Christianity in Short, Text 1 – Text 2
The Entrance into CHRISTIANITY.
I Muſt ſhortly dye, and after death I muſt for ever be either endleſly happy, or endleſly miſerable.
It concerneth me therefore, above all things in this ſhort time of my Life, ſo to prepare for Death, that after Death, I may be Eternally happy.
To this end two things are altogether neceſſary, a ſound Knowledge, and a ſincere Practice.
Two things are needful to be well known, the End which I am to aim at, and the Way which will lead me to it.
My daily practice muſt be to walk in the way, in hopes of attaining the End.
What both theſe are, JESƲS CHRIST hath abundantly taught us in his Goſpel, which it therefore highly concerneth me diligently to read and learn.
Chriſt hath inſtituted two Sacraments, the one for our entrance into, the other for our confirmation and ſtrengthning in the way of Life. Baptiſm, and the Supper of the Lord.
In both theſe the whole ſubſtance of Chriſtian Religion, which is the way to happineſs, is ſummarily comprehended and repreſented.
Chriſt JESƲS commanded his Apoſtles to go up and down in the World, and by Preaching the Goſpel to perſwade men to be his Diſciples, and learn of him the way to Life.
He commanded them to admit men into his Church, or the Society of his Diſciples by Baptiſm, or waſhing them with Water, in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghoſt.
This Ceremony of Waſhing with water, did ſignifie and aſſure them, that as many as continued Chriſt's faithful followers, were waſhed from the guilt of their paſt ſins, and ſhould be daily more and more Sanctified and prepared for Eternal Glory.
Perſons of years to underſtand, were thus in Baptiſm to give up themſelves in an Holy Bond or Covenant to God, and thus my Parents when I was an Infant, did give and dedicate me to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoſt.
In this Baptiſmal Covenant, God the Father doth give himſelf to be our reconciled Father, and God the Son Jeſus Chriſt to be our Saviour, and God the Holy Ghoſt to be our Sanctifier.
In the ſame Covenant, we do accept of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghoſt to be our only God, ſubmitting to him as our Owner and Governour, and chuſing him as our chief good and portion, and heartily conſenting to be taught and ruled, made Holy, and …ſaved by him, in a firm belief of his word, and humble Obedience to his Lawes.
We do alſo promiſe, and reſolve not to follow, nor be led by the Devil, the World, nor the Fleſh, but to watch againſt, and reſiſt all their temptations, and to perſevere ſo doing unto our lives end.
Every one that keepeth this Covenant ſincerely is a good Chriſtian, and hath the pardon of his ſins, and Eternal Life ſealed and aſſured unto him by God in this Sacrament of Baptiſm.
As I therefore deſire to be Eternally happy, and would avoid Everlaſting Torments, it concerneth me to ſee that I keep Covenant with God; which I cannot do, without learning and knowing what I am to believe and do.
If I have not already learn'd this, it is no time now any longer to delay it, ſeeing my Eternal happineſs depends upon it. And I know not how ſoon, no not whether this night, God may call me out of this world by death, when if I be either ignorant or wicked, I am undone Soul and Body for ever.
The Chriſtian Faith.
THere is a GOD, and but one God, the FATHER, SON and HOLY GHOST.
God is an infinite and moſt glorious SPIRIT, a moſt pure and living ſubſtance, without body, parts or paſſions.
God is inviſible, cannot be ſeen or perceived by ſenſe.
God is incomprehenſible, cannot be perfectly known by any but himſelf.
God is Immortal, cannot dye; Impaſſible, and cannot ſuffer.
God is Immenſe, not limited to place, but is every where.
God is Eternal, not limited by time, but without beginning or end.
God is Independent, not cauſed or governed by any other.
God is Immutable, not ſubject to change, but neceſſarily what he is, the ſame for ever.
God is Almighty, able to do all things: Omniſcient, knowing all things; infinitely Wiſe, in ordering all things.
God is Infinitely good, and the Fountain of all goodneſs, Holy and Juſt, and Merciful.
God is ſelf-ſufficient, perfectly bleſſed, and happy in himſelf alone, needing nothing, but Infinite in all perfections.
The Father begetting the Son, the Son begotten of the Father, the Holy Ghoſt proceeding from the Father and the Son, are Three Perſons, but one uncompounded, undivided GOD, bleſſed for ever.
God is the Maker or Creator of all things, the Preſerver and Ʋpholder of all things.
God is the abſolute Owner and Lord of all things.
God is our Soveraign King, Supream Law-giver, and Righteous Judge.
God is our chief good, and loving Father, and bountiful Benefactor.
All Life, and Power, and Wiſdom, come from God, and our final reſt, and perfect happineſs is in Him alone.
God is a moſt free Agent, and doth what, and when, and how he will.
In the Beginning, by his Word of his own good pleaſure, he made the World, and all things in ſix dayes, when before there was nothing but Himſelf.
All that God made was very good.
God by his Providence preſerveth, ruleth and ordereth all things, great and ſmall.
There is no goodneſs in any thing, but what God giveth, nothing can come to paſs, but as God permitteth it.
God may juſtly do what he will with every thing, he can do no wrong to any thing, he ordereth the whole courſe of the World wiſely, and for the beſt.
God made an innumerable company of Angels, or pure Spirits.
A great multitude of theſe Angels continue holy and happy in loving, praiſing and enjoying God, doing his Commandments, and ſerving him in ſuch Miniſtries as he pleaſeth to employ them in, for the good of his people.
Many of the Angels did ſin, and were caſt down to Hell, into Everlaſting torments. Theſe are Devils, under Beelzebub the Prince of Devils, the Old Serpent, and Satan.
The Devil is the Spirit that worketh in the children of Diſobedience; the Father of Evil-doers, going about like a roaring Lyon, ſeeking whom he may devour.
God made Adam the firſt man, of the Duſt of the Earth, and the firſt woman Eve, of a Rib of Adam.
Man hath two parts, a Body of Fleſh and Bones, and a Soul which is a Spirit.
God made Man after his own Image, he gave him an Immortal ſoul, endued with underſtanding, a free will, and a power to do good, and authority to rule and uſe the creatures, for ſuch ends as God deſigned them.
God made not man a Lawleſs creature, to live as it ſhould liſt him, but God made him for himſelf, and to ſerve him in Holy Love, and perfect Obedience.
Man underſtood God's Will, and that Will underſtood, was the Law in his heart, whereby he was to live; Knowing God to be his Owner and Governour, and chief good, he was bound to reſign himſelf to his diſpoſal, ſubmit himſelf to his command, and to delight himſelf in him above all.
If Man had done thus, he ſhould never have dyed, but have lived for ever happy in the love and enjoyment of God.
God having placed man in the garden of Eden, gave him free leave to eat of all the Trees thereof, only excepting the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil; which upon pain of death, he charged him not to eat of.
But the Devil in a Serpent Tempted Eve, and by her he tempted Adam to eat thereof, and ſo ſin againſt God in breaking his command.
By breaking God's Law, they loſt their Holineſs, and became Mortal under the curſe of Death; hearkening to the Devil they fell under his power, loving their own pleaſure more than God, they loſt their Happineſs. Thus they who were made Wiſe, and Powerful, and Happy, made themſelves fooliſh, and weak, and miſerable.
We are all the children of ſinful Adam, and of unholy Parents are born unholy, ignorant of God, our duty, and our happineſs, dead to goodneſs, forward to evil, eaſily conquered by the temptations of the Devil, the World, and the Fleſh; and if left to our ſelves muſt periſh Everlaſtingly.
If God had puniſhed Adam according to his ſin with death; He had cut off Mankind from the Earth; But he was graciouſly pleaſed to ſhew mercy.
God ſuffered man to live for a time upon Earth, but ſo, as he might be ſenſible of the great evil he had brought upon himſelf by breaking God's Commandment.
The creatures are accurſed to bring forth for him vanity and trouble, and vexation, hard labour, pains and ſickneſſes come upon his body, he becomes aſhamed of himſelf, and is filled with terrors of Conſcience, and having ſtruggled through many evils and difficulties muſt at laſt dye, and return to duſt.
Yet God opened unto him a new way to Eternal happineſs after death; in ſuch a way as to magnifie his Love and Mercy to Mankind, and manifeſt his hatred of ſin, and Zeal for the keeping of his Laws, that he might at once ſhew grace to the Offender, and ſecure the honour of his juſt government.
God did graciouſly promiſe that a man ſhould be born of a woman, who ſhould conquer the Devil, and deliver man from his Tyranny, and give ſuch ſatisfaction unto God's Juſtice, that for his ſake, all they ſhould be Eternally happy that would accept of him for their Saviour.
Accordingly, God ſo loved the world, that he gave his only Begotten Son, that whoſoever believeth in him ſhould not periſh; but have Everlaſting Life.
God the Son took to himſelf our humane nature, Soul and Body, and was made truly man, yet ceaſed not to be truly God, but is both God and Man in one Perſon, God manifeſted in the Fleſh.
He was wonderfully made Man, by being Born without all ſtain of ſin, of a pure Virgin called Mary, who conceived him by the Divine power of the Holy Ghoſt, when ſhe had never known man.
An Angel from Heaven revealed his conception to the Bleſſed Virgin, and commanded his name to be called Jeſus, becauſe he was to ſave his people from their ſins.
Being Born and Circumciſed according to the Law, he lived many years upon earth in an humble and low condition, gave us an example to imitate in his Life, doing the whole will of God, and conquering all the temptations of the Devil, and the World.
This is that Meſſia whom many Prophets had foretold, the very CHRIST, or anointed of the Lord to be a Prophet, a Prieſt and a King, and in this Threefold Office the Mediator of a New Covenant between God and Men.
As a Prophet he hath in his Goſpel, and by his Apoſtles made known unto us all his Fathers will concerning our ſalvation, and the way to it.
As a Prieſt, he was Crucified, and dyed under Pontius Pilate, ſo offering himſelf once for all, a perfect and ſufficient ſacrifice for the forgiveneſs of our ſins, in conſideration: whereof, God hath granted pardon and Life to all true Believers.
Being dead he was buried, and wentiamong the dead, and the Third day roſe again to Life, now to dye no more, and having ſealed the Covenant in his Blood, he left inſtructions with his Apoſtles to admit men into it by Baptiſm, and teach them how to keep it, and promiſed them the gift of the Holy Ghoſt.
After ſome dayes, he in their ſight went up into Heaven, and is glorified at God's Right-hand, in Power and Majeſty; And as King, ruleth and protecteth his Church, Reigneth in the hearts of his ſubjects, ſubdueth all his Enemies, and is our Advecate with the Father, rendering our perſons and ſervices accepted of him, and prevaiſing for all good bleſſings on us.
Shortly after his Aſcenſion, on the day of Pemecoſt, Chriſt ſent the Holy Ghoſt, the Eternal Spirit of the Father and the Son, upon the Apoſtles, to guide them into all ſaving truth, to enable them to Preach to every Nation in its own Language, to write the Holy Scriptures, and to ſeal and confirm the truth of them by many Miracles, and wonderful works, and to encourage them to a conſtant ſuffering for Chriſt, even unto death.
The Scriptures of the Old and New Teſtament are the very Word of God, which Holy men of God ſpake, and writ as they were moved by the Holy Ghoſt, and they contain all things neceſſary to Salvation, and are the ſtanding Sealed Rule of Faith and Life.
The Holy Ghoſt is Chriſt's Advocate, pleading his cauſe with men. He is our Sanctifier, enlightening, opening, ſoftning, changing and renewing our hearts and minds to receive, and grow in knowledge and grace: Making the word effectual for our conviction and converſion, helping us to pray, and ſtirring us up to goodneſs, comforting us with a ſenſe of its operations, and ſtrengthening us to withſtand temptations, and hold out in a Chriſtian courſe unto the end.
All thoſe that are regenerated, enlightened and converted by the Holy Ghoſt are one Holy Church, whereof Chriſt is the only Head. All that outwardly profeſs Chriſtianity, and have been Baptized, are to be accounded Holy by a viſible ſeparation and dedication to God, till they cut themſelves off by Schiſm, or are juſtly caſt out by Excommunication.
Chriſt's Church is not limited to any Nation or People, but extends to all places, is propagated in all Ages, and containeth all ſaving truth; and in this ſenſe is Ʋniverſal or Catholick.
All the Sanctified Members of this Myſtical Body of Chriſt, have Fellowſhip with the Father, and Son, by one Holy Spirit; with Angels in their love, care and Miniſtries, with the glorified Saints in Heaven in their love and prayers, and with one another on Earth, in the ſame Faith; and Hope, and Love, Word and Sacraments, bound to hold the Ʋnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
All theſe have in conſideration of Chriſt's ſatisfaction, a full pardon of all paſt ſins given of God, and Sacramentally ſealed unto them in Baptiſm, with an aſſurance of final juſtification and Salvation, upon condition of their perſeverance in Repentance and Faith.
At death the ſouls of the faithful reſt with God in peace and happineſs, and the ſouls of the wicked go into an endleſs ſtate of miſery.
The bodies of all men ſhall be raiſed again after death, and ſhall be again united to their ſouls.
All men ſhall after the Reſurrection appear before the Judgment ſeat of Chriſt, where the wicked ſhall be condemned to Everlaſting torments, but the Righteous ſhall be finally acquitted, and go into Everlaſting Life and Joy, happy in the conſtant and perfect love of God, praiſing him, delighting in him, amongſt all Bleſſed Angels and Saints to all Eternity.