Q. Is this G.o.d, being a Spirit, to be known?--A. Yes, and that by his works of creation, by his providences, by the judgments that he executeth, and by his word.
Q. Do you understand him by the works of creation?--A. "The heavens declare the glory of G.o.d; and the firmament sheweth his handy work"
(Psa 19:1). "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and G.o.dhead" (Rom 1:20).
Q. Do his works of providence also declare him?--A. They must needs do it, since through his providence the whole creation is kept in such harmony as it is, and that in despite of sin and devils; also, if you consider that from an angel to a sparrow, nothing falls to the ground without the providence of our heavenly Father (Matt 10:29).
Q. Is he known by his judgments?--A. "The Lord is known by the judgments which he executeth; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands" (Psa 9:16).
Q. Is he known by his word?--A. Yes, most clearly: for by that he revealeth his attributes, his decrees, his promises, his way of worship, and how he is to be pleased by us.
Q. Of what did G.o.d make the world?--A. "Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Heb 11:3).
Q. How long was he in making the world?--A. "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is" (Exo 20:11). "And on the seventh day G.o.d ended his work which he had made" (Gen 2:2).
Q. Of what did G.o.d make man?--A. "The LORD G.o.d formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Gen 2:7).
Q. Why doth it say, G.o.d breathed into him the breath of life; is man"s soul of the very nature of the G.o.dhead?--A. This doth not teach that the soul is of the nature of the G.o.dhead, but sheweth that it is not of the same matter as his body, which is dust (Gen 18:27).
Q. Is not the soul then of the nature of the G.o.dhead?--A. No, for G.o.d cannot sin, but the soul doth; G.o.d cannot be destroyed in h.e.l.l, but the souls of the impenitent shall (Eze 18:4; Matt 10:28).
Q. How did G.o.d make man in the day of his first creation?--A. G.o.d made man upright (Eccl 7:29). "In the image of G.o.d created he him"
(Gen 1:27).
Q. Did G.o.d, when he made man, leave him without a rule to walk by?--A. No: he gave him a law in his nature, and imposed upon him a positive precept, but he offered violence to them, and brake them both (Gen 3:3,6).
Q. What was the due desert of that transgression?--A. Spiritual death in the day he did it, temporal death afterwards, and everlasting death last of all (Gen 2:17, 3:19; Matt 25:46).
Q. What is it to be spiritually dead?--A. To be alienate from G.o.d, and to live without him in the world, through the ignorance that is in man, and through the power of their sins (Eph 4:18,19).
Q. Wherein doth this alienation from G.o.d appear?--A. In the love they have to their sins, in their being loth to come to him, in their pleading idle excuses for their sins, and in their ignorance of the excellent mysteries of his blessed gospel (Eph 2:2,3,11,12, 4:18,19; Rom 1:28).
Q. What is temporal death?--A. To have body and soul separated asunder, the body returning to the dust as it was, and the spirit to G.o.d that gave it (Gen 3:19; Eccl 12:7).
Q. What is everlasting death?--A. For body and soul to be separate for ever from G.o.d, and to be cast into h.e.l.l fire (Luke 13:27; Mark 9:43).
Q. Do men go body and soul to h.e.l.l so soon as they die?--A. The body abideth in the grave till the sound of the last trump; but the soul, if the man dies wicked, goes presently from the face of G.o.d into h.e.l.l, as into a prison, there to be kept till the day of judgment (1 Cor 15:52; Isa 24:22; Luke 12:20).
Q. Do we come into the world as upright as did our first parent?--A.
No: he came into the world sinless, being made so of G.o.d Almighty, but we came into the world sinners, being made so by his pollution.[4]
Q. How doth it appear that we came into the world polluted?--A.
We are the fruit of an unclean thing, are defiled in our very conception, and are by nature the children of wrath (Job 14:4; Psa 51:5; Eph 2:3).
Q. Can you make further proof of this?--A. Yes, it is said, That by one man came sin, death, judgment, and condemnation upon all men (Rom 5:12-19).
Q. Do we then come sinners into the world?--A. Yes, we are transgressors from the womb, and go astray as soon as we are born, speaking lies (Isa 48:8; Psa 58:3).
Q. But as Adam fell with us in him, so did he not by faith rise with us in him? for he had no seed until he had the promise.--A. He fell as a public person,[5] but believed the promise as a single person. Adam"s faith saved not the world, though Adam"s sin overthrew it.
Q. But do not some hold that we are sinners only by imitation?--A.
Yes, being themselves deceived. But G.o.d"s word saith, we are children of wrath by nature, that is, by birth and generation.
Q. Can you bring further proof of this?--A. Yes: in that day that we were born, we were polluted in our own blood, and cast out to the loathing of our persons. Again, the children of old that were dedicated unto the Lord, a sacrifice was offered for them at a month old, which was before they were sinners by imitation (Eze 16:4-9; Num 18:14-16).
Q. Can you make this appear by experience?--A. Yes: the first things that bloom and put forth themselves in children, shew their ignorance of G.o.d, their disobedience to parents, and their innate enmity to holiness of life; their inclinations naturally run to vanity. Besides little children die, but that they could not, were they not of G.o.d counted sinners; for death is the wages of sin (Rom 6:23).
Q. What is sin?--A. It is a transgression of the law (1 John 3:4).
Q. A transgression of what law?--A. Of the law of our nature, and of the law of the ten commandments as written in the holy scriptures (Rom 2:12-15; Exo 20).
Q. When doth one sin against the law of nature?--A. When you do anything that your conscience tells you is a transgression against G.o.d or man (Rom 2:14,15).
Q. When do we sin against the law as written in the ten commandments?--A.
When you do anything that they forbid, although you be ignorant of it (Psa 19:12).
Q. How many ways are there to sin against this law?--A. Three: by sinful thoughts, by sinful words, and also by sinful actions (Rom 7:7, 2:6; Matt 5:28, 12:37).
Q. What if we sin but against one of the ten commandments?--A.
Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all; "For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law" (James 2:10,11).
Q. Where will G.o.d punish sinners for their sins?--A. Both in this word and in that which is to come (Gen 3:24, 4:10-12; Job 21:30).
Q. How are men punished in this world for sin?--A. Many ways, as with sickness, losses, crosses, disappointments and the like: sometimes also G.o.d giveth them up to their own heart"s l.u.s.ts, to blindness of mind also, and hardness of heart; yea, and sometimes to strong delusions that they might believe lies, and be d.a.m.ned (Lev 26:15,26; Amos 4:7,10; Rom 1:24,28; Exo 4:21, 9:12-14; Zeph 1:17; Rom 11:7,8; 2 Thess 2:11,12).
Q. How are sinners punished in the world to come?--A. With a worm that never dies, and with a fire that never shall be quenched (Mark 9:44).
Q. Whither do sinners go to receive this punishment?--A. "The wicked shall be turned into h.e.l.l, and all the nations that forget G.o.d" (Psa 9:17).
Q. What is h.e.l.l?--A. It is a place and a state most fearful (Luke 13:28, 16:28; Acts 1:25).
Q. Why do you call it a place?--A. Because in h.e.l.l shall all the d.a.m.ned be confined as in a prison, in their chains of darkness for ever (Luke 12:5,58, 16:26; Jude 6).
Q. What [kind of] place is h.e.l.l?--A. It is a dark bottomless burning lake of fire, large enough to hold all that perish (Matt 22:13; Rev 20:1,15; Isa 30:35; Prov 27:20).
Q. What do you mean when you say it is a fearful state?--A. I mean, that it is the lot of those that are cast in thither to be tormented in most fearful manner, to wit, with wrath and fiery indignation (Rom 2:9; Heb 10:26,27).
Q. In what parts shall they be thus fearfully tormented?--A. In body and soul: for h.e.l.l-fire shall kindle upon both beyond what now can be thought (Matt 10:28; Luke 16:24; James 5:3).[6]
Q. How long shall they be in this condition?--A. "These shall go away into everlasting punishment" (Matt 25:46). "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night" (Rev 14:11). For they "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power" (2 Thess 1:9).
Q. But why might not the unG.o.dly be punished with this punishment in this world, that we might have seen it and believe?--A. If the unG.o.dly should with punishment have been rewarded in this world, it would in all probability have overthrown the whole order that G.o.d hath settled here among men. For who could have endured here to have seen the flames of fire, to have heard the groans, and to have seen the tears, perhaps, of d.a.m.ned relations, as parents or children? Therefore as Tophet of old was without the city, and as the gallows and gibbets are built without the towns;[7] so Christ hath ordered that they who are to be punished with this kind of torment, shall be taken away: "Take him away," saith he (out of this world) "and cast him into outer darkness," and let him have his punishment there "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt 22:13). Besides, faith is not to be wrought by looking into h.e.l.l, and seeing the d.a.m.ned tormented before our eyes, but by "hearing the word of G.o.d" (Rom 10:17). For he that shall not believe Moses and the prophets, will not be persuaded should one come from the dead, yea should one come to them in flames to persuade them (Luke 16:27-31).
Q. Are there degrees of torments in h.e.l.l?--A. Yes, for G.o.d will reward every one according to their works. "Wo unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him" (Isa 3:11).
Q. Who are like to be most punished there, men or children?--A.
The punishment in h.e.l.l comes not upon sinners according to age, but sin; so that whether they be men or children, the greater sin, the greater punishment; "For there is no respect of persons with G.o.d" (Rom 2:11).[8]
Q. How do you distinguish between great sins and little ones?--A.