so far is it from inclining men to looseness 0. IV. True believers may have the afsurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into fome special fin, which woundeth the confcience, and grieveth the Spirit; by some fudden or vehement temptation; by God's withdrawing the light of his countenance, and fuffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light p: yet are they never utterly destitute of that feed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and confcience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, time that their corn and their wine increased. Pfal. cxix. 32. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart. 01 John ii. 1. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye fin not. And if any man fin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Chrift the righteous. v. 2. And he is the propitiation for our fins: and not for ours only, but also for the fins of the whole world. Rom, vi. 1. What shall we say then? shall we continue in fin, that grace may abound? v. 2. God forbid: how shall we that are dead to fin, live any longer therein? Tit. ii. 11. For the grace of God that bringeth falvation, hath appeared to all men, v.-12. Teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lufts, we should live foberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. v. 14. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 2 Cor. vii. 1. Having therefore these promises (dearly beloved) let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Rom. vili, 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in L this Christ Jesus; who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. v. 12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesn. 1 John iii. 2. Beloved, now are we the fons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall fee him as he is. v. 3. And every, man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Pfal.cxxx. 4. But there is forgiveness with thee; that thou mayeft; be feared. I John i. 6. If we fay that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. v. 7. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jefus Christ his Son cleanfeth us from all fin. IV. p Cant. v. 2. 1. fleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my fifter, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my. head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.. v. 3. I have put off my coat, how. shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them? v. 6. I opened to my beloved, but my G2 beloved this assurance may in due time be received q, and by the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter despair r. beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my foul failed when he spake; I fought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. Pfal. li. 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken, may rejoice. v. 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvati on; and uphold me with thy free Spirit. v. 14. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my falvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Eph. iv. 30. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. v. 31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking be put away from you, with all malice. Pfal. Ixxvii. 1. I cried unto God with my voice: even unto God with my voice, and he gave car unto me. v. 2. In the day of my trouble I fought the Lord: my fore ran in the night and ceased not: my foul refused to be comforted, v. 3. I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my fpirit was overwhelmed. Selah. v. 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I'am so troubled, that I cannot speak. v. 5. I have confidered the days of old, the years of ancient times. v. 6. I call to remembrance my fong in the night: I commune with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search, v. 7. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? v. 8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? v. 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender CHAP. mercies? Selah. *v. 10. And I said, This is my infirmity, but I will re member the years of the right hand of the most high. Mat. xxvi. 69. Now Peter sat without in the palace; and a damsel came unto him, faying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. v. 70. But he denied before them all, faying, I know not what thou fayest. v. 71. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and faid unto them that were there, This fellow was alfo with Jesus of Nazareth. v. 72. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. Pfal. xxxi. 22. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes : nevertheless thou heardst the voice of my fupplications, when I cried unto thee. (Pfal. lxxxviii. throughout.) Ifa. 1. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his fervant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. 91 John iii. 9. Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit fin; for his feed remainetli in him, and he cannot fin because he is born of God. Luke xxii. 32. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Job. xiii, 15. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. but I will maintain mine own ways before him. Pfal. Ixxiii. 15. If I fay, I will speak thus: Behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. Pfal, li: 8, 12. (See letter A immediately before.) Ifa. 1. 10. (See letter pimmediately foregoing.): Mic. vii. 7. Therefore I will look Unto G CHAP. XIX. Of the Law of God. ▼OD gave to Adam a law as a covenant of works, by which he bound him and all his pofterity to personal, entire, exact and perpetual obedience, promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatned death upon the breach of it; and endued him with power and ability to keep it a. unto the Lord: I will wait for the Ged of my salvation: my God will hear me. v. 8. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arife: when I fit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. v. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute jndgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. Jer. xxxii, 40. And I will make an everJasting covenant with them, That I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Ifa. liv. 7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. v. 8. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee, for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, faith the Lord thy Redeemer. v. 9. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; fo have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. V. 10. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, faith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee. Pfal. xxii. 1. My cod, my God, why II. This hast thou forsaken me? why are thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? (Pfal. lxxxviii. throughout.) 1. a Gen. i. 20. And God faid, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. v. 27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him : male and female created he them. With Gen. ii. 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shall surely die. Rom. ii. 14. For when the Gentiles who have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves: v.15. Who shew the works of the law written in their hearts, their confcience alfo bearing witness; and their thoughts the mean while accufing, or elfe excusing one another. Rom. x. 5. For Mofes describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man who doth those things, shall live by them. Rom. v. 12. Wherefore, as by one man fin entred into the world, and death by fin; and so death patled upon all men, for that all have finned. v. 19. For as by one man's dif G4 obedi 104 The Confeffion of Faith. Chap. XIX II. This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousiness; and, as fuch, was delivered by God upon mount Sinai in ten commandments, and written in two tables b. the four first commandments containing our duty towards God, and the other fix our duty to man c. III. Befide this law, commonly called Moral, God was pleafed to give to the people of Ifrael, as a church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings and obedience many were made sinners: so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous, Gal. iii. 10. For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do them. v. 12. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doth them, shall live in them. Eccl. vii. 29. Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright: but they have fought out many in ventions Job xxviii. 28. And unto man he said, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil, is understanding. 11. b James i. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this man shall be blesfed in his deed, James ii. 8. If ye fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well. V. 10. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. v. 11. For he that faid, Do not commit adul tery; faid also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. v. 12. So speak ye, and fo do, as they that shall be judged : bene- = by the law of liberty. Rom. xiii. 8. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another, hath fulfilled the law. v. 9. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Deut. v. 32. Ye shall obferve to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you, you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. Deut. x. 4. And he wrote on the tables, according to the firft writing, the ten commandments which the Lord spake unto you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the affembly: and the Lord gave them unto me. Exod. xxxix. 1. And the Lord faid unto Mofes, Hew thee two tables of ftone like unto the firft; and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakeft. 6 Mat. xxii. 37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy mind. v. 38. This is the first and great commandment. v. 39. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy : : : benefits d; and partly holding forth divers instructions of mo- ral duties e. All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testament f. IV. To them alfo, as a body politic, he gave fundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any other now, further than the general equity thereof may requirė g. neighbour as thyself. v. 40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. III. d (Heb. ix. chapter.) Heb. x. 1. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices, which they of fered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. Gal. iv. 1. Now I say that the heir as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a fervant, though he be lord of all: v. 2. But is under tutors and governors, until the time ap pointed of the Father. v. 3. Even fo we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world, Col. ii, 17. Which are a fhadow of things to come; but the body is of Chrift. e 1 Cor. v. 7. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened: for even Chrift our passover is facrificed for us. 2 Cor. vi. 17. Where fore come out from among them, and be ye feparate, faith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, Jude 23. And others fave with fear, pulling them out of the fire hating even the garments spotred by the flesh. ƒ Col. ii. 14. Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances, that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. v. 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or V. The in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the fabbath-days, v. 17. Which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Chrift. Dan, ix. 27. And he shall confirm the cove. nant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to ceafe; and for the overfpreading of abominations, he shall make it defolate, even until the confumation, and that determined shall be poured upon the defolate. Eph. ii. 15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain, one new man, so making peace; v. 16. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having flain the enmity thereby. IV. g (Exod. xxi. chapter. Exod. xxii. 1. to the 29. verse: See both in the Bible.) Gen. xlix. 10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. With 1 Pet. ii. 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's fake, whether it be to the king, as fupreme; v. 14. Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him, for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well. Mat. v. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy |