for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep 'things of God.'

Quest. 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?

Anf. The Scriptures principally teach, what Man is to believe, concerning God, and what Duty God requires of Man.

EXPLICATION.

Principally to teach, is chiefly to teach. The
Things that the Scriptures teach chiefly, are these
two; Faith, and Obedience: 2 Tim. i. 13. 'Hold
faft the form of found words, which thou haft
heard of me, in faith and love which is in Chrift
Jefus.' The Faith which the Scriptures teach,
is, What Man is to believe concerning God: The
Obedience which the Scriptures teach, is, What
Duty God requires of Man. Nothing can be an
Article of Faith, necessary to be believed, nor a
Duty, necessary to be done, but what is taught in
the Scriptures. Howbeit, not only what is found
in Scripture in express Words, but also what a-
rifeth therefrom, by neceffary Consequence, is to
be reckoned taught therein: Matth. xxii. 32. 1
am the God of Abraham, and the God of Ifaac,
and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of
'the dead, but of the living."

Quest. 4. What is God?
Ans. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal,
and unchangeable, in his Being, Wisdom,

A 3

Power,

८

Power, Holiness, Justice, Goodness, and

Truth.

EXPLICATION.

No Creature can fully comprehend what God is: Job xi. 7. 'Canst thou by fearching find out God? canft thou find out the Almighty unto Perfection?" But he has revealed so much of himself in the Scriptures, as is necessary for us to know. For his fort of Being, he is a Spirit: And a Spirit is an immaterial Substance, without Fleshor Bones. He hath not then a Body nor any bodily Parts: John iv. 24. 'Godis a Spirit.' Luke xxiv. 39. 'Behold my hands and my feer, that it is I myself: handle me, and fee, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me nave. Then Eyes, Ears, and such like bodily Parts ascribed to him in Scripture, are not to be understood properly: But by them we are to understand an infinite Perfection of those Powers, which those Members serve for in us. So the Eyes of God fignify his infinite Power of difcerning Objects, as by the Eye: His Ears signify his infinite Power of difcerning Voices, as by the Ear. Moreover, God cannot be seen with bodily Eyes; no not with the Eyes of glorified Bodies in Heaven: Hence he is faid to be invisible, and to dwell in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath Seen, nor can fee, 1 Tim. i. 17. and vi. 16. But God can be seen with the Eyes of the Mind, enlightened with the Light of Grace here, and the Light of Glory in Heaven: Eph. i. 17. 18. That ' the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom

and revelation in the knowledge of him: the

eyes of your understanding being enlightened; 'that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his in'heritance in the faints.' Finally, there is nothing which God is like unto: If. xl. 18. ' To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will 'ye compare unto him?" So we may not form any Imagination of him in our Minds, as we can do of an absent Man. Now, there are other Spirits belides God: And these are Angels and the Souls of Men. But the Difference betwixt God and them, lies here, that God is an infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Spirit; and they are not fo. The Attri. butes of God, or Perfections of the divine Nature, are of two Sorts; incommunicable, and communicable. His incommunicable Attributes, whereof there is no Veftige in the Creature, are his Infinity, Eternity, and Unchangeableness. God is infinite, in that he is whatsoever he is, without any Bounds or Measure: Job. xi. 7. Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto Perfection?" He is eternal, in that he is without Beginning and without End: Pfal. xc. 2. 'Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed 'the earth and the world: even from everlasting 'to everlasting thou art God.' He is unchange. able, in that he is, and cannot but be always the fame, without any Alteration whatsoever: James 1. 17. Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither

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shadow of turning.' He is then said to repent, not in respect of the Affection of Repentance, but the Effect of it: Num. xxiii. 19. God is not a man, that he should lye; neither the son of man,

!

1

that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? in that, without any Change of his own Nature, Mind, or Will, he changeth his Difpenfations towards the Creatures, and makes Changes on them: Gen. vi. 7. ' And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and beaft, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air: for it repenteth me that I have made them." His communicable Attributes, whereof there are some Scantlings or faint Images in the Creature, are his Being, Wisdom, Power, Holiness, Justice, Goodness, and Truth. The Difference between these Perfections, as they are in God, and as they are in the Creature, lies here, That they are all infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in God, but in the Creature not fo. The Being of God is that Perfection whereby he is, and is what he is: Exod. iii. 14. And God faid unto Mofes, I AM THATI AM: And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Ifrael, I AM hath fent me unto you.' His Wisdom is that whereby he knows himfelf, and all Things else, with the Way how to dispose of them to the best: Pfal. cxlvii. 5. ' Great 4 is our Lord, and of great power: his understand

ing is infinite.' His Power is that whereby he can do all Things not inconsistent with his Nature: Jer. xxxii. 17. Ah, Lord God, behold, thou haft made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm, and there is no-thing too hard for thee.' His Holiness is the perfect Purity of his Nature, whereby he delights in his own Purity, and in the Resemblance of it in the Creature: Hab. i. 13. ' Thou art of

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purer eyes than to behold evil, and canft not 'look on iniquity. His Justice is the perf Ct Rectitude of his Nature, whereby he is juft in himself, and in all his Ways towards the Creature: Deut. xxxii, 4. He is the Rock, his work is per'fect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he.' It is not confiftent with his Nature, to let Sin pass unpunished: 2 Theff. i. 6. It is a righteous thing with God, to recompense tribulation to them 'that trouble you. Compared with Gen. xviii. 25. That be far from thee to do after this man'ner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and 'that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" His Goodness is that whereby he is good in himself, and the Author of all Good to be found in or about the Creature: Matth. xix. 17. There is none good but one, that is, God." His Goodness is confiftent with his Severity against the Wicked, in that it is the Property of Goodness to hate and punish Sin: Exod. xxxiii. 19. And he faid, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will Thew mercy. Compared with Chap. xxxiv. 7. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and tranfgreffion, and fin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. And it is confiftent with the Afflictions laid on his own People, in that they flow from his Goodness: Affliction cometh not forth of the duft, neither doth trouble fpring out of the ground. And they tend to their Good: Pfal. cxix. 71. It is good.

Jobv.

6.