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His

INTRODUCTION, 1. Of the Being of a God, 1. Of the Scriptures, 15. Names
of God, 37. His Nature, 43. His Immutability, 50. His Infinity, 59.
Omnipresence, 61. His Eternity, 65. Life of God, 72. His Omnipotence, 77%
His Omniscience, 85. His Wisdom, 93. His Will and its Sovereignty, 102.
His Love, 113. His Grace, 118. His Mercy, 124. His Long-suffering or
Forbearance, 130. His Goodness, 133,
Hatred, 145. His foy, 148. His Holiness, 151. His Justice and Righte
susness, 155. His Veracity, 161. His Faithfulness, 159.
Perfection, 173. His Blessedness, 178, His Unity, 182.

His Anger and Wrath, 138. His

His Sufficiency and

Of a Plurality in the Godhead, 190. Personal Relations in the Deity, 205. Of the distinct Personality of the Father, 233. Of the distinct Personality of the Son, 236. Of the distinct Personality of the Spirit, 244.

BOOK II.

Of the internal Acts and Works of God, and of his Decrees in general, 251. Of the special Decrees of God relating to Men and Angels, particularly of Election, 257. Of Rejection or Reprobation of Angels and Men, 280. Of the eternal Union of the Elect to God, 290. Of Adoption as an immanent Act, 294. Of Justification as an immanent Act, 298. Of the everlasting Council concerning the

Salvation of Men, 306. Of the Covenant of Grace, 313. Of the Part which the Father takes in the Covenant, 321, Of the Part which Christ has taken in the Covenant, 331. Of Christ as the Covenant-head of the Elect, 333. Of Christ as the Mediator of the Covenant, 336, of Christ as the Surety of the Covenant, 347. Of Christ as the Testator of the Covenant, 353. Of the Concern the Spirit has in the Covenant, 357. Properties of the Covenant of Grace, 361. Of the Complacency and Delight of Deity in himself, 367.

BOOK III.

Of Creation in general, 375. Creation of Angels, 384. Creation of Man, 393, Providence of God, 406. Confirmation of the Elect Angels, 444. Fall of the Non-elect Angels, 445. Of Man in a State of Innocence, 450. Of the Law given to Adam, and the Covenant with him in a State of Innocence, 454Of the Sin and Fall of Man, 461. Of the Nature, Aggravation, and Effects of the Sin and Fall of Man, 468. Of the Imputation of Adam's Sin to his Posterity, 473. Of the corruption of Human Nature, 481. Of Actual Sins and Transgressions, 491. Of the Punishment of Sin, 497,

INTRODUCTION.

PREFIXED TO THE FIRST EDITION.

AVING completed an exposition of the whole bible, the Books both of the

best next to engage in for the further instruction of the people under my care; and my thoughts led me to enter upon a scheme of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity, first the former and then the latter; the one being the foundation of the other, and both having a close connexion with each other. Doctrine has an influence upon practice, especially evangelical doctrine, spiritually understood, affectionately embraced, and powerfully and feelingly experienced; so true is what the apostle asserts, that the grace of God, that is, the doctrine of the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, the good news, the glad tidings of salvation by Christ, which is peculiar to gospel doctrine, bath appeared to all men, Gentiles as well as Jews, in the external ministry of the word; teaching us, to whom it comes with power and efficacy in the demonstration of the Spirit, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Where there is not the doctrine of faith, the obedience of faith cannot be expected. Where there is not the doctrine of the gospel, and men have not learned Christ, they live for the most part as if there was no God in the world, and give themselves up to work all sin with greedi· ness. And on the other hand, doctrine without practice, or a mere theory and speculative knowledge of things, unless reduced to practice, is of no avail; such are only vainly puffed up in their fleshly minds, profess to know God in word, but in works deny him, have a form of godliness without the power of it, a name to live but are dead. Doctrine and practice should go together; and in order both to know and do the will of God, instruction in doctrine and practice is necessary; and the one being first taught will lead on to the other, This method of instruction, the apostle Paul has pointed out to us in some of his epistles, especially in the epistle to the Ephesians; in which he first treats of election, predestination, adoption, acceptance in Christ, redemption and pardon of sin, regeneration and other doctrines of grace, and of the privileges of the saints under the gospel-dispensation; and then inforces the several duties incumbent on them as men and Christians, respecting them in their several stations, in the church, in their families, and in the world. So the apostle instructed Timothy, first to teach the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus, the doctrine that is according to godliness and productive of it, and then to exhort and press men to the duties of religion from evangelical motives and principles. And he also enjoined Titus to affirm the doctrines of the gospel-with constancy and certainty, to this end, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.

And now having finished my scheme of Doctrinal Divinity, at the importunity of my friends I have been prevailed upon to publish it

Systematical Divinity, I am sensible, is now become very unpopular. Formulas and articles of faith, creeds, confessions, catechisms, and summaries of divine truths, are greatly decried in our age; and yet, what art or science soever but has been reduced to a system? physic, metaphysic, logic, rhetoric, &c. Philosophy in general has had its several systems; not to take notice of the various sects and systems of philosophy in ancient times; in the last age, the Cartesian system of philosophy greatly obtained, as the Newtonian system now does. Astronomy in particular has been considered as a system: sometimes called the system of the universe, and sometimes the solar, or planetary system: the first that is known is what was brought by Pythagoras into Greece and Italy, and from him called the Pythagorean system; and which was followed by many of the first and ancient philosophers, though for many years it lay neglected; but has been of late ages revived, and now much in vogue: the next is the Ptolemaic system, advanced by Ptolemy; which places the earth in the center of the universe; and makes the heavens, with the sun, moon, and stars, to revolve about it; and which was universally embraced for many hundreds of years, till the Pythagorean system was revived by Copernicus, two or three hundred years ago, called, from him, the Copernican system. In short, medicine, jurisprudence, or law, and every art and science, are reduced to a system or body; which is no other than an assemblage or composition of the several doctrines or parts of a science; and why fhould divinity, the most noble science, be without a system? Evangelical truths are spread and scattered about in the sacred Scriptures; and to gather them together, and dispose of them in a regular, orderly method, surely cannot be disagreeable; but must be useful, for the more clear and perspicuous understanding them, for the better retaining them in memory, and to shew the connection, harmony, and agreement of them. Accordingly we find that Christian writers, in ancient times, attempted something of this nature; as the several formulas of faith, symbols or creeds, made in the first three or four centuries of Christianity; the Stromata of Ciemens of Alexandria; the four books of Principles, by Origen; the divine Institutions of Lactantius; the large Catechism of Gregory Nyssene; the Theology of Gregory Nazianzen; the Exposition of the Apostles Symbol, by Ruffinus; and the Enchiridion of Austin, with many others that followed: and since the Reformation, we have had bodies or systems of divinity, and confes sions of faith, better digested, and drawn up with greater accuracy and consistence; and which have been very serviceable to lead men into the knowledge of evangelical doctrine, and confirm them in it; as well as to shew the agreement and harmony of sound divines and churches, in the more principal parts of it: and even those who now cry out against systems, confessions, and creeds, their predecessors had those of their own; Arius had his creed; and the Socinians have their catechism, the Racovian catechism; and the Remonstrants have published their confession of faith; not to take notice of the several bodies of divinity published by Episcopius, Limborch, Curcellæus, and others. The Jews, in imitation of the Christians, have reduced their theology to certain heads or articles of faith; the chief, if not the first that took this method, was the famous Maimonides, who comprised their religious tenets in thirteen articles; after him R. Joseph Albo reduced them to three classes, the existence of God, the law of Moses, and the doctrine of rewards and punish

ments.

But what makes most for our purpose, and is worthy of our example, are the Scripture compendiums or systems of doctrine and duty. What a compendium or body of laws is the decalogue or ten commands, drawn up and calculated more especially for the use of the Jews, and suited to their circumstances! a body of laws not to be equalled by the wisest legislators of Greece and Rome, Minos, Lycurgus, Zaleucus, and Numa; nor by the laws of the twelve Roman tables, for order and regularity, for clearness and perspicuity, for comprehensiveness and brevity; being divided into two tables in the most perfect order; the first respecting the worship of God and the duties owing to him, and the other respecting men and the mutual duties they owe to each other. As prayer is a very principal and incumbent duty on men with respect to God, our Lord has given a very compendious directory, as to the matter of it, in what is commonly called the Lord's prayer; which consists of petitions the most full, proper, and pertinent, and in the most regular order. And as to articles of faith or things to be believed, we have a creed made mention of in Heb. vi. 1, 2. consisting of six articles, repentance from dead works, faith towards God, the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. These are commonly thought to be so many articles of the Christian faith; but I rather think they are so many articles of the Jewish creed, embraced and professed by believers under the Jewish dispensation; since the Christian Hebrews are directed to consider them as the principles of the doctrine of Christ, as an introduction, and as leading on to it, and which were in some sense to be left and not laid again; they were not to stick and stop here, but to go on to perfection, by searching into and embracing doctrines more sublime and perfect, revealed in the gospel; at least they were not to be any longer instructed in the above articles in the manner they had been, but in a clearer manner, unattended with legal ceremonies, to view them and make use of them. Thus for instance, they, the believers, Christian Hebrews, were not to learn the doctrine of repentance from slain beasts, or to signify it by them, as they had been used to do; for every sacrifice brought for sin, which they were no longer obliged to, was a tacit confession and an acknowledgment of sin, and that they repented of it, and deserved to die as the creature did; but now they were to exercise evangelical repentance in the view of a crucified Christ, and remission of sin by his blood: and whereas they had been taught to have faith towards God, as the God of Israel, they were now moreover to believe in Christ as the Son of God, the true Messiah, the Saviour of lost sinners, without the intervention of sacrifices, see John xiv. 1. The doctrine of baptisms is to be understood of the divers baptisms, or bathings among the Jews, spoken of in Heb. ix. 10, which had a doctrine in them, teaching the cleansing vir tue of the blood of Christ to wash in for sin and for uncleanness; which they were no more to learn in this way, but to apply immediately to the blood of Christ for it. And the doctrine of laying on of hands, respects the laying on of the hands of the priests and people on the heads of the sacrifices, which instructed in that great and evangelical truth, the transfer and imputation of sin to Christ offered up in the room and stead of his people; and which was to be taught and learnt no longer in that manner, since Christ was now made sin for his people, and had had their sins imputed to him, which he had bore in his own body on the tree and as for the doctrines of the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment, they were

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