Page images
PDF
EPUB

12, At that time we were without Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world.

Q. 4. Is the loss of communion with God, a great misery and loss?

A. Yes: because God is our chief good, and in communion with him doth consist man's chiefest happiness; therefore the loss of communion with God is man's greatest loss.

Q. 5. What is man brought under by the fall?

A. By the fall man is brought under God's wrath and curse. Eph. ii. 3. And were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Gal. iii. 10, As many as are of the works of the law (that is, all such who are under the covenant of works, as all unbelievers are) are under the

curse.

Q. 6. Is it a great misery to be under God's wrath and curse?

A. Yes: because as his favour is better than life, so his wrath and displeasure is worse than death; his blessing maketh man blessed and happy, his curse maketh man wretched and miserable.

Q. 7. What is that punishment which man is liable unto by the fall?

A. Man is liable by the fall, 1. Unto all miseries in this life. 2. To death itself. 3. To the pains of hell

for ever.

Q. 8. What are the miseries in this life which man is liable unto by the fall?

A. The miseries in this life which man is liable unto by the fall, are either external, or internal and spiritual. Q. 9. What are the external miseries of this life which the fall hath brought upon mankind?

A. All the external miseries which either are, or have been in the world, are the effects of the fall; and sin doth expose men to all sorts of miseries. 1. To more public and general calamities, such as pestilence, famine, sword, captivity, and the like. Ezek. v. 17, I will send upon you famine and pestilence, and bring the sword upon thee. 2. Sin doth expose men unto more private and particular miseries, such as, 1. All sorts of sickness in their bodies. Deut. xxviii. 22, The Lord shall smite

thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, &c. 2. Losses of their estates. Deut. xxvii. 30, Thou shalt build an house but thou shall not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. 3. Reproach and disgrace on their names. Ver. 37, Thou shalt become a proverb, and a by-word. 4. Losses of relations, and every other external affliction and misery men are liable unto in this life for their sins.

Q. 10. What are the internal and spiritual miseries which men are liable unto in this life by the fall?

A. Men by the fall are liable, 1. To the thraldom of the devil, to be led about by him at his will. 2 Tim. ii. 26, And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 2. To judiciary blindness of mind, and a reprobate sense. Rom. xi. 8, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear. Rom. i. 28, Because they liked not to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate sense. 3. To judiciary hardness of heart, and searedness and benumbness of conscience. Rom. ix. 18, Whom he will he hardeneth. 1 Tim. iv. 2. Having their conscience seared as with a hot iron. Eph. iv. 19, Who being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 4. To vile affections. Rom. i, 26, 27, For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections and they burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men, working that which is unseemly. 5. To strong lelusions and belief of damnable errors. 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12, God shall send them strong delusions, to believe a lie; that they all might be damned that believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 6. To distress and perplexity of mind, dread and horror of spirit, and despairful agonies through the apprehension of certain future wrath. Heb. x. 27, There remaineth nothing but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversary.

F

[ocr errors]

Q. 11. What is the punishment which man by the fall is liable unto at the end of his life?

A Man by the fall at the end of his life, is liable unto death itself. Rom. v. 12, Death passed upon all, for that all have sinned. Rom vi. 23. The wages of sin is death, Q. 12. Is death a punishment uuto all upon whom it is inflicted?

A. 1. Though death be the consequent of sin in all, yet to believers, through Christ, it is unstinged, and it is an outlet from misery, and an inlet to glory. 2. Death to the wicked and unbelievers, is a dreadful punishment, being a king of terrors, and gim sergeant, that is sent by God to arrest the wicked, and convey them into fu

ture misery.

Q. 13 What is the punishment which man by the fall is liable unto in the other world?

A. The punishment which man by the fall is liable unto in the other world, is the punishment of hell forever. Q. 14. Wherein doth consist the punishment of hell? A. The punishment of hell doth consist, 1. in the punishment of loss. 2. In the punishment of sense. Q. 15. What will be the punishment of loss in hell? A. The punishment of loss in hell will be a banishment from the comfortable presence of God, and an exclusion or shutting out from heaven; where the saints will have a fullness and eternity of joy and happiness. Matth. xxv. 41, Depart from me ye cursed. Luke xiii. 28, Ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. Psalm xvi. 11, In thy presence is fullness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

Q. 16. What will be the punishment of sense in hell? A. The punishment of sense in hell, will be both upon the soul and on the body. 1. The souls of the wicked in hell will be filled with horror and anguish through the strokes of God's immediate vengeance, and the bitings of the never dying worm of conscience. Heb. x. 31, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Mark ix. 44, Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 2. The bodies of the wicked

in hell will be most grievously tormented in every part and member, and that both in extremity, and to eternity. Matth. xxv. 41, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Matth. xiii. 41, 42, The son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all them that do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Q. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

A. God having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer.

Q. 1. Doth all mankind perish in the estate of sin and which they are fallet?

misery int

A. No; for some God doth bring out of this estate of sin and misery into an estate of salvation. Philip. i. 28, Being in nothing terrified by your adversaries; which to them is an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.

Q2. Whom doth God bring into an estate of salvation?

A. God doth bring all his elect people into an estate of salvation, unto which he hath chosen them. 2 Thess. ii. 13, God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Q. 3. Who are the elect people of God?

A. The elect people of God are those whom from all eternity, out of his mere good pleasure, he hath chosen unto everlasting life. Eph. i. 4, 5, According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, according to the good pleasure of his will. Acts xiii. 48, As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

Q4. By whom doth God bring his elect into an estate of salvation?

A. God doth bring his elect into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer. Acts iv, 12, Neither is there salvation

In any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

Q. 5. In what way doth God bring his elect into an estate of salvation?

A. God doth bring his elect into an estate of salvation in the way of his covenant.

Q. 6. By virtue of which covenant of God is it that his elect are saved?

A. 1. Not by virtue of the covenant of works. Gal. iii. 10, As many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse.- -Ver. 21, If there had been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 2. It is by virtue of the covenant of grace that the elect are saved.

Q. 7. With whom was the covenant of grace made?

A. As the covenant of works was made with the first Adam, and all his posterity; so the covenant of grace was made with Christ, the second Adam, and in him with all the elect, as his seed, which are the Israel of God. Gal. iii. 16, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises. made, (that is not the promises of making all nations blessed) He saith not, un'o seeds, as of many; but as of one, to thy seed which is Christ. Heb. viii. 10, This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.

Q. 8. Was it the same covenant which was made with Christ and the elect?

A. No; for there was a covenant which God made with Christ as mediator, and the representative of the elect, which was the foundation of all that grace which was afterwards promised in that covenant of grace, which he made with themselves in and through Christ.

Q. 9. What was the covenant which God made with Christ, as the head and representative of the elect?

A. God did covenant and promise to Christ, as the rep resentative of the elect. that, upon condition he would submit to the penalty which the sins of the el ct did deserve, and undertake in all things the office of a Mediator, he should be successful, so as to justify and save them. Isaiah liii. 10. 11, When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his secd, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. And by

« PreviousContinue »