A69028:865
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.
In the first place this should teach Gods children many lessons: as,
1. To give this glory to God, to acknowledge him as a Father, and daily so to call him from their hearts. The first thing a child speaks in nature usually is the name of his parents, and so the first thing in Religion should be to call God Father: we can do nothing in Religion till we can call upon God, as upon a Father: this is the very foundation of the Church, because all effectual Religion is built upon this principle that God is our Father, 2. Thes. 1. 1. Rom. 8. 15.
1. To giue this glory to God, to acknowledge him as a Father, and daily so to call him from their hearts. The first thing a childe speakes in nature vsually is the name of his parents, and so the first thing in Religion should bee to call God Father: we can doe nothing in Religion till we can call vpon God, as vpon a Father: this is the very foundation of the Church, because all effectuall Religion is built vpon this principle that God is our Father, 2. Thes. 1. 1. Rom. 8. 15.
2. We should live without care: as our Saviour shows, Mat. 6. for we have a Father to care for us, and he is a heavenly Father, and therefore both knows what we need, and is fully able to help us, and besides he daily feeds the fowls of the air, and yet he is not a Father to them, how therefore can he neglect us, whom he hath begotten as children to himself, ver. 26. 32.