A31334:159
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.
for Resurrection, Angel, and Spirit, must needs be three. My Exposition may also be defended from that which follows in vers. 9. and from the Absurdities which will follow the denial of it. But to return, I say, That if our Saviour, by the term Spirit, intended an allusion to ⟨p. 45⟩Angels, the word would import little or nothing at all; For what could Men conceive thence concerning God? That he is not corporeal? Be it so. Notwithstanding this is certain, that some would not thence so conceive; and that at least the Woman of Samaria, and others of the vulgar sort, could hardly, if at all, find any such document in the similitude. But what else could Men from this Metaphor learn concerning God? Little else upon any clear and undoubted evidence, the nature of these Spirits being so little known by the wisest of Men. Surely our Saviour intended in this Metaphor, a clear and plentiful instruction concerning God, and for the use of the vulgar sort. Whence I conclude, that Jesus has not respect here to Angelical Spirits in this Comparison, but to the Spirit of Man. In this sense the Comparison is suited to vulgar Capacities: for there is no Man but experimentally knows that he has a Spirit. And there is nothing vulgarly known in the whole Creation of God, that does excel, or may be equal to humane Spirits. And moreover, this noble part of Man passeth commonly under this name of Spirit. How fruitful of instruction the Similitude is, as thus understood, hath already in some measure been showed. It ⟨p. 46⟩only remains, that I show how well this sense of the term Spirit agrees with the Context. This in as few words as may be, thus:
for Resurrection, Angel, and Spirit, must needs be three. My Exposition may also be defended from that which follows in vers. 9. and from the Absurdities which will follow the denial of it. But to return, I say, That if our Saviour, by the term Spirit, intended an allusion to ⟨p. 45⟩Angels, the word would import little or nothing at all; For what could Men conceive thence concerning God? That he is not corporeal? Be it so. Notwithstanding this is certain, that some would not thence so conceive; and that at least the Woman of Samaria, and others of the vulgar sort, could hardly, if at all, find any such document in the similitude. But what else could Men from this Metaphor learn concerning God? Little else upon any clear and undoubted evidence, the nature of these Spirits being so little known by the wisest of Men. Surely our Saviour intended in this Metaphor, a clear and plentiful instruction concerning God, and for the use of the vulgar sort. Whence I conclude, that Jesus has not respect here to Angelical Spirits in this Comparison, but to the Spirit of Man. In this sense the Comparison is suited to vulgar Capacities: for there is no Man but experimentally knows that he has a Spirit. And there is nothing vulgarly known in the whole Creation of God, that does excel, or may be equal to humane Spirits. And moreover, this noble part of Man passeth commonly under this name of Spirit. How fruitful of instruction the Similitude is, as thus understood, hath already in some measure been shewed. It