Q. 9. What is the fifth property of God's decrees?

A. They are most pure, and altogether unspotted of sin; 1 John 1:5. This is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, That God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Q. 8. What is the fourth property of God's decrees?

A. They are eternal, and before all time; Acts 15:18. Known unto God are all his works, from the beginning of the world.

Q. 7. What is the third property of God's decrees?

A. They are most firm and stable; 2 Tim. 2:19. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure; having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his; Zech. 6:1.

Q. 6. What is the second property of God's decrees?

A. The decrees of God are most free, all flowing from the mere pleasure of his will; Rom. 9:18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Q. 5. What is the first property of God's decrees?

A. That they are most wise acts of God, laid in the depth of wisdom and counsel; Rom. 11:33. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways are past finding out!

Q. 4. Who are the objects of God's special decrees?

A. Angels and men are the objects of God's special decrees; 1 Tim. 5:21. I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things, &c. Rom. 8:33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?

But there are some evil things done in the world; Do they fall under God's decree?

A. Though God doth neither approve them, nor necessitate men to commit them, yet he doth permit and suffer them to be done, and will turn them to his own glory; Acts 4:27, 28. For of a truth, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel are gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Q. 2. What is the end of God's decrees?

A. The glory of his own name; Eph. 1:11, 12. Who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Jeremy Walker is a pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawley, England. He is the author of several books including The Brokenhearted Evangelist and The New Calvinism, A Personal and Pastoral Assessment. Sermon: https://youtu.be/EcRwXGtfffU Revival: https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/revival-documentary-dvd-streaming.html Through the eyes of Spurgeon: https://youtu.be/4a6R96XhPaA

Thomas Boston (17 March 1676 – 20 May 1732) was a Scottish Presbyterian church leader, theologian and philosopher. Boston was successively schoolmaster at Glencairn, and minister of Simprin in Berwickshire, and Ettrick in Selkirkshire. In addition to his best-known work, The Fourfold State, one of the religious classics of Scotland, he wrote an original little book, The Crook in the Lot, and a learned treatise on the Hebrew points. He also took a leading part in the Courts of the Church in what was known as the "Marrow Controversy," regarding the merits of an English work, The Marrow of Modern Divinity, which he defended against the attacks of the "Moderate" party in the Church. Boston, if unduly introspective, was a man of singular piety and amiability. His autobiography is an interesting record of Scottish life, full of sincerity and tenderness, and not devoid of humorous touches, intentional and otherwise