may be tamed by verses short prayers or other charms Or to think that the repetition of the Creed or Lords prayer can infuse into Herbs or other things a faculty of healing diseases Palmestry is a Superstitious thing of this kinde Such abominations as these are all detested of God and ought also to be detestable in the eyes of Gods people as appeareth Deut. 18. 10. 11. 11. Here is also forbidden Astrology whither in the calculating of Nativities or used in Prognostications For in these regards Astrology is nothing else but the abuse of the Heavens and off the Stars For the Imaginary twelve Houses are made oâ— the fained signs of a supposed Zodiak in the highest sphear which is commonly called the first moveable and truly because it is thus high therefore can no man certainly know their influence and vertues This Art can not arise from experience because the same position of all Stars never happen twice and if they did yet there could be no observation made of them because the influencies of the Stars are all confusedly mixt both in the Air and in the Earth even as if all herbs were mingled together in one Vessel By this Art Mens mindes are drawen from the contemplation of Gods Providence when as they shall hear that all things fall out by the motion and position of the Stars Stars were not ordained to foretell things to come but to distinguish dayes moneths and years Genes 1. 14. Isai 47. 13. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsellours Let now the Astrologers the Star-gazers and Prognosticatours stand up and save thee from the things which shall come upon thee Dan. 2. 2. Books of this kinde they were that for zeal of Gods glory and love to the truth were burned by the faithfull in the days of the Apostles such as these were the curious Arts those books treated off Act. 19. 19. All Astrological predictions are conversant or busied about such things as do either simplely depend on the will or dispensation of God or about such things as do depend upon Mans free-will and so are altogether contingent and therefore can neither be foreseen nor foretold and not upon the Heavens It is impossible by the bare knowledge of such a cause as is both common to many and far distant from such things as it worketh in precisely and infalliblely to set down particular effects The Stars have indeed a great force but such as doth manifest it self onely in the operation which it hath in the four principal qualities of natural things as in heat cold moisture driness The Stars can not at all force the will or give the least inclination to it It is beyond the reach of man to define how great the force of the Stars is The effects of the Sun and of the Moon are apparent in the constitution of the four parts of the year But the effects of the Planets and of the fixt Stars though they be of great force and innumerable are not so manifest unto us And now because a man can know but some Stars onely and their operations and not all the Stars and all their operations and forces he can not certainly foretell future things or things to come yea though they did depend on the Stars For though the position of certain Stars do demonstrate such an effect to ensue yet the Aspects of such Stars as we know not may hinder those effects and produce the contrary for ought we know That part of Astrology which concerneth the alteration of the Air is for the most part of it false and frivolous and therefore all manner of predictions grounded upon the Doctrine of it are nothing else but toys and delusions And that part of Astrology which concerneth Nativities Revolutions Progressions Directions of Nativities Elections of times and the finding again of things lost is very wicked yea it is very probable that this Art is of the same brood with implicite Magick and that for these reasons 1. Because the word of God reckoneth Astrologers amongst Magicians and adjudgeth them both to the same punishment 2. Because the precepts of that part of this Art which concerneth predictions are rediculous And therefore such things can not be told by them but by a secret suggestion from the Devil or instinct of the Devil Augustine lib. 5. cap. 7. de Civitate Dei saith the same For saith he if we weigh well all those things we will not without cause believe that Astrologers when they do wonderfully declare many truths work by some secret instinct of evil Spirits which desire to fill mens brains with dangerous and erroneous opinions concerning starry destinies And not by any Art derived from any inspection and consideration of the Horoscope which indeed is none 12. Here is also forbidden Popish Consecration of Water and Salt to restore the minde to health and to chase away Devils 13. Here is also forbidden making jests of the Scripture Isa. 66. 2. 14. Also all setting-light of Gods Judgements which are seen in the World Matth. 26. 34. 35. Luke 13. 1. 2. 3. 15. Here is also forbidden all dissolute conversation Matth. 5. 16. 2 Sam. 12. 14. The fourth Commandment Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter thy man servant nor thy maid servant nor thy Cattel nor thy stranger that is within thy gates For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it The Affirmative part of this Commandment is this We do keep it holy if we do cease from sin and from the works of ordinary callings and if this being done we do also perform spiritual duties which God doth require of us As a preparation to the sanctification of the Sabbath day we must rise in the morning and pray privately Thus did Christ the day before the Sabbath Mark 1. 31. 39. Thus they were want to do under the Law Exod. 32. 5. 6. Aaron proclaimed saying to morrow shall be the holy day of the Lord and the people rose up early the next morning The Sabbath must again be sanctified by frequenting the assemblies where we may hear the pure word of God Act. 13. 14. 15. And by Meditation upon Gods word and his Creatures Psal. 92. Act. 17. 11. By exercising of works of charity by visiting the sick by giving Alms to the needy by admonishing those that fall by reconciling those that are at difference Nehem. 11. 12. The Sabbath is either Ceremonial or Moral It is Ceremonial 1. In respect of its strict observation 2. As it is a Type of the inward rest of the people of God that is of their continual
Communion of the Persons or rather the Union of the Persons is that by which one of them is in the rest and with the rest by reason of the Unity of the God-head and therefore every each one doth possess Love and glorifie another and work the same thing Joh. 14. 10. and 1. 1. and 5. 19. Prov. 8. 22. 30. The Persons of the God-head are three Matth. 3. 16. 17. The Father is a Person without beginning from all Eternity begetting the Son Joh. 1. 3. 10. In the generation of the Son we must note these properties 1. That he that begetteth and he that is begotten are together and not one before another in time 2. He that begetteth doth communicate with him that is begotten not some one part of his essence but his whole essence so that this Communion is not a Communion but a Union 3. The Father begot the Son not out of himself but in himself The incommunicable property of the father is to be unbegotten to be a Father and to beget The Father is the beginning of Actions and beginneth every Action of himself And effecteth every Action by the Son and by the Holy spirit 1 Cor. 8. 6. Rom. 11. 36. The Son is the second Person begotten of the Father from all Eternity Joh. 1. 3. 10. 1 Joh. 1. 1. 2. The Son in regard of his essence is of and by himself * very God But in regard of his filiation and Sonship as he is a Person and the Son of the Father he is not of himself but from another for he is the Eternal Son of his Father And thus is he truely said to be very God of very God For this cause he is said to be sent from the Father Joh. 8. 42. And this sending taketh not away the equality of Essence and power but declareth the order of the Persons Joh. 5. 18. Phil. 2. 6. The property of the Son is to be begotten His proper manner of working is to execute actions from the Father by the Holy Ghost Joh. 5. 19. 1 Cor. 8. 6. The Holy Ghost is the third Person proceeding from the Father and the Son Joh. 15. 26. Rom. 8. 9. Job 16. 13 14. The incommunicable property of the Holy Ghost is to proceed The Holy Ghosts proper manner of working is to finish an action Effecting it as from the Father and the Son The second part of THEOLOGIE Of Gods works and his Decree THe works of God are all the World and all the things contained therein The end for which all things are created is the manifestation of the glorie of God Rom. 11. 36. The Decree of God is that by which God hath freely from all eternity determined all things Eph. 1. 11. 4. Matth. 10. 29. Rom. 9. 21. The execution of Gods Decree is that by which all things in their time are accomplisht according as he foreknew them and Decreed them The Decree of God is the first and principal working cause of all things and it is also in order and time before all other causes This first and principal cause doth not take away freedom of will in Election Nor the Nature and property of second causes but it bringeth them into a certain order and it directeth them to their determinate ends and hereupon the effects or events of things are either contingent or Necessary Even as the Nature of the second cause is And thus Christ according to his Fathers Decree died necessarily as Act. 17. 3. But yet willingly Joh. 10. 18. And if we respect the temperature of Christs body he might have prolonged his life and therefore in this regard he may be said to have died contingently Gods foreknowledge is conjoyned with his Decree and in regard of us it is before his Decree but not in regard of God The branches of the execution of Gods Decree are his Operation and his operative permission His operation is his effectual producing of all good things which either have being or moving or which are done Gods operative permission is that whereby he onely permitteth one and the same work to be done of others as it is evil but as it is good he doth effectually work it Gen. 56. 20. 45. 7. Isai 10. 5. 6. 7. God permitteth evil by a certain voluntary permission in that he forsaketh the second cause in working evil And he doth also forsake his creature either by detracting the grace it had Or by not bestowing that which it wanteth Rom. 1. 26. 2 Tim. 2. 25. 26. And in this we must not think God unjust for he is indebted to none Rom. 9. 15. It is in Gods pleasure to bestow how much grace and upon whom he will Matth. 10. 15. That evil which God permitteth in respect of God is good whither it be as a punishment or as a chastisement because he can and doth produce good out of it Gods Decree as it concerneth man is called predestination Predestination is a Decree of God by which all men are ordained to an everlasting estate either of Salvation or Condemnation 1 Thess. 5. 9. The means of accomplishing Gods predestination was the Creation and the fall The Creation is the World and the inhabitants in the World The parts of the World are the Heaven and the Earth The Heavens are three fold 1. The Air 2. Sky 3. The invisible Heaven Heaven in a large acceptation is all that is above the Earth All which is distinguisht into three Heavens The first Heaven is the space betwixt the Earth and Starry Firmament The second Heaven containeth the Sun Moon Stars The third Heaven is the invisible Heaven this is the place in which the blessed do behold the Majesty and glorie of the Almighty The inhabitants of the World are Angels Men and all other Creatures In Angels there are these things to be considered 1. Their Nature they are spiritual and incorporeal essences Heb. 2. 16. and 1. 7. 2. Their qualities * First they are wise Secondly they are of great might 2 Thes. 1. 7. 2 Sam. 24. 17. 2 Kings 19. 35. Another quality of them is Thirdly that they are swift and of great agility Isa. 6. 6. Dan. 9. 21. 3. Their Number they are innumerable Dan. 7. 10. Hebr 12. 22 4. The place in which these good Angels are and that is in the highest Heaven for there they do ever attend upon God and have society with him Matth. 18. 10. Mark 12. 25. Psal. 68. 17. 5. Their orders or degrees which what they be no man can certainly say but there are Arch-Angels spoken of in Scripture 1 Thes. 4. 16. And Angels Matth. 18. 10. And Cherubims Seraphims Esai 6. 6. But it concerneth us not to search this neither may we curiously enquire after it 6. There office which is to magnify God and perform his Commandments Psal. 103. 20. 21. The Angels were created within the six days as appeareth Gen. 2. 1. The knowledge that the Angels have is either 1. Natural 2
resting from the work of sin Exod. 31. 13. Ezek. 20. 12. And of the blessed rest of the faithfull in the Kingdom of Heaven Heb. 4. 10. Isa. 66. 23. And as it was observed the seventh day after the Creation of the World and was then solemnized with other Ceremonies Numb. 28. 9. But in the light of the * Gospel the Ceremony of the Sabbath is ceast colloss. 2. 16. 17. The Sabbath was by the Apostles translated from the seventh day to the day following Act. 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16. 1. 2. And this day is called the Lords day because our Saviour rose again there on Rev. 1. 10. The Sabbath is moral as it is a certain seventh day to preserve and conserve the Ministry of the word and the solemn worship of God in the holy assemblelies of the Church and for this cause we as well as the Jews are upon this day enjoyned rest from our vocations Isai 58. 13. It is also moral because servants and Cattel are on this day freed from their labours In this Commandment we are not forbidden any holy things or things of present necessity as the preservation of life or the maintaining of the glory of God or a Sabbath days journey Act. 1. 12. Or journeys unto the Prophets or places appointed unto the worship and service of God 2 Kings 4. 23. Or works of mercy in the securing either of life or goods Matth. 12. 12. Or provision of meat or drink Matth. 12. 1. Or watering of Cattel Luke 13. 15. Or curing of diseases as did Christ and his Apostles by praying and calling upon the Name of God Or the necessary voyages of Marriners Or the tending of a flock by shepherds Or the necessary imployments of Medicines Mark 2. 27. The Negative part of this Commandment is this We must not pollute the Sabbath of the Lord Matt. 24. 20. Lament. 1. 7. Levit. 19. 30. We are here forbidden the works of all ordinary callings and all unnecessary things Exod. 16. 29. As fairs on the Sabbath day Nehem. 13. 19. All manner of Husbandry plowing sowing reaping mowing and bringing in of Harvest Exod. 34. 21. All jests scurrility sports revellings all manner of Prophanes and Hypocrisie The fifth Commandment Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long upon the land which thy Lord thy God giveth thee The Affirmative part of this is this Here is commanded reverence or civil respect to the aged and gray hairs where it is found in the way of holiness Levit. 19. 32. wisdom 4. 8. 9. Prov. 16. 31. Obedience to the Lawfull commands of Parents Rom. 1. 30. Eph. 6. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 9. And relief of them when they stand in need 2 Tim. 3. 3. Here we are commanded to obey superiours yea though cruel but not in wickedness Rom. 13. 1. 2. 1 Pet. 2. 13. 14. 18. Act. 4 19. 1 Pet. 2. 19. 20. Genes 16. 6. 9. Colloss. 3. 23. 24. Rom. 13. 1. 2. And to pray for Superiours for Elders that rule well and for such as are in Authority 1 Tim. 2. 1. 2. and 5. 17. We are here commanded to salute one another with holy signs 1 Pet. 5. 14. Rom. 16. 16. Thus did Moses salute Jethro Exod. 18. 7. Jacob the Shepherds Genes 29. 4. And Boaz the reapers Ruth 2. 4. Here Superiours are commanded to carry themselves as brethren to inferiours Deut. 17. 20. As did Iob to his servants as did Naaman to Elisha 2 Kings 5. 13. 14. They must be as lights to shine before others by good example of a blameless life Tit. 2. 2. 3. 1 Pet. 5. 3. Phil. 4. 9. They must rule in the Lord Deut. 17. 19. Collos. 4. 1. They must provide good things both for the bodies Souls of those that are under authority Rom. 13. 4. Isai 49. 23. Psal. 13 2. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. They must punish light faults by rebukes and great faults by correction First In punishing They must make a diligent enquiry and examination concerning the fault committed Secondly they must discover to the parties offending the grievousness of their Crimes that they may be sensible of the evils they have done Thirdly they must defer and omit punishment in hope of amendment Eccls. 7. 23. 1 Sam. 10. 27. Fourthly they must punish in Gods Name and not in their own and that with an holy reverence Deut. 25. 2. And as did Joshua Achan Josh. 7. 19. 25. Fifthly in their punishing they must aim onely at the glory of God and the best good of the Soul of the party offending as Prov. 20. 30. Parents are here commanded to provide for the good estate of their Children 1 Tim. 5. 10. Cruelty must not be used in punishing Eph. 6. 4. 9. Jam. 2. 13. Here we are commanded as concerning our selves to preserve the gifts and graces God hath put into us Phil. 4. 8. Men do offend against themselves when they do extinguish the gifts of God Matth. 25. 2. 26. Natural Parents and Superiours are no otherwise to be obeyed but in the Lord Eph. 5. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 9. By Parents here is meant natural Parents Magistrates Ministers Elders and such as excell in gifts of God To the four first of these men do ordinarily give honour and they receive it as their due Joh. 5. 44. But Christians faithfull men and true believers are by the command of Christ forbidden to call any man Father upon Earth Matt. 23. 9. Or to esteem of themselves one greater then another or to go about to take upon themselves any Authority or Dominion one over another Matth 18. 4. and 20. 25. 26. The Negative part Here contempt of Superiours are forbidden Genes 9. 22. Prov. 30. 17. Exoâ— 117. And disobedience Rom. 1. 30. 2 Tim. 3. 2. Gen. 6. 2. 28. 8. 9. Parents are here forbidden cruelty to their Children either in correction threatning or provocation Eph. 6. 4. 9. Servants are here forbidden stubborness Titus 2. 6. And deceitfulness Tit. 2. 10. To fly from their Masters 16. 6. 9. To resist lawfull Authority 1 Pet. 2. 20. And to obey unlawfull commands Gen. 39. 12. Act. 4. 19. Here is forbidden The rebellious disobliging of Children their lawfull duties to Parents Matth. 15. 4. 5. 1 Tim. 5. 4. And the disobliging of such as are now subjects Their lawfull obedience to Princes as 1 Sam. 26. 8. 9. Here we are forbidden to offend our equals either in word or deed Matth. 20. 20. 21. 24. The sixth Commandment Thou shalt not kill The Affirmative part of this is this Here we are commanded to preserve the wellfare of our Neighbour both in body and in Soul Rom. 12. 15. Job 29. 15. 2 Cor. 8. 3. Joh. 11. 25. Isai 24. 16. To help him in his straights to the utmost of our powers and that speedily Prov. 3. 28. Levit. 19. 17. To help him to bear his troubles by taking part with him sharing with him in his adversities Ps. 119. 136. Isai
eternal damnation for the least disobedience without offering any hope of pardon This sentence the Law doth pronounce against offendours and by it it doth reign and rule over a man partly by threatning him and partly by terrifying him Rom. 3. 19. Gal. 3. 10. 2 Cor. 3. 7 8. The end of the reigning of sin in men is to urge sinners to fly unto Christ Rom. 11. 32. Gal. 3. 22. 24. The continuance of the power of the Law is for ever unless a sinner doth repent The very first act of repentance doth so free a sinner as that immediatly upon it he is no more under the Law but under grace as we may see by David 1 Sam. 12. 13. Rom. 6. 14. If we mean to have eternal life we must examin the course of our lives by the square of Gods Law we must set the course due unto our sins before our eys and bewail our miseries and have a holy despair of our own powers and renounce our selves and sue unto Christ Jesus This is the use of the Law in unregenerate men and women The use of the Law in regenerate men is To guide them to new obedience in the whole course of their lives and this new obedience is acceptable to God through Christ Rom. 3. 31. Psal. 119. 24. 105. Of the Covenant of Grace The Covenant of grace is Gods free promise of Christ and his benefits to every repentant sinner that will receive him by Faith Hosea 2. 18 19 20. Ezek. 33. 11. to the 15. and 36. 25. to the 27. Malach. 3. 1. This Covenant is called a Testament because it is confirmed by the death of the Testatour Heb. 9. 16 17. This Covenant is like a man's last Will and Testament it is not for the profit of the Testatour but for the benefit of the Heir we do here receive from God and not promise or offer unto God In substance the Old and New Testament is the same The old Covenant or Testament prefigured Christ in Types shaddows who was then to come The New Testament declareth Christ already come in the flesh and sheweth him apparently in the Gospel The Gospel is that part of God's word which containeth the welcome message of Christ and of the benefits that do come to mankinde by him Joh. 3. 14. Act. 10. 43. The Gospel doth manifest that righteousness in Christ by which the whole Law is fully satisfied and salvation attained Rom. 1. 16. 17. The Gospel is that instrument or Conduit-pipe by which the holy Ghost doth convey Faith into the Soul 1 Cor. 1. 21. Act. 11. 19. to the 21. Joh. 4. 28. to the 42. And Faith is the hand by which we do apprehend Christ and his righteousness Joh. 6. 63. The Sacraments are appendants to the word A Sacrament is that whereby Christ and his saving graces are signified exhibited and sealed to a Christian by certain external rites Genes 17. 11. Rom. 4. 11. The parts of a Sacrament are the sign and the thing signified The sign is the visible and sensible matter The thing signified is Christ The matter or signs of the Sacrament have no inherent force or efficacie at all in them to make any that receiveth them holy this is the alone work of the holy spirit which indeed doth ever accompany the signs when at any time they are received by faithfull and believing Souls So that the sign doth onely signify grace either already received or to be received and doth not give it The thing signified is 1. Christ 2. His Graces The action about Christ is spiritual and it is 1. Either of God or 2. Of Faith The action of God is the offering and application of Christ and his graces to the Faithfull The action of Faith is the consideration desire apprehension or receiving of Christ in the Lawfull use of the Sacrament By a figure called a Metonymie one thing is put for another in the Sacrament As the sign for the thing signified Joh. 6. 51. 1 Cor. 5. 7. and 10. â—7 And the name of the thing signified is given to the sign 1 Cor. 11. 24. Matt. 26. 28. Exod. 12. 11. And the effect of the thing signified is given to the sign as circumcision is a Covenant Genes 17. 10. Act. 7. 8. Luke 22. 20. Tit. 3. 5. And that which is proper to the sign is attributed to the thing signified Deut. 10. 16. Joh. 6. 53. The ends of the Sacrament are 1. To confirm our Faith 2. To be a badge or note to distinguish the true Church of God from other Congregations 3. It is a means to spread abroad the Doctrine of the Gospel 4. It doth binde the faithfull to continue Loyal and gratefull to their Lord God 5. It is a bond of mutual amity betwixt the faithfull The Covenant of Grace is absolutely necessary to salvation for a man must be within the Covenant and receive Christ the substance thereof or he cannot be saved But a Sacrament is not absolutely necessary to salvation for it is onely a stay for Faith to lean on whilest that it doth assure to us that which God hath bestowed on us The want of the Sacrament condemneth not but the contempt of it doth For in the * neglect of a Sacrament true repentance will obtain pardon of God M. P. 72. Unbelievers receive onely the sign and not the thing signified and therefore it doth not profit them Rom. 2. 25. Onely true believers do receive the Sacraments with profit Sacraments and Sacrifices do thus differ In a Sacrament God doth bestow his Graces on us In a Sacrifice we return thanksgiving Faith and obedience unto God The Sacraments of the two Testaments thus differ The Sacraments of the Old Testament were many But the Sacraments of the New Testament are but few These pointed at Christ to come These shew him to be come They belonged properly to the posterity of Abraham These are common to all the Church called out of the Jews and Gentils The Sacraments are two Baptism and the supper of the Lord The Fathers had these Sacraments the first of the Corinth 10. 1. to the 4. Baptism belongeth to all the faithfull even to all the promised seed It belongeth to infants whose parents are believing or which have but one believing parent 1 Cor. 7. 14. Rom. 11. 16. Genes 17. 7 13. Act. 16. 31. It belongeth to all even young and old that believe Act. 8. 36 37 38. Matth. 3. 6. Exod. 12. 48. Baptism signifieth our regeneration by the holy spirit Titus 3. 5. And assureth or sealeth to us our engraffing and incorporating into Christ Gal. 3 27. 1 Cor. 12. 13. The parts of Baptism or of washing are three 1. A putting into the water to signifie that all our sins are washt away by the bloud of Christ and that his righteousness is imputed to us Act. 22. 16. 1 Cor. 6. 11. It doth also signify the mortification of sin by the power
God or from her own carnal presumption thus 1. By a full perswasion which they shall finde in themselves for the holy Ghost will not onely say it but perswade them that they are Gods children And the flesh can in no wise do this 2 By the manner of this perswasion the holy Ghost doth not perswade men that they are elect by reasons drawn from their own works or worthiness but by reasons drawn from the free grace love and favour of God And this perswasion doth exceedingly differ from that which Satan useth 3. By the effects of this Testimony or perswasion For If this perswasion cometh from the holy Ghost it is lively and stirring But if it doth arise from carnal presumption it is a dead and liveless perswasion For all such as are truely perswaded that they are elected and adopted Children of God will love God and trust in God and call upon God with their whole heart 4. If the Testimony of Gods Spirit be not so powerfull in the elect then they may judge of their election by their sanctification which is an effect of the holy Ghost even as we may judge by heat that there is a fire though we see no flame 5. We may know whether we be predestinate or elect or no by these notable effects of sanctification 1. By feeling our wants and by bewailing in the bitterness of our hearts our offending of God by our sins 2. By our continual striving against the flesh by our resisting and hating the godly motions thereof and if with grief we do think them burthenous and troublesom 3. By an earnest and fervent desire of the grace of God and of the merit of Christ that thereby we may obtain eternal life 4. By a true esteem of it when we have obtained it even as a most precious Jewel Phil. 3. 8. 5. By our love to Christians to Ministers to Brethren and by our readiness to lay down our lives for them and with them if need so require Matth. 10. 42 1 Joh. 3 16. 6. By our earnest and fervent calling upon God and that with hearty tears in the sensible perceiving of those sins which we commit to his dishonour and therefore may have just cause to think he may be displeased with them 7. By a desire and love to the coming of Christ and to the day of judgement that there may be an end of the days of sin 1 Joh. 4. 17. 8. By our flying all occasions of sin and endeavour seriously to come to newness of life 9. By our perseverance in such good actions and endeavours and in such good thoughts as these even to the last gasp of our lives Luther saith he that will serve God must believe that which cannot be seen and hope for that which is deferred and love God even then when he sheweth himself an enemy and thus he must remain to the end 6. If so be that the godly finde all these notable effects of the spirit feeble in them and their Faith weak and faint yet they must not doubt of their election but they must know that God doth thus try them and therefore they must not be dismayed for a weak Faith is sufficient to engraf them into Christ 7. He that as yet feeleth none of these effects in his heart must not upon this conclude himself to be reprobate but he must endeavour by the reading of the word of God and by the use of the Sacraments and chiefly by fervent and earnest prayer to come to an inward sense of the power of Christ drawing him to himself by his Spirit and thus to come to an assurance of his redemption by Christs death and passion 8. No man can certainly say of himself or of any other that he is reprobate for God doth oftentimes prefer those to be in his Kingdom which in the sight of men seem to be most estranged from his favour and above them also which in outward appearance and in the judgement of men are the Children of the Kingdom Thus were the Publicanes and Harlots preferred before the Pharisees by Christ Matth. 21. 31. And many a man is called even at the eleventh hour Matth. 20. 6. A notable example of this we have in the Thief upon the Cross Luke 23. 40 43. The uses of this Doctrine for instruction be these 1. There is no justification by works nor any works of ours that are Meritorious For election is by the grace of God and therefore justification also In the work of Salvation grace challengeth all to it self Rom. 11. 5. 2 Tim. 1. 9. Phil. 1. 29. Rom. 3. 24. Tit. 3. 5. Ezek. 36. 27. Rom. 6. 23. 2. Hence we learn that judicial Astrology or the foretelling of what men will be by the casting of their Nativities is false For this doth determine such and such men shall be like in life and conversation whom God in his predestination hath made unlike As for example Jacob and Esau were born of the same parents and almost in the same moment of time and yet they were most unlike in disposition and had divers events The like we may see in all Twins born at the same time 3. Hence we learn that God is most wise omnipotent just and mercifull Rom. 11. 33. Eph. 1. 5. Here we are advised 1. to fight against all doubtings distrust of our Salvation because it doth not depend upon our works but upon Gods grace Luke 10. 20. Rom. 8. 33. 2. To humble our Souls under the mighty hand of God because we are in his hand even as clay in the hand of the Potter Rom. 9. 20. 21. 3. To give all the glorie to God as to whom alone it is due 2 Thes. 2. 13. 4. To bear crosses or afflictions patiently Rom. 8. 29. And that because by this means we are conformed to Christ and made like unto him Phil. 3. 10 5. To do good works and that because God hath created us in Christ Jesus unto this purpose Eph. 2. 10. To whom with the Son and holy Spirit be all glory honour praise now and ever Amen The end of the sum of Divinity FINIS Joh. 17. 3. Simplenes of the nature of God See Aug. l. 6. c. 4. de Trinitate Gods nature Its immutability Its infinitness Gods wisdom Gods will Quid vult fieri de nobis or in nobis Quid vult fieri a nobis M. P. pag. 295. * i. e. Vâ—lendo velle Nolendo nolle or penitus nolle Decretun Dei non tell it libertatem voluntatis sed ordinat So M. P. Gods omnipotencie Gods glorie Gods blessedness * {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The creation 2 Cor. 12. 2. * 2 Sam. 14. 17. Their knowledge Ministery Of Man The place of his first habitation His integrity The fall of Angels Their corruption Degrees Punishment Mans fall The manner of it The greatness of it Fruits and effects of it Of sin by participation Original sin The remnant of