An Explication of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism

by Thomas Boston

Table of Contents

What is the chief end of man?

What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?

What do the Scriptures principally teach?

What is God?

Are there more Gods than one?

How many persons are there in the Godhead?

What are the decrees of God?

How doth God execute his decrees?

What is the work of creation?

How did God create man?

What are God's works of providence?

What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?

Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?

What is sin?

What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?

Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?

Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?

What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?

How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?

How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?

How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?

How doth Christ execute the office of a king?

Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?

Wherein consisteth Christ's exaltation?

How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

What is effectual calling?

What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?

What is justification?

What is adoption?

What is sanctification?

What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?

What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?

What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

QUEST. What is the chief end of Man?

ANSW. Man's chief end is, to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

EXPLICATION.

BY man's chief end is meant, the end which man was chiefly made for, and which he should chiefly seek to reach unto. It consists of two parts; his chief duty, and his chief happiness. Man's chief duty is to glorify God: 1 Cor. 10:31, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Man glorifies God, by thinking, speaking, and living to his glory. And this is man's chief, and last or farthest end. Man's chief happiness is, to enjoy God as his God: Psalm 73:25, 26, 27, 28, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. For lo, they that are far from thee, shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a-whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw near to God." And this is man's chief subordinate end. A sinner can never glorify God, until he first enjoy him as his God: Eph. 2:12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the common-wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Gen. 17:1, "The Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." Exod. 20:2, 3, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Now, the sinner can attain to the enjoyment of God, only through Jesus Christ: John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." And one may get a saving interest in Christ, by faith. Moreover, they who enjoy God as their God, are enabled to glorify him, by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them as members of Christ: Rom. 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Wherefore, none that are out of Christ, reach the chief end of man: but they make themselves their chief end. Howbeit, believers do reach it: and they reach it, in so far as they shall, from the first moment of their believing, for ever enjoy and glorify God; imperfectly indeed here, but perfectly in heaven.

QUEST. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us, how we may glorify and enjoy him?

ANSW. The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, is the only Rule to direct us, how we may glorify and enjoy him.

EXPLICATION.

The end for which the Scriptures are given, is, to be a rule to direct us how we may glorify God, and come to the enjoyment of him as our God. And they are the only rule to direct us in these matters. Withall they are a certain and infallible rule; and that because they are the word of God. It appears, that they are the word of God, by the holiness efficacy of their doctrine, and the miracles wrought to confirm it. And this, although for the most part they were written by men because all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, 2 Tim. 3:16. The word Scriptures signifies writings: but the church had not always the written word, till about Moses' time. Howbeit, they were supplied, while they wanted it, by extraordinary revelations: and it is the same doctrine that was then so revealed, which we have now in the Scripture. Nevertheless, the Scripture is altogether necessary for the church now; and that because extraordinary revelation of doctrine is ceased, and God hath bound us to the Scripture as the test or touchstone of doctrine: Isa. 8:20. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Neither will God ever give us another rule: for the Scripture is a testamentary word of God. Now, a testament is the last will of a dying person. So the Scripture is Christ's testament, confirmed by his death; and as a testament, it declares the last will of God concerning man's salvation and duty. Christ's testament is twofold: namely, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. The books beginning with Genesis, and ending with Malachi, are Christ's Old Testament: those beginning with Matthew, and ending with the Revelation, are Christ's New Testament. These two testaments are one and the same for substance: for in both, Jesus Christ is the testator; eternal life is the legacy; sinners of mankind are the legatees; and faith in Jesus Christ is the way of claiming and obtaining the legacy: 1 John 5:11, 12, "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life: and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life." Prov. 8:4, "Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man." But they differ in circumstances; the new being more clear and full than the old one. Howbeit, neither the one nor the other can be savingly understood, without an inward illumination of the mind by the Spirit of Christ: 1 Cor. 2:14, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."

QUEST. 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?

ANSW. The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.

EXPLICATION.

Principally to teach, is chiefly to teach. The things that the Scriptures teach chiefly, are these two; Faith, and obedience: 2 Tim. 1:13. "Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." The faith which the Scriptures teach, is, "What man is to believe concerning God:" The obedience which the Scriptures teach, is, "What duty God requires of man." Nothing can be an article of faith, necessary to be done, but what is taught in the Scriptures. Howbeit, not only what is found in Scripture in express words, but also what ariseth therefrom, by necessary consequence, is to be reckoned taught therein: Matth. 22:32. "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

QUEST. 4. What is God?

ANSW. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, andu nchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness justice, goodness, and truth.

EXPLICATION.

No creature can fully comprehend what God is: Job 11:7. "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" But he has revealed so much of himself in the Scriptures, as is necessary for us to know. For his sort of being, he is a Spirit: and a Spirit is an immaterial substance, without flesh or bones. He hath not then a body nor any bodily parts: John 4:24. "God is a Spirit." Luke 24:39. "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Then eyes, ears, and such like bodily parts, ascribed to him in Scripture, are not to be understood properly: But by them we are to understand an infinite perfection of those powers, which those members serve for in us. So the eyes of God signify his infinite power of discerning objects, as by the eye: His ears signify his infinite power of discerning voices, as by the ear. Moreover, God cannot be seen with bodily eyes; no not with the eyes of glorified bodies in heaven: hence he is said to be "invisible, and to dwell in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see," 1 Tim. 1:17. and 6:16. But God can be seen with the eyes of the mind, enlightened with the light of grace here, and the light of glory in heaven: Eph. 1:17, 18. "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." Finally, there is nothing which God is like unto; Isa. 40:18. "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?" So we may not form any imagination of him in our minds, as we can do of an absent man. Now, there are other spirits besides God: and these are angels and the souls of men. But the difference betwixt God and them, lies here, that God is an infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Spirit; and they are not so. The attributes of God, or perfections of the divine nature, are of two sorts; incommunicable, and communicable. His incommunicable attributes, whereof there is no vestige in the creature, are his infinity, eternity, and unchangeableness. God is infinite, in that he is whatsoever he is: without any bounds or measure: Job 11:7, "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" He is eternal, in that he is without beginning and without end: Psal. 90:2. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world: even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God." He is unchangeable in that he is, and cannot but be always the same, without any alteration whatsoever: James 1:17. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." He is then said to repent, not in respect of the affection of repentance, but the effect of it: Num. 23:19. "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" in that, without any change of his own nature, mind, or will, he changeth his dispensations towards the creatures, and makes changes on them: Gen. 6:7, "And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air: for it repenteth me that I have made them." His communicable attributes, whereof there are some scantlings, or faint images in the creature, are his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. The difference between these perfections, as they are in God, and as they are in the creature, lies here, that they are all infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in God, but in the creature not so. The being of God is that perfection whereby he is, and is what he is: Exod. 3:14, "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." His wisdom is that whereby he knows himself, and all things else, with the way how to dispose of them to the best: Psal. 147:5, "Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite." His power is that whereby he can do all things not inconsistent with his nature: Jer. 32:17, "Ah, Lord God, behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." His holiness is the perfect purity of his nature, whereby he delights in his own purity, and in the resemblance of it in the creature: Hab. 1:13. "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." His justice is the perfect rectitude of his nature, whereby he is just in himself, and in all his ways towards the creature: Deut. 32:4. "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he." It is not consistent with his nature, to let sin pass unpunished: 2 Thess. 1:6, "It is a righteous thing with God, to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you." Compared with Gen. 18:25. "That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" His goodness is that whereby he is good in himself, and the author of all good to be found in or about the creature: Matth. 19:17, "There is none good but one, that is God." His goodness is consistent with his severity against the wicked, in that it is the property of goodness to hate and punish sin: Exod. 33:19, "And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." Compared with chap. 34:7, "Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." And it is consistent with the afflictions laid on his own people, in that they flow from his goodness: Job 5:6, "Affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground." And they tend to their good: Psal. 119:71, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes." His truth is that whereby he is perfectly faithful, and free from all falsehood, Tit. 1:2, "In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began."

QUEST. 5. Are there more Gods than one?

ANSW. There is but one only, the living and true God.

EXPLICATION.

God is called the living God, to distinguish him from dead idols; and the true God, to distinguish him from all false gods. 1 Thess. 1:9, "Ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God." He is the living God, in that all life is in him, and from him, 1 Tim. 6:13, "God, who quickeneth all things." To be the true God, is to be God truly and really; and not in name only, or in the opinion of men. Now, there is but one true God: 1 Cor. 8:4, "We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one." And reason teaches, that there can be no more than one, in that there can be but one most perfect being. So the gods many, mentioned, 1 Cor. 8:5. are gods in name only, or in the opinion of their blinded worshippers.

QUEST. 6. How many persons are there in the Godhead?

ANSW. There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: And these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

EXPLICATION.

By the Godhead is meant the divine nature. A person in the Godhead, is the Godhead distinguished by personal properties. The Godhead is one only in number: But the persons in the Godhead are three; and they are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: 1 John 5:7, "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." Jesus Christ is the second of these persons, namely, the Son. And the Father is true God: the Son is true God: and the Holy Ghost is true God. Yet they are not three Gods, but one God, 1 John 5:7, forecited. Howbeit, the Godhead neither is, nor can be divided into parts: but each of the three persons hath the one whole indivisible Godhead. They are not then of a like substance only, but the very same in substance. But they are distinguished by their personal properties. And it is the personal property of the Father, to beget the Son: Heb. 1:5, "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? and again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?" And it is the personal property of the Son, to be begotten of the Father: John 1:14, "The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth." And it is the personal property of the Holy Ghost, to proceed from the Father and the Son: John 15:26, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." Gal. 4:6, "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." The Son and the Holy Ghost are not below the Father, but equal with him: They are all equally powerful and glorious. So the personal properties make no inequality among them; forasmuch as these properties are not temporary and accidental, but eternal and necessary, and could not but be: and every one of the three persons, is the eternal, the supreme, the most high God. This appears, in that to the Son and the Holy Ghost, as well as to the Father, is ascribed the peculiar name of the true God, the Most High: Is. 6:3, "And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory." John 12:41, "These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him." Acts 28:25, 26, "And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet, unto our fathers, saying, &c." Psalm 83:18, "That men may know, that thou whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the Most High over all the earth." And his attributes are ascribed to them: Rev. 1:8, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Psal. 139:7, "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" Likewise his works: John 1:3, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." Matth. 12:28, "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." And also his worship: Heb. 1:8, "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." Matth. 28:19, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

QUEST. 7. What are the decrees of God?

ANSW. The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

EXPLICATION.

By the decrees of God is meant his purpose foreordaining what should come to pass. God hath foreordained in his decrees, whatsoever comes to pass: Eph. 1:11, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Even the most free acts of the creature, and the most casual things, are foreordained of God: Prov. 21:1, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." Chap. 16:33, "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." Yea, evil actions, as well as good ones, fall within the compass of his decree: Acts. 2:23, "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." But with this difference, that he decreed his effecting of good, and his permitting of ill. Now, whatsoever God hath foreordained infallibly comes to pass. And his decrees are unchangeable: Isa. 46:10, "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Yet men have no excuse for their sin, from the decree of God, Acts 2:23, above cited: for they sin out of free choice, without the least knowledge of, or force upon them from the decree: Acts 13:27, "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath-day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him." The design and end of God's decrees is his own glory: Rom. 11:36, "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever." And therefore he will certainly get glory of whatsoever comes to pass, Isa. 46:10, forecited. As to sinful actions, he will get either the glory of his mercy in pardoning them, or else the glory of his justice in punishing them. For the date of God's decrees, they are all eternal: and he makes no new decrees in time: Acts 15:18, "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." The way he decreed all things is according to the counsel of his own will, Eph. 1:11. His decrees are said to be according to his own counsel, as being all laid in the depth of wisdom, which among men is the result of counsel: Rom. 11:33, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" But taking counsel, even in himself, is not competent to God, in a proper sense; because his infinite understanding comprehends all things perfectly at once. They are said to be according to the counsel of his will, as depending on nothing without himself: Rom. 11:34, "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor?"

QUEST. 8. How doth God execute his decrees?

ANSW. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence.

EXPLICATION.

God's executing his decrees, means his bringing to pass what he hath decreed: and he does that in the works of creation and providence. And nothing falls out in either of them, but what was decreed; nor otherwise than as it was decreed: Eph. 1:11, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Zech. 6:1, "And I turned, and lift up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, their came four chariots out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of brass."

QUEST. 9. What is the work of creation?

ANSW. The work of creation is, God's making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good.

EXPLICATION.

The world was not eternal, but had a beginning, Gen. 1:1. It will also have an end; and it will end by fire, being burnt up, 2 Pet. 3:10; and that in virtue of the curse lying on it for man's sin: Gen. 3:17, "And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, made the world: 1 Cor. 8:6, "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." John 1:3, "All things were made by him: and without him was not any thing made that was made." Psal. 33:6, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." He made it in the beginning of time, but a few thousand years ago: Gen. 1:1. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." He then made all things: and there was no person, nor any thing before that, but God himself: Col. 1:16, "For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him." So he made them of nothing; and that by the word of his power, commanding them to be: Heb. 11:3, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that things which are seen, were not made of things which do appear." Now, all things were made in the space of six days: Exod. 20:11, "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." The works of the first day were, the highest heavens, Gen. 1:1. with the angels, the inhabitants thereof, Job 38:4, 7; the shapeless mass of earth and water, and the light. The works of the second day were, the firmament, and the dividing thereby the upper and lower waters. The works of the third day were, the seas, and the dry land, herbs, and trees. The works of the fourth day were, the sun, moon, and stars. The works of the fifth day were, fish, and fowl. The works of the sixth day were, first, the beasts of the earth; and then, last of all, man, male and female: Gen. 1:1. throughout. The goodness of God shines forth in this order of the creation, in that the places were prepared before the dwellers, the food before the eaters, and all necessary to the use of man before man himself. As for the case all things were made in, they were made all very good: Gen. 1:31, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good;" that is to say, very fit for the ends and uses for which they were made. Wherefore, the angels were all made holy and happy. And some of them did continue in that state, 1 Tim. 5:21, "I charge thee before the elect angels," &c.; but others of them sinned, and fell, and became devils, Jude 6, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." 2 Pet. 2:4, "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."

QUEST. 10 How did God create man?

ANSW. God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.

EXPLICATION.

By male and female, is meant man and woman. The man was first made, and then the woman, 1 Tim. 2:13; and the woman was made to be a help to the man, Gen. 2:18. Adam and Eve were the first man and woman: and from them all mankind is descended: Acts 17:25, "God hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." The parts whereof man consists, are a soul and a body. The body of the man was made of the dust of the ground: Gen. 2:7, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Which consideration may be of use to us, to be a cure to our pride, a memorial of our death, and an emblem of our resurrection. The woman's body was made of a rib and flesh taken out of the man's side: Gen. 2:23, "And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man;" and that to the end they might be one flesh, ver. 24, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." The soul is of a spiritual and immortal nature: Eccl. 12:7, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Their souls were made within them, of nothing: Gen. 2:7, above cited, Zech. 12:1. "The Lord, which formeth the spirit of man within him." But Moses gives no separate account of the making of their souls, as of the making of their bodies; because their souls were not of a different make, but only their bodies. Neither are the souls of men since that time generated by the parents, but created of God within their formed bodies in the womb; hence called the Father of Spirits, Heb. 12:9. Now, man was created in a holy and happy state; which appears, in that he was made so far like God, that he was after his very image, Gen. 1:26. And this was not peculiar to the man, but common to the man and the woman, ver. 27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them." The image of God wherein man was so like him, consisted in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and dominion over the creatures: Col. 3:10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him." Eph. 4:24, "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Gen. 1:26, "God said, 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." The parts of the image of God impressed on his soul, were, knowledge on his mind, righteousness on his will, and holiness on his affections. His knowledge was a sufficient understanding of what was necessary to make him completely happy, Gen. 1:26; Col. 3:10. His righteousness was a perfect conformity of his will to the will of God: And his holiness was the perfect purity of all his affections. Eccl. 7:29, "God made man upright." That part of the image of God impressed on the whole man, was dominion over the creatures. The creatures he had dominion over, were the beasts of the earth, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea, Gen. 1:26. The dominion he had over them, was a right and power soberly to use them for God's glory and his own comfort. His charter for this right to the creatures, was the covenant of works, Gen. 2:16, 17, compared with chap. 1:28, "Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." And in these things man bore the image of God, as in him he faintly resembled God himself, who is infinitely knowing, righteous, and holy, and supreme Lord of the creatures. Now, Adam bore this image as a public person, to propagate it to his posterity: Eccl. 7:29, "God made man upright." But it was lost to himself and all mankind, by his fall, 1 Cor. 15:22, "In Adam all die;" and that even to the forfeiting of the dominion over the creatures; an evidence of which is, beasts proving unruly, and hurtful to man. The only way to recover the image of God, is to unite with Jesus Christ by faith: 1 Cor. 15:22, "In Christ shall all be made alive." For he is the image of the invisible God, and to him as a second Adam is the dominion over the creatures restored: Col. 1:15. "Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature. Psal. 8:6, 7, 8, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field: the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Compared with Heb. 2:7, 8, 9, "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet," &c. And he repairs this image in all that believe on him. The reparation of the lost image of God in their souls is begun in their sanctification in him, and perfected in their glorification: Col. 3:10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him." Heb. 12:23, "To the spirits of just men made perfect." The reparation of the lost dominion over the creatures, is begun in their getting a new right to them in their union with him, and perfected in their being put in full possession of the dominion at the last day: Rom. 4:13, "For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Rev. 21:7, "He that overcometh, shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Psalm 49:14, "Like sheep they are laid in the grave, death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning." Their charter for this new right to the creatures, is the covenant of grace, Rom. 4:13, forceited. But they that are out of Christ, have no covenant-right to the creatures, but only a providential right: And that is such a right, as a condemned man hath to his food, until his execution. The management that men now have over the beasts, is far short of the original dominion over them: Gen. 2:19, "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof." But such as it is, it is owing to a new grant made after the fall, for the necessities of human life; which new grant is found recorded, Gen. 9:2, "And the fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered."

QUEST. 11. What art God's works of providence?

ANSW. God's works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.

EXPLICATION.

There is a divine providence about the creatures. That appears from their entire dependence on God as their first cause, and from the exact accomplishment of Scripture prophecies: Acts 17:25, "God is not worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." Ver. 28, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain, also, of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." Isa. 46:9, 10, "Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."

The object which providence is employed about, is all the creatures, and all their actions, Psalm 103:19, "His kingdom ruleth over all." Even devils, and wicked men, are under the providence of God: Matth. 8:31, "So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine." And evil actions, as well as good, are within the verge of it: Gen. 45:7, "And God sent me before you, to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance." Yea, there is not any thing whatsoever, be it ever so small or casual, that falls out without the providence of God: Matth. 10:29, 30, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered."

The works of providence about the creatures, are the preserving of them, and the governing of them and their actions. Providence preserves the creatures, sustaining them in being, and providing for their support: Heb. 1:3, "Upholding all things by the word of his power." Psalm 145:15, 16, "The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." No creature whatsoever could keep itself in being one moment; but upon God's withdrawing the upholding hand of his providence, it would immediately return to nothing: Heb. 1:3. Providence governs the creatures and their actions, disposing of them according to the divine purpose: Prov. 21:1, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he turneth it whithersoever he will." Eph. 1:11, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Providence governs sinful actions, permitting them, bounding them, and overruling them to good: Acts 14:16, "Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways." Psalm 76:10, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." Gen. 1:20, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."

The properties of the works of providence are these: They are most holy, wise, and powerful: Psal. 145:17, "The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." Psal. 104:24, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all." Dan. 4:35, "He doth according to his own will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What dost thou?" Wherefore, God is not the author of sin; no more than he who rides a crooked horse, is the cause of his halting: James 1:13, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." All dispensations of providence are wisely ordered: Deut. 32:4, "He is the rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth, and without iniquity; just and right is he." And providence cannot miss of its designs and ends: Is. 46:10, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."

The rule of the works of providence, is the decree of God; whereof they, and the works of creation, are an exact accomplishment, Eph. 1:11, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."

QUEST. 12. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the estate wherein he was created?

ANSW. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death.

EXPLICATION.

The special act of providence towards man newly created, was, God's making a covenant of life and happiness with him. There are two covenants for life and happiness to man: and they are, the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace: Gal. 4:24, "For these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar."

The first covenant was the covenant of works. It was made in paradise, and before the fall. The parties contracting in it, were God and Adam: Gen. 2:17, "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 shalt surely die." But Adam represented all mankind, as the parties contracted for: Gen. 2:17, forecited. Compared with Rom. 5:12, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." There was no mediator of this covenant; for as yet there was no breach, by sin, betwixt God and man.

The condition of the covenant of works, was perfect obedience: Gal. 3:12, "And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doth them, shall live in them." And it was to be perfect, in respect of parts, degrees, and continuance: Gal. 3:10, "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." Matth. 22:37, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." So the least failing in any part or degree of obedience, or for never so small a time, would have broken this covenant. The law that was the rule of this obedience, was the law of the ten commands, and the law forbidding to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil: Gal. 3:10, and Gen. 2:17, forecited. That tree grew in paradise, Gen. 2:9. There was no virtue in it to improve men in knowledge, as the devil falsely suggested, Gen. 3:5, "For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened: and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Compared with John 8:44, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh "of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." But that name was put upon this tree, to intimate, that by eating of it, man would know to his sad experience, the vast difference between good and ill: wherefore that tree with that name, was of use, to be a warning-piece to man to beware of evil. Now, Adam knew the law of the ten commands, as they were impressed on his heart in his creation: Rom. 2:15, "Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else excusing one another." He knew the law of the forbidden tree by revelation, Gen. 2:17, forecited. And he had sufficient ability for the perfect obedience required, Eccl. 7:29, "God made man upright."

The promise of the covenant of works, was a promise of life: Gen. 2:17, forecited. The life promised was twofold; namely, one to be afforded him, during the course of his probationary obedience, another to be afforded him at the perfecting of it. The life to have been afforded to man during the course of his probationary obedience, was natural life continued in vigour and comfort, and spiritual life continued in favour and fellowship with God, Gen. 2:17, forecited. This was the reward of obedience in hand. The life to have been afforded him at the perfecting of his course, was eternal life in consummate happiness: Matth. 19:16, 17, "And behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." And this was the reward of obedience in hope. Adam, if he had continued obedient, could have claimed that life upon his obedience; yet not in the way of proper merit; because his perfect obedience was no more than what was due from him by the law of his creation, before he entered into that covenant: Luke 17:9, 10, "Doth he thank that servant, because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." The only way he could have claimed it, was by compact, namely, in virtue of the covenant-promise made to this work.

The penalty of the covenant of works was death, Gen. 2:17, forecited. The death threatened was also twofold; namely, one accompanying sin at its first entrance, another following after as its full reward. The death accompanying sin at its first entrance, was temporal death, in the loss of the vigour and comfort of natural life; and spiritual death, in the loss of the image of God with his favour and fellowship. And Adam died this death, according to the threatening, that very day he sinned: Gen. 3:7, 8, 9, 10, "And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked: and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God, amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden: and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." The death following after, as the full reward of sin, was the natural death of the body with the sting in it, and eternal death in the consummate misery of soul and body for ever: 1 Cor. 15:55, "O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Matth. 25:41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And this was comprehended in the express threatening of death to accompany sin; inasmuch as the one was a sure pledge of the other, natively issuing therein.

QUEST. 13. Did our first parents continue in the state wherein they were created?

Answ. Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.

EXPLICATION.

Our first parents were Adam and Eve. The state wherein they were created, was a holy and happy state: but they fell from it; and that by their sinning against God: Gen. 3:6, 7, 8, 10, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise; she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat," &c. The first that sinned was the woman: 1 Tim. 2:14, "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." And it was the devil that ensnared her: Gen. 3:12.—"And the woman said, the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." The woman having sinned, insnared Adam, ver. 6, forecited. But their being tempted to sin, did not excuse them; because it was of their own free will that they sinned. Freedom of will is a power in the will, whereby it doth of its own accord, without it, choose or refuse what is proposed to it by the understanding. And man hath this freedom of will in whatever state he be. But this power of the will is not of the same extent in all states. In the state of innocence, it extended both to good and evil; that is to say, man had a freedom of will, whereby he could wholly turn, either to the one side or the other, to good or evil, proposed by his understanding: And that man was created thus mutable, was sutable to the state of trial. Now, the special act of providence about the fall of our first parents, was that God left them to the freedom of their own will, and the use they made of that, was, that they went freely, of their own accord, to the side of sin. But in the state of corrupt nature, the power of the will extends only to evil: Gen. 4:5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." In the state of grace, it extends partly to good, and partly to evil: Rom. 7:23. "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." And in the state of glory it extends only to good: Heb. 12:23. "To the spirits of just men made perfect."

QUEST. 14. What is Sin?

ANSW. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

EXPLICATION.

By Sin is meant transgression of the law of God; and therefore nothing can be sin but what one way or other is a transgression of some law of God: 1 John 3:4. "Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." Transgression of the law of God, is any want of conformity to it whatsoever, 1 John 3:4, forecited. So the least coming short of the perfection required by the law, is sin; because so far there is a want of conformity to the law: Matth. 5:48, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is in heaven is perfect." Compared with 1 John 3:4, above cited. Now the law of God requires a twofold conformity to it in the reasonable creatures; namely a conformity of their natures to it, and a conformity of their lives to it: Psalm 24:3, 4. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." Hence there are two general kinds of sin; namely original sin, and actual sin: and each of them is a want of conformity to the law of God. Original sin is a want of conformity of our natures to the law of God. Actual sin is a want of conformity of our lives to the law of God, whether by omission or commission. The chief evil of sin lies in the filthiness of it. The filthiness of sin is its being the quite contrary of God's holiness expressed in his law; whence it is, in the sight of God, the object of his greatest loathing and abhorrence: Jer. 44:4. "Howbeit, I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending them, saying, Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate!"

QUEST. 15. What was the Sin whereby our first Parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?

ANSW. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit.

EXPLICATION.

The sin whereby man fell, was the eating the forbidden fruit: Gen. 2:6, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise; she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." There was no evil in the fruit itself, for which it was forbidden: Gen. 1 ult. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good." The evil of the matter lay in man's eating it against the express command of God. God forbade it to be eaten, for the trial of man's obedience. And the fitness of taking trial of man by that mean, appears in that so it was taken in an external thing, in itself indifferent, wherein man's obedience behoved to turn precisely upon the point of the will of God. This sin was then in effect, man's practical declaration that he would not be ruled by God's will, but by his own: and therefore it was not a little sin, but a breaking of the whole law at once: Jam. 2:10, 11, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, do not commit adultery; said also, do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law."

QUEST. 16. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?

ANSW. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.

EXPLICATION.

Adam did not fall alone in this transgression: but all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, were involved with him in the ruins of his fall: and these are all his posterity, except the man Christ: 1 Cor. 15:22, "In Adam all die."

Christ as man did indeed descend from Adam: Luke 3:23, "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph." Compared with verse last, "Which was the son of Adam." But he did not descend from him by ordinary, but extraordinary generation. That which was extraordinary in Christ's generation, was, that he was born of a virgin; Matth. 1:18, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost."

All the rest of Adam's posterity fell with him: they fell with him, from the state of holiness and happiness; both which they had in hand, and which they had in hope from the promise of the covenant of works: and they so fell, by his first transgression, Rom. 5:18, 19, "By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. By one man's disobedience many were made sinners." His first transgression was his eating of the forbidden fruit. His eating of that fruit, is called his first transgression: because by it his sin and apostacy begun in his heart, was completed, Gen. 3:6, forecited. Now, that transgression cast him and them down from these states of holiness and happiness, inasmach as by it the covenant of works was broken: Gen. 2:17. Compared with chap. 3:10, 11, 12, forecited. The reason why they fell with him by that transgression, was, that in it they sinned in him: So that sin, whereby the covenant was broken, was our sin as well as his, Rom. 5:12, 19, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For by one man's disobedience many were made sinners."

It came to be our sin, because he was our covenant head and representative in the covenant of works; and that is to say, "The covenant was made with him, not only for himself, but for his posterity: 1 Cor. 15. "And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul." The man Christ is not included in that representation which Adam made as head of the covenant of works, 1 Cor. 15:22, 45, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." ver. 45, "The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit;" and that because Christ came, not in virtue of the blessing of fruitfulness given while the covenant of works stood entire, but in virtue of a special promise made after it was broken: Gen. 1:28, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." And chap. 3:15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Adam's sin, then, could not be imputed to the man Christ; since Adam did not represent him in the covenant. But Adam represented all the rest of mankind in it: Rom. 5:12, forecited. It is true, we did not choose him for our representative, but God choose him for us: and he was the most fit choice for that end; Eccl. 3:14, "I know that whatsoever God doth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doth it, that men should fear before him." And this he was, in regard he was the natural head of mankind, endowed with sufficient ability: Acts 17:26, "God hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth," &c. Eccl. 7:29, "God hath made man upright."

Now, man did not become free from the covenant of works, upon his breaking of it: For his breaking of it could never free him; and the honour of the law barred his discharge, till the breach of it should be made up, Isa. 42:21, "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law and make it honourable." Matt. 5:18, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no ways pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." And man himself was utterly unable to make up the breach: Rom 5:6, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." All men then by nature are under the broken covenant of works: Rom. 3:19, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.

QUEST. 17. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

ANSW. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.

EXPLICATION.

The natural state of mankind now, under the covenant of works, is a "state of sin and misery:" And we were brought into it by the fall: Rom. 5:12, "By one sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all had sinned." We were all born or conceived in that state: Psal. 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity: and in sin did my mother conceive me." Eph. 2:3, "We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." There is no true holiness attainable in that our natural state; for it is a state of sin. There is no salvation from wrath attainable in it; for it is a state of misery. The state we must be brought into, out of our natural state under the covenant of works, if we would be saved, is the state of grace in the covenant of grace: Rom. 6:14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Those that are brought out of their natural state, from under the covenant of works, into the state of grace, are all that are in Christ, converted persons: Rom. 8:1, "There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Those that are still in their natural state, under the covenant of works, are all that are out of Christ, unconverted: Eph. 2:12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." The power that the covenant of works hath over such persons, is a commanding, cursing, and condemning power. It commands them perfect obedience under pain of the curse: It curseth and condemneth them for the very least failure: Gal. 3:10, "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, Rom. 3:19, forecited.

QUEST. 18. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?

ANSW. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.

EXPLICATION.

The state whereinto man fell, is our natural state: and that is both a sinful, and a miserable state. Our natural state is a sinful state, in respect of original sin, and in respect of actual transgressions.

Original sin, in its full extent, is the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of the whole nature. All and every one of Adam's natural race, are born or conceived in it: Rom. 5:12, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that ail have sinned." Psalm 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." It is derived to us from Adam the original of mankind, Rom. 5:12, forecited. And it is conveyed to us by natural generation: Job 14:4, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one." Psalm 51:5, forecited. Even holy parents convey it to their children; because they procreate their children after their own natural image: Gen. 5:3, "And Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." Now, our natural state is a sinful state, in respect of original sin; inasmuch as original sin, being a fountain of sin, remains entire, in its guilt, filth, and power on every man, as long as he is in that state. Original sin, consists of three parts.

The first part of original sin, is the guilt of Adam's first sin. Adam's first sin was the eating of the forbidden fruit, whereby the covenant of works was broken. The guilt of that sin is an obligation to punishment for it. And that guilt lies on all men by nature: Rom. 5:18, "By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation." Now, this guilt of Adam's first sin, is original sin imputed. The only remedy for it is in Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive:" and that from his blood, which removes it in justification, Eph. 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Rom. 3:24, "Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ."

The second part of original sin, is the want of original righteousness. Original righteousness is that righteousness wherein man was created in the image of God. And all men by nature are under the want of that: Rom. 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Eph. 4:18, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." In the want of original righteousness, is included the want of that knowledge in the understanding, the want of that righteousness in the will, and the want of that holiness in the affections, wherewith man was endued at his creation: and all men by nature are under these wants: Job 11:12, "For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt." Eccles. 7:29, "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." Rom. 7:18, "For I know, that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not." Now, the want of original righteousness is a sin; forasmuch as it is a want of conformity to the law of God: Matth. 5 ult., "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Compared with 1 John 3:4, "Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." It can be our sin, who never had that righteousness in our own persons, because we had it, and lost it in Adam, sinning in him: and we are justly left under the want of it, for our guilt of Adam's first sin: Eccles. 7:29, forecited. Rom. 5:12, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

The third part of original sin is the corruption of the whole nature: and this is what is commonly called original sin, as being the worst part of it. The corruption of nature is that vicious quality in-bred in us, whereby our nature is utterly disabled for, and opposite to all spiritual good, and prone to the contrary evils continually: Rom. 5:6, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Chap. 8:7, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Gen. 6:5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." And one may know his own nature to be corrupt, by the backwardness to good, and forwardness to evil he may find in himself. Now, man's nature, in his natural state, is not corrupted in part only, but wholly corrupted in every part: Eph. 2:1, 2, 3, "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Tit. 1:15, "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled, and unbelieving, is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." For the case the understanding is in, it is utterly darkened, in point of spiritual discerning: 1 Cor. 2:14, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The will, it is quite opposite to the will of God: Rom. 8:7, forecited. The affections, they are wholly carnal: Rom. 7:14, "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." Chap. 8:5. "They that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh." The body and its members, they are instruments of unrighteousness, and servants to iniquity: Rom. 6:12, 19, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness."

The want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, are original sin inherent, which the Scripture expresseth both in negative and positive terms: Eph. 4:18, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." Rom. 8:7, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." The only remedy for original sin inherent, is in Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; and that from his Spirit; who begins the removal of it in regeneration, or quickening of the dead soul, carries it on in sanctification, and perfects it in glorification: John 6:63, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." 1 Cor. 6:11, "Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Rom. 8:23, "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."

Actual transgressions are breaches of God's law by omission or commission, in thoughts, words, or deeds. The fountain which they all proceed from in us, is the corruption of our nature: Matth. 15:19, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." Our natural state is a sinful state, in respect of actual transgressions, inasmuch as all the actions of a natural man are actual transgressions, and the guilt and filth of them all, and of all his omissions of duty, abide fast on him as long as he is in that state: Gen. 6:5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Eph. 2:1, "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." A man in his natural state cannot do any thing truly good; because his nature is wholly corrupt: Matth. 7:18, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit: neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." His natural actions, such as eating and drinking, are sin: Zech. 7:6, "And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?" His civil actions, such as plowing and sowing, are sin: Prov. 21:4, "The plowing of the wicked is sin." And his religious actions are sin, Prov. 15:8, "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord."

QUEST. 19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

ANSW. All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.

EXPLICATION.

Our natural state is a miserable state too. And all mankind is in that miserable state by nature. That comes to pass, by their fall in Adam: Rom. 5:12, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Our natural state is a miserable state, in respect of what loss man sustains, what he lies under, and what he is liable to, in it.

The loss which man sustains in his natural state, is the loss of communion with God. Communion with God is a friendly intercourse between God and a soul, arising from a peculiar interest in one another: Cant. 2:16, "My beloved is mine, and I am his." man had such communion with God before the fall; and that without a Mediator: Gal. 3:20, "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one." But he lost it, by the fall: Gen. 3:8, "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God, amongst the trees of the garden." And none attain to this communion again, as long as they are in their natural state, whatever duties of worship they go about: Eph. 2:12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." It is recovered only in the way of union with Jesus Christ, ver. 13, "But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ."

What man lies under in his natural state, is God's wrath and curse. The wrath of God he lies under, is revenging wrath; and all men in their natural state are under that wrath: Eph. 2:3, "We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." John 3 ult., "He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." The curse he lies under, is the sentence of the broken law, binding over the sinner to revenging wrath, to the full: and all men in their natural state are under it, Gal. 3:10, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."

What man is liable to in his natural state, is, all miseries in this life, death itself, and the pains of hell for ever, in virtue of the curse. The miseries in this life the natural man is liable to, are all inward and outward miseries of life, laid on in virtue of the curse: Lam. 3:39, "Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" The inward miseries of life he is so made liable to, are spiritual plagues, such as blindness of mind, hardness of heart, vileness of affections, horror of conscience, and the like: Eph. 4:18, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." Rom. 2:5, "But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Chap. 1:26, "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections." Isa. 33:14, "The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites: who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" The outward miseries of life he is so made liable to, are such as befall the outward man, as sickness, poverty, disgrace, and the like: Deut. 28:15, to the end, "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments, and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field," &c. The death the natural man is liable to, is the dissolution of the soul and the body in virtue of the curse: Rom. 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." That kind of death is stinged death: 1 Cor. 15:5, "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." It is true, believers in Christ also are liable to miseries in this life, and to death itself; but they are not so made liable to them, not by the curse, not with the sting in them: 1 Cor. 15:55, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Howbeit, if man had not sinned, he would never have died: Gen. 2:17, "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 shalt surely die." The miseries in this life, and death itself, are, to believers in Christ, marks of God's displeasure with the sin in them, while yet he loves their persons in Christ: Psal. 99:8, "Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions." Gen. 3:15, 17, 18, 19, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee: and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thon art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

The pains of hell, that natural men are liable to, are, the pain of loss, and the pain of sense. The pain of loss in hell, is total and final separation from God: Matth. 25:41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." That separation from God, is not a local separation from him, as if God should not be in the place where they shall be: Psalm 139:8, "If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there." But it is a relative separation, in an eternal blocking up of all comfortable communication between God and them: and the effect of that will be, a total eclipse of all light of comfort, and ease whatsoever, of body and mind, in the damned: Matth. 22:13, "Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Hos. 9:12, "We to them when I depart from them." The pain of sense in hell, is unspeakable torment, both in soul and body, without intermission: Matth. 25:41, above cited. Mark 9:43, 44, "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands, to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." And these pains of hell will never have an end with them: Matth. 25:41, "Depart—into everlasting fire."

QUEST. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

ANSW. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

EXPLICATION.

The state of sin and misery, is a state wherein all must perish, who are left of God in it, Eph. 2:12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world;" because it is beyond the reach of all created help, Isa. 63:5, "And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury, it upheld me." But God doth not leave all mankind to perish in it. Those whom he doth not leave to perish in it, are the elect: Rom. 8:30, "Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."

The elect are some certain persons of mankind, whom God hath chosen to everlasting life, passing by others: Acts 13:48, "And as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." Jude, verse 4, "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." This election or choice was made from eternity: Eph. 1:4, "According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love." And it infallibly secures their eternal salvation, with all the means leading thereto: Rom. 8:30, forecited. Nothing foreseen in the creature, neither faith nor good works, was the cause of election; but only God's mere good pleasure was the cause of it: Eph. 1:6, "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

Now, the way that God provided the relief, was, that he entered into a second covenant, the covenant of grace. The design of the covenant of grace, was, "to deliver the elect out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer."

The covenant of grace, then, was made with Jesus Christ, as the second Adam, party-contractor: Psalm 89:3, "I have made a covenant with my chosen." Compared with 1 Cor. 15:45, "The last Adam was made a quickening spirit." Gal. 3:16, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." Rom. 5:15, to the end. And Christ in this covenant represented all the elect, as his spiritual seed, the parties contracted for: Gal. 3:16, forecited. Isa. 53:10, 11, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities." Then the covenant of redemption, and the covenant of grace, are not two distinct covenants, but two names of one covenant, under different considerations. That appears, in that the number of the covenants in Scripture is but two, whereof the covenant of works is one: Gal. 4:24, "For these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar." By a covenant of redemption is meant a bargain of buying and selling; and the second covenant was such a covenant to Christ only: 1 Pet. 1:18, 19, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot." By a covenant of grace is meant a bargain, whereby all is to be had freely; and it is such a covenant to poor sinners only: Is. 55:1, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." The covenant of grace was made from eternity; Tit. 1:2, "In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began." Yet is it the second covenant, in respect of order and manifestation to the world, though it was first in being.

The condition of the covenant of grace is Christ's fulfilling all righteousness: Matth. 3:15, "And Jesus said, thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." That righteousness was stated from the broken covenant of works: Rom. 3:31, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." The righteousness that the broken covenant of works insists on as the necessary condition of eternal life to a sinner, is perfect holiness of nature, righteousness of life, and satisfaction for sin: Rev. 21 ult. "And there shall in no wise enter into any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." Matth. 19:17, "And Jesus said unto the young man, if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Heb. 9:22, "Without shedding of blood is no remission." It justly so insists for holiness of nature, because that was given to man at first, and by the condition of the covenant he was obliged to keep it: Eccl. 7:29, "God hath made man upright." It justly so insists for righteousness of life, for that was the express condition of it: Gal. 3:12, "and the law is not of faith: but, the man that doth them, shall live in them." And it justly so insists for satisfaction, in virtue of the penalty incurred by the breaking of it: Gen. 2:17, "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 shalt surely die." But neither Adam, nor any of his fallen offspring, was able to perform that condition of life: Rom. 5:6, "We were without strength." Therefore, there is no salvation by the covenant of works: Rom. 3:20, "Therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Chap. 8:3, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh," &c. But Jesus Christ did accept of that condition, as the condition of the covenant of grace: Psalm 40:7, "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me." And it was made the condition of the covenant of grace, that his spiritual seed might be saved, and the covenant of works fully satisfied for them: Rom. 8:3, 4, "God sent his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." And Jesus Christ did fully perform it, in that, as a public person, he was born perfectly holy, lived perfectly holy, and made complete satisfaction by his death: Luke 1:35, "And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." 1 Cor. 15:45, "The last Adam was made a quickening spirit," Phil. 2:8, "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

The promise of the covenant of grace, is a promise of a glorious reward to Christ himself, and eternal life to his spiritual seed: Isa. 49:4–9, "Then I said, Surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God," &c. Tit. 1:2, "In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began." The eternal life promised in the covenant of grace, included in it all things necessary to make a sinner happy, in soul and body, for time and eternity: Rom. 10:5, "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doth those things, shall live by them." Compared with Hab. 2:4, "The just shall live by his faith." Even the promise of eternal life to Christ's spiritual seed, was made to Christ himself immediately, and to them mediately in him: Tit. 1:2, forceited. Heb. 8:10, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts. and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." 2 Tim. 1:9, "God hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began." Gal. 3:16, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ."

It is necessary to the salvation of a sinner, that he personally enter into the covenant of grace: Eph. 2:12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Accordingly, the administration of the covenant is committed unto Jesus Christ the Head of it: Isa. 49:8, "Thus saith the Lord, I will give thee for a covenant of the people." And all the benefits of the covenant are lodged in his hand: Col. 1:19, "For it pleaseth the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell." And he is impowered to administer the covenant to sinners of mankind indefinitely: John 3:17, "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." Prov. 8:4, "Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man." Isa. 55:1, 2, 3, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." That Christ is impowered to administer the covenant to sinners of mankind indefinitely, can very well be, though he represented the elect only in it; for the Father is so well pleased with the performance of the condition thereof, that Christ crucified is made the ordinance of God for salvation, to sinners of mankind indefinitely, according to the promise of the covenant to him, he being in himself sufficient thereto: John 3:14, 15, 16, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." Matth. 22:4, "Again he sent forth other servants, saying, tell them which are bidden, behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and and all things are ready: come unto the marriage." 1 John 4:14, "And we have seen and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." Compared with Isa. 49:6, "I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation unto the end of the earth." Ver. 8, "I will give thee for a covenant of the people." Accordingly, Christ actually offers the covenant of grace to sinners of mankind indefinitely, and that in the gospel: Mark 16:15, 16, "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned." And a sinner is personally and savingly instated in the covenant of grace, by faith in Jesus Christ: Acts 16:31, "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." The nature then of personal covenanting, in order to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, lies in taking hold of God's covenant of grace, by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ: Isa. 56:4, "Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that—take hold of my covenant," &c. Chap. 55:3, forecited. John 10:9, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." Eph. 3:17, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." And believing in Christ enters us into the covenant of grace, to partake of all the benefits thereof, as it unites us to Christ the second Adam, the Head of the covenant: Eph. 3:17, forecited. Rom. 11:17, "And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive-tree, were graffed in amongst them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree."

One cannot, in respect of the state of his soul before God, be under the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, at one and the same time: Rom. 6:14, "Ye are not under the law, but under grace." Therefore, believers, that moment they enter into the covenant of grace, are fully set free from the covenant of works: Rom. 6:14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you." Chap. 7:4, "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." And they are lawfully set free from it, forasmuch as faith gives it full count and reckoning, pleading and counting up to it, that righteousness which Christ fulfilled: Rom. 3:31, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Chap. 8:3, 4, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

The effects of personal entering into the covenant of grace, are, deliverance out of the state of sin and misery, and being brought into a state of salvation. The bands of our sin and misery are loosed in the covenant of grace, through our being set free from the covenant of works: Rom. 7:5, 6, "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." 1 Cor. 15:56, 57, "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." And we are settled in a state of salvation in the covenant of grace, through our being married to Christ: Rom. 7:4, forecited. Col. 2:9, 10, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him."

Now, God thus brings his elect out of the estate of sin and misery, into a state of salvation by a Redeemer. A Redeemer, in Scripture sense, is one who delivers another by price or by power: Lev. 25:51, "If there be yet many years behind; according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption, out of the money that he was bought for." Exod. 6:6, "Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage: and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments." And such a Redeemer was necessary for the elect as should redeem them, both by price and power. It was necessary that they should be redeemed by price, because they were debtors to justice, and criminals in law: Heb. 9:22, "Without shedding of blood is no remission." It was necessary that they should be redeemed by power, because they were in bondage to sin and Satan: Luke 1:74, "That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear." And such a Redeemer was provided for the elect, in the covenant of grace: Psal. 89:19, "Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty: I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

QUEST. 21. Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?

ANSW. The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continueth to be God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person for ever.

EXPLICATION.

The Redeemer of the elect is the head of the covenant of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ and there is no other Redeemer besides him, he is the only Redeemer: Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." The first part of his name, to wit the Lord, signifies Jehovah, the true God, the Most High: Isa. 47:4, "As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel." Chap. 48:17, "Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel," &c. 1 Cor. 13:3, "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." But the titles our Lord, one Lord, and the like, denote his dominion: Acts 10:36, "Jesus Christ is Lord of all." The second part of his name, viz Jesus, signifies a Saviour: and he is so called, because he saves his people from their sins, and consequently from wrath: Matth. 1:21, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins." 1 Thess. 1:10.—"Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come." The third and last part of his name, to wit, Christ, signifies anointed: and he is so called, because he was anointed by the Father, with the Holy Ghost: Acts 10:31, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with power;" that is to say, the Father solemnly designed him, and withal furnished him, for his office, by the Holy Ghost remaining on and in him: John. 1:33, "He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." Chap. 3:34, "For he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." The true interpretation then of the name of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, is Jehovah, the Saviour, the anointed One. He was the fit person to meditate between God and man, because of his common relation to both, peculiar to himself. His relation to God, was, that he was the eternal Son of God; and that by eternal generation of Jehovah the Father: Heb. 1:5, "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?" His relation to us, was, that he was our near kinsman: Heb. 2:11, "For both he that sanctifyeth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one: for which he is not ashamed to call them brethren." He is then our kinsman-redeemer, who redeems by right of kin: Job 19:25, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." Compared with Ruth 3:12, "And now it is true, that I am thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I." Now the eternal Son of God came to be our kinsman, inasmuch as he became man: Gal. 4:4, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman." By his becoming man, he was both God and man: Matth. 1:23, "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted, is, God with us." And he will continue to be God and man for ever: Heb. 7:24, 25, "But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."

Our Redeemer then hath two natures; namely, the nature of God, and the nature of man: Rom. 9:5, "Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." He was God from all eternity; but not man, till he came in the flesh, about the four thousandth year after the creation of the world: Mic. 5:2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel: whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." Matth. 1:17, "So all the generations from Abraham to David, are fourteen generations: and from David, until the carrying away into Babylon, are fourteen generations: and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ, are fourteen generations." The divine and human natures were in no ways turned into one nature, in Christ becoming man; but they remain for ever two distinct natures, having each of them their own distinct properties: 1 Pet. 3:18, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, (that he might bring us to God), being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." Yet are they not divided neither; but they are united in his person: Jesus Christ our Redeemer is not then two persons, but one only: Eph. 4:5, "There is one Lord." 1 Tim. 2:5, "There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." It was necessary, that our Redeemer should be man, that he might be capable to suffer death in our nature, who had sinned: Heb. 2:14, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same: that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." 1 Cor. 15:21, "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." It was necessary he should be God, that his sufferings might be of infinite value: 1 John 1:7, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." It was necessary he should be God and man in one person, that what of the work was done by either of the natures, might be reckoned the deed of the person of our Redeemer: Acts 20:28, "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." John 2 ult., "Jesus needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man."

QUEST. 22. How did Christ, being the Son of God become man?

ANSW. Christ the Son of God became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.

EXPLICATION.

Christ had a being before he was man: He was the Son of God by eternal generation: Heb. 1:4, "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?" Prov. 8:22, 23, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." His becoming man was a voluntary action in him, wherein himself was willingly active: Psalm. 40:6, 7, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me." Heb. 2:16, "He took on him the seed of Abraham." "He became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul." But he did not thereby take to himself a human person; for then should he have been two persons: but he did thereby take to himself an entire human nature; for a soul and a body are the two parts whereof it consists.

Christ's body was not the appearance only of a body, but a real human body of flesh, blood, and bones, as our bodies are: Heb. 2:14, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same." Luke 24:39, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." His divine nature was not instead of a soul to him; but he had also a human reasonable soul; which was a created spirit: Matth. 26:38, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." In Christ then, there were two understandings, and two wills; namely, an infinite understanding and will as he was God, and a finite understanding and will as he was man: John 21:17—"Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." Chap. 10:28, 29, 30, "And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all: and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Mark 13:32, "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not—the Son, but the Father." Luke 22:42, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."

He was without father, as he was man: He was without mother, as he was God: Heb. 3:3, "Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually." But the mother of Christ as man, was the virgin Mary, Matth. 1:18, 22, 23. She was a woman of the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Judah, and family of David: Luke 3:23, 31, 33, 34, "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed, the son of Joseph,—which was the son of David,—which was the son of Juda,—which was the son of Abraham." He was conceived in her womb: Luke 1:31, "And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." But his conception was altogether miraculous; and was effected by the power of the Holy Ghost: and the work of the Holy Ghost in that matter, was, that he formed the body of Christ, in the womb of his mother: Luke 1:35, "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." The Holy Ghost formed the body of Christ not of any substance sent down from heaven; but of her substance: Gal. 4:4, "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman." Gen. 3:15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed." Which was necessary, that he might be of the same human nature with us who have sinned: Heb. 2:11, "For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Now, the forming of the body of Christ of the substance of a virgin was an act of creating power: Jer. 31:22, "The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man." Compared with Gen. 2:7, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Ver. 22, "And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman." Chap. 1:27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them." Christ was born and brought forth of the virgin, at the usual time after conception: Luke 2:6, 7, "And so it was, that the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes," &c. But yet he was conceived and born without sin: Heb. 4:15, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Chap. 7:26, "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." For though he was a son of Adam, by his conception and birth, yet he came not of him in the way of natural generation."

QUEST. 23. What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?

ANSW. Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.

EXPLICATION.

Christ redeems his people, by price and by power: Hos. 13:14, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction; repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." He hath redeemed them by price, giving himself a ransom for them, in his holy birth, righteous life, and bloody death and other sufferings: 1 Tim. 2:6, "Jesus gave himself a ransom for all." Gal. 4:4, 5, "God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." Phil. 2:7, 8, "[Christ Jesus] made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." But that redemption by price is, in Scripture, sometimes attributed to his blood, as the completing part of the ransom, including the rest; even as one says, he hath paid the utmost farthing: John 19:30, "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." He redeems them by power, rescuing them by strength of light, and by strength of hand, out of the hands of their enemies: Luke 1:68, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people;" vers. 70, 71, "As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began; that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us." Vers. 73, 74, "The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear." That redemption by power, is begun in their conversion, and perfected in their glorious resurrection, at the last day: Col. 1:13, "[The Father] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Rom. 8:23, "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." 1 Cor. 15:26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death.

To execute an office, is to do or perform what belongs to the office. And Christ, as our Redeemer, hath and executeth three offices; namely, the office of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king: Acts 3:22, "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. Heb. 5:6, "Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec." Psal. 2:6, "Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." The relation of these offices of Christ to the covenant of grace, is, that, in his priestly office, he performed the condition of the covenant; in his prophetical and kingly offices, he administers the covenant: Heb. 7:20, 22, "And in as much as not without an oath he was made priest, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament." Mal. 3:1, "The Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple: even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in." Isa. 55:3, 4, "Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people." It is necessary for our redemption, that he should execute all these offices: and it is necessary, in respect of the ignorance, guilt, and bondage in our case: 1 Cor. 1:30, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."

True justfying faith receives Christ in all his offices: 1 Cor. 1:30, forecited. Compared with John 1:12, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." But as justifying, it eyes him particularly in his priestly office: for there only can the convinced sinner see an atonement, a ransom, and a righteousness, for his justification: Rom. 3:25, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins." Chap. 5:11, "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom We have now received the atonement." And the life of faith lies in a daily use-making of Christ in all his offices: Gal. 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Compare with Col. 2:6, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him."

The state of our Redeemer is twofold; namely, his state of humiliation, and his state of exaltation: Phil. 2:8, 9, "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore also God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." He was in his state of humiliation when he was on the earth: he is in his State of exaltation now, when he is in heaven. He did execute all these offices in his state of humiliation when he was on earth: Rom. 15:8, "Now I say, that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." Eph. 5:2, "Christ hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour." Matth. 21:5, "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." And he doth still execute them all, now when he is in heaven: Heb. 12:25, "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." Chap. 7:24, 25," But this man because he continued ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Luke 1:33, "And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Yea, he did execute them all, under the Old Testament, before he came in the flesh: 1 Pet. 3:19, "By which also (the Spirit) he went and preached to spirits in prison." Zech. 1:12, "Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?" Cant. 1:4, "Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers."

QUEST. 24. How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?

ANSW. Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.

EXPLICATION.

The office of prophets was to reveal the will of God to men: Heb. 1:1, "God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets." And the Lord Jesus Christ, as our Redeemer, is a prophet: Acts 3:22, "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever be shall say unto you." The difference betwixt him and the other prophets, lay here, that Christ was the fountain-head of prophecy, revealing by his own Spirit; whereas they were but instruments by whom he spake, through his Spirit coming on them at times: 1 Pet. 1:10, 11, "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow."

The office of a prophet belongs to our Redeemer, as a Redeemer by power: Psal. 110:2, "The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion." Compared with Isa. 11:4, "But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity, for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall be slay the wicked" And in it he redeems or rescues by strength of light. And he executes it, by revealing to us the will of God for our salvation. By the will of God for our salvation, which Christ reveals, is meant, the whole will of. God in all things concerning our edification and Salvation: John 15:15, "Henceforth I call you not servants: for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." Acts 20:32, "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." John 20:31, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name." We could never of ourselves have discovered the will of God for our salvation: John 1:18, "No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Chap. 3:13, "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." But our Redeemer was fit to reveal it to us, in that, as he was God, he was from eternity privy to the whole counsel of God, and as he was man, the Spirit, who searcheth the deep things of God, rested upon him: John 1:18, above cited. Isa. 11:2, "And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." 1 Cor. 2:10, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." He reveals to us the will of God for our salvation, externally by his word, and internally by his Spirit: John 20:31, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name." Chap. 14:26, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." And by his so executing his prophetical office, he redeems or rescues us from the power of spiritual darkness, or ignorance: Col. 1:13, "[The Father] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Acts 26:18, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." So Christ hath redeemed none by power, but those who are rescued from the power of their natural darkness: Matth. 4:16, "The people which sat in darkness, saw great light: and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up." Eph. 5:8, "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light." His word is the scripture of the Old and New testament: Col. 3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." And the Scripture in his word, in that it was written by the inspiration of his Spirit: 2 Tim. 3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." 1 Pet. 1:11, "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." He reveals to us the will of God for our salvation, externally by the word: giving us the Scripture, wherein we may see it, and the preaching of the word, wherein we may hear it: John 5:39, "Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me," Rom. 10:18, "But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." We ought then to look upon our having the Bible among us, and the preaching of the word to us, by his servants, as Christ's executing his prophetical office among us, Heb. 12:25, "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." Col. 3:16, forecited. Luke 10:16, "He that heareth you, heareth me: and he that despiseth you, despiseth me: and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me." But the external revelation of the will of God for our salvation, by the word, is not sufficient to redeem or rescue us from the power of our spiritual darkness: Deut. 29:4, "The Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear until this day." 2 Cor. 2:16, "To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other, the savour of life unto life: and who is sufficient for these things?" Chap. 3:6, "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." Because when it is externally revealed, we cannot savingly know it, without an internal illumination: 1 Cor. 2:14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Acts 26:18, forecited. Christ then doth redeem or rescue us from the power of our spiritual darkness, by joining an internal revelation by his Spirit, with the external revelation by his word: 1 Cor. 2:10, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God," ver. 12, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." 2 Cor. 3:6, "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." Ver. 17, "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

We are to receive Christ as our prophet, renouncing cur own wisdom, and wholly giving up ourselves to him, to be taught in things, by his word and Spirit: Matth. 16:24, "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me," Acts 3:22, "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethern, like unto me: him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you." We are to make use of him, as our prophet, daily applying and trusting to him, for light, instruction, and direction in all things: Psalm 119:18, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Prov. 3:5, 6, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

QUEST. 25. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?

ANSW. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice, to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God; and in making continual intercession for us.

EXPLICATION.

The office of priests was to offer sacrifice, and pray, for the people: Heb. 5:1, "For every high priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." Num. 6:22, 23, 24, 25, 26, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, the Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Compared with Mal. 1:9, "And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts." And the Lord Jesus Christ, as our Redeemer, is truly and properly a priest: Heb. 8:3, "For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer." The difference betwixt him and the other priests lay chiefly here, that they and their priesthood were the types and shadows, whereof Christ and his priesthood were the substance, really accomplishing what they shadowed forth: Heb. 10:1, "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 offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect." vers. 9, 10, "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Eph. 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Our Redeemer was qualified for such an efficacious priesthood, by the infinite dignity of his person, and his real untainted holiness: Heb. 4:14, "We have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God." Chap. 7:26, "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." ver. 28, "For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore."

The office of a priest belongs to our Redeemer, as a Redeemer by price: 1 Pet. 1:18, 19, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot." And the parts of his priestly office, are two namely, his oblation, and his intercession. Accordingly, he executes his priestly office, in his offering a sacrifice for us, and making intercession for us.

The first part of Christ's priestly office is his oblation. His oblation is his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God. The sacrifice he offered to God was himself: Heb. 9:14, "Christ, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God." And he himself was the sacrifice, not in his divine nature, but in his human nature: For the divine nature was not capable of sufferings properly so called: Mal. 3:6, "I am the Lord, I change not." But his whole human nature, soul and body, was the sacrifice: Heb. 10:10, "By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Is. 53:10, "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin," &c. His divine nature was, in that case, the altar that sanctified the gift, to its necessary value and designed effect: Heb. 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Compared with Matth. 23:19, "Ye fools, and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?" John 17:19, "And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." He offered up himself to God a real sacrifice in his human nature, willingly yielding himself without any spot of sin, natural or accidental, to suffer for sin to the utmost: Heb. 9:14, forecited. He was without any natural spot of sin in that he was born perfectly holy: he was without any accidental spot of sin, in that be lived perfectly holy: and he suffered for sin to the utmost, Rom. 8:32, "He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all;" and that both in soul and body, Matth. 27:38, "Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Chap. 27:46, "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani? that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" ver. 40, "Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost." He did so offer himself a sacrifice only once: Heb. 9:28, "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." And that once offering of himself a sacrifice, was begun from his incarnation in the womb, continued through his whole life, and completed on the cross, and in the grave: Heb. 10:5. "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me." Ver. 7, "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God." Isa. 53:2, 3, "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness: and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not." 2 Cor. 5:21, "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." The holiness then of his nature, and the righteousness of his life, were parts of the price of our redemption, as well as his sufferings: Gal. 4:4, 5, "God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." And his sufferings through his whole life, lesser and greater, were parts of the price, as well as his sufferings on the cross, and his lying in the grave: 1 Pet. 2:21, "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." Christ offered himself a sacrifice but once, because by that once offering, the price of our redemption was fully paid out: Heb. 10:14, "By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." And thereby he redeemed or ransomed us from guilt, and all evils following it: Heb. 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

The end wherefore Christ offered up himself a sacrifice, was "to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile ns to God: Heb. 9:28, "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Chap. 2:17, "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." There was need of reconciling us to God, because by sin we were at enmity with God: Isa. 59:2, "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." God had a legal enmity against us, such as a just judge hath against a malefactor, whose person he may love notwithstanding: Matth. 5:25, "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him: lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison." We have naturally a real enmity against God, inconsistent with love to him: Col. 1:21, "You were some time alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works." And there could be no reconciliation between God and us, without a satisfaction to divine justice for our sin: Heb. 9:22, 23, "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." We ourselves could in no wise make that satisfaction: Rom. 5:6, "We were without strength." For we could neither make ourselves holy, nor bear the infinite punishment due to our sin. But Jesus Christ did, by offering up himself a sacrifice, make that satisfaction truly and really, Matth. 20:28, "The Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many." Heb. 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" and that fully and completly: Heb. 9:14, forecited. For though Christ's sufferings were not infinite in continuance, yet they were infinite in value. What made them so, was the infinite dignity of his person, he being God, the Most High, Acts 20:28, "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Phil. 2:6, 7, 8, "Christ Jesus being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." The sufferings then of believers in Christ, are not laid on them, to satisfy God's justice for their sins in whole or in part: Psalm 2 ult. "Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but for a little: Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." But they are led on them for their trial and correction: 1 Pet. 1:6, 7, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season (if need be) ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Heb. 12:5, "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him." Now the state of the business of our reconciliation with God, as soon as Christ's offering up himself was over, was, that then it was purchased, the price of it fully paid: John 19:30, "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. Col. 1:20, "And (having made peace through the blood of his cross) by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him, I say, whether they be things on earth, or things in heaven." Actual reconciliation between God and us, is made as soon as we are justified by faith: Rom. 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." And we are not actually reconciled to God, until we believe in Christ, because till then we do not receive the atonement: Rom. 5:11, "We joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." Compared with John 1:12, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."

Now, our Lord Jesus Christ cannot fall short of his design and end in offering up himself a sacrifice: Isa. 53:11, "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many: for he shall bear their iniquities." John 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me." Wherefore Christ hath not redeemed any by price who are not, sooner or later, actually reconciled to God: Rev. 5:9, 10, "And they sung a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests." John 17:12, "Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost." And these are all the elect, and they only: Acts 13:48, "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." John 10:15, "I lay down my life for the sheep." Vers. 26, 27, 28, "But ye believe not; because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand."

The second part of Christ's priestly office, is his intercession: Rom. 8:34, "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." By his making intercession for us, is meant his pleading our cause in the court of heaven. And none make intercession for us there, but Christ only: John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Rom. 8:34, forecited. The Spirit makes intercession for us in our own hearts; and that, by helping us to pray for ourselves: Rom. 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered." The difference then between Christ's intercession and the Spirit's intercession, is such as is between one that draws a poor man's petition, and another that presents it to the king, and gets it granted to him. The first of these the Spirit does for as; the last is done by Christ only.

Now, Christ intercedes for us, not as a supplicant on mere mercy, but as an advocate pleading law and right: 1 John 2:1, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." John 17:24, "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." The ground in law upon which he pleads for us, is the fulfilling the condition of the covenant of grace, by offering up himself a sacrifice for us: John 17:4, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." Therefore he intercedes for those only for whom he offered up himself a sacrifice: John 17:9, "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine." Ver. 20, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." Ver. 24, forecited. His intercession is always effectual: John 11:43, "I knew that thou nearest me always." And he will continue it for ever: Heb. 7:25, "He ever liveth to make intercession for them." Accordingly, he is called a priest after the order of Melchizedec, because he will be a priest for ever: Psal. 110:4, "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec." Not a sacrificing priest for ever, but an interceding priest for ever: Heb. 10:14, "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Chap. 7:25, forecited. He will be an interceding priest even after the resurrection, for ever, eternally willing the continuance of the perfect happiness of the saints, on the ground of the eternal redemption obtained for them by the sacrifice of himself: Heb. 11:12, "Christ by his own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." John 17:24, "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." Compared with 1 Thess. 4:17, "Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord."

We are to receive Christ as our priest, renouncing our own righteousness, and wholly trusting in him, to be saved by his sacrifice of himself, and intercession: Phil. 3:3, "For we are the circumcision, which rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Heb. 10:21, 22, "And having an high priest over the house of God: let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." And we are to make use of him as our priest, daily applying to him, and trusting in his alone merit and intercession, for the removal of our guilt, and the supply of all our needs spiritual and temporal: 1 Cor. 1:30, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us, righteousness, and redemption." Gal. 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

QUEST. 26. How doth Christ execute the office of a King?

ANSW. Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.

EXPLICATION.

Christ hath a twofold kingdom; namely, an essential kingdom, as he is God; and a mediatory kingdom, as he is our Redeemer. His essential kingdom is the whole creation: Col. 1:15, 16, "Who (the Son) is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature: for by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him." His mediatory kingdom is the church: Col. 1:11, "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." Zech. 9:9, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee." Now, it is his mediatory kingdom that his kingly office relates to.

The office of kings, whom God anointed and set over his ancient people, was, to save them by strength of hand from their enemies, and to rule them as their head: 2 Sam. 3:17, 18, "And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, Ye sought for David in times past to be king over you. Now then do it; for the Lord hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies." 1 Chron. 11:1, 2, "Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, In time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the Lord thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel." And Christ, as our Redeemer, is such a king. Isa. 33:22, "The Lord is our king, he will save as, Zech. 6:13, "Even he (the Branch) shall sit and rule upon his throne." The difference betwixt Christ and these other kings lay here, that their kingdom was but a temporal kingdom, for the temporal safety of their people; Christ's kingdom is a spiritual and eternal kingdom, for the eternal salvation of his: John 18:36, "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence." Luke 1:33, "And he (the Son of the Highest) shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Isa. 45:17, "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation." Our Redeemer was qualified for such a kingdom by his infinite wisdom and power, and the Father's committing the kingdom of providence throughout the whole world into his hand: Isa. 9:6, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called—Counseller, The Mighty God." Eph. 1:22, "God hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church." 1 Cor. 11:3, "The head of every man is Christ." Matth. 28:18, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Compared with ver. 19, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." John 5:22, 23, "The Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." Compared with Isa. 43:14, 15, "Thus saith the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, for your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King." Compare 2 Sam. 8:1, 2, "And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines and subdued them: and David took Methegammah out of the hand of the Philistines. And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground: even with two lines measured he, to put to death; and with one full line to keep alive: and so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts." Ver. 6, "Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts: and the Lord preserved David whithersover he went." Vers. 14, 15, "And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David's servants: and the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went. And David reigned over all Israel, and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people." And Psalm. 18:43, "Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people: and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me." Christ had a right to his mediatory kingdom, by his own purchase, and his Father's grant: Acts 20:28, "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Psalm 2:6, "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion."

The office of a king belongs to our Redeemer, as a Redeemer by power: Psalm 45:1, "I speak of the things which I have made touching the king." Verse 3, "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty: with thy glory and thy majesty." And in it he redeems or rescues by strength of hand: Isa. 40:10, "Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him." Psalm. 24:8, "Who is this King of glory? the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." Those whom he redeems or rescues by strength of hand, are they whom he hath redeemed by the price of his blood: Zech. 9:11, "As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." He redeems or rescues them from all his and their enemies: Luke 1:69, "The Lord hath raised up an horn of salvation for us, in the house of his servant David:" ver. 71, "That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us." His and our enemies are sin, death, the devil, and the world: Heb. 12:4, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." 1 Cor. 15:26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death." Matth. 13:30, "The enemy that sowed them, is the devil." James 4:4, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God." These are Christ's enemies, in that they are opposite to his kingdom, though they can hurt him no more. They are our enemies, in that they tend to our destruction.

He begins our rescue from them, rescuing us from their bondage and dominion: Col. 1:13, "The father hath delivered us from the power of darkness," &c. We are by nature under the bondage and dominion of sin, death, the devil, and the world: Rom. 5:21, "Sin hath reigned unto death." ver. 17, "By one man's offence, death reigned by one." Acts 26:18, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." 1 John 5:4, 5, "Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" He rescues us from their bondage and dominion, by subduing us to himself; Acts 15:14. "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name." Psal. 110:3, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." There is need of his subduing us by strength of hand, because by nature we are utterly averse from coming away from them, and submitting to him: Luke 19:14, "But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us." Prov. 8 ult. "All they that hate me, love death." He subdues us to himself, by the sword of his word in the hand of his spirit: Rev. 1:16, "Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." Eph. 6:17, "Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," &c. The word so managed by the Spirit, operates as a sword, piercing the soul, and conquering our obstinacy, and making us willing to yield: Heb. 4:12, "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Psal. 110:3, forecited. He opens the house of our bondage, and breaks their yoke from off our neck, by his Spirit applying to us his satisfaction: Zech. 9:11, "As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." The applying of Christ's satisfaction to us, hath that effect, inasmuch as thereby the law hath full satisfaction, as to us; and the law being satisfied the strength of sin is broken; the strength of sin being broken, the sting of death is taken away; the sting of death being taken away the devil loseth his power over us; and his power over us being lost the present evil world, his kingdom loseth its power over us too: 1 Cor. 15:56, 57, "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Heb. 2:14, 15, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same: that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage." 2 Cor. 4:4, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." The state, then, that all whom Christ hath redeemed by power are in, with respect to sin, death, the devil, and the world, is, that they are rescued from the bondage and dominion of them all: Rom. 6:14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." John 5:24, "Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." Acts 26:11, "To turn them from the power of Satan unto God." Gal. 1:4, "Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world." Compared with 1 John 5:19, "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness."

He secures us from going back of our own accord, to their bondage and dominion, by ruling us: Micah 5:2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be a ruler in Israel." Ver. 4, "And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall abide." He so rules us, in the capacity of head of the church, Eph. 5:23, Hos. 1 ult., "Then shall the children of Judah, and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land." The Church is the society of us whom he hath called unto himself, out of the world, wherein sin, death, and the devil reign: Acts 15:14, "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name." And the supremacy and headship over the church, is competent to no man nor angel, but Christ himself alone: Col. 1:18, "And he [the son of God] is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." Eph. 4:5, "There is one Lord." 1 Cor. 8:6, "To us there is but one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." He rules us, as he is head of the church, both externally and internally. He rules us, as head of the church, externally, giving us laws, and ordinances, and officers to see to our observing of them. His laws are the laws of the ten commands: Isa. 33:22, "The Lord is our lawgiver," &c. compared with Exod. 20:2, 3–17, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. &c." His ordinances are the ordinances of worship, and of discipline, and government: 1 Cor. 11:2, "Now I praise you, brethren, that you keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you." Ver. 23, "I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread," &c. Matth. 18:17, 18, "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." 1 Cor. 12:28, "God hath set in the church, governments," &c. His officers are pastors, teachers, ruling elders, and deacons: Eph. 4:11, "And he gave some, apostles: and some, prophets: and some, evangelists: and some, pastors and teachers." 1 Tim. 5:17, "Let the elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." Chap. 3:10, "Let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless." He rules us, as head of the church, internally, by his Spirit within us writing his laws in our hearts, and making us obedient: Ezek. 36:27, "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Heb. 8:10, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their, hearts." He carries on his rule over us, in this life, graciously rewarding our obedience with his royal favours, and correcting us for our sins: Psal. 19:11, "In keeping of them [the judgments of the Lord] there is great reward." Rev. 3:19, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." He consummates his rule over us, in the life to come, by making us perfectly holy and happy, 2 Tim. 4:8, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

He secures us from being carried back, by the force of his and our enemies, to their bondage and dominion, again, by defending us, and restraining them: Psalm 89:18, "The Lord is our defence: and the holy One of Israel is our King." And 76:10, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." We need his defence, because they war against us continually, and we are unable to defend ourselves against them: 1 Pet. 5:8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour." 2 Cor. 3:5, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves so think any thing as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is of God." Christ's defence against them is extended to the whole church, and to every particular believer. He defends the church against them, so far that they shall never prevail so but there shall be a church while the world stands: Matth. 16:18, "And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it:" Chap. 28 ult., "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." He defends every particular believer against them, so far that none of them shall over perish: John 10:28," I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." He defends the church, and every particular believer, by the communication of his grace to them, and the working of his providence for them: 2 Cor. 12:9, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Zech. 3:9, "For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon one stone shall be seven eyes, behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day." He restrains all his and our enemies, bounding them by his power, as to the kinds, degrees, and continuance of their attacks on us: Job 2:6, "And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life." 1 Cor. 10:13, "There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Rev. 2:10, "Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days."

He completes our rescue, by conquering all his and our enemies: 1 Cor. 15:25, "He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet." They will be fully conquered at the last day: Rev. 20:14, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." The enemy that will longest keep the field against us, is death: 1 Cor. 15:26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death." For when the soul is in heaven, free from sin, the devil, and the world, the body lies in the grave under death. But our King will fully rescue us from death too, by the glorious resurrection of the last day: 1 Thess. 4:16, "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1 Cor. 15:52, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (for the trumpet shall sound), and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

We are to receive Christ as our King, renouncing the dominion of sin, death, the devil, and the world, and wholly giving up ourselves to him, to be ruled by him as our head: Isa. 26:13, "O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name." Psalm 2 ult., "Kiss ye the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little: blessed are all they that put their trust in him." We are to make use of him as our King, daily applying and trusting to him, for life, strength, and defence, and victory over our enemies: 2 Tim. 2:1, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Cor. 1:10, "God delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will deliver us."

QUEST. 27. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?

ANSW. Christ's humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.

EXPLICATION.

Christ's humiliation belonged to the condition of the covenant of grace, performed by himself: and it was then a voluntary thing in him: Phil. 2:7, 8, "Christ Jesus made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." He humbled himself, that he might execute his offices, especially his priestly office: Luke 24:26, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" And he humbled himself, putting himself in a state of humiliation, and humbling himself in that state.

Christ God-man put himself in a state of humiliation, emptying himself of his glory, and taking upon him the form of a servant: Phil. 2:7, forecited. The form of a servant he took upon him, was the form of a bond-servant: Psalm 40:6, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened;" Marg. digged. Compared with Exod. 21:6, "Then his master shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-posts: and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever." He took upon him the form of a bond-servant, being made under the law: Gal. 4:4, 5, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." He was made under the law as a bond-servant, to redeem us that were under the law as bond-servants: Gal. 4:4, 5, forecited, ver. 7, "Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." He did then transfer our state of servitude under the law upon himself: Is. 49:3, "Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." And what lay upon him as so made under the law, was, to give it that perfect obedience in holiness of nature and life, that it required of us for life, and under the curse of it to bear our punishment: Matth. 3:15, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Gal. 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." His obedience then, as well as his sufferings, was a part of his humiliation, Phil. 2:8, forecited; forasmuch as he gave it in the form of a bond servant. But his state of humiliation is now over, and at an end; and it ended at his resurrection, Rom. 14:9, "To this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living."

Christ humbled himself in that state, performing the obedience, and bearing the punishment that it required. He humbled, performing the obedience which that state required, inasmuch as, in the form of a bond-servant, he was conceived and born of a woman, perfectly holy, and lived perfectly righteous: Psalm 40:6, Marg. forecited, compared with Heb. 10:5, "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me." Gal. 4:4; Phil. 2:7, 8, both forecited. His very being conceived and born of a woman, was a notable piece of humiliation in him; and that because he was the Son of God, Gal. 4:4; Phil. 2:7. He humbled himself, bearing the punishment which that state required, inasmuch as, all along from his conception to the grave, he submitted to the effects of the curse transferred from us on him, Gal. 3:13, forecited.

He so humbled himself in his conception, being conceived of a woman of a mean and low state: Luke 1:48, "He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden." An evidence of the mean and low state of the mother of our Lord, is her being espoused to a carpenter: Matth. 1:18, "Mary was espoused to Joseph." Compared with chap. 13:55, "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary.

He so humbled himself in his birth, being born in a low condition. The low condition he was born in, was, that he was born in the small town of Bethlehem, in the stable of an Inn, and laid in a manger instead of a cradle, because there was no room for them in the Inn: Mic. 5:2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel." Luke 2:7, "And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn."

He so humbled himself in the course of his life, undergoing the miseries of this life. The kind of life that Christ had in the world, was a poor, sorrowful, despised, tempted, and toiled life, in which he felt weariness, hunger, and thirst: 2 Cor. 8:9, "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." Compared with Matth. 8:20, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Is. 53:3, "He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Psalm 22:6, "l am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." Luke 4:13, "And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season." Acts 10:38, "Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil: for God was with him." Compared with Mark 3:20, "And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread." John 4:6, "Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well." Matth. 4:2, "And when Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards an hungered." Compared with chap. 20:18, "Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered."

He so humbled himself to an extremity, in respect of his soul and his spiritual life," undergoing the wrath of God:" Is. 53:10, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin," &c. Psalm 69:1, "Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul," and 18:5, "The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me." The wrath of God did operate on his soul, filling it with trouble, sore amazement, heaviness, and exceeding sorrow, and casting him into an agony, even to his sweating great drops of blood, and at length bringing over it a total eclipse of comfort, and as it were melting it within him: John 12:27, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour." Mark 14:33, 34, "And he taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy, and saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death." Luke 22:44, "And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Matth. 27:46, "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a lond voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Psalm 22:14, "lam poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels." That was a spiritual death, such as a holy soul was capable of. Now the wrath of God could justly fall upon Christ a person perfectly innocent, inasmuch as he stood surety for sinners: Heb. 7:22, "By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament." Compared with Prov. 6:1, 2, "My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy month." 2 Cor. 5 ult, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

He humbled himself to an extremity, in respect of his body, and his natural life, undergoing the cursed death of the cross: Phil. 2:8, "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." He did really die, and not seem to die only: Mark 15:44, 45, "And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph." His death was real, in that his soul was separated from his body: Luke 23:43, "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise." Ver. 46, "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." Yet neither was his soul nor his body separated from his divine nature in his death: Luke 23:43, forecited. John 20:13, "And they (the angels) say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." The death he died, was the death of the cross: Phil. 2:8, "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." The death of the cross was a painful, shameful, lingering, and cursed death, Christ's death on the cross was a painful death, in that his body was fixed to the tree by nails driven through his hands and his feet: Luke 23:33, "And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him." Psalm 22:16, "The wicked pierced my hands and my feet." It was a shameful death, in that he hung on the cross stript of his clothing: Matth. 27:35, "And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots." Heb. 12:2, "Jesus, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame," &c. What that shameful hanging on a tree had a particular eye to, was our naked first parents' sinning by eating the fruit of a tree. It was a lingering death, in that the wounds being in the extreme parts of the body, he was alive on the cross, from the third to the ninth hour: Mark 15:25, "And it was the third hour, and they crucified him." Ver. 34, "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice," &c. It was a cursed death, inasmuch as it was written in the law, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree," Gal. 3:13, compared with Deut. 21:23, "He that is hanged, is accursed of God." The curse denounced in the law, on those hanged on a tree, was a ceremonial curse, not hindering the salvation of penitents: Luke 23:33, "And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified—the malefactors." Ver. 43," And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." But the curse that lay on Christ in his humiliation, was a real and substantial one, whereof the tree of the cross was but the sign and badge: Gal. 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." The instruments of the cruel death Christ was put to, were the Jews and Romans; Acts 4:27, "For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together." But every point of it was determined before, in the eternal counsel between the Father and the Son, for the salvation of sinners, ver. 28, "For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." Compared with Zech. 6:13, "Even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." Howbeit, the wicked instruments had no eye to that in what they did: Acts 13:27, "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him." Neither did it excuse them from the guilt of most horrid murder in their crucifying the Lord of glory: Acts 2:23, "Jesus of Nazareth being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Chap. 7:52, "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers."

He so humbled himself after his death, in respect of his body being buried: 1 Cor. 15:3, 4, "For I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures: and that he was buried," &c. He was buried in a garden: John 19:41, 42, "Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus." What his being buried in a garden had a particular eye to, was man's first sinning in a garden.

He so humbled himself after his death, in respect to both soul and body, "continuing under the power of death for a time:" Rom. 6:9, "Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him." He continued under the power of death for a time, in so far as, for a time, he continued in the state of the dead, his soul and body remaining separate: Acts 2:31, "He [David] seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." That is expressed in the creed, in these words, "He descended into hell." The place where his soul was, during its separate state, was paradise: Luke 23:43, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." The time he continued under the power of death, was three days: Matth. 12:40, "As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly: so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Yet not three days complete; Matth. 16:21, "From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must—be raised again the third day." Compared with John 2:19, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up;" but only a part of the first day, the whole second, and a part of the third; Luke 23:54, "And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on." Ver. 56, "And they rested the sabbath-day, according to the commandment." Chap. 24:1, "Now, upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre." Ver. 6, "He is not here, but is risen."

The hardest and sharpest of all these steps of Christ's humiliation, was his undergoing the wrath of God in his soul: Prov. 18:14, "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?" The lowest of them was his continuing for a time under the power of death, in the state of the dead: Psalm 22:15, "Thou hast brought me into the dust of death."

QUEST. 28. Wherein consisteth Christ's exaltation?

ANSW. Christ's exaltation consisted in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.

EXPLICATION.

Christ's exaltation belongs to the promise of the covenant of grace, to be performed to him by the Father: Isa. 52:13, "Behold, my servant shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high." And it is the reward of his humiliation for himself: Phil. 2:8, 9, "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." Christ's exaltation was necessary, that he might fully execute his offices, especially his kingly office: Luke 24:26, "Ought not Christ to enter into his glory?" Phil. 2:9, above cited, vers. 10, 11, "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

The first step of Christ's exaltation, was his rising again from the dead, 1 Cor. 15:4. That Christ rose again from the dead, appears from the Scripture prophecies of it, and the testimony of hundreds, who saw him with their eyes accordingly risen: 1 Cor. 15:3–8, "For I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." The raising of Christ from the dead, is in the Scripture ascribed to the Father, to himself, and to the Holy Spirit: Eph. 1:20, "Which he (the Father of glory) wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead." John 2:19, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Rom. 8:11, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you: he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." It is ascribed to the Father, as the judge discharging him from prison, as having fully paid the debt he was laid up for: Acts 2:24, "Whom (Jesus of Nazareth) God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." 1 Tim. 3:16, "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness; God was justified in the Spirit—received up into glory." A legal evidence of his being, by the authority of heaven, discharged from the prison of the grave, was an angel's descending from heaven, and opening the prison door, by rolling away the stone: Matt. 28:2, "The angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it." It is ascribed to Christ himself, forasmuch as he, by his own divine power, calling back his soul into his body, took his own life again, and came forth of the grave: John 10:18, "I have power to lay it (my life) down, and I have power to take it again." Compared with chap. 2:19, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Mark 16:6, "Jesus of Nazareth is risen, he is not here." It is ascribed to the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as by him Christ's soul and body were reunited: 1 Pet. 3:18, "Christ was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." He rose the third day after his death, 1 Cor. 15:4, forecited. That day was the first day of the week: and he rose about the dawning of the day: Matth. 28:1, 2, "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week," &c. He rose in the very same body he laid down in the grave: Luke 24:39, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have, John 20:27, "Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands: and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into ray side: and be not faithless, but believing." And it had not been corrupted there in the least: Acts 13:37, "He whom God raised again, saw no corruption." The change made on Christ's body in its resurrection was, that it rose immortal and glorious; Rom. 6:9, "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him." 1 Cor. 15:20, "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept." Ver. 43, "It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power."

The second step of Christ's exaltation, was, his ascending up into heaven, Eph. 4:8, 10. The time of his ascension was forty days after his resurrection, Acts 1:3, "He tarried so long on earth, after his rising from the dead, to ascertain the truth of his resurrection: he ascertained it in that time, by his frequent appearing to, and conversing with his apostles, during that time: and in these conversations with them, he taught them the things concerning his own kingdom: Acts 1:3, "To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." It was in his human nature that Christ ascended from earth into heaven; not in his divine nature, because it is always everywhere present. The place of the earth from which he ascended, was the mount of Olives, Acts 1:11, 12. It is observable concerning that place, that there Christ's humiliation began to come to an extremity, Luke 22:39. The heaven he ascended into, was the highest heaven, Eph. 4:10, Christ's soul and body, then, are now no more on earth, but in the highest heavens: Acts 3:21, "Whom the heavens must receive, until the times of restitution of all things." Compared with Eph. 4:10, "He that descended, is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things." He ascended in a visible and triumphant manner as a conqueror: Acts 1:9, "While they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight" Psal. 47:5, "God is gone up with a shout; the Lord with the sound of a trumpet." The action of the Father in that step of Christ's exaltation, was the receiving him up into heaven, Mark 16:19.

The third step of Christ's exaltation, is his sitting at the right hand of God the Father, Mark 16:19. God the Father hath neither right nor left hand, properly so called, as men have: For he is a most pure Spirit, without body or bodily parts. But by Christ's sitting at the right hand of God the Father, is meant, his being, as Mediator, God-man, exalted to the highest dignity and power, over all creatures, in fulness of joy and glory: Phil. 2:9, 10, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." 1 Pet. 3:22, "Jesus Christ is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels, and authorities, and powers being made subject unto him." Acts 2:28, "Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance." Compared with Psalm 16 ult. "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." John 17:5, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine ownself, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." And that his sitting at the right hand of God, will endure for ever: Heb. 10:12, "This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God." The action of the Father in this step of Christ's exaltation, was, his setting him at his own right hand, Eph. 1:20.

Now Christ rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, in a public character, as our head and representative, the same in which he died, was buried, and continued under the power of death for a time: Eph. 2:6, "God hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Heb. 6:20, Whither [heaven] the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus," &c. Eph. 4:10, "He that descended, is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things." These steps, then, of Christ's exaltation are, for his people, sure pledges of their spiritual and bodily resurrection, their ascension into heaven, and sitting for ever with him in heavenly places: 1 Cor. 15:22, "In Christ shall all be made alive," Eph. 2:6, forecited.

The last step of Christ's exaltation, will be his coming to judge the world at the last day: Acts 1:11, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Compared with chap. 17:31, "God hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Christ will come again a second time, Heb. 9, ult. He will come the second time, in the character of judge of the world, Acts 17:31, forecited, John 5:22, "The Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." Ver. 27, "And he hath given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man." That coming of Christ will be at the last day: 2 Pet. 3:10, "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and all the works therein, shall be burnt up." He will come in the full manifestation of his own and his Father's glory, Luke 9:26. His attendants will be all the holy angels, Matth. 25:31. The awful sound he will descend from heaven with, will be a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God, 1 These. 4:16. Christ's coming to judge the world, will not discontinue or interrupt his sitting at the right hand of God, but will manifest it to all: Matth. 26:64, "I [Jesus] say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." And that his coming will be a part of his exaltation, inasmuch as he will then appear and act in the fulness of his kingly power: Matth. 25:34, "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The action of the Father in this step of Christ's exaltation, will be, his sending him again, in fulness of glory, clothed with his authority, to judge the world: Acts 3:20, "The Lord shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you." Luke 9:26, "The Son of man shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels." John 5:27, forecited.

QUEST. 29. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

ANSW. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.

EXPLICATION.

The redemption purchased by Christ, is deliverance from sin, death, the devil, the world, into a state of holiness and happiness for ever: Tit. 2:14, "Jesus Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Hos. 13:14, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues: O grave, I will be thy destruction; repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." Heb. 2:14, 15, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same: that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their life-time subject to bondage." Gal. 1:4, "Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." Heb. 9:12, "Christ by his own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." To be made partakers of that redemption, is, to be made sharers of it in our own persons: John 13:8, "Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou hast not part with me." Acts 26:18, "To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." And till we are in our own persons made sharers of it, we are still in a state of bondage under sin, death, the devil, and the world, though it may be purchased for us: Eph. 2:12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." We are made sharers of it in our persons, by the effectual application of it to us in particular: And the application of it to us that is effectual, is the applying it to us, unto the actual delivering of us, as prisoners out of the pit, Zech. 9:11.

The effectual application of Christ's purchase to sinners, in their own persons, belongs to the promise of the covenant of grace, made to Christ for the elect: Isa. 53:10, 11, "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many: for he shall hear their iniquities." And the effectual application of Christ's purchase to sinners is begun here, and perfected hereafter: Eph. 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." ver. 14, "The Holy Spirit of promise is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." Chap. 4:30, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." As the purchasing of redemption was the work of Christ, so the effectual application of it to us, is the work of his Holy Spirit: Tit. 3:5, 6, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour." And the closest application of it made to any, in the gospel-offer, without the applying work of the Spirit, will be an ineffectual application of it, that is to say, the prisoners will still remain in the pit, undelivered; John 1:11, 12, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."

Now, the Spirit applies the redemption to all those for whom Christ hath purchased it: Eph. 1:3, 14, "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory," John 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me." Ver. 39, "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." And the purchase and application of redemption are of the very same extent: John 10:15, "I lay down my life for the sheep." Vers. 27, 28, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand."

QUEST. 30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

ANSW. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ, in our effectual calling.

EXPLICATION.

The applying of Christ's purchase to us, is not the work of the Spirit without us, but the work of the Spirit within us: Ezek. 36:27, "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Rom. 8:9, "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." We are made partakers of the Spirit himself, by the communication of him to us by Jesus Christ: John 20:22, "Jesus breathed on the disciples, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:23, "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." We come to be made partakers of so great a benefit as the Spirit himself, for applying Christ's purchase to us, because the Spirit is a part, and the leading part, of Christ's purchase, as well as the applier of it: Luke 24:49, "And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endowed with power from on high." Acts 2:33, forecited.

The Spirit entering within us, applies Christ's purchase to us, by uniting us to Christ: 1 Cor. 12:13, "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body,—and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." Compared with Eph. 5:23, "Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Saviour of the body." The union we have with Jesus Christ by his Spirit in us, is that whereby, being joined to Christ as our head, we are made one with him spiritually: 1 Cor. 6:17, "He that is joined unto the Lord, is one spirit." Eph. 5:23, above cited. Ver. 30, "We are members of Christ's body, of his flesh, and of his bones." That union is not a metaphorical, nor mere relative union, but a most real and proper union, Eph. 5:30, above cited. Ver. 32, "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning cerning Christ and the church." Compared with Col. 1:27, "To whom [the saints] God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." John 6:56, "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." Chap. 15:21, "That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us." That union being once made, it can never be dissolved: Jer. 32:40, "I will make an everlasting 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." 1 Thess. 4:14, "If we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him." It extends so far, in respect of the parties united to Christ, that the whole man, body as well as soul, is united to whole Christ in his divine and human nature: 1 Cor. 6:15, "Know ye not, that your bodies are the members of Christ?" Col. 1:27; Eph. 5:30, both forecited. Christ's purchase comes by that means to be applied to us, because, in union with Christ, we have communion with him in his purchase: Phil. 3:9, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith." Col. 2:9, 10, "In Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him." And there is no effectual application of his purchase to us, without union with himself: 2 Cor. 13:5, "Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? Now, our union with Christ is by the Spirit, inasmuch as it is made by the communication of the Spirit to us when dead in sin, and by the agency of the Spirit in us when quickened by that communication.

The communication of the Spirit to us when dead in sin, is the Spirit from Christ the head entering into us dead sinners, as a Spirit of life: "1 Cor. 15:45, "The last Adam was made a quickening Spirit." Rom. 8:2, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death." We are united to Christ by that communication of the Spirit from him, inasmuch as Christ thereby apprehends us, and knits with us: Phil. 3:12, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." 1 John 3:24, "He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him: and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." Gal. 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." We necessarily become one with Christ, by means of that communication of the Spirit from him, because so the man Christ and we do both live spiritually by the self-same Spirit indwelling in both, Rom. 8:2, forecited. Col. 3:3, 4, "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." "When Christ who is our life," &c. And the distance between Christ the head in heaven, and us on earth, hinders not the indwelling of the same Spirit in both, and our union thereby; in regard the Spirit is an infinite Spirit.

The agency of the Spirit in us, when quickened by that communication, is his "working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ:" Col. 2:12, "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God. Compared with 2 Cor. 4:13, "We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken: we also believe, and therefore speak." Eph. 3:17, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." It is not the habit of faith, but actual believing, by which the Spirit unites us to Christ: Gen. 15:6, "And Abram believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." John 1:12, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name." The Spirit worketh in us that actual believing, producing it in us immediately out of the spiritual life given us by that communication of himself to us: Phil. 2:13, "It is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure," John 5:25, "Verily, verily I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear, shall live." Compared with chap. 1:12, forecited. Ver. 13, "Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God." And by that actual believing also we are united to Christ, inasmuch as thereby we apprehend Christ, and knit with him, Phil. 3:12; John 1:12; Eph. 3:17, all forecited. But as for elect infants, idiots, and others, through want of exercise of their reason, incapable of actual believing, what comes of them in that case, is, that they are united to Christ by the communication of the Spirit to them, and Christ's purchase is effectually applied to them thereupon: Luke 1:15, "John shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb." Compared with 1 Cor. 12:13, "By one Sprit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been made all to drink into one Spirit."

The bonds, then, of the spiritual union betwixt Christ and actual believers, are, the Spirit on Christ's part, and faith on their part: 1 John 3:24, "He that keepeth his commandments, dwelleth in him, and he in him: and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." Eph. 3:7, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." And that work of God about us, in which the Spirit works faith in us, and unites us to Christ, is our effectual calling.

QUEST. 31. What is effectual calling?

ANSW. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.

EXPLICATION.

An effectual calling in the general is, when the party called comes upon the call. The call whereby sinners are invited to partake of the redemption purchased by Christ, is the call of the gospel: 2 Thess. 2:14, "Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Even the gospel-call itself is not given to all and every one in the world: Rom. 10:14, 15, "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them which preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things;" But the gospel call is given to all to whom the word of God comes, whether written or preached: John 5:39, "Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me," Rom. 10:17, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

Sinners are, by the gospel-call, called to come out from the world lying in wickedness: 1 John 5:19, "And we know that the whole world lieth in wickedness." Compared with 2 Cor. 6:17, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you." And sinners are called to come to Jesus Christ in union and communion with him: Matth. 11:28, "Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Chap. 22:4, "Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings, are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage." By that coming to Jesus Christ, is meant, embracing him freely offered to us in the gospel." Christ offered in the gospel is embraced, by believing on him: John 1:12, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." There is need of calling us to come to Christ, in union and communion with him, because, by nature, we are far from God, and fast asleep in sin: Eph. 2:13, "But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Compared with Jam. 4:8, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." Eph. 5:14, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

The gospel-call, to whatever sinner of mankind it comes, is accompanied with a sufficient warrant for his coming to Christ, in union and communion with him. That warrant is the free offer of Christ to us in the gospel: Prov. 8:4, "Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man." Mark 16:15, 16, "And Jesus said unto the disciples, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Christ is offered in the gospel freely, to us mankind-sinners, in that any of us may, though none but truly sensible sinners will come to him, and unite with him: John 3:16, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasing life." Rom. 2:17, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth, say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come: and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Chap. 3:19, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see."

The calling of sinners by the gospel is ineffectual on many. It is ineffectual on them, in that they come not to Christ upon the call: Prov. 1:24, "I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded." But it is effectual on the elect: Rom. 8:30, "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called." Acts 13:48, "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." It is effectual on them, in that, sooner or later, they certainly come to Christ upon the call: John 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me."

Our effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit: 1 Thess. 1:4, 5, "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." John 6:63, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." And thereby he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel. The Spirit renders the gospel-call effectual on us, powerfully determining us, and putting us in a capacity, to answer the call, by embracing Christ. He determines us to answer the gospel-call, by persuading us effectually to embrace Christ: Gen. 9:27, "God shall enlarge [marg. persuade] Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." John 6:44, 45, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me, draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." Phil. 2:13, "It is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure." He puts us in a capacity to answer the gospel-call, by enabling us to embrace Christ, John 5:44, 45; Phil. 2:13, above cited. There is need of the Spirit's calling us effectually, by persuading and enabling us to come to Christ in union or communion with him; because, being in ourselves dead in sin, we are neither willing nor able to come: John 5:25, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." Compared with Psalm 110:3, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." Phil. 2:13; John 6:44, forecited.

The Spirit persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel, by convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills. The work of the Spirit for persuading and enabling us to embrace Christ, is threefold; namely, conviction, saving illumination, and the renewing of the will. But conviction is not a work of the Spirit, of the same kind with the other two.

Conviction is a work of the Spirit, acting as "a spirit of bondage upon us, Rom. 8:15. The Spirit, acting as a Spirit of bondage, convinceth us of our sin and misery: John 16:8, "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." Acts 2:37, "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" The effect of the Spirit's work of conviction upon us, is a sight of our sins as heinous in the sight of God, and of his wrath due to as for them, filling us with remorse, terror and anxiety, John 16:8, Acts 2:37, forecited. Chap. 16:20, "Then he (the jailor) called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas." The word of God by which the Spirit works that conviction, is the law: Rom. 3:20, "By the law is the knowledge of sin." He convinceth us of our sin by it, bringing home on our consciences the commands, of the law, as of divine authority, and binding on us in particular: Rom. 7:7, "What shall we say then? is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Compared with Exod. 20:1, "And God spake all these words," &c. He convinceth us of our misery by it, bringing home on our consciences the curse of the law, as the curse of the Lord himself, binding on us in particular: Gal. 3:10, "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." Compared with Rom. 3:19, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Mal. 3:9, "Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed me." That law-work doth not issue in faith and conversion, in all whom it is wrought upon: Matth. 27:3, 4, 5, "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed and went and hanged himself." Acts 24:25, "And as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." Neither is that law-work of the same measure in all that are converted: Luke 19:6, "And Zaccheus made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully." Compared with Acts 9:9, "And Saul was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink." But so much of it is necessary, as brings the soul to see an absolute need of Christ, and to despair of relief by any other way: Gal. 3:24, "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith," Luke 6:48, "He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rook," &c. The part this law-work of the Spirit hath in persuading and enabling us to embrace Jesus Christ, is, that it begins the persuasion. It begins the persuasion, urging us with our lost and undone state, and our need of a Saviour: Gal. 3:23, "But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto faith which should afterwards be revealed." Exod. 20:18, 19, "And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." But this law-work neither perfects the persuasion, nor enables us to embrace Christ: Rom. 8:3, "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh." Heb. 7:19, "For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did."

Saving illumination, and the renewing of the will, are works of the Spirit noting as a Spirit of life within us: 2 Cor. 4:6, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus." Compared with John 8:12, "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world; he that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Ezek. 36:26, 27, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." The Spirit of life, from Christ the head, is conveyed into us in the word: John 6:63, "It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Not in the word of the law, but in the word of the gospel: Gal. 3:12, "This only would I learn of you, received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" 2 Cor. 3:7, 8, "But if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away: how shall not the administration of the Spirit be rather glorious?" The gospel is the word of the glad tidings of salvation to sinners, through Jesus Christ: Acts 13:26, "To you is the word of this salvation sent." Luke 2:10, 11, "And the Angel said unto the shepherds, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord."

The work of the Spirit, in effectual calling, acting as a Spirit of life within us, is a quickening work giving life to the dead soul: Eph. 2:5, "God, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." Compared with John 6:63, forecited, In his saving operation, then, on the mind and will, bringing sinners to Christ, he acts irresistibly, yet without the least violence done to their will: Jer. 31:18, "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God." Cant. 1:4, "Draw me, we will run after thee." Now, that quickening work is the same with regeneration taken strictly for the beginning of the new creature: John 1:12, 13, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Compared with chap. 3:6, "That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit."

The quickening or regenerating work of the Spirit on our minds, is saving illumination or enlightening: John 1:4, "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." Chap. 8:12, "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Eph. 5:14, "Wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Saving illumination is a quickening work of the Spirit, inasmuch as it is a renewing of our minds, by nature under the darkness of death, in point of saving knowledge: Rom. 12:2, "And be ye not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." 1 John 5:21, "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true." Matth. 4:16, "The people which sat in darkness, saw great light: and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up." Eph. 4:18, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." 1 Cor. 2:14, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The effect of saving illumination on us, is the knowledge of Christ, by way of spiritual sight: Eph. 1:17, 18, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened." John 6:40, "And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life." The sight we get of Christ by saying illumination, is a sight of him in the transcendent glory of his person and offices, offered to us in particular: 2 Cor. 4:6, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." John 1:14, "And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." 1 Thess. 1:5, "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." It is in the word of the gospel that Christ is so seen spiritually: 2 Cor. 3:18, "But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord," &c. Compared with Rom. 10:6, 7, 8, "But the righteousness which is of faith, speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above); or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead): But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is the word of faith which we preach." We come to see Christ in the gospel, in the work of saving illumination, because in it the Spirit clears and demonstrates the gospel to us, for a ground of our believing in particular: 1 Cor. 2:4, 5, "And my speech, and my preaching, was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." The Spirit clears and demonstrates unto us, the gospel to be the infallible word of God, and his word to us in particular: 1 Thess. 2:13, "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." Chap. 1:5, forecited. And that is an internal attestation of the word of the gospel unto us, distinct from the clearest external or ministerial attestation of it: John 15:26, 27, "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. And ye also shall bear witness, became ye have been with me from the beginning."

The quickening or regenerating work of the Spirit on our wills, is the renewing of them: Ezek. 36:26, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." The effect of the Spirit's renewing our wills, is, their being made pliable to the gospel-call, Ezek. 36:26, above cited. Psalm 110:3, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." The renewing of our wills is a quickening work of the Spirit, inasmuch as our will is, by nature, under the bands of death, so as it hath no power to comply with the call of the gospel: John 5:25, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." Chap. 6:44, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me, draw him." Eph. 2:1, "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." Ver. 5, "Even when we were dead in sins, hath he quickened us together with Christ."

The part that saving illumination, and the renewing of our wills, have in the persuading and enabling us to embrace Jesus Christ, is, that thereby the persuasion is perfected, and we are enabled to embrace him accordingly: John 6:45, "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." Chap. 1:12, 13, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." And the persuasion being perfected, and we enabled to embrace Christ, the Spirit infallibly produceth in us actual coming to Christ, and embracing him by faith, John 6:45, forecited. Compared with Phil. 2:13, "It is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

And that our coming to Christ by faith infallibly issues in conversion: 1 Pet. 3:18, "Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." Conversion is a sinner's turning again unto God, from whom he turned away in Adam: Acts 26:20, "That they should repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." It is brought about, through our coming to Christ by faith, in that we come unto God by Christ, and by him only: Heb. 7:25, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto Thomas, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.'

QUEST. 32. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?

ANSW. They that are effectually called, do, in this life, partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.

EXPLICATION.

They that are effectually called into union and communion with Christ, do, in communion with him, partake of the rest of the benefits of his purchase: Eph. 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Howbeit, these benefits are not communicated to them in their own persons all at once. But they get some of them in this life, more at death, and the whole at the resurrection. But the root-benefit from which they all spring unto them, and on which they all depend, is their union with Christ: 1 Cor. 1:30, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." Rev. 14:13, "And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." 1 Thess. 4:14, "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. Compared with Col. 1:27, "To whom (the saints) God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is, Christ in you, the hope of glory." The chief of these benefits, which the effectually called do, in communion with Christ, partake of, in this life, are justification, adoption, and sanctification: Rom. 8:30, "Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified." Eph. 1:5, "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself." 1 Cor. 1:30, forecited. And there are Several other benefits, which, even in this life, do either accompany these chief ones, or flow from them. And they partake of them also accordingly in this life, 1 Cor. 1:30, forecited.

QUEST. 33. What is justification?

ANSW. Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.

EXPLICATION.

All who are effectually called, are justified: Rom, 8:30, "Whom he called, them he also justified." The justifying of a person doth never, in the Scripture sense of the word, signify, to make one righteous with inherent righteousness or holiness: but commonly and ordinarily it signifies, to declare one righteous: Exod. 23:7, "Keep thee far from a false matter: and the innocent and the righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked." Compared with Rom. 4:5, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Prov. 17:15, "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord." Isa. 5:23, "Wo unto them which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him." The justifying of a person sometimes signifies, to shew one righteous: Job 33:32, "If thou hast any thing to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee." Chap. 32:2, "Against Job was Elihu's wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God." Gen. 44:16, "And Judah said, How shall we clear ourselves?" &c. Luke 16:15, "And he said unto the Pharisees, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts." Rev. 22:11, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still:—and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still." Now, since God justifying a sinner cannot be shewing him righteous in his sight, it must be declaring him righteous in his sight. Wherefore our justification is not a change of our nature, but of our state.

The state a sinner is brought out of, in his justification, is the state of condemnation: Rom. 8:33, 34, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth: who is he that condemneth?" Compared with ver. 1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." All men, before they are justified, are in a state of condemnation: John 3:18, "He that believeth not, is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Compared with Rom. 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." And they are so, in virtue of the curse of the law still lying on them: Gal. 3:10, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Compared with Rom. 3:19, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." But Sinners are, in their justification, delivered from the curse: Gal. 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.' " Compared with Rom. 8:33, 34, forecited. And the curse never returns upon them thereafter, Rom. 8:1, forecited. Isa. 54:9, "As I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth: so have I sworn, that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee."

Justification is not a work carried on by degrees, but an act perfected in an instant: John 5:24, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." Compared with Rom. 1:17, "The just shall live by faith." A sinner is justified in the first instant of his believing on Christ, and not before, Rom. 5:1, forecited. Chap. 3:22, "The righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe." John 3:18, "He that believeth on him, is not condemned: but he that believeth not, is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Justification is the act of God himself: and in it he acts in the character of a judge: Rom. 8:33, 34, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? it is God that justifieth: who is he that condemneth: Compared with Deut. 25:1, "If there be a controversy between men, and they come into judgment, that the judges may judge them, then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked." The throne of judgment on which God justifies a sinner, is his throne of grace: Heb. 4:16, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." And he is to be found on that throne only in Christ: 2 Cor. 5:19, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." The sinner is brought, for justification, unto the throne of grace, by the Spirit in effectual calling: 1 Cor. 6:11, "And such were some of you:—but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." The poor sinner comes unto the throne of grace, on that occasion, a guilty, self-condemned, and law-condemned creature: Ezra 9:15, "O Lord God of Israel, behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee, because of this." Rom. 3:19, forecited., vers. 23, 24, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God: Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ." A law-condemned sinner can be justified by a holy God there, by an act of free grace.

Our justification is an act of God's free grace: And by God's free grace is meant, his free favour and good-will. Howbeit, it is an act of free grace, not in respect of Christ, but in respect of us, Rom. 3:23, 14, above cited. It is purely an act of free grace to us, insomuch that we are justified before we have done any good work at all: Rom. 4:5, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

The parts of the act of our justification, passed by God the righteous judge, are two; namely, his pardoning all our sins, and his accepting us as righteous in his sight.

Pardon of sin is the freeing of the sinner from the guilt of his sin: Matth. 6:12, "And forgive us cur debts, as we forgive our debtors." The guilt of sin that lies upon us, till such time as we are justified, is the guilt of revenging wrath, John 3:18, forecited, ver. 36, "He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." The pardon, then given to a sinner in justification, is the freeing him from the guilt of the revenging wrath of God, formerly lying on him: Job. 33:22, "Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers." Ver. 24, "Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom." John 5:24, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." And the sinner once justified, can never fall under the guilt of revenging wrath again: Rom. 8:1, 33, 34; John 5:24; Isa. 54:9, forecited. Now, in our justification God pardons us all our sins, past and present: Mic. 7:19, "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Col. 2:13, "And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." Rom. 4:7, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." And the state we are put into, with respect to after sins, is, that God will not impute them, as to the guilt of revenging wrath: Rom. 4:6, "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works." Ver. 8, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." The procuring cause of the direct pardon of the one, and of the not imputing of the other, is the righteousness of Christ upon us: Rom. 3:22, "The righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference." Compared with Gal. 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." The guilt which the justified do incur by their after sins, is the guilt of fatherly anger: Psalm 89:30, 31, 32, 33, "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail."

Acceptance with God in justification, is not the acceptance of our works, but of our persons: Eph. 1:6, "He hath made us accepted in the beloved." Compared with Rom. 3:28, "Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law." No work of ours can ever be accepted of God, in point of justification: Gal. 2:16, "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ: Even we have believed in Jesus Christ; that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Nor can any work of ours be accepted in any case, till once we are justified: Heb. 11:6, "Without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Gen. 4:4, 5, "And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering: but unto Cain, and to his offering, he had not respect." Compared with Heb. 11:4, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts." God's acceptance of our persons in justification, is his accepting us unto eternal life, adjudging it to us: Rom. 5:17, "They which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." Ver. 18, "By the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Tit. 3:7, "That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Hab. 2:4, "The just shall live by his faith." He accepteth us unto eternal life, as persons righteous in his sight, Rom. 5:17, 18, above cited. Ver. 19, "By the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous." Ver. 21, "Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." Gal. 3:11, "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, "The just shall live by faith." Compared with verse 12, "And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doth them, shall live in them." By the righteous in God's sight, is meant persons truly righteous in law, in the view of his piercing eye: Gen. 7:1, "And the Lord said unto Noah,—Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." 2 Cor. 5:21, "God hath made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." And they are persons truly righteous in law, who have a righteousness fully answering the demands of the law for righteousness: Phil. 3:9, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law; but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Rom. 8:3, 4, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

As to what we are justified for; we are justified "only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone." One coming unto the throne of grace, a law-condemned sinner, is capable of being justified there, pardoned and accepted, as truly righteous, inasmuch as uniting us with Christ there, Christ's righteousness is his, and upon him that moment: Phil. 3:9, forecited. Rom. 3:22, "The righteousness of God is by faith in Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference."

That for which God justifies us, is not any thing wrought in us, or done by us: Tit. 3:5, "Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Eph. 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." But it is "the righteousness of Christ imputed to us:" Phil. 3:9, "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." Compared with Rom. 4:6, "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works." And it is his righteousness only, without any mixture of righteousness inherent in us: Rom. 5:18, 19, forecited. The righteousness of Christ for which we are justified, is not his essential righteousness, which he had from eternity; but his mediatory righteousness which he fulfilled in his state of humiliation: Matth. 3:15, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." The parts whereof that righteousness of Christ consists, are, the complete holiness of nature, righteousness of his life, and satisfaction of his sufferings: Heb. 7:26, "For such an high priest became ns, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners." Rom. 5:19, "By the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous." Phil. 2:7, 8, "Christ Jesus made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." And, in our justification, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, in all the parts thereof, Rom. 8:3, 4. Compared with chap. 4:6.

The party imputing Christ's righteousness to us is God the Judge, Rom. 4:6, forecited. God's imputing it to us, is his reckoning it ours; Rom. 4:10, 11, "How was faith then reckoned to Abraham for righteousness? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed to them also." Chap. 5:19, forecited. Jer. 23:6, "This is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." God can reckon Christ's righteousness ours, because it is ours before he reckon it so; Rom. 2:2, "We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth."

The righteousness of Christ becomes ours, through faith; Phil. 3:9; Rom. 3:22, forecited. It is ours through faith, by right of free gift, and right of communion with Christ himself; The believer possesseth it as his by right of free gift, inasmuch as Christ's righteousness being made over in the gospel, as Heaven's free gift to sinners, he hath received it by faith; Rom. 1:17, "For therein [the gospel of Christ] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Chap. 5:17, "They which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." He possesseth it as his by right of communion with Christ himself, inasmuch as, being united to Christ, he hath a common interest or communion with him in his righteousness; Eph. 3:17, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." 1 Cor. 1:9, "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." Phil. 3:9, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law; but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Christ's righteousness, then, is not therefore ours, because it is imputed to us: but therefore it is imputed to us, because it is ours, Rom. 2:2, forecited. Chap. 4:23, 24, "Now, it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead."

The righteousness of Christ imputed to a law-condemned sinner, is a good ground for his justification, pardon, and acceptance, as a person truly righteous, inasmuch as thereby the commanding and condemning law is judicially found, at the throne of grace, to be fully satisfied in all its demands for righteousness that it had upon him; Rom. 3:31, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Chap. 8:3, 4, forecited. Chap. 10:4, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Chap. 7:4, "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Compared with Chap. 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

As to what we are justified by, we are justified by faith alone; Gal. 2:16, "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ: Even we have believed in Jesus Christ; that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." To be justified by faith alone, is to be justified by faith, and not by works, in whole, nor in part; Rom. 3:28, "Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." Paul's doctrine, that we are justified by faith alone; and the doctrine of James, that we are justified by works, and not by faith only, Jam. 2:24, do not disagree, (2 Pet. 1:21, "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost"); and that, inasmuch as they speak of very different subjects. What Paul speaks of, is God's justifying us by an act of his, declaring us to be righteous; Rom. 4:6–8, "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." What James speaks of, is but our justifying ourselves, by a course of life shewing us to be righteous; Jam. 2:18, "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." Ver. 21, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?" Now, a man justifies or shews himself righteous by faith in the sight of God, by good works; Jam. 2:21, forecited; ver. 25, "Likewise also, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?" John 15:14, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." Rom. 6:14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." For though we are justified of God by faith alone, yet faith is not alone, without good works, in the justified; Jam. 2:17, "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." Ver. 26, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." Rom. 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Nevertheless, faith is alone, without good works, in justification; Rom. 4:5, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." That appears, inasmuch as no man can do a good work, till once he is justified by faith. 1 Tim. 1:5, "Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." Luke 7:47, "Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." Rom. 7:4, forecited. No man can do a good work, till once he is justified by faith, because till then he is under the curse of the law; Rom. 7:5, 6, "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." The act of believing, whereby we are justified, cannot be reckoned a good work done by us, before we are justified, forasmuch as it is the effect of a quickening or creating act of God in us, by which we pass from under the curse, into a state of justification; Eph. 1:19, 20, "That ye may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power; which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead," &c. John 5:24, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

We are not justified by faith, as the righteousness itself for which we are justified: Rom. 5:18, "By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Ver. 19, "By the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous." But faith is, according to the style of the Scripture, said to be counted to us for righteousness, (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3); not that God judgeth it to be our righteousness, but because he treats it as if it were so: Job 19:15, "They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight." Chap. 13:24, "Wherefore holdest thou me for thine enemy?" Chap. 33:20, "Behold, he connteth me for his enemy." Compared with chap. 10:7, "Thou knowest that I am not wicked." God treats faith as if it were our righteousness in his sight, in that immediately upon our act of believing he justifies us. But we are justified by faith, as the alone instrument or mean of our justification: John 1:12, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Rom. 3:28, "Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law." Chap. 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Faith justifies us instrumentally, as it receives the gift of righteousness, and unites us with Christ whose righteousness it is: Rom. 5:17, "They which recieve abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." Phil. 3:9, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law; but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."

It is in justification that we obtain reconciliation with God: 2 Cor. 5:19, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." Jam. 2:23, "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the friend of God." The state we are brought out of, in our reconciliation, is the state of wrath: Rom. 5:9, 10, "Much more then being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." The state we are brought into, is a state of peace and friendship with God through Christ: Rom. 5:1, forecited. Isa. 32:17, "And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever." Jam. 2:23, forecited.

QUEST. 34. What is adoption?

ANSW. Adoption is an act of God's free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.

EXPLICATION.

All who are effectually called, are adopted into the family of God: 2 Cor. 6:17, 18. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty." Adoption, in the general, is a legal act, whereby one doth, to all intents and purposes in law, become wholly the child of another, than him whose child he was by nature. Adoption, then, is not a change of our nature, but of our state. Neither is it a work carried on by degrees, but an act perfected in an instant: 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God," &c. But the full enjoyment of the benefits thereby coming unto us, will not be till the last day: Rom. 8:23, "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." We are adopted into the family of God, in that instant, wherein, believing in Christ, we are justified, and reconciled to God: John 1:12, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Gal. 4:4, 5, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Eph. 2:16, "And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." Ver. 19, "Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God."

Our natural father, out of whose family we come, is the devil: John 8:44, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." Matth. 13:38, "The tares are the children of the wicked one." Chap. 23:15, "Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites; for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." The devil's family is the world lying in wickedness: 1 John 5:19, "And we know that the whole world lieth in wickedness." Compared with 2 Cor. 6:17, 18, forecited. Psalm 45:10, "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house." The father who adopts us into his family, is God himself." 2 Cor. 6:18, forecited. The person of the glorious Trinity, whose act in a peculiar manner our adoption is, is the first person, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: Eph. 1:3, 5, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself." Chap. 3:14, 15, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." 1 John 3:1, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." His act of adopting us into his family, is an act of free grace: 1 John 3:1, above cited. It is an act of free grace, in that there is nothing in us moving him thereto: Eph. 1:5, 6, "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." But it is consistent with the honour of God, to adopt into his family us who are by nature children of the devil, in that he adopts us in Christ, as being in him: Eph. 1:5, 6, above cited. Gal. 3:26, 27, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." Heb. 2:11, "For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." It is consistent with his justice, in that he adopts us for Christ, as redeemed by him, Gal. 4:4, 5, forecited.

We are dignified by adoption, in that we are thereby received into the number of the sons of God: Jer. 3:19, "But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the host of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, my Father, and shalt not turn away from me." John 1:12, forecited. The dignity then, which we are by it advanced to, is sonship to God, Eph. 1:5; 2 Cor. 6:18, forecited. Those that make up that number into which we are received by adoption, are, our Lord Jesus Christ himself, the holy angels, and the saints in heaven and earth: Heb. 2:11. forecited. Chap. 12:22, 23, "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect." Eph. 3:15, forecited. All these are the sons of God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, by eternal generation: Psalm 2:7, "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." John 1:14, "And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." The holy angels are the sons of God, by creation in his image, which is confirmed on them: Job 38:7, "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Compared with Eph. 1:10, "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him." The saints are the sons and daughters of God, by spiritual marriage with Christ, by adoption, and by regeneration: Psalm 45:10, "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear: forget also thine own people, and thy father's house." Eph. 1:5, forecited 1 John 3:9, 10, "Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest." And by adoption we are made sons of God too, Eph. 1:6; Gal. 4:4, 5, forecited.

The peculiar dignity of our Lord Jesus Christ among that number, is, that he is the first-born, the eldest brother, Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:18. The pre-eminence he has among his brethren, as he is the first-born, is, that his is the dominion and headship of the family, the priesthood, the blessing, and the double portion: Heb. 3:6, "Christ was faithful as a Son over his own house." Chap. 2:17, "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Psalm 45:2, "Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever." Ver. 7, "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." The blessing is peculiarly his, though all his brethren are blessed too, inasmuch as he is the prime receptacle of the blessing, from whence it is conveyed unto his brethren, who are blessed only in him: Gen. 12:2, 3, "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Compared with Gal. 3:8, "And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." Eph. 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Phil. 2:9, 10, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." Compared with Eph. 1:10, "That, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him.

The advantage we have by the dignity of sonship to God, is, that thereby we have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God: Rom. 8:17, "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." The pivileges of the sons of God are, access to him as a Father, his fatherly pity, protection, provision, and correction, and the eternal inheritance: Eph. 3:12, "In Christ Jesus our Lord, we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." Compared with Matth. 6:9, "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heavan, hallowed be thy name. Psalm 103:13, "Like as a father pitieth his children; so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." Prov. 14:26, "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge." Matth. 6:30, 31, 32, "Wherefore if God so cloth the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." Heb. 12:6, "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Rom. 8:17, forecited. Our right to these privileges by adoption, is not our only right to them: We have another right to them also, by our justification: Hab. 2:4, "The just shall live by his faith." Tit. 3:7, "That being justified by this grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Rom. 5:1, 2, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." The difference between these two rights to these privileges lies here, That our right to them by justification is our fundamental right, our right to them by adoption is an honorary right of inheritance superadded thereto: Rom. 5:18, "By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Ver. 19, "By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." John 1:12, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."

The earnest of the eternal inheritance, which God gives to his adopted children, till they come to the full possession of it, is the spirit of adoption, Rom. 8:15. Compared with Eph. 1:13, 14. The spirit of adoption is the spirit of his Son, sealing them with the Son's image, and working in them a son-like disposition and affection towards God: Gal. 4:6, And because ye are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Compared with Eph. 1:13, 14, "In whom [Christ] ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory? And 2 Cor. 3:18, "But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." And that is done, on and in them, in their sanctification: 2 Cor. 1:21, 22, "Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God: who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." Chap. 3:3, "Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart." Ver. 18, forecited.

QUEST. 35. What is Sanctification?

ANSW. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man, after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

EXPLICATION.

All who are effectually called, are sanctified: and the effect of their sanctification on them is, real holiness in their own persons: 1 Thess. 5:23, 24, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." Sanctification then is not a mere change of our state, but a change of our nature: 2 Cor. 3:18, "But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Chap. 5:17, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new."

It is not an act done in an instant, but a work carried on by degrees: 2 Cor. 4:16, "Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." And it is never perfected in this life: 1 John 1:10, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." Phil. 3:12, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Sanctification then doth differ from regeneration taken strictly for the beginning of the new creature: for regeneration so taken, being the quickening of the dead soul, is done in an instant: Eph. 2:5, "God, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." Compared with John 5:25. But sanctification differeth not from, but is the same with regeneration taken largely for the forming and advancing of the new creature in all its parts: Tit. 3:5, 6, "Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost: which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour." Compared with Eph. 5:26, "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." 2 Cor. 5:17, forecited.

No man without real holiness in his own person, shall ever see the Lord, Heb. 12:14. Howbeit, no unsanctified person can, by any endeavours of his, work his own sanctification, or make himself holy: Jer. 13:23, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." John 15:5, 6, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered." Tit. 1:15, 16, "Unto them that are defiled, and unbelieving, is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." Our sanctification then is the work of God only, 1 Thess. 5:23, forecited.

It is a work of God's free grace: Eph. 1:4, "According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love." And it is such a work, in that there is no personal worth in us moving him thereto, Tit. 3:5, forecited. Wherefore the worst and vilest of sinners may be sanctified: 1 Cor. 6:11, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified," &c. The person of the glorious Trinity, whose work in a peculiar manner our sanctification is, is the Holy Spirit: 2 Thess. 2:13, "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." Tit. 3:5, forecited.

They whom the Spirit sanctifies, are believers united to Christ, justified, reconciled, and adopted into the family of God. Our sanctification depends on our faith, in that it is by faith, as the instrumental cause, that we are sanctified: Acts 26:18,—"That they may receive inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." Chap. 15:9,—"Purifying their hearts by faith." Our sanctification depends on our union with Christ, in that it is in Christ we are sanctified, as members of his body: 1 Cor. 1:2,—"To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus." Eph. 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Our sanctification depends on our justification, in that we are sanctified immediately, through the efficacy of the blood of Christ sprinkled on our consciences: Heb. 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" 1 Pet. 1:2, "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." Compared with 1 John 1:7, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." The blood of Christ sprinkled on our consciences hath a sanctifying efficacy on us, inasmuch as removing the curse of the law, and the guilt of sin, it breaks the strength of sin, and the dominion of it: 1 Cor. 15:56, "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." Compared with Rom. 6:14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." John 19:34, "One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water." Compared with Heb. 10:22, "Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Gal. 3:13, 14, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Our sanctification depends on our reconciliation, inasmuch as the sanctifying virtue of the blood of Christ springs from its atoning virtue: Heb. 9:14, forecited. 1 Thess. 5:23, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly." Rom. 5:10, 11, "For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." Compared with Matth. 1:21, "And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins." Our sanctification depends on our adoption, in that being adopted into the family of God, we receive the Spirit of his Son, conforming us to his image as our elder brother, and so sanctifying us: Rom. 8:29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren." Compared with Gal. 4:6, "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." And 2 Cor. 3:18, "But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

The work of sanctification is twofold; namely, habitual sanctification, producing in us habitual holiness; and actual sanctification, producing in us the acts and duties of holiness.

Habitual sanctification is the work of the Spirit, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God. Sanctification is not a bare amending of our life; but it is also a renewing of our nature: Eph. 4:23, 24, "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." In sanctification we are renewed in the whole man; that is to say, in our whole person, soul and body: 1 Thess. 5:23, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." The soul is renewed, not in respect of its substance, but in respect of its qualities of the mind, will, and affections, Eph. 4:23, 24, forecited. The body is renewed, in communion with the renewed soul, whereby its members become instruments of righteousness: 1 Thess. 5:23, forecited. Compared with Rom. 6:13, "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead; and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." The result of that renewing in the whole man, is the new creature, or new man of grace on us: 2 Cor. 5:17, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new." Eph. 2:10, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Chap. 4:24, forecited.

The new creature is formed after the image of God. And the image of God restored in sanotification, consists in the new qualities, of knowledge in the mind, righteousness in the will, and holiness in the affections: Col. 3:10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him." Eph. 4:24, "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." But that restored image is expressed on us immediately, from Jesus Christ the second Adam, who is the image of the invisible God: Gal. 4:19, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you." 1 Cor. 15:49, "As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Compared with Col. 1:15, "The Son is the image of the invisible God." Compare 1 Cor. 11:7, "Man is the image and glory of God;" with Gen. 1:26, "And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Ver. 27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him."

The difference between the renewing in effectual calling, and the renewing in sanctification, lies here, that in the former new vital powers, in the latter new qualities and habits of grace are infused into us: John 5:25, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." Compared with 1 Cor. 5:6, "Know ye not, that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Heb. 8:10, 11, 12, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." These new qualities and habits of grace, are the seeds of repentance unto life, and of all other saving graces, making an entire new creature, or new man: 1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Acts 11:18, "Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:24, both forecited. These new qualities and habits of grace are derived to us, from the all-fullness of grace in the man Christ: Col. 1:19, "For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell." Compared with John 1:16, "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." And they are communicated from Christ unto us, by his Spirit: John 16:14, 15, "The Spirit of truth shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath, are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." The effect of that communication is, that we are sealed with the image of Christ, receiving grace for, grace in Christ, as the wax doth point for point in the seal: Eph. 1:13, "In Christ ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Compared with 2 Cor. 3:18, "But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." And John 1:16; Gal. 4:19, forecited. And by that means our union with Christ issues in our being one Spirit with Christ, as really as Eve was one flesh with Adam, being formed of him: 1 Cor. 6:17, "He that is joined unto the Lord, is one spirit." Compared with Eph. 5:30, 31, 32, "For we are members of the Lord's body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." Now, to be one Spirit with Christ, is to be of one and the same spiritual nature with him, as his spiritual seed: Heb. 2:11, "For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Compared with John 3:6, "That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit." And Isa. 53:10, "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed."

But though, in sanctification, we are renewed in the whole man, yet we are not renewed wholly in any part: but there are remains of corruption still indwelling in every part: Rom. 7:18, "For I know, that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not." Vers. 23, 24, "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" Eph. 4:22, "Put off concerning the former conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." That is to say, there are remains of corruption still in the mind, will, and affections, and in the body by way of communion with the unrenewed part; 1 Cor. 13:9, "We know in part." Gal. 5:17, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Rom. 7:14, "I am carnal, sold under sin." Phil. 3:21, "The Lord Jesus Christ shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body."

What ensues on these two contrary principles of grace and corruption, being together in every part of the renewed man, is, the the continual combat between the flesh and the Spirit, Gal. 5:17, forecited. The difference betwixt that combat and the struggle against sin, sometime found in the unregenerate, lies here, that in the former, the conflict is between the flesh and the Spirit in one and the same part; in the latter, it is between the flesh in one part, lasting, and the flesh in another part fearing; Rom. 7:15, 16, "That which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law, that it is good." 2 Pet. 2:15, "Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness." Compared with Num. 22:18, "And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his housefull of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more." The immediate issue of the combat between the flesh and the Spirit, is, that neither the one principle, nor the other, carries the action to the perfection it tends unto, Gal. 5:17, forecited. And in that combat, the remaining corruption may prevail for a time, Rom. 7:23, forecited. But the renewed part overcomes; Rom. 6:14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." 1 John 5:4, "Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

The state we are in, with respect to sin and righteousness, by means of the renewing in sanctification, is, a state of death unto sin, and of life unto righteousness.

The state of death unto sin, for the kind of it, is such a state of death as a crucified man is in, who being nailed to the cross, shall never come down till he breathe out his last: Rom. 6:6, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Gal. 6:14, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." And we are, by the renewing in sanctification, put into such a state of death unto sin, inasmuch as thereby the dominion or reigning power of the whole body of sins is destroyed, and the pollution or defilement of sin is purged away from off the whole man, though not perfectly in any part: Rom. 6:6, 14, forecited. Tit. 3:5, "Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Compared with John 13:10, "Jesus saith to him, He that is washed, needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean but not all." The dominion or reigning power of sin is destroyed in us, by means of the renewing in sanctification, in that a contrary reigning principle of grace is thereby set in us: Rom. 6:14, forecited. 1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." The pollution or defilement of sin is purged away by the same means, inasmuch as the restored image of God in us, makes us really pure and clean in the sight of God, as far as it goes: Tit. 3:5, above cited. Compared with Col. 3:10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him." And we are in that state of death unto sin, in respect of our unrenewed part, Gal. 6:14. Compared with Rom. 6:6, above cited.

The state of life unto righteousness, for the kind of it, is such as a man is in, who, being not only quickened, but risen and come forth of the grave, is in an immediate disposition for the common actions of life: Rom. 6:4, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Col. 3:1, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God." Compared with Matth. 28:6, "Jesus is not here: for he is risen as he said." John 11:44, "And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go." And we are, by renewing in sanctification, put into such a state of life unto righteousness, inasmuch as thereby we are endowed with infused habits of grace, the immediate principles of gracious actions: Deut. 30:6, "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." Heb. 8:10, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts." 2 Pet. 1:4, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." We are in that state of life unto righteousness, in respect of our renewed part: Gal. 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Compared with Rom. 7:17, "Now, then it is no more I that do it, but that sin that dwelleth in me."

Actual sanctification is the work of the Spirit, whereby we are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. Actual holiness, proceeding from that state of death and life, consists in more and more dying unto sin, and living unto righteousness: Gal. 5:24, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." Rom. 6:4, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Ver. 6," Knowing this, that our old man is crucfied with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Compared with Prov. 4:18, "The path of the just is as the shinning light, that shinneth more and more unto the perfect day."

Dying unto sin more and more, lies in our mortifying sin, until it die out: Rom. 8:13, "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Col. 3:5, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, &c. The sins which true mortification is aimed against, are, the whole body of the sins of the flesh, Col. 2:11; Gal. 5:25, forecited. We mortify them, by refusing compliance with them, and acting the contrary graces: Gal. 5:16, 17, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Tit. 2:11, 12, "The grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men; teaching us, that, denying ungodliness, and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." They are mortified that way, because in that way they are starved, and grace is strengthened: Rom. 13:14, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Heb. 5:13, "Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

Living unto righteousness more and more, lies in our practising acts of holy obedience, or good works, until we arive at perfection therein: 1 Pet. 1:1, 2, "He that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." Prov. 4:18, forecited. Phil. 3:12, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Ver. 14, "I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." And that practice of obedience extends to the whole known will of God: Acts 13:22, "And God said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will." Col. 4:12, "Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect, and complete in all the will of God." Chap. 1:10, "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."

A good work, or an act of holy obedience, is, any thought, word, or deed, agreeable to the will of God, and pleasing in his sight: Phil. 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Heb. 13:21, "Now the God of peace make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ." And such works are, those which are commanded in God's word, done in faith, and directed to his glory: Matth. 15:2, "In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Rom. 14:23, "Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin." Compared with Heb. 11:6, "Without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." 1 Cor. 10:31, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Wherefore, no works whatsoever of an unsanctified man, are truly good, or pleasing in the sight of God: John 15:5, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: "He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." Tit. 1:15, "Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." Rom. 8:7, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." And that, because though the matter of them may be good, yet they are not done in a right manner, nor to a right end: 1 Cor. 13:3, "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." Matth. 6:2, "Therefore, when thou dost thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues, and in the streets, that they may have glory of men." Zech. 7:5, 6, "When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?" The good works of sanctified persons, are none of them perfectly good, or free from sinful mixture: Isa. 64:6, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Gal. 5:17, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Howbeit, they are accepted of God, for the sake of Christ, being fruits of the branches in him: 1 Pet. 2:5, "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Gen. 4:4, "And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering." Compared with Heb. 11:4, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts." 2 Cor. 2:15, "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish." There is a difference then between the two covenants, in the point of acceptance with God. The method of acceptance with God in the covenant of works, is, that first the work be accepted for its own perfection, and then the person for his work's sake: Gal. 3:12, "And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doth them, shall live in them." The method of acceptance in the covenant of grace, is, that first the person be accepted for Christ's sake, in justification, and then his work, for Christ's sake too, in point of sanctification: Eph. 1:6, "He hath made us accepted in the beloved." Heb. 11:4, forecited. Rev. 7:14, "And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Wherefore God's accepting the will for the deed, or any work that is not perfect, is the peculiar privilege of those who are in the covenant of grace, by true faith: 2 Cor. 8:12, "If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." Compared with ver. 7, "Therefore as ye abound in every thing, in faith, in utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us; see that ye abound in this grace also." And God will accept of no work at the hand of an unbeliever; and that because he is under the covenant of works, and his work is not perfect: Gal. 3:10, "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." Compared with Rom. 3:19, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."

Our ability for acts of mortification, and obedience, wherein we die unto sin, and live unto righteousness, is not at all of ourselves: John 15:4, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine: no more can ye, except ye abide in me." When we are put into a state of death unto sin, and life unto righteousness, through the habits of grace infused into us by the Spirit, even then we are not able, of ourselves, for acts of mortification or obedience: 2 Cor. 3:4, 5, "And such trust we have through Christ to God-ward. Not "that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is of God." Even of our gracious selves we can do nothing, or bring forth no fruit of grace: John 15:4, above cited. Ver. 5, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." But we are enabled to the several acts of mortification and obedience, by the Spirit: Rom. 8:13, "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Phil. 2:13, "It is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure." The Spirit enables us to acts of mortification and obedience, by exciting, increasing, and strengthening our inherent graces thereto: Cant. 5:4, "My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him." Col. 1:10, "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Eph. 3:16, "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might, by his Spirit in the inner man." The Spirit excites, increases, and strengthens our inherent graces, to acts of mortification and obedience, by communicating new supplies of grace to us, from Christ our head: Col. 2:19, "And not holding the head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." 2 Cor. 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Phil. 1:19, "I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." Ver. 11, "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God." Compared with John 15:4, 5, forecited. Wherefore every gracious act, or good work, done by us, is a fruit of the Spirit, produced by him in us: Gal. 5:22, 23, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Eph. 5:9, "The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth." Gal. 5:17, "The Spirit lusteth against the flesh." Compared with ver. 16, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Ver. 18, "If ye be led by the Spirit ye are not under the law." And Rom. 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." And the way how we derive supplies of grace from Christ, through the Spirit, is, by faith trusting on him, in the word of promise: Gal. 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Jer. 17:7, 8, "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Psalm 28:7, "The Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart trusted in him, and I am helped." 2 Pet. 1:4, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature."

The spring of all grace to us, from Christ, for our sanctification habitual and actual, is, our communion with Christ, in his death and resurrection, by virtue of our union with him: Col. 2:11, 12, "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ: buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." Rom. 6:4, 5, 6, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." There is a power or virtue in the death and resurrection of Christ, for sanctifying of his members, applied to them by the Spirit: Gal. 6:14, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Phil. 3:10, "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." Compared with John 16:15, "All things that the Father hath, are mine: therefore said I, that he [the Spirit of truth] shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." That power or virtue is a power or virtue whereby his members are made conformable to him in his death and resurrection, to the sanctifying of them effectually, Phil. 3:10, compared with Rom. 6:5, 6, forecited. We are made conformable to him in his death, dying unto sin, as Christ died for sin, a violent death, lingering, and painful, yet voluntary, Gal. 6:14, above cited. Compared with chap. 5:24, "And they that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." We are made conformable to him in his resurrection, rising from our sins to a new manner of life, continued during our abode in the world, and perfected in glory; as Christ rose from the dead, to a new manner of life, continued till his ascension: Rom. 6:4, forecited. 2 Cor. 5:17, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new." Now, in applying that power and virtue of Christ's death and resurrection unto us, there must be a communication of habitual and actual grace from him unto us: and that because without it we cannot be so conformed to him in his death and resurrection: John 15:4, 5, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." The death and resurrection of Christ come to have such a conforming virtue and power on his members, inasmuch as he died and rose again as a public person, their Head, and merited this their conformation to his image: See Rom. 6:4, to ver. 12. Wherefore, as there is in Adam's sin and death a virtue conforming his natural offspring unto him therein, to their defilement; so there is in Christ's death and resurrection a virtue conforming his members unto him in them, to their sanctification: 1 Cor. 15:22, "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Ver. 47, 48, 49, "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Gal. 2:20, forecited.

QUEST. 36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?

ANSW. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, Assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

EXPLICATION.

These benefits accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, with this difference, That some of them may proceed on the mere reality of grace, others of them require also the evidence of grace.

Those of them that require the evidence of grace, are, assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

The "assurance of God's love" that accompanies or flows from justification, adoption, and sanctification, is, That whereby a true believer is certainly assured of God's love of complacency in him, and that he is in the state of grace, and shall persevere therein: Rom. 5:1, 2, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Ver. 5, "And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." 1 John 3:14, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." Chap. 5:13, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." A believer may attain unto this assurance, in the use of ordinary means, without extraordinary revelation: 2 Pet. 1:10, "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure." Heb. 6:11, "And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence, to the full assurance of hope unto the end." And the special means for that end, are close walking with God, self-examination, and the right use of the holy sacraments: John 14:21, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." 2 Cor. 13:5, "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves: know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" Rom. 4:11, "And he [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised." Compared with Acts 8:39, "And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing." And 1 Cor. 10:16, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" The grounds from whence a believer may raise this assurance, are, the infallible truth of the word of grace to him in the scriptures, and the evidence of grace in his own heart: 1 John 5:13; chap. 3:14, forecited. Ver. 18, 19, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed, and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." And a believer is enabled to discern these grounds of assurance, so as to be assured upon them, by the Spirit's shining in his heart, on the word of grace, and in the work of grace there: Luke 24:45, "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures." 1 Cor. 2:12, "Now we hare received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." For so the Spirit attests, and he sees the one to be the Spirit's own infallible word to him, and the other his gracious work in him; Rom. 8:16, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Compared with John 2:22, "When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them: and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said." 1 Cor. 2:12, above cited True assurance distinguishes itself from presumption, by its humbling the soul, making the conscience tender, and the heart heavenly: Gal. 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Cant. 2:7, "I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up nor awake my love, till he please." Gal. 6:14, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." And it is a necessary duty to seek true assurance: 2 Pet. 1:10, "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure." The excellency of it in the Christian life, is, that it fits men to live most usefully for God, and most comfortably for themselves: Psalm. 119:82, "I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart." And 4:6, 7, "There may be many that say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased." But there may be true faith, justification, adoption, and sanctification, without this assurance; 1 John 5:13, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." Isa. 1:10, "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God."

Howbeit, there is some assurance in justifying faith itself: 1 Thess. 1:5, "Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." Heb. 10:22, "Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Jer. 3:19, "But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said, Thou shalt call me, My father, and shalt not turn away from me." Hos. 2:23, "And I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." Rom. 4:20–24, "Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief: but was strong in faith, giving glory to God: and being fully persuaded, that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him: but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead." The assurance which is in justifying faith itself, is that whereby, in believing on Christ for salvation, the party is persuaded, in greater or lesser measure, of God's love of good-will to him, and that Christ will save him from sin and wrath: 1 John 4:14, "And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." Ver. 16, "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us." Chap. 5:10, 11, "He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God, hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life: and this life is in his Son." John 3:16, 17, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through him might be saved." Compared with 1 Thess. 1:5, "Our gospel came not unto you in world only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." Acts 15:11, "We believe, that, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they." James 1:6, 7, "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering: for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord." The ground from whence this assurance is raised, is, the word of the gospel allenarly, demonstrated by the Spirit in the work of saving illumination: 1 Cor. 2:4, 5, "And my speech, and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. There may be doubting of God's good-will and of salvation, where this assurance of them hath place: Matth. 14:31, "And immediately Jesus said unto Peter, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" And that may be, inasmuch as they are contraries capable of various degrees, the one weakened as the other gathers strength: Mark 9:24, "And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." 1 Thess. 1:5; Matth. 14:31, above cited. But where doubts are reigning, to the barring of any assurance of these things at all, true faith is barred too, James 1:6, 7; Is. 1:10; 1 John 5:10, 11, forecited.

True peace of conscience is the calm that ensues in the conscience purged from guilt by the blood of Christ: Isa. 33 ult. "And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein, shall be forgiven their iniquity." Heb. 10:2, "The worshippers once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins." Chap. 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" The ground of true peace of conscience, is peace with God: Rom. 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Compared with Col. 3:15, "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." It is discerned from false peace, in that it is strengthened by the light of the word, and not maintained without warring against sin: John 3:20, 21, "Every one that doth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." Psalm 119:165, "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them." Compared with Gal. 5:17, "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."

By joy in the Holy Ghost is meant, spiritual joy, whereof the Holy Ghost is the author: Rom. 14:17, "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Compared with Gal. 5:22, "The fruit of the Spirit is joy." Psalm 45:7, "God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Compared with John 3:34, "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." The spring of joy in the Holy Ghost is, sense of grace received, and hope of glory: Is. 61:10, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." Rom. 5:2, "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God." It is discerned from the delusive joy of hypocrites, in that victory over sin, felt and hoped for, is a chief spring of it, spirituality and vigour in duties of obedience are the effects of it: 1 Pet. 1:8, 9, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." 1 Cor. 15:55, 56, 57, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Compared with Rev. 5:9, 10, "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." Phil. 3:3, "We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Neh. 8:10, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." Compared with Psalm 119:32, "I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart."

None can have true peace of conscience, nor joy in the Holy Ghost, but true believers: Isa. 57 ult. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." And when they have attained them, they may lose them again: Psalm 51:8, "Make me to hear joy and gladness: that the bones which thou hast broken, may rejoice." But the seed of them, from whence they may be revived, cannot be lost, but abides with believers in all cases: Psalm 97:11, "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." Compared with 1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." The abiding seed of peace of conscience in believers, is, their state of peace with God: Jer. 32:40, "And I will make an everlasting 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." The abiding seed of joy in the Holy Ghost in them, is, their saying interest in the fulness of Christ: 1 John 1:3, 4, "That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." And out of these they may recover their lost peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost, by the renewed actings of faith and repentance: Rom. 15:13, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Matth. 5:4, "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." Compared with Psalm 126:5, "They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy." And they may maintain and preserve them, by a holy tender walk, and the daily exercise of faith and repentance: Acts 24:16, "And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men." Compared with 2 Cor. 1:12, "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-wards." John 13:10, "Jesus saith to Peter, He that is washed, needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." Psalm 19:12, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults."

The benefits flowing from justification, adoption, and sanctification, which may proceed on the mere reality of grace, without the evidence of it, are, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

It is of the nature of grace, as of a seed, or the morning light, to increase or grow, till it come to perfection: 1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Compared with Mark 4:26, 27, "And Jesus said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up he knoweth not how." Prov. 4:18, "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." John 4:14, "The water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Eph. 4:13, "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." And it doth grow accordingly, Prov. 4:18, above cited. Nevertheless, it doth not therefore grow at all times, but is liable to decays: Rev. 2:4, "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." The actual increase or growth of it depends on supplies of grace from Christ the head, communicated to us by the Spirit: Hos. 14:5, "I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon." Compared with Isa. 44:3, 4, "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses." John 15:5, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." Howbeit, it is our duty to grow in grace: 2 Pet. 3:18, "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." A Christian shall grow in grace, by exercising it, and using the means of it, diligently: Matth. 25:29, Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath." Psalm 92:13, "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God." The graces, the exercise whereof doth especially influence the growth of all the rest, as well as their own, are, first, faith, and then love: Gal. 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." 2 Cor. 5:14, 15, "For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." 1 Tim. 1:5, "Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." True spiritual growth is discerned from false growth, in that it is proportionable in all the parts of the new creature, and rests at no pitch attained till it come to perfection: Eph. 4:15, "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." Philip. 3:13, 14, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

By perseverance in grace to the end, is meant, a constant continuance in grace, all along till death: Col. 1:23, "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven." Matth. 10:22, "He that endureth to the end, shall be saved." All who are once endowed with true grace, shall infallibly persevere in it to the end, notwithstanding of Satan's temptations, the world's snares, and their own corruptions: John 10:28, 29, "And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all: and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." 1 Pet. 1:5, "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." 1 John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us." Chap. 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." They may lose the evidence, and much of the measure and exercise of their grace: Isa. 1:10, "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." Rev. 2:4, 5, "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works." Cant. 5:2, 3, "I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?" But they can never fall away from grace finally, so as never to recover it: 1 Pet. 1:5, forecited. John 6:39, "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." Chap. 8:35, "The servant abideth not in the house for ever; but the Son abideth ever." Nor can they fall away from it totally, so as to lose it altogether for shorter or longer time, 1 John 3:9, above cited. Jer. 32:40, "And I will make an everlasting 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." Those then who fall away totally and finally, from the faith or holiness of the gospel they sometimes seemed to have, are such as never had true grace, 1 John 2:19, forecited. This perseverance of the saints doth not arise from the nature of grace itself implanted in them; for of itself it would wither away and die out if it were not fed: Isa. 27:3, "I the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." John 15:5, 6, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered." But it ariseth from their inseparable union with Christ, the perpetual indwelling of his Spirit in them, the continual intercession of Christ for them, and the nature of the covenant of grace, and decree of election: 1 Cor. 1:8, 9, "Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." Compared with John 14:19, "Because I live ye shall live also." And ver. 16, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." Compared with chap. 16:15, "All things that the Father hath, are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." Heb. 7:25, "Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Compared with Luke 22:32, "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Jer. 32:40, forecited. 2 Tim. 2:19, "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." The ground in law on which this privilege of perseverance is thus secured to them, is that Christ the second Adam hath perfectly fulfilled the condition of the covenant: Gal. 3:12, "And the law is not of faith: but the man that doth them, shall live in them." Compared with Heb. 10:38, 39, "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition: but of them that believe, to the saving of the soul." And Rom. 10:4, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."

QUEST. 37, What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?

ANSW. The souls of believers are at their death, made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.

EXPLICATION.

Death came into the world by sin: Rom. 5:12, "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin: and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." They who, being out of Christ, die in their sins, die in virtue of the curse of the broken law or covenant of works: Gen. 2:17, "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 shalt surely die." Compared with Rom. 3:19, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Chap. 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." Compared with 1 Cor. 15:56, "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." And the state their souls are in, from death until the resurrection, is, that being cast into hell, they remain there in torments and utter darkness: Luke 16:23, 24, "And in hell he [the rich man] lifted up his eyes being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." Jude 6, 7, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Soddom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." The state their bodies are in, in the grave, is, that they are kept there as in their prison, Jude 6, 7, forecited.

They that are effectually called into union and communion with Christ, do not die in virtue of the curse of the broken law, or covenant of works; Rom. 7:4, "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Gal. 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Compared with Rev. 14:13, "And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours: and their works do follow them." And John 8:51, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." But they die in conformity to Christ their head, that as death came in by sin, sin may go out by death. Rom. 8:29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Compared with Col. 1:18, "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." And 1 Cor. 15:20, "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept;" ver. 23, "But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's, at his coming." Rom. 8:10, "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead, because of sin; but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness." Death then doth not stop the course of their partaking of the benefits of Christ's purchase, but opens it further.

Both the souls and bodies of believers, or them that are effectually called, justified, adopted, and sanctified in their life, do receive or partake of more benefits of Christ's purchase, at their death.

The benefits of Christ's purchase that their souls receive at death, are, that then "they are made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory." Heb. 12:23, "Ye are come to the spirits of just men made perfect." Luke 23:43, "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

The begun work of sanctification in the souls of believers is perfected at death; so that their souls are, upon their separation from the body, made perfect in holiness, Heb. 12:23, above cited. Sanctification perfected in the souls of believers at death, is the work of God's free grace, whereby they are wholly renewed in every part, after the image of God, to the utter abolishing of the remains of sin in them, and are enabled eternally to live unto righteousness in perfection; Rev. 7:14, 15, "And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." 2 Cor. 4:16, "Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." Compared with Heb. 12:23, forecited. And Rev. 7:15, above cited; compared with 1 Cor. 13:8, 9, 10, "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." It is the same Spirit of Christ, who begins and carries on their sanctification in life, that perfects their sanctification at death; Philip. 1:6, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Psalm 138 ult., "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." The Spirit wholly renews the souls of believers in every part, after the image of God, to the utter abolishing of the remains of sin in them, by communicating to them from Christ their head, a fulness of grace for grace in Christ, to the perfecting of his image on them; Eph. 4:13, "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." 1 Cor. 15:49, "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Chap. 13:10, "When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." The Spirit enables them eternally to live unto righteousness in perfection, eternally communicating to them, from Christ their head, supplies of grace in full measure. Rev. 7 ult., "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters." Compared with John 16:14, "He [the Spirit of truth] shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." 1 Cor. 13:10, above cited. It appears, that there shall be such an eternal communications of supplies of grace, from Christ, to the saints, by the Spirit, in that they continue for ever members of Christ; and members cannot act but by continued communication of influences from their head; John 14:16, 17, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." Chap. 15:4, 5, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."

The glory that the souls of believers pass into at death, is, a glorious state, a glorious place, and a glorious society. The glorious state they pass into, is, a state of shining in the perfect purity of the divine image: 2 Cor. 3:18, "But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Compared with Heb. 12:23, "Ye are come to the spirits of just men made perfect." The glorious place they pass into, is, the highest heavens: Phil. 1:23, "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better." Compared with Eph. 4:10, "He that descended, is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things." And they are carried into it by angels: Luke 16:22, "And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." The glory of that place they are carried into, is, the glory of God and of the man Christ, shining in it: Rev. 21:23, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." But they are made perfect in holiness, before they enter there, not after they are entered: Rev. 21:27, "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." The glorious society they pass into, is, the society of God and Christ there, and of the holy angels, and glorified saints: 2 Cor. 5:8, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Heb. 12:22, 23, 24, "Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." And this their passing into glory, is immediately after death, Luke 16:22; chap. 23:43, forecited. There is no middle state then, between believers their dying in Christ, and their passing into glory, 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23, forecited. Rev. 14:13, "And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."

The benefit of Christ's purchase that the bodies of believers receive at death, is, that being still united to Christ, they rest in their graves till the resurrection. The grave is a place of rest to the bodies of believers: and they rest in their graves, otherwise than the wicked do in theirs, in that they rest in them, as in their beds perfumed by Christ's lying in the grave: Isa. 57:2, "He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness." Compared with Rev. 1:17, 18, "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead: and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and hare the keys of hell and of death." That the grave is such a resting place to the bodies of believers, while it is a prison to others, is from their being still united to Christ: Isa. 57:2, above cited. Compared with 1 Thess. 4:14, "If we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him." The dissolving of their bodies into smallest dust scattered here and there, doth not dissolve the union between Christ and their bodies in that case, 1 Thess. 4:14, above cited: and that because the bond of their union with him, is his infinite Spirit everywhere present: Rom. 8:11, "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you; he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Compared with Psalm 139:7, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" And they are to rest so in their graves, till the resurrection: Job 19:26, 27, "And though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me."

The dead will rise again: Acts 24:16, "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." John 5:28, 29, "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." And the resurrection of the dead will be at the last day, when Christ comes again to judgment: 1 Thess. 4:15, 16, "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." Some will be then found alive, as at this day: 1 Cor. 15:51, "Behold, I shew you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." And they shall not die and rise again; but instead of dying and rising again, they shall be changed, 1 Cor. 15:51, above cited. They that shall rise again, are, all the dead, small and great, just and unjust, John 5:28, forecited. Rev. 20:12, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God." Acts 24:15, forecited. The dead will be raised by the power of God: 1 Cor. 6:14, "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power." God will not make them new bodies, but they shall rise again with the self-same bodies that were laid in the grave: 1 Cor. 15:53, "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Job 19:26, forecited. The possibility of such a resurrection of the dead appears, from the omniscience and almighty power of God: Heb. 4:13, "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Rev. 4:8, "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within; and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." The concern that the omniscience of God hath in the resurrection of the dead, is, to discern every one's dust from another's, and from the common dust of the earth. And that is all the odds, between the first forming of man's body, and the forming it anew at the resurrection: for man's body was originally dust lying here and there on the ground: Gen. 2:7, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." Chap. 3:19, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." The concern that the almighty power of God hath in it, is, to bring together all the dust of the same body, form it again into a body, and reunite the soul thereto. The certainty of such a resurrection appears, from the truth and faithfulness of God, who has said it: John 5:28, 29, forecited. Dan. 12:2, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." The raising of the dead, and the changing of those then alive, will be done in a moment, at the sound of the last trumpet: 1 Cor. 15:52, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (for the trumpet shall sound); and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Compared with 1 Thess. 4:16, 17, "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." And the raised and the changed bodies will differ from what they were before, during this life, in their qualities, though not in their substance, 1 Cor. 15:52, 53, forecited.

QUEST. 38. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

ANSW. At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.

EXPLICATION.

Believers, or they that are effectually called, justified, adopted, and sanctified in their life, shall receive or partake of the whole benefits of Christ's purchase at the resurrection: And they shall then receive the whole, by these degrees; to wit, some in the resurrection itself, more in the judgment, and the completing benefit after judgment.

The benefit of Christ's purchase they shall receive in the resurrection itself, is, that they shall be raised up in glory: 1 Cor. 15:43, "It is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory." The way how they will be raised, is, that Christ will raise them as his own members, by his Spirit dwelling in them, even as one awaking draws his limbs to him: Rom. 8:11, "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you; he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." The likeness in which their bodies shall be fashioned anew in the resurrection, is, the likeness of the glorious body of the second Adam: 1 Cor. 15:49, "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Compared with Philip. 3:21, "Jesus Christ shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." They will be raised incorruptible, glorious, strong, and spiritual bodies: 1 Cor. 15:42, 43, 44, "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body."

But the wicked shall be raised in dishonour: and the way how they will be raised, is by the power of Christ as an offended judge: John 5:29, "And shall come forth, they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." Matth. 25:33, "And the Son of man shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Immediately after the resurrection will follow the general judgment: Rev. 20:13, "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

There will be a day of general judgment; Acts 17:31, "God hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." The man Christ will be the Judge: Acts 17:31, above cited; compared with Rom. 14:10, "We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." And he will be seen with the bodily eyes of all: Job. 19:26, 27, "And though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." Rev. 1:7, "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him." At his coming to judgment, the world will be going on in their ordinary course and business of life; Luke 17:26, 27, 28, 30, "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wires, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." Matth. 24:40, 41, "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." The parties that shall be judged, are, Men and devils; 2 Cor. 5:10, "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." Jude 6, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." The summons will be given to the quick and the dead, by the sound of the last trumpet, 1 Thess. 4:16, 17, forecited. The effect of that will be, that the dead shall be raised, and those that are alive changed, 1 Cor. 15:52, forecited. They will be gathered from all airths, unto the place of the judgment, by the ministry of angels; Mark 13:27. "And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven." Matth. 13:40, 41, "As therefore the tares are gathered, and burnt in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity." The righteous will meet the Lord Christ the Judge in the air, 1 Thess. 4:17, forecited. And he will seat himself for the judgment, on a glorious throne: Matth. 25:31, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory." The parties will be placed before him; the righteous on his right hand, in the air; the wicked on his left, upon the earth: Matth. 25:33, "And the Son of man shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." Compared with 1 Thess. 4:17, "We which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." And Matth. 24:40, "Then shall two be in the field: the one shall be taken, and the other left." What men must give an account of then, is their thoughts, words and deeds done in the body: 1 Cor. 4:5, "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." Matth. 12:36, 37, "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Eccl. 12:14, "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. And judgment will be given on men, according to their works, good or bad: Rev. 20:12, "The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." 2 Cor. 5:10, "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done whether it he good or bad." Howbeit the good works of the righteous will not be considered in the judgment, as the ground of their right to heaven; but as the evidences of it: Eph. 2:8, 9, "By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." Rev. 22:14, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Compared with Mark 4:25, "He that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath." And Matth. 5:45, "That ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven." But the ill works of the unrighteous will be considered in it, as the just grounds of their damnation: Gal. 3:10, "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." Compared with Matth. 25:41, "Then shall he say also unto them on she left hand, depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Sentence will be pronounced on the righteous first: Matth. 25:33, 34, "And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on the right hand, come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

The benefit of Christ's purchase they shall receive in the judgment, is, that they shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted. They will be acknowledged and acquitted by Jesus Christ the judge: Matth. 10:32, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven." Chap. 25:34, above cited. He will acknowledge them to be his faithful servants, and the persons whose names are written in his book of life, for whom he died: Matth. 25:23, "His Lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Rev. 20:12, "And another book was opened, which is the book of life." Compared with Chap. 3:5, "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father, and before his angels." And he will acquit them from the guilt of all their sins: Acts 3:19, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted ont, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." They are really be acknowledged and acquitted by him already: John 17:9, 10, "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them." Rom. 8:33, 34, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth: who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." But they will be acknowledged and acquitted by him, in that day, openly; namely, before his father, angels and men: and he will do it, by a sentence pronounced and published, with his own mouth, from the throne: Rev. 3:5, forecited. Matth. 25:31, 32, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." Ver, 34, The sentence will be, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," Matth. 25:34. The ground on which they will be openly acquitted in the day of judgment, will be the very same on which they are acquitted now, to wit, the righteousness of Christ upon them: Philip. 3:9, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Rom. 5:21, "That as sin bath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." Chap. 6:22, 23, "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." He will so acknowledge and acquit them openly, to wipe off the aspersions now cast on them by the men of the world: Isa. 66:5, "Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word, your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed." The honour to be put upon them, immediately after that acknowledgment and acquittance, is, that they shall join with Christ, as assessors, in judging devils and wicked men: 1 Cor. 6:2, 3, "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?—know ye not that we shall judge angels?" Psal. 49:15, "The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning." And 149:6, 7, 8, 9, "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour hare all his saints."

It will be the lot of the wicked in the judgment, to be openly disowned and condemned by Jesus Christ. And that will be done, by sentence pronounced and published with his mouth, from the throne: Matth. 7:23, "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Chap. 25:41. That sentence will be, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," Matth. 25:41. The grounds on which they will be condemned, are, their sins and ungodliness in their hearts, lips, and lives: Rom. 2:16, "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel." Jude 14, 15, "Behold, the Lord cometh, with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." The evidence on which their condemnation shall proceed, will be, clear evidence, and full conviction of their own consciences: Rom. 2:15, "Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else excusing one another." Ver. 16; Jude 14, 15, above cited.

The particular place and time of the general judgment are not known to men: Luke 17:37, "And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." 1 Thess. 5:1, 2, "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." The time of it is kept secret, that men may watch, and be always ready: Matth. 24:42, "Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Ver. 44, "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh."

Immediately after the judgment, follows the full execution of the sentences, and the end of the world by the general conflagation: Matth. 25 ult., "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." 1 Cor. 15:24, 25, "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet." Compared with 2 Pet. 3:10, "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night: in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up." But God will make new heavens and a new earth: 2 Pet. 3:13, "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." The party that shall go off first from the place of the judgment, is, the damned, the saints seeing all their enemies turn their backs, Matth. 25 ult. forecited. The fearful sentence will he put in execution against them, in their being cast out from the favourable presence of God, and the glorious fellowship of Christ, his saints and angels, into hell: Rev. 20 ult. "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire." Compared with Matth. 25:41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And Luke 16:26, "And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulph fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence." And they will be punished there with unspeakable torments both of body and soul: 2 Thess. 1:7–9, "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." These their torments will never have an end: Mark 9:43, 44, "If thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands, to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Rev. 20:10, "And the devil that deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are; and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." And in that their miserable state, for eternity, they will bare the society of the devil and his angels, Matth. 25:41, forecited.

The completing benefit of Christ's purchase believers shall receive after the judgment, is, that they shall be made perfectly blessed, in full enjoying of God to all eternity. They will go away with Christ, after the judgment, into heaven, the seat of the blessed: 1 Thess. 4:17, "Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Matth. 25 ult., "The righteous shall go away into life eternal." Psal. 45:15, "With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace." And they will be there, in a state of perfect blessedness, or complete happiness, both in soul and body: Matth. 13:43, "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father." They will be made perfectly blessed, or completely happy in their being for ever freed from all sin and misery, want and imperfection, and filled to the brim with all their souls can desire: Eph. 5:25–27, "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish." Rev. 21:4, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Ver. 7, "He that overcometh, shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Chap. 7:16, 17, "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." What shall make them perfectly blessed, or completely happy, is, full enjoying of God to all eternity: Psal. 16 ult. "In thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." And 17 ult., "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness." Rev. 21:7, above cited. They will enjoy God in heaven, by sight of the divine glory, to the complete satisfying of their understanding; and by experience of the divine goodness, to the complete satisfying of their will: Matth. 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Compared with Psalm 17 ult., above cited. Rev. 7:16, 17, forecited. The sight they will have of the divine glory, is, a fall and clear knowledge of God, as by seeing face to face: Exod. 33:18, "And Moses said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." Ver. 20, "And he said, thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live." Compared with Rev. 22:4, "And they shall see his face." And 1 Cor. 13:12, "Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." The experience they will have of the divine goodness, is an unrestrained partaking of the all-fulness thereof: Psalm 36:8, 9, "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house: and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light." Rev. 21:3, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

The creature's understanding and experience can never, in any case, reach all the glory and goodness that is in God; because it is infinite: Job. 11:7, "Canst thou by searching find out God, canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" But the glorified saints will enjoy him fully, enjoying him to the utmost of their enlarged capacities, Psal. 16 ult. and 36:8, forecited. And they will enjoy him immediately: 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons 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 see him as he is." Not that they will ever enjoy him, otherwise than through the mediator Christ their Head: John 17:2, 3, "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Rev. 7 ult., "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters." Chap. 21:23, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." But they will enjoy him without the intervention of outward means, 1 Cor. 13:12, forecited. And that their full and immediate enjoyment of God will last to all eternity: 1 Thess. 4:17, "And so shall we ever be with the Lord." Psal. 16 ult., forecited.

The end for which the saints shall be made completely happy, in full enjoying of God, is God's glory: Prov. 16:4, "The Lord hath made all things for himself." Rom. 11 ult. "For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory for over. Amen." And they being made perfectly blessed, or completely happy, in full enjoying of God to all eternity, will answer that end, in glorifying God, by loving, praising, and serving him, perfectly, to all eternity: Psalm 86:12, 13, "I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell." Rev. 7:9, 10, "After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." Ver. 15, "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." Chap. 22:3, "And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him."

MONERGISM BOOKS

An Explication of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism by Thomas Boston, Copyright © 2019

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Table of Contents

What is the chief end of man?

What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?

What do the Scriptures principally teach?

What is God?

Are there more Gods than one?

How many persons are there in the Godhead?

What are the decrees of God?

How doth God execute his decrees?

What is the work of creation?

How did God create man?

What are God's works of providence?

What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?

Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?

What is sin?

What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created

Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?

Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?

What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?

How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?

How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?

How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?

How doth Christ execute the office of a king?

Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?

Wherein consisteth Christ's exaltation?

How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

What is effectual calling?

What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?

What is justification?

What is adoption?

What is sanctification?

What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanc

What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?

What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?