betwixt these sinful pleasures here and the fear of eternal vengeance hereafter 5. Their combat how hot soever is still joyned with a custome and purpose of sinning so that they lay down the Cudgels to sin saying This is my nature and I must do it 2 Pet. 2.14 Now the combat in regenerate men is 1. Fierce and in the purpose of the heart against all sin though sometimes it be defective in some act or acts 2. In this combat they disallow the evil they do not onely from a principle of natural conscience which in some sins carnal men may do but also from a principle of spiritual life because it is contrary to the life which they live 3. They groan under their evils with many a sign and tear in secret yea such evils as the world takes no notice of as dead-hartedness declining of affection to God want of former feelings hard ness of heart unbelief coldness and distraction in good duties vain hopes vain fears carking cases lumpishness in Gods service risings of revenge also the tricks the soul hath had to keep off convincement in suffering times also the by-ends in the good it hath done One wears a chain as an ornament another as a fetter and would fain be rid of it so wicked men wear their lusts as ornaments to them but Gods people wear them as the heaviest chain 4. If in the combat the Flesh get the upper hand and they fall they cannot be quiet till they have turned to God and recovered their acquaintance with him Psalm 51.8 9 10 11 12. but carnal men are not troubled but add sin to sin Gen. 37.24 Q. Whether it be possible for a Christian to be assured of his union with Christ and of his acceptation into favour with God A. Yes 1. because the Scripture bids us prove our spirituall estate 2 Cor. 13.4 Gal. 6.4 1 Cor. 11.28 Now the Spirit would not bid us search for that which could not be found 2. Because the Scripture reveales unto us many evidences of our assurance some taken from our union with Christ and some from the in-dwelling of the Spirit in us Q. What markes or signs doth the Scripture reveal to evidence our union with Christ A. The most demonstrative signe or at least one of them is soveraigne love to God to the Lord better then any enjoyment of Lands Liberties Life Wife and Children Mat. 10.37 Luke 9.23 14.26 Mat. 16.24 which evidence if you leave out the soul may be deceived in others severed from this For whosoever believes in Christ his faith doth work by love Gal. 5.4 yea by a love of this measure Heb. 11.25 26 27 35. Q. What are the Witnesses that witness a Christians good condition to God-ward A. They are two 1. The witness of Gods Spirit 2. The witness of our regenerated Spirits Rom. 8.16 The Spirit beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God Q. What doth the Spirit witness A. It witnesses God is our Father for we having received the Spirit of adoption thereby cry Abba Father Rom. 8.15 it witnesses the things that are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2.9 12. Q. After what manner doth the Spirit witnesse A. Two wayes First by the impressions and stamps which like a Seal upon the Wax it maketh upon the soul Ephes 1.13 Secondly by the fruits and effects thereof Q What are the impressions or stamps the Spirit maketh upon the soul A. They are two First the stamp of Holiness whereby the Spirit changeth the Saints into the image of God from one glorious grace into another 2 Cor. 3.18 so that as a seal destroyes that image that was in the Wax before so doth the seal or stamps of the Spirit destroy corruption in the soul in respect of the reign of it and set up grace in the reign thereof Rom. 6.14 This same stamp of Holiness being throughout 1 Thess 5.23 and consisting in a change of the whole man 2 Cor. 3.18 and especially in a transformation of the minde Rom. 12.2 and will Acts 9.6 is one of the impressions of the Spirit Secondly the impression of Comfort and Feeling Psal 51.8.12 this being given of the Spirit Eph. 1.13 as an occasional refreshing not as daily food for the soul to feed upon Psal 6.8 Psal 31.22 doth shew the Spirit of God is in us 2 Cor. 1.3 yet doth not the want of his feeling prove that the Spirit of God is not in us for God doth sometimes hide himself from the soul Isa 45.15 Psal 51.8 the Spirit in respect of this feeling is one of the three witnesses that testifies Christ to be our Saviour 1 John 5.8 Q. whether is a Christians assurance and feeling all one A. No The word and promise of a powerful faithful and willing God with the Notes and Evidences of a Christians good estate as they are laid down in the Scripture are the grounds of a Christians assurance and comfortable feelings are the Crown thereof A poor deserted soul that hath little feeling may have a soveraign love of God fear of sin and an absolute purpose against it Psal 44.18 19. yea he may have uprightness of heart Job 1.1 compared with chap. 6.4 yea he may have faith in Christ Psal 22.1 yea an earnest thirsting after Christ Cant. 5.6 Now shall I have a purpose to deny credit wealth and life for Christ yea and have all the forementioned gracious fruits and shall I not have grounds of assurance that my estate is good to God-ward When Christ asked Peter whether he loved him he did not say Lord thou knowest we cannot tell whether we love thee or no but said Thou knowest that I love thee Q. Whew doth the Spirit seal the soul with comfort A. First when the soul is cast down in humiliation and earnestly longs for the light of Gods countenance Job 22.29 Isa 29.19 Secondly upon self-denial of that which is pleasant or suffering that which is painful Mat. 19.27 Thirdly after conflict with corruptions or other temptations and victory over them Apoc. 2.17 Fourthly when a believer takes paines with his heart and puts forth his strength in duty Hosea 12.4 Q What are the effects and fruits whereby the Spirit witnesses his in-being in the soul A. They are divers as 1. An inablement of the soul to do things above nature as to love the Lord Soveraignly to love our enemies to love the godly for the Image of God in them 2. When the Spirit is combating in us against all that is sin Gal. 5.17 so that we do not onely suppress the same but also lust after graces contrary thereunto 3. As the beames of the Sun shew forth the presence of the Sun so the sighs groans and meltings in holy hearts evidence that the Spirit is in them Zach. 12.10 Rom. 8.26 Q. What is the testimony of our own spirit A. It is the Testimony of a renewed Conscience witnessing us no be in the state of grace upon sufficient grounds Rom.
Mercy Deut. 29.19 Rom. 2.4 5. Psal 68.21 Q. Whether may not a child of God fall into sins against his knowledge and conscience A. 1. There are some failings in duty and stirrings of lust in godly men which are committed with knowledge but not against it for it is not in the power of knowledge to prevent them Rom. 7.15 18. these evils arise on a suddain 2. A godly man may sin against his knowledge through strength of passion and suddain furreption before he hath time to compose his heart Conscience in the act of it checks him yet he cannot keep it back so Peter denyed Christ and Ionah his Conscience told him he should not be angry when God asked him if he did well to be angry Ionah 4.9 3. A godly man may fall sometimes into deliberate sins against knowledge when that which he knows habitually he doth not actually think of the violence of the temptation blinding the judgment and beating back the voice of Conscience so David is set forth as a smarting spectacle of misery lest any man should venture as he did to have fallen into the sins of adultery and murder against knowledge Davids mind was so taken up with Bathsheba that he little thought of what he knew 4. A godly man exceeding seldom or never falls into a deliberate sin against knowledge when he doth actually and deliberately think and judge of what he knows 1 Ioh. 3.9 Q But if sinning against knowledge be so dangerous is it not best to remain in ignorance A. Ignorance when it is against a mans Will may excuse from so much guilt Luke 12.48 yet will it not excuse wholly Acts 17.30 But when it is an ignorance of wicked disposition that a man is either willingly ignorant 2 Pet. 3.5 or winks and closes up his eyes against the light Isa 30.10 11. Matth. 13.13 14. Ioh. 3.20 so that they will not read such Books nor hear such Preachers nor confer with such men as might discover truth to them God is wont not only Judicially to harden such in their blindness Matth. 13.14 compared with Iohn 12.40 but will also one day reckon with such wilful ignorants as if all their sins had been committed against Knowledge Q. What are the Covenants principally considerable which God made with his people A. Besides divers other Covenants which he made as with Noah and with every living creature both fowl and beast that there should be no more a flood to drown the Earth of which Covenant he made the Rain-bow a token Gen. 9 9 10 11. as also a Covenant made with David that his seed should still rule over Israel with the Levites that they should be his Ministers Jer. 33.20 21 25 26. And a Covenant to give the Land of Canaan to the Jews Psal 105.9 10. there are two other Covenants most considerable Q. Which are they A. 1. A carnal typical Covenant or Testament called old Heb. 8.13 second Heb. 9.1 worse Heb. 8.6 which was dedicated with the blood of beasts Exod. 24.6 7 8. compared with Heb. 9.19 This was with all Israel in the day when God took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt Heb. 8.9 2. A spiritual or new Covenant Q. What did this old Covenant signifie A. 1. An obligation of the Jews to the Mosaical Law in general Exod. 19.5 6 7 8. Exod. 24.6 7 8. in the perfect observation whereof it's thought they were to have Canaan here and Heaven hereafter but failing in one point they were under a curse Gal. 3.10 the Ceremonial part of it also shadowed our redemption by Christ Heb. 9.18 19. Q. What was the proper effect of this old Covenant A. Bondage and slavish fear for not performing what this old Covenant did require this was signified by Hagar the bond-woman Gal. 4.24 25. and this Mount Sinai in Arabia a place without the bounds of the Land of promise and by the fleshly Jerusalem which was in bondage with her children all three which resemblances signifie that the old Covenant begot children to bondage not only under the unsupportable burthen of the Ceremonial Law Acts 15.10 which was a yoak of bondage Gal. 4.1 2 3. also chap. 5.1 but also under the bondage of the curse and of Gods wrath for not performing what the Law requires for which cause the Law is said to work wrath Rom. 4.15 to be a ministration of death 2 Cor. 3.7 and to slay the soul Rom. 7.11 Now as when a Pitcher falls upon the stones it 's the weakness of the Pitcher not of the stones that it is broken So the reason why the Law ministers death is not because of the weakness of the Law but the weakness of our flesh Rom. 8.3 Q. What is the other Covenant called A. It 's that Covenant which the Scripture cals the second Covenant Heb. 8.7 9.1 18. Heb. 10.9 or the new Covenant 1 Cor. 11.25 Heb. 8.13 9.15 or the better Covenant Heb. 7.22 as being established upon better Promises Heb. 8.6 of which Christ was surety Heb. 7.22 Q. What is this new Covenant A. It is Gods free Promise whereby he promiseth not only pardon of sins and eternal life to them that are elect or do believe the same but also doth promise to to take away the stony heart and to give them a new heart and a new spirit and to put his Laws in their minds and to write them in their hearts so that all of them from the least to the greatest know the Lord yea vouchsafes to be their God and takes them to be his people Q. What are the Articles or Branches in particular of this new Covenant A. They are these 1. Forgiveness of sins Heb. 8.12 I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more So that the Elect have not onely redemption from Original sin but from all transgression under the first Testament Heb. 9.15 by sprinkling clean water upon them Ezek. 26.25 Christs blood 2. A second branch is eternal life Rom. 5.15 Heb. 9.15 Christ is the Mediatour of the new Testament that by the means of death that is of Christs death they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance in this inheritance no bond-slave of Satan doth partake which appears Gal. 4.30 in the type in that the son of the Bond-woman which was Ishmael did not partake with the son of the Free-woman which was Isaac the message from God being Cast out the Bond-woman and her son for the son of the Bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the Free-woman The third Branch is softning of the hearth Ezek. 11.19 that whereas in the natural state the heart was so hard that neither promise threat nor command mercy misery moved Now this stony heartedness is taken away that the soul melts under the sense of Christs sufferings it 's own infirmities and Gods mercies The fourth Branch is Newness whereby Christ doth not onely
Devil and his Angels Q. But seeing there are some wretched men that deny the Scriptures how shall I know the Scriptures to be Gods Word A. There are many grounds to sway the Conscience to belief of them as 1. The Witness of Gods Spirit which is promised to be given to all the Elect together with the word Isa 59.21 2. As natural bodies declare what they are as Sun Moon Stars Fire Water Gold Silver Hony so doth the word Psal 19.7 8 9 no book but breaths out holiness to the Lord no Chapter hardly but takes off our hearts from the World it sets forth his infinite mercy to his Saints and infinite justice to the wicked The Scripture is like the light which not onely shews other things but it self 3. The agreement of the Scriptures one part with another though the writers lived remote one from another and in several ages of the World How could they have so agreed were they not written by one Spirit Seeing two Historians if they write of any time or occurrence through ignorance partiality and forgetfulness they will contradict each other if they be onely humane writers besides for the old Testament we have the Jews the utterest enemies of Christianity witnessing it and and for the new it doth harmoniously agree with the old 4. The impartiality of the pen-men they speak impartially to all to Princes as well as beggers David speaks of his own murther Psal 51.14 Moses tells of the faults of his own Granfather Levi Gen. 49.5 7. whereas men naturally raise up their Ancestors to the highest Paul sets forth his blasphemy and persecution 1 Tim. 1.13 5. By the end at which they aime had these Pen-men wrote as men they would have lifted up themselves but every book throws down man as low as hell and exalts God with the highest excellence Isa 40.15 16. and gives the glory of all to God 1 Cor. 15.10 6. By the subject matter of the Scriptures Hardly any writings of men but some lusts are scattered up and down of pride vain-glory But in the Scriptures every word is pure Prov. 30.5 more then silver seven times purified Psalme 12.6 7. had men writ it they would never have tyed themselves to such strict points 7. There are many things in the Scripture that could never have proceeded from the brain of man for example that in one essence or being the Father Son and Spirit should subsist that our bodies turned to dust should rise again the in same number though with more glorious qualities so the incarnation of Christ by a Virgin for the appeasing the justice of God So that all things which befall a Christian shall work together for his good in reference to Salvation If these and many other things could not enter into his brain much less could they proceed from his pen. 8. The powerful effects the Scriptures have upon the Conscience prove them to be of God for example they melt the heart in in reading them 2 Reg. 22.19 they strike a terrour into the hearts of the ungodly No writings of men can so awe the hearts of men as these Psal 119.11 they over-power the will One verse of self-denial will make a man part with all his Estate Friends and Life and what not they work a wonderful change in many persons that they are not the same they were yea they quicken dead hearts and revive the dejected Psalme 119.49 50. Heb. 4.12 9. The books themselves bear witness they are from God In most books of Scriptures in the entrance of them the names of the pen-men together with the Author of the word are expressed See Jer. 1.1 Ezek. 1.3 Hos 1.1 Ioel 1.1 c. But you will say its possible for false writings to have such Titles prefixt A. True the name is not enough were there nothing else but this being joyned with other signs is of great force Shall we believe Aristotles or Plato's works to be their works when they have their names affixt thereto and shall we not believe the Scriptures to be of them whose Title they bear that is the word of God by such and such a writer 10. The death and sufferings of the Martyrs who have given their lives to seal the truth proves them to be of God Revel 6.9 20.4 Where do we ever find any to dye to defend the opinions of Plato or the dreams of Mahomet 11. Satans malice proves it he never tempts us to unbeliefe of any writings save these 12. The fulfilling of the Prophecies proves them to be of God Isaiah chap. 44.28 named Cyrus to be the deliverer of Gods people an hundred and sixty yeers before Cyrus was born Jeremiah set the bounds of seventy yeers to the Babylonish Captivity Daniel lived onely in the two first Monarchies the Caldean and Persian yet he prophesies of the Grecian and Roman Monarchies So that Israel should be in Egypt four hundred yeers and then come out so that he that should build Jericho should lay the foundation of it in his eldest son Jos 6.26 compared with 1 Kin. 16.34 Paul prophesied of Doctrines forbidding Marriage and meates 1 Tim. 4.1 And now it s come to pass in the Papacy Jacob Gen. 49. speaks of all the portions his Children should have assigning to one the Corn-Countrey to others the Sea to others the vine-grounds as they were after divided by lot certain hundred yeers after how could he come to the knowledge thereof but by him that over-rules all lots sure they could not be suggested by any but God who knew what he would do The seeing so many of the Prophecies to be fulfilled may assure us also that the rest shall be fulfilled and consequently that they are all of God 13. Either the Scriptures must be of God or of man not of man because then they must be either of bad men or of good not of bad men for they would never have forbid evil so rigorously nor command good so expresly nor aimed so at Gods glory nor of good men for they durst not have belied God nor take the glory so due to God which is to rule in the Conscience unto themselves therefore must they needs be of God 14. The wonderful preservation of the Scriptures notwithstanding Tyrants endeavour to abolish it and Hereticks endeavour to corrupt it yet it hath been kept pure in both the Originals the two Tables writ by Gods own finger were laid up in the Arke Deut. 10.2 When Manasses and Ammon that they might the better draw the people to Idolatry had supprest the book of the Law it pleased God in rhe dayes of Iosiah that it was found in the ruines of the Temple 2 Chron. 34.14 Antiochus 1 Mach. 1.56 57. rent the book of the Law in peeces and burnt it in the fire and made it matter of death for a man to have a Testament by him Dioclesian the persecuting Emperor forbad the use of the Scriptures and burnt them yet were the Scriptures still