5: 1, 2, 5, and 14: 6, 7, and 119: 32. 7, and 15: 3; Eph. 1: 3, 4; Psal. 4. 01 John, 32, 3; Psal. 1: 3, 4: 1 John, 2: 1, 2; Rom. 6:12; Tit. 2: 11, 12, 14; 2 Cor. 7:1; Rom. 8: 1, 12; 1 John, 1 : 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, suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light ;P yet are they neither utterly destitute of that seed of God and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of the 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. p Cant. 5: 2, 3, 6; Psal. 51: 8, 12, 14; Eph. 4:30, 31; Psal. 77: 1 to 10; Matt. 26: 69, 70, 71, 72; Psal. 31: 22, and 88, per tot. ; Isa. 51: 10. q 1 John, 39; Luke, 22: 32; Job, 13: 15; Psal. 73: 15, and 51: 8, 12; Isa. 50: 10. r Mic. 7:8, 9; Jer. 32: 40; 9, 10; Psal. 22: 1, and 88, per tot. Isa. 54: 7.8, CHAP. XIX. OF THE LAW OF GOD. I. GOD gave to Adam a law of universal obedience written in his heart, and a particular precept of not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 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.a a Gen. 1: 26, 27, and 2: 17; Rom. 2: 14, 15; and 10: 5, and 5: 12, 19; Gal. 3: 10, 12; Eccl. 7: 29; Job, 28: 28. II. This law, so written in the heart, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall of man, and was delivered by God on Mount Sinai in ten commandments, and written in two tables; the four first commandments, containing our duty towards God, and the other six our duty to man. b b Jam. 1: 25, and 2: Deut. 5 3, and 10: 4; 39, 40. 8, 10, 11, 12; Rom. 13: 8, 9; Exod. 34: 1. c Matt. 22: 37, 38, III. Besides this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give the people of Israel, as a d church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worshipping, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits, and partly holding forth divers instructions 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, abrogated and taken away. d Heb. 9 and 10: 1. Gal. Cor. 5: 7; 2 Cor. 6: 17; Jam. 4: 12; Heb. 7: 12; 27; Eph. 2: 15, 16. 4: 1, 2, 3; Col. 2: 17. e 1 Jude, 23. f Heb. 9: 10, 11 : Col. 2:14, 16, 17; Dan. 9: IV. 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 equity only being still of moral use.g g Exod. 21, and 22: 1 to 29; Gen. 49: 10, with 1 Pet. 2:13, 14; Matt. 5: 17, with 38, 39; 1 Cor. 9: 8, 9, 10. V. The moral law doth forever bind all, 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 authority of God the Creator, who gave it.i Nei ther doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen, this obligation. h Rom. 13: 8, 9, 10; Eph. 6:6, 1, 2; 1 John, 2 : 3, 4, 7, 8. i Jam. 2 10, 11. k Matt. 5: 17, 18, 19; Jam. 2: 8. m VI. n Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, 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, and 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, 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 from them, although freed from the curse thereof, threatened in the law." The promises of it, in like manner, show 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, 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 13, and 4: 4, 5; 1 Rom. 6: 14; Gal. 2: 16, and 3: Acts, 13 39; Rom. 8: 1. m Rom. 7: 12, 22, 25; Psal. 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, o Jam. 1: 23, 24, 25; Rom. 7: 24, 25, and 8: 101, 104, 128. r Ezra, 119: 4, 5, 6; 1 Cor. 7: 19; Gal. 5: 22, 23. n Rom. 7: 7, and 3: 20. Rom. 79, 14, 24. p Gal. 3: 24; 3, 4. q Jam. 2: 11; Psal. 119: 9: 13, 14; Psal. 89: 30 to 35. s Lev. 263 to 14, with 2 Cor. 6: 16; Eph. 6:2, 3; Psal. 37: 11; Matt. 5:5; Psal. 19 11. t Gal. 2: 16; Luke, 17: 10. u Rom. 6: 12, 14; 1 Pet. 3: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, with Psal. 34: 12 to 16; Heb. 12: 28, 29. : VII. Neither are the fore-mentioned uses of the law, contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but do sweetly comply with it," the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully, which the will of God, revealed in the law, required to be done.x w Gal. 3: 21. x Ezek. 36: 26, 27; Heb 8: 10; Jer. 31: 33. CHAP. XX. OF THE GOSPEL, AND OF THE EXTENT OF THE GRACES I. THE Covenant of works being broken by sin, and made unprofitable unto life,a God was |