the Flesh the World and the Devil from the revenging Justice of God and from everlasting Damnation giving us here a Union with Christ the Pardon of our Sins and Sanctifying Grace and hereafter everlasting heavenly Glory Q. 3. Is there any other Religion besides the Christian Religion A. There be many errours of Men which they call their Religion Q. 4. Is there any True Religion besides Christianity A. There be divers that have some part of the Truth mixt with Error 1. The Heathens acknowledge God and most of his Attributes and Perfections as we do But they have no knowledge of his Will but what meer Nature teacheth them and they worship many Idols if not Devils as an under sort of Gods 2. The Iews own only the Law of Nature and the Old Testament but believe not in Jesus Christ our Redeemer 3. The Sadduces and all Bruitists worship God as the Governour of Man in this World but they believe not a Life to come for Man 4. The Pythagorean Heathens look for no Reward or Punishment after Death but by the passing of the Soul into some other Body on Earth in which iâ— shall be Rewarded or Punished 5. The Mahometans acknowledge One God as we do but they believe not in Jesus Christ as Mans Redeemer but only take him for an excellent Holy Prophet and they Believe in Mahomet a Deceiver as a Prophet greater than he 6. The meer Dâ—ists believe in God but not in Jesus Christ and have only the Natural Knowledge of his Will as other Heathens but worship not Idols as they do Q. 5. Is there but One Christian Religion A. No True Christianity is one certain thing Q. 6. How then are Christians said to be of divers Religions A. Sound Christians hold to Christian Religion alone as Christ did institute it But many others corrupt it some by denying some parts of it while they own the rest and some by adding many corrupting Inventions of Man and making those a part of their Religion as the Papists do Q. 7. Where is the true Christian Religion Doctrinal to be found that we may certainly know which is it indeed A. The Christian Religion containeth I. The Light and Law of Nature and that is common to them with others and is to be found in the Nature of all things as the Significations of Gods Will II. Supernatural Revelation clearing the Law of Nature and giving us the Knowledge of the Redeemer and his Grace And this is contained I. Most fully in the Holy Bible II. Briefly and summarily in the Creed Lords Prayer and Commandments III. Most briefly of all in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper and the Covenant made and sealed by them Q. 8. But are not the Articles of our Church and the Confessions of Churches their Religion A. Only Gods Word is ouâ— Religion as the Divine Rule But our Confessions and Books and Words and Lives shew how we understand it Q. 9. What is the Protestant Religion A. The Religion of Protestants is meer Christianity They are called Protestants but accidentally because they Protest for meer Scripture Christianity against the Corruptions of Popery Q. 10. What sorts of false Religion are there among Christians A. There are more Corruptions of Religion than can easily be named The chief of them are of these following sorts I. Some of them deny some Essential Article of Faith or Practice As the Immortality of the Soul the Godhead or Manhood or Offices of Christ or the Holy Ghost or the Scripture c. II. Some of them pretend new Revelations falsely and set their pretences of the Spirits Inspirations against the sealed Word of God III. Some of them set up an Usurped Power of their own against the Office Authority or sufficiency of the said Sealed Scriptures Pretending that they are Successours to the Apostles in the Power and Office of making Laws for the Universal Church and being the Judges of the sence of Scripture yea and what is to be taken for Gods Word and what not and Judges of all Controversies about it Of these the Papists pretenâ— that the Pope and a General Council are Supreaâ— visible Governours under Christ of all the Christiaâ— World and that none may appeal from them â—… God to Christ to the Scripture or to the Day oâ— Judgment Others pretend to such a Power iâ— every Patriarchal National or Provincial Church And all of them instead of a humble helping guiding Ministry set up a Church Leviathan a silencing Abaddon and Appollyon a destroying Office Setting up their Usurped power above â—â— equal in Effect with Gods Word Q. 11. How come the Scriptures to be Gods Worâ— when the Bishops Cannons are not And to be â—â— far above their Laws A. You must know that God hath two differenâ— sort of Works to do for the Government of hiâ— Church The first is Legislation or giving Neâ— Doctrines and Laws The other is the teachinâ— and guiding the Church by the Explication anâ— Application of these same Laws God is not stiâ— making New Laws for Man but he is still Teaching and Ruling them by his Laws Accordingly God hath had two sort of Ministers One sort for Legislation to Reveal neâ— Doctrines and Laws And such was Moses undeâ— the Old Administration and Christ and his Commissioned Apostles under the New These werâ— Eminent Prophets inspired by God infallibly â—â— record his Laws and God attested their Officâ— and Work by Multitudes of Evident uncontrolled Miracles But the Laws being Sealed the Second sort of Ministers are only to Teach and Apply these same Laws and Doctrines and not to reveal New ones And such were the Priests and Levites under Moses and all the succeeding Ministers and Bishops of the Churches under Christ and the Apostles who are the Foundation on which the Church is built And though all Church Guides may determine of the undetermined Circumstances of Holy things by the General Laws which God hath given therein Yet to arrogate a power of making a new Word of God or a Law that shall suspend our Obedience to his Laws or any Law for the Universal Church whether it be by Pope or Council is treasonable Usurpation of a Government which none but Christ is capable of And as if one King or Council should claim the Civil Soveraignty of all the Earth which is most unknown to them Q. 12. But I pray you tell me how the CREED comes to be of so great Authority seeing I find it not in the Bible A. It is the very Summ and Kernel of the Doctrine of the New Testament and there you may find it all with much more But it is Older than the writting of the New Testament save that two or three words were added since I told you before 1. That Christ himself did make the Nature and Terms of Christianity Commissioning his Apostles to make all Nations his Disciples baptizing them into the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy
Ghost This is the Summ of the Creed first made by Christ himself 2. The Apostles were Inspired and Commissioned to teach men all that Christ commanded Mat. 28. 19 20. 3. To say these three Words I believe in the Father Son and Holy Ghost without understanding them was easie but would make no true Christians Therefore if we had never read more of the Apostles Practice we might justly conclude that those inspired Teachers before they Baptized Men at Age taught them the meaning of those three Articles and brought them accordingly to Confess their Faith And this is the Creed And though a Man might speak his Profession in more or various Words the Matter was still the same and the words made necessary must not be too many nor left too much at mens liberty to alter lest corruption should Creep into the Common Faith For the Baptismal Confession was the very Symbol Badge or Test by which all Christians were visibly to pass for Christians And as Christianity must be a known certain thing so must its Symbol be 4. And infallible historical Tradition assureth us that accordingly ever since the Apostles dayes before any adult were Baptized they were Catechized and brought to understand and profess these same Articles of the Faith And if the Greeks and the Latines used not the same Words they used Words of the same Signification two or three words being added since Q. 13. Do you not by this set the Creed above the Bible A. No otherwise than I set the Head Heart Liver and Stomach of a Man above the whole Body which containeth them and all the rest Or than I set the Ten Commandments above the whole Law of Moses which includeth them Or than Christ did set Loving God above all and our Neighbour as our selves above all that Law of which they were the Summ We must not take those for no Christians nor deny them Baptism who understand and believe not particularly every word in the Bible as we must those that understand not and believe not the CREED CHAP. VIII Of BELIEVING what it signifieth in the Creed Qu. 1. I Understand by what you have said that as Mans Soul hath three Powers the Understanding the Will and the Executive So Religion being but the true qualifying and guidance of these three Powers must needs consist of three parts I. Things to be known and believed II. Things to be Willed Loved and Chosen And III. Things to be Done in the Practice of our Lives And that the Creed is the Symbol or Summ of so much as is necessary to our Christianity of the first sort and the Lords Prayer the Rule and Summary of the second and the Ten Commandments of the Third I intreat you therefore first to expound the Creeâ—… to me and first the first word of it I Believe â—… it belongs to all that followeth A. You must first know what the word signifieth in Common use To Believe another Signifieth Tâ—… trust him as True or Trusty and to Believe a thing signifieth to Believe that it is True because a Trusty Person speaketh it The Things that you must Believe to be True are called The Matter or Materiâ—… Object of your Faith The Persons Trustiness thaâ—… you believe or trust to is called The formal Object of your Faith for which you Trust the Person and believe the thing The Matter is as the Body of Faith and the Form as its Soul The Matter which the Church hath believed hath by Goâ—… had alterations And to this Day more is revealeâ— to some than to others But the formal Reason â—… your Faith is still and in all the same even Gods Fidelity who because of his Perfection cannot Liâ—… Q. 2. How may I be sure that God cannot Liâ— who is under no Law A. His Perfection is more than a Law 1. Wâ—… see that God who made Man in his own Image and reneweth them to it making Lying a hateâ—… Vice to humane Nature and Conversation Nâ—… Man would be counted a Lyar And the betteâ—… any Man is the more he hateth it 2. No man Lyeth but either for want of Wiâ—dom to know the Truth or for want of perfecâ—… Goodness or for want of Power to attain his Ends by better means But the Infinite most Perfect God hath none of these defects Q. 3. But God speaketh to the World by Angels and Men and who knows but they may be permitted to Lie A. When they speak to Man as sent by God and God attesteth their credibility by uncontrolled Miracles or other Evidence if then they should Lie it would be imputable to God that attesteth their word Of which I said enough to you before Q. 4. Proceed to open the formal Act of Faith which you call Trust A. As you have noted that Mans Soul hath three Powers Understanding Will and Executive so our Assiance or Trust in God extendeth to them all And so it is in One an Assenting Trust a Consenting Trust and a Practical Trust. By the first we Believe the Word to be True because we trust the Fidelity of God By the second we consent to Gods Covenant and accept his Gifts by Trusting to the Truth and Goodness of the Promiser By the Third we Trustingly venture on the costlyest Duty Q. 5. I pray you open it to me by some familiar similitude A. Suppose you are a poor Man in danger of a Prison and a King from India sends his Son hither Proclaiming to all the Poor in England that if they will come over with his Son he will make them all Princes some say He is a Deceiver and not to be believed Others say A little in hand with our Old acquaintance is better than uncertainty in an unknown Land Another saith I know not but a Leaky Vessel Storms or Pirates may prevent my hopes Here are now three Questions 1. Do you believe that he saith True 2. Do you so far Trust him as to Consent to go with him 3. When it comes to it do you so far Trust him as to venture on all the difficulties and go Again suppose you have a deadly sickness There are many unable and deceitful Physicians in the World There is one onely that can Cure you and offereth to do it for nothing but with a Medicine made of his own Blood Many tell you he is a Deceiver Some say others can do it as well And some say the Medicine is intollerable or improbable Here are three Questions 1. Do you Trust his word by Believing him 2. Do you Trust him so as to Consent and Take him for your Physician 3. Do you Trust him so as to come to him and take his Medicine forsaking all others I need not apply it You can easily do it Trust then or Assiance is the vital or formal act of Faith And Assenting Consenting and Practice are the inseparable effects in which as it is a saving Grace it is alwayes found Q. 6. But is all this
is folly to be stalled at the Believing of any thing which we once are sure that God revealeth considering how unmeet our shallow Wit is to judge of the things of infinite Wisdom to us unseen 2. To Holy illuminated prepared Souls Belief is not so hard It 's Blindness and Vice that make it difficult 3. God did not become Man by any Change of his Godhead nor by confining his Essence to the Manhood of Christ But 1. By taking the humane Nature into a special Aptitude for hiâ— Operations 2. And so Relating it neerly to himself 3. And Operating peculiarly in and on it as he doth not on any other Creature And when all are agreed that God is essentially every where and is as near us as we are our selves and more the Cause of all good which we do than we our selves are it will be harder to shew that he is not Hypostatically united to every Man than that he is so to Christ Though the foresaid Aptitude of Christ's humane Nature and the Relation and Operation of the Divine indeed make that vast difference If God can so peculiarly Operate in and by our humane Nature where lyeth the Incredibility Q. 31. But it is so transcendently above all the Works of Nature that such condescension of God is hard to be believed A. Great Works best beseem the Infinite God Is not the make of the whole World as wonderful and yet certain Gods Love and Goodness must have wonderful products as well as his Power But is it not very congruous to Nature and Reason that God should have Mercy on lapsed man And that he should restore depraved humane Nature And that he should do this great work like his Greatness and Goodness and above Mans shallow reach And that Polluted Souls should not have immediate access to the most Holy but by a Holy Mediator And that Mankind should have one Universal Head and Monarch in our own Nature And that when even Heathens are conscious of the great need of some Divine revelations besides the light of Nature and therefore consult their Oracles and Augurs that God should give us a certain Menssenger from Heaven to teach us necessary Truth Many such Congruities I have opened in the Reasons of the Christian Religion Part 2. Ch. 5. The Summ of all that is said is This I. If any History in the world be sure the History of the Gospel is sure II. And if the History be sure the Doctrine must needs be sure III. The continued Evidences 1. In the Holiness of the Doctrine And 2. In the Holiness of all true serious Believers are a standing proof of both as the Miracles were to all the beholders who did not Blaspheme the Holy Ghost Q. 32. But how comes it to be so hard then to the most to become serious Believers and Godly when the Evidence is so clear A. A Blind Dead Worldly Fleshly Heart doth undispose them and they will not Consider such things nor use the means Yea they so wilfully sin against Knowledge and Conscience and will not obey that which they know that they forfeit further Grace I will name you briefly many things which every Mans Natural Reason might know and ask you whether you ever knew any Unbeliever that was not false to this Light of Nature 1. Doth not Sence and Reason tell men how vile a thing that Flesh is which they preferr before their Souls 2. Doth it not certifie them that they must die and so that Fleshly Pleasure is short 3. Doth it not tell them of the Vanity and Vexation of this World 4. And that greatest Prosperity is usually parted with with greatest sorrow 5. Doth it not tell them that Mans Nature can hardly choose but fear what will follow after Death 6. Doth it not tell them that there is a God that made them and Ruleth all 7. And that he is infinitely Great and Wise and Good and therefore should be Obeyed Loved and Trusted above all 8. And that their Lives and Souls and all are his and at his will 9. And that Man hath Faculties which can mind a God and a Life to come which Bruits have not and that God doth not make such Natures in vain 10. Doth not experience tell them that humane Nature seeth a vast difference between Moral Good and Evil and that all Government Laws and Converse shew it And no Man would be counted false and bad 11. And that Good Men are the Blessing of the World and Bad Men the Plagues 12. And that there is a Conscience in Man that condemneth Sin and approveth Goodness 13. And that most Men when they dye cry out against that which Worldly Fleshly Men preferr and wish that they had lived the Life of Saints and might die their death Are not these easily knowable to all And yet all the ungodly live as if they believed none of this And can you wonder if all such Men understand not or believe not the Heavenly things have no experience of the Sanctifying Work and Witness of the Holy Spirit and have no delight in God and Goodness no strength against Sin and Temptations no Trust in God in their necessity no suitableness to the Gospel nor the heavenly Glory But as they lived in sin do die in a stupid or despairing state of Soul CHAP. VII Of the Christian Religion what it is and of the Creed Q. 1. NOw you have laid so good a Foundation by shewing me the certain Truth of the Gospel I would better know what Christianity is and what it is to be a true Christian A. First I must tell you what Religion is iâ— general and then what the Christian Religion is Religion is a Word that signifieth either that which is without us the Rule of our Religion or thaâ— which is within us our conformity to that Rule The Doctrinal Regulating Religion is the Signification of Gods will concerning Mans Duty to God and his Hopes from God The inward Religion of our Souls is our Conformity to this revealed regulating Will of God even our absolute resignation to God as being his own our absolute subjection to him aâ— our absolute Sovereign Ruler and our prevailinâ— chief Love to him as our chief Benefactor and aâ— Love and Goodness it self Thus Religion is ouâ— Duty to God and Hope from God Q. 2. Now what is the Christian Religion A. The Christian Religion as Doctrinal is The Revelation of Gods will concerning his Kingdoâ— as our Redeemer or the Redeeming and savinâ— sinful miserable Man by Jesus Christ. And the Christian Religion as it is in us is Thâ— true Conformity of our Understanding Will anâ— Practice to this Doctrine or The true Belief oâ— the Mind the Thankful Love and Consent of thâ— Will and the sincere Obedience of our Lives to God as our Reconciled Father in Christ and to Jesus Christ as our Saviour and to the Holy Ghost as our Sanctifier to deliver us from the guilt and power of Sin from
so fulfilled A. No That Law condemned none but the Sinner himself and is not fulfilled unless the Person suffer that sinned That Law never said Either the Sinner or another for him shall die Christ was given us by God as above his Law and that he might justly and mercifully forgive sin though he executed not that Law That Law did but make punishment our Due and not Christs but not bind God to inflict it on us when his Wisdom knew a better way It is not that Law as fulfilled that justifieth us but another even the Law of Grace Satisfaction is not the fulfilling of the penal Law Q. 16. Did not Christ fulfill the Commands of the Law for us by his Holiness and perfect Rrighteousness What need was there that he suffer for us A. The Law or Covenant laid on him by his Father was that he should do both and therefore both â—s the performance of that Condition on which God gave us to him to be pardoned and saved by him If he had fulfilled the Commands of the Law by perfect Holiness and Righteousness in our Legal Persons so â—s that God and his Law would have reputed us to have done it by him then indeed being reputed perfect Obeyers we could not have been reputed Sinners that needed suffering or pardon But Christs habitual active and passive Righteousness were all the parts of his One Condition performed by him to be the meritorious Cause of our Justification Q. 17. Why is Christ's Death and Burial named besides his Crucifixion A. Those words have been since added to obviate their Error who thought Christ dyed not on the Cross. Q. 18. What is meant by his descending into Hell A. Those words were not of some Hundred Years in the Creed And since they were put in have been diversly understood There is no more certain nor necessary to be believed but that 1. Christs Soul was and so ours are immortal and remained when separated from the Body 2. And that as death being the separation of Soul and Body was threatned by God as a punishment to both so the Soul of Christ submitted to this penal separation and went to the place of separated Souls as his Body did to the Grave Q. 19. Of what use is this Article to us A. Of great and unspeakable use 1. We leaâ— hence what Sin deserveth shall we play with thaâ— which must have such a Sacrifice 2. We learn hence that a sufficient expiatory Sacrifice is made for sin and therefore that God is reconciled and we need not despair nor are put to makâ— expiation our selves or by any other 3. We learn that Death and the Grave and thâ— state of Separate Souls are Sanctified and Satan conquered as he had the power of Death as Gods Executioner And therefore that we may boldly die iâ— Faith and commit Soul and Body into the hand â—… him that died for them Q. 20. But did not Christ's go to Paradise and câ—â— that be penal A. Yes And so do faithful Souls But the Soâ—â— and Body are a perfect Man and Nature is against Separation And as the Union of Christs Soul aâ—â— glorified Body now in Heaven is a more perfect staâ—â— than that was of his separated Soul so the deprivation of that Union and Perfection was a degree â—â— penalty And therefore it was the extraordinary priviledge of Enoch and Elias not to die CHAP. XIV The Third Day he rose again from the Dead Q. 1. HOw was Christ said to be three dayes in the Grave A. He was there part of the Sixth day all the Seventh and part of the First Q. 2. Is it certain that Christ rose from the Dead the third day A. As certain as any Article of our Faith Angels witnessed it Mary first saw him and spake with him Two Disciples going to Emmaus saw him to whom he opened the Scriptures concerning him Peter and others Fishing saw him and spake and eat with him The Eleven assembled saw him Thomas that would not else believe was called to see the print of the Nails and put his Finger into his pierced side He was seen of above Five hundred Brethren at once He gave the Apostles their Commission and Instructions and his Blessing and ascended Bodily to Heaven in their sight And afterward appeared in Glory to Stephen and Paul But I have before given you the proof of the Gospel and must not repeat it Q. 3. Was it foreknown that Christ would rise A. Yes It was foretold by the Prophets and expresly and often by himself to his Apostles and the Iews and therefore they set a Sealed Stone with a Guard â—â— Souldiers on the Sepulcher to watchit Q. 4. It is a wonder that the Iews thâ—n believed noâ— in him A. The Rulers were now more afraid than before that Christ would by the People be Proclaimed their King and then the Romans destroy their City and Nation for they feared Men more than God And withal they had put him to death on that account aâ— if his making himself a King had been Rebellioâ— against Caesar and King of the Iews was writteâ— as his Crime by Pilate on his Cross and so they were engaged against him as a Rebel though he told them hiâ— Kingdom was not a Worldly one And they seemed to believe that he did all his Miracles by the Devil aâ— a Conjurer and therefore that he was raised by thaâ— Devil which was the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost And as for the Common People they deceived them by hiring the Souldiers to say Thaâ— his Disciples stole his Body while they slept Q. But why would Christ appear to none but his Disciples A. We are not fit to give God a Law His works are done in infinite Wisdom But we may see 1. That they who had hardned their Hearts against all his Doctrine and the Miracles of his Life and maliciously put him to Death as a Blasphemer a Conjurer and a Traitor to Caesar were unworthy and unmeet to be the Witnesses of his Resurection And its like it would but have excited their rage to have tryed a new Persecution His Resurrection being the first act of his triumphant Exaltation none were so fit to see him as those that had followed him in his Sufferings Even as wicked Men are not meet as Paul was to be â—rapt up into Paradise and the Third Heavens and hear the unutterable things 2. The Witnesses whom he chose were enow and fit Persons for that Office being to be sent abroad to Proclaim it to the World And God confirmed their Testimony by such abundant Miracles of which you heard before 3. And yet he left not the Infidels without convincing means As he before told them that he would raise in three Dayes the Temple of his Body when they destroyed it so they saw the Earthquake the Sun darkned the Vail of the Temple rent at his Death and their Souldiers saw the Angels that
terrified them and told the Rulers what they saw And after all it was to Paul a Persecutor and partly to his company that Christ appeared Q. 6. Why must Christ rise from the Dead A. You may as well ask Why he must be our Savior 1. If he had not risen Death had conquered him and how could he have saved us that was overcome and lost himself 2. He could not have received his own promised Reward even his Kingdom and Glory It was for the Joy that was set before him that he enendured the Cross and despised the shame Therefore God gave him a Name above every Name to which every created Knee must bow 3. His Resurrection was to be the chief of all those Miracles by which God witnessed that he was his Soâ— and the chief Evidence by which the World was to be convinced of his Truth and so was used in their Preaching by the Apostles That Christ rose from the Dead is the chief Argument that makes us Christians 4. The great executive parts of Christs saving Office were to be performed in Heaven which a dead Man could not do How else should he have Inceded for us as our heavenly High-priest How should he have sent down the Holy Ghost to renew us How should he as King have governed and protected his Church on Earth unto the End How should he have come again in Glory to Judge the World and how should we have seen his Glory as the Mediator oâ— Fruition in the Heavenly Kingdom Q. 7. I perceive then that Christ's Resurrection is tâ— us an Article of the greatest use What use must â—â— make of it A. You may gather it by what is said 1. By this you may be sure that he is the Son of God and his Gospel True 2. By this you may be sure that his Sacrifice on the Cross was accepted as sufficient 3. By this you may be sure that Death is Conquered and we may boldly trust our Saviour who tasted and overcame Death with our departing Souls 4. By this you may be sure that we have a powerful High-priest and Intercessour in Heaven by whom we may come with reverend boldness unto God 5. By this we may know that we have a powerful King both to obey and to trust with the Churches Interest and our own 6. By this we may know that we have a Head still living who will send down his Spirit to gather his Chosen to help his Ministers to Sanctifie and Comfort his People and prepare them for Glory 7. By this we are assured of our own Resurrection and taught to hope for our final Justification and Glory 8. And by this we are taught that we must Rise to Holiness of Life CHAP. XV. He ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right Hand of God the Father Almighty Qu. 1. HOw long was it between Christ's Resurrection and his Ascension A. Forty dayes He rose on the day which we call Easter-day and he ascended on that which we call Ascension day or Holy Thursday Q. 2. Did Christ stay all that while among his Disciples visibly A. No but appeared to them at such seasons as he saw meet Q. 3. Where was he all the rest of the Forty Days A. God hath not told us and therefore it concerneth us not to know Q. 4. He shewed them that he had Flesh and Blood hoâ—â—â—en was he to them invisible the most part of the Forty dayes A. The Divine power that raised Christ could make those alterations on his Body which we are unacquainted with Q. 5. How was Christ taken up to Heaven A. While he was speaking to his Apostles of the things concerning the Kingdom of God and answering them that hoped it would presently be and had given their Commission and the Promise of the Holy Ghost and commanded them to wait for it at Ierusalem he was taken up as they gazed after him till a Cloud took him out of their sight And two Angels like two Men in white stood by them and askt them why they stood gazing up to Heaven telling them that Iesus who was taken up should so come again Q. 6. Had it not been better for us that he had staid on Earth A. No He is many wayes more useful to us in Heaven 1. He is now no more confined in presence to that small Countrey of Iudea above the rest of the World as a Candle to one room but as the Sun in his Glory shineth to all his Church on Earth 2. He is possessed of his full Power and Glory by which he is fit to protect and Glorifie us 3. He intercedeth for us where our highest Concerns and Interest are 4. He sendeth his Spirit on Earth to do his work on all believers Souls Q. 7. What is meant by his sitting on the right Hand of God A. Not that God hath Hands or is confined to a place as Man is But it signifieth that the Glorified Man Iesus is next to God in Dignity Power and Glory and as the Lieutenant under a King is now the Universal Administrator or Governour of all the World under God the Father Almighty Q. 8. I Thought he had been only the Lord of his Church A. He is Head over all things to his Church All Power and things in Heaven and Earth are given him Even the frame of Nature dependeth on him He is Lord of all But it is his Church that he Sanctifieth by his Spirit and will Glorifie Q. 9. If Christ have all power why doth he let Satan and Sin still reign over the far greatest part of the Earth A. 1. Satan reigneth but over Volunteers that wilfully and obstinately choose that Condition And he reigneth but as the Jailor in the Prison as Gods Executioner on the wilfull refusers of his Grace And his reign is far from absolute he crosseth none of the Decrees of God nor overcometh his power but doth what God seeth meet to permit him to do He shall destroy none of Gods Elect nor any that are truly willing of Saving Grace And as for the fewness of the Elect I shall speak of it after about the Catholick Church Q. 10. But is not Christs Body present on Earth and in the Sacrament A. We are sure he is in Heaven and we are sure that their Doctrine is a fiction contrary to Sense Reason and Scripture that say the Consecrated Bread and Wine are substantially turned into the very Body and Blood of Christ and are no longer Bread and Wine Buâ—… how far the presence of Christs Soul and Body extendeth is a question unfit for Mans determination unleâ—… we better knew what Glorified Souls and Bodies are â—… We see that the Sun is eminently in the Heaven Anâ—… yet whether its lucid Beams be a real part of its substance which are here on Earth or how far they extend we know not nor know we how the Sun differeth in Greatness or Glory from
the Soul and Bodâ—… of Christ nor know when an Angel is in the rooâ—… with us and when not These things are unfit for oâ—… enquiry and decision CHAP. XVI From thence he shall come again to judge thâ—… Quick and â—… Dead Qu. 1. WHat is meant by the Quick and â—… Dead A. Those that are found alive at Christ's coming and those that were dead before Q. 2. Are not the Souls of Men judged when Men die A. In part they are But as it is Soul and Body that make a Man so it is the Judgment upon Soul and Body which is the full judgment on the Man God's Execution is the principal part of his Judgment And as Souls have not the fulness of Glory or Misery till the Resurrection so they are not fully Judged till then And Societies must be then judged and Persons in their Sociable relations together Q. 3. Whither is it that Christ will come and where will he judge the World A. Not in Heaven for the wicked shall not come thither But Paul tells us 1 Thes. 4. 16. That the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the Voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the Dead in Christ shall rise first and then they that are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. By which it appeareth that the place of Judgment will be in the Air between Heaven and Earth Q. 4. In what manner will Christ come to Iudgment A. Christ tells us Matth. 25. 31. That the Son of Man that is Christ as Man shall come in his Glory and all the Holy Angels with him and shall sit on the Throne of his Glory and before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as a Shepheard divideth his Sheep from the Goats And St. Paul saith 2 Thess. 1. 7 8. The Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ Who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe Q. 5. Where are the Souls of the Dead before the Day of Iudgment A. The Souls of the Faithful are with Christ in Heaven and the Souls of the Wicked are with Devils in misery Q. 6. Where is it that the Devils and Wicked are in misery A. They are shut out from the Glory of God and where ever it be that they are it is as Gods Prison till the Judgment of the Great Day But the Scripture calleth the Devil the Prince of the Power of the Air Eph. 2. 2. Yet is he on Earth for he worketh in the Children of disobedience and is ready with his Temptations with all Men And he is said to go to and fro in the Earth Job 1. 7. 2. 2. And he is said to walk in dry places seeking rest and dwelling in the wicked Mat. 12. 43 44. Q. 7. But are the Souls of the Wicked in no other Hell than the Devils are A. The Scripture tells us of no other But it tells us not of their tempting and possessing Men as Devils do but of their suffering Q. 8. Are Devils and Wicked Souls in the same Hell that they shall be in after the Day of Iudgment and have they the same punishment A. Whether there shall be any change of the Place it is not needful for us to know But the punishment is of the same kind But it will be greater after Judgment were it but because the Body joyned to the Soul and the multitude of the damned joyned in the Suffering will make every one more receptive of it Q. 9. Is there no middle place between Heaven and Hell or a middle state of Souls that are in hope of deliverance from their pain A. Hell it self is not all one Place seeing Devils are both in the Air and in the Earth and where else we know not And in Iob 1. 11 12. Satan was among the Sons of God But as for any hope of deliverance to them that die unpardoned the Scripture tells us of none buth saith that the Night cometh when none can work and that This is the accepted time this is the Day of Salvation And that every Man shall be judged according to what he had done in the Body whether it be good or evil It is therefore mad presumption for any one to neglect this Day of Salvation upon a hope of his own making that they that die the Slaves of the Devil may repent and be delivered in their Airy Life and be made the Children of God or that any Purgatory fire shall refine them or any Prayers of the Saints in Heaven or Earth deliver them Q. 10. But it seems by their pleading described by Christ Mat. 25. that they will not be past hope till the Sentence be passed on them A. But the same Text tells you what Sentence certainly shall pass and therefore that if they keep any hope it is not of Gods making but their own and will be all in vain But indeed those words seem rather to express their fervent desire to escape Damnation than their hope The wicked may cry for Mercy when it is too late but shall not obtain it Dives Luke 16. may beg for a drop of Water but not get it Q. 11. But will it not be a long work to judge all that ever lived from the beginning of the World unto the End A. Gods Judgment is not like Mans by long talk and wordy Tryal though Christ open the Reasons of it after the manner of Men Gods Judgment consisteth of full Conviction and Execution And he can convince all Men in a moment by his Light shining at once into every ones Conscience As the Sun can enlighten at once the Millions of Eyes all over the Earth And Gods execution casting all the wicked into utter darkness and misery needs no long time though it's continuance will be for ever Q. 12. May we know in this life what Iudgment Christ will then pass on us A. All Men or most Men do not know it Nor will it be known by a slight and sudden Thought nor by blinded or self-flattering Sinners nor by the worser sort of true Believers that sin as much as will stand with sincerity nor yet by such ignorant Christians who understand not well the terms of the Covenant of Grace or have true Grace and know it not to be true nor yet by such timerous Christians whose fear doth hinder Faith and Reason But there is no doubt but we may know and ought to use all diligence to know what Sentence Christ will pass upon us
the Soul continue not the next at the Resurrection would be another Soul and a new created one and not the same And then the Body would not be the same Souls Body nor the Man the same Man but another Who was ever so unwise to think that God had so much more Care of the Body than of the Soul as that he would let the Soul perish and raise the Body from the dust alone aâ—d join it with another Soul 4. Very Learned and wise Expositors think that the Greek word Anastasis used for Resurrection indeed signifieth the whole Life after this both of Soul first and Body also after oft in the New Testament It is a Living again or after this Life called A standing up again And there is great probability of of it in Christs Argument with the Sadduces and some passages of Pauls 1 Cor. 15. Q. 2. What Texts of Scripture do fully prove that the Soul liveth when it is separated from the Body A. Very many 1. God breathing into Man the breath of Life and making him a living Soul is said thereby to make him in the Image of God who is the Living God And so the Soul is essentially Life 2. God's calling himself the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob is by Christ Expounded as proving that he is the God of Living Abraham 3. None ever dreamt that Henoch and Elias had no company of humane Souls in Heaven For Mat. 17. Moses also appeared with them on the Mount and shewed that his Soul did live 4. When Saul himself would have Samuel raised to speak with him it plainly implieth that it was then the common belief of the Iews that separated Souls survive 5. When 1 King 17. 22. Elias raised the dead Child of the Widow of Sarepta and 2 King 4. Elisha raised the Shunamites Child and 2 King 13. 21. â— dead Man was raised all these proved that the Soâ—â— was the same that came again Else the Persons had not been the same 6. When Christ raised Lazarus and Iairus Daughter Mar. 5. 41. 42. Luke 8. 55. and another Luke 7. 12 14 15. The same Souls came into them 7. Many of the Dead rose and appeared at Christs Death And Peter raised one from Death which was by a reunion of the same living Soul to the same Body 8. Christ tells us Luke 12. 4. that Men cannot kill the Soul 9. He tells us Luke 16. 9. that as the wise Steward when he was put out was received by the Persons whom he had Obliged so if we make us Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness when these things fail us which is at Death we shall be received into the Everlasting Habitations 10. The Parable of the sensual Rich Man and Lazarus one going presently to Hell and the other to the Bosom of Abraham in Paradise fully prove that Christ would have this believed and would have all Men warned accordingly to prepare and that Moses and the Prophets were so sufficient for such notice as that one from the Dead would have been less credible herein Though it be a Parable it is an instructing and not a deceiving Parable and very plain in this particular The Name of Abraham's Bosom was according to the Common sence of the Iews who so called that State of the blessed not doubting but that Abraham was then in Happiness and the blessed with him 11. Herod's thought that Iohn had been risen from the Dead and the Iews conceit that Christ had been one of the Old Prophets risen and the Pharisees approbation of Christ's argument with the Sadduces do put it past doubt that it was then taken for certain Truth that the Souls of the Faithful do survive by all except such as the Heretical Sadduces 12. Christ saith Ioh. 17. 3. This is Life Eternal to know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent How is it Eternal if it have as long an interruption as from Death till the Day of Judgment 13. It is the Summ of God's Gospel that whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have Everlasting Life Joh. 3. 16. Therefore they perish not till the day of Judgment 14. Christ hath promised that whoever drinketh of the Water which he will give him the Spirit it shall be in him a Well of Water springing up to Everlasting Life Ioh. 4. 14. But if the Soul perish that Water perisheth to that Soul 15. To be born again of the Spirit fitteth a man to enter into the Kingdom of God But if the Soul perish all that New Birth is lost to that Soul and profiteth the Dust only 16. Joh. 3. 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life Joh. 5. 24. He is passed from death to life Ioh. 6. 27. He giveth meat which endureth to everlasting life V. 35. He shall never hunger or thirst that is be empty that cometh to Christ V. 39. Of all that cometh to him he will lose nothing Therefore will not lose all their Souls V. 40 47. They have everlasting life 54 56. He dweleth in Christ and Christ in him and therefore is not extinct 58. Ioh. 8. 51. Verily verily I say unto you If a man keep my sayings he shall never see death Joh. 10. 28. I give unto them eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand 17. Joh. 11. 26. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die 18. Joh. 14. 16. The Comforter shall abide with you for ever V. 17. For he dwelleth with you and shall be in you 19. Joh. 17. 24. I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory If the Soul perish it is not they that shall be with him but others 20. Luk. 23. 43. To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise 21. Luk. 23. 46. Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit 22. Joh. 12. 26. Where I am there shall my Servant be But Christ is not perished 23. Act. 7. 59. Stephen called on God saying Lord Iesus receive my Spirit Therefore it perished not 24. Rom. 8. 17. If children then heirs V. 23. We groan waiting for the Adoption V. 30. Whom he â—ustified them he glorified In short All the whole Gospel that promiseth Life to the Sanctified doth prove the Immortality of the Soul For if the Soul perish no man that lived on Earth is saved For if â—he Soul be not the Man it is most certainly the prime essential part of the man The dust of the Carkass is not the Man And if another Soul and not the same come into it it will be another man and so all the Promises fail 25. So all the Texts that speak of Resurrection â—udgment that we shall all be judged according to our Works and what we did in the body If it be â—nother Soul that must be judged which never was â—n that body before nor ever did any thing in that body how shall it
be judged for that which it never â—id All the Texts that threaten Hell or future Punishment and promise Heaven prove it Matth. 25. â— was hungry and ye fed me naked and ye cloathed â—ne c. Ye did it or did it not to me Might they not say We never did it nor ever lived till now Math. 13. The Angels shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them that work iniquity and cast them into the lake of fire 2 Thes. â— 6 7 8 9 10. 2. 12. and all the Scripture which threatneth Damnation to them that obey not the Truth and promiseth Salvation to the faithful which is never performed if all be done on another â—oul 26. And all the Texts that speak of Gods Justice â—nd Mercy hereafter Is it Justice to damn a new-made Soul that never sinned 27. Paul knew not whether he were in or out of the Body when he was in Paradise 2 Cor. 12. 2 3 4. The separated Soul then may be in Paradise 28. 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. How can the hope â—… unseen things make Affliction and Death easie â—… that Soul that shall never be saved And how â—… we be comforted or saved by such hope 29. 2 Cor. 5. 1. We know that if our earthly housâ— of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a buildinâ— of God V. 2. For in this we groan earnestly desirinâ— to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven V. 5. He that hath wrought us for the seâ—â— same thing is God who also hath given us the earneâ—â— of the Spirit V. 6. Therefore we are alwayes confident knowing that whilest we are at home in the bodâ—… we are absent from the Lord we are confident â—… willing rather to be absent from the Body and presâ—â— with the Lord. Wherefore we labour that whether prâ—sent or absent we way be accepted of him For â—… must all appear before the Iudgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body whether it be good or bad 30. Phil. 1. 21 22 23. To me to live is Christ and to die is gain What I shall choose I know not For I am in a strait between two having a desire â—â— depart and be with Christ which is far better 31. Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead that â—… in the Lord c. 32. Heb. 12. 22 23. We are come to mount Zioâ—… the City of the living God c. the spirits of the juâ—â— made perfect Abundance more might be added And I havâ— been so large on this because it is of most unspeakable importance as that which all our comfoâ—â— and our Religion lyeth on and though the Light of Nature have taught it Philosophers and almost all the World in all Ages yet the Devil is most busie to make Men doubt of it or deny it Religion lyeth on three grand Articles 1. To believe in God â— and this is so evident in the whole frame of Nature that there is a God that he is worse than mad that will deny it 2. To believe the Immortality of the Soul and the Life hereafter And 3. To believe in Christ And though it be this third that is known only by supernatural Revelation yet to him that believeth the Immortality of the Soul and the Life hereafter Christianity will appear so exceeding Congruous that it will much the more easily be believed And experience tells us that the Devils main Game for the Debauching and Damning of fleshly worldly ungodly Men and for troubling and discomforting Believers lieth in raising Doubts of the Souls Immortality and the future Life of Reward and Punishment Q. 3. But what good will a Resurrection of the Body do us if the Soul be in happiness before A. 1. It will be for Gods Glory to make and bless a perfect Man 2. It will be our Perfection A whole Man is more Perfect than a Soul alone 3. It will be the Souls delight As God that is perfectly blessed in himself yet made and maintaineth a World of which he is more than the Soul because he is a Communicative good and pregnant and delighteth to do good so the Soul is made like God in his Image and is communicative and would have a Body to act on As the Sun if there were nothing in the World but it self would be the same that it now is but nothing would receive its Motion Light or Heat or be the better for it And if you did imagine it to have understanding you must think that it would be much more pleased to enlighten and enliven so many Millions of Creatures and cause the flourishing of all the Earth than to shine to nothing So may you think of the Soul of Man It is by God inclined to actuate a Body Q. 4. If that be so it is till then imperfect and deprived of its desire and so in pain and punishment A. It is not in its full Perfection and it is a Degree of punishment to be in a state of Separation But you cannot call it a pain as to sense because it hath an unspeakable Glory though not the most perfect Nor hath the will of the Blessed any trouble and striving against the will of God but takes that for best which God willeth And so the separated state is best while God willeth it though the united State will be best as more perfect in its time Q. 5. But the dust in a Grave is so vile a thing that one would think the raising it should not be very desireable to the Soul A. It shall not be raised in the shape of ugly Dust or filth nor of corruptible Flesh and Blood But a Glorious and Spiritual Body and a meet Companion for a Glorified Soul And even now as vile as the Body is you feel that the Soul is loth to part with it Q. 6. But there are so many difficulties and improbabilities about the Resurrection as make the Belief of it very hard A. What is hard to God that made Heaven and Earth of nothing and maintains all things in their state and course What was that Body a while ago Was it not as unlikely as dust to be what it now is It 's folly to Object difficulties to Omnipotency Q. 7. But the Body is in continual Flux or Change we have not the same Flesh this Year that we had the last And a Man in a Consumption loseth before Death the Mass of Flesh in which he did good or evil shall all that rise again which every day vanisheth And shall the new Flesh be punished for that which it never did A. It 's a foolish thing from our Ignorance and uncertainties to dispute against God and certain Truth Will you know nothing unless you know all things Will you doubt of the plain Matter because in your darkness you understand not the manner or circumstances of it The Soul hath a Body consisting of various parts The fiery part in the Spirits
Objects enow on which to operate And is it not absurd to think that God will continue so noble a Nature in a state of idleness and continue all its essential Faculties in vain and never to be exercised As if he would continue the Sun without Light Heat or Motion What then is it a Sun for And why is it not annihilated The Soul cannot lose its Faculties of Vitality Intellection and Volition without losing its Essence and being turned into some other thing And why it cannot act out of a Body what Reason can be given If it could not yet that it taketh not hence with it a Body of those corporeal Spirits which it acted in or that it cannot as well have a Body of Light for its own Action as it can take a Body as Moses on the Mount to appear to Man is that which we have no reason to suspect 2. But Scripture puts all out of doubt by telling us that To die is gain and that it 's better to be with Christ and that Lazarus was comforted in Abraham's Bosom and the converted Thief was with Christ in Paradise and that the Souls under the Altar and in Heaven pray and praise God and that the Spirits of the Iust are there made perfect And this is not a state of sleep It is a World of Life and Light and Love that we are going to more active than this Earthy heavy World than Fire is more active than a Clod. And shall we suspect any sleepy unactivity there This is the dead and sleepy World And Heaven is the place of Life it self Q. 7. What is the Nature of that heavenly Everlasting Life A It is the perfect activity and perfect fruition of Divine communicated Glory by perfected Spirits and Spiritual Men in a perfect Glorious Society in a perfect Place or Region and this Everlasting Q. 8. Here are many things set together I pray you tell them me distinctly A. 1. Heaven is a perfect Glorious Place and Earth to it is a Dungeon The Sun which we see is a Glorious place in comparison of this 2. The whole Society of Angels and Saints will be Perfect and Glorious And our Joy and Glory will be as much in participation by Union and Communion with theirs as the Life and Health of the Eye or Hand is in and by union and communion with the Body we must not dream of any Glory to our selves but in a state of that union and communion with the Glorious Body of Christ. And Christ himself the Glorified Head is the chief part of this Society whose Glory we shall behold 3. Angels and Men are themselves there Perfect If our Being and Nature were not Perfect our Action and Fruition could not be Perfect 4. The Objects of all our Action are most Perfect It is the Blessed God and a Glorious Saviour and Society that we shall see and love and praise 5. All our Action will be pefect Our Sight and Knowledge our Love our Joy our Praise will be all perfect there 6. Our reception and fruition will all be perfect We shall be perfectly loved by God and one another and perfectly pleasing to him and each other and he will communicate to us and all the Society as much Glorious Life Light and Joyful Love as we are capable of receiving 7. And all this will be perfect in duration being Everlasting Q. 9. O what manner of Persons should we be if all this were well believed Is it possible that they should truly believe all this who do not earnestly desire and seek it and live in joyful longing hope to be put into possession of it A. Whoever truly believeth it will prefer it before all Earthly treasure and pleasure and make it the chief End and Motive and Comfort of his Soul and Life and forsake all that stands against it rather than forsake his hopes of this But while our Faith Hope and Love are all imperfect and we dwell in Flesh where present and sensible things are still diverting and affecting us and we are so used to Sight and Sense that we look strangely towards that which is above them and out of their reach it is no wonder if we have imperfect desires and joy abated by diversions and by griefs and fears and if in this darkness unseen things seem strange to us and if a Soul united to a Body be loth to leave it and be uncloathed and have somewhat dark Thoughts of that state without it which it never tryed Q. 10. But when we cannot conceive how Souls act out of the Body how can the Thought of it be pleasant and satisfying to us A. 1. We that can conceive what it is to Live and Understand and Will to Love and Rejoice in the Body may understand what these acts are in themselves whether out of a Body or in a more glorious Body And we can know that nothing doth nothing and therefore that the Soul that doth these acts is a Noble substance and we find that it is invisible But of this I spake in the beginning 2. When we know in general all before mentioned that we shall be in that described Blessedness with Christ and the Heavenly Society we must implicitly trust Christ with all the rest who knoweth for us what we know not and stay till possession give us that clear distinct conception of the manner and all the circumstances which they that possess it not can no more have than we can conceive of the sweetness of a Meat or Drink which we never tasted of And we should long the more for that Possession which will give us that sweet Experience Q. 11. Is not God the only Glory and Ioy of the Blessed Why then do you tell us so much of Angels and Saints and the City of God A. God is all in all things of him and through him and to him are all things and the Glory of all is to him for ever But God made not any single Creature to be happy in him alone as separate from the rest but an Universe which hath its Union and comunion I told you as the Eye and Hand have no separated Life or Pleasure but only in Communion with the whole Body so neither shall we in Heaven God is infinitely above us and if you think of him alone without mediate Objects for the ascent and access of your Thoughts you may as well think to climb up without a Ladder We are not the Noblest Creatures next to God nor yet the most Innocent We have no access to him but by a Mediator And that Mediator worketh and conveyeth his Grace to us by other subordinate means He is the Saviour of his Body which is the fulness of him that filleth all If we think not of the Heavenly Ierusalem the glorious City of God the Heavenly Society and Joyful Chore that praise Iehovah and the Lamb and live together in perfect Knowledge Love and Concord in whose Communion only we have all our
Atheism remaining and yet is not an Idolater or Atheist If a man could not be saved till he were perfectly healed of every degree of these hainous sins no man could be Saved But Gods Interest is predominant in holy Souls Q. 21. Doth not Paul say of all save Timothy That All seek their own and not the things that are Jesus Christ's A. He meaneth not that they predominantly do so except those among them who were hypocrites But that all did too much seck their own and too little the things that are Jesus Christ's and were â—ot so self-denying as Timothy who as it were naâ—urally Cared for the good of the Church As Deâ—as forsook Paul in his suffering and went after â—is own worldly business but yet did not forsake Christ and preferre the world before him for â—â—ght we find of him Q. 22. You make this first Commandement to be the summe of all A. It is the Summary of all and our Obedience to it is Virtually but not Actually our obedience to all the rest This is it which Christ calleth the first and greatest Command Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and Soul and might This is the Foundation of all the rest of the Commandements and the Root of all The rest are but branches from it When we are obliged to Love God and obey him we have a General obligation to keep all his Commandements But as this General Command doth not put the special particular Commands in existence so neither doth it oblige us to obey them till they exist And then as the Genus and Species constitute every defined being so the General and Special obligation concurre to make up every duty He that sincerely obeyeth this first command is a true Subject of God and in a state of Salvation and will sincerely obey all particular Commands in the main course of his life when they are revealed to him CHAP. XXXV Of the Second Commandement Qu. 1. WHat are the words of the second Commandement A. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image or any likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or that is in the Earth beneath or that is in the Water under the Earth Thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me and she wing Mercy to thousands of them that Love me and keep my Commandements Q. 2. How prove you against the Papists that this is not part of the first Commandement A. 1. By the matter which is different from it 2. And by the Scripture which saith There were Ten and without this there is but Nine 3. And by historical Tradition which we can prove that the Papists falsifie Q. 3. What is the true Meaning of the Second Commandement and wherein doth it differ from the â—â—rst A. The first Commandement bindeth us to give God his own or his due as God both in heart and life and to give it to no other The second commandeth men to keep so wide a difference between God and Heathen Idols as not to worship him as the Heathens do their Idols nor yet to seem by their bodily action to worship an Idol though they despise it in their Thoughts and pretend to keep their hearts to God Corporal and outward and seeming Idolatry is here forbidden For though a man renounce in Heart all other Gods yet if he be seen to bow down before an Image â— He seemeth to the beholder to mean as Idolaters do while he symbolizeth with them And as Lying and Perjury with the Tongue is sin though a mans inward thoughts do own the truth so bowing as Worshippers do before an Image is Bodily Idolatry though the mind renounce all Idols And God is the God of the Body as well as of the Soul And God would not have others encouraged to Idolatry by so scandalous an Example 2. And if it be the true God that such profess to worship it is interpretative Blasphemy As if they told men that God is like to that Creature whose Image they make So that â—â—andal and Bodily Idolatry and Blasphemy are the things directly forbidden in this Commandement as the real choosing and Worshipping a false God is in the first Q. 4. By this it seems that scandal is a hainouâ— sin A. Scandal is enticing tempting or encouraging others to sin by doing or saying that which is like to be abused by them to such an effect or laying a Stumbling-block in the way of blind or careless Souls If they will make our necessary duty the occasion of sin we may not therefore omit our duty if indeed it be an in indispensable duty at that time But if it be no duty yea or if it be only a duty in other Seasons and Circumstances it is a hainous sin to give such Scandal to another much more to Multitudes or publick Societies Q. 5. Wherein lyeth the evil of it A. 1. It is a countenancing and furthering sin 2. It is uncharitableness and cruelty to mens Souls 3. And therefore it is the Devils work Q. 6. But if our Rulers command us to do a thing indifferent which others will turn to an occasion of sin and damnation must we disobey our lawful Governours to prevent mens sin and fall A. If the thing in its own nature tended to so great and necessary good as would weigh down the contrary evil to the scandalized we must do our duty and labour to help them some other way But supposing it either Indifferent or of so small benefit as will not preponderate against the sin and â—anger of the scandalized we are Soul-murderers if we do not forbear it For 1. God hath given no Rulers power to Destruction of Souls but to Ediâ—â—cation no power to command us that which is â—o contrary to the indispensible duty of Love or Charity If an Apothecary or Physician or King command his Servant to sell Arsnick to all that will buy it without exception the servant may not lawfully sell it to such as he knoweth mean to Poyson themselves or others by it If the Commander be a sober man the servant ought to suppose that he intended such exceptions though he exprest them not But if he exprest the contrary he commanded contrary to Gods command without authority and is not to be obeyed 2. God himself dispenseth with his own Commands about Rituals or smaller matters when greater good or hurt stands on the other side The Disciples did justly pluck and rub the Ears of Corn and the Priests in the Temple break the rest of the Sabbath and an Ox or Ass was to be watered oâ— pull'd out of a pit on that day If the King oâ— Priest had made a Law to the contrary it had been null If Gods Laws bind not in such cases manâ— cannot God bids
just we must defend them by all lawful means that is by Prayer to God by Argument by Petition to the King and by helping their Flight or hiding them And if a King would ravish or murder your Mother or Wife you may hold his hands while they escape as you may do if he would kill himself in Drunkenness or Passion But you may not on such private accounts raise a War against him because War is a publick action and under the Judgment of the publick Governour of the Common-wealth and not under the Judgment of your Parents or any private person Q. 13. But if the King Command me one thing and my Parents another which of them must I prefer in my obedience A. Each of them have their proper Office in which they must be preferred and obeyed Your Mother must be obeyed before the King in telling you when to Suck or Eat Your Parents must be obeyed before the King in matters proper to Family-Government as what daily Food you shall eat and what daily work for them you shall do and what Wife to choose c. But the King is to be obeyed before your Parents in all matters belonging to National Government Q. 14. But what if it be about Religious acts as what Pastor I shall choose What Church I shall joyn with how I shall spend the Lords day c. Must I prefer the King or my Parents in my Obedience A. While you are in your Minority and understand not the Kings Laws you must obey your Parents and if they command you any thing contrary to the Kings Commands they must be answerable for it as the Case shall prove some Commands about your Religion belong to your Parents and some to the King and they are accordingly to be obeyed It is not the Kings Office but your Parents to Catechize you to teach you to Read and Pray to choose your School-master or Tutor In these therefore your Parents are first to be obeyed And it is your Parents office to choose where you shall dwell and consequently to what Pastor you shall commit the conduct of your Soul And also how in the Family and in Private you shall spend the Lords day But the determination of all those publick Circumstances which are needful to be imposed on all Christians in the Land belongs not to your Parents but to the Supream Power Q. 15. But what if the King and the Bishops or Pastors differ about matters of Religion to be believed or done which of them must I obey A. If it be in things belonging to the Kings determination as what Translation shall be used in all the Churches when Synods shall meet who shall have the Tythes Glebe and Temples what National Fasts or Thanksgivings shall be kept and such like you must obey the King But if it be in things proper to the Pastoral Office as who shall be judged Capable of Raptisme or of the Lords Supper and Church-Communion Who shall be admonished â—xcommunicated or absolved by the Pastors what â—ext the Minister shall Preach on and on what â—ubject in what Method and in what Words what â—e shall say to troubled Consciences or to the sick â—r to others what words he shall use in Exhorâ—ation Prayer or Thanksgiving all these being part â—f the Pastors work you are to obey him in them all â—ut neither Prince nor Pastor have power against God Q. 16. But what if the Bishops or Pastors be diâ—â—ded which of them must we obey A. 1. Those that obey Gods Laws 2. Those â—hat impose the safest course where the matter on â—ne side is no sin when on the other we fear it is â— All other things being equal those that are most â—â—animous and concordant with the universality of Christians and the Primitive Church And our own Pastors rather than others And the Godly and â—minently wise before the ignorant and ungodâ—â— Q. 17. But what if the Bishop or Pastor who is â—â—er us differ from most in the Nation And if the National Bishops and Ministry differ from most other â—rreign Churches as England from France Spain â—â—aly Germany Moscovy the Greeks Armenians â—â—assines A. The things in which the difference is supposed must not be thus confounded either they are necessary points of Faith or Practice to all Christians in order to Salvation 2. Or else they are controverted Opinions not so necessary 3. Or else they are matters of local occasional mutable practice 1. As to the first All true Christians are agreed in all things necessary to our Common Salvation â—… any oppose these and draw men from the Church on that account he is a Heretick In this case Godâ— Law must be known to us all to which we must stick whoever gainsay it 2. In the second case of disputable less necessary Opinions we must suspend our judgements tiâ—… evidence determine them But judge them most probably to be in the right who are in those matter discerned commonly to have greatest skill and sincerity But the Ignorant cannot subscribe to any oâ— them in the dark 3. In the third case as what Time and Placâ—… we shall meet at what Subject we shall hear whaâ—… Catechism-questions we shall answer when we shaâ—… Communicate and with what individual Persons iâ—… what words the Assembly shall pray and praise Godâ—… c. we are to obey our own Pastors and noâ—… Strangers As every Wife is to be governed by heâ—… own Husband and every Child by his own Parentâ—… and every Servant by his own Master I scarce thinâ—… our Papists Monarchical or Aristocratical woulâ—… have an universal Husband Parent or Master or â—… Council of Husbands Parents or Masters of all thâ—… World or all the Kingdom set up for such acts â—… these Q. 18. But is there no Command to Parents Prinâ—… and Pastors for their duty as well as to Chilâ—…n and Subjects for theirs A. The Commandements written on stone were â—…cessarily brief and the duty of Rulers is here imâ—…yed and included Q. 19. What is the duty of Parents for their â—…ldren A. 1. To take due care of their Lives Health and â—…cessary Maintenance 2. To teach them when â—…ey are capable to know God and his Word his Doâ—…ine Laws Promises and Penalties to know â—…emselves their Souls their Relation to God their â—…ty to him their Original pravity and guilt and â—…nger To know Jesus Christ his Person Life â—…octrine Death Resurrection Ascension Glory â—…ngdom Intercession and Judgment To know â—…e Holy Ghost as sent by Christ to indite and â—…l the Scripture qualifie the Apostles and Evanâ—…lists to deliver infallibly Christs Commands and â—…ord them to all after Ages and accordingly setâ—… the Churches to confirm their Ministry by Miâ—…les and to sanctifie all true Christians to the end â—… the world To know the use of the ordinary â—…nistry and of the Communion of Saints To know â—… Covenant of Grace and the Grace of Pardon â—…option and Sanctification which we
every sickness to the body is an enemy to life though it destroy it not And as wounding a man yea or injurious hurting him or desiring his hurt is some breach of this Command as Christ tells us Math. 5. so every sin is as hurtful to the Soul But those are the mortal murdering sins which are inconsistent with the Predominant habitual Love of God and Holiness and are not only from the Imperfection of this Divine Nature and Image but from the absence of it such as are the sins of the unbelievers and impenitent Q. 16. But he shall not be hang'd for killing another that doth it against his Will And no man is willing to damn himself A. But a man will himself be a dead man if he kill himself unwillingly And all wicked men do willingly murder their own Souls They be not willing to burn in Hell but they are willingly ungodly Worldly Sensual And unholiness is the death or misery of the Soul and the departing of the Heart or Love from God and choosing the world and fleshly pleasure before his Grace and Glory is the true Soul-murdering When God maketh Poyson destructive to mans Nature and forbids us taking it and tells a man that it will kill him if this man will yet take the Poyson because it is sweet or will not believe that it is deadly it is not his being unwilling to die that will save him When God hath told men that unholiness and a fleshly Mind is death he destroyeth his Soul that yet will choose it And it is a hainous aggravation that Poor sinners have so little for the Salvation which they sell. The Devil can give them nothing that is to be put into the ballance against the least hope or possibility of the Life to come And for a man to sell his own Soul and all his hopes of Heaven for a base lust or a transitory shadow as profane Esau sold his birthright for a Morsel is Self-murder of a most odious kind Q. 17. But you make also our Friends that Love us to be murderers of us if they draw us to sin or neglect their duty A. As the Love of his own flesh doth not hinder but further the Drunkards Fornicators and idle persons murder of his own Soul so your Friends carnal love to you may be so far from hindering that it may further your destruction They that draw each other to Fornication to Gaming to time-wasting Playes to Gluttony and Drunkenness may do it in Love If they give you poyson in Love it will kill you And if Parents that are bound to feed their Children do famisn them do you think they do not murder them by omission So may they and so may Ministers murder the Souls that they are by Nature or Office entrusted to instruct and diligently govern Q. 18. Are there any other wayes of Murther A. So many that it is hard to number them As by rash Anger Hatred Malice by Drunkenness disposing to it By Magistrates not punishing murderers By not defending the Lives of others when we ought and abundance more which you may read in Bishop Downames Tables on the Commandements Q. 19. Must I defend my Parents or Children against the Magistrate or any one that would kill them by his Commission A. Not against Justice no doubt what you must do against Subjects who pretend an illegal Commission to rob or kill your self Parents or Children or destroy Cities and Countreys is partly toucht on under the fifth Commandement and partly matter unmeet for a Catechisme or private unlearned mens unnecessary discourse Q. 20. Are there more waies of self murder A. Among others excess of Meat and Idleness destroy mens health and murder millions CHAP. XL. Of the Seventh Commandement Qu. 1. WHat are the Words of the Seventh Commandement A. Thou shalt not Commit Adultery Q. 2. What is the sin here forbidden A. All unlawful carnal Copulation and every evil inclination or action or omssion which tendeth thereunto or partaketh of any degree of unchastity or Pollution Q. 3. Is all lust or inclination to Generation a Sin A. No For 1. Some is natural to man and that not as corrupt But as God said Increase and Multiply before the Fall so no doubt he inclined Nature thereto 2. And the regular propagation of Mankind is one of the noblest natural works that man is instrumental in A Man being a more excellent thing than a house or any Work of art 3. And God hath put some such inclination into Nature in great Wisdom and Mercy to the world For if Nature had not some considerable appetite to Generation and also strong desire of Posterity Men would hardly be drawn to be at so much care cost and labour to propagate Mankind but specially Women would not so commonly submit to all their sickness pain danger and after-trouble which now they undergo But if a few self-denying persons did propagate Mankind only as an act of obedience to God the multitude of the ungodly would not do it Q. 4. If it be so why is any carnal acts of Generation forbidden specially when it is an act of Love and doth no body any harm A. God hath in great Wisdom and Mercy to man made his Laws for restraining men from inordinate Lust and Copulation 1. The noblest things are basest when Corrupted Devils are worse than men because they were higher and better before A wicked man is incomparably worse and more miserable than a Beast or a Toad because he is a nobler nature depraved And so humane Generation is worse than that of Swine or Dogs when it is vicious 2. Promiscuous unregulated Generation tends to the utter ruin and vitiating of Mankind by the overthrow of the just Education of Children on which the welfare of Mankind doth eminently depend Alas all care and order is little enough and too little to keep corrupted Nature from utter Beastiality and malignity much more to make Youth wise and virtuous without which it had been better never to have been born When Fathers know their own Children and when Mothers have the love and encouragement and Houshold-advantage of order which is necessary some good may be done But lawless exercise of Lust will frustrate all 1. Women themselves will be Slaves or their advantage mutable and uncertain For such Lust will serve its turn of them but for Novelty and will be still for change And when a younger or a fairer comes the Mother is cast off and hated And then the next will hate her Children or at least not love them as necessary Education doth require And when the Father hath forsaken the Mother it 's like he will forsake the Children with her And when Womens lusts are lawless as well as Mens men being uncertain what Children are their own will be regardless both of their Souls and Bodies So that Confusion would destroy Religion and Civility and make the World worse than most of the American
I. I am under no Obligation to inform a Robber or an usurping Persecutor as such But to others I may be obliged to open the Truth II. I may deceive a Patient or Child to profit him when I may not do it to hurt him III. I may deceive such as I am not bound to inform by my silence or my looks or gestures which I suppose he will misunderstand when I may not deceive him by a Lie Q. 10. Is it not all one to deceive one way or another A. No 1. I am not bound to open my Mind to all men What right hath a Thief to know my Goods or Heart or a Persecutor to know where I hide my self 2. But I have before largely shewed you that Lying is so great an evil against common Trust and Society in the World as is not to be used for personal Commodity or Safety 3. And other Signs Looks and gestures being not appointed for the natural and common Indications of the Mind are more left to humane Liberty and Prudence to use for Lawful ends As Christ Luk. 24. made by his motion as if he would have gone further And even by words about Caesars Tribute and other Cases concealed his Mind and oft denyed the Pharisees a resolution of Questions which they put to him Stratagems in a Lawful War are lawful when by actual shews and seemings an Enemy is deceived Q. 11. But the Scriptures mention many Instances of Equivocation and flat Lying in the Egyptian Midwives in Rahab in David and many others without blame and some of them with great commendation and reward Heb. 11 A. 1. It is Gods Law that tells us what 's Sin and Duty when the History oft tells us but what was done and not how far it was well or ill done 2. It is not the Lie that is commended in the Midwives and Rahab but their Faith and Charity 3. That which God pardoneth as he did Polygamy and rash Divorce to Godly men that are upright in the main and specially such as knew it not to be sin is not thereby justified nor will it be so easily pardoned to us who live in the clearer Gospel light Q. 12. But when the Scripture saith that All men are Lyars and sad Experience seemeth to confirm it what credit do we owe to Men and what certainty is there of any History A. History by Writing or Verbal Tradition is of so great use to the World that Satan maketh it a chief part of his work as he is the Deceiver and Enemy of Mankind to corrupt it And false History is a most hainous sin and dangerous Sâ—are by which the great Deceiver keeps up his Kingdom in the World Heathenism Mahometanism Popery Heresie and Malignity and Persecution are all maintained by false Tradition and History Therefore we must not be too hasty or confident in Believing Man And yet denying just Belief will be our sin and great loss Q. 13. How then shall we know what and whom to believe A. 1. We must believe no men that speak against God or his Word For we are sure that God cannot lie And the Scripture is his infallibly Sealed Word 2. We must believe none that speak against the Light of Nature and common Notices of all Mankind for that were to renounce Humanity And the Law of Nature is Gods first Law But it is not the Sentiments of Nature as depraved which is this Law 3. We must believe no men against the common Senses of Mankind exercised on their duely qualified Objects Faith contradicteth not common Sense though it goe above it We are Men before we are Christians and Sense and Reason are presupposed to Faith The Doctrine which saith There is no Bread nor Wine after Consecration in the Sacrament doth give the lie to the Eyes Taste and Feeling and intellectual Perception of all sound men and therefore not to be believed For if Sense be not to be trusted we know not that there is a Church or a Man or a Bible or any thing in the World and so nothing can be believed Whether all sound Senses may be deceived or not God hath given us no surer way of certainty 4. Nothing is to be believed against the certain Interest of all Mankind and tending to their destruction That which would damn Souls or deny their Immortality and future Hope or ruine the Christian World or Nations is not to be believed to be duty or lawfull For Truth is for Good and Faith is for Felicity and no man is bound to such destructive things 5. Nothing is to be believed as absolutely certain which depends on the meer honesty of the Speakers For all men are liable to mistake or lie 6. The more Ignorant malicious unconscionable factious siding any man is the less credible he is And the wiser and nearer to the action any man is and the more conscionable peaceable and impartial he is the more credible he is An Enemy speaking well of a man is so far more credible than a Friend Multitudes as capable and honest are more credible than one 7. As that Certainty which is called Morall as depending on mens Free-will is never absolute but hath many degrees as the witness is more or less credible so there is a Certainty by mens Report Tradition or History which is Physical and wholly infallible As that there is such a place as Rome Paris c. and that the Statutes of the Land were made by such Kings and Parliaments to whom they are ascribed and that there have been such Kings c. For proof of which know 1. That besides the free acts the Will hath some acts as necessary as it is to the Fire to burn viz. To Love our selves and Felicity and more such 2. That when all men of contrary Interest Friends and Foes agree in a matter that hath sensible Evidence it is the Effect of such a Necessitating Cause 3. And there is no Cause in Nature that can make them so agree in a lie Therefore it is a Natural Certainty Look back â—o the sixth Chapter Q. 13. Why is false Witness in Iudgement so great a sin A. Because it containeth in it all these odious Crimes conjunct 1. A deliberate lie 2. The wrongfull hurting of another contrary to the two great Principles of Converse Justice and Love â— It depriveth the World of the benefit of Government and Judicatures 4. It turneth them into the â—â—ague and ruine of the innocent 5. It blaspheâ—eth or dishonoureth God by whose Authority Rulers judge as if he set up Officers to destroy us by false Witness or knew it not or would not reâ—enge Injustice 6. It overthroweth humane Conâ—erse and Safety when Witnesses may destroy whom they please if they can but craftily agree Q. 14. Is there no way to prevent this danger to Mankind A. God can do it If he give wise and righteous Rulers to the World they may do much towards â—t But wicked Rulers use false Witness as
the Devil doth for to destroy the Just. As Iezebel did Q. 15. How should good Rulers avoid it A. 1. By causing Teachers to open the danger of â—t to the People 2. Some old Canons made invaâ—id the Witness of all notorious wicked men How can he be trusted in an Oath that maketh no Conscience of Drunkenness Fornication Lying or other Sin Q. 16. How then are so few destroyed by false Witnesses A. It is the wonderful Providence of God declaring himself the Governour of the World that when there are so many thousand wicked men who all have a mortal hatred to the Godly and will daily Swear and Lie for nothing and any two of these might take away our Lives at pleasure there are yet so few this way cut off But God hath not left himself without witness in the World and hath revenged false Witness on many and made Conscience a terrible Accuser for this Crime Q. 17. What is the positive Duty of the ninth Commandement A. 1. To do Justice to all men in our places 2. To defend the Innocent to the utmost of ouâ— just Power If a Lawyer will not do it for the Love of Justice and Man without a Fee when he cannoâ— have it he breaketh this Commandement 3. To reprove Backbiters and tell them of their Sin 4. To give no Scandal but to live so blamelesly that Slanderers may not be believed 5. On all just occasions especially to defend the Reputation of the Gospel Godliness and Good men the Cause and Laws of God and not silently foâ— self saving to let Satan and his Agents make them Odious by Lies to the Seduction of the Peopleâ— Souls CHAP. XLIII Of the Tenth Commandement Qu. 1. WHat are the Words of the Tenth Commandement A. Thou shalt not Covet thy Neighbours House Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife nor his Man-Servant nor his Maid-Servant nor his â—x nor his Ass nor any thing that is thy Neighbours Q. 2. What is forbidden here and what Commandâ—d A. 1. In summe the thing forbidden is SELFISHNESS and the thing Commanded is to LOVE OUR NEIGHBOUR AS OUR SELVES Q. 3. Is not this implyed in the five foregoing Commandements A. Yes and so is our LOVE to GOD in all the Nine last But because there are many more particular Instances of Sin and Duty than can be distinctly named and remembred God thought it meet to make two General Fundamental Commandements which should contain them all which Christ calleth the first and second Commandement Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart c. And thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy Self The first is the Summary and root of all the duties of the other nine and specially of the second third and fourth The Other is the Summary of the second Table dutyes And it is placed last as being instead of all unnamed instances As the Captain leads the Souldiers and thâ— Lieutenant brings up the rear Q. 4. What mean you by the Sin of SELFISHNESS A. I mean that inordinate self-esteem self-love and self-seeking with the want of a due proportionable Love to others which engageth men against the good oâ— others and inclineth them to draw from others to themselves It is not an ordinate Love of our selves but a diseased self-love Q. 5. When is Self-Love Ordinate and when iâ— it Sinful A. That which is ordinate 1. Valueth not a maâ—â— Self blindly above his Worth 2. It employeth â— man in a due care of his own Holiness Duty anâ— Salvation 3. It regardeth our Selves but as littlâ— members of the common great body and therefore inclineth us to Love others as our selves without muâ—â— partial disproportion according to the divers degreeâ— of their amiableness and to Love publick good thâ— Church and World and much more God above oâ—… selves 4. It maketh us studious to do good to others and rejoyce in it as our own rather than to draw froâ— them to our selves c II. Sinful selfishness 1. Doth esteem and love anâ— seek self-interest above it's proper worth It is oveâ— deeply affected with all our own concerns 2. â—… hath a low disproportionable Love and regard others good 3. And when it groweth to full maâ—â—gnity it maketh men envy the prosperity of others â—nd covet that which is theirs and desire and reâ—oyce in their disgrace and hurt when they Stand against mens Selfish Wills and to endeavour to draw from others to our selves Selfishness is to the Soul like an Inflamation or Impostume to the Body which draweth the Blood and Spirits to it self from their â—â—ue and Common course till they corrupt the inâ—â—amed part Q. 6. What mean you by Loving others as ourselves A. Loving them as members of the same Body or Society the World or the Church as they are â—mpartially with a Love proportionable to their worth and such a careful practical forgiving Patient Love as we Love our selves Q. 7. But God hath made us Individual persons with so peculiar a Self-love that no man can possibly love another as himself A. 1. You must distinguish between sensitive Natural Love and Rational Love 2. And between Corrupt and Sanctified Nature 1. Natural Sensitive Love is stronger to ones Self that is more sensible of self-interest than to all the World I feel not anothers Pain or Pleasure in it self I hunger and thirst for my self A Mother hath that Natural Sensitive Love to her own Child like that of Bruits which she hath not for any other 2. Rational Love valueth and loveth and preferreth every thing according to the degree of its amiableness that is it 's Goodness 3. Rational Love destroyeth not Sensitive but it Moderateth and Ruleth it and Commandeth the Will and Practice to preferre and desire and seek and delight in higher things as Reason ruleth Appetite and the Rider the Horse and to deny and forsake all carnal or private Interests that stand against a greater good 4. Common Reason tells a man that it 's an unreasonable thing in him that would not dye to save a Kingdom Much more that when he is to love both himself and the Kingdom inseparably yet cannot Love a Kingdom yea or more excellent persons above himself But yet it is Sanctification that must Effectually overcome inordinate self-Love and clearly illuminate this Reason and make a man obey it 5. To conquer this Selfishness is the summe of all Mortification and the greatest Victory in this World And therefore it is here perfectly done by none but it 's done most where there is the greatest Love to God and to the Church and publick good and to our Neighbours Q. 8. What is the sinfulness and the hurt of Selfishness A. 1. It is a Fundamental Errour and Blindness in the Judgment We are so many Poor Worms and little things And if an Ant or Worm had Reason should it think it's Life or Ease or other interest more valuable than a Mans or than all the
Joy to long to depart and be with Christ then we are prepared not only for a safe but a joyful Death Q. 3. O! But this is a great and difficult work A. It is not too hard for the Sâ—… of Christâ— and a Soul renewed by it It is our great follâ—… and naughtiness that maketh it hard Why eâ—… should it be hard for a man that loveth himself and knoweth how quickly a Grave and rotting in the Dark must end all his pleasures in this World to be earnestly desirous of a better after it And why should it be hard for one that believeth that mans Soul is immortal and that God hath sent one from Heaven who is greater than Angels to purchase it for us and promise it to us and give us the first fruits by his Holy Spirit to rejoyce that he dyeth not as an unpardoned Sinner nor as a Beast but shall live in perfect Life and Light and Love and Joy and Praise for ever What should rejoyce a believing considering man like this Q. 4. O! But we are still apt to doubt of things unseen A. 1. You can believe Men for things unseen and be certain by it for instance that there is such a place as Rome Paris Venice that there have been such Kings of England as Hen. 8. King Iames c. You know not but by believing others whether ever you were Baptized nor who was your Father or Mother 2. You see not your own Soul nor any ones that you talk with and yet you feel and see such things as may assure any Sober man that he hath a Soul God is not seen by us yet nothing is more certain than that there is a God 3. We see Plants Flowers Fruits and all vital Acts produced by an unseen Power we see â—ast lucid glorious Regions above us and we see and feel the effects of invisible powers therefore to doubt of things because they are unseen is to doubt of all the vital noblest part of the World and to believe nothing but gross and lowest things and to lay by Reason and become Bruits But of this I have said more near the Beginning Q. 5. What should we do to get the Soul so familiar above as to desire to be with Christ A. I. We must not live in a foolish forgetfulness of Death nor flatter our Souls into delayes and dulness by the expectations of long life on Earth the grave must be studied till we have groundedly got above the fears of it II. We must not rest quiet in such a humane belief of the Gospel and the Life to come as hath no better grounds than the common opinion of the Countrey where we live as the Turks believe Mahomet and his Alcoran for this leaveth the Soul in such doubts and uncertainty as cannot reach to solid Joy nor Victory over the World and Flesh But the true Evidences of the Gospel and our Hopes must be well digested which I have opened to you in the beginning of which I give you a breviate in two Sentences 1. The History of the Gospel of Christs Life Miracles Death Resurrection Ascension sending down the Spirit the Apostles Miracles and Preaching and Writing and Sufferings is a true History Else there is none sure in the World for none of such Antiquity hath greater Evidence 2. And if the History aforesaid be true the Doctrine must needs be true for it is part of the History and owned and sealed certainly by God III. We must not be content to be once satisfied of the Truth of the Life to come but we must mentally live upon it and for it and know how great business our Souls have every day with our Glorified Lord and the Glorified Society of Angels and the perfected Spirits of the just and with the blessed God of Love and Glory We must daily fetch thence the motives of our desires hopes and dutyes the incentives of our Love and Joy The Confutation of all Temptations from the Flesh and World and our supporting patience in all our Sufferings and Fears Read oft Ioh. 17. 22 23 24. 20. 17. Heb. 12. 22 23 24. Mat. 6. 19 20 21 33. Col. 3. 4 5. 2 Thes. 1. 10 11. Heb. 11. 2 Cor. 4. 16 17. 5. 1 2 3 5 7 8. Phil. 1. 21 23. 3. 18 19 20 They that thus live by Faith on God and Glory will be prepared for a joyful death IV. We must take heed that no worldly Hope or Pleasure vitiate our Affections and turn them down from their true delight V. We must live wholly upon Christ his Merit Sufficiency Love and Mediation His Cross and his Kingdom must be the summe of our Learning Study and Content VI. We must take heed of grieving the Spirit of Consolation and wounding our Consciences by wilful Sin of Omission or Commission VII We must Faithfully improve all our Time and Talents to do God all the Service and others all the good that we can in the World that we may be ready to give an account of our Stewardship VIII We must be armed against Temptations to unbelief and despair IX We must while we are in the Body in our daily thoughts fetch as much help from sensible Similitudes as we can to have a suitable Imagination of the Heavenly Glory And one of the most Familiar is that which Christ calleth the Coming of the Kingdom of God which was his Transfiguration with Moses and Elias in Glorious appearance in the Holy Mount Mat. 17. 1. Which made Peter say It 's good to be here Christ purposely so appeared to them to give them a sensible apprehension of the Glory which he hath promised And Moses that was buried appeared there in a Glorified Body And we must not think only of God but of the Heavenly Society and even our old Acquaintance that our Minds may find the more Suitableness and Familiarity in their objects and Contemplations X. We must do our best to keep up that Natural Vivacity and Chearfulness which may be Sanctified for Spiritual Employment for when the Body is diseased with Melancholy Heaviness or Pains and the Mind diseased with Griefs Cares and Fears it will be hard to think joyfully of God or Heaven or any thing XI We must exercise our selves in those dutyes which are nearest kin to the work in Heaven Specially labouring to excite Hope Love and Joy by Faith and Praising God especially in Psalms in our Families and the sacrâ—d Assemblies and using the most Heavenly Books and Company XII We must not look when all is done to have very clear Conceptions of the quality and acts of separated Souls or the World of Spirits But must be satisfied with an implicite Trust in our Father and our Glorified Lord in the things which are yet above our reach And giving up Soul and Body to him we should joyfully trust them with him as his own And believe that while we know as much as may bring us well
to know natural good from evil and an Appetite to desire it accordingly But because Natural Good and Evil are to be estimated as they tend to Spiritual and everlasting Good or Evil God giveth us Reason and Faith to Order our desires accordingly And because our Knowledge of this is imperfect when and how far Natural Good or Evil conduceth to Spiritual and Eternal it is still supposed that we make not our selves but God the Judge and so desire Life Health and Food and Natural Supplies with submission to his Will for time and measure they being but means to higher things Q. 4. Why ask we for no more than Bread A. To shew that Corporal things are not our Treasure nor to be desired for any thing but their proper use and to renounce all covetous desires of Superfluity or provision for our inordinate fleshly Lusts. Q. 5. Some say that by Bread is meant Jesus Christ because there is no Petition that mentioneth him A. Every part of the Lord's Prayer includeth Christ It is by him that God is our Father by him that the Holy Name of God is hallowed It is his Kingdom that we pray may come it is his Law or will which we pray may be done It is he that purchaseth our right to the Creature and redeemed Nature It is by him that we must have the forgiveness of Sin and by his Grace that we are delivered from temptations and all Evil c. Q. 6. Why ask we Bread of God as the Giver A. To signifie that we are and have nothing but by his gift and must live in continual dependance on his Will and begging receiving and thanksgiving are our work Q. 7. But do we not get it by our Labour and the gift of Men A. Our Labours are vain without God's Blessing and Men are but God's Messengers to carry us his gifts Q. 8. What need we Labour if God give us all A. God giveth his Blessings to meet Receivers and in the use of his appointed Means He that will not both beg and labour as God requireth him is unmeet to receive his gifts Q. 9. Why do we ask Bread from Day to Day A. To shew that we are not the keepers of our selves or our stock of Provisions but as Children live upon our Fathers daily allowance and continually look to him for all and daily renew our thanks for all and study the daily improvement of his maintenance in our Duties Q. 10. But when a Man hath Riches for many Years what need he ask daily for what he hath A. He hath no assurance of his Life or Wealth an Hour nor of the Blessing of it but by God's gift h Q. 11. Why say we Give us rather than Give me A. To exercise our common Love to one another and renounce that narrow selfishness which consineth Mens regard and desires to themselves And to shew that we come not to God meerly in a single Capacity but as Members of the World as Men and Members of Christ's Body or Church as Christians And that in the Communion Saints as we shew our Charity to one another so we have a part in the Prayers of all Q. 12. May we then pray against Poverty and Sickness and hurt A. Yes as aforesaid so far as they are hurtful to our Natures and thereby to our Souls and the ends of Life Q. 13. Doth not naming Bread before Forgiveness and Grace shew that we must first and most desire it A. We before exprest our highest desire of God's Glory Kingdom and Will and as to our own Interest all the three last Petitions go together and are inseparable but the first is the lowest though it be first in place Nature sustained is the first but it will be but the subject of sin and misery without Pardon and Holiness I told you that the three last Petitions go according to the Order of Execution from the lowest to the highest step God's Kingdom and Righteousness must be first sought in order of Estimation and Intention by all that will attain them Q. 14. But if God give us more than Bread even Plenty for our delight as well as necessaries may we not use it accordingly A. Things are necessary to our well being that are not necessary to our Being We may ask and thankfully use all that by strengthening and comforting Nature tendeth to fit the Spirit for the joyful Service of God and to be helpful to others But we must neither ask nor use any thing for the service of our Lusts or tempting unprofitable pleasure Q. 15. What if God deny us necessaries and a Christian should be put to beg or be famished how then doth God make good his Word that he will give us whatever we ask through Christ and that other things shall be added if we seek first his Kingdom and Righteousness and that Godliness hath the promise of this Life and that to come A. Remember as aforesaid 1. That the things of this Life are promised and given not as our happiness but as Means to better 2. And that we are promised no more than we are fit to receive and use 3. And that God is the highest Judge both how far outward things would help or hinder us and how far we are fit to receive them Therefore if he deny them he certainly knoweth that either we are unmeet for them or they for us Q. 16. When should a Man say He hath enough A. When having God's Grace and favour he hath so much of Corporal things as will best further his Holiness and Salvation and as it pleaseth the Will of God that he should have Q. 17. May not a Man desire God to bless his labours and to be rich A. A Man is bound to labour in a lawful Calling that is able and to desire and beg God's Blessing on it But he must not desire Riches or Plenty for it self or for fleshly Lusts nor be over importunate with God to make him his Steward for others Q. 18. What if God give us Riches or more than we need our selves A. We must believe that he maketh us his Stewards to do all the good with it that we can to all but specially to the Houshold of Faith But to spend no more in sinful Lust and Pleasure than if we were Poor Q. 19. What doth daily Bread oblige us to A. Daily Service and daily Love and thankfulness to God and to mind the end for which it 's given to be alwayes ready at the end of a Day to give up our account and end our journey Q. 20. What is the sin and danger of the love of Riches A. The Love of Money or Riches is but the fruit of the Love of the Flesh whose Lust would never want Provision But it is the Root of a Thousand farther Evils As it shews a wretched Soul that doth not truly believe and trust God for this Life much less for a better but
is Worldly and Sensual and Idolatrous so it leadeth a Man from God Holiness Heaven yea and from common honesty to all Iniquity A Worldling and lover of Riches is false to his own Soul to God and Man and never to be much trusted CHAP. XXIX And forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us Or as we forgive our Debtors Qu. 1. WHy is this made the fifth Petition or the second of the second part A. Because it is for the second thing we Personally need Our Lives and Natural being supposed we next need Deliverance from the Guilt and Punishment which we have contracted Else to be Men will be worse to us than to be Toads or Serpents Q. 2. What doth this Petition imply A. 1. That we are all Sinners and have deserved punishment and are already fallen under some degree of it 2. That God hath given us a Saviour who died for our Sins and is our Ransom and Advocate with the Father And 3. That God is a gracious pardoning God and dealeth not with us on the terms of rigorous Justice according to the Law of Innocency But hath brought us under the Redeemers Covenant of Grace which giveth Pardon to all penitent Believers So that sin is both pardonable and conditionally pardoned to us all Q. 3. What then are the presupposed things which we pray not for A. 1. We pray not that God may be Good and Love it self or a merciful God for this is presupposed 2. We pray not that he would send a Saviour into the World to fulfill all Righteousness and die for Sin and that his Merit and Sacrifice may procure a Conditional Universal Pardon and Gift of Life viz. to all that will repent and believe For all this is done already Q. 4. Is it to the Father only or also to the Son thaâ— we pray for Pardon A. To the Father primarily and to the Son as Glorified for now the Father without him judgeth no Man but hath committed all Judgment to the Son Ioh. 5. 22. But when Christ made this Prayer he was not yet Glorified nor in full possession of his Power e Q. 5. What Sin is it whose forgiveness we pray for A. All sin upon the Conditions of pardon made by Christ that is for the pardon of all Sin to true penitent Believers Therefore we pray not for any pardon of the final non-performance of the condition that is to finally impenitent Unbelievers Q. 6. Sin cannot hurt God what need then is there of forgiveness A. It can wrong him by breaking his Laws and rejecting his moral government though it hurt him not And he will right himself Q. 6. What is forgiving Sin A. It is by tender Mercy on the account of Christ's Merits Satisfaction and Intercession to forgive the guilt of Sin as it maketh us the due subjects of punishment and to forgive the punishment of sin as due by that guilt and the Law of God so as not to inflict it on us Q. 7. What punishment doth God forgive A. Not all For the first Sentence of Corporal punishment and death is inflicted But he forgiveth the Everlasting punishment to all true Believers and so much of the temporal both Corporal and Spiritual as his Grace doth fit us to receive the pardon of and so he turneth Temporal correcting punishments to our good Q. 8. Doth he not pardon all Sin at once at our Conversion A. Yes All that is past for no other is sin But not by a perfect Pardon Q. 9. Why must we pray for Pardon then every day A. 1. Because the Pardon of old Sins is but begun and not fully perfect till all the punishment be ceased And that is not till all sin and unholiness and all the evil effects of sin be ceased No nor till the Day of Resurrection and Judgment have overcome the last Enemy Death and finally Justified us 2. Because we daily renew our sins by omission and commission and though the foundation of our Pardon be laid in our Regeneration that it may be actual and full for following sins we must have renewed Repentance Faith and Prayer Q. 10. God is not changeable to forgive to day what he forgave not yester day What then is his forgiving Sin A. The unchangeable God changeth the Case of Man And 1. By his Law of Grace forgiveth penitent Believers who were unpardoned in their impenitence and unbelief And 2. By his Executive Providence he taketh off and preventeth punishments both of Sense and Loss and so forgiveth Q. 11. How can we pray for pardon to others when we know not whether they be penitent Believers capable of Pardon A. 1. We pray as Members of Christ's Body for our selves and all that are his Members that is penitent Believers 2. For others we pray that God would give them Faith Repentance and Forgiveness As Christ prayed Father forgiv them for they know not what they do that is Qualifie them for Pardon and then pardon them Or give them Repentance and Forgiveness Q. 12. Why say we as we forgive them that trespass against us A. To signifie that we have this necessary qualification for forgiveness God will not forgive us fully till we can forgive others And to signifie our Obligation to forgive And as an Argument to God to forgive us when he hath given us Hearts to forgive others But not as the Measure of God's forgiving us For he forgiveth us more freely and fully than we can forgive others Q. 13. Are we bound absolutely to forgive all Men A. No But as they are capable of it 1 We have no power to forgive wrongs against God 2. Nor against our Superiours or other Men or the Common-wealth or Church further than God Authoriâ—eth any Man by Office 3. A Magistrate must forgive sins as to Corporal punishment no further than God alloweth him and as will stand with the true design of Government and the common good And a Pastor no further than will stand with the good of the Church And a Father no further than will stand with the good of the Family And so of others 4. An Enemy that remaineth such and is wicked must be forgiven by private Men so far as that we must desire and endeavour their good and seek no revenge But not so far as to be trusted as a familiar or bosom Friend 5. A Friend that offended and returneth to his Fidelity must be forgiven and trusted as a Friend according to the Evidence of his Repentance and Sincerity and no further The rest about forgiveness is opened in the Exposition of that Article in the Creed The forgiveness of â—â—ns Still remembring that all forgiveness is by God's Mercy through Christs Merits Sacrifice and Intercession CHAP. XXX And lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil. Qu. 1. WHy is this made the Sixth Petition A. Because it is the next in order to the attainment of our