attaining to that enjoyment, Ps. for he has said, "Them that 1. 23. honour me, I will honour,"—1 Q. 45. Whether is our hap-Sam. ii. 30. piness, in the enjoyment of God, to be our chief end? A. No: but the glory of God itself, Isa. xlii. 8; in our aiming at which chiefly, we cannot miss the enjoyment of him, Psal. cxi. 14, 15. Q. 48. Does any thing so much secure our happy enjoyment of God, as the concern that the glory of God has therein? A. No: for as God cannot but reach the great end of his own glory, so, when he hath promised us eternal life,. in Christ, be Q. 46. Is not our delighting in the glory of God, to be reck-fore the world began, Tit. i. 2. oned our chief end. A. No: we must set the glory of God above our delight therein, otherwise, our delight is not chiefly in God, but in ourselves, Isa. ii. 11. Our subjective delighting in the glory of God belongs to the enjoyment of him, whose glory is above the heavens, and infinitely above our delight therein, Ps. cxiii. 4. Q. 47. Whom does God dignify with the enjoyment of himself, in time and for ever? A. Those whom he helps actively to glorify and honour him; we cannot come short of it; because it stands upon the honour of his faithfulness to make it good, Heb. x. 23.-He is faithful that promised." Q. 49. How does it appear, that the enjoyment of God which is connected with the glorifying of him, shall be [for ever]? A. Because he who is the object enjoyed, is the everlasting God, Isa. xl. 28. and the enjoyment of him is not transitory, like the passing enjoyments of time, but the eternal enjoyment of the eternal God, Ps. xlviii. 14. QUEST. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him? ANSW. The word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, is the only rule to direct us, how we may glorify and enjoy him. Q. 1. What necessity is there] of a rule to direct us how to glorify and enjoy God? A. It is necessary, because, since God will be glorified by the reasonable creature, nothing can be a perfect rule for that end, but his own revealed will, Rom, xii. 2. Q. 2. Can man, by any wisdom or power of his own, ever attain to the glorifying of God, and the enjoyment of him, which he has come short of, by his fall in the first Adam? A. No: his wisdom and knowledge in the things of God, are become folly and ignorance, Job him, and upón God in him, for righteousness and strength, Isa. xlv. 24. and out of his fulness receives, and grace for grace, John i. 16. Q. 40. What is the difference as to the manner of the enjoyment here and hereafter? A. Here, the enjoyment is mediate; by the intervention of means; hereafter, it will be imme Q.35 What are the external means by, or in which, we are diate, without any use of these to seek after the enjoyment of God? A. In all the ordinances of his worship, public, private and secret; such as the word read and heard, the sacraments, prayer, meditation, fasting, thanksgiving, and the like. Q. 36. Are the saints of God admitted to enjoy him in these? A. Yes: they are the tristing places where his name is recorded, and to which he has promised to come and bless them. Exod. xx. 24.-"In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee." Q. 37. What scripture-evidence have we, of their enjoying God in the duties and ordinances of his appointment? means: "Now we see through a glass darkly; but then FACE TO FACE," 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Q. 41. What is the difference as to the measure of the enjoyment in this life, and that which is to come? A. In this life the enjoyment is only partial; in that which is to come, it will be full and complete, 1 John iii. 2.-here, the enjoy. ment is only in the seed, or first fruits; there it will be in the full harvest, Psal. cxxvi. 5, 6. Q. 42. Is the partial enjoyment of God in grace here a sure pledge of the full enjoyment of him in glory hereafter? A. It is both the pledge and earnest thereof, Eph. i. 13, 14. Psal. lxxxiv. 11. Q. 43. Doth the gracious soul, A. We find them much em-in that state, fully receive its chief ployed in religious duties, Song end? iii. 1, 2, 3; and expressing the utmost regard for the ordinances of his grace, Psalm lxxxiv. 1, 2. Q. 38. What satisfaction has the soul in the enjoyment of God? A. Unspeakably more gladness than when corn, wine, and all earthly comforts, do most abound, Psalm iv. 7. Q. 39. Is there any difference betwixt the enjoyment of God in this life, and that which the saints shall obtain in the life to come? A. Not an essential, but a gradual difference, as to the manner and measure of it. A. Yes; in regard that then it shall be brimful of God, and celebrate his praises with high and uninterrupted Hallelujahs through all eternity. Psal. xvi. 11. Isa. XXXV. 10. Q. 44. Why is the glorifying God made the leading part of man's chief end, and set before the enjoyment of him? A. Because, as God's design in glorifying himself was the reason and foundation of his design in making man happy in the enjoyment of him, Rom. xi. 26.; so he has made our aiming at his glory, as our chief end, to be the very way and means of our attaining to that enjoyment, Ps. for he has said, "Them that 1. 23. honour me, I will honour,"-1 Q. 45. Whether is our hap-Sam. ii. 30. piness, in the enjoyment of God, to be our chief end? Q. 48. Does any thing so much secure our happy enjoyment of A. No: but the glory of God God, as the concern that the itself, Isa. xlii. 8; in our aim-glory of God has therein? ing at which chiefly, we cannot miss the enjoyment of him, Psal. cxi. 14, 15. Q. 46. Is not our delighting in the glory of God, to be reckoned our chief end. A. No: we must set the glory of God above our delight therein, otherwise, our delight is not chiefly in God, but in ourselves, Isa. ii. 11. Our subjective delighting in the glory of God belongs to the enjoyment of him, whose glory is above the heavens, and infinitely above our delight therein, Ps. cxiii. 4. Q. 47. Whom does God dignify with the enjoyment of himself, in time and for ever? A. Those whom he helps actively to glorify and honour him; A. No: for as God cannot but reach the great end of his own glory, so, when he hath promised us eternal life, in Christ, before the world began, Tit. i. 2. we cannot come short of it; because it stands upon the honour of his faithfulness to make it good, Heb. x. 23.-He is faithful that promised." Q. 49. How does it appear, that the enjoyment of God which is connected with the glorifying of him, shall be [for ever]? A. Because he who is the object enjoyed, is the everlasting God, Isa. xl. 28. and the enjoyment of him is not transitory, like the passing enjoyments of time, but the eternal enjoyment of the eternal God, Ps. xlviii. 14. QUEST. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him? ANSW. The word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, is the only rule to direct us, how we may glorify and enjoy him. Q. 1. What necessity is there] of a rule to direct us how to glorify and enjoy God? A. It is necessary, because, since God will be glorified by the reasonable creature, nothing can be a perfect rule for that end, but his own revealed will, Rom, xii. 2. Q. 2. Can man, by any wisdom or power of his own, ever attain to the glorifying of God, and the enjoyment of him, which he has come short of, by his fall in the first Adam? A. No: his wisdom and knowledge in the things of God, are become folly and ignorance, Job ment and comfort of the church, | confirmed by his death, conagainst the corruption of the cerning the vast legacies thereflesh, and the malice of Satan in bequeathed to his spiritual and the world, Luke i. 3, 4. Pr. seed: Heb. ix. 16. "Where a xxii. 20, 21." testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator." Q. 20. How was the will of God made known to the church, before it was committed to writing? Q. 24. Why are the writings of Moses and the Prophets called the [Old Testament]? A. By immediate revelations, Gen. ii. 16, 17. and iii. 15; by A. Because the will of the frequent appearances of the Son Testator, Christ, was veiled, of God, delighting, beforehand, legally dispensed, and typically to try on the human likeness, sealed by the blood of sacrificed Gen. xviii. 2. compared with beasts, upon which account it verse 3. Judg. xiii. 11. compared is called comparatively faulty, with verses 18, 19; by the mi- Heb. vii. 7, 8; and was therefore nistry of the holy angels, Gen. to vanish away, verse 13. xix. 1. 15. Heb. ii, 2. and of the patriarchs, Jude ver. 14, 15. Heb. xi. 7. Q. 21. Why are the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, called [the word of God]? A. Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God," 2 Tim. iii. 16. being immediately indited by the Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. i. 21. Q. 25. To whom were the oracles of God, under the Old Testament, committed? A. To the church of the Jews, Rom. iii. 1, 2. "What advantage hath the Jew? Much every way: chiefly, because unto them were committed the oracles of God." Q. 26. Why are the scriptures from Matthew to the end of the Q. 22. Why are they common-Revelation, called the [New Tesly called the BIBLE? tament]? A. The word BIBLE signify- A. Because they contain the ing a Book; the holy scriptures most clear and full revelation, are so called by way of emi- and actual ratification of the nence, because they are incom- covenant of promise, by the parably the best of all books, death of Christ the Testator, as containing the invariable who is also the living Executor grounds of faith in Christ, for of his own testament, Rev. i. life eternal, John, xx. 31. "These 18. "I am he that liveth and are written, that ye might be- was dead; and behold, I am lieve that Jesus is the Christ, alive for evermore." John xiv. the Son of God, and that believ- 19.—“Because I live, ye shall ing ye might have life through his live also." name." Q. 23. Why are the holy scriptures called a [Testament]? A. Because they are the last will of the glorious Testator, first typically, and then actually Q. 27. Will this New Testament dispensation of the grace of God ever undergo any other alteration? A. No: it will remain new and unalterable, till the second * Confession, chap. i. § 1. coming of the Lord Jesus, Matt. xxvi. 29. Q. 28. Do the scriptures of the Old Testament continue to be a rule of faith and practice to us who live under the New? A. Yes: because they are the record of God concerning Christ, as well as the scriptures of the New Testament; for all the prophets prophesied of him; to him they did all bear witness, Acts x. 43; and Christ commands all to search them, because eternal life is to be found in them, and they testify of him, John v. 39. Q. 29. How could the Old Testament be of force when it was not confirmed by the death of the Testator? A. The death of Christ, the Testator, was typified in all the expiatory sacrifices of that dispensation; hence he is called, "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," Rev. xiii. 8. Q. 30. Is not that typical dispensation now quite abolished, under the New Testament? A. Amongst other things, it excels it in respect of evidence, worship, extent, gifts, and duration. Q. 33. Wherein does the New Testament excel the Old in respect of evidence? A. The Old Testament speaks of a Messiah to come, but the New presents him as already come, John i. 29. 41; the Old was dark and cloudy, but the New, clear and perspicuous, 2 Cor. iii. 18. Q. 34. How does it excel in respect of worship? A. The worship of the Old Testament was a yoke of bondage; but the worship of the New is free, spiritual, and easy, Gal. v. 1. Q. 35.-How does the New Testament excel in respect of extent? are A. The Old was confined to the Jews, Psal. cxlvii. 19, 20. and a few proselytes among the Gentiles, Exod. xii. 48.; but the New extends to all the world, Mark A. Yes: for it was promised, xvi. 15; and its converts that the Messiah should "cause vastly more numerous than the sacrifice and the oblation to under the old dispensation, Rev. cease;" and accordingly, "Christ vii. 9. being come, neither by the blood of goats nor calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us," Heb. ix. 11, 12. Q. 31. Why was that ceremonial dispensation abolished? Q. 36. How does it excel in respect of gifts? A. The gifts of the Spirit are more plentiful, and more efficacious under the New, than under the Old, Acts ii. 17, 18. Q. 37. How does the New Testament excel in respect of dura A. Because it was only "ation? shadow of good things to come, A. The dispensation of the Old and not the very image of Testament, by types and sacrithe things;" that is, not the very things themselves, Heb. x. 1. Q. 32. Wherein doth the New Testament excel the Old? fices, was only for a time, Heb. viii. 13; but the dispensation of the New, is to continue unalterable to the end of the world, Matt. xxviii. 20, |