on him, if he is afraid that he is A. That it is exceeding singuilty of it; or in the least conful, the greatest of all evils, cerned about his unbelief; or Rom. vii. 13; and consequenthas any desire after salvation ly, that it must be the sorest through Christ; and is content judgment in the world to be to be a debtor to the riches of given up to it, Ezek. xxiv. 13. his grace. and the greatest mercy to be Q. 27. What may we learn delivered therefrom, Matt. i. from the nature of sin in general? 21. QUEST. 15. What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created? ANSW. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit. Q. 1. Why is the fruit called [forbidden fruit]? A. Because the eating thereof was forbidden, under the severest penalty, Gen. ii. 17. "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Q. 2. Why did God forbid the eating of this fruit? A. To try the obedience of our first parents, and to manifest his dominion over them as Lord of all. Q. 3. Were not our first parents guilty of sin before their eating the forbidden fruit? A. In Paradise, where God had placed the man, and created the woman, Gen. ii. 8. 22. and iii. 6. Q. 6. Was there any aggravation of this sin, arising from the place where it was committed? A. Yes: for, in Paradise our first parents had abundance of other fruit, and of every thing necessary and delightful: yea, that place being a type of heaven, should have put them on their guard against this, and all other sins. Q. 7. When did our first parents eat the forbidden fruit? A. It is certain that it was done very soon after they were creaA. Yes; they were guilty in ted, from Psal. xlix. 12. “Man hearkening to the devil and be-being in honour, abideth not." lieving him, before they did actually eat thereof. Q. 4. Why then is their eating of it called their first sin? Q. 8. Why did the devil make such a haste in tempting man to sin? A. Because he did not know A. Because it was the first sin how soon man might be confinished, James i. 15. and an ex-firmed in an holy and happy press violation of the positive state; and, in that case, imprecept, Gen. iii. 11. pregnable against all his temp Q. 5. Where was this first sin tations. committed? Q. 9. How did Satan lay his Q. 14. How were they guilty of ingratitude? A. In contradicting the orders of their bountiful Lord and Creator, who had allowed them the use of all the other trees of the garden besides Gen. ii. 16. Q. 16. What pride and ambition was there in the first sin? A. In aspiring to equality with God in his inimitable attributes, particularly in infinite knowledge, Gen. iii, 5, 6-"Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good,—and a tree to be desired to make one wise." Q. 16. What inadvertency were our first parents guilty of about eating the forbidden fruit? A. In entering into communication with a creature of any kind; and however much disguised, about violating the express inhibition of their Creator, Q. 17. How were they guilty of rebellion in the committing of this sin? A. However light and trivial it may appear in the carnal eye, to eat of a little fruit: yet, if it is weighed in God's balance, it will be found to be a most heinous sin, and to have many other sins, against the law of God, in A. By entering into a confedeits womb, Hos. vi. 7. "They, racy with Satan against God, like Adam,* have transgressed and thereby choosing him for the covenant." their god and sovereign, instead Q. 12. How doth that appear? of the true God, who made A. From our first parents be- them, and all other creatures ing guilty of manifest unbelief, besides. the highest ingratitude, the Q. 18. What murder were most intolerable pride and am- they guilty of in eating of this bition, unaccountable inadver- fruit? tency, most unnatural rebellion, and most cruel murder, in their eating the forbidden fruit. Q. 13. How is unbelief included in that sin? A. In their giving more credit of their own death, and the A. They were thereby guilty death of all their posterity, Rom. v. 12. Q. 19. How was this sin, of to the devil, than to God, about eating the forbidden fruit, agthe truth of the threatening, gravated? Gen. ii. 17. iii. 4. A. It being committed when * Margin. duced by Satan to eat the forbidden fruit? A. To resist the first motions of sin in the heart, and the temptations of Satan thereunto, Psal. lxvi. 18. James iv. 7; that since man in innocency, fell before the temptation, how easy a prey must fallen man be, if not kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, Psal, xxxix. 5. 1 Pet. i. 5; and therefore to be strong only in the Lord, and in the power of his might, Eph. vi. 10. QUEST. 16. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression? ANSW. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression. Q. 1. How many public persons, representing mankind before God, do we read of in scripture? A. Of two; the first and the last Adam, 1 Cor. xv. 45. Q. 2. Of what covenant was the first Adam the head? A. Of the covenant of works, Gen. ii. 16, 17. Q. 3. Of what covenant was the last Adam the head? A. Of the covenant of grace and promise, Psal. lxxxix. 3. 28. Q. 4. Whom did the first Adam represent in the covenant of works? A. He represented [all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation], Rom. v. 12. 14. Q. 5. Whom did the last Adam represent in the covenant of grace? G A. All his spiritual seed giv en him of the Father, John xvii. 4. Q. 6. Is there any similitude betwixt the first and last Adam? A. Yes: the first Adam was the "figure of him that was to come," Rom. v. 14. Q. 7. Wherein did that figure, or similitude, consist? A. It consisted chiefly in their being, each of them, a representing head of their respective seed, 1 Cor. xv. 22. Q. 8. Wherein consists the dissimilitude, or disparity, betwixt these two public persons? A. It is infinitely great beyond all conception: "The first Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit: the first man is of the earth, earthy, (a mere man;) the second man is the Lord from heaven, Immanuel, God with us," 1 Cor. xv. 45. 47. Mat. i. 23: the first Adam, in his best estate, was but a mutable creature; the last Adam, the unchangeable God, Heb. xiii. 8. Q. 9. What relation hath the first Adam to all mankind? their covenant head; and their own personal obedience would have been the fruit of the promise of the covenant. Q. 14. How doth this appear? A. Since Adam's disobedience is imputed to his posterity for their condemnation, Rom. v. 18. it necessarily follows, that his obedience would have been im A. A twofold relation; that of a covenant head, and of a na-puted to them for their justificatural root. tion and life. Q. 15. Why is the first Adam called the natural root of his posterity? Q. 10. How doth it appear that he was a covenant head; or, that the covenant of works was made with him, [not only for himself but for his posteri-scending from him by ordinary ty]? A. From the imputation of his first sin to his posterity, Rom. v. 12; and the sentence of death passed upon all mankind on that account, ver. 17. Q. 11. Was it reasonable, that Adam should represent his posterity in the covenant of works? A. Nothing could be more reasonable, seeing he was to be the common parent of all mankind, and was created perfectly holy, with full power to fulfil the condition of the covenant, and thereby to entail happiness upon himself and his posterity. Q. 12. What happiness would Adam have entailed upon himself and his posterity, if he had stood? A. Eternal life would have become due to him and them, by pactional debt. Q. 13. Would not the title of every one of his posterity to life, in that case have been founded upon their own personal obedience? A. No: their title to eternal life would have been founded upon the perfect obedience of A. Because all of them, de generation, are as SO many branches sprung out of him, at their root and stock. Q. 16. Did all Adam's natural offspring fall in his first sin? A. Yes; "death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned, Rom. v. 12. Q. 17. How could Adam's posterity, being then unborn, fall in his first sin? A. Because they were considered as IN HIM, 1 Cor. xv. 22.-" In Adam all die." Q. 18. How were they in him when he first sinned? A. They were in him virtually, as a natural root; and representatively, as a covenant head. Q. 19. Why is it said, [all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression]? A. That Christ might be excepted, who descended, as to his human body, from Adam; but not by ordinary generation. Q. 20. What was there extraordinary in the generation of Christ's body? A. It was conceived in the A. In virtue of his being conwomb of a virgin, by the power sidered as one in law with his of the Highest overshadowing spiritual seed, whom he repreher, Luke i. 35: on which ac- sented as their surety, accordcount she is said to be "found ing to his undertaking from with child of the Holy Ghost," eternity, Prov. viii. 23; and Mat. i. 18. therefore behoved to assume the same nature with them, Heb. ii. 11. 14. Q. 21. What was the reason of this extraordinary generation? Q. 24. Was ever, any exempted from Adam's first sin, except Christ? A. That the human nature of Christ might not be stained or tainted with original sin, ed from Adam by ordinary geneA. No; for all others descendwhich is conveyed from Adam ration, and were represented by to his posterity, by the way him, as their covenant head; of ordinary generation; hence and therefore sinned in him, what was born of the virgin, is and fell with him in his first called "that holy thing," Luke transgression, Rom. v. 12. 1 Cor. i. 35. Q. 22. Was ever the human nature of Christ represented in the first Adam as a fœderal head? A. By no means: Christ's human nature was never in Adam as its representative, but he derived it legally, after Adam ceased to be a public person. Q. 23. How did he derive it legally? xv. 22. Q. 25. What may all this teach us? A. That "as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous," Rom. v. 19; and that "as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Adam," 1 Cor. xv. 49. QUEST. 17. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind? ANSW. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery. Q. 1. Why is man's apostasy from God called [the fall]? A. Because man is not now where God set him at his creation, but is fallen by his iniquity, Hos. xiv. 1. Q. 2. Where did God set man at his creation? A. Upon the high pinnacle of holiness and happiness. Eccl. vii. 29. Q. 3. Where is he now? A. He is fallen into the depth of sin and misery, called in scripture, an horrible pit, and miry clay, Psal. xl. 2. and "the pit wherein is no water," Zech. ix. 11. Q. 4. Why is man's estate, by the fall, called an [estate of sin]? A. Because he is now under |