deighbours alfo; Rom. xii. 10, 15. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Q. What is the first fin forbidden in this commandment? A. It directly and efpecially forbids all finful and inordinate defires and motions after other men's enjoyments; Col. iii. 5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleannefs, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetoufnefs, which is idolatry. Q.8 What is the fecond fin forbidden in this commandment? A. It forbids all cruelty and incompaffionateness to others in Beceffity, and keeping back from them that relief which is made theirs by God's command; Prov. xi. 24. There is that with-holdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. Lev. xix. 9, 10. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard thou shalt leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God. : Q9. What is the third fin forbidden in this command. ment? A. It forbids the detaining of the hirelings wages, when it is due; Hab. ii, 9, 10, 11. Wo to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his houfe, that he may fet his neft on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil. Thou haft confulted fhame to thy houfe, by cutting off many people, and haft finned against thy foul. For the ftone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber fhall answer it. Q. 10. What is the fourth fin forbidden in this commandment ? A. It forbids all inward grudgings at, and envyings of the enjoyments of others, whether they be inward goods of the mind, or outward, belonging to the body; 1 Cor. xiii. 14. Charity envieth not, &c. Q. 11. What is the mifchief of covetoufaefs? t A. It diftracts the heart in duties; Ezek. xxxiii. 31. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they fit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them; for with their mouths they fhew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. Provokes the wrath of God; Ifa, vii. 17. For the iniquity of his covetoufaefs was I wroth, and fmote him, &c. And where it reigns, it becomes idolatry; Col. iii. 5. And covetousness, which is idolatry. Q. 12. What is the firft inference from hence? A. It calls all men to humiliation for the inordinacy of their affections towards the world, their difcontent with their own, and envyings of others conditions. Q 13 What is the fecond inference hence ? A. As ever we would keep clear from this in, let us make God our portion; Pfalm xvi. 5, 6. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup: thou maintaineft my lot. And labour to get the foul-fatisfying comforts of his Spirit John iv. 14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I fhall give him, thall never thirst, &c. 2 Cor. vi, 10. As having nothing, and yet poffeffing all things. Q. 14. What is the laft inference hence ? A. It God has given us a fufficiency of the things of this life for our neceffity, let us be fatisfied, though we want other things for our delight; 1 Tim. vi. 8. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. And relieve ourselves by an expectation of thofe better things laid up in heaven for us, if we be believers; James ii. 5. Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him. Queft. 82. Is of keeping the Law. S any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? A. No mere man fince the fall, is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed. Q. Wherein doth the perfect keeping of God's law confift? A. It confifts in the perfect and conftant conformity of the internal and external actions of heart and life, to every com mand of God; Gal. iii. 10. Curfed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Matth. xxii. 37, 38, 39. Jefus faid unto him, Thou fhalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the fecond is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Q2. But if a man commit no external act against the law, may he not be said perfectly to keep it, although in mind or thought he should tranfgrefs? A. No; for an inward motion of fin in the heart, that never breaks forth into act, is a violation of the law, and brings the foul under the curfe of it; ́ Matth. v. 21, 22. Ye have heard that it was faid by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill: And whofoever shall kill, fhall be in danger of the judgment. But I fay unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment, &c. And ver. 27, 28. Ye have heard that it was faid by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I fay unto you, that whofoever looketh upon a woman to luft after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Q3. May not a man keep the law if he keep fome of its commands, though he cannot keep every one of them punctual. ly? A. No, he cannot; for the tranfgreffion of any one command in the leaft degree, is a breach of all, and brings the curse of the whole upon a man's foul; James ii. 10. For whofoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Q. 4. Was the law never kept by any fince it was made ? A. Yes, Adam in his innocent state kept it; for he was made upright; Eccl. vii. 29. God made man upright, &c. And Chrift perfectly kept it; Matth. v. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to defroy, but to fulfil Q. 5. What is the first reason why no mere man in this life. can fulfil and keep the law of God perfectly? A. It is because the law of God is perfect, and the best of men in this life are imperfect; Plalm xix. 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, &c. Eccl. vii. 20. For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and finneth not. Q. 6. But may not men perfectly keep it when regenerate, and born of God? A. No; because even in the regenerate there is a law of fin, which wars against the law of God; Gal. v. 17. For the Resh Justeth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, &c. Rom. vii. 22, 23. For 1 delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I fee another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, &c. And though they are said not to fin, 1 John iii. 9. Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit fio, &c. That is not to be taken abfolutely, but comparagively, as they once did, and others ftill do. Q7. But did not Chrift command the young man to keep the law? A. It is true, that Chrift did put the young man upon thistask; Matth. xix. 17. If thou wilt enter into life, keep the com. mandments. But it was not on a fuppofition that he was able to do it; but to convince him of the impoffibility of justification that way. Q. 8. But doth not the apostle say, that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in believers ? A. It is true that the apostle doth fay fo, Rom. viii. 4. but the meaning is not, that we fulfil it in our own persons, by our complete obedience to it; but it is fulfilled in us, by our union with Chrift, who perfectly kept it; and the righteousness of the law, which is in Christ, becomes ours, by God's imputation of it to us; Rom. iv. 23, 24. Now it was not written for his fake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it fhall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jefus our Lord from the dead. Q9. What is the firft inference from hence? A. That juftification by our own works is utterly impoffible to the holiest of men; Gal. ii. 16. For by the works of the law fhall no flefn be juftified; Pfalm ciii. 3. If thou, Lord, fhouldft mark iniquities; O Lord, who fhall ftand? Q. 10. What is the fecond inference from hence? A. Hence we learn what an infinite mercy it is, that God fent Jefus Chrift made under the law; Gal. iv. 4, 5. But when the fullness of time was come, God fent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, &c. To do that for us we could never do for ourfelves; Rom. viii. 3, 4. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God feading his own Son in the likeness of finful flefh, and for fin con. demned fin in the flesh: that the righteoufnefs of the law might be fulfilled in us; who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Q. What is the third inference from hence ?: A. That the dreadful curfe muft needs lie on all unbelievers that are out of Chrift; John iii. 36. He that believeth not the Son, fhall not fee life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. And seek their juftification by the deeds of the law; Gal. iii. 10. For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curfe, &c. Q12. What is the fourth inference from hence? A. That a deluge of fin and mifery brake in upon the whole world by the fall of Adam, and all his pofterity being by him plunged under both; Rom. v. 12. Wherefore, as by one man fin entered into the world, and death by fin: And fo death pasfed upon all men, for that all have finned. Q. 13. What is the fifth inference from hence? A. That the popish doctrines of merits, and works of supererogation, are falfe and groundless doctrines, fptinging out of the ignorance and pride of man's heart. Q. 14. What is the last inference from hence ? A. That all God's people fhould figh under their unhappy neceffity of finning; Rom. vii. 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! And long tó be with Chrift in the perfect state; Heb. xii. 23. And to the fpirits of juft men made perfect. Of the inequality of Sin. Queft. 83. ARE all tranfgreffions of the law equally hei nous ? A. Some fins in themselves, and by reafon of feveral aggravations, are more heinous in the fight of God than others. Q. I. Whence arifeth the first difference of fin? A. The first difference betwixt one fin and another, arifeth from the immediate object, against which the fin is committed; on this account, fins immediately committed against God, are more heinous than fins immediately committed against man; 1 Sam. ii. 25. If one man fin against another, the judge shall judge him: But if a man fin against the Lord, who fhall intreat for him? And all fins of the first table are greater than those of the second: yet there are crying fins against the second. Q. 2. What is the first fin noted for an heinous fin? A. The fin of murder is in fcripture fet down for an heinous and crying fin in its own nature; Gen. iv. 10. The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the earth. 3. What other fin is noted for a crying fin? A. The fin of oppreffion is noted in fcripture for a crying fio; Hab. ii. 11. For the ftone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall anfwer it. Efpecially the oppreffion of the widow and fatherlefs; Exod. xxii. 22, 23. Ye fhall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wife, and they cry at all unto me, I will furely hear their cry. Q. 4. What is reckoned in scripture an heinous fin against the first table? A. The fin of atheism, or denying the being of God, is a fin of the first magnitude; Job xxxi. 28. This alfo were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I fhould have denied |