their hearts, they received a command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; which whilst they kept they were happy in their communion with God, and had dominion over the creatures.1 d Gen.1 27. e Gen. 2: 7; Eccl. 12:7; Luke. 23: 43 Matt. 10 28. f Gen. 1:26; Col. 3: 10; Eph. 4: 24. g Rom. 2:14, 15. h Eccl. 7:29. 1 Gen. 36; Eccl. 7: 29. Gen. 3:8, 9, 10, 11, 23. 1 Gen. 1: 26, 28, and 2: 17. ; CHAP. V. OF PROVIDENCE. I. GOD, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, a direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things from the greatest even to the least by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible fore-knowledge e e and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.g d a Heb. 13. b Dan. 4: 34, 35; Psal. 135: 6; Acts; 17: 25, 26, 28, 29; Job. 38, 39, 40, 41, chapters. c Matt. 10: 29, 30, 31. d Psal. 104: 24; 15: 3, and 145: 17. e Acts, 15: 18; Psal. 94: 8, 9, 10, 11. fEph. 1: 11; Psal. 33: 10, 11. g Isa. 63: 14; Eph. 3: 10; Rom. 9: 17; Gen. 45: 17; Psalm 145: 17. II. Although in relation to the fore-knowledge and decree of God the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly; yet by the same providence he ordereth them to fall out, according to the nature of the second causes, either necessarily freely or contingently.i h Acts, 2: 23. i Jer. 31: 35; Exod. 21: 13; Gen. 8: 22; Deut. 19: 5; 1 Kings, 22: 28, 34; Isa. 10: 6, 7. III. God, in his ordinary providence maketh use of means, yet is free to work without,' above,m and against them at his pleasure." k Acts, 27: 31, 44; Isa. 55: 11; Hos. 2: 21, 22. 1 Hos. 1:7; Matt. 4:4; Job 34: 10. m Rom. 4: 19, 20, 21. n2 Kings 6: 6; Dan. 3: 27. IV. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and the infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in his providence, in that his determinate counsel extendeth itself even to the first fall and all other sins of angels and men, (and that not by a bare permission,) P which also he most wisely and powerfully boundeth, ¶ and otherwise ordereth and governeth in a manifold dispensation, to his own most holy ends, yet so as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God, who being most holy and righteous, neither is, nor can be the author or approver of sin.s o Rom. 11: 32, 33, 34; 2 Sam. 24 : 1, with 1 Chron. 21: 1; 1 Kings, 2: 2, 22, 23; 1 Chron. 10: 4, 13, 14; 2 Sam. 6:10; Acts, 2: 23, and 4: 27, 28. P Acts, 14: 16. q Psal. 76 10; 1 Kings, 19: 28. r Gen. 50: 20; Isa. 10: 6, 7, s Jam. 1: 13, 14, 17; 1 John. 2: 16; Psal. 50: 21. 12. V. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption, and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled,' and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon himself and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends." t 2 Chron. 32: 25, 26, 31; 2 Sam. 24; 1. u 2 Cor. 127, 8, 9; Psal. 73, per tot. Psal. 77: 1, 10, 12; Mark. 14: 66 to the end; John, 21: 15, 16, 17. W VI. As for those wicked and ungodly men, whom God as a righteous Judge, for former sins, doth blind and harden, w from them he not only withholdeth his grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings, and wrought upon in their hearts, but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had, and exposeth them to such objects, as their corruption makes occasion of sin; and withal gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan, a whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves under those means even which God useth for the softening of them." 11: 7, 8. xDeut. 29: 4. z Deut. 2: 30; 2 Kings w Rom. 1: 24, 26, 28; Rom. y Matt. 13: 12; Matt. 25: 29. 8:12, 13. a Psal. 8: 11, 12. b Exod. 7: 3, and 8 : 15, 33; 2 Cor. 2: 14, 16; Isa. 8: 14; 1 Pet. 2: 7, 8; Isa. 16:9, 10, with Acts, 28: 26, 27. VII. As the Providence of God doth in general reach to all creatures, so after a most special manner it taketh care of his church, and disposeth all things for the good thereof. c1 Tim. 4: 10; Amos. 9:8, 9; Rom. 8:28; Isa. 43: 3, 4, 5, 14. CHAP. VI. OF THE FALL OF MAN, OF SIN, AND OF THE PUNISHMENT THEREOF. a I. God having made a covenant of works and life thereupon, with our first parents, and all their posterity in them, they being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of Satan, did willfully transgress the law of their creation, and break the covenant in eating the forbidden fruit. a Rom. 10:5. b Rom. 5 12, 13; 1 Cor. 15: 21, 22. c Gen. 3:13; 2 Cor. 11: 3. d II. e By this sin they, and we in them fell from original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. d Gen. 3:6, 7, 8; 2: 17; Eph. 2:1. Rom. 3: 10 to 19. e Gen. Eccl. 7: 29; Rom. 3:23. III. They being the root and by God's appointment standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation.h g Gen. 1:27, 28; Gen. 2: 16, 17; Acts, 16: 26; Rom. 5; 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19; 1 Cor. 15: 21, 22, 45, 49. h Psal. 51:5; Gen. 5:3; Job, 14; 4, and 15 : 14. IV. From this original corruption whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, k do proceed all actual transgressions.1 i i Rom. 5: 6, and 8: 7, and 7: 18; 6: 5, and 8: 21; Rom. 3: 10, 11, 12. Eph. 22, 3; Matt. 15:19. Col. 1: 21. k Gen. 1 Jam. 1 14, 15; |