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th he will get either the Glory of his Mercy in par-
doning of them, or else the Glory of his Justice in
punihing of them. For the Date of God's Decrees,
they are all eternal: And he makes no new De-
Crees in Time: Atts xv. 18. 'Known unto God are
'all his works from the beginning of the world.'
The Way he decreed all Things, is according to
the counsel of his own will, Eph. i. 11. His Decrees
are faid to be according to his own counsel, as be-
ing all laid in the Depth of Wisdom, which a-
mong Men is the Result of Counsel: Rom. xi. 33.
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are
his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"
But taking Counsel, even in himself, is not com-
petent to God in a proper Sense: because his in-
finite Understanding comprehends all Things per-
fectly at once. They are said to be according to
the counsel of his will, as depending on nothing
without himself: Rom. xi. 34. For who hath
'known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been
'his counseller?"

Queft. 8. How doth God execute his
Decrees?
Ans. God executeth his Decrees in the
Works of Creation and Providence.

EXPLICATION

God's executing his Decrees, means his bringing in the work he hath decreed Providence. And to pass what he hath decreed: And he does that nothing falls out in either of them, but what was

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decreed; nor otherwise than as it was decreed: Eph. i. ir. In whom also we have obtained an inheri

tance, being predeftinated according to the purpose • of him who worketh all things after the counsel ' of his own will.' Zech. vi. 1. ' And I turned, ' and lift up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, ' there came four chariots out from between two 'mountains, and the mountains were mountains '' of brass.'

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Quest. 9. What is the Work of Crea tion?

Anf. The Work of Creation is, God's making all Things of Nothing, by the Word of his Power, in the Space of fix Days, and all very good.

EXPLICATION.

The World was not eternal, but had a Beginning, Gen. i. 1. It will also have an End: And it will end by Fire, being burnt up, 2 Pet. iii. 10.; and that in Virtue of the Curse lying on it for Man's Sin: Gen. iii. 17. ' And unto Adam he faid, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and haft eaten of the tree of which I 'commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy fake; in forrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, made the World: 1 Cor. viii. 6. But to us there is but one God, 'the Father, of whom are all things, and we in ' him; and one Lord Jesus Chrift, by whom are

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all things, and we by him. John i. 3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. Pfal. xxxili. 6. 'By the word of the Lord were the heavens 'made: and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He made it in the Beginning of Time, but a few thousand Years ago: Gen. i. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and 'the earth. He then made all Things: Aud there was no Person, nor any thing before that, but God himself: Col. i. 16. For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or 'for him. So he made them of nothing; and powers: all things were created by him, and that by the Word of his Power, commanding them to be: Heb. xi. 3. Through faith we understand *that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that things which are feen, were not made of things which do appear. Now, all Things were made in the Space of fix Days: Exod. XX. 11. 'For in fix days the Lord made heaven and earth, the fea, and all that in them is.' The Works of the first Day were, the highest Heavens, Gen. i. 1. with the Angels, the Inhabitants there of, Job xxxviii. 4.7; the shapeless Mass of Earth and Water, and the Light. The Works of the fecond Day were, the Firmament, and the dividing thereby the upper and lower Waters Works of the third Day were, the Seas, and the dry Land, Herbs, and Trees. The Works of the fourth Day were, the Sun, Moon, and Stars The Works of the fifth Day were, Fith, and Fowle The Works of the fixth Day were, first, the Beafte

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of the Earth; and then, laft of all, Man, Male and Female: Gen. i. throughout. The Goodness of God shines forth in this Order of the Creation, in that the Places were prepared before the Dwellers, the Food before the Eaters, and all necessary for the Ufe of Man before Man himself. As for the Cafe all Things were made in, they were made all very good: Gen. i. 31. 'And God saw every ' thing that he had made, and behold, it was very 'good;' that is to say, very fit for the Ends and Uses for whiclf they were made. Wherefore, the Angels were all made holy and happy. And fome of them did continue in that State, 1 Tim. v. 21. 'I charge thee before the elect angels,'

c; but others of them finned, and fell, and became Devils, Jude 6. ' And the angels which kept 'not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath referved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.' 2. Pet. ii. 4. 'God spared not the angels that finned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into 'chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.'

Quest. 10. How did God create Man? Anf. God created Man Male and Female, after his own Image, in Knowledge, Righteousness, and Holiness, with Dominion over the Creatures.

EXPLICATION.

By Male and Female, is meant Man and Wo man. The Man was first made, and then the Wo man, Tim.ii. 13.; and the Woman was made to be a

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Help to the Man, Gen. ii. 18. Adam and Eve were the first Man and Woman: And from them all Man kindis descended: Acts xvii. 26. God hath made of oneblood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth. The Parts whereof Man conthe fifts, are a Soul and a Body. The Body of the Mari was made of the Dust of the Ground: Gen. ii. 7. 'The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living foul. Which Con fideration may be of Use to us, to be a Cure to our Art Pride, a Memorial of our Death, and an Emblem of our Refurrection. The Woman's Body was made of a Rib and Flesn taken out of the Man's Side: Gen. ii. 23. 'And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man;' and that to the End they might be one Flesh, verf. 24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife : and they 'shall be one flesh. The Soul is of a spiritual and immortal Nature: Eccl. xii. 7. Then shall the duft return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Their Souls were made within them, of Nothing: Gen. ii. 7. above cited. Zech.xii. 1. The Lord, which formeth the spirit of man within him. But Mofes gives no separate Account of the making of their Souls, as of the making of their Bodies; because their Souls were not of a different Make, but only their Bodies. Neither are the Souls of Men fince that God within their formed Bodies in the Womb; Time generated by the Parents, bus created of Fence called the Father of Spirits, Heb. xii. 9. Now, Man was created in a holy and happy State,

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