school wits as good as confess, after tedious disputes with unintelligible words, that they know not: it is the Trinity, as related to us, and operative, and therein notified, that we must necessarily understand and believe, even as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, that the love of God the Father, and the grace of the Son, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, may be believed, received, and enjoyed: as there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and differences of administrations, but the same Lord; and diversities of operations, but the same God which worketh all in all. (1 Cor. xii. 4-6; 2 Cor. xiii. 14.) Even as it is not our understanding the essence of the sun, but our reception of its communicated motion, light, and heat, that our nature liveth by." Q. 11. But how can any man love him above all, of whom we can have no true conception? I cannot conceive what God is? A. It may be you think that you know nothing but what you see or feel by sense; for so men's long use of bodies and sense is apt to abuse them: or you think you know nothing, which you know not fully; and so no angel knoweth God by an adequate, comprehensive knowledge. How far are we from knowing fully what sun, and moon, and stars are, and what is in them, and how they are ordered, and move! And yet nothing is more easily and surely known, than that there is a sun and stars, and that they are substances that have the power of motion, light, and heat. Yea, philosophers cannot yet agree what light and heat are; and yet we know enough of them for our necessary use. And can it be expected, then, that man give a proper definition of the infinite God? And yet nothing is more certain than that there is a God, and that he is such as I have before described: and we may know as much of him as our duty and happiness requireth. e с Q. 12. But what is the best conception I can have of God? A. I partly told you in the third chapter, and the second. I now tell you further, that we see God here but as in a glass : his image on man's soul is the nearest glass: how do you conceive of your own soul? You cannot doubt but you have a soul, b Psalm xvi. 8, and cxxv. 2; Matt. xxviii. 19; 1 John v. 7, 10; 1 Cor. xii. 4-6; 2 Cor. xiii. 14. The doctrine of the Trinity is ever proposed relatively, and practically to our faith. John xvii. 3; 2 Tim. i. 12; 1 John iv. 6, 7; Jolin viii. 19, and xiv. 7, 9, and x. 14; 1 Cor. viii. 3; Gal, iv. 9; 1 John ii, 13, 14. while you perceive its constant acts; yet you see it not you find clearly that it is a spiritual substance, that hath essentially the power of vital activity, understanding, and will. By this you perceive what a spirit is: and by this you have some perception what God is. All the world is far less to God than a body to its soul; and God is infinitely more than a soul to all the world; but by the similitude of a soul you may most easily conceive of him. CHAP. X. Of God's Almightiness and Creation. Q. 1. WHY is God here called "the Father," in whom we believe? A. 1. As he is the first person in the eternal Trinity, and so called, the Father of the eternal word, or wisdom, as his Son. 2. As he is the Father of Jesus Christ, as incarnate.d 3. As he is the Maker of the whole creation, and, as a common Father, giveth being to all that is. 4. As he is our reconciled father by Christ; and hath adopted us as his sons, and bound us to love, and trust, and obey him, as our Father. But the two first are the chief sense. Q. 2. What is God's "Almightiness?" A. His infinite power by which he can do all things which are works of power: he cannot lie, nor die, nor be the cause of sin, for these are no effects of power, but of impotency. Q. 3. Why is his Almightiness to be believed by us? A. We do not else believe him to be God: and we cannot else reverence, admire, trust him, and obey him as we ought.e Q. 4. Why is his Almightiness only named, and no other properties? A. All the rest are supposed when we call him God; but this is named, because he is first to be believed in as the Creator; and his creation doth eminently manifest his power. And though the Son and the Holy Ghost are Almighty, the Scrip d 2 Cor. i. 3, and xi. 31; 1 Cor. viii. 6, and xv. 24; Gal. i. 1, 3, 4; Eph. i. 3, 17; iv. 6, and vi. 23; Phil. ii. 11; Col. ii. 2, and iii. 17; 2 Tim. i. 2; Jam. iii. 9. Gen. xvii. 1; Rev. i. 8; 2 Cor. vi. 18; Psalm xci. 1, 2; Matt. viii. 2. ture eminently attributeth power to the Father, wisdom to the Son, and love and perfective operations to the Holy Ghost. Q. 5. Is the creation named to notify to us God's Almightiness? A. Yes; and it is a great part of our duty when we look up to the heavens, and daily see so far as our short sight can reach, of this wonderful world, to think, with most reverend admiration, 'O what a God have we to serve and trust!' f Q. 6. How did God make all things? A. He gave them all their being, order, and well-being, by the power of his will and word,g Q. 7. When did he make all things? A. It is not yet six thousand years since he made this world, even as much as belongs to us to know, Q. 8. How long was God making this world? A. It pleased him to make it the work of six days; and he consecrated the seventh day, a Sabbath, for the commemoration of it, and for the solemn worshipping him as our Creator. Q. 9. For whom, and for what use did God make the world? A. God made all things for himself; not as having need of them, but to please his own will, which is the beginning and the end of all his works; and to shine in the glory of the greatness, order, and goodness of the world, as in a glass to understanding creatures, and to communicate goodness variously to his works.h Q. 10. What did God with the world when he had made it? A. By the same power, wisdom, and will, he still continueth it; or else it would presently return into nothing. Q. 11. What further must we learn from God's creating us? A. We certainly learn that he is our Owner, our Ruler, and our Benefactor, or Father, and that we are his own, and his subjects, and his benefitted children. Q. 12. What mean you by the first, that he is our Owner? A. He that maketh us of nothing, must needs be our absolute Lord or Owner; and therefore may do with all things what he will, and cannot possibly do any wrong, however he useth us. And we must needs be wholly his own, and therefore should wholly resign ourselves to his disposing will.k f Gen. xvii. 31; Rev. iv. 11, and x. 6; Psalm viii. 1, 3; xix. 1; lxxxix. 5, 11; Gen. i. 2, 3. Isa. xl. 28; xlii.5, and xlv. 12, 18; civ. 1, 2, and cxv. 16. h Prov. xvi. 4; Rev. iv. 11. i Heb. i. 3; Ezek. xviii. 4; 1 Cor. vi. 20; Psalm x. 16. * Psalm cxix. 94; Acts xxvii. 23; 1 Cor. vi. 19; John xvii. 6, 9, 10; Isa. 1xiii. 19; 1 Chron. xxix. 11. Q. 13. What mean you by the second, that God is our Ruler? A. He that by creation is our absolute Owner, and hath made us reasonable, and with free-will, must needs have the only right and fitness to be our Ruler by his laws and doctrine: and we are bound, as his subjects, to obey him absolutely in all things.1 Q. 14. How gather you that he is our Father, or Benefactor? A. If we have our very being from him, and all the good that the whole creation enjoyeth is his free gift, then as he is love itself, so he is the great Benefactor of the world, but specially to his chosen, faithful people: and no man or angel hath any thing that is good by way of merited exchange from God, but all is of free gift and we owe him our superlative love, and thanks, and praise. Q. 15. Why are heaven and earth named as the parts of his creation? A. They are all that we are concerned to know: we partly see the difference between them, and God's word tells us of more than we see earth is the place of our present abode in our life of trials in corruptible flesh; heaven is the place where God doth manifest his glory, and from whence he sendeth down those influences which maintain nature, and which communicate his grace, and prepare us for the glory which we shall enjoy in heaven. By heaven and earth is meant all creatures, both spirits and corporeal.m Q. 16. Were there no more worlds made and dissolved before this? It seems unlikely that God, from all eternity, should make nothing till less than six thousand years ago; when he is a communicative good, and delighteth to do good in his works? A. It is dangerous presumption so much as to put such a question with our thought or tongue, and to pry into God's secrets, of which we are utterly incapable (unless it be to shame it, or suppress it). God hath, by Christ and the Holy Ghost, int Scripture, set up a ladder, by which you may ascend to the heaven that you are made for; but if you will climb above the top of the ladder, you may fall down to hell." 1 Psalm lix. 18; lxvi. 7, and ciii. 19; Dan. iv. 17, 25, 32; 1 Tim. vi. 15, and i. 17; Rev. xvii. 14, and xix. 6. CHAP. XI. Of the Person of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. Q. 1. WHO is Jesus Christ? A. He is God and man, and the Mediator between God and man.° Q. 2. When did he begin to be God? A. He is the eternal God that had no temporal beginning? Q. 3. When did he begin to be a man? A. About one thousand six hundred and eighty-one years ago.P Q. 4. If he be God, why is he called the Son of God? Are there more Gods than one? And how doth God beget a son? A. There is but one God: I before opened to you the mystery of the Trinity in unity, to which you must look back. Begetting is a word that we must not take carnally; and a son in the Deity signifieth not another substance. If the sun be said to beget its own light, that maketh it not another substance. But Christ is also, as man, begotten of God, in a virgin's womb.q Q. 5. Was Christ God in his low condition on earth? A. Yes, he is still God and man: but his glorified manhood is not like our corruptible flesh, and narrow souls. Q. 7. Hath Christ a soul besides his Godhead? A. Yes, for he is a perfect man, which he could not be without a soul. Q. S. Then Christ hath two parts: one part is God, and the other man? A. The name of part, or whole, is not fit for God: God is no part of any thing, no, not of the universe of being; for to be a part is to be less than the whole, and so to be imperfect and whole consisteth of parts; but so doth not God." every Q. 9. Is Jesus Christ one person or two, viz. a divine and human? A. It is dangerous laying too great a stress on words, that are ° 1 Tim. ii. 5; Heb. xii. 24; viii. 6, and ix. 15. P John i. 1-3, &c.; 1 Tim. iii. 16; Rom. ix. 5; Tit. ii. 13. 9 Phil. ii. 7-10. Acts iii. 21; John ii. 17, and vi. 62; Eph. iv. 8-10 s Gal. iii. 20. |