Question 1: What is the chief and highest end of man?
Answer: Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully
to enjoy him forever.
Question 2: How does it appear that there is a God?
Answer: The very light of nature in man, and the works of God,
declare plainly that there is a God; but his Word and Spirit only
do sufficiently and effectually reveal him unto men for their
salvation.
Question 3: What is the Word of God?
Answer: The holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are
the Word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience.
Question 4: How does it appear that the Scriptures are the Word
of God?
Answer: The Scriptures manifest themselves to be the Word of God,
by their majesty and purity; by the consent of all the parts,
and the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God;
by their light and power to convince and convert sinners, to comfort
and build up believers unto salvation: but the Spirit of God bearing
witness by and with the Scriptures in the heart of man, is alone
able fully to persuade it that they are the very Word of God.
Question 5: What do the Scriptures principally teach?
Answer: The Scriptures principally teach,: What man is to believe
concerning God, and: What duty God requires of man.
Question 6: What do the Scriptures make known of God?
Answer: The Scriptures make known: What God is, the persons in
the Godhead, his decrees, and the execution of his decrees.
Question 7: What is God?
Answer: God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being,
glory, blessedness, and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable,
incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, knowing all things,
most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering,
and abundant in goodness and truth.
Question 8: Are there more Gods than one?
Answer: There is but one only, the living and true God.
Question 9: How many persons are there in the Godhead?
Answer: There be three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one true, eternal
God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory; although
distinguished by their personal properties.
Question 10: What are the personal properties of the three persons
in the Godhead?
Answer: It is proper to the Father to beget the Son, and to the
Son to be begotten of the Father, and to the Holy Ghost to proceed
from the Father and the Son from all eternity.
Question 11: How does it appear that the Son and the Holy Ghost
are God equal with the Father?
Answer: The Scriptures manifest that the Son and the Holy Ghost
are God equal with the Father, ascribing unto them such names,
attributes, works, and worship, as are proper to God only.
Question 12: What are the decrees of God?
Answer: God's decrees are the wise, free, and holy acts of the
counsel of his will, whereby, from all eternity, he has, for his
own glory, unchangeably foreordained: Whatsoever comes to pass
in time, especially concerning angels and men.
Question 13: What has God especially decreed concerning angels
and men?
Answer: God, by an eternal and immutable decree, out of his mere
love, for the praise of his glorious grace, to be manifested in
due time, has elected some angels to glory; and in Christ has
chosen some men to eternal life, and the means thereof: and also,
according to his sovereign power, and the unsearchable counsel
of his own will (whereby he extends or withholds favor as he pleases),
has passed by and foreordained the rest to dishonor and wrath,
to be for their sin inflicted, to the praise of the glory of his
justice.
Question 14: How does God execute his decrees?
Answer: God executes his decrees in the works of creation and
providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the
free and immutable counsel of his own will.
Question 15: What is the work of creation?
Answer: The work of creation is that wherein God did in the beginning,
by the word of his power, make of nothing the world, and all things
therein, for himself, within the space of six days, and all very
good.
Question 16: How did God create angels?
Answer: God created all the angels spirits, immortal, holy, excelling
in knowledge, mighty in power, to execute his commandments, and
to praise his name, yet subject to change.
Question 17: How did God create man?
Answer: After God had made all other creatures, he created man
male and female; formed the body of the man of the dust of the
ground, and the woman of the rib of the man, endued them with
living, reasonable, and immortal souls; made them after his own
image, in knowledge, righteousness,and holiness; having the law
of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfil it, and dominion
over the creatures; yet subject to fall.
Question 18: What are God's works of providence?
Answer: God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and
powerful preserving and governing all his creatures; ordering
them, and all their actions, to his own glory.
Question 19: What is God's providence towards the angels?
Answer: God by his providence permitted some of the angels, wilfully
and irrecoverably, to fall into sin and damnation, limiting and
ordering that, and all their sins, to his own glory; and established
the rest in holiness and happiness; employing them all, at his
pleasure, in the administrations of his power, mercy, and justice.
Question 20: What was the providence of God toward man in the
estate in which he was created?
Answer: The providence of God toward man in the estate in which
he was created, was the placing him in paradise, appointing him
to dress it, giving him liberty to eat of the fruit of the earth;
putting the creatures under his dominion, and ordaining marriage
for his help; affording him communion with himself; instituting
the sabbath; entering into a covenant of life with him, upon condition
of personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience, of which the tree
of life was a pledge; and forbidding to eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death.
Question 21: Did man continue in that estate wherein God at first
created him?
Answer: Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own
will, through the temptation of Satan, transgressed the commandment
of God in eating the forbidden fruit; and thereby fell from the
estate of innocency wherein they were created.
Question 22: Did all mankind fall in that first transgression
?
Answer: The covenant being made with Adam as a public person,
not for himself only, but for his posterity, all mankind descending
from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with
him in that first transgression.
Question 23: Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
Answer: The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.
Question 24: What is sin?
Answer: Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of,
any law of God, given as a rule to the reasonable creature.
Question 25: Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto
man fell?
Answer: The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists
in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of that righteousness
wherein he was created, and the corruption of his nature, whereby
he is utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite unto all
that is spiritually good, and wholly inclined to all evil, and
that continually; which is commonly called original sin, and from
which do proceed all actual transgressions.
Question 26: How is original sin conveyed from our first parents
unto their posterity?
Answer: Original sin is conveyed from our first parents unto their
posterity by natural generation, so as all that proceed from them
in that way are conceived and born in sin.
Question 27: What misery did the fall bring upon mankind?
Answer: The fall brought upon mankind the loss of communion with
God, his displeasure and curse; so as we are by nature children
of wrath, bond slaves to Satan, and justly liable to all punishments
in this world, and that which is to come.
Question 28: What are the punishments of sin in this world?
Answer: The punishments of sin in this world are either inward,
as blindness of mind, a reprobate sense, strong delusions, hardness
of heart, horror of conscience, and vile affections; or outward,
as the curse of God upon the creatures for our sakes, and all
other evils that befall us in our bodies,names, estates, relations,
and employments; together with death itself.
Question 29: What are the punishments of sin in the world to come?
Answer: The punishments of sin in the world to come, are everlasting
separation from the comfortable presence of God, and most grievous
torments in soul and body, without intermission, in hell fire
forever.
Question 30: Does God leave all mankind to perish in the estate
of sin and misery ?
Answer: God does not leave all men to perish in the estate of
sin and misery,into which they fell by the breach of the first
covenant, commonly called the covenant of works; but of his mere
love and mercy delivers his elect out of it, and brings them into
an estate of salvation by the second covenant,commonly called
the covenant of grace.
Question 31: With whom was the covenant of grace made?
Answer: The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second
Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.
Question 32: How is the grace of God manifested in the second
covenant?
Answer: The grace of God is manifested in the second covenant,
in that he freely provides and offers to sinners a Mediator, and
life and salvation by him; and requiring faith as the condition
to interest them in him, promises and gives his Holy Spirit to
all his elect, to work in them that faith, with all other saving
graces; and to enable them unto all holy obedience, as the evidence
of the truth of their faith and thankfulness to God, and as the
way which he has appointed them to salvation.
Question 33: Was the covenant of grace always administered after
one and the same manner?
Answer: The covenant of grace was not always administered after
the same manner, but the administrations of it under the Old Testament
were different from those under the New.
Question 34: How was the covenant of grace administered under
the Old Testament?
Answer: The covenant of grace was administered under the Old Testament,
by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the passover,
and other types and ordinances, which did all foresignify Christ
then to come, and were for that time sufficient to build up the
elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they then had
full remission of sin, and eternal salvation.
Question 35: How is the covenant of grace administered under the
New Testament?
Answer: Under the New Testament, when Christ the substance was
exhibited, the same covenant of grace was and still is to be administered
in the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments
of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; in which grace and salvation
are held forth in more fulness, evidence, and efficacy, to all
nations.
Question 36: Who is the Mediator of the covenant of grace?
Answer: The only Mediator of the covenant of grace is the Lord
Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, of one substance
and equal with the Father, in the fulness of time became man,
and so was and continues to be God and man, in two entire distinct
natures, and one person, forever.
Question 37: How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
Answer: Christ the Son of God became man, by taking to himself
a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power
of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance,
and born of her, yet without sin.
Question 38: Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be
God?
Answer: It was requisite that the Mediator should be God, that
he might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under
the infinite wrath of God, and the power of death; give worth
and efficacy to his sufferings, obedience, and intercession; and
to satisfy God's justice, procure his favor, purchase a peculiar
people, give his Spirit to them, conquer all their enemies, and
bring them to everlasting salvation.
Question 39: Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be
man?
Answer: It was requisite that the Mediator should be man, that
he might advance our nature, perform obedience to the law, suffer
and make intercession for us in our nature, have a fellow feeling
of our infirmities; that we might receive the adoption of sons,
and have comfort and access with boldness unto the throne of grace.
Question 40: Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be
God and man in one person ?
Answer: It was requisite that the Mediator, who was to reconcile
God and man, should himself be both God and man, and this in one
person, that the proper works of each nature might be accepted
of God for us, and relied on by us, as the works of the whole
person.
Question 41: Why was our Mediator called Jesus?
Answer: Our Mediator was called Jesus, because he saves his people
from their sins.
Question 42: Why was our Mediator called Christ?
Answer: Our Mediator was called Christ, because he was anointed
with the Holy Ghost above measure; and so set apart, and fully
furnished with all authority and ability, to execute the offices
of prophet, priest, and king of his church, in the estate both
of his humiliation and exaltation.
Question 43: How does Christ execute the office of a prophet?
Answer: Christ executes the office of a prophet, in his revealing
to the church, in all ages, by his Spirit and Word, in divers
ways of administration, the whole will of God, in all things concerning
their edification and salvation.
Question 44: How does Christ execute the office of a priest?
Answer: Christ executes the office of a priest, in his once offering
himself a sacrifice without spot to God, to be a reconciliation
for the sins of his people; and in making continual intercession
for them.
Question 45: How does Christ execute the office of a king?
Answer: Christ executes the office of a king, in calling out of
the world a people to himself, and giving them officers, laws,
and censures, by which he visibly governs them; in bestowing saving
grace upon his elect, rewarding their obedience, and correcting
them for their sins, preserving and supporting them under all
their temptations and sufferings, restraining and overcoming all
their enemies, and powerfully ordering all things for his own
glory, and their good; and also in taking vengeance on the rest,
who know not God, and obey not the gospel.
Question 46: What was the estate of Christ's humiliation?
Answer: The estate of Christ's humiliation was that low condition,
wherein he for our sakes, emptying himself of his glory, took
upon him the form of a servant, in his conception and birth, life,
death, and after his death, until his resurrection.
Question 47: How did Christ humble himself in his conception and
birth?
Answer: Christ humbled himself in his conception and birth, in
that, being from all eternity the Son of God, in the bosom of
the Father, he was pleased in the fulness of time to become the
son of man, made of a woman of low estate, and to be born of her;
with divers circumstances of more than ordinary abasement.
Question 48: How did Christ humble himself in his life?
Answer: Christ humbled himself in his life, by subjecting himself
to the law, which he perfectly fulfilled; and by conflicting with
the indignities of the world, temptations of Satan, and infirmities
in his flesh, whether common to the nature of man, or particularly
accompanying that his low condition.
Question 49: How did Christ humble himself in his death?
Answer: Christ humbled himself in his death, in that having been
betrayed by Judas, forsaken by his disciples, scorned and rejected
by the world,condemned by Pilate, and tormented by his persecutors;
having also conflicted with the terrors of death, and the powers
of darkness, felt and borne the weight of God's wrath, he laid
down his life an offering for sin, enduring the painful, shameful,
and cursed death of the cross.
Question 50: Wherein consisted Christ's humiliation after his
death?
Answer: Christ's humiliation after his death consisted in his
being buried, and continuing in the state of the dead, and under
the power of death till the third day; which has been otherwise
expressed in these words, he descended into hell.
Question 51: What was the estate of Christ's exaltation?
Answer: The estate of Christ's exaltation comprehends his resurrection,
ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and his coming
again to judge the world.
Question 52: How was Christ exalted in his resurrection?
Answer: Christ was exalted in his resurrection, in that, not having
seen corruption in death (of which it was not possible for him
to be held), and having the very same body in which he suffered,
with the essential properties thereof (but without mortality,
and other common infirmities belonging to this life), really united
to his soul, he rose again from the dead the third day by his
own power; whereby he declared himself to be the Son of God, to
have satisfied divine justice, to have vanquished death, and him
that had the power of it, and to be Lord of quick and dead: all
which he did as a public person, the head of his church, for their
justification, quickening in grace, support against enemies, and
to assure them of their resurrection from the dead at the last
day.
Question 53: How was Christ exalted in his ascension?
Answer: Christ was exalted in his ascension, in that having after
his resurrection often appeared unto and conversed with his apostles,
speaking to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God,
and giving them commission to preach the gospel to all nations,
forty days after his resurrection, he, in our nature, and as our
head, triumphing over enemies, visibly went up into the highest
heavens, there to receive gifts for men, to raise up our affections
thither, and to prepare a place for us, where himself is, and
shall continue till his second coming at the end of the world.
Question 54: How is Christ exalted in his sitting at the right
hand of God?
Answer: Christ is exalted in his sitting at the right hand of
God, in that as God-man he is advanced to the highest favor with
God the Father, with all fulness of joy, glory, and power over
all things in heaven and earth; and does gather and defend his
church, and subdue their enemies; furnishes his ministers and
people with gifts and graces, and makes intercession for them.
Question 55: How does Christ make intercession?
Answer: Christ makes intercession, by his appearing in our nature
continually before the Father in heaven, in the merit of his obedience
and sacrifice on earth, declaring his will to have it applied
to all believers;
Answering all accusations against them, and procuring for them
quiet of conscience, notwithstanding daily failings, access with
boldness to the throne of grace, and acceptance of their persons
and services.
Question 56: How is Christ to be exalted in his coming again to
judge the world?
Answer: Christ is to be exalted in his coming again to judge the
world, in that he, who was unjustly judged and condemned by wicked
men, shall come again at the last day in great power, and in the
full manifestation of his own glory, and of his Father's, with
all his holy angels, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trumpet of God, to judge the world in righteousness.
Question 57: What benefits has Christ procured by his mediation?
Answer: Christ, by his mediation, has procured redemption, with
all other benefits of the covenant of grace.
Question 58: How do we come to be made partakers of the benefits
which Christ has procured?
Answer: We are made partakers of the benefits which Christ has
procured, by the application of them unto us, which is the work
especially of God the Holy Ghost.
Question 59: Who are made partakers of redemption through Christ?
Answer: Redemption is certainly applied, and effectually communicated,
to all those for whom Christ has purchased it; who are in time
by the Holy Ghost enabled to believe in Christ according to the
gospel.
Question 60: Can they who have never heard the gospel, and so
know not Jesus Christ, nor believe in him, be saved by their living
according to the light of nature?
Answer: They who, having never heard the gospel, know not Jesus
Christ, and believe not in him, cannot be saved, be they never
so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature,
or the laws of that religion which they profess; neither is there
salvation in any other, but in Christ alone, who is the Savior
only of his body the church.
Question 61: Are all they saved who hear the gospel, and live
in the church?
Answer: All that hear the gospel, and live in the visible church,
are not saved; but they only who are true members of the church
invisible.
Question 62: What is the visible church?
Answer: The visible church is a society made up of all such as
in all ages and places of the world do profess the true religion,
and of their children.
Question 63: What are the special privileges of the visible church?
Answer: The visible church has the privilege of being under God's
special care and government; of being protected and preserved
in all ages, not withstanding the opposition of all enemies; and
of enjoying the communion of saints, the ordinary means of salvation,
and offers of grace by Christ to all the members of it in the
ministry of the gospel, testifying, that whosoever believes in
him shall be saved, and excluding none that will come unto him.
Question 64: What is the invisible church?
Answer: The invisible church is the whole number of the elect,
that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one under Christ
the head.
Question 65: What special benefits do the members of the invisible
church enjoy by Christ?
Answer: The members of the invisible church by Christ enjoy union
and communion with him in grace and glory.
Question 66: What is that union which the elect have with Christ?
Answer: The union which the elect have with Christ is the work
of God's grace, whereby they are spiritually and mystically, yet
really and inseparably, joined to Christ as their head and husband;
which is done in their effectual calling.
Question 67: What is effectual calling?
Answer: Effectual calling is the work of God's almighty power
and grace, whereby (out of his free and special love to his elect,
and from nothing in them moving him thereunto) he does, in his
accepted time, invite and draw them to Jesus Christ, by his Word
and Spirit; savingly enlightening their minds, renewing and powerfully
determining their wills, so as they (although in themselves dead
in sin) are hereby made willing and able freely to
Answer: his call, and to accept and embrace the grace offered
and conveyed therein.
Question 68: Are the elect only effectually called?
Answer: All the elect, and they only, are effectually called;
although others may be, and often are, outwardly called by the
ministry of the Word, and have some common operations of the Spirit;
who, for their wilful neglect and contempt of the grace offered
to them, being justly left in their unbelief, do never truly come
to Jesus Christ.
Question 69: What is the communion in grace which the members
of the invisible church have with Christ?
Answer: The communion in grace which the members of the invisible
church have with Christ, is their partaking of the virtue of his
mediation, in their justification, adoption, sanctification, and:
Whatever else, in this life, manifests their union with him.
Question 70: What is justification?
Answer: Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners,
in which he pardons all their sins, accepts and accounts their
persons righteous in his sight; not for any thing wrought in them,
or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction
of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone.
Question 71: How is justification an act of God's free grace?
Answer: Although Christ, by his obedience and death, did make
a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice in the
behalf of them that are justified; yet inasmuch as God accepts
the satisfaction from a surety, which he might have demanded of
them, and did provide this surety, his own only Son, imputing
his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their
justification but faith, which also is his gift, their justification
is to them of free grace.
Question 72: What is justifying faith?
Answer: Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart
of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced
of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all
other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not
only assents to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receives
and rests upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth,
for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his
person righteous in the sight of God for salvation.
Question 73: How does faith justify a sinner in the sight of God?
Answer: Faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God, not because
of those other graces which do always accompany it, or of good
works that are the fruits of it, nor as if the grace of faith,
or any act thereof, were imputed to him for his justification;
but only as it is an instrument by which he receives and applies
Christ and his righteousness.
Question 74: What is adoption?
Answer: Adoption is an act of the free grace of God, in and for
his only Son Jesus Christ, whereby all those that are justified
are received into the number of his children, have his name put
upon them, the Spirit of his Son given to them, are under his
fatherly care and dispensations, admitted to all the liberties
and privileges of the sons of God, made heirs of all the promises,
and fellow heirs with Christ in glory.
Question 75: What is sanctification?
Answer: Sanctification is a work of God's grace, whereby they
whom God has, before the foundation of the world, chosen to be
holy, are in time, through the powerful operation of his Spirit
applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed
in their whole man after the image of God; having the seeds of
repentance unto life, and all other saving graces, put into their
hearts, and those graces so stirred up, increased, and strengthened,
as that they more and more die unto sin, and rise unto newness
of life.
Question 76: What is repentance unto life?
Answer: Repentance unto life is a saving grace, wrought in the
heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby, out
of the sight and sense, not only of the danger, but also of the
filthiness and odiousness of his sins, and upon the apprehension
of God's mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, he so grieves
for and hates his sins, as that he turns from them all to God,
purposing and endeavoring constantly to walk with him in all the
ways of new obedience.
Question 77: Wherein do justification and sanctification differ?
Answer: Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification,
yet they differ, in that God in justification imputes the righteousness
of Christ;in sanctification his Spirit infuses grace, and enables
to the exercise thereof; in the former, sin is pardoned; in the
other, it is subdued:the one does equally free all believers from
the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that
they never fall into condemnation; the other is neither equal
in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection.
Question 78: Whence arises the imperfection of sanctification
in believers?
Answer: The imperfection of sanctification in believers arises
from the remnants of sin abiding in every part of them, and the
perpetual lustings of the flesh against the spirit; whereby they
are often foiled with temptations, and fall into many sins, are
hindered in all their spiritual services, and their best works
are imperfect and defiled in the sight of God.
Question 79: May not true believers, by reason of their imperfections,
and the many temptations and sins they are overtaken with, fall
away from the state of grace ?
Answer: True believers, by reason of the unchangeable love of
God, and his decree and covenant to give them perseverance, their
inseparable union with Christ, his continual intercession for
them, and the Spirit and seed of God abiding in them, can neither
totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but are
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
Question 80: Can true believers be infallibly assured that they
are in the estate of grace, and that they shall persevere therein
unto salvation?
Answer: Such as truly believe in Christ, and endeavor to walk
in all good conscience before him, may, without extraordinary
revelation, by faith grounded upon the truth of God's promises,
and by the Spirit enabling them to discern in themselves those
graces to which the promises of life are made, and bearing witness
with their spirits that they are the children of God, be infallibly
assured that they are in the estate of grace, and shall persevere
therein unto salvation.
Question 81: Are all true believers at all times assured of their
present being in the estate of grace, and that they shall be saved?
Answer: Assurance of grace and salvation not being of the essence
of faith, true believers may wait long before they obtain it;
and, after the enjoyment thereof, may have it weakened and intermitted,
through manifold distempers, sins, temptations, and desertions;
yet are they never left without such a presence and support of
the Spirit of God as keeps them from sinking into utter despair.
Question 82: What is the communion in glory which the members
of the invisible church have with Christ?
Answer: The communion in glory which the members of the invisible
church have with Christ, is in this life, immediately after death,
and at last perfected at the resurrection and day of judgment.
Question 83: What is the communion in glory with Christ which
the members of the invisible church enjoy in this life?
Answer: The members of the invisible church have communicated
to them in this life the firstfruits of glory with Christ, as
they are members of him their head, and so in him are interested
in that glory which he is fully possessed of; and, as an earnest
thereof, enjoy the sense of God's love, peace of conscience, joy
in the Holy Ghost, and hope of glory; as, on the contrary, sense
of God's revenging wrath, horror of conscience, and a fearful
expectation of judgment, are to the wicked the beginning of their
torments which they shall endure after death.
Question 84: Shall all men die?
Answer: Death being threatened as the wages of sin, it is appointed
unto all men once to die; for that all have sinned.
Question 85: Death, being the wages of sin, why are not the righteous
delivered from death, seeing all their sins are forgiven in Christ?
Answer: The righteous shall be delivered from death itself at
the last day, and even in death are delivered from the sting and
curse of it; so that, although they die, yet it is out of God's
love, to free them perfectly from sin and misery, and to make
them capable of further communion with Christ in glory, which
they then enter upon.
Question 86: What is the communion in glory with Christ, which
the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death
?
Answer: The communion in glory with Christ, which the members
of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death, is, in
that their souls are then made perfect in holiness, and received
into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in
light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies,
which even in death continue united to Christ, and rest in their
graves as in their beds, till at the last day they be again united
to their souls. Whereas the souls of the wicked are at their death
cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness,
and their bodies kept in their graves, as in their prisons, till
the resurrection and judgment of the great day.
Question 87: What are we to believe concerning the resurrection?
Answer: We are to believe, that at the last day there shall be
a general resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust:
when they that are then found alive shall in a moment be changed;
and the selfsame bodies of the dead which were laid in the grave,
being then again united to their souls forever, shall be raised
up by the power of Christ. The bodies of the just, by the Spirit
of Christ, and by virtue of his resurrection as their head, shall
be raised in power, spiritual, incorruptible, and made like to
his glorious body; and the bodies of the wicked shall be raised
up in dishonor by him, as an offended judge.
Question 88: What shall immediately follow after the resurrection?
Answer: Immediately after the resurrection shall follow the general
and final judgment of angels and men; the day and hour whereof
no man knows, that all may watch and pray, and be ever ready for
the coming of the Lord.
Question 89: What shall be done to the wicked at the day of judgment?
Answer: At the day of judgment, the wicked shall be set on Christ's
left hand, and, upon clear evidence, and full conviction of their
own consciences, shall have the fearful but just sentence of condemnation
pronounced against them; and thereupon shall be cast out from
the favorable presence of God, and the glorious fellowship with
Christ, his saints, and all his holy angels, into hell, to be
punished with unspeakable torments, both of body and soul, with
the devil and his angels forever.
Question 90: What shall be done to the righteous at the day of
judgment?
Answer: At the day of judgment, the righteous, being caught up
to Christ in the clouds, shall be set on his right hand, and there
openly acknowledged and acquitted, shall join with him in the
judging of reprobate angels and men, and shall be received into
heaven, where they shall be fully and forever freed from all sin
and misery; filled with inconceivable joys, made perfectly holy
and happy both in body and soul, in the company of innumerable
saints and holy angels, but especially in the immediate vision
and fruition of God the Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
of the Holy Spirit, to all eternity. And this is the perfect and
full communion, which the members of the invisible church shall
enjoy with Christ in glory, at the resurrection and day of judgment.
Question 91: What is the duty which God requires of man?
Answer: The duty which God requires of man, is obedience to his
revealed will.
Question 92: What did God at first reveal unto man as the rule
of his obedience?
Answer: The rule of obedience revealed to Adam in the estate of
innocence, and to all mankind in him, besides a special command
not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, was the moral law.
Question 93: What is the moral law?
Answer: The moral law is the declaration of the will of God to
mankind, directing and binding everyone to personal, perfect,
and perpetual conformity and obedience thereunto, in the frame
and disposition of the whole man, soul and body, and in performance
of all those duties of holiness and righteousness which he owes
to God and man: promising life upon the fulfilling, and threatening
death upon the breach of it.
Question 94: Is there any use of the moral law to man since the
fall?
Answer: Although no man, since the fall, can attain to righteousness
and life by the moral law; yet there is great use thereof, as
well common to all men, as peculiar either to the unregenerate,
or the regenerate.
Question 95: Of what use is the moral law to all men?
Answer: The moral law is of use to all men, to inform them of
the holy nature and will of God, and of their duty, binding them
to walk accordingly;to convince them of their disability to keep
it, and of the sinful pollution of their nature, hearts, and lives;
to humble them in the sense of their sin and misery, and thereby
help them to a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ,
and of the perfection of his obedience.
Question 96: What particular use is there of the moral law to
unregenerate men?
Answer: The moral law is of use to unregenerate men, to awaken
their consciences to flee from wrath to come, and to drive them
to Christ; or, upon their continuance in the estate and way of
sin, to leave them inexcusable, and under the curse thereof.
Question 97: What special use is there of the moral law to the
regenerate?
Answer: Although they that are regenerate, and believe in Christ,
be delivered from the moral law as a covenant of works, so as
thereby they are neither justified nor condemned; yet, besides
the general uses thereof common to them with all men, it is of
special use, to show them: How much they are bound to Christ for
his fulfilling it, and enduring the curse thereof in their stead,
and for their good; and thereby to provoke them to more thankfulness,
and to express the same in their greater care to conform themselves
thereunto as the rule of their obedience.
Press here to go to the next set of questions.