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النشر الإلكتروني

inferences, naturally flowing from them; and it is as follows.

Q. 1. What is God?

A. God is a Spirit, that hath a body, shape, eyes, ears, hands, feet, like to us.

'Q. 2. Where is this God?

'A. In a certain place in heaven, upon a throne, where a man may see from his right hand to his left.

'Q. 3. Doth he ever move out of that place?

'A. I cannot tell what he doth ordinarily, but he hath formerly come down sometimes upon the earth.

'Q. 4. What doth he do there in that place?

'A. Among other things, he conjectures at what men will do here below.

do.

'Q. 5. Doth he then not know what we do?

A. He doth what we have done, but not what we will

'Q. 6. What frame is he in, upon his knowledge and conjecture?

A. Sometimes he is afraid, sometimes grieved, sometimes joyful, and sometimes troubled.

'Q. 7. What peace and comfort can I have in committing myself to his providence, if he knows not what will befall me to-morrow?

'A. What is that to me, see you to that.

'Q. 8. Is Jesus Christ God?

'A. He is dignified with the title of God, but he is not God.

'Q. 9. Why then was he called the only begotten Son of God?

'A. Because he was born of the Virgin Mary.

'Q. 10. Was he Christ the Lord then when he was born? 'A. No, he became the Lord afterward.

'Q. 11. Hath he still in heaven a human body?

'A. No, but he is made a Spirit, so that being not God but man, he was made a God; and being made a God, he is a Spirit, and not a man.

'Q. 12. What is the Holy Ghost?

'A. A principal angel.

'Q. 13. Did death enter by sin, or was mortality actually caused by sin?

'A. No.

'Q. 14. Why is Christ called a Saviour?

'A. Because at the resurrection he shall change our vile bodies.

'Q. 15. On what other account?

'A. None that I know of.

'Q. 16. How then shall I be saved from sin and wrath? 'A. Keep the commandments, that thou mayest have a right to eternal life.

'Q. 17. Was Christ the eternal Son of God in his bosom, revealing his mind from thence, or was he taken up into heaven, and there taught the truths of God as Mahomet pretended?

'A. He ascended into heaven, and talked with God, before he came and shewed himself to the world.

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“Q. 18. What did Christ do as a prophet?

'A. He gave a new law.

'Q. 19. Wherein?

'A. He corrected the law of Moses.

Q. 20. Who was it that said of old, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy?

'A. God in the law of Moses, which Christ corrects.
'Q. 21. Is Christ to be worshipped because he is God?
'A. No, but because he redeemed us.

'Q. 22. May one that is a mere creature be worshipped with divine or religious worship?

'A. Yes.

'Q.23. How can Christ being a mere man, and now so far removed from the earth, understand and hear all the prayers and desires of the hearts of men, that are put up to him all the world over?

A. I cannot tell, for God himself doth not know that there are such actions, as our free actions are, but upon inquiry.

'Q.24. Did Christ give himself for an offering and sacrifice to God in his death?

'A. No, for he was not then a priest.

Q. 25. Did Christ by his death make reconciliation for our sins, the sins of his people, bear their iniquities that they might have peace with God?

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A. No, but only died that they might turn themselves to God.

.Q. 26. Did he so undergo the curse of the law and was so made sin for us; were our iniquities so laid on him, that he made satisfaction to God for our sins?

A. No, there is no such thing in the Scripture.

'Q. 27. Did he merit or procure eternal life for us by his obedience and suffering?

'A. No, this is a fiction of the generality of Christians. 'Q. 28. Did he redeem us properly with the price of his blood, that we should be saved from wrath, death, and hell?

'A. No, there is no such use or fruit of his death and blood-shedding.

'Q. 29. If he neither suffered in our stead, nor underwent the curse of the law for us, nor satisfied justice by making reconciliation for our sins, nor redeemed us by the price of his blood, what did he do for us; on what account is he our Saviour?

'A. He taught us the way to heaven, and died to leave us an example.

'Q. 30. How then did he save them, or was he their Saviour, who died before his teaching and dying?

'A. He did not save them, nor was their Saviour, nor did they ask any thing in his name, or received any thing on his account.

'Q. 31. Did Christ raise himself according as he spake of the temple of his body, destroy this temple and the third day I will raise it again?

'A. No, he raised not himself at all.

'Q. 32. Hath God from eternity loved some even before they did any good, and elected them to life and salvation to be obtained by Jesus Christ?

'A. No, but he loved all alike.

'Q. 33. Did God in the sending of Christ aim at the salvation of a certain number of his elect?

'A. No, but at the salvation of men in general whether ever any be saved or no.

'Q. 34. Are all those saved for whom Christ died? 'A. The least part of them are saved.

Q. 35. Is faith wrought in us by the Spirit of God, or are we converted by the efficacy of his grace?

A. No, but of ourselves we believe and are converted, and then we are made partakers of the Spirit and his grace. 'Q. 36. Are all true believers preserved by the power of God unto salvation?

'A. No, many of them fall away and perish.

'Q. 37. Is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us for our justification?

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A. No, but our own faith and works.

Q. 38. Are we to receive or apprehend Christ and his righteousness by faith, that we may be justified through him? A. No, but believe on him that raised him from the dead, and without that, it suffices.

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'Q. 39. Are we able to keep all God's commandments? 'A. Yes.

'Q. 40. Perhaps in our sincere endeavours; but can we do it absolutely and perfectly?

'A. Yes, we can keep them perfectly.

'Q.41. What need a man then to apprehend Christ's righteousness and apply it to himself by faith?

'A. None at all, for there is no such thing required. 'Q. 42. What shall become of wicked men after the rerection?

'A. They shall be so consumed body and soul, as not at all to remain in torments.'

OF

THE DEATH OF CHRIST,

AND

OF JUSTIFICATION:

THE

DOCTRINE CONCERNING THEM FORMERLY DELIVERED VINDICATED FROM THE ANIMADVERSIONS OF MASTER R. B.

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Or this task I would complain if I durst; but I know not how it may be taken; and whether it may not occasion another apology. So are writings of this nature, as waves that thrust on one another. Books, 'says one, ' are like good turns; they must be new covered, or it will rain through.' I was in some hope to have escaped this trouble. But * πόνος πόνω πόνον φέρει. And Chrysostom tells us, that ο πολλῆς γέμει ταραχῆς ἡ ζωὴ, καὶ θορύβων μεστὸς ὁ παρῶν Bids koriv. I desire to be content with my portion, being better yet than that of Livius Drusius, who complained 'uni sibi nec puero quidem unquam ferias contigisse ;' so it be in and about things of real use, and advantage to the souls of men, I can be content with any pains that I have strength to answer. But this is an evil, which every one who is not stark blind may see in polemical writings; almost their constant end, is λογομαχία, περιαυτολογία, ἀπολογία, whence saith the apostle, γίνεται φθόνος, ἔρις, βλασφημίαι, ὑπόνοιαι πονηραὶ, παραδιατριβαὶ. Having through the providence of God (whether on my part necessarily or wisely I know not deos olda), engaged in public, for the defence of some truths of the gospel (as I believe), I was never so foolish, as to expect an escape without opposition. He that

a Sophocles.

b Chrysost. Con. 1. περὶ προνοίας.

c Sueton. in vit. Tib.

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