A31334:156
Catechistical guide to sinners, and to such converts that are babes in Christ wherein…
Catechistical guide to sinners, and to such converts that are babes in Christ wherein all the necessary points of religion are methodically proposed in Scripture-language, abundantly confirmed by the Holy Scriptures, and in some places concisely expounded : in the whole, all controversies are warily shunned, so that all true Christians, of what persuasion soever, may (if they need the help of others) use this catechism for their children, or others that are under their power and card / written upon request, by a lover of truth and peace.Catechistical guide to sinners, and to such converts that are babes in Christ wherein all the necessary points of religion are methodically proposed in Scripture-language, abundantly confirmed by the Holy Scriptures, and in some places concisely expounded : in the whole, all controversies are warily shunn'd, so that all true Christians, of what persuassion soever, may (if they need the help of others) use this catechism for their children, or others that are under their power and card / written upon request, by a lover of truth and peace.
London: printed by J.D., 1680
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
A. I am taught to add no more, but to conclude, That this God who is a Spirit, is the Living and true God.
[God is often called the Living God, Psal. 42.2. Mat. 16.16. The living and true God, 1 Thess. 1.9. Now because the confirmation of this, That God is said to be a Spirit, in allusion to the Spirit of Man, was reserved for this place, I shall therefore here perform it: And although my Discourse thereof will be contracted to that brevity the Tract in hand does require, yet I hope it will give satisfaction to all that are unprejudiced and considerate.
In this saying, God is a Spirit; the term Spirit must be udderstood either properly or improperly; not properly, for so it denoteth ⟨p. 43⟩Wind, or rather a Blast (to wit) of Wind, as the word answering it in Hebrew is rendered, 2 King. 19.7. And thus it is used John 3.8. The Wind bloweth where it listeth. In an improper sense 'tis not imaginable how it should be accepted, unless metaphorically. And thus it cannot be taken immediately from its primary signification; and therefore must have respect, either to those incorporeal Beings, which from their Office are commonly called Angels; or the principal and more noble part of Man, both which are named Spirits or Ghosts, as bearing some resemblance in respect of invisibility and might to Blasts, or Ghosts, or Gusts of Wind. Now it is altogether unlikely, that our Saviour, especially in speaking to a Woman of Samaria, should in this term Spirit, allude to Angelical Spirits, it being a matter much to be doubted, whether these Creatures were at this time known to any in the World (unless a few) by the name of Spirits. But however this is certain, That such a Metaphor or Comparison would have been, when used by our Saviour, of little or no use at all in the World; for that there were any such Beings, that were Spirits or incorporeal Substances, was a thing not generally known in the World, and denied by a considerable Party among