venant of works, though it had been fulfilled; for now, they are either rewards of impartial justice, for evil works, the wages of sin being death; or rewards of free mercy to the doing person; not for their good works, but according to them, 2 Cor. v. 10. kind are hereby supposed to be still under a covenant of works that can justify the doer; or under a law that can give life, besides the law of faith, mentioned Rom. iii. 27. which is false: "for, if there had been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law, Gal. iii. 21. Q. 11. What is it for God to dispense rewards of free mercy to his people, not for their good Q. 14. What improvement works, but according to them? ought we to make of this docA. It is to bestow these re-trine about the state of probawards, not on account of any tion? worth or merit that is in their good works, in themselves considered, but as they are evidences of union with Christ, in whom their persons and performances are accepted, and through whom the rewards of grace are freely conferred: for, the gift of God is eternal life through Q. 15. How did our first paJesus Christ our Lord, Rom. vi.rents fall from the estate wherein they were created? 23. Q. 12. Is there any danger in asserting, that men are not now in a state of probation, as Adam was? A. To be restless in the use of all appointed means till we get in to Christ; that in the way of believing and walking in him, we may share of the sure reward, promised through grace, him that soweth righteousness," Prov. xi. 18. 66 to A. [By sinning against God], Gen. iii, 6, 7. Q. 16. Were they not sufficiently furnished with every thing necessary, for yielding perfect obedience to the will of God? A. Yes; for they had perfect knowledge in their understanding, freedom and inclination to good in their will, and spotless holiness in their hearts and affections, Eccl. vii. 29. "God made man upright.” A. No: because though they cannot now be in that state, yet God still deals with them as rational creatures, under a moral government, and capable of rewards, whether of justice or mercy, of debt or grace; according to their state and works: hence men are judged at the great day, according to their state, as sheep or goats, separated Q. 17. How then did man's from one another, and then ac-sin and apostasy come about? cording to their works, Mat. xxv. A. Though he was a perfect, 32-46. yet he was but a mutable creaQ. 13. What then is the dan-ture, [left to the freedom of his gerous consequence of asserting, own will,] which was subject to that fallen man is still in a state change. of probation in this life? Q. 18. Wherein did the free A. This dangerous conse-dom of man's will, in a state of quence would follow, that man-'innocency, consist? .66 A. In a perfect liberty and power to will and to do that which is good and well pleasing to God; but yet mutable, so as that he might fall from it, Eccl. vii. 29. Gen. ii. 16, 17. and iii. 6."* Q. 19. Why did God make immutable? A. Because immutability, or unchangeableness of nature, is the essential property of God alone, Mal. iii. 6"I am the Lord, I change not," James i. 17. Q. 20. Are not elect angels and saints made immutably good? A. The elect angels are confirmed in a state of immutable happiness; and the saints, in virtue of union with Christ, are fixed in an unchangeable state of grace here, and glory hereafter; but the unchangeable state of the one and the other, is not owing to any thing in their own natures, but to the free love and favour of God, Eph. i. 10. Q. 21. What freedom of will has man, since the fall, unto any spiritual good? A. He has wholly lost all freedom and ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation," so as that he can neither "convert himself, nor prepare himself thereunto, John vi. 44. 65."+ Q. 22. What freedom of will have they who are regenerated? A. They are enabled by grace alone, freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good, Rom. vi. 18; yet so as that by reason of remaining corruption, they do not perfectly, and only that which is good, but likewise frequently that which is evil, chap. vii. 15. 19. 21.‡ Q. 23. When is the will of man made perfectly and immutably free to that only which is good? A. In the state of glory only, Eph. iv. 13. 1 John iii. 2. Q. 24. What was it for man to be left in the freedom of his own will? A. It was God's leaving him with a sufficient stock in his hand, without any promise of supernatural aid, or further assistance to improve the stock of grace already received. Q. 25. How was he left to abuse the freedom of his will? A. God did not incline him to abuse it, but only withheld that further grace, which he was no way obliged to give, for preventing his will from yielding to the temptation; and was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit this abuse, having purposed to order it to his own glory, Rom. xi. 32. Q. 26. At whose door then must the fall be laid? A. Only at man's own door, who willingly yielded to the temptation of the devil, James i. 14. Q. 27. What was the devil's agency in the fall of man? A. He entered into a serpent, and therein, by seducing words, enticed the woman to take and eat the forbidden fruit; and she gave to her husband, and he did eat likewise, Gen. iii. 5, 6. Q. 28. Why did Satan make use of the serpent, as his instrument to seduce the woman? A. Because "the serpent was * Conf. chap. ix. § 2.- + Ibid. chap. ix. § S. Oonf. chap. ix. § 4. more subtle than any beast of the field," Gen. iii. 1. and so the most fit tool, of any other, to serve his subtle and murderous designs, John viii. 44. Q. 29. Why was not Eve afraid to entertain converse with a serpent, lest it might be actuated by some evil spirit? A. It is supposed, that Adam and Eve knew nothing as yet of the fall of the angels; and sin not having as yet entered into this lower world, they were not afraid of hurt from any of the good creatures of God. Q. 30. Why was there no confirmatory clause annexed to the covenant of works, to secure man's standing in the estate wherein he was created? A. Because it so pleased God; and no doubt, infinite wisdom had another scene to open, through the occasion of man's fall, by his breaking the first covenant. Q. 31. What was that scene? A. A scene of redeeming love and grace, which will be matter A. Yes it was: for God had said, and purposed from eternity, that mercy should be built up for ever, Psalm lxxxix. 2. Q. 33. What improvement ought we to make of this doctrine of the fall of Adam? A. To be persuaded that the best of creatures, if left to themselves, cannot be in safety one moment, Psal. xlix. 12; that since man could not be his own keeper, much less can he be his own saviour, 2 Cor. iii. 5: to see how dangerous it is to parley with sin and Satan; and how much we need an interest in the second Adam, to get the loss we sustained by the first repaired with advantage: for he has restored that which he took not away, Psal. Ixix. 4. QUEST. 14. What is sin? ANSW. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God. Q. 1. Wherein consisted man's vengeance against transgressors, apostasy from God? and by it is the knowledge of sin, Gal. iii. 10. Rom. iii. 20; conscience, God's deputy in every man's bosom, tells him he is guilty, Jer. xiv. 7; the reign of death, and the groans of the creatures round about us, Rom. viii. 22. do all bear testimony that there is such a thing as sin in the world. Q. 3. Can there be any sin, where there is no law? A. No: "for where there is no law, there is no transgression," Rom. iv. 15. Q. 4. Of whose law is sin a transgression? A. Of the law of God. Q. 5. What understand you by [the law of God]? A. All the precepts, or commandments, God hath given unto man as a rule of his obedience. Q. 6. Where is this law of God to be found? A. There was a bright and fair copy of it written upon the heart of man in innocency; but that being, in a great measure, lost by the fall, God has written again to us the great things of his law, in the scriptures of truth, Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20. Q. 7. Are all the laws of God mentioned in scripture, of binding force now under the New Testament? A. To let us know that our very natures, since the fall, are sinful, Isa. i. 5, 6; that we are now quite destitute of that original righteousness and holiness, which we had at our creation, Gen. vi. 5; and that every swerving from the holy law, even in omitting what it commands is sin, as well as in committing what it forbids, Isa. xliii. 22. Q. 10. Why is sin called a [transgression of the law]? A. Because the law is the boundary of all our actions; and whenever we sin, we break the boundary and limit that God hath set us, and so are exposed unto the curse of the law, Eccl. x. 8. Gal. iii. 10. Q. 11. Doth the law of God extend to the first motions of sin in the heart? A. Yes: for, says the apostle, Rom. vii. 7.-"I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Q. 12. How many kinds of sin are there? A. Two kinds; original and actual. Q. 13. What do you understand by original sin? A. No: the ceremonial law, which was a shadow of good things to come, is now abrogated upon the coming of Christ in the flesh; and many of the judicial laws, in so far as they had a particular relation to the state A. The sin of our nature, of the Jewish nation, are laid which is called original sin, beaside; but the moral law is cause we were "shapen in iniperpetually binding on all man-quity, and conceived in sin," kind, in all ages and periods of the world, Psalm cxix, 160, Q. 8. Doth God require a perfect comformity to this law? A. Yes: for there is a curse pronounced against every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them, Gal. iii. 10. Q. 9. Why is the nature of sin expressed by a [want of conformity] to the law? Psal. li. 5; and because it was the first sin of man, and is the original and fountain of all actual sin, Mat. xv. 19. Q. 14. What do you understand by actual sin? A. Every thing that is inconsistent with, and contrary to the law, in thought, word, or deed, 1 John iii. 4. Q. 15. How are actual sins divided? A. Into sins of omission and commission. Q. 22. What is the object of this sin, against which it is di Q. 16. What is a sin of omis-rectly levelled? sion? A. It is a neglecting, or forgetting to do that good which the law commands, Jas. iv. 17. Q. 17. What is a sin of commission? A. It is a doing of what the law of God forbids, Psalm li. 4. Q. 18. Is every sin mortal or deadly? A. Yes: in its own nature, Rom. vi. 16. 21. 23. "The wages of sin is death." See also, 1 Cor. xv. 56. Gal. iii. 10. Q. 19. Are all sins pardonable through grace? A. There is pardon through the blood of Christ, for all sins, except one, namely, the sin against the Holy Ghost, Matt. xii. 31, 32. Mark iii. 28, 29. Q. 20. What is the sin against the Holy Ghost? A. It is Christ, and salvation through him, as held out in the gospel revelation; for, it is a treading under foot the Son of God, and accounting the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing. Heb. x. 29. Q. 23. What are the acts of this dreadful sin? A. A wilful rejecting, and obstinate opposing of the truth of the gospel: a spiteful scoffing at Christianity, and the professors of it, joined sometimes with a malicious persecuting of them; and all these as fruits and concomitants of a total and final apostasy from the faith. Q. 24. What are the aggravations of this sin? A. Its being committed after a person hath "received the knowledge of the truth, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come," Heb. vi. 5. and x. 26, Q. 25. Why is it said, that the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men, Mat, xii. 31? A. Not because it is above the virtue of the blood of Jesus to cleanse from it, but because A. It is a wilful, malicious, and avowed rejection of Christ and salvation through him, by a blaspheming apostate, after manifest conviction of the truth, of the gospel-report, and some kind of approbation thereof by the common influence or operation of the Spirit, Heb. vi. 4, 5, 6. and x. 26, 27. 1 John v. 16. Mark iii. 29, 30. Q. 21. Why is this sin call-it despises the only sacrifice for ed blasphemy against the Holy sin, and means of pardon; there Ghost, Mat. xii. 31?being "no other name under A. Because it is an opprobri- heaven, given among men, by ous and reproachful speaking which we must be saved," but of, and against the testimony of that of Jesus, Acts iv. 12. who the Holy Ghost, in the word, is contemptuously rejected by concerning Christ; with a di- it, Heb. ii. 2, 3. rect intention to disparage his glory, and to disgrace his truth and way; hence called, putting him to an open shame," Heb. vi. 6. 66 a Q. 26. How may a person be assured that he is not guilty of this sin? A. He may well be assured that this sin is not charged up |