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Church now; and that because extraordinary Revelation of Doctrine is ceafed, and God hath bound us to the Scripture as the Teft or Touchstone of Doctrine . viii. 20. To the law and to the teftimony: 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 teftamentary Word of God. Now, a Teftament is the laft Will of a dying Per

So the Scripture is Chrift's Teftament, confirmed by his Death: And as a Teftament, it declares the laft Will of God concerning Man's Salvation and Duty. Chrift's Teftament is twofold; namely, the Old Testament, and the New Teftament. The Books beginning with Genefis, and ending with Malachi, are Chrift's Old Teftament Those beginning with Matthew, and ending with the Revelation, are Chrift's New Testament. These two Teftaments are one and the fame for Subftance: For in both, Jefus Chrift is the Teftator; eternal Life is the Legacy; Sinners of Mankind are the Legatees; and Faith in Jefus Chrift is the Way of claiming and obtaining the Legacy 1 John v. 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. viii. 4. Unto you, O

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men, I call, and my voice is to the fons 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 favingly understood, without an inward Illumination of the Mind by the Spirit of Chrift: 1 Cor. ii. 10. "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit:

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for the Spirit fearcheth all things, yea, the deep 'things of God.'

Queft. 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?

An. The Scriptures principally teach, what Man is to believe concerning God, and what Duty God requires of Man.

EXPLICATIO N.

Principally to teach, is chiefly to teach. The Things that the Scriptures teach chiefly, are these two; Faith, and Obedience: 2 Tim. i. 13. Hold 'faft the form of found words, which thou haft heard of me, in faith and love which is in Chrift Jefus.' 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, neceffary to be believed, nor a Duty, neceffary to be done, but what is taught in the Scriptures. Howbeit, not only what is found in Scripture in exprefs Words, but also what arifeth therefrom, by neceffary Confequence, is to be reckoned taught therein: Matth. xxii. 32. I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Ifaac, ' and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.'

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Queft. 4. What is God?

Anf. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his Being, Wildom, Power,

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Power, Holiness, Juftice, Goodness, and : Truth.

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EXPLICATION.

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No Creature can fully comprehend what God is : Job xi. 7. Canft thou by fearching find out God? canft thou find out the Almighty unto Perfection?" But he has revealed fo much of himself in the Scriptures, as is neceffary for us to know. For his fort of Being, he is a Spirit: And a Spirit is an immaterial Subftance, without Flesh or Bones. He hath not then a Body nor any bodily Parts: John iv. 24. God is a Spirit.' Luke xxiv. 29. Behold my hands and my • feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and fee, for fpirit hath not fish and bones, as ye fee me have.' Then Eyes, Ears, and fuch like bodily Parts afcribed to him in Scripture, are not to be understood properly: But by them we are to understand an infinite Perfection of thofe Powers, which thofe Members ferve for in us. So the Eyes of God fignify his infinite Power of difcerning Objects, as by the Eye: His Ears fignify his infinite Power of difcerning Voices, as by the Ear. Moreover, God cannot be feen with bodily Eyes; no not with the Eyes of glorified Bodies in Heaven: Herce he is faid to be invifible, and to dwell in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath fren, nor can fee, 1 Tim. i. 17. and vi. 16. But God can be feen with the Eyes of the Mind, enlightened with the Light of Grace here, and the Light of Glory in Heaven: Eph. i. 17. 18.

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the God of our Lord Jefus Chrift, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom. and revelation in the knowledge of him': the

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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 faints.' Finally, there is nothing which God is like unto: . xl. 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 befides 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 fo. The Attributes of God,or Perfections of the divine Nature, are of two Sorts; incommunicable, and communicable. His incommunicable Attributes, whereof there is no Veftige in the Creature, are his Infinity, Eternity, and Unchangeableness. God is infinite, in that he is whatfoever he is, without any Bounds or Measure: Job. xi. 7. 'Canft thou by fearching find out God? canft thou find out the Almighty unto Perfection?' He is eternal, in that he is without Beginning and without End: Pfal. xc. 2. Before the mountains " were brought forth, or ever thou hadft formed

the earth and the world: even from everlasting " to everlasting thou art God? He is unchange. able, in that he is, and cannot but be always the fame, without any Alteration whatsoever: James i. 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 'fhadow of turning.' He is then faid to repent, not in respect of the Affection of Repentance, but the Effect of it: Num. xxiii. 19. God is not a man, that he should lye; neither the fon of man,

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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 Difpenfations towards the Creatures, and makes Changes on them: Gen. vi. 7. And the Lord faid, '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 fome Scantlings or faint Images in the Creature, are his Being, Wifdom, Power, Holinefs, Juftice, Goodnefs, 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 fo. The Being of God is that Perfection whereby he is, and is what he is Exod. iii. 14. And God faid unto Mofes, I AM THAT I AM: And he faid, Thus fhalt thou fay unto the children of Ifrael, I A M hath fent me unto "you.' His Wifdom is that whereby he knows himself, and all Things elfe, with the Way how to difpofe of them to the beft: Pfal. cxlvii. 5. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.' His Power is that whereby he can do all Things not inconfiftent with his Nature: Jer. xxxii. 17. Ah, Lord God, behold, thou haft made the heaven and the earth by thy great < power and ftretched-out arm, and there is no-' 6 thing too hard for, thee.' His Holiness is the perfect Purity of his Nature, whereby he delights in his own Purity, and in the Refemblance of it in the Creature: Hab. i. 13. Thou art of purcr

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