6. That our Sins are pardoned, and our Persons juftified and accepted before God, Rom. iii. 24. Rom. V. 18, 19, 20. Tit. iii. 5, 6,7.

7. That we persevere to the End, and so at length get to Heaven, Jeremiah xxxii. 40. Hence Heaven it self is called Grace, 1 Pet. i. 13.

Quest. 3. What Use are we to make of this?

1. Turn not this Grace to Wantonness, Jude,

V. 4.

2. Whatsoever Good you do, ascribe it to the Grace of God, 1 Cor. iv. 7.

3. Depend on the Grace of God for all Things referring to your everlasting Welfare, 2 Thes. ii. 16.

4. Carry your selves as those who are Par takers of the Grace of God, 2 Tim. ii. I.

II. Long-suffering.

ארך אפים flow to Anger, Pfal. ciii. 8. Pfal. cxlv. 8. Long-suffering, Numb. xiv. 18. Jer. xv. 15. א לארך אפךκρόθυμο 70.

Quest. 1. Wherefore is God said to be long-suffering?

1. Because he defers his Wrath, and doth not punish us so soon as we deserve, as in the old World, Gen. vi. 7. 1 Pet. iii. 20. And all Mankind, born in Sin, Pfal. li. 5.

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2. Be

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2. Because in the Midst of Judgment he remembers Mercy, and doth not punish us fo much as we deserve, Ezra ix. 13.

3. Because he gives us the Space and Means of Repentance, that so we may escape Pu

:

nishment, 2 Pet. iii. 9. Ifa. xxx. 18.1

4. Because, upon our Repentance he doth not punish us at all, 2 Sam. xii. 13. Jonab iii. 10. Ezek. xviji. 30. Ifa. lv. 7.

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Quest. 2. What Use are we to make of this the Long-Suffering of God 3

1. Abuse it not to the hardening your selves in Sin, Ecclef. viii. 11, 12, 130

2. Imitate God, in being long-suffering to one another, as he is to you, Col. iii. 12. Eph. iv. 2. Gal. v. 22. 2 Tim. iii. 10.

3. Let this Long-suffering of God lead thee to Repentance, Rom. ii. 4.

1

E x O D. xxxiv. 6.

Abundant in Goodness and Truth.

רב חסד ואמת

Quest. 1. WHAT is the Goodness of God?

An essential Property in God, whereby we apprehend him infinitely good in himself, and to all his Creatures, Pfal, cxix. 68. 11. He is infinitely good in and of himself, yea, Goodness it self, the Summum Bonum, Matt. xix. 17. For,

1. All desirable Perfections whatsoever are united in him; all Things that can any way conduce to the making himself or us hap py, Pfal. cxliv. 15. Pfal. xxxiv. 9.

2. Hence he is so good as to be able to fatisfy all our Defires, Pfal. lxxiii. 25. Pfal. iv. 6, 7. Pfal. xvi. 11. Pfal. xvii. 15.

2. He is infinitely good unto all his Creatures, Pfal.cxix. 64. חסדך Pfal. xlv. 9.

1. It is from him, that any of us are good, or holy, and conformable to his Nature, Fac. i. 17:

2. It is from him that we do any Thing that is good, 1 Cor. iv. 7.

3. It is from him that we have any Thing that is good, Acts xvii, 25.

Quest. 2. What Ufe are we to make of the Goodmess of God?

See

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1. Seeing he is so good, we must never lay the Fault on him, nor complain of him. He cannot be the Author of Sin.

2. Hence we should be ashamed, and afraid, to offend him, Ifa. i. 2, 3.

3. We should put our whole Trust and Confidence on him, Pfal. ix. 10.

4. We should love him above all Things, Matt. xxii. 37. Which if we do, he is fo good, that he will make all Things good to us, Rom. viii. 28.

5. We should make it our Business to get his Love and Favour, for then we shall have all good Things, Pfal. cxlii. 5. Ifa. lv. 6.

And Truth.

God's Mercy and Truth do ordinarily go together, Pfal. xxv. 10. Pfal. lvii. 3. Pfal. Ixi. 7. Pfal. lxxxvi. 15. Pfal. Ixxxix. 14. Mercy and Truth meet together, Pfal. lxxxv. 10. But both by Chrift, John i. 17.

Upon these Two all our Hopes depend. We have no Hopes of Mercy, but from his Word; nor Certainty of his Word, but from his Truth.

Quest. 1. What is that Truth wherein God is faid to abound?

Not Metaphyfical or Logical, but Moral Veracity. He is said to be abundant in Truth;

1. Because he always thinks of, or apprehends,
every Thing as really it is, Heb. iv. 13.
2. He always speaks as he thinks, Tit. i. 2.
Heb. vi. 18.

Hence whatsoever God faith in Scripture, is infallibly true, Pfal. cxix. 151, 160.

All

All his Assertions.

1. Historical, howsoever miraculous.

2. Doctrinal, how much foever beyond our Thoughts and Reason, 1 John v. 7. Jobn i. 14.

3. He always acts both as he thinks and speaks.

1. In his Predictions, Exod. xii. 41. Jer. xxv. 11,

12. 2 Chron. Xxxvi. 21. Ezra i. 1. Matthew v. 18.

2. In his Threatnings, Gen. vi. 7. Matt. xxiv. 2. 3. In his Promises, Gen. iii. 15. cap. xlix. 10. Dan. ix 24.

Quest. 2. What Use is to be made of this? 1. It should confirm our Faith in all the Arti

cles of the Christian Religion, 1 John V. 10. 2. Make us afraid of Sin, because all God's Threatnings against us will most certainly be executed, unless we repent, Luke xiii. 3. 3. Make us trust and confide more firmly in the Promises of God, Heb. xiii. 5, 6. Matt. vii. 7. Ifa. lv. 7. Matt. xi. 8. Revel. ii. 21.