here, is still molested with that inbred Antinomian, that law of sin that yet dwells in his flesh: though the force and power of it is broken, and its laws repealed in his conversion, and this new, pure law placed in its stead; yet because that part which is flesh in him still entertains and harbours it, it creates and breeds a Christian daily vexation. Because sin hath lost dominion, it is still practising rebellion against that spiritual kingdom and law that is established in the regenerate mind; as a man that hath once been in possession of rule, though usurped, yet being subdued, he is still working in that kingdom to turbulent practices. But though by this (as the apostle was, Rom. vii. 4) every godly man is often driven to sad perplexities and complaints, yet in this is his comfort; that law of his God written there hath his heart and affection. Sin is dethroned and thrust out of his heart, and hath only an usurped abode within him against his will. He sides with the law of God, and fights with all his power for it against the other: that holy law is his delight, and this law of sin his greatest grief.

3. I will write. The Lord promises himself to do this, and it is indeed his prerogative. He wrote it at first on tables of stone, and this spiritual engraving it on the heart is much more his peculiar. Other men might afterwards engrave it on stone, but no man can at all write it on the heart; not upon his own, much less upon another's. Upon his own he cannot, for it is naturally taken up and possessed with that contrary law of sin, (as we said before,) and is willingly subject to it; loves that law, and therefore in that posture it neither can nor will work this change upon itself, to dispossess that law which it loves, and bring in that which he hates. No man can write this law on the heart of another, for it is inaccessible; his hand cannot reach it, he cannot come at it; how then should he write any thing on it? Men in the ministry of the word can but stand and call without; they cannot speak to within, far less write any thing within. Though

they speak never so excellently and spiritually, and express no other but what is written on their own hearts, (and certainly that is the most powerful way of speaking, and the likeliest for making impression on the heart of another,) yet unless the hand of God's own Spirit carry it into the hearer's heart, and set on the stamp of it there, it will perish as a sound in the air, and effect nothing. Sonus verborum nostrorum aures percutit, magister intus. Nolite putare quenquam hominem aliquid discere ab alio homine; admonere possumus per strepitum vocis nostræ, si non est intus qui doceat, inanis strepitus est noster.* Let this ever be acknowledged to his glory; the voice of men may beat the ear, but only he that made the heart can work upon it, and change and mould it as it pleaseth him this is his own promise, and he alone makes it good. He writes his law on the hearts of his children, and by this work of his grace, prepares them for glory: they that have this law written in their hearts, their names are certainly written in the book of life.

* Augustine in 1 Jo. Tr. 3.

A

SHORT CATECHISM.

Question. WHAT is naturally man's chief desire ?
Answer. To be happy.

Q. Which is the way to true happiness?
A. True religion.

Q. What is true religion?

A. The true and lively knowledge of the only true God, and of him whom he hath sent, Jesus Christ. Q. Whence is this knowledge to be learned?

A. All the works of God declare his being, and his glory; but the clearer knowledge of himself, and his Son Jesus Christ, is to be learned from his own word, contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament.

Q. What do those Scriptures teach us concerning God?

A. That he is one infinite, eternal Spirit, most wise, and holy, and just, and merciful, and the all-powerful Maker and Ruler of the world.

Q. What do they further teach us concerning him?

A. That he is Three in One, and One in Three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Q. What will that lively knowledge of God, effectually work in us?

A. It will cause us to believe in him, and to love him above all things, even above ourselves; to adore and worship him, to pray to him, and to praise him and exalt him with all our might, and to yield up ourselves to the obedience of all his commandments, as having both made us, and made himself known to us for that very end.

Rehearse then the articles of our belief.

I believe in God the Father, &c.

Rehearse the ten commandments of the law, which are the rule of our obedience, and so the trial of our love.

A. God spake these words, I am the Lord thy God, &c.

Q. What is the summary our Saviour hath given us of this law?

A. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself.

Q. What is the effectual means of obtaining increase of faith and power to obey, and generally all graces and blessings at the hand of God?

A. Prayer.

Rehearse that most excellent and perfect prayer that our Saviour hath taught us.

A. Our Father which art in heaven, &c.

Q. In what estate was man created?

A. After the image of God, in holiness and righte

ousness,

Q. Did he continue in that estate?

A. No. But by breaking the commandment which his Maker gave him, eating of the fruit of that tree which was forbidden him, he made himself and his whole posterity subject to sin and death.

Q. Hath God left man in this misery, without all means and hopes of recovery?

A. No, For "he so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Q. What is then the great doctrine of the gospel? A. That same coming of the Son of God in the flesh, and giving himself to the death of the cross to take away the sin of the world, and his rising again from the dead, and ascending into glory.

Q. What doth that gospel mainly teach and really persuade all the followers of it to do?

A. It teacheth them to deny "ungodliness and

worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world."

Q. How hath our Lord Jesus himself expressed the great and necessary duty of all his disciples?

A. That they deny themselves, and take up their cross and follow him.

Q. Rehearse then some of the chief points wherein we are to follow our Lord Jesus Christ.

A. 1. To surrender ourselves wholly to our heavenly Father, and his good pleasure in all things, even in the sharpest afflictions and sufferings; and not at all to do our own will, or design our own praise or advantage, but in all things to do his will and intend his glory. 2. To be spotless, and chaste, and holy, in our whole conversation.

3. To be meek and lowly, not to slander or reproach, to mock or depise any; and if any do so to us, to bear it patiently, yea to rejoice in it.

4. Unfeignedly to love our Christian brethren, and to be charitably and kindly affected toward all men, even to our enemies, forgiving them, yea and praying for them, and returning them good for evil; to comfort the afflicted, and relieve the poor, and to do good to all as we are able.

Q. Is it necessary that all Christians live according to these rules?

A. So absolutely necessary, that they that do not so in some good measure, whatsoever they profess, do not really believe in Jesus Christ, nor have any portion in him.

Q. What visible seals hath our Saviour annexed to that gospel, to confirm our faith, and to convey the grace of it to us?

A. The two sacraments of the New Testament, baptism and the Lord's supper.

Q. What doth baptism signify and seal?

A. Our washing from sin, and our new birth in Jesus Christ.

Q. What doth the Lord's supper signify and seal? A. Our spiritual nourishment and growth in him,