Fxed. 20. Dent. 5. Saints, the Forgivenets of fins, the Refurrection of the body, and the Life Eberlafting. The LORDS PRAYER. Dur FALCK which art in Heaben, hallowed be thy Name: Thy Kingdom come: Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trefpaffes as we forgive them that trefpats against us: And lead us not into tempta tion; but deliber us from ebil: For thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glozy ; foz eber, Amen. The Ten COMMANDEMENTS. God fpake all these words, faying, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the boufe of bondage. 1. Thou shalt have no other Gods befoze me. 2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any gzaben Image, o any likeness of any thing in Heaven abobe, og that is in the Earth beneath, o2 that is in the water under the Earth: Thou shalt not bow down thy felf to them, no? ferbe them: Foz I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, bifting the iniquities of the Fathers upon the Childzen to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and fbewing mercy unto thousands of them that lobe me celebris eft, magna and keep my Commandements. *De die feptimo qui inter omnes mortales apud plerofq; igno- 3. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Load thy God rantia eft. Hic enim in bain, fog the Lozd will not hold him guiltless that tadies qui ab Hebræis ketb bis Name in bain. Sabbatum vocatur, * Græcè fiquis inter- 4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: fr pretetur, Septimana, dapes shalt thou labour and do all thy wozk: but the dicitur. Hoc nomi- Sebenth day is the Sabbath of the Lozd thy God; in it ne mortales omnes diem iftum appellant ; thou shalt not do any wozk; thou, noz thy Son, noz tby at nominis caufam Daughter, the Man-ferbant, noz thy Maid-ferbant, noz nefciunt pleriq; The thy Cattel, nog the Stranger that is within thy gates : ophil. Antioch.ad Au- Foz in fir dayes the Lozd made Heaven and Earth, the tol.li. I. p. (mihi) Sea, and all that in them is, and refted the Seventh day, 121. in B. P. Gr.L. wherefoze the Lozd bleffed the Seventh day, and hallowed it. T. I. 5. Honour 5. Honour thy Father and thy Mother; that thy dayes may be long upon the Land, which the Lord thy Boo gibeth thee. 6. Thou shalt not kill. 7. Thou shalt not commit Adultery. 8. Thou shalt not Steal. 9. Thou shalt not bear falfe witnefs against thy Neighbour. 10. Chou shalt not cobet the Neighbours House: thou shalt not cobet thy Neighbours Wife, nog his Man-ferbant, noz bis Maid-servant, nog his Dre, nog his Als, nog any thing that is thy Neighbours. 5. 16. The ten Commandements are fummed up by Chrift into these two, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and foul, and might; and Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy felf. . 17. Thefe Commandements being first delivered to the Jews, are continued by Christ, as the fumm of the Law of Nature; only instead of Deliverance of the Jews from Egypt, he bath made our Redemption from fin and Satan, which was therely typified, to be the fundamental motive; And he bath removed the memorial of the Creation-Reft, from the feventh day-Sabbath, to be kept on the Lords day, which is the first, with the Commemoration of his Refurrection, and our Redemption, in the folemn Worship of his holy Affemblies. 1 Pct. . 18. III. The briefest Summary of the Christian Religi- Matth. 28.19. Rom. on, containing the Effentials only, is in the Sacramental Co- 8. 1. & 6.4 venant of Grace: Wherein the Penitent Believer, renouncing 3. 21, 22. Heb.6.2. the Flesh, the World and the Devil, doth folemnly give up him- A&.2. 38,41. Tit.3. felf to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as his only God, 5. 1 Cor. 11. his Father, his Saviour and his Sanctifier, engaging himself di antiquo vide WaDe modo Baptizan. hereby to a Holy life (of Refignation, Obedience and Love); lafridum Strabon, de and receiving the pardon of all his fins, and title to the fur- rebus Ecclef. cap. 16. ther helps of grace, to the favour of God, and everlasting life: P. (Bibl. Pat.) 691. This Covenant is first entered by the Sacrament of Baptifme, de facram. NeophyEt Ivon. Carnol.ferm. and after renewed in our communion with the Church, in the torum, p. 767, 768, Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Chrift. So that the Chriftian Religion is but [Faith in God our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifyer, producing the hope of Gg 2 Life &6. Joh. 13. 15. 1 Pet. 2. 21. Life Everlasting, and poffeffing us with the love of God and . 19. That all this Religion might be the better understood, received and practifed by us, the Word of God, came down into Flesh, and gave us a perfect Example of it in his most perfect Life; in perfect holiness and innocency, conquering all temptations, contemning the honours, riches and pleasures of the World; in perfect patience, and meekness, and condefcenfion, and in the perfe&i Love of God and Man. When perfect Doctrine is feconded by Perfect Exémplarinefs of Life, there can be no greater Light set before us, to lead us out of our state of darkness into the everlasting Light. And had it not been a pattern of holy Power, Wisdom and Goodnefs; of Self-denyall, Obedience and Love; of Patience, and of Truth and Prudence, and of contempt of all inferiour things, even of Life it felf, for the Love of God, and for Life eternal; it would not have been a full exemplification of his Doctrine; nor a perfect Revelation of it to the World. Example bringeth Doctrine neer our Senfes, and thereby maketh it more clear and power full. Joh. 3:5,6. & 7.38, . 20. It is the undertaken Office of Jefus Christ, to fend 39. Gal.4.6. & 5. the Holy Spirit into Believers mindes, and to write out the 18, 25. Rom. 8.9, fubstance of this Law upon their hearts, and give them fuch 13. 2 Cor. 3. 3. holy and heavenly inclinations, that it may become as it were I Cor. 6. 11. & 2. a Natural Law unto them, and they obey it with love, faci10, 11. Jer. 31.33. Ffal. 1. 2. 2 Pet. 1. lity and delight (though not in perfection till they arrive at the 4. 1 Toh. 4.7. & 5. State of Perfection.) 4, 18. So much to fhew WHAT the Chriffian Religion is. CHAP. CHAP. IV. of the Nature and Properties of the Christian Religion. H tius nihil ad dicen Aving understood the matter and words of the Chrifti- Nihil eft ad defenan Religion, before I proceeded any further, I thought dendum Puritate cuit meet to pass a judgment upon the nature, tem- dum Veritate facili perament, conftitution and properties of it. And therein us. inq. Amb of. I found that which muft needs be a great preparative to belief. 6. 1. And first, I found, that it is a most holy and fpiritual Religion, refolved into the most excellent Principles and Ends, glorifying God, and bumbling man, and teaching us the mot divine and heavenly life, in the love and patient fervice of our Creator. Catech. rud. Ad Divos adento 1. It is moft Holy, for it calleth us up entirely unto God, Nulla major ad amoand confifteth in our abfolute dedication and devotedness to rem invitatio quam hia. 2. It is moft Spiritual, leading us from things carnal prævenire amantem: and terrene, and being principally about the government of & nimis durus eft animus, qui, fi dethe Soul; and placing all our felicity in things fpiritual, and lectionem nolebat not in fleshly pleasures with the Epicureans and Mahometans: impendere, nolit re-. It teacheth us to worship God in a fpiritual manner, and not pendere. Auguft. de either irrationally, toyifhly, or irreverently: And it direct- In co quod amatur, eth our lives to a daily converfe with God in holiness. 3. The aut non laboratur,a: c Principles of it are the three Effentialities of God in Unity, labor amatur. Arguft. viz. the Infinite Power, Wifdom and Goodnefs; and the de fan. Vid. three grand Relations of God to Man, as founded in his three caftè: pietaten admost famous works, viz, as our Creator, our Redeemer, and hibento, ores amoour Regenerater or Sanctifier; and the three great Rela- vento: qui fecus fations arifing from Creation, and alfo from Redemption, xt, Deus ipfe vindex viz. as he is our Owner, our Ruler and our Benefactor or Cic. de leg. 2. p 237. erit. Leges Rom. we chiefeft Good and End. 4. The Ends of the Chriftian Reli- Significat probitagion, I find are proximately the faving of man from Satan, tem Deo gratam elle, and the Juftice of God; the fanctifying them to God, and fumptum effe remo purifying them from fin, the pardon of their fins, and the vendum. Ib p 139. everlasting happiness of their Souls, in the pleafing, and fruition of God for ever. In a word, it is but the redeeming us Gg 3 from Chriftianus nemo re &e dicitur, nifi qui Chrifto moribus prout valet, cocquatur. Maxim. Chriftiani nomen from our carnal felf, the world, and the devil, to the love and fervice of our Creator. 5. Nothing can be spoken more honourably of God in all his perfections, in the language of poor mortals, than what the Chriftian Religion fpeaketh of him. And no Religion fo much bumbleth man, by opening the malignity both of his original and actual fin, and declaring the difpleasure of God against it. 7. It teacheth us who once lived as without God in the world, to live wholly unto God, and to make nothing of all the world in comparifon of him. 8. And it teacheth us to live upon the hopes of heaven, and fetch our motives and our comforts from it. 1.2. I find that the Chriftian Religion is the most pure, and clean, and utterly oppofite to all that is evil. There is no vertue which it commendeth not, nor duty fruftra fortitur, qui which it commandeth not, nor vice which it condemneth not, nor fin which it forbiddeth not. Chriftum minime imitatur: Quid e nim tibi prodeft vo The chief thing in it which occafioneth the rebellion and cari quod non es, & difpleasure of the world against it, is the purity and goodness nomen ufurpare alienum fed fi Chriftia of it, which is contrary to their fenfual nature, and as Phyfick num te effe delectar, to their licentious lives: would it indulge their vices, and quæ Chriftianitatis give them leave to fin, they could endure it. funt gere, & merito tibi Chriftiani no men affume. Auguft. de vita Chriftiani. Il'e vere Chriftianus eft, qui omnibus mi nullâ omnino move vices of Pride, Worldliness, and Senfuality, and all their polluting .3.Particularly it most vehemently condemneth the grand and pernicious fruits. 1. No Religion doth fo much to teach men Humility, and make Pride appear an odious thing. It openeth the malignity fericordiam facit, qui of it, as it lifteth up the mind againft God or Man: it con tur injuriâ ; qui alic demneth it as Satans image: it giveth us a multitude of num dolorem tan- humbling precepts and motives, and fecondeth them all with quam propium fentit; the ftrangeft example of condefcenfion and lowlinefs in cujus menfam pauper Chrift that was ever prefented to the view of man. Wherenon ignorat; qui coram hominibus in as I find even in the famouseft of the Roman Heathens, that a glorius habetur, ut great deal of pride was taken for a virtue, and men were coram Deo & Ange. inftructed and exhorted to be proud, under pretence of lis glorietur: qui ter- maintaining and vindicating their honour; and true Humipoffit habere cale- lity was taken for difgraceful bafenefs, and men were driven Ria; qui opprimi pau- from it by the fcorn, not only of the vulgar, but of Philofoperem fe præfente phers themfelves. rena contemnit, ut feris fubvenit, &c. non patitur, qui mi- 2. And there is no Religion that is fitted fo much to the Auguft. de vita ch ist. deftruction of Worldlinef, or of the love of Riches, as Chri ftianity |