A69028:944
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.
3 According to his own Decree: there was nothing created which was not decreed, and nothing decreed to be, which was not created according to the Decree.
3 According to his owne Decree: there was nothing created which was not decreed, and nothing decreed to bee, which was not created according to the Decree.
4 Most advisedly: having from all eternity consulted, determined and foreseen all was to be made.
4 Most aduisedly: hauing from all eternity consulted, determined and foreseene all was to be made.
Secondly, with a word only: he had none to help him, nor needed tools or instruments, as men do to effect their works, Gen. 1. Psal. 33. 9. Thirdly, without labour or weariness, Isaiah 40. 28. Fourthly, of Nothing: men cannot build without Materials, but God made the world of Nothing, in respect of the first matter of all things, Heb. 11. 3. for he made not the world of his own essence, nor of any other preexisting matter: for though it be a saying, that of nothing, nothing can be made, yet that is true in respect of us, not in respect of God, and in respect of the order of Nature now, not in respect of the beginning of Nature in the Creation. And though it be true that some creatures were made of preexisting matter, as mans body was made of the dust of the earth, yet that preexisting matter was created of nothing. Fifthly, all good: all things at first were made good, not in appearance, but in deed, not in mans judgement who might be deceived, but in Gods: he saw that all was good, and so all creatures were good, in respect of excellence, distinction, numbe, fashion, and freedom from defects of faculties or power belonging to each creature in his kind. Sixthly, not all on a sudden and at once, but in six days: and that for divers reasons: for God would have the creation of the first matter of Nothing, to be manifest and distinct from the framing and fashioning of bodies out of that matter: besides, thereby he showed his power and freedom in producing the creatures: making them to be, before any natural cause of them was, as to make light before the Sun and Moon was: and further, thereby he showed his goodness and care for the principal creatures, providing food before he brings in the beasts,