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fruits of this assurance; so far is it from inclining men to looseness.5

11 John v. 13; Isa. 1. 10; Mark ix. 24-(See Psalm lxxxviii. throughout; Ixxvii. 1-12.) 21 Cor. ii. 12; 1 John vi. 13; Heb. vi. 11, 12; Eph. iii. Î7—19. 32 Pet. i. 10. 4 Rom. v. 1, 2,5; xiv. 17; xv. 13; Eph. 3, 4; Psalm iv. 6,7; cxix. 32. 51 John ii. 1,2; Rom. vi. 1,2; Titus ii. 11, 12, 14; 2 Cor. vii, 1; Rom. viii. 1, 12; 1 John iii. 2,3; Psalm cxxx. 4; 1 John i, 6, 7.

IV. True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it; by falling into some special sin, which woundeth the conscience, and grieveth the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation; by God's withdrawing the light of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness, and to have no light:1 yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may in due time be revived, and by the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter despair.3

1 Cant. v. 2, 3, 6; Psalm li. 8, 12, 14; lxxvii. 1–10; Eph. iv. 30, 31; Matt. xxvi. 69-72; Psalm xxxi. 22; (Psalm lxxxviii, throughout;) Isaiah i, 10. 21 John iii. 9; Luke xxii. 32; Job xiii. 15; Psalm lxxiii. 15; li. 8-12; (See note immediately foregoing; Isa. 1. 10.—(See note 1 immediately foregoing.) 3 Micah vii, 7-9; Jer. xxxii, 40; Isaiah liv. 7-10; Psalm xxii. 1.-(Psalm lxxxviii, throughout.)

CHAPTER XIX.

OF THE LAW OF GOD.

GOD gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which he bound him, and all his posterity, to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience; promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the

breach of it; and endued him with power and ability to keep it.1

1 Gen. i. 26, 27; ii. 17; Rom, ii. 14, 15; x. 5; v. 12, 19; Gal, iii, 10, 12; Eccl. vii. 29; Job. xxviii. 28.

II. This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness; and, as such, was delivered by God upon mount Sinai in ten commandments, and written in two tables; the first four commandments containing our duty towards God, and the other six our duty to man.2

1 James i, 25; ii. 8, 10-12; Rom, xiii. 8, 9; Deut. v. 32; x. 4; Exod. xxxiv. 1. Matt, xxii. 37-40

III. Besides this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances; partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly holding forth divers instructions of moral duties. All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testament.3

2

1 (Heb. Chapter ix ;) x. 1; Gal. iv. 1-3; Col. ii. 17. 21 Cor. v. 7; 2 Cor. vi. 17; Jude, verse 23. 3 Col. ii, 14, 16, 17; Dan. ix. 27; Eph, ii, 15, 16.

IV. To them also, as a body politic, he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any other now, further than the general equity thereof may require.1

(Exodus, Chapter xxi.; xxii. 1-29; See both in the Bible ;) Gen xlix. 10, with 1 Pet. ii, 13, 14; Matt. v. 17, 38, 39; 1 Cor. ix, 8-10.

V. The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof;1 and that not only in regard of the matter contained in

it, but also in respect of the authority of God, the Creator, who gave it.2 Neither doth Christ in the gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation.3

1 Rom, xiii. 8, 9; (See Section II. note 1;) verse 10; Eph. vi. 2; 1 John ii. 3, 4, 7,8. 2 James ii. 10, 11.-(See Section II. note 1.) 3 Matt. v. 17; (See Section IV. note1;) verse 18, 19; James ii. 8; (See Section II. note1;) Rom. iii, 31.

VI. Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned; yet is it of great use to them, as well as to others; in that, as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly; discovering also the sinful pollutions of their nature, hearts, and lives; so as, examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against sin ;1 together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and the perfection of his obedience. It is likewise of use to the regenerate, to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin ; and the threatenings of it serve to shew what even their sins deserve, and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse thereof threatened in the law." The promises of it, in like manner, shew them God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof, although not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works :9 so as a man's doing good, and refraining from evil, because the law encourageth to the one, and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of his being under the law, and not under grace.10

1 Rom. vi. 14; viii. 1; Gal. ii. 16; iii. 13; iv. 4, 5; Acts xiii. 39,
2 Rom.
vii. 12, 22, 25; Psalm cxix.4-6; 1 Cor. vii, 19; Gal. v. 14, 16, 18-23.-See in the
Bible. 3 Rom. vii. 7; iii. 20. 4 James i. 23-25; Rom. vii. 9, 14, 24. 5 Gal.
iii. 24: Rom. vii. 24-(See note, immediately foregoing. Verse 25, note 2.)
Rom. viii. 3, 4. 6 James ii. 11; Psalm cxix. 101, 104, 128. 7 Ezra ix. 13,
14; Psalm lxxxix. 30-34. 8 Lev. xxvi. 1-14, with 2 Cor. vi. 16; Eph. vi.
2, 3; Psalm xxxvii. 11, with Matt. v. 5; Psalm xix. II. 9 Gal, ii, 16; Luke
xvii. 10. 10 Rom. vi. 12, 14; 1 Peter iii. 8-12, with Psalm xxxiv, 12—16;
Heb. xii, 28, 29.

VII. Neither are the forementioned uses of the law
contrary to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly
comply with it ;1 the Spirit of Christ subduing and ena-
bling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully
which the will of God revealed in the law requireth to
be done.2

1 Gal, iii, 21. * Ezek. xxxvi. 27; Heb. viii, 10, with Jer. xxxi. 33.

CHAPTER XX.

OF CHRISTIAN LIBERTY, AND LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE.

2

THE liberty which Christ hath purchased for be-
lievers under the gospel, consists in their freedom from
the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the
curse of the moral law; and in their being delivered
from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and do-
minion of sin, from the evil of afflictions, the sting of
death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damna-
tion ;3 as also in their free access to God, and their
yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear,
but a childlike love, and willing mind.5 All which were
common also to believers under the law; but under
the New Testament, the liberty of Christians is further
enlarged in their freedom from the yoke of the cere-
monial law, to which the Jewish church was subjected,"
and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace,8

and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of.9

1 Titus ii. 14; 1 Thess. i. 10; Gal. iii. 13. 2 Gal. i. 4; Col. i. 13; Acts xxvi. 18; Rom. vi. 14. 3 Rom. viii. 28; Psalm cxix. 71; 1 Cor. xv. 54-57; Rom. viii. 1. 4 Rom. v. 1, 2. 5 Rom. viii. 14, 15; 1 John iv. 18. 6 Gal. iii. 9, 14. 7 Gal. iv. 1-3, 6, 7; v. 1; Acts xv. 10, 11. 8 Heb. iv. 14, 16; x. 19--22. 9 John vii. 38, 39; 2 Cor. iii. 13, 17, 18.

1

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 beside it, in matters of faith or worship.2 So that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commandments 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.1

1 James iv. 12; Rom xiv. 4. 2 Acts iv. 19; v. 29; 1 Cor. vii. 23; Matt. xxiii. 8-10; 2 Cor. i. 24; Matt. xv. 9. 3 Col. ii. 20, 22, 23; Gal. i. 10; ii. 4, 5; v. 1. 4 Rom. x. 17; xiv. 23; Isa. viii. 20; Acts xvii. 11; John ív. 22; Hosea v. 11; Rev. xiii. 12, 16, 17; Jer. viii. 9.

III. They who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, do practise any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby 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.1

1 Gal. v. 13; 1 Peter ii. 16; 2 Peter ii. 19; John viii. 34; Luke i. 74, 75.

IV. And because the powers which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve one another; they who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whether it be civil

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