in Chrift Jefus, and having no confidence in the flesh, Phil. iii ༣. 227. What is it, next to the glory of God, we fhould aima? A Next unto God's glory, we should aim at the enjoyiment of him. Palm ixxii. 25.26 228. Why should we aim at the enjoyment of God! A Because he is the chief good of the rational creature, Pfaim cxvi 7. and nothing elfe befides him, is either fuit able to the nature, or fatisfying to the defires of the im mortal foul, Pfalm cxliv. 15. Q.29 How my a finite creature [enjoy] an infinite God? A By taking, and rejoicing in him, as its everlafting and upmaking portion, Pilm xvi. 5, 6. and xlviii. 14. Q. 30. Did our first parents, in a state of innocence, enjoy God? A. Yes; there was perfect friendship and fellowship between God and them; for, God made man upright, Eccl. vii. 29. Q. What broke that bleffe friendship and fellowship? A. Sin our iniquities have feparated between us and our God, and our fins have hid his face from us, Ifa. lix 2. 232 Can á finner, in a natural state, enjoy God, or have any fellowthip with him? A. No: for, what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Thrift with Belial' 2 Cor. vi. 14.155 Q. 33. How may a loft finner recover the enjoyment of Go, and fellowship with him? A As we loft it by our fall in the first Adam, fo it can only be recovered by union with a fecond Adam, Rom. . 18, 19 for there is no coming to God but by him, John xv. 6 Q 3+. When is it that a finner begins to enjoy God? A When, having received Chrift y faith, he refts upon him, nd upon Got in him, for righteoufnefs and ftrength, If. xlv. 24 and out of his fulness receives, and grace for grace. John i 16 235. What are the external means by, or in which, we are to feck after the enjoyment of God? A In all the ordinances of his worship, public, private, and fecret; fuch as the word read and heard, the facraments, prayer, me litation, fafting, thanksgiving, and the like. 236. Are the faints of God admitted to enjoy him these? A. Yes: they are the trifting piaces where his name is recorded, and to which he has promised to come and bless them, Exo. xx. 4.—I all places where I record my name, will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 237. What fcripture evidence have we, of their enjoy. ing God in the duties and ordinances of his appointment ? A. We find them much employed in religious cuties, Song in. 1, 2. 3.; and expreffing the utmoft regard for the ordmances of his grace, Plaim: Ixxxiv. 1, 2. 238. What fatisfaction has the foul in the enjoyment of God? A. Unspeakably more gladness than when corn, wine, and all earthly comforts, do most abound, Pfalm iv. 7. 239 Is there any iffrence betwixt the enjoyment of Gou in this life, and that which the faints fhall obtain in the life to come? A Not an effential but a gradual difference as to the manner and meajure of it. 240 What is the difference as to the manner of the enjoyment here and hereafter? A Here, the erjoyment is mediate, by the intervention of means; hereafter, it will be immediate without any ufe of these means: Now we fee through a gluf, darkly, but then FACE TO FACE, I Cor. 11. 12. 41. What is the difference as to the measure of the enjoyment in this life and that which is to come! A. in this life the enjoyment is only partial; in that which is to come. it will be full and complete, John iii. 2. here, the enjoyment is only in the feed, or firft fruits; there it will be in the full harvest, Pfal. cxxvi. 5, 6. Q4. Is the partial enjoyment of God in grace here, a fure pledge of the full erjoyment of him in glory hereafter? 4. It is both the pledge and earnest thereof, Eph. i. 13. 14. Pfalm lxxxiv. 11. 2 43. Doth the gracious foul, in that ftate, fully receive its chief end? A. Yes; in regard that then it fhall be brimful of God, and celebrate his praifes with hi, h and uninterrupted Hallelujahs through all eternity. Pf. xvi 1. Ifa. xxxv. 1c. 244. Why is the glorifying Go made the leading part of man's chief end, and fet before the enjoyment of him? A. Because, as God's defign in glorifying himself was . the reafon and foundation of his design in making man hap. py in the enjoyment of him, Rom. xi. 26. ; fo he has made our aiming at his glory, as our chief end, to be the very way and means of our attaining to that enjoyment, Pf, 1. 231 245. Whether is our happiness, in the enjoyment of God, to be our chief end? A. No; but the glory of God itself, Isa. xlii. 8.; in our aiming at which chiefly, we cannot miss the enjoyment of him, Pfal. cxi. 14, 15. Q46. Is not our delighting in the glory of God, to be reckoned our chief end? A. No; we muft fet the glory of God above our delight therein, otherwise, our delight is not chiefly in God, but in ourfelves, If. ii. 11. Our fubjective delighting in the glory of God belongs to the enjoyment of him, whofe glory is above the heavens, and infinitely above our delight therein, Pfalm cxiii. 4. Q. 47. Whom does God dignify with the enjoyment of himself, in time and forever! 4. Thefe whom he helps actively to glorify and honour him; for he has faid, Them that honour me, I will honour, 1 Sam. ii 30.. Q 48 Does any thing fo much fecure our happy enjoyment of God, as the concern that the glory of God has therein ? A. No; for as God cannot but reach the great end of his own glory, fo, when he hath promised us eternal life, in Chrift, before the world began,, Tit. i. 2. we cannot come fhort of it; because it ftands upon the honour of his fulness to make it good, Heb. x. 23-He is faithful that promised. 249. How does it appear, that the enjoyment of God, which is connected with the glorifying of him, fhall be [for ever]? A. Because he who is the object enjoyed, is the everlasting God, Ifa. xl. 28. and the enjoyment of him is not tranlitory, like the paffing enjoyments of time, but the eternal enjoyment of the eternal God, Pfal. xlviii. 14. 2. QUEST. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him? ANSW. The word of God, which is contained in the feriptures of the Old and New Teftament, is the only rule to direc us, how we may glorify and enjoy him, Q. What neceffity is there of a rule to direct us how to glorify and enjoy Gad A. It is neceffary, because fince God will be glorified by the reasonable creature, nothing can be a perfect rule for that end, but his own revealed will, Rom. xii. 2. Q. 2. Can man, by any wildom or power of his own, ever attain to the glorifying of God, and the enjoyment of him, which he has come short of, by his fall in the first Adam ? 4. No; his wifdom and knowledge, in the things of God, are become folly and ignorance, Job xi. uz. ; and his power to do good is turned into utter impotency, Joha vi 44, 23. Where has God revealed the way, how man may recover and attain the end of his creation? A. In the word of God, which is contained in the fcriptures of the Old and New Teftament :] Jolin v. 39 Search the fcriptunes. Q4. How do you know the fcriptures of the Old and New Teftament to be the word of God? A. By the print of God that is evidently to be feen upon them: for, as none works like God, Ifa. xliii. 13. fo. none fpeaks like him, John vii 46. 25. What do you understand by the print or imprefs of God that is fo difcernible in the fcriptures? A. That majefty, holinefs, light, life, and efficacy, which fhine in the word itself, Rom. i, 16. Pfal. xix. 7. 2. 6. What may be faid of thefe, who do not fee that print of God in the word, though they read it? A. It may be faid, The god of this world bath blinded the minds of them that believe net, 2 Cor. iv. 4. 27. Since all men are fpiritually blind by nature, is it not in vain for them to read the scriptures? 4. No; it is the will of God that they should read and fearch the fcriptures, John v, 39: and the entrance of his word gives light and fight to them that are blind, Pfalm cxix 13c. Q. 8. What fhould a man do that the Bible may not re main a fealed book unto him? A. Whenever he looks into the word of God, he should Jook up to God the author of it, faying Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law, Pf. cxix 8. Ofend out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me, Pf. xliii 3. 29. By what arguments may we perfuade men that are infidels, to receive the fcriptures as the word of God? A. We may deal with them by rational arguments drawn from their antiquity; the heavenlinefs of the matter, the majefty of the ftyle; the harmony of all the parts, though written in different ages; the ex. & accomplishment of prophefies, the fublimity of the myfteries and matters contained in the word, the efficacy and power of it, in the conviction and converfion of multitudes; the scope of the whole, to guide men to attain their chief end, the glory of God in their own falvation; and the many miracles wrought for the confirmation of the truth of the doctrines contained in them *. Q10. Can thefe or the like rational arguments, ever produce a divine faith? A. No: for rational arguments can only produce a mere rational faith, founded on reafon; but a divine and faving faith refts wholly upon the divine teftimony inherent in the word itself; or, upon a Thus faith the Lord. 2. 11. How is this inherent teftimony discovered? A. By the fame spirit of God that dictated the word, 2 Pet, i. 21 he being an Interpreter, one among a thousand, John xvi. 13. 212. What is it that will fully perfuade and affure a perfon that the fcriptures are indeed the word of God? A The fpirit of God bearing witnefs y, and with the fcriptures in the heart of man, is alone ahe fully to per fuade it, that they are the very word of God, John xvi. 13, 14. 1 Johnii 27 †' 2. 13 Whether does the authority of the fcripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, depend upon the teftimony of the church, or wholly upon God? A. Wholly upon God, [who is truth itself,] the author thereof, and therefore it is to be received, because it is the word of God,' 1. John v. 9. 1 Theff ii. 13. ‡ See Conf of Faith, chap. i. Set.. Confeffion, chop, i Selt. 4, ↑ Larger Cat. Q 4. |