The Catechizing of Families, Chapter 8
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.aHeb. 11. 6. I intreat you therefore first to expound the Cree… to me, and first the first word of it [I Believe] … it belongs to all that followeth.
A. You must first know what the word signifieth in Common use: To Believe another, Signifieth [T… 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 Materi… Object of your Faith: The Persons Trustiness tha… 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 Go… had alterations: And to this Day more is reveale… to some than to others. But the formal Reason … your Faith is still and in all the same, even Gods Fidelity, who because of his Perfection cannot Li…bTit. 1. 2. Rom. 3. 4. Num. 23. 29.
Q. 2. How may I be sure that God cannot Li… who is under no Law?
A. His Perfection is more than a Law. 1. W… see that God who made Man in his own Image and reneweth them to it, making Lying a hate… Vice to humane Nature and Conversation: N… Man would be counted a Lyar: And the bette… any Man is, the more he hateth it.cProv. 12. 22. Prov. 6. 17. Prov. 19. 5. 9. & 13. 5▪ Io. 8. 44. 55. 1 Io. 5. 10. Rev. 21. 8. Prov. 14▪ 5. Col. 3. 9. Heb. 6. 18.
2. No man Lyeth, but either for want of Wi… dom to know the Truth, or for want of perfec… 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.dPsal. 112. 7. Matt. 27. 43. Heb. 11. Eph. 1. 12, 13. 2 Tim. 1. 12. 1 Tim. 3. 16. Tit. 3. 8. 1 Pet. 1. 21. Heb. 11. 39. Act. 27. 25.
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 onelyonly 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 meant in the Creed?
A. Yes: 1. The Creed containeth the necessary Matter revealed by God, which we must believe. 2. And it mentioneth Him to whom we must Trust, in our Assent, Consent and Practice, even God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Q. 7. But is this the Faith by which we are justifyed? Are we justified by believing in God the Father, and the Holy Ghost, and the rest of the Articles? Some say, It is only by believing in Christs Righteousness as imputed to us.
A. Justification is to be spoken of hereafter: But this one entire Christian Faith, is it which God hath made the necessary qualification, or Condition of such as he will justifie by and for the Merits of Christ's Righteousness.
Q. 8. Doth not [I believe] signifie that I believe that this God is my God, my Saviour, and my Sanctifier in particular.
A. It is an applying Faith: It signifieth, 1. That you Believe his Right to be your God. 2. And his offer to be your God. 3. And that you consent to this Right and Offer, that he may be special Relation be yours. 4. But it doth not signifie, that every Believer is sure of the sincerity of his own Act of believing, and so of his special Interest in God; though this is very desirable and attainable.