will." Chap. xvi. 33, "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." Yea, evil actions, as well as good ones, fall within the compass of his decree: Acts. ii. 23, "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." But with this difference, that he decreed his effecting of good, and his permitting of ill. Now, whatsoever God hath foreordained infallibly comes to pass. And his decrees are unchangeable: Isa. xlvi. 10, "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Yet men have no excuse for their sin, from the decree of God, Acts ii. 23, above cited for they sin out of free choice, without the least knowledge of, or force upon them from the decree: Acts xiii. 27, "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath-day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him." The design and end of God's decrees is his own glory: Rom. xi. 36, " For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever." And therefore he will certainly get glory of whatsoever comes to pass, Isa. xlvi. 10, forecited. As to sinful actions, he will get either the glory of his mercy in pardoning them, or else the glory of his justice in punishing them. For the date of God's decrees, they are all eternal: and he makes no new decrees in time: Acts 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 said to be according to his own counsel, as being all laid in the depth of wisdom, which among 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 competent to God, in a proper sense; because his infinite understanding comprehends all things perfectly 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 counsellor ?"

QUEST. 8. How doth God execute his decrees?

ANSW. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence.

EXPLICATION.

God's executing his decrees, means his bringing to pass what he hath decreed and he does that in the works of creation and providence. And nothing falls out in either of them, but what was decreed; nor otherwise than as it was decreed: Eph. i. 11, " In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated 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, their came four chariots out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of brass."

QUEST. 9. What is the work of creation?

ANSW. The work of creation is, God's making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six 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 said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow 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 Christ, by whom are 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." Psal. xxxiii. 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: and 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 powers: all things were created by him, and for him." So he made them of nothing; 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 seen,

Now, all things were "For in six days the

were not made of things which do appear." made in the space of six days: Exod. xx. 11, Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." The works of the first day were, the highest heavens, Gen. i. 1. with the angels, the inhabitants thereof, Job xxxviii. 4, 7; the shapeless mass of earth and water, and the light. The works of the second day were, the firmament, and the dividing thereby the upper and lower waters. The 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, fish, and fowl. The works of the sixth day were, first, the beasts of the earth; and then, last of all, man, male and female: Gen. i. 1. 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 to the use of man before man himself. As for the case 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 which they were made. Wherefore, the angels were all made holy and happy. And some of them did continue in that state, 1 Tim. v. 21, "I charge thee before the elect angels," &c.; but others of them sinned, and fell, and became devils, Jude 6," And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." 2 Pet. ii. 4, "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."

QUEST. How did God create man?

ANSW. 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 woman.

first made, and then the woman, 1 Tim. ii.

The man was

13; and the woman was Adam and Eve were the

made to be a help to the man, Gen. ii. 18. first man and woman: and from them all mankind is descended : Acts xvii. 25, "God hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." The parts whereof man

consists, are a soul and a body. The body of the man was made of "The Lord God formed man of into his nostrils the breath of Which consideration may be

the dust of the ground: Gen. ii. 7, the dust of the ground, and breathed life; and man became a living soul." of use to us, to be a cure to our pride, a memorial of our death, and an emblem of our resurrection. The woman's body was made of a rib and flesh 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, ver. 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 dust 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 Moses 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 since that time generated by the parents, but created of God within their formed bodies in the womb; hence called the Father of Spirits, Heb. xii. 9. Now, man was created in a holy and happy state; which appears, in that he was made so far like God, that he was after his very image, Gen. i. 26. And this was not peculiar to the man, but common to the man and the woman, ver. 27, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them." The image of God wherein man was so like him, consisted in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and dominion over the creatures: Col. iii. 10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him.” Eph. iv. 24," And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Gen. i. 26, "God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." The parts of the image of God impressed on his soul, were, knowledge on his mind, righteousness on his will, and holiness on his affections. His knowledge was a sufficient understanding of what was necessary to make him completely happy, Gen. i. 26; Col. iii. 10. His righteousness was a perfect conformity of his will to the will of God: And his holiness was the perfect purity of all his affections.

Eccl. vii. 29, "God made man upright." That part of the image of God impressed on the whole man, was dominion over the creatures. The creatures he had dominion over, were the beasts of the earth, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea, Gen. i. 26. The dominion he had over them, was a right and power soberly to use them for God's glory and his own comfort. His charter for this right to the creatures, was the covenant of works, Gen. ii. 16, 17, compared with chap. i. 28, "Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." And in these things man bore the image of God, as in him he faintly resembled God himself, who is infinitely knowing, righteous, and holy, and supreme Lord of the creatures. Now, Adam bore this image as a public person, to propagate it to his posterity: Eccl. vii. 29, "God made man upright." But it was lost to himself and all mankind, by his fall, 1 Cor. xv. 22, "In Adam all die;" and that even to the forfeiting of the dominion over the creatures; an evidence of which is, beasts proving unruly, and hurtful to man. The only way to recover the image of God, is to unite with Jesus Christ by faith: 1 Cor. xv. 22, "In Christ shall all be made alive." For he is the image of the invisible God, and to him as a second Adam is the dominion over the creatures restored: Col. i. 15. " Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature. Psal. viii. 6, 7, 8, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Compared with Heb. ii. 7, 8, 9, "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet," &c. And he repairs this image in all that believe on him, The reparation of the lost image of God in their souls is begun in their sanctification in him, and perfected in their glorification: Col. iii. 10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him." Heb. xii. 23, “To the spirits of just men made perfect." The reparation of the lost dominion over the creatures, is begun in their getting a new right to them in their union with him, and perfected in their being put in full possession of the dominion at the last day: Rom. iv. 13, "For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Rev. xxi. 7, "He that overcometh, shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Psalm