The Foundation of Christian Religion, Title page – To the reader
THE Foundation of Christian Religion, gathered into sixe Principles.
And it is to bee learned of ignorant people, that they may be fit to hear Sermons with profit, and to receiue the Lords Supper with comfort.
Psal. 1.19.30.
The entrāce into thy words sheweth light, and giueth vnderstanding to the simple.
Printed by Thomas Orwin, for Iohn Porter. 1591.
To all ignorant people that desire to bee instructed.
POore people, your manner is to sooth vp your selues, as though ye wer in a most happy state: but of the matter come to a iust trial, it will fall out farr otherwise▪ For yee lead your liues in great ignorance, as may appeare by these your common opinions which follow.
1 That faith is a mans good meaning & his good seruing of God.
2 That God is serued by the rehearsing of the ten commaundements, the Lords praier, and the Creede.
3 That yee hauehave beleeued in Christ euer since you could remember.
4 That it is pitie that he should liue which dooth any whit doubt of his saluation.
5 That none can tell whether hee shall bee saued or not certainly: but that all men must be of a good beliefe.
6 That howsoeuer a man liue, yet if hee call vponupon God on his death bedde, and say, Lord hauehave mercy on me, & so goe away like a Lambe, he is certainly saued.
7 That, if ani… be strangely visited, hee is either taken with a Planet, or bewitched.
8 That a man may lawfully sweare when hee speakes nothing but the truth: & sweares by nothing but that which is good, as by his faith or troth.
9 That a Preacher is a good man no longer than he is in the pulpet. They thinke all like themselues.
10 That a man may repent when hee will, because the Scripture saith, At what time soeuer a sinner doth repent him of his sinne, &c.
11 That it is an easier thing to please God than to please our neighbour.
12 That yee can keepe the Commandements, as well as God will giuegive you leaue.
13 That it is the safest, to doo in Religion as most doo.
14 That merry ballads & bookes, as Scoggin, Beuis of Southampton, &c. are good to driue away time, & to remoue hart quames.
15 That yee can serue God with all your hearts: and that yee would be sorie else.
16 That a man neede not heare so many Sermōs, except he could follow them better.
17 That a man which cōmeth at no Sermons, may as wel beleeue, as he which heares all the sermons in the world.
18 That yee know al the Preacher can tell you: For he can say nothing, but that eueryevery man is a sinner, that we must louelove our neighbours as our selues, that eueryevery man must bee saued by Christ: and all this ye can tell as well as he.
19 That it was a good world when the old Religion was, because all things were cheap.
20 That drinking and bezeling in the alehouse or tauerne is good fellowship, & shews a good kinde nature.
21 That a man may sweare by the Masse, because it is nothing now: and byr Ladie, because she is gone out of the country.
22 That eueryevery man must be for himselfe, and God for vsus all.
23 That a man may make of his owne whatsoeuer he can.
24 That if a man remember to say his praiers in the morning (thogh he neuer vnderstād them) he hath blessed himselfe for all the day following.
25 That a man prayeth when hee saith the ten Commaundements.
26 That a man eats his maker in the Sacra.
27 That if a man be no adulterer, no theef, nor murderer, and do no man harme, he is a right honest man.
28 That a man need not hauehave any knowledg of religiō, because he is not book learnd.
29 That one may hauehave a good meaning, when he saith and dooth that which is euill.
These and such like sayings, what argue they but your grosse ignorance? Now, where ignorance raigneth, there raignes sinne: & where sinne raignes, there the deuil rules: and where he rules, men are in a damnable case.
Ye will reply vntounto me thus, that yee are not so bad as I would make you: if need be you can say the Creede, the Lords prayer, & the 10. cō mandements: and therefore ye will be of Gods beleefe say all men what they will, and you defie the deuill from your hearts.
I answere againe, that it is not sufficient to say all these without booke, vnlesse ye can vnderstand the meaning of the words, and bee able to make a right vse of the Cōmandements, of the Creede, of the Lords prayer, by applying them inwardly to your hearts and consciences, and outwardly to your liues & conuersations. This is the very point in which ye faile.
And for an helpe in this your ignorance, to bring you to true knowledge, vnfained faith, and sound repentance: here I hauehave set downe the principall points of Christian Religion in sixe plaine & easie rules, euen such as the simplest may easily learne: and hereunto is adioyned an exposition of them word by word. If ye do want other good directions, then vse this my labour for your instruction: A direction for the ignorant.In reading of it first learne the six principles, & when ye hauehave them without booke, & the meaning of them withall, then learne the exposition also: which being well conceaued, & in some measure felt in the heart, ye shall be able to profite by Sermons, whereas now ye cannot: and the ordinarie parts of the Catechisme, namely, the ten Commandements, the Creede, the Lords praier, and the institution of the two Sacraments, shall more easily be vnderstoode.
Thine in Christ Iesus, William Perkins.
❧The foundation of Christian Religion, gathered into sixe Principles.
Question. WHat doest thou beleeue concerning God.
I. There is a1. Cor. 8.6.one bRom. 1.20. act. 14.17.God cHeb. 11.3. gen. 1.1.creator and dMath. 10.30. pro. 15.3.gouernour of all things, eMatth. 3.12. 1. Iohn. 5.7.distinguished into the Father, the Sonne, and the holy Ghost.
Q. What doest thou beleeue concerning man: and concerning thine owne selfe.
II. fRom. 3.10.All men are wholly corrupted withgEph. 4.17, 18. gen. 6.5. sinne through hRom. 5.12.Adams fal: & so are become iEph. 2.2. heb 2.14. 2. Cor. 4.4.slaues of Sathan, and kGal. 3.10.guilty of eternall damnation.
Q. What meanes is there for thee to escape this damnable estate?
III. Iesus Christ lIohn 1.14. heb 2.16.the eternall sonne of God, being made man, by his mEsay 53 5.death vponupon the Crosse, and by his nRom. 5.19. 2 cor. 5.21.righteousnes, hath perfectly oActs 4.1.alone by himselfe, accomplished all things that are needefull for the saluation p1. Iohn 2.2of mankinde.
Q. But how mayest thou be made partaker of Christ & his benefites.
IIII. A man qEsay 57.15▪ psa. 51.17of a contrite and humble spirit rMar. 5.13by faith alone, sIohn 1.12. & 6.35apprehending and applying Christ with all his merits vntounto himself, is iustified tRom. 4.3, 6, 7 act. 15.9 1. Cor. 1.30before God and sanctified.
Q. What are the ordinary meanes for the obtaining of faith.
V. Faith uRom. 10.14. prouer. 28.19. hosea 4.6.commeth onelie by the preaching of the word, and increaseth daylie by it, as also xRom. 4.11. 1. cor. 10.1.by the administration of the Sacraments, andyRom. 10.13. praier.
Q. What is the estate of all men after death?
VI. All men aIoh. 19.25.shall rise againe with their own bodies to the last bEccle. 12.14. matt. 12.36.iudgement, which being ended c2. Pet. 2.7. ezech. 9.4.the godly dMatt. 25.32.shal possesse the kingdome of Heauen: but vnbeleeuers and reprobates shal be eMatt. 25.41.in hel tormented with the diuel and his Angels, for euer.