unprofitable unto Life God was pleased to give unto the Elect the Promise of Christ The Seed of the Woman as the means of Calling them and begetting in them Faith and Repentance In this Promise the Gospel as to the substance of it was revealed and was therein Effectual for the Conversion and Salvation of Sinners II. This Promise of Christ and Salvation by him is revealed only in and by the Word of God neither do the Works of Creation or Providence with the Light of Nature make discovery of Christ or of Grace by him so much as in a general or obscure way much less that Men destitute of the Revelation of him by the Promise or Gospel should be enabled thereby to attain Saving Faith or Repentance III. The Revelation of the Gospel unto Sinners made in divers times and by sundry parts with the addition of Promises and Precepts for the Obedience required therein as to the Nations and Persons to whom it is granted is meerly of the Sovereign Will and good Pleasure of God not being annexed by virtue of any Promise to the due Improvement of Mens natural Abilities by virtue of common Light received without it which none ever did make or can so do And therefore in all Ages the Preaching of the Gospel hath been granted unto Persons and Nations as to the extent or straitning of it in great variety according to the counsel of the Will of God. IV. Although the Gospel be the only outward means of revealing Christ and Saving Grace and is as such abundantly sufficient thereunto yet that Men who are dead in Trespasses may be born again quickned or regenerated there is moreover necessary an effectual irresistable Work of the Holy Ghost upon the whole Soul for the producing in them a new Spiritual Life without which no other means are sufficient for their Conversion unto God. CHAP. XXI Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience THE Liberty which Christ hath purchased for Believers under the Gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of Sin the condemning wrath of God the rigor and curse of the Law and in their being delivered from this present evil World bondage to Satan and dominion of Sin from the evil of Afflictions the fear and sting of Death the victory of the Grave and everlasting Damnation as also in their free access to God and their yielding Obedience unto him not out of slavish fear but a Child-like love and willing mind All which were common also to Believers under the Law for the Substance of them but under the New Testament the liberty of Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the yoak of the Ceremonial Law the whole Legal Administration of the Covenant of Grace to which the Jewish Church was subjected and in greater boldness of access to the Throne of Grace and in fuller Communications of the free Spirit of God than Believers under the Law did ordinarily partake of II. God alone is Lord of the Conscience and hath left it free from the Doctrines and Commandments of Men which are in any thing contrary to his Word or not contained in it so that to believe such Doctrines or to obey such Commands out of Conscience is to betray true Liberty of Conscience and the requiring of an Implicit Faith and an absolute and blind Obedience is to destroy Liberty of Conscience and Reason also III. They who upon pretence of Christian Liberty do practice any Sin or cherish any Lust as they do thereby pervert the main design of the Grace of the Gospel to their own Destruction so they wholly destroy the end of Christian Liberty which is that being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies we might serve the Lord without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our Life CHAP. XXII Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day THE Light of Nature sheweth that there is a God who hath Lordship and Sovereignty over all is Just Good and doth good unto all and is therefore to be feared loved praised called upon trusted in and served with all the Heart and all the Soul and with all the Might but the acceptable way of Worshipping the True God is instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed Will that he may not be Worshipped according to the Imaginations and Devices of Men or the Suggestions of Satan under any visible Representations or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture II. Religious Worship is to be given to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to him alone not to Angels Saints or any other Creatures and since the Fall not without a Mediator nor in the Mediation of any other but of Christ alone III. Prayer with Thanksgiving being one special part of natural Worship is by God required of all Men but that it may be accepted it is to be made in the Name of the Son by the help of his Spirit according to his Will with Understanding Reverence Humility Fervency Faith Love and Perseverance and when with others in a known Tongue IV. Prayer is to be made for things Lawful and for all sorts of Men living or that shall live hereafter but not for the dead nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the Sin unto death V. The reading of the Scriptures Preaching and hearing the Word of God singing of Psalms as also the Administration of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are all parts of Religious Worship of God to be performed in Obedience unto God with Understanding Faith Reverence and Godly Fear Solemn Humiliations with Fastings and Thanksgiving upon special Occasions are in their several times and seasons to be used in a Holy and Religious manner VI. Neither Prayer nor any other part of Religious Worship is now under the Gospel either tied unto or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed or towards which it is directed but God is to be Worshipped every where in Spirit and Truth as in private Families daily and in secret each one by himself so more solemnly in the publick Assemblies which are not carelesly nor wilfully to be neglected or forsaken when God by his Word or Providence calleth thereunto VII As it is of the Law of Nature that in general a proportion of time by God's Appointment be set apart for the Worship of God so by his Word in a positive moral and perpetual Commandment binding all Men in all Ages he hath particularly appointed one Day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept Holy unto him which from the beginning of the World to the Resurrection of Christ was the last Day of the Week and from the Resurrection of Christ was changed into the first Day of the Week which in Scripture is called the Lord's Day and is to be continued to the end of the World as the Christian Sabbath the Observation of the last Day of the Week being abolished VIII This Sabbath is then kept Holy unto
but sometimes also withdraweth the Gifts which they had and exposeth them to such Objects as their Corruption makes occasions of sin and withall gives them over to their own Lusts the Temptations of the World and the Power of Satan whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves even under those means which God useth for the softning of others VII As the Providence of God doth in general reach to all Creatures so after a most special manner it taketh care of his Church and disposeth all things to the good thereof CHAP. VI. Of the Fall of Man of Sin and of the Punishment thereof GOD having made a Covenant of Works and Life thereupon with our first Parents and all their Posterity in them they being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of Satan did wilfully transgress the Law of their Creation and break the Covenant in eating the forbidden Fruit. II. By this Sin they and we in them fell from original Righteousness and Communion with God and so became dead in sin and wholly defiled in all the Faculties and Parts of Soul and Body III. They being the Root and by Gods appointment standing in the room and stead of all Mankind the guilt of this Sin was imputed and corrupted Nature conveyed to all their Posterity descending from them by ordinary Generation IV. From this original Corruption whereby we are utterly indisposed disabled and made opposite to all good and wholly inclined to all evil do proceed all actual Transgressions V. This Corruption of Nature during this Life doth remain in those that are regenerated and although it be through Christ pardoned and mortified yet both it self and all the motions thereof are truly and properly Sin. VI. Every sin both original and actual being a Transgression of the righteous Law of God and contrary thereunto doth in its own nature bring guilt upon the sinner whereby he is bound over to the Wrath of God and Curse of the Law and so made subject to Death with all Miserie 's spiritual temporal and eternal CHAP. VII Of Gods Covenant with Man. THe distance between God and the Creature is so great that although reasonable Creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator yet they could never have attained the reward of Life but by some voluntary condescension on Gods part which he hath been pleased to express by way of Covenant II. The first Covenant made with Man was Covenant of Works wherein Life was promised to Adam and in him to his Posterity upon condition of perfect and personal Obedience III. Man by his Fall having made himself uncapable of Life by that Covenant the Lord was pleased to make a second commonly called the Covenant of Grace wherein he freely offereth unto sinners Life and Salvation by Jesus Christ requiring of them Faith in him that they may be saved and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto Life his holy Spirit to make them willing and able to believe IV. This Covenant of Grace is frequently set forth in the Scripture by the name of a Testament in reference to the Death of Jesus Christ the Testator and to the everlasting Inheritance with all things belonging to it therein bequeathed V. Although this Covenant hath been differently and variously administred in respect of Ordinances and Institutions in the time of the Law and since the coming of Christ in the flesh yet for the substance and efficacy of it to all its spiritual and saving ends it is one and the same upon the account of which various Dispensations it is called the Old and New Testament CHAP. VIII Of Christ the Mediator IT pleased God in his eternal Purpose to chuse and ordain the Lord Jesus his onely begotten Son according to a Covenant made between them both to be the Mediator between God and Man the Prophet Priest and King the Head and Saviour of his Church the Heir of all things and Judge of the World unto whom he did from all eternity give a People to be his seed and to be by him in time redeemed called justified sanctified and glorified II. The Son of God the second Person in the Trinity being very and eternal God of one Substance and equal with the Father did when the fulness of time was come take upon him Mans Nature with all the essential Properties and common Infirmities thereof yet without sin being conceived by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary of her Substance So that two whole perfect and distinct Natures the Godhead and the Manhood were inseparably joyned together in one Person without Conversion Composition or Confusion which Person is very God and very Man yet one Christ the onely Mediator between God and Man. III. The Lord Jesus in his Humane Nature thus united to the Divine in the Person of the Son was sanctified and annointed with the holy Spirit above measure having in him all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge in whom it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell to the end that being holy harmless undefiled and full of Grace and Truth he might be throughly furnished to execute the Office of a Mediator and Surety which Office he took not unto himself but was thereunto called by his Father who also put all Power and Judgment into his hand and gave him Commandment to execute the same IV. This Office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake which that he might discharge he was made under the Law and did perfectly fulfil it and underwent the Punishment due to us which we should have borne and suffered being made Sin and a Curse for us enduring most grievous Torments immediately from God in his Soul and most painful Sufferings in his Body was Crucified and died was buried and remained under the Power of Death yet saw no Corruption on the Third day he rose from the Dead with the same Body in which he suffered with which also he ascended into Heaven and there fitteth at the Right hand of his Father making Intercession and shall return to judge Men and Angels at the end of the World. V. The Lord Jesus by his perfect Obedience and Sacrifice of himself which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God hath fully satisfied the Justice of God and purchased not onely Reconciliation but an everlasting Inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven for all those whom the Father hath given unto him VI. Although the Work of Redemption was not actually wrought by Christ till after his Incarnation yet the Vertue Efficacy and Benefits thereof were communicated to the Elect in all Ages successively from the beginning of the World in and by those Promises Types and Sacrifices wherein he was revealed and signified to be the Seed of the Woman which should bruise the Serpent's head and the Lamb slain from the beginning of the World being yesterday and to day the same and for ever VII Christ in the Work of Mediation acteth according to both
of the Substance of Bread and Wine into the Substance of Christ's Body and Blood commonly called Transubstantiation by Consecration of a Priest or by any other way is repugnant not to Scripture alone but even to common Sense and Reason overthroweth the Nature of the Sacrament and hath been and is the cause of manifold Superstitions yea of gross Idolatries VII Worthy Receivers outwardly partaking of the visible Elements in this Sacrament do then also inwardly by Faith really and indeed yet not carnally and corporally but spiritually receive and feed upon Christ Crucified and all benefits of his Death the Body and Blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in with or under the Bread or Wine yet as really but spiritually present to the Faith of Believers in that Ordinance as the Elements themselves are to their outward Senses VIII All ignorant and ungodly Persons as they are unfit to enjoy Communion with Christ so are they unworthy of the Lord's Table and cannot without great Sin against him whilst they remain such partake of these holy Mysteries or be admitted thereunto yea whosoever shall Receive unworthily are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord eating and drinking Judgment to themselves CHAP. XXXI Of the State of Man after Death and of the Resurrection of the Dead THE Bodies of Men after Death return to Dust and see Corruption but their Souls which neither dye nor sleep having an immortal Subsistence immediately return to God who gave them the Souls of the Righteous being then made perfect in Holiness are received into the highest Heavens where they behold the Face of God in Light and Glory waiting for the full Redemption of their Bodies And the Souls of the Wicked are cast into Hell where they remain in Torment and utter Darkness reserved to the Judgment of the Great Day Besides these two Places for Souls separated from their Bodies the Scripture acknowledgeth none II. At the Last Day such as are found alive shall not dye but be changed and all the dead shall be raised up with the self-same Bodies and none other although with different Qualities which shall be united again to their Souls for ever III. The Bodies of the Unjust shall by the Power of Christ be raised to dishonour the Bodies of the Just by his Spirit unto honour and be made conformable to his own glorious Body CHAP. XXXII Of the Last Judgment GOD hath appointed a Day wherein he will Judge the World in Righteousness by Jesus Christ to whom all Power and Judgment is given of the Father in which Day not only the Apostate Angels shall be judged but likewise all Persons that have lived upon Earth shall appear before the Tribunal of Christ to give an account of their Thoughts Words and Deeds and to receive according to what they have done in the Body whether good or evil II. The end of God's appointing this Day is for the Manifestation of the Glory of his Mercy in the eternal Salvation of the Elect and of his Justice in the Damnation of the Reprobate who are Wicked and Disobedient For then shall the Righteous go into everlasting Life and receive that fulness of Joy and Glory with everlasting Reward in the presence of the Lord but the Wicked who know not God and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ shall be cast into eternal Torments and be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Power III. As Christ would have us to be certainly perswaded that there shall be a Judgment both to deterr all Men from Sin and for the greater Consolation of the Godly in their Adversity so will he have that Day unknown to Men that they may shake off all Carnal Security and be always watchful because they know not at what Hour the Lord will come and may be ever prepared to say Come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen OF THE INSTITUTION OF CHURCHES And the ORDER Appointed in them by JESUS CHRIST I. BY the Appointment of the Father all Power for the Calling Institution Order or Government of the Church is invested in a Supreme and Sovereign manner in the Lord Jesus Christ as King and Head thereof II. In the Execution of this Power wherewith he is so intrusted the Lord Jesus calleth out of the World unto Communion with himself those that are given unto him by his Father that they may walk before him in all the ways of Obedience which he prescribeth to them in his Word III. Those thus called through the Ministry of the Word by his Spirit he commandeth to walk together in particular Societies or Churches for their mutual Edification and the due Performance of that Publick Worship which he requireth of them in this World. IV. To each of these Churches thus gathered according unto his Mind declared in his Word he hath given all that Power and Authority which is any way needful for their carrying on that Order in Worship and Discipline which he hath instituted for them to observe with Commands and Rules for the due and right exerting and executing of that Power V. These particular Churches thus appointed by the Authority of Christ and intrusted with Power from him for the ends before expressed are each of them as unto those ends the seat of that Power which he is pleased to communicate to his Saints or Subjects in this World so that as such they receive it immediately from himself VI. Besides these particular Churches there is not instituted by Christ any Church more extensive or Catholick intrusted with Power for the Administration of his Ordinances or the Execution of any Authority in his Name VII A particular Church gathered and compleated according to the Mind of Christ consists of Officers and Members The Lord Christ having given to his called Ones united according to his Appointment in Church Order Liberty and Power to choose Persons fitted by the Holy Ghost for that purpose to be over them and to Minister to them in the Lord. VIII The Members of these Churches are Saints by Calling visibly manifesting and evidencing in and by their Profession and Walking their Obedience unto that Call of Christ who being further known to each other by their confession of the Faith wrought in them by the Power of God declared by themselves or otherwise manifested do willingly consent to walk together according to the Appointment of Christ giving up themselves to the Lord and to one another by the Will of God in professed Subjection to the Ordinances of the Gospel IX The Officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the Church so called and gathered for the peculiar Administration of Ordinances and Execution of Power or Duty which he intrusts them with or calls them to to be continued to the end of the World are Pastors Teachers Elders and Deacons X. Churches thus gathered and assembling for the Worship of God are thereby visible and publick and their
the Lord when Men after a due preparing of their Hearts and ordering their common Affairs before hand do not only observe an holy Rest all the Day from their own Works Words and Thoughts about their worldly Imployments and Recreations but also are taken up the whole time in the publick and private Exercises of his Worship and in the Duties of Necessity and Mercy CHAP. XXIII Of Lawful Oaths and Vows A Lawful Oath is part of Religious Worship wherein the Person swearing in Truth Righteousness and Judgment solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth or promiseth and to judge him according to the truth or falshood of what he sweareth II. The Name of God only is that by which Men ought to swear and therein it is to be used with all holy Fear and Reverence Therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious or dreadful Name or to swear at all by any other thing is sinful and to be abhorred yet as in matters of weight and moment an Oath is warranted by the Word of God under the New Testament as well as under the Old so a lawful Oath being imposed by lawful Authority in such matters ought to be taken III. Whosoever taketh an Oath warranted by the Word of God ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an Act and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully perswaded is the Truth neither may any Man bind himself by Oath to any thing but what is good and just and what he believeth so to be and what he is able and resolved to perform Yet it is a Sin to refuse an Oath touching any thing that is good and just being lawfully imposed by Authority IV. An Oath is to be taken in the plain and common Sense of the Words without Equivocation or mental Reservation It cannot oblige to sin but in any thing not sinful being taken it binds to Performance although to a Man 's own hurt nor is it to be violated although made to Hereticks or Infidels V. A Vow which is not to be made to any Creature but God alone is of the like Nature with a promissory Oath and ought to be made with the like religious Care and to be performed with the like Faithfulness VI. Popish Monastical Vows of perpetual single Life professed Poverty and regular Obedience are so far from being degrees of higher Perfection that they are superstitious and sinful Snares in which no Christian may intangle himself CHAP. XXIV Of the Civil Magistrate GOD the supreme Lord and King of all the World hath ordained Civil Magistrates to be under him over the People for his own glory and the publick good and to this end hath armed them with the Power of the Sword for the defence and incouragement of them that do good and for the punishment of evil doers II. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the Office of a Magistrate when called thereunto in the management whereof as they ought specially to maintain Justice and Peace according to the wholsome Laws of each Common-wealth so for that end they may lawfully now under the New Testament wage War upon just and necessary occasion III. Although the Magistrate is bound to incourage promote and protect the Professor and Profession of the Gospel and to manage and order Civil Administrations in a due Subserviency to the Interest of Christ in the World and to that end to take care that Men of corrupt Minds and Conversations do not licentiously publish and divulge Blasphemy and Errors in their own Nature subverting the Faith and inevitably destroying the Souls of them that receive them Yet in such differences about the Doctrines of the Gospel or ways of the Worship of God as may befall Men exercising a good Conscience manifesting it in their Conversation and holding the Foundation not disturbing others in their ways or Worship that differ from them there is no warrant for the Magistrate under the Gospel to abridge them of their Liberty IV. It is the Duty of People to pray for Magistrates to honour their Persons to pay them Tribute and other Dues to obey their lawful Commands and to be subject to their Authority for Conscience sake Infidelity or difference in Religion doth not make void the Magistrates just and legal Authority nor free the People from their Obedience to him from which Ecclesiastical Persons are not exempted much less hath the Pope any Power or Jurisdiction over them in their Dominions or over any of their People and least of all to deprive them of their Dominions or Lives if he shall judge them to be Hereticks or upon any other Pretence whatsoever CHAP. XXV Of Marriage MArriage is to be between one Man and one Woman neither is it lawful for any Man to have more than one Wife nor for any Woman to have more than one Husband at the same time II. Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of Husband and Wife for the increase of Mankind with a legitimate Issue and of the Church with an holy Seed and for preventing of Uncleanness III. It is lawful for all sorts of People to marry who are able with Judgment to give their Consent Yet it is the Duty of Christians to marry in the Lord and therefore such as profess the true Reformed Religion should not marry with Infidels Papists or other Idolaters neither should such as are godly be unequally yoaked by marrying with such as are wicked in their Life or maintain damnable Heresie IV. Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of Consanguinity or Affinity forbidden in the Word nor can such Incestuous Marriages ever be made lawful by any Law of Man or consent of Parties so as those Persons may live together as Man and Wife CHAP. XXVI Of the Church THE Catholick or Universal Church which is Invisible consists of the whole number of the Elect that have been are or shall be gathered into one under Christ the Head thereof and is the Spouse the Body the Fulness of him that filleth all in all II. The whole Body of Men throughout the World professing the Faith of the Gospel and Obedience unto God by Christ according unto it not destroying their own Profession by any Errors everting the Foundation or unholiness of Conversation are and may be called the visible Catholick Church of Christ although as such it is not intrusted with the Administration of any Ordinances or have any Offices to rule or govern in or over the whole Body III. The purest Churches under Heaven are subject both to Mixture and Error and some have so degenerated as to become no Churches of Christ but Synagogues of Satan Nevertheless Christ always hath had and ever shall have a visible Kingdom in this World to the end thereof of such as Believe in him and make Profession of his Name IV. There is no other Head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be Head thereof but it