and Thoughts 3. Raising the Dead 4. Casting out Devils of most stubborn ranks and in greatest numbers and combinations It may also appear from their intent and design and from their numbers and the manner of working them No opposing the Miracles of Moses against Christ's Miracles because they were wrought to set aside the Law of Moses That Law was given with a design to be altered An account how for all that several of its Precepts are justly called Statutes for ever 5. From the testimony of the Father who declared Jesus to be the Christ by audible voices And by raising him from the dead and shewing him in full possession of his pretences p. 96 The Knowledge of God or an Explication of the Divine Attributes and Providence CHAP. I. Of the Being and Attributes of God. The World declares there is a God. He is an eternal Spirit on whom all things depend Of God's Holiness Several things explained which seem to infringe it as when God is said to harden Mens hearts To inflict Spiritual blindness and a reprobate sense To send a false Spirit to deceive Ahab and strong delusion God oft gives Men up to the delusion of evil Spirits Cautions to prevent this To give Men a Spirit of slumber An account how notwithstanding God's irreconcileable hatred of sin it is still suffered in the World. Of God's Goodness Several false Notions of it In what things it chiefly consists Of God's Justice or Righteousness This shown in giving Righteous Laws And passing Righteous Judgments according to them without respect of Persons His Punitive Justice cleared from misplacing punishments in punishing one for another's sins And from misproportioning them in allotting eternal punishments to momentany fins Some false aspersions on this just God wiped off Of God's Presence in all places The effect of this Of his Faithfulness This shown by inviolable performance of his Promises And interpreting them without evasion or secret reserve according to their plain meanings And by constant adherence to his Friends and Faithful Servants which is no encouragement for any to return to their former sins Of God's Wisdom This shown in setting a just rate and estimate on all things so that he is neither gained nor lost by worthless services In discerning the just power and force of all Means and success of all Methods which should beget the greatest Reverence for all his Ordinances In seeing the best times and seasons for every purpose so that we must never think any Deliverance too long delayed or Affliction too fast hastened No reason to pretend to the Love of God without loving and imitating these Divine Excellencies p. 143 CHAP. II. Of God's Providence God preserves all things he hath made And governs them He observes all our actions And all our temptations He disposes of all good events For he gives the fruits of the Earth And Children And success in business How this should influence us in any enterprize shown in sundry particulars He gives promotion And the favour of Men. And life and health to enjoy all other Blessings And all Spiritual Mercies He disposes also of ill events As death of Friends Unfortunate accidents that afflict us in our Bodies or Goods Crosses and obstructions in our designs and business Sufferings from ill Men. How God stints and governs these No excuse of their unjust violence to say they are God's Instruments and follow Providence He sends also miscarriages of State and Government and presides in the most tumultuary and distressed times In these still have Faith in Providence But God must not be called the Author or sender of thâ—se evils which we bring down upon our selves by our own faults or follies p. 189 CHAP. III. Of God's Almightiness God's Almightiness implies 1. God's Might and Strength to effect all things viz. all that are the object of any Power And that are not repugnant to his own Nature The exerting this Power creates God no labour He can do whatsoever any things of the World can do This an encouragement to all generous Enterprizes And to build on Providence especially where we have a Promise The value and acceptance of this trust in a seemingly most improbable case And whatsoever any things of the World are inclined or wont to do he can 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
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
excellent Glory of God the Father we heard when we were with him in the Holy mount and were eye-witnesses of his Majesty 2 Pet. 1. 16 17 18. And the same he repeated again a third time before a Multitude when Andrew and Philip brought the Greeks to him For before them all Jesus Prayed Father Glorifie thy Name And thereupon came a voice from heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again John 12. 28. And this is a most sensible and satisfactory way of God's declaring himself not meerly by shows and resemblances of things which are impressed by Visions and Dreams upon Mens imaginations but by plain proper and significant words such as he used in conversing with Adam in paradise Genesis 3. 8 9. and with Moses at the bush Exodus 3. 4. when assuming a Glorious Light the usual way of shewing himself particularly present he spoke to Men out of it in an audible Voice as sensibly and intelligibly as a Man can talk and discourse with his Friend Quest. Did the Father also testifie Jesus to be the Christ by raising him from the Dead and shewing him openly in full possession of his pretences Ans. Yes on the third day he rose again as we profess in the Creed And Almighty God as S. Peter saith raised him up And hereby he did plainly testifie and vouch for him For after the Jews had done their worst condemning and cruelly executing him in raising him up again God visibly reversed their Sentence and undid what they had done and justified him as one that deserved not to continue under the Power of Death but to live again He was put to Death in the Flesh but justified in the Spirit viz. by that Divine Spirit which raised him from the Dead 1 Tim. 3. 16. He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1. 4. Nay after his Resurrection he set him in Heaven at his own right Hand surrounded with a Divine Glory the usual Symbol of God's Presence and Majesty In which august form he shewed him to Stephen to prepare him for his Martyrdom and to Saul at his Conversion Jesus appearing to them from God's right Hand in a Glory that surpassed the Brightness of the Sun. And having enthroned him there he intrusted him with the Holy Ghost to dispose of it as he pleased a plain Evidence of his having all Power in Heaven as well as on Earth as he pretended Which Power he visibly manifested to all Men not only by sending down the Holy Spirit in all variety of most stupendious Gifts upon his own Apostles but enabling them by imposition of Hands in his Name to confer the same upon innumerable Multitudes of his followers as appears from the Acts of the Holy Apostles and from other Scriptures Quest. I will not ask you for any more Evidence in this great point of Jesus being the Christ such demonstrations as you have insisted on being abundantly sufficient to gain belief from every honest mind that is careful to inquire and willing to be informed And as for others who are wantonly captious or wilfully blind and incredulous they are not to be convinced by Reason and Arguments But building on this now as most unquestionably sure That Jesus is the Christ doth not that undeniably prove the Divine Authority of the New Testament which is his Word Ans. Most certainly it doth For that contains only what he either spoke or acted himself in his Life or ordered his Apostles to do and teach in his Name after his Death The same Proofs and Testimonies which justifie him do authorize it since it only sets out to us all that Word in declaration whereof all the Evidences urged hitherto are to gain him credit Quest. I am fully satisfied of the certainty and have heard enough to convince me of the usefulness and efficacy of Faith in Christ. I would desire now to hear something more of the particular points of that Faith whereof we are to be thus firmly persuaded and whereby such admirable things are to be performed Ans. Those as I hinted at first are summed up in that short Creed into the profession whereof we are all Baptized And that I shall next endeavour to discourse on and explain to you THE Knowledge of GOD OR AN EXPLICATION OF THE Divine Attributes AND PROVIDENCE The Knowledge of God or an Explication of the Divine Attributes and Providence CHAP. I. Of the Being and Attributes of God. The Contents The World declares there is a God. He is an eternal Spirit on whom all things depend Of God's Holiness Several things explained which seem to infringe it as when God is said to harden Mens hearts To inflict Spiritual blindness and a reprobate sense To send a false Spirit to deceive Ahab and strong delusion God oft gives Men up to the delusion of evil Spirits Cautions to prevent this To give Men a Spirit of slumber An account how notwithstanding God's irreconcileable hatred of sin it is still suffered in the World. Of God's Goodness Several false Notions of it In what things it chiefly consists Of God's Justice or Righteousness This shown in giving Righteous Laws And passing Righteous Judgments according to them without respect of Persons His Punitive Justice cleared from misplacing punishments in punishing one for another's sins And from misproportioning them in allotting eternal punishments to momentany sins Some false aspersions on this just God wiped off Of God's Presence in all places The effect of this Of his Faithfulness This shown by inviolable performance of his Promises And interpreting them without evasion or secret reserve according to their plain meanings And by constant adherence to his Friends and Faithful Servants which is no encouragement for any to return to their former sins Of God's Wisdom This shown in setting a just rate and estimate on all things so that he is neither gained nor lost by worthless services In discerning the just power and force of all Means and success of all Methods which should beget the greatest Reverence for all his Ordinances In seeing the best times and seasons for every purpose so that we must never think any Deliverance too long delayed or Affliction too fast hastened No reason to pretend to the Love of God without loving and imitating these Divine Excellencies Question WHat are the Articles of Christian Faith or particular points which we Christians are to believe Answer They are all contained in this Creed commonly called the Apostles Creed I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended into Hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right Hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the
all sin be in the World God's Holiness and I may add his Goodness too are not to be charged as if they had not abundantly done their part but only the obstinacy of Mens own perverse wills which are not to be forced and will not be dissuaded from it by all that can be fitly and reasonably offered to them And therefore it may still be most justly said of God as the Scripture doth What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it Isaiah 5. 4. The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but had rather that the wicked man would turn from his way and live Ezek. 33. 11. Quest. Another of God's Attributes you mentioned is his Goodness Is God's Goodness an undistinguishing Indulgence that lights promiscuously on all Persons Ans. No 't is a Wise and Holy Goodness that respects qualifications 'T is the Goodness of a just God not of a fond Man and so is prone to all tenderness that is consistent with Wise and Holy Ends and Governing Justice But tenderness and indulgence to ill things and for ill purposes and effects is not goodness but dotage Quest. So that God's Goodness doth not bespeak such tenderness as relents at the very sight of all miserable objects Ans. No when Love and Kindness have been finally abused by them affronted Goodness gives way to inflamed Justice and can see Men smart and suffer without being grieved for them Quest. Then we must not fancy God's Mercy is such an effeminate softness and fond pity as starts at the thoughts of any severity though most wholesome and necessary Ans. No it is Mercy to the Penitent and Pitiable but can well bear to see tormenting Cures wrought on diseased and straying offenders or Vengeance executed on obdurate Criminals Quest. Neither is his Goodness such easiness as will be won or wearied out purely by the confidence in requests and meer importunity of obdurate sinners Ans. No this good and easie God can be inflexible to any impious or unreasonable request And if they have been deaf to him in his time of calling he will shew himself Just as well as Good and requite them in their own kind and be deaf to them in theirs yea when the extremity of their distress makes them cry to him with utmost importunity and loudness When their fear comes says he as desolation to lay all waste and destruction as a whirlwind to sweep all before it then though they call and seek me early will I instead of relenting laugh and mock at their calamity Prov. 1. 26 27 c. Quest. But when this Goodness puts such difference between Objects is it as some fancy a blind and partial benevolence that fixes by chance or humour on some and when once it is fixed heaps all favours and sees no faults in them Ans. No by no means God's Goodness is not guided as fond Man 's often is by blind fancy but always by highest discretion He is infinite in Goodness but yet so as at the same time to be equal in Justice and Wisdom too So that he will do good to all that have not incapacitated themselves by their own fault but to none against just and wise reason Quest. By this it seems this good God has not more love of any Persons as they are his Creatures or Favorites than as they are endowed with certain qualifications And that his hatred is stronger against sin than his Love is for any Favorite or created Being Ans. Yes he never loves an evil work out of favour to the workers but as the Scripture often tells us he hates the workers for the sake of their evil works So that no Persons must ever fancy they are such Favorites of God that he will tolerate them in any wickedness Or that having once fixed his Love upon them or made Decrees in their favour he will not see sin in them nor impute it to them nor hate them for such things as are most hateful to him in others Quest. If it is none of these things what is it we are to understand by God's Goodness Ans. His perfect delight in doing good Which I shall note especially in two things viz. his forwardness in rewarding good Services and his great Patience and Easiness in passing over offences Quest. Is he mindful of his Servants and careful to reward all their good Services Ans. Yes and that he would have all Men undoubtedly to think by him that so they may be encouraged to serve him For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. Quest. Is he also Patient and Merciful upon their Offences as well as Bountiful upon their good Services Ans. Yes when they repent and turn from them For he proclaims himself long-suffering keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34. 6 7. He shows wonderful Patience in bearing with the sins of Men and Mercy in pardoning when they truly repent of them Quest. And is not this Mercy some incouragement to those who go on in their sins Ans. No because as I said he will have Mercy on those only who repent of them His long-suffering with sinners is only to give them time and lead them to repentance Rom. 2. 4. And his forgiving them is only when they do repent For even there where he proclaims his Mercy he declares he will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34. 7. If we are impenitent to the last there is no expectation of Mercy to forgive but of Justice to punish us Quest. You say God shows this Goodness in bountifully rewarding good Services Doth he not also show the same in estimating what Services are good and fit to be rewarded by him Ans. Yes as far as is consistent with truth and reason He is by no means captious or exceptious like one that studied to find faults and make the worst of our performances Nor stiff and rigid in standing upon the extremities of things but is ready to make all fair abatements and allowances which are reasonably and justly pleadable in our case as I shall have occasion to observe afterwards Quest. What mean you by God's Justice or Righteousness Ans. His doing Right and Equity both first in giving Righteous Laws and secondly in passing Righteous Judgments according to them without respect of Persons Quest. Is God Righteous as a Law-giver in imposing only just and Righteous Laws Ans. Yes The Gods of the Gentiles indeed which S. Paul says were Devils injoyned their Worshippers the most sinful foul and cruel things They served Bacchus in the Idol-Feasts called the Bacchanals and other of their Deities with Revellings and Drunkenness and Profligate Uncleanness and so S. Peter says whilst they wrought the will of the
So that no Man who lives ill must think that God to shew his Sovereignty may save him if he will nor any Man that lives well fear lest God to shew his Sovereignty may damn him if he will nor if any Person seriously sets himself to be good must he harbour any jealousie of Prerogative-Power and Arbitrary decrees against him whereby he should be shut out from that Grace which is necessary to help him to be so Ans. No there were not the least danger of that had we nothing else to trust to but the absolute Holiness Justice and Goodness of the Divine Nature But moreover in these most important disposals God acts not out of Arbitrary unlimited Power but as he has made himself a Legal Covenanting Governour that is graciously pleased to rule the World by Laws and Compacts and will distribute rewards and punishments according to them So that in expecting any of these from him we must not have recourse to any fancied secret Decrees but only to revealed Promises and Covenant-Declarations And these as I have shown pronounce Mercy on the good and Vengeance on the bad and the Spirit and Grace of God to all that sincerely and carefully seek after it In relation to future recompences saith S. John God is just 1 John 1. 9. And in relation to present assistances saith S. Paul God is faithful 1 Cor. 10. 13. And in relation to both saith he again God is not unrighteous Heb. 6. 10. So making not absolute Will and Prerogative-Arbitrariness but Moral Honesty and Covenant-Justice the ground of Mens expectation from him in these matters Quest. You have several times mentioned the rectitude of God's Nature as well as the voluntary addition of his Laws and Compacts for the limitation of his Sovereign Will and Power And the Divine Nature you have particularly explained before but I should be glad to have a brief account of his ways and temper from the Holy Scripture Ans. Thus they represent him That 't is impossible for God to lie Heb. 6. 18. that he is faithful and cannot deny himself 2 Tim. 2. 13. He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Hab. 1. 13. he hates all workers of it Psalm 5. 5. He cannot be tempted with evil nor tempt any man to it James 1. 13. All his ways are judgment a God of Truth and without iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32. 4. He regardeth not persons nor taketh rewards Deut. 10. 17. He loveth righteousness and beholdeth the upright Psalm 11. 7. He is merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands Exod. 34. 6 7. God is love 1 John 4. 8 16. And as he will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34. 7. so has he no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked man turn from his way and live Ezek. 33. 11. These are the Almighty Deities fixt and immutable Ways and Principles which he never thwarts or contradicts to shew absoluteness of Power and Wilfulness Quest. If Almighty God is the Proprietor of all things and can do what he pleases he must be All-sufficient in himself and need no accessions from any Body to his Happiness Ans. So he is My goodness saith David extendeth not to thee Psalm 16. 2. He needs nothing that any Creatures can offer to him and if he did he could supply himself with them since all the World can present him with nothing but what they have from him Quest. If we are so poor that we can give and he so full that he can receive nothing 't is plain he is no selfish Being nor seeks any separate Interests of his own by any services we are to pay him Ans. Very true His ends are only to communicate Happiness not to gain it And this may shew Men how unnecessary their scruple is who fear they are not sincere in God's Service if they seek thereby to benefit themselves For in that their end is not different but the same with his They seek his Glory in pursuing their own truest good for in giving not receiving it is that he seeks to be glorified Quest. What must God's Sovereignty and absolute Dominion teach us Ans. First since all we possess is held under him never to compass any worldly thing by fraud or falshood or any deceitful and dishonest dealing For since God never allows of such whosoever come into Possessions that way have no consent or grant from him So that whatever they hold it is not by any Title of Right and Lawful Claim but only by unjust Usurpation Quest. What do we learn from this absolute Dominion besides Ans. Secondly to be content with that state and condition and that portion of Goods and Accommodation which God allots us For be our part what it will and other Mens never so much above it as most are apt to fancy all their own burthens heaviest and their own injoyments least yet God having as absolute Propriety to make one Rich and another Poor as the Potter has out of the same lump to frame one vessel to honour and another to dishonour they must needs be most rightfully disposed Yea moreover whatever little any of us injoy in comparison with others yet is that little wholly undeserved and if from the same bounty which grants us our share any other Men have more our eye must not be evil because God's is good Matth. 20. 15. Quest. Must it teach us any thing else Ans. Yes Thirdly to be content when he resumes his own allotments For when he grants us things he still keeps the Propriety in himself He makes no Tenants in Fee no nor so much as Tenants for Life Whatsoever outward things we hold under him it is all as Tenants at Will to be disseiz'd when he pleases And therefore whensoever God lends us Health or Wealth or Honour or Friends or Children we must injoy them with an apprehension of their being only Loans for a time and with a readiness to resign them up when called for again As good old Eli did who upon an irreparable degradation of his Family from a state of highest Power and dignity to the greatest want and meanness only said it is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3. 18. And as Job who upon his sudden and amazing change of fortune when from the most rich and happy in a few minutes time he was made the most poor and miserable of all the Men in the East said only the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1. 21. Quest. Must it teach us any thing more Ans. Yes Fourthly to use all his allotments to his Honour whilst he spares them to us He makes no Proprietors but only Stewards 1 Pet. 4. 9 10. And in stewards it is required that they prove faithful 1 Cor. 4. 2. employing what is under their charge to their Masters ends use and interest And
it cut off all hopes of impunity and utterly discourage all future offenders Answ. Because God has no more Sons to die for us and when he was sollicited to remit the punishment of our sins he would not do it upon a less exchange When man sinn'd against the Law of unerring Obedience upon the Merits and Death of his Son God pardon'd that and admitted them to favour again upon their Repentance But if they shall offend against this Law too and be finally impenitent there are no Sons of God to suffer again to purchase their Forgiveness Quest. So that Christ's Suffering for us salved all the Honour of God's Attributes and served all the Purposes of his Justice that would have been served by our suffering for our selves Answ. It did so and to the full as well too the punishing of his own Son when he answered for Sinners shewing a more implacable hatred of sin and inexorable Justice than he could have shewn by punishing all the World who were Sinners themselves And therefore his death was a satisfaction to God for the sins of the whole World. Not only a satisfaction to Benevolence and yielding Goodness as when easy and indulgent Natures are appeas'd by any small returns and incompetent Recompences but a Satisfaction to Justice by way of full Compensation and Equivalence Christ by his one suffering displaying the Honour of all God's Attributes as much as God could have display'd them by punishing the whole Humane Race Quest. If the Death and Sacrifice of Christ were so full a satisfaction at first there is no more now to be paid and it need never be repeated Answ. No nor ever must it The Jewish Sacrifices needed constantly to be repeated because being of little worth and very imperfect their virtue was soon spent so that year by year they were continually offered Heb. 9. 25. and 10. 1 3. But his being full and perfect from the first and leaving nothing to be added He is not to be offered often but at once hath he put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Heb. 9. 25 26. and 10. 14. But altho his Sacrifice is no more to be really acted as it needs not the whole effect of it being as fresh and full now as it was at first yet is it daily still commemorated and the virtue thereof apply'd in every good Prayer but especially in every Sacrament Quest. What learn you from Christ's dying a Ransom for our sins Answ. 1. To abhor sin since it is so odioâ—â— to God that he can spare it in no person no not in his own Son when he took other men's sins upon him And if he spared not him when he would bear the punishment for us how can we hope he will in the least spare us when we come to undergo it for our selves If these things were done in the green Tree what shall be done in the dry Luk. 23. 31. 2 To give our selves up to the service of Christ who hath bought us for his own property at so dear a rate This is the least we can do in Equity and Justice Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Bodies and Spirits which are God's by such costly purchase 1 Cor. 6. 20. And if there is any spark of Love and Gratitude in our Hearts we can do no less in Resentment of such stupendious kindness For the Love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge that if Christ died for all they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Quest. Ought it not also to teach us Faith in God and to beget in us a firm Trust that he will perform whatsoever he has promised Answ. Yes as plainly shewing that nothing is too great for his love to make good He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32. Quest. Must not his Patience and Charity in his Sufferings not reviling again but praying for his Enemies teach us the same when we are called to suffer Answ. Yes for in suffering thus without threatning and when he was reviled not reviling again he hath left us an example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2. 21. 23. Quest. Should not God's imposing so many and great secular hardships and sufferings on his own most dear Son make us have easier thoughts of these things than others have and reconcile us to Affliction Answ. In all Reason it should For it shews how inconsiderable worldly Goods and Glories are in Gods Eyes how temporal evils are allotted to the dearest persons how proper they are to Discipline and improve the most virtuous how they perfect Piety and what a step they are to Felicity and Glory Jesus himself tho' he were a Son yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered Heb. 5. 8. He was made perfect through suffering Heb. 2. 10. He ought to suffer and so enter into his Glory Luk. 24. 26. We see him for suffering death crowned with Glory and Honour Heb. 2. 9. And seeing Sufferings not only thus providentially allotted but also thus profitably undergone and highly recompenced in him the blessed Apostles and primitive Saints whose Ambition it was to be in all things his true followers did not repine and mourn but rejoyce and glory in them Quest. And since in dying for us he has shewed us such stupendious Love must not that mutually endear us and teach us if we would be his followers most tenderly to love one another Answ. Yes if God so loved us we ought also to love one another 1 Joh. 4. 11. Nay since hereby we perceive the love of God to us because he laid down his life for us we ought upon just occasion to lay down our lives for the Brethren 1 Joh. 3. 16. Quest. In the Creed you say dead and buried When Christ expired upon the Cross was his Body taken down and buried Answ. Yes it was laid in a Tomb and a great Stone roll'd before its mouth according to the Jewish Custom And for fear his Disciples should come by night and steal him away the Jewish Rulers when they had sealed the Stone got a Guard from the Governour to watch it Mat. 27. 64 66. Quest. What mean you by Christ's descent into Hell Answ. His abode in that state of Death and Separation or his Soul 's being in the place of Separate Souls till it was united again to his Body at his Resurrection as it is written Thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell Acts 2. 27. which St. Peter there says was fulfilled in the Resurrection of Christ when he ceased to continue under the power of death and gloriously arose to triumph over it v. 30 31. Quest. Doth the word Hell sometimes signifie only the state of the Dead or the place of Souls departed Answ. Yes as David says of all men What man is he that
by Disappointments nor made unfortunate by the Follies or Sufferings of those we dearly love is absolutely the most agreeable pleasant and satisfactory Employment in the World. And amidst all these Companions shall the Righteous be Perfect in this Love Answ. Yes most Perfect For God is Love and he that dwells in God dwells in Love 1 Joh. 4. 16. Quest. Will all that blessed Company entirely love us Answ. Yes as they do their own Souls they were full of Love while they lived here loving even their Enemies after Christ's Precept and Example but especially the servants of God in whom they discern'd his Image But in Heaven they shall love us in Perfection and be full Ripe and Compleat in this as they are in all other Graces Quest. And shall we entirely Love all them Answ. Yes they shall all be so absolute in all amiable excellencies and continually discover such a boundless Love for us and our Natures will be so wholly framed for Love and Kindness that we cannot chuse but love them and that with the greatest fervour and intenseness of Affection And this will be all Pleasure and no Pain because they are incapable of doing any thing that may either shame or disgust us God is all in all in them and therefore they can do nothing but what we who entirely love God and them may perfectly delight in Quest. If we shall have such entire Love for all the Saints in Bliss we shall as all true Friends do partake in all their Joys and all their Happiness will be ours Answ. It will be so for Love of Happy Persons multiplies Happiness as oft as it multiplies Objects Because when we entirely love them we esteem and are pleased with all their Happiness as with our own And this way every Saint will be as full as if they had a Monopoly of Bliss and draw all the Happiness of Heaven to themselves Quest. But amidst all these inward excellencies and happy Company and Blissful intercourse of kindness shall they live in Honour and be eminent in Place Answ. Yes as Kings and Princes They shall Sit on Thrones and wear Crowns and Scepters and be Sons of God and Brethren and Joint-heirs with Christ they shall inherit all things and not only have the Priviledge to stand about Christs Throne but what would surpass belief if Truth it self had not assured us of it sit down with him thereon To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne Rev. 3. 21. And besides this glory of their State and eminence in Place their Bodies as I observed shall be cloathed with the most Radiant Light and surpass even the Sun it self in Brightness Quest. In what place must they live to wear these Glories and Feast on all this immense Happiness Answ. In the Heaven of Heavens a Place scituate on High †far above all visible things unspeakably vast in extent and magnificent in structure and illustrious in Glory the Presence Chamber of the great God and King where he lives incircled with Lustre and Light inaccessible which no mortal Eye can approach unto for no Man as he told Moses can see my Face and live Exod. 33. 20. Here shall all Righteous Persons with their immortal Eyes ever see God and shine in his Glory and feast on all the forecited joys and fulness of Pleasure which is at his Right hand for evermore Psal. 16. 11. Quest. But if this happy enjoyment last long will they not grow weary of it in the end since humane Appetites are wont to love change and loath the best things if held constant to them Answ. No as the enjoyments are so is the desire and relish of them always the same The Goods are pure having no ungrateful mixtures to be discover'd and tasted by time and the Appetite and Relish perfect subject to no ebbs or flows no weariness or alterations So that we shall still desire as well as enjoy these pleasant things and find an inexpressible sweetness and satisfaction in them Quest. And to Crown all and render us secure in this Blessed State shall the happiness of it be no fading transitory Thing as all worldly pleasure is but everlasting Answ. Yes it will be always in its Spring and look fresh and flourish thro' Eternal Ages The Pleasures at God's Right Hand are for evermore Ps. 16. 11. the weight of Glory is Eternal 2 Cor. 4. 17. the Kingdom cannot be moved Heb. 12. 28. the Crown is incorruptible 1 Cor. 9. 25. that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 5. 4. 'T is not a limited happiness held only for a term of years or Ages but an Eternal Life 1 John. 5. 11. Quest. This is such a perfection of Bliss as is enough to make all Righteous men impatient of living here and long to dye as St. Paul did thereby to be possess'd of it Answ. It is so indeed if it contain'd no more than I have described But when they come to enjoy it they will find infinitely more than I have said yea than any Tongue can express or heart imagine and apprehend For Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it enter'd into the heart of man to conceive the Things God has prepared for those that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9. Quest. I perceive how Blissful the Eternal Life of the Righteous is But the Wicked too shall be raised to an Eternal State and what shall their Life be Answ. The most perfect misery both of Body and Soul whence in Scripture when by Life is meant not only the continuance in being but the happiness of it their state is call'd everlasting death 2 Thes. 1. 8 9. Rev. 2. 11. Quest. What sorrow and torment shall the Wicked for ever endure in their Souls Answ. The torment of all vexatious Passions being continually wracked with Envy Anger Fruitless Cares and Boundless Fears utter despair of all relief and yet extream desires of it And the Sting of Conscience which shall pierce them thro' with bitter remorse and gnaw perpetually like a Worm upon their Hearts and Vitals their Worm dieth not Mark 9. 44. Quest. Indeed all these mention'd Passions when at the heighth are so many Furies especially distracting and amazing Fears and Horrors And shall wretched Souls be wholly seized by these Answ. Yes as much as we may imagine they can possibly who are surrounded on every side with the most mischievous and spiteful Enemies and are left among them in the Dark which were it possible would magnify their Fears by fancy and make them infinite To express which utter uncomfortableness and insecurity they are said to be cast into utter Darkness Mat. 22. 13. and reserved unto Blackness of Darkness for ever 2 Pet. 2. 17. Quest. What is implyed in the Worm of Conscience Answ. Bitter and cutting remorse for their own wretched folly which has call'd down upon
in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus Abrahams Bosom And the care of conducting them thither as Christ noted in the account of Lazarus is committed to some good Angels For some of these as ministring Spirits always attend the death-beds of God's Saints and receive the departed Soul into their care to guard it from all frights and molestations of envious Fiends as it passes thro' the Regions of the Air which are the Principality or Territory of the Powers of Darkness and to guide it in all that long passage of new and unknown ways which lead to the Blessed Receptacles of departed Spirits Whereas the Souls of the Wicked when they are thrust out of their Bodies are left naked and defenceless to be seiz'd by those greedy and implacable Furies and hurried away upon the award of their most just Judge in extream anguish and despair to their most wretched Prisons Quest. But at the Resurrection I see both Good and Bad shall return to their Bodies again And shall that Life last for ever Answ. Yes for after once they are reunited their Souls and Bodies shall never part any more but the good shall continue in everlasting pleasure and the wicked in everlasting pain Quest. What happiness is there in that Eternal Life of the Righteous Answ. All possible happiness their hearts can wish or their Nature is capable of They shall see and enjoy God who will give himself to them and that implies every thing that is Beatifying all the Blessedness we can imagine and infinitely more being contain'd in God and communicated together with him Quest. And shall this Blessedness never be imbitter'd to them with any care or fear or grief or crosses as all the happyness of this present Life is Answ. No They shall neither hunger nor thirst any more Rev. 7. 16. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more Death nor sorrow nor crying nor Pain for all those former things are passed away Rev. 21. 4. Quest. Shall all their Senses be gratified with the most delightful and agreeable enjoyments Answ. Yes such as the Scripture is wont to set off by Feasts and Banquets and Marriage-Entertainments by melodious Songs and joyful Hallelujahs by transporting sights of all the Beauty the Glory and Magnificence of the Heavenly Court the Majesty of God's Throne and the Splendor of all the Heavenly Host that do surround it Indeed their exalted and refined Senses are above the gross delights of Eating and Drinking and giving in Marriage But such as these the Scripture uses because our present state places so much in them And whatsoever delight and satisfaction they may express to our present Capacities that and abundance more shall the enjoyments of that life yield to our glorified and improved Bodies Quest. 'T is a great heappiness to have clear and distinct knowledge of things and not to be distracted with doubts or posed with difficulties Shall the Righteous in that Eternal Life have such clear and advanced understandings Answ. Yes they shall get rid of all darkness and doubtfulness of mind and know every thing they desire without study or pains Now we see as in a Glass darkly but then face to face Now we know in part but then shall we know even as also we are known 1 Cor. 13. 12. Quest. 'T is a singular Point of Bliss to be perfect in Holiness which is one of the most Blissful Attributes of God himself Shall they also be such perfectly Holy Persons Answ. Yes they shall excel in every Virtue and Grace wherein Christ himself doth for when he appears we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3. 2. And those they shall enjoy free of all those weaknesses and defects whereby their Virtues are obscur'd and lessen'd in this World. For in new Jerusalem the Spirits of just men are made perfect Heb. 12. 23. Quest. And shall they exercise all this Holiness without trouble and reluctance which makes the practice of it painful here on Earth Answ. Yes for they shall neither have any inward Lusts to oppose it nor outward Temptations to draw them from it They hear no advice nor see any example but of what is good Their inclinations are all rectified and become Holiness to the Lord. Their Nature is perfect in good and duty is become their delight so that in conforming entirely to the will of God they do in the highest measure gratifie their own wills too Quest. And with this height of knowledge and of Holiness shall they also be inwardly pleased in their own minds and think themselves happy without which no man is happy Answ. Yes they must needs be infinitely pleased in every thing they have and in every thing they do for whatsoever comes to them is pure happiness and whatsoever proceeds from them is full of Wisdom and Goodness without the least word or action to repent of Their State is all Joy and Peace enter thou into the joy of thy Lord Mat. 25. 21. It is not bid to enter into them being infinitely more than they can hold but they into it as into a vast Ocean of Bliss whereof they shall always drink to the full but never empty or exhaust it Quest. Indeed such compleat Knowledge and perfect Holiness must needs give them cause of greatest satisfaction from themselves But what sort of Company must they keep will they be equally happy in that too Answ. Yes unimaginably happy For they will live always in the presence of God who will ineffably Communicate himself to them and of Jesus Christ who will infinitely rejoyce to see how happy he has made them and of the Holy Ghost who will eternally Congratulate the reward of his own Graces in them and converse with Angels Apostles and Glorified Saints and all their Godly dear Friends whom they valued as their own Souls and whom they clave so fast to in their hearts that they could have followed them into the other World when they were taken from them Quest. And all this God-like Society are every way fitted to be the most happy and delightful Companions Answ. Yes to be the most Blissful that possibly can be thought of For they are all light and quickness in their understandings and all love and tenderness in their Affections and most sweet and obliging in their carriage being perfectly free from all Anger Crossness Scorn or Contempt and every thing that may give offence They all look pleased and inviting in their countenances and are exquisitely wise useful and entertaining in all their Discourses and all agree in the same Opinions and speak the same things and pursue the same ends and are pleased in the same Objects and have no strife among them but who shall love highest and oblige most and be most like to God and agreeable to each other for evermore Quest. You say there shall be no strife but who shall love most Indeed a state of love which is not cooled by any unkindnesses nor crossed