CHRISTIAN RELIGION SVBSTANTIALLY METHOdicalliâ—â—â—â—nlie and profitablie Treatised BY PEACE PLENTY BY WISDOME PEACE LONDON Printed by Felix Kingston for Thomas Man 1611. CHRISTIAN RELIGION SVBSTANTIALLY methodicallie plainlie and profitablie treatised E◠〈◊〉 â—hap 3. vers 13.14.15 13 Then Moses 〈◊〉 vnto God Behold when I shall come vnto the children of Israel and shall say vnto them The God of your fathers hath sent me vnto you if they say vnto me What is his Name what shall I say vnto them 14 And God answered Moses I AM THAT I AM. Also he said Thus shalt thou say vnto the children of Israel I AM hath sent me vnto you 15 And God spake further vnto Moses Thus shalt thou say vnto the children of Israel The Lord God of your fathers the God of Abraham the God of Izhak and the God of Iaakob hath sent me vnto you this is my Name for euer and this is my memoriall vnto all ages WHat learne you out of the 13. verse In the thirteenth verse in the question of Moses two things are to be obserued One that we be carefull to be instructed in all things concerning our calling thereby to be able to answere all doubts that may be moued Secondly that asking any thing concerning God as of his name or nature we must aske it of himselfe who because now he speaketh not but by his Ministers 2. Cor. 5.20 Hos 12.10 Interpreters of the Scriptures wee must haue our recourse vnto them What learne you out of the 14. verse He sheweth what is his proper name saying I am c. I am that I am or as the Hebrew soundeth I will be that I will be sauing that the Hebrewes vse the future time for the present as that which noteth a continuance What is meant by these words Hereby is set foorth the manâ—â—â—â—f the Being and Essence of God farre otherwâ—â—â—â—â—en the proper names of men which declare either nothing of their nature and being or else not the whole and full thereof Is there nothing of God to bee knowne besides his name Nothing as touching his Being falling vnder our weake and shallow capacitie What names of God in the Scripture are deriued from these words Two the name Iehouah and the name Iah both which being drawne from this description of God doe set forth the manner of his Essence and Being Is there nothing that hath a being but God Esay 40.17 Nothing in comparison and therefore the Prophet saith that all nations before him are nothing yea to him lesse then nothing and if men be nothing for whom the world was made how much more are all other creatures in heauen and earth nothing before him and to him lesse then nothing Can you from hence define what God is He must haue the Art and Logick of God himself that must giue a perfect definition of God but hee may in such sort be described as he may be discerned from all false gods and all creatures whatsoeuer What is that description God is a spirit which hath his being of himselfe What meane you by that addition of himselfe It hath a secret opposition to all creatures which haue a Being but not of themselues Acts 17.28 whereas God alone is he in whom we liue and moue and haue our being which proueth that he alone hath his Being of himselfe PSAL. 145.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. c. to the end 1 O my God and King I will extoll thee and will blesse thy Name for euer and euer 2 I will blesse thee daily and praise thy Name for euer and euer 3 Great is the Lord and most worthie to be praised and his greatnesse is incomprehensible 4 Generation shall praise thy workes vnto generation and declare thy power 5 I will meditate of the beautie of thy glorious maiestie and thy wonderfull works 6 And they shall speake of the power of thy fearefull acts and I will declare thy greatnesse 7 They shall breake out into the mention of thy great goodnesse and shall sing aloud of thy righteousnesse 8 The Lord is gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of graat mercie 9 The Lord is good to all his mercies are ouer all his works WHat doe you meane by this word thy Name In that the name of God is distinguished from God himself in this verse the Prophet thereby setteth forth the things whereby God doth manifest himself amongst which the chiefe and principall are his properties What are the properties of God They are essentiall faculties of God according to the diuers manner of his working which are vncommunicable with the creatures notwithstanding that there are some shadowes and glimpses of them in men and Angels How may they be considered Either in themselues as they are essentiall or in their works or effects which are all perfect What are the principall propeâ—â—â—â— in God Ioh. 4.24 Simplenes and infinitenes aâ—â—â—â—se which are not only vncommunicable themselues but which make all other properties of God incommunicable What is simplenes in God Exod. 33.19.20 It is an essentiall propertie in God whereby euery thing that is in God is God himselfe Therefore vncompounded without parts inuisible impassible all essence whereof it is not only called holy but holinesse not only iust but iustice c. What learne you thereby Comfort vnto the faithfull for strength of their weake faith whilest they consider that the mercie and clemencie of God is in all perfection and without change vnto them as also terror vnto the wicked whilest they consider his wrath and seueritie against them to be in most full measure the one and the other being God himselfe What doe you say of his infinitenes It is either in quantitie and greatnes or in time and eternitie What is his infinitenes in quantitie and greatnes It is an essentiall propertie in God whereby hee containeth all things Psal 139.7 Iob 11.7 Esay 66.1 1. Kings 8.17 Esay 40.12 and is contained of nothing that either is or may be imagined What learne you from hence That considering the infinite greatnesse of God wee should be put in minde that nothing which is vile and base should bee offered vnto God in the worship of him What is his infinitenes in time or eternitie It is an essentiall propertie in God Reuel 1.8.11 Esay 44 6. Psal 90.2 1. Tim. 1.17 whereby he is the first and the last What learne you hereby Wee are strenâ—â—â—ned hereby not only in the immortalitie of our soule but also in the immortalitie of our bodies after the resurrection considering that by his euerlastingnes he giueth continuall being to such of his creatures as he is pleased to giue a continuall continuance vnto What is the life of God It is an essentiall propertie of God whereby he liueth of himselfe whereof he is said only immortall Psal 36.9 Iohn 5.26 1. Tim. 6.16 1. Tim. 6.16 What is the knowledge of God It is an essentiall propertie of God whereby hee knoweth
those things especially which belong to the life to come But how can we remember all the promises that God hath made thereon to ground our petitions especially being vnlettered There are generall promises that whatsoeuer wee shall aske according to his will it shall be giuen vs 1. Ioh. 15.14 Againe whatsoeuer we reade and heare that the seruants of God haue demanded in the Scripture vncontrolledly or without speciall calling that is a good warrant for vs to demand at the hands of God VVhat haue we further generally to bee obserued of prayer The necessitie and excellencie thereof It seemeth to be of no vse to make our petitions vnto God seeing he hath knoweth what we need either for his glory or our good and hath determined what to bestow vpon vs. Mat â— Yes verily wee must aske and that continually that is at set times without intermission by the commandement of Christ himselfe bidding vs aske and we shall receiue seeke and wee shall find knocke and it shall be opened vnto vs wherein wee should rest for as God hath for appointed all necessaries to be giuen vs so hath he also appointed the meanes whereby they should bee brought to passe whereof prayer is a chiefe so that the common proueth may be verified after a sort No prayer no pennie What other reason haue you for this We should therefore pray for the things we haue need of that hauing receiued them we might be assured we had them of God and not by accident of fortune as naturall men doe say How further is the necessitie of prayer considered Prayer is a key to open the storehouses of al Gods treasures vnto vs and as by knocking we enter into the place we desire to goe to so by prayer wee obtaine those things we need Also as men prouide gifts to make way for fauour Pro. 17.8 so prayer is a gift to appease Gods anger towards vs and as a stroke to teach those things that are aboue our reach and to put by those things that stand in our way And let vs hither adde that it is so necessarie as without it the vse and enioying the things wee haue is vnlawfull for as if wee take any thing that is our neighbours without asking him leaue we are accounted theeues 1. Tim. 4. so to take any thing of Gods whose all things are without asking them at his hand is fellonie Doth not God often times bestow his benefits without prayer Yes verily to the wicked many things either to prouoke them to repent or to make them inexcusable and to his children as a louing Father in regard of his ignorant and sometimes negligent child doth giue things vnasked euen so doth God towards his What is the excellencie thereof It is compared to incense or sweet perfumes Psal 14.41 for that they are as acceptable to the Lord as perfumes are to men and to the drops of hony as it were dropping from the lips of the Church as from a honie combe Cant. 4.11 Milke and honie is vnder her tongue How can God so infinitely wise take delight in our prayers that are so rude Because in Christ hee taketh vs for his children And therfore as parents rather take pleasure to heare their children stammer then some other to speake eloquently so doth the Lord take pleasure in the praiers of the Saints Of how many kinds is prayer Of two kinds either petition or thanksgiuing What is the petition It is a prayer whereby we desire all things necessarie And it is either for things of this present life with this exception so farre forth as the same shall be thought good vnto the wisedome of God or and that especially for the things of the life to come and that without exception VVhat is thanksgiuing Mat. 8.2 2. Sam. 15.25.26 It is a prayer wherein we magnifie the goodnesse of God and it is either in praising all his goodnesse wisedome power mercy and generally for the gouernment of his Church or for those particular fauors that by petition we haue receiued from his mercifull hands VVhat is annexed vnto both these kinds of prayer Confession of sinnes and of the righteous iudgement of God against them at the view whereof we being humbled may come more preparedlie to prayer in both kinds In what form manner should we frame our praiers We are herein for help of our weaknes and rudenesse in prayer to looke vnto the prayers of the holy men of God set downe in Scripture according as the estate wherein they were at the time of those prayers may best sort with the speciall causes wherein we are when we pray But especially and aboue any other yea aboue all them together wee are to looke vnto that most absolute prayer which our Sauiour Christ hath taught vs in the Gospell Dou you call that a prayer which of some is thought onely a forme of prayer to direct our prayers by It is both a prayer which we both may and ought to pray and also a forme of prayer whereunto we are to conform by which we ought to square al ours and therefore as S. Matthew 6. Matth. 6. â— biddeth vs pray after this sort so S. Luke biddeth vs say our Father c. May there not besides this prayer of the Lord be now vnder the Gospel a set form of praier in the church Yes verily so that it be left at the libertie of the Church to alter it and not at the liberty of priuat men without consent of the Church Wherefore is it conuenient that there be a set forme of prayer To help the weaker and ruder sort of people especially and yet so as the set forme make not men fluggish in stirring vp the gift of prayer in themselues according to diuers occurrents it being incident to the children of God to haue some gift of prayer in some measure Zach. 12.10 What is the Lords Prayer It is an absolute prayer in it selfe and a prayer giuing a perfect direction to frame al other prayers by What are the parts of this prayer Two the preface and the prayer it selfe What gather you of this that there is a preface set before the prayer Eccls 5.1 Psalm 26.6 Exod. 3. That Christian men are not to come malepertlie or rashly but with preparation for the Angell of the Lord standeth at the entrie to strike with hardnesse and blindnesse c. those that come without preparation for if we make preparation before we come to an earthly Prince 1. Tim. 2.8 and bethinke vs of our words and gesture how much more ought we to doe it when we come before the Prince and Lord of Heauen and Earth How are we to prepare our selues Not onely to put off our euill affections but euen our honest and otherwise in their due time necessarie cogitations as the cares and thoughts of our particular vocations as of house or familie What is to be considered in the word father That we
calamitie is hanging ouer vs or fallen vpon vs whereby the gratious presence of Christ is taken from vs or when there is any weightie matter to take in hand VVhat gather you hereof That the fast in Poperie is foolish which is holden at set times whether the time bee prosperous or not prosperous whether the affaires bee common and ordinary or whether they be special extraordinary of al which it may appeare how small cause the Papists haue to boast of their fasting which in all the warpe therof haue not a thred which is not full of leprosie But all this while there seemeth not to haue appeared any necessitie of this exercise of fasting Yes verily in that it is necessarie to humble our selues vnder the mightie and fearefull hand of God and to afflict our soules with the conscience of our sinnes and the punishment due vnto them vnto which this outward exercise of fasting is a good aid And our Sauiour Christ doth expresly say that the time shall come when his Disciples shall fast where both by the circumstance of the persons and of the time the necessitie of fasting is enforced How so By the persons for that the Apostles themselues had need of this helpe of fasting for their further humiliation And by the time for that euen after the ascension of our Sauiour Christ when the graces of God were most abundant vpon them they should haue need of this exercise VVhat is gathered heereof That it is a shamefull thing for men to say that fasting is Iewish or ceremoniall VVhat doe you gather in that our Sauiour Christ would not haue his Disciples fast vntill after his ascension His singular kindnesse in that he would suffer no great trouble and cause of fast to come vnto them before they had strength to beare them and were prepared for them Thus much of the exercise of fasting generally What are the kinds thereof It is either publicke or priuate VVhat is the publicke It is when for a general cause the Churches do fast and it is either more publicke when all Churches fast generally or some particular Churches are humbled by fasting What is the priuate fast It is more and lesse priuate as when a particular house more priuate when a particular person is humbled in fasting HEST chap. 9. vers 16. vnto the 24. HAuing heard of the extraordinarie prayer in fasting there remaineth to speake of that which is in a holy feasting VVhat is it It is a thanksgiuing vnto God for some singular benefit or deliuerance from some notable euill either vpon vs or hanging ouer vs which he hath bestowed vpon vs especially after in fasting wee haue begged the same at his hand VVhat ought especially to be the time of this prayer The time that is neerest vnto the mercy and benefit which we haue receiued as wee see in this story where the Iewes that were in the countrie and in the prouinces did celebrate it the fourteenth day of the moneth Adar because they had ouerthrowne their aduersaries the thirteenth day before and the Iewes that were in Susa because they made not an end of the slaughter of their enemies before the fourteenth day was past they celebrated their feast the fifteenth Looke 2. Chron. 2â— 26 And the example of Iacob checked for deferring the paiment of his vow at Bethleem Wherefore ought we to take the thou that is next the deliuerance Because we being most strongly and throughly affected with the benefit we receiue the first time it is bestowed vpon vs especially when there is not onely a notable benefit befallen vnto vs but that thereby also wee are freed from foure notable euill that was vpon vs or neere vnto vs wee are then most fit to hold a feast vnto the Lord. Why is the ordinance of a yeerely feast by Marâ—ocheus rather commanded vpon the day after the slaughter of their enemies then the day of the slaughter To set forth that reioycing ought not to bee so much for the destruction of our enemies as that thereby we obtaine peace to serue God in Wherein doth this feast consist The scope and drift of it is to reioyce before the Lord and to shew our selues thankfull for the benefit receiued not onely in that we are deliuered but that we are deliuered by prayer we haue made vnto God whereby our ioy encreaseth and whereby it differeth from the ioy of the wicked which reioyce that they are deliuered as well as we How must that be best performed Partly by outward and bodily exercises and partly by exercises of the mind What are the outward exercises A more liberall vse of the creatures both in meate and apparell then is ordinarie May wee eate and drinke more that day then on others No the exceeding is not in the quantity of meat and drinke but in a more daintie and bountifull diet then ordinarie which is to bee referred to the exercise of godlinesse Nehem. 8.10 and therefore ought to be vsed in that moderation and sobrietie at men may bee made more able thereunto euen as the abstinence in fasting is vsed to a further humiliation of the mind and affecting of the soule What is the exercise of godlinesse It is either in pietie and duety vnto God or in kindnesse vnto men What is the dutie vnto God To lift vp our voice in thanksgiuing vnto him as for all other his mercies whereof this benefit should cause the remembrance Psal 5.1 as one sinne causeth the remembrance of others so for that present benefit and for that purpose to call to remembrance and compare the former euils which either wee were in or were neere vnto with the present mercy and euery part of the one with the member of the other What other duely of pietie is to bee performed vnto God By a diligent meditation of the present benefit to confirme our faith and confidence in God that hee that hath so mightilie and gratiously deliuered vs at this time will also in the same or the like dangers deliuer vs hereafter so farre as the same shall be good for vs. What is the kindnesse we should shew towards men An exercise of liberality according to our power out of the feeling of the bountifull hand of God toward vs. To whom must that be shewed To our friends in presents Reuel 11.10 Nehem. 8.10 and as it were in new-yeeres gifts and portions to be sent to the poore and needie What remaineth further of these holy feasts The sorts and kinds of them which are as before we haue heard of fasts PSALM 50. vers 14.15 14 Offer vnto God praise and pay thy vowes vnto the most high 15 And call vpon me in the day of trouble so will I deliuer thee and thou shalt glorifie me HItherto of prayer What is a vow A solemne promise vnto God by fit persons of some lawfull thing that is in their choice It is thought that vowes are ceremoniall and not to pertaine to the times of the Gospell