Q. 2. What is the first property of Divine truth?

4. The first property of it is, That it is effential and neceffary to God: He cannot lie, Titus i. 2,

Q3. What is the second property of it?

A. The fecond property is, That it is everlafting, and abiding to all generations, Pfal. c. 5. For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlafting, and his truth endureth to all generations. Ifa. xxv. 1. O O Lord, thou art my God, I will exalt thee-thy counfels of old are faithfulness and truth.

Q.4. What is the third property of Divine truth?

A. The third property is, that he is universally true in all his words and works. (1.) In all his words; John xvii. 17. Thy word is truth. (2.) In all his works; Pfal. xxv. 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto fuch as keep his covenant.

Q5. What is the first leffon from God's truth to be learnt ?

A. That truth and fincerity of heart is that which is moft fuitable and pleafing to God; Pfal. li. 6. Behold thou defirest truth in the inward parts.

Q. 6. What is the fecond leffon from God's truth?

A. That whatever God hath foretold fhall affuredly come to pafs, and be fulfilled in his time; Joh. xxiii. 14. Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord our God fpake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.

Q.7. What is the third leffon from the truth of God?

A. That a promise from God is full fecurity to the faith of his people, and they may look upon it as good as a mercy in hand; Heb. x. 23. For he is faithful that promifed.

Q. 8. What is the fourth leffon from God's truth?

That whatever God hath threatened in his word againft finners fhall furely come upon them, except they repent; Zech i. 6. But my word, and my statutes, which I commanded my fervants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, like as the Lord of hofts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, fo hath he dealt with us. Ezek. xii. 27, 28. The word which I have fpoken fhall be done, faith the Lord God.

Q. What is the fifth leffon from God's truth?

A. That falsehood in words and actions is contrary to God's nature, and abhorred by him; John viii. 44. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lufts of your father ye will do; he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him; when he fpeaketh a lie, he fpeaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Q10. What is the laft leffon from God's truth?

4. The day of judgment will rightly and justly ftate every man's

condition; Rom ii. 2. But we are fure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them whịch commit such things.

Queft. 5.

A

Of one God.

RE there more Gods than one?

A. There is but one only, the living and true God. Q. How doth it appear that there is but one God?

A. It is evident from fcripture there is but one God; Deut. vi. 4. Hear, O Ifrael, the Lord our God is one Lord. Jer. x. 10. but the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: and as fcripture reveals no more, fo reafon will allow no more.

Q. 2. Why will reafon allow no more but one God.

4. Because God is the firft being; Rev. i. 11. Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; and there can be but one first being, and God is the most perfect and excellent being; Pfal. lxxi. 19. Thy righteoufnefs, alfo, O God, is very high, who hath done great things: O God, who is like unto thee? And there can be but one most perfect and excellent being.

Q.3. But doth not the fcriptures fay, in 1 Cor. viii. 5. that there are gods many, and lords many?

A. Yes; there are many in title, and many in opinion, but one only in truth; Jer. x. 10. But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King,

Q. 4. Why is he called the true God?

A. To diftinguish him from the idols and falfe gods of the hea thens; I Theff. i. 9. How ye turned to God from idols, to ferve the living and true God. Acts xiv. 15. We preach unto you, that ye fhould turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth, and the fea, and all things that are therein.

Q5. Why is he called the living God?

A. Because all life, natural, fpiritual, and eternal, is in him, and from him only. First, Natural life; Acts xvii. 28. For in him we live, and move, and have our being. Secondly, Spiritual life; Eph. ii. 1 You hath he quickened, who were dead in trefpaffes and fins Thirdly, Eternal life in glory; Col. iii. 4. When Chrift, who is our life, shall appear, then fhall ye alfo appear with him in glory.

Q. 6 What is the firft inftruction from hence?

A. If but one God, then all his children should be of one heart, having one and the fame Father; Eph. iv. 5,6. One Lord, one faith, one baptifm, one God and Father of all, who is is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Q. 7. What is the fecond inference from hence?

A. That it is idolatry to perform worship to any other but God one ly; Pfal. lxxxvi. 9, 10. All nations whom thou haft made, shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and fhall glorify thy name, for thou art great, and doft wondrous things, thou art God alone. Q. 8. What is the third inference from it?

A. That our fupreme love is due to God only, and it is very finful to place it in any other; Deut. vi. 4, 5. Hear, O Ifrael, The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy might.

Q. 9. What is the fourth inference from God's unity.

A. That God only must have the reliance and dependence of our fouls; Jer. xvii. 5, 7. Thus faith the Lord, curfed be the man that trufteth in man, that maketh flesh his arm, and whofe heart departeth from the Lord. Bleffed is the man that trufteth in the Lord, and whofe hope the Lord is.

Q10. What is the laft inference from it.

A. That we have great cause to be thankful for the gofpel, which discovers the only true God to us; and that we are not as the heathens, worshipping many and falfe gods; 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many, and lords many; but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord, Jefus Chrift, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Of three Perfons in the Godhead.

Queft. 6. HA. There are three perfons in the godhead, the Fa

many perfons are there in the godhead?

ther, the Son, and the holy Ghost, and these three are one God, the fame in fubftance, equal in power and glory.

Q. What mean you by the word, godhead?

A. It is the nature, effence, or being of God, as the apoftle speaks, Acts xvii. 29. Forafmuch then as we are the off-fpring of God, we ought not to think that the godhead is like unto gold, or filver, or ftone, graven by art, and man's device.

Q. 2. What is a perfon in the godhead?

A. It is the godhead distinguished by perfonal properties; each perfon having his diftinct perfonal properties; Heb. i. 3. Who being the brightness of his glery, and the exprefs image of his perfon, upholding all things by the word of his power.

Q. 3. How doth it appear there are three perfons, and no more? A. First, From Chrift's baptifm; Mat.iii. 16. 17. And Jefus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he faw the Spirit of God descending, like a dove, and lighting upon him; and lo, a voice from heaven, faying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Q. 4. How elfe in the second place, doth it appear?

A. From the inftitution of our baptifm; Mat. xxviii. 19. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Q. 5. What is the third proof from fcripture ?

A. From the apoftolical benediction; 2 Cor. xiii. 14. The grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift, and the love of God, and the fellowship of

the holy Ghoft, be with you all, Amen: Where three diftinct bleffings are wifhed from the three divine perfons in the godhead, grace from Chrift, love from the Father, and communion, with the Spirit.

Q. 6. What farther evidence is there of it in fcripture?

A. From plain pofitive affertions of the fcripture, afferting, First, A trinity of perfons. Secondly, A unity of effence; 1 John v. 7. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one

Q. What is the first inftruction from the trinity?

That the doctrine of the gofpel concerning Chrift, is fully confirmed and ratified by three witneffes from heaven, who are above all exceptions; 1 John v. 7. For there are there that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.

Q8. What is the fecond inftruction from the trinity?

A. Hence we learn the true order and manner of worshipping God, in the Son; John xvi. 23. Whatsoever ye fhall afk the Father in my name, he fhall give it you. And by the Spirit; Eph. vi. 18. Praying always, with all prayer and fupplication in the Spirit.

Ó. 9. What is the third inftruction from the trinity?

A. That the covenant of grace conveys á rich portion to believers in making over all three perfons to them; Jer. xxxi. 33. But this fhall be the covenant that I will make with the houfe of Ifrael after thofe days, faith the Lord; I will put my law into their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they fhall be my people.

Q. 10. What is the fourth inftruction from the trinity?

A. That as it is the duty of all the faints to give diftinct glory to the three perfons in the Godhead; fo it will be a fpecial part of their bleffedness in heaven, to contemplate the diftinct benefits received from them all; Rev. i. 5. And from Jefus Chrift, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth; unto him that loved us, and washed us from our fins in his own blood.

Of God's Decrees.

HAT are the decrees of God?

Quest. 7. WH

A. The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the council of his will, whereby for his own glory he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

Q.1. What things are decreed of God?

A. All things whatfoever come to pass, even the smalleft; Eph. i. 11. In whom alfo we have obtained an inheritance, being predeftinated according to the purpofe of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

Q 2. What is the end of God's decrees?

A. The glory of his own name; Eph. i. 11, 12. Who worketh

all things according to the counfel of his own will, that we should be to the praife of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Q. 3. But there are fome evil things done in the world; Do they fall under God's deeree?

A. Though God doth neither approve them, nor neceffitate men to commit them, yet he doth permit and fuffer them to be done, and will turn them to his own glory; Acts iv. 27, 28. For of a truth, against thy holy child Jefus, whom thou haft anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Ifrael are gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Q. 4. Who are the objects of God's fpecial decrees?

A. Angels and men are the objects of God's fpecial decrees; 1 Tim. v. 21. I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jefus Chrift, and the elect angels, that thou obferve these things, &c. Rom. viii. 33. Who fhall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?

Q. 5. What is the first property of God's decrees?

A. That they are most wife acts of God, laid in the depth of wifdom and counsel; Rom. xi. 33. O the depth of the riches both of the wifdom and knowledge of God! How unfearchable are his judgnients, and his ways are past finding out!

Q. 6. What is the fecond property of God's decrees?

A. The decrees of God are most free, all flowing from the mere pleasure of his will; Rom. ix. 18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Q.7. What is the third property of God's decrees?

A. They are moft firm and ftable; 2 Tim. ii. 19. Nevertheless, the foundation of God ftandeth fure; having this feal, The Lord knoweth them that are his, Zech. vi. 1.

Q. 8. What is the fourth property of God's decrees?

4. They are eternal, and before all time; Acts xv. 18. Known unto God are all his works, from the beginning of the world. Q.9. What is the fifth property of God's decrees?

A. They are moft pure, and altogether unfpotted of fin; 1 John This is the meffage which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, That God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

i. 5.

Q. 10. What is the first instruction from God's decrees?

A. That we ought to afcribe nothing to chance, but to the appointment or providence of God; Prov, xvi, 33. The lot is caft into the lap; but the whole difpofing thereof is of the Lord.

Q. 11. What is the fecond inftruction from God's decrees?

A. That God's hand is to be acknowledged in the greatest afflictions that befal us; 2 Sam, xvi. 11. And David faid to Abishai, and to all his fervants, behold my fon, which came forth of my bowels, feeketh my life; how much more now may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone, and let him curie, for the Lord hath bidden him, VOL. VI.

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