A69028:818
The rule of faith, or, An exposition of the Apostles Creed so handled as…
The rule of faith, or, An exposition of the Apostles Creed so handled as it affordeth both milk for babes, and strong meat for such as are at full age / by ... Nicholas Bifield ; ... now published ... by his son, Adoniram Bifield.The rule of faith, or, An exposition of the Apostles Creed so handled as it affordeth both milke for babes, and strong meat for such as are at full age / by ... Nicholas Bifield ; ... now published ... by his sonne, Adoniram Bifield.
London: printed by G.M. for Philemon Stephens and Christopher Meredith, 1626
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.
The Father.]
This term Father is attributed to God both essentially and personally. Essentially, and so the term belongs to each Person in the Trinity, as being a term that follows the God-head, Mat. 23. 9. and thus God is said to be a Father divers ways: as, first, by Predestination, because he enrols the Elect as Sons from all eternity, Ephes. 1. 3. secondly, by Creation, because he made things to be of nothing by his own power, thus Adam is said to be the Son of God, Luke 3. 38. and and God is called the Father of spirits, Heb. 12. 9. thirdly, by temporal redemption, and so God is acknowledged for the Father of the Israelites, because he made them a people to himself, and brought them out of Egypt and gave them the outward privileges of his children, Isaiah 63. 16. 11. 12. fourthly, by regeneration, when he changeth our natures and makes them like his divine Nature, 2. Pet. 1. 4. and so we are sons so soon as we believe, John 1. 12. and so soon as he gives us the Spirit of Sanctification and Adoption, Rom. 8. 15. fifthly, by personal union, and so Christ in respect of his humane nature is the Son of God: because that nature doth subsist in the divine Nature, Luke 1. Now all these ways God is a Father by grace; and in respect of Regeneration, the second Person in the Trinity is called a Father aswell as the first, Isaiah 9. 6. 7. and is said to have an offspring and generation, Isaiah 53. 10. Lastly, God is said to be a Father by Nature, and by generation, as he begets a Son, consubstantial with himself, and so the first Person in the Trinity is called Father only, as he is the Natural Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.