glory of God, which hope shall never make them (Rom. v. 2, 5) ashamed.

2. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion, grounded upon (Heb. vi. 11, 19) a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith, founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ (Heb. vi. 17, 18) revealed in the gospel; and also upon the inward (Pet. i. 4, 5, 10, 11) evidence of those graces of the Spirit unto which promises are made, and on the testimony of the (Rom. viii. 15, 16) Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children. of God; and as a fruit thereof, keeping the heart both (1 John iii. 1, 2, 3) humble and holy.

3. This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be (Isa. 1. 10; Ps. lxxxviii., lxxvii. 1-12) partaker of it; yet being enabled by the Spirit, to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may without extraordinary revelation in the right use of means (1 John iv. 13; Heb. vi. 11, 12) attain thereunto; and therefore it is the duty of every one to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper (Rom. v. 1, 2, 5, xiv. 17; Ps. cxix. 32) fruits of this assurance; so far is it (Rom. vi. 1, 2; Tit. ii. 11, 12, 14) from inclining men to looseness.

4. True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as (Cant. v. 2, 3, 6) by negligence in preserving of it, by (Ps. li. 8, 12, 14) falling into some special sin, which woundeth the conscience, and grieveth the Spirit, by some sudden or (Ps. cxvi. 11, lxxvii. 7, 8, xxxi. 22) vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the (Ps. xxx. 7) light of his countenance,

and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light; yet are they never destitute of the (1 John iii. 9) seed of God, and life (Luke xxii. 32) 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 (Ps. xlii. 5, 11) revived, and by the which in the mean time they are (Lam. iii. 26, 27-31) preserved from utter despair.

CHAP. XIX.

Of the law of God.

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1. God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience (Gen.i. 17; Eccles. vii. 29) written in his heart, and a particular precept of not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; * by which he bound him, and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact and perpetual (Rom. x. 5) obedience; promised life upon the fulfilling, and (Gal. iii. 10, 12) threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued him with power and ability to keep it.

2. The same law that was first written in the heart of man (Rom. ii. 14, 15) continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall, aud was delivered by God upon mount Sinai in (Deut. x. 4) ten commandments, and written in two tables, the four first containing our duty towards God, and the other six our duty to man.

3. Besides this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, (Heb. x. 1; Col. ii. 17) prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly holding forth divers

3 [West. and Savoy Conf. : "Never utterly destitute."]

4

[West. and Savoy Conf. add, "As a covenant of works."]

P

instructions (1 Cor. v. 7) of moral duties; all which ceremonial laws being appointed only to the time of reformation, are by Jesus Christ the true Messiah and only lawgiver, who was furnished with power from the Father for that end (Col. ii. 14, 16, 17; Eph. ii. 14, 16), abrogated and taken away.

4. To them also he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any now by virtue of that institution; their general (1 Cor. ix. 8, 9, 10) equity only being of moral use.

5. The moral law doth for ever bind all (Rom. xiii. 8, 9, 10; James ii. 8, 10, 11, 12), as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof, and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the (James ii. 10, 11) authority of God, the Creator, who gave it; neither doth Christ in the gospel any way dissolve, (Matt. v. 17, 18, 19; Rom. i. 31) but much strengthen this obligation.

6. Although true believers be not under the law, as a covenant of works (Rom. vi. 14; Gal. ii. 16; Rom. viii. 1; X. 4) to be thereby justified or condemned, yet it is 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 (Rom. iii. 20; vii. 7, &c.); discovering also the sinful pollutions of their natures, hearts, and lives, so as examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against, sin, 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 show what even their sins deserve, and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse and unallayed rigour thereof.

The

promises of it likewise show them God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof, though not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works; so as 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 (Rom. vi. 12-14; 1 Pet. iii. 8-13) under the law and not under grace.

7. Neither are the forementioned uses of the law (Gal. iii. 21) contrary to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly comply with it, the Spirit of Christ subduing (Ezek. xxxvi. 27) and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully, which the will of God revealed in the law requireth to be done.

CHAP. XX.

Of the gospel, and of the extent of the grace thereof.

1. The covenant of works being broken by sin, and made unprofitable unto life, God was pleased to give forth the promise of Christ (Gen. iii. 15), the seed of the woman, as the means of calling the elect, and begetting in them faith and repentance; in this promise, the (Rev. xiii. 8) gospel, as to the substance of it, was revealed, and [is] therein effectual, for the conversion and salvation of sinners.

2. This promise of Christ, and salvation by him, is revealed only by (Rom. i. 17) the word of God; neither do the works of creation, or providence, with the light of nature, (Rom. x. 14, 15, 17) 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

5

[Savoy Conf. "To give unto the elect the promise." This article is not found in the West. Conf.]

promise or gospel, (Prov. xxix. 18; Isa. xxv. 7, lx. 2, 3) should be enabled thereby to attain saving faith or repent

ance.

3. 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 merely of the (Ps. cxlvii. 20; Acts xvi. 7) sovereign will and good pleasure of God; not being annexed by virtue of any promise, to the due improvement of men's natural abilities, by virtue of common light received without it, which none ever did (Rom. i. 18, &c.) 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 straightening of it, in great variety, according to the counsel of the will of God.

4. 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 born in trespasses may be born again, quickened, or regenerated, there is moreover necessary an effectual, insuperable (Ps. cx. 3; 1 Cor. ii. 14; Eph. i. 19, 20) work of the Holy Spirit upon the whole soul, for the producing in them a new spiritual life; without which no other means will effect (John vi. 44; 2 Cor. iv. 4, 6) their conversion unto God."

CHAP. XXI.

Of Christian liberty, and liberty of conscience.

1. 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 rigour and (Gal. iii.

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[Savoy Conf.: "No other means are sufficient for their conversion unto God."]