Did God Leave All Mankind to Perish in the Estate of Sin and Misery?
Answ. 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 an estate of salvation by a Redeemer,
Q. What became of the angels that sinned?
A. God left them to perish in their sin and misery.
Q. Do any of mankind, by their prayers, sincere resolutions, or blameless lives, deserve more pity at the hand of God than fallen angels? A. No j the best works
of unregeneirate men deserve hell’, for the prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, and their pio%ving is sin, Prov. xv. 8. xxi. 4. and xxviii. 9.
Q. Hath God then left all men to perish in their state of sin and misery? A. No; he delivers some, Zech. ix.
O. Whom doth he deliver? A. The elect only.
Q. What moved God to deliver these elect men?
A. His own free love, John iii. 16. 1 John iv. 10.
Q. What moved God to deliver men rather than fallen angels? A. His sovereign good pleasure, Rom. ix. 16.
Q. By what means doth God deliver the elect?
A. By the covenant of grace, Zech. ix. 11.
Q. Might not the broken covenant of works have been renewed? A. No; it was a covenant of friendship, and could never reconcile enemies.
Qj How is the covenant by which sinful men are delivered called? A. The covenant of grace, of promise, of peace, of reconciliation, or redemption, and the second or new covenant.
Q. Why is it called the covenant of grace? A. Because free grace moved God to make it j and all theblesings thereof are freely bestowed upon unworthy sinners.
Q. What is meant by grace? A. Either the undeserved love and good-will of God y or the effects of that good- will bestowed on undeserving creatures, Rom. v. 21.
Q. How is God’s free grace manifested in this covenant?
A. In his freely providing and furnishing his own Son to be our Mediator, accepting his righteousness in our stead, and sending the Spirit to apply his purchase to us.
Q. Why is it called a covenant of promise?
A. Because it is dispensed to us in free promises.
Q. Why is it called a covenant of peace?
A, Because it brings about peace and reconciliation between God and rebellious sinners, 2 Cor. v. 19*
Q* Why is it called the covenant of redemption?
A., Because thereby lost and enslaved sinners are brought back, and delivered from their bondage, Zech.ix. 11.
Qv Is the covenant of grace, and that of redemption one and the same covenant? A. Yes j the scripture
mentions only tvjo covenants chat regard man’s eternal state, of which the covenant of works is one, and therefore the covenant of grace must be the other: and the blood of Christ is in scripture called the blood of the covenant, but never of the covenants, Gal. iv. 24, 30.
£h How do you further prove that what some call the covenant of grace made with believers, and distinct from the covenant of redemption, is no proper covenant?
A. Because it hath no proper condition, faith being as much promised as any other blessing, Psal. ex. 3.
Q. Why is the covenant of grace called the second and new covenant? A. Because, though it was first made,
it was last executed, and is everlasting, 2 Sam. xxiii.. 5:
Q. Did the covenant of grace disannul the covenant of works? A. No *, it honoured and established it.
Q. How did it honour and establish it? A. As the
condition of the broken covenant of works was made the condition of the covenant of grace, Gal. iii. 10. and iv. 4.
Q What was the condition ot the broken covenant of works? A. Perfect obedience to its precepts, and
suffering the infinite wrath contained in its penalty.
Q. Why was the condition of the broken covenant of works made the condition of the covenant of grace?
A. Because God’s holiness, justice, and truth, were concerned in the honour of the broken covenant of works.
Qj How were God’s holiness and justice concerned in the honour of the covenant of works? A. They required that the breaker of so just and holy a law should. be exposed to infinite wrath, Psal. xi. 6, 7. Ezek. xviii. 4.
£). How was his truth concerned? A. It had engaged that the breaker of the precept should surely die.
Q. How many things are in general considered with respect to the covenant of grace?
A. Two J the making, and the administration of it.
Q. Is the making of it the same which some divines call the covenant of redemption? A. Yes j Psal. lxxxix. 3.
Q. Is the administration of it, that which some call the covenant of grace, made with believers? A. Yes.
O. Why was the covenant of grace made from all eternity I A. Because of God’s eternal and infinite love to elect sinners, Jer. xsxi. 3. 1 John iv. 9, 10, 16, 19.
p.. Who are the parties in the covenant of grace?
A. God and Christ, Psalm lxxxiv. 3. Zech. vi. 13. Q. Whether did God, essentially considered, or the person of the Father, make this covenant with Christ?
A. God essentially considered in the person of the Father. Qj Under what view doth God appear in the making of this covenant? A. As most high, holy, and just j.
offended with sin, and yet most merciful to sinners,
Q. How prove you, that the covenant of grace, was
made with Christ! A. The scripture affirms it; and he
is called the covenant himself, Psal. lxxxix. 3. Is. xlii. 6,
Q. Why is Christ called the covenant itself? A. He is
the matter of it, and stands in manifold relations to it.
Qj In what relations doth Christ stand to the covenant of grace, as to the making of it? A. He is the surety*
and sacrificing priest of the covenant, Heb. vii.
£). In what relations doth he stand with respect to the administration of the covenant? A. He is the trustee,
testator, prophet, interceding priest, and king of the covenant, Col. i. 19. Heb. ix. 16, &c.
Q. In what relation doth he stand with respect to both the making and administration of the covenant? A. In the relation of Mediator and Redeemer, Heb. ix. 15. Q. Did Christ in this covenant stand bound for himself l A. Not for himself, but only for others, Isa. liii. 4. Q. What was the necessity that this covenant should be made with a representative?
A. The persons chosen to salvation could do nothing foi themselves, Eph. ii. 1, — 5.
Q. How do you prove that Christ represented others in this covenant? A. Because to him the promises thereof were first made j and he is called the Surety of it.
Q. What is in general meant by a Surety? A. One who engageth to pay debt, or perform duty, in the stead of another •, or to secure the others paying or performing it himself, Prov, xxii:. 26* and xx. 26.
O. What for a Surety is Christ? A. One who
engageth to pay all the elect’s debt to God himself. Q. What debt did the elect owe to God? A. Perfect obedience to his law, and infinite satisfaction for sin to his justice, Gal. iii. 10, 12. Matth. iii. 15.
O. Is Christ surety for his people’s faith and repent* ance? A. No; for Christ’s suretyship belongs to the condition of the covenant; whereas his people’s faith and repentance belong to the promise of it, Psalm xxii.
£). Is Christ properly a Surety for God’s performing the promises to us? A. No *, though Christ as a prophet attest the promises, yet the all-sufficiency and unchangeableness of God, exclude any surety for him.
Q. Why was the covenant of grace made with such an infinitely strong Surety? A. That he might not fail
in performing its infinitely high condition, Isa. xlii. 4.
Q. In what manner did Christ engage in this covenant?
, A. With full knowledge of his undertaking, and yet
with the utmost cheerfulness and resolution, Jer. xxx. 21.
£). Whom did Christ represent or stand bound for in the covenant of grace? A. The elect only; for they
only bear his name and image *, they only are called his seed j and they only partake of the saving blessings of his covenant, 1 Cor. xv. Rom. v. and ix. Eph. i. 1 Pet. i. 2. Q. Why are the elect called Christ’s seeds
A. Because in regeneration he begets them again by his word and Spirit, 1 Pet- i. 3. 23. James i. 18.
Q. Why is Christ said to take hold of the seed of Abra/tapi, and not of the seed of Adam? A. To shew that he represented only a part of Adam’s seed, Heb. n. 16.
Q^ Is it any dishonour to Christ to represent a 1 ester number than Adam 2 A. No; for Christ had infinitely
more to do for the salvation of one sin/her, than Adam had to do for the happiness of innocent mankind.
£). Hew are the elect considered in the making of this covenant? A. As lost sinners, wholly unable to help
themselves, and yet as objects of the free and sovereign love of God, 1 John iv. 9, 10, 19. John iii. 16.
Q. Wherein doth the freedom of this love appear?
A. In pitching upon objects altogether unlovely.
O. In what doth the sovereignty of the Father’s love appear? A. In choosing some, while others no worseare left to perish in their sin, Rom. ix. 22.
Q. How did God make this covenant with Christ?
A. He proposed to him the persons to be saved, together with the parts of the covenant ‘, and Christ accepted of them, Zech. vi. 13. John xvii. 6.
Q. What are the parts of the covenant of grace?
A. The condition and the promise of it.
Q.. How can this covenant have a condition, when it
is a covenant of grace,? A. Though it be absolutely of free grace to the elect, yet it is strictly conditional to Christ, Matth. iii- 15. Isa. liii. 10, 11, 12..
Qj What is the condition of the covenant of grace?
A. Christ’s Surety-righteousness, Dan. ix. 24. Rom. v. 19.
Q. What do you mean by the righteousness of Christ?
A. The holiness of hia human nature, the righteousness «f his life, and his satisfactory death, Phil. ii. 8.
Qj Why was satisfaction required from Christ, when it was not required from Adam as our public head?
A. Because Adam engaged only for an innocent seed, but Christ engaged for guilty sinners, Rom. v. 12, — -19.
Q. Why was the perfect holiness of Christ’s human nature necessary? A. To answer for the original righteousness demanded of us- by the law of God, Rom. v. 19. r
Q^ Why was his righteousness of life necessary?
A. To answer for that perfect righteousness of life demanded from us by the law, Rom. x. 4. Matth. xix. 17.
Q. Why was his satisfactory death necessary? A. To atone and satisfy the justice of God for our sin.
£). For what was Christ to Satisfy t. ie justice of God?
A. For all the sins of an elect world, Isa. liii. 4, 5, 6.
(). How was he to make satisfaction? A. By suffering the very same infinite punishment which ve deserved*
Q. How prove you that Christ fulfilled the whole condition of the covenant of grace? A. He was holy, harmless; became obedient unto death; and gave himself to be a sacrifice of a sweetrsmelhn.g savour unto God.
O. How do you prove Christ’s righteousness to be the only proper condition of the covenant of grace?
A. Because it is the only pleadable ground of the be* liever’s title to eternal life, Rom. v. 21. and vi. 23.
<^. Is not faith the proper condition of this covenant
A. No •, for it can no way answer the demands of the broken law; and it is a blessing promised in the covenant of grace, Gal. iii. 17. Phil. i. 29.
Q. Were then these godly divines in an error, who called faith the condition of the covenant of grace?
A. No ‘y for they only meant, that it was Lhe instrument by which we are personally interested in that covenant, and receive the blessings of it, Acts xvi. 31.
Qj What is the promise of the ccvenant of grace?
A. It is the Father’s engagement to bestow good things upon Christ, and his elect-seed, Isa. liii. 11, 12.
Q. Is the promise of the covenant of great importance? A. Yes; for it is confirmed by the oath of God and His glory, the honour of Christ, and the happiness of the elect, depend upon fulfilling of it.
Q^How many kinds of promises are theie in the covenant ox grace? A. Two kinds, viz. such as directly respect Cr rise’s person, and such as relate to his people.
Q. How may the promises respecting Chrises person be distinguished? A. Into absolute and conditional.
Qj What are the absolute promises respecting Christ? A. The promises of furniture for, and assistance in his work, Isa. xi. 2, 3. and xlii. 1. and lxi. 1, 2, 3.
Q. What is the only cause of the fulfilment of these promises? A. The infinite sovereign love of God.
Qj What furniture was promised to Christ? A. An human nature, filled with the Holy Ghost, and united to his divine person, Heb. x. 5. Isa. xi. 2, 3. Q* What assistance was promised to Christ? A. The continual, influence of the Spirit, and the ministration of angels, &.c. Isa. xi. 2. Psal. xci. 11.
Q. What are the promises respecting Christ’s person, which depend upon the condition of his righteousness? A. The promises of acceptance, and reward for his work. Q. What acceptance was promised to Christ? A. That God should declare himself well pleased for his righteousness sake, and with him as Mediator, and believers in him for it, Isa. liii. 8, 12. 2 Cor. v. 18, — 21. Q. What reward was promised to Christ? A. The highest exaltation of his person, as God ‘.man, and a numerous seed to serve and praise him, Psal. ex. 1. Isa. liii. 10.
Q. What is the promise immediately respecting the elect?
A. The promise of eternal life, Tit. i. 2. John ii. 25. Q. What is included in this eternal life? A. AU true happiness in this life, and that which is to come: or the life of grace here, and of glory hereafter, Psal. lxxxiv. 11.
Q. Vhat is one of the most comprehensive promises of the covenant of grace made to the elect in Christ? A. / will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
Q. What doth that part of the promise, / will be your God, mean? A. That God himself shall be their everlasting portion, his perfections exerted for their interest, and all his works tend to their eternal advantage.
O. What doth that part of it, Te shall be my people mean? A. That all grace and glory suiting to the dignity of God’s people shall be given them, 1 Cor, iii. 22.
Q. To whom were the promises of our eternal life made?
A. Primarily to Christ as our head, and to U3 in him.
Q^ How prove you they were primarily made to Christ?
A. The promise of eternal life was made before the world began, when it could not be made to any but Christ.
Q. Is not this very comfortable to believers?
A. Yes 3 for whatever cause we may give God to deny his promised blessings *, yet Christ, to whom they were originally promised, never gave him any cause for it.
Q. What are the properties of the promises of the covenant of grace? A. They are exceeding great and precious, well-ordered, free, and sure, 2 Pet. i. 4.
Qj How are they great? A. They are the promises of the great God; and pregnant with boundless blessings to man, Isa. liv. lv. and lx» &c. Jer. xxxi. &c.
Q. How are they precious $ A. The good which they contain is purchased with the precious blood of Christ.
Q^. How are they well-ordered ‘? A. They are
beautifully connected with one another, and suited to our many and various needs, Ezek. xxxiv. and xxxvi. &c.
O. How are they free? A. They flow from free
grace, and are freely made out to believers, Hos. xiv. 4.
Q. How can they be absolutely free, when many of them require some condition to be performed by us?
A. Nothing is required as a condition in one promise, but what is absolutely promised in another.
Qj Why then hath God made many of his promises to run in a conditional form? A. To excite us to holiness, and to teach us to apply sundry promises at cnce.
Q^ How are the promises sure? A. They are con»
firmed by the oath of God, and blood of Christ.
Q. Hath the covenant of grace any penalty?
A. No ‘, for both parties are infallible, Psal. lxxxix, 19.
Qj Are not believers, the representees, fallible?
A. They are fallible in their actions; but their graci* $iis state is infallibly secured in Christ, Rom, viii, d9> t H
Q. Are not their afflictions a proper penalty?
A. No; they are a privilege promised in the new covenant, and tend to their good, Heb. xii. 6, 11.
Q. What security have believers from any proper penalty for sin? A. Christ’s everlasting righteousness.
Q^What is the administration of the covenant of grace?
A. The dispensing and applying of it to men for the purposes for which it was made, Isa. lv. 3, 11.
Q. Who is the administrator of it? A. Christ
was appointed administrator of it by God, Isa. xlh. 6.
Q. Wherein do Christ’s relations of surety, and of administrator, differ ■? A. Christ, as our surety, served in our law-stead j as administrator, he only acts for our good: the work of suretyship was his humiliation, but the work of administration is his honour and reward.
Qj Where doth Christ administer the new covenant?
A. Both on earth and in Heaven, Rev. iii. 20. xxii. 2.
Q. Wherein doth Christ’s administration of it on earth and that in Heaven, differ? A. In Heaven, Christ administers it personally, without ordinances, and to the elect only $ but on earth he administers it in ordinances, and partly by instruments, and partly to reprobates.
Q^ To whom doth Christ administer the covenant en earth? A. To sinners of mankind in general, Isa. lv.
Q. Wherein doth he administer the covenant to these?
A. In the general offer of the gospel, Rev. xxii. 17.
Q. Why is the covenant of grace administered Lo sinful sien in general, when the elect only are represented in it?
A. Because Christ’s righteousness, the only price of salvation, is in itself equally sufficiently and suitable to purchase salvation for all men, Acts xx. 2S. Mat. xviii. 28»
Q.How is it sufficient to purchase salvation for all men?
A. Its infinite intrinsic worth renders it of sufficient value to purchase salvation for millions of worlds.
Qj How is it suitable to purchase salvation for all men?
A. It is a righteousness fulfilled in the human nature, which is common to all men, Heb. ii. 14. and v. 2.
Q. How long will Christ continue to administer the covenant of grace? A. For ever; for he shall reign for ever; and he ever linelh to make intercession, and save to the uttermost, Luke i. 33. Heb. vii. 25.
Q. How will Christ administer the covenant through eternity? A. He will be the eternal bond of union, and medium of commur.ion between God and the saints, and villi .lead them to living fountains of waters, Rev. yii. 17,
p. Whr.t is .Christ’s primary relation as administrator of the cov:.ia;:.? A. He is the trustee of ii.
Q. “What is his office as trustee of tfce io- smant?
A. To be the repository or ■: or all the blessings
of it for the good of his people, CoL L 19.
O. Who lodged ail the blessings of it in Christ’s hand
A. God the Father, John in. 35, Col. i. 19.
Qj, Why did he so? A. To exalt Christ, and prevent the elect from losing these b]<?«rngs; Ifia. Hi:- 10, II, 12.
Q. in what relation doth Ciadug give us these blessings?
A. As the Testator, and the Executor of his Testament*.
Q. How doth Christ administer the new covenant as a Testator ?| A. He dispones and bequeathes ail the blessings of it in the way of legacy to men, Luke xxii. 29.
Q. Wherein do a testament and a covenant differ?
A. In a covenant good things are bestowed on account of some price or valuable consideration j but in a testament, good things are dispensed freely.
Q. When was the new covenant first clothed with the form o£ a testament I
A. That very day in which Adam fell.
£). Why was it not clothed with a testamentary form from eternity? A. Because till Adam fell, no man
needed the legacies of it, Gen. iii. 15. 1 Tim. i. 15.
Q. How could Christ’s testament be of force before his death? A. He was the Lamb slam from the foundation of the world, and in the ancient sacrifices confirmed Lis testament, Rev. xiii. 8. Heb. i:;, and x.
Q. What legacies doth Christ dispone in his testament?
A. Himself and all things in and with him, Rev. xxi.
Q. What are some of these things which Christ dispones? A. Conviction, conversion, pardon, peace, acceptance, adoption, sanctification, and glorification, &C.
O. To whom doth Christ bequeath these blessings?
A. To sinful men in general as his legatees, Prov. viii.4.
<^. Wherein doth Christ bequeath these blessings to all men? A. In the promises and oilers of the gospel,
Q. Have all Christ’s legatees an equal title .to his promises and legacies r A. No •, all men in general have a right of access to them, but believers hzve. also aright of possession, Prov, ix» 4, 5. Zech. xiii, 9,
Q. What do you mean by a right of access to Christ’s promises and legacies? A. A full warrant to take
hold of them as our own, Isa. lv. 1, 2, 3. 1 Tim. i. 15.
Q. What do you mean by a right of interest, or possession? A. The actual having of Christ, and all things in him as our own, Song ii. 16. 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23.
Q; Who is the executor of Christ’s Testament?
A. Christ himself, John xiv. 4. Isa. lii. 12 — 15.
O. May not the Holy Ghost also be called the Executor of Christ’s testament? Q. Christ executes it by the Holy Ghost, John xvi. 13, 14.
Q. Kow can Christ be the Executor of his own testament? A. Because though he died to confirm it, yet he rose again, and lives for evermore to execute it.
Q. In what relations doth Christ execute his cwntestanie it? A. As a prophet, interceding priest, and king*
Q^ For what end is the covenant of grace made and admin.stered? A. For the glory of God, and for bringing elect sinners out of an estate of sin and misery, into an estate of salvation, Isa. xlii. 4, — 16.
Q. What is meant by salvation? A. A deliverance from sin, and all its fatal effects, and a possession of the utmost happiness to all eternity, Isa. xlv. 17. Rom. v. 21.
Q. How are sinners brought into an estate of salvation?
A. By their being personally and savingly brought into the bond of the new covenant, 2 bam. xxiii. 5.
Q. What is the mean and instrument of interesting sinners in the covenant of grace? A. Faith, or believing in the Lord Jesus, Acts xvi. 31.
Q^ Why hath God appointed faith the instrument of interesting us in the new covenant?
A. Because it most illustrates the free grace of the covenant, and best insures the promises of it, Rom. iv. 16.
£y. How doth faith illustrate the grace of the covenant?
A. By receiving all blessings as God’s free gifts,
Q. How doth faith insure the promises of the covenant I
A. It employs God’s power and grace to perform them, 2 Chron. xx. 20. Psalm xl. 31. and cxxxviii. 8.
Qj In what do the covenant of works and of grace agree? A. God was the maker; his glory and the
happiness of man, are the end; and eternal life the thing promised in both, Psalm lxxxix. 3, 4»
Q. In what do the covenant of works and of grace differ? A. In the party contracted with, the administrator, nature, properties, conditions, promises, order of obedience and execution, ends and effects.. Qj How do they differ with respect to the party contracted with? A. The covenant of works was made with Adam, a mere man, and all his natural seed in him but the covenant of grace was made with Christ, who is God-man, as head of his elect seed, 1 Cor. xv. 47.
Q. How do they differ with respect to their administrator? A. The covenant of works was administered by an absolute God; but the covenant of grace is admi — nisiered by Chri.st as Mediator, Gal. iii. 10, 16, 19.
Q. How do they differ in their nature? A. The
covenant of works was a covenant of friendship; but the covenant of grace is a covenant of reconciliation.
Q. How do they differ in their properties? A. The covenant of works was easily broken, and is now a cursing and condemning covenant; but the covenant of grace cannot be broken, and is still pregnant with blessings and salvation to men, Gal. iii. 13, 14.
Qj, How do these covenants differ in their conditions?
A. The original condition of the covenant of works was the perfect obedience of a mere man; but the contill ion of the covenant of grace is the perfect obedience, and ful satisfaction of a God-man, Matth. iii. 15.
Q. H jw do they differ in their promises P A, In the covenant of works all the promises were conditional to Adam 5 but in the covenant of grace, the promises are absolutely free to man, Rom. iv. 4, IS.
Q. How do they differ in the required order of obed?*- enc? A. In the covenant of works du’v went before pr tfilfege, and acceptance of the work before the acceptance of the person; but in the covenant of grace, with respect to man, privilege goes before duty, and acceptance of the person before acceptance of his work* Gal. iii. 12. Eph. i. 6.
G. How do they differ in their order of execution?
A, The covenant of works was made in time, and first executed •, but the covenant of grace was made from eter» nity, and is last executed, Gen. ii. Tit. i. 2,
Q. How do they differ in their end and design $
A. The end of the covenant of -works “was to shew man H3 his duty to God •, but the great end of the covenant of grace is to shew the greatness of God’s grace to man*
Q. How do they differ in their ejects .* A. The covenant of works terrifies a guilty sinner, and binds him over to hell •, but the new covenant comforts and strengthens him, by opening to him the gates of heaven.
Q. How may we know if we are savingly interested m the covenant of grace? A. If we have seen ourselves
wholly ruined by the covenant of works, and are content to be entirely indebted to the free grace of God for our salvation, Phil. iii. 8, 9. Hos. xiv. 3.
Q. What should we do if we find ourselves without this covenant? A. Cry earnestly to Christ to bring us into
it, and essay to take hold of the promises of it.
Q. What is our duty, if we find ourselves in this covenant? A. To admire and adore God’s free grace which brought us in; and to improve the fulness of the covenant, in living like the children of God, 2 Sam. vii.