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Title: The Westminster Larger Catechism
Creator(s): Anonymous
Print Basis: Unknown
Rights: Public Domain
CCEL Subjects: All
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The Westminster Larger Catechism
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Question 98: Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?
Answer: The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments,
which were delivered by the voice of God upon Mount Sinai, and written by
him in two tables of stone; and are recorded in the twentieth chapter of
Exodus. The four first commandments containing our duty to God, and the
other six our duty to man.
Question 99: What rules are to be observed for the right understanding of
the ten commandments?
Answer: For the right understanding of the ten commandments, these rules are
to be observed: That the law is perfect, and binds everyone to full
conformity in the whole man unto the righteousness thereof, and unto entire
obedience forever; so as to require the utmost perfection of every duty, and
to forbid the least degree of every sin. That it is spiritual, and so
reaches the understanding, will, affections, and all other powers of the
soul; as well as words, works, and gestures. That one and the same thing, in
divers respects, is required or forbidden in several commandments. That as,
where a duty is commanded, the contrary sin is forbidden; and, where a sin
is forbidden, the contrary duty is commanded: so, where a promise is
annexed, the contrary threatening is included; and, where a threatening is
annexed, the contrary promise is included. That: What God forbids, is at no
time to be done;: What he commands, is always our duty; and yet every
particular duty is not to be done at all times. That under one sin or duty,
all of the same kind are forbidden or commanded; together with all the
causes, means, occasions, and appearances thereof, and provocations
thereunto. That: What is forbidden or commanded to ourselves, we are bound,
according to our places, to endeavor that it may be avoided or performed by
others, according to the duty of their places. That in: What is commanded to
others, we are bound, according to our places and callings, to be helpful to
them; and to take heed of partaking with others in: What is forbidden them.
Question 100: What special things are we to consider in the ten
commandments?
Answer: We are to consider, in the ten commandments, the preface, the
substance of the commandments themselves, and several reasons annexed to
some of them, the more to enforce them.
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Question 101: What is the preface to the ten commandments?
Answer: The preface to the ten commandments is contained in these words, I
am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage. Wherein God manifests his sovereignty, as being
JEHOVAH, the eternal, immutable, and almighty God; having his being in and
of himself, and giving being to all his words and works: and that he is a
God in covenant, as with Israel of old, so with all his people; who, as he
brought them out of their bondage in Egypt, so he delivers us from our
spiritual thraldom; and that therefore we are bound to take him for our God
alone, and to keep all his commandments.
Question 102: What is the sum of the four commandments which contain our
duty to God?
Answer: The sum of the four commandments containing our duty to God is, to
love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with
all our strength, and with all our mind.
Question 103: Which is the first commandment?
Answer: The first commandment is, Thou shall have no other gods before me.
Question 104: What are the duties required in the first commandment?
Answer: The duties required in the first commandment are, the knowing and
acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship
and glorify him accordingly, by thinking, meditating, remembering, highly
esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of him;
believing him; trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in him; being zealous
for him; calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all
obedience and submission to him with the whole man; being careful in all
things to please him, and sorrowful when in anything he is offended; and
walking humbly with him.
Question 105: What are the sins forbidden in the first commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the first commandment are, atheism, in denying
or not having a God; idolatry, in having or worshiping more gods than one,
or any with or instead of the true God; the not having and avouching him for
God, and our God; the omission or neglect of anything due to him, required
in this commandment; ignorance, forgetfulness, misapprehensions, false
opinions, unworthy and wicked thoughts of him; bold and curious searching
into his secrets; all profaneness, hatred of God; self-love, self-seeking,
and all other inordinate and immoderate setting of our mind, will, or
affections upon other things, and taking them off from him in whole or in
part; vain credulity, unbelief, heresy, misbelief, distrust, despair,
incorrigibleness, and insensibleness under judgments, hardness of heart,
pride, presumption, carnal security, tempting of God; using unlawful means,
and trusting in lawful means; carnal delights and joys; corrupt, blind, and
indiscreet zeal; lukewarmness, and deadness in the things of God; estranging
ourselves, and apostatizing from God; praying, or giving any religious
worship, to saints, angels, or any other creatures; all compacts and
consulting with the devil, and hearkening to his suggestions; making men the
lords of our faith and conscience; slighting and despising God and his
commands; resisting and grieving of his Spirit, discontent and impatience at
his dispensations, charging him foolishly for the evils he inflicts on us;
and ascribing the praise of any good we either are, have, or can do, to
fortune, idols, ourselves, or any other creature.
Question 106: What are we specially taught by these words before me in the
first commandment?
Answer: These words before me, or before my face, in the first commandment,
teach us, that God, who sees all things, takes special notice of, and is
much displeased with, the sin of having any other God: that so it may be an
argument to dissuade from it, and to aggravate it as a most impudent
provocation: as also to persuade us to do as in his sight,: Whatever we do
in his service.
Question 107: Which is the second commandment?
Answer: The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not
bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto
thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Question 108: What are the duties required in the second commandment?
Answer: The duties required in the second commandment are, the receiving,
observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and
ordinances as God has instituted in his Word; particularly prayer and
thanksgiving in the name of Christ; the reading, preaching, and hearing of
the Word; the administration and receiving of the sacraments; church
government and discipline; the ministry and maintenance thereof; religious
fasting; swearing by the name of God, and vowing unto him: as also the
disapproving, detesting, opposing, all false worship; and, according to each
one's place and calling, removing it, and all monuments of idolatry.
Question 109: What are the sins forbidden in the second commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising,
counseling, commanding, using, and anywise approving, any religious worship
not instituted by God himself; tolerating a false religion; the making any
representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either
inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any
creature: Whatsoever; all worshiping of it, or God in it or by it; the
making of any representation of feigned deities, and all worship of them, or
service belonging to them; all superstitious devices, corrupting the worship
of God, adding to it, or taking from it, whether invented and taken up of
ourselves, or received by tradition from others, though under the title of
antiquity, custom, devotion, good intent, or any other pretense: Whatsoever;
simony; sacrilege; all neglect, contempt, hindering, and opposing the
worship and ordinances which God has appointed.
Question 110: What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment, the
more to enforce it?
Answer: The reasons annexed to the second commandment, the more to enforce
it, contained in these words, For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of
them that love me, and keep my commandments; are, besides God's sovereignty
over us, and propriety in us, his fervent zeal for his own worship, and his
revengeful indignation against all false worship, as being a spiritual
whoredom; accounting the breakers of this commandment such as hate him, and
threatening to punish them unto divers generations; and esteeming the
observers of it such as love him and keep his commandments, and promising
mercy to them unto many generations.
Question 111: Which is the third commandment?
Answer: The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his
name in vain.
Question 112: What is required in the third commandment?
Answer: The third commandment requires, That the name of God, his titles,
attributes, ordinances, the Word, sacraments, prayer, oaths, vows, lots, his
works, and: Whatsoever else there is whereby he makes himself known, be
holily and reverently used in thought, meditation, word, and writing; by an
holy profession, and answerable conversation, to the glory of God, and the
good of ourselves, and others.
Question 113: What are the sins forbidden in the third commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the third commandment are, the not using of
God's name as is required; and the abuse of it in an ignorant, vain,
irreverent, profane, superstitious, or wicked mentioning, or otherwise using
his titles, attributes, ordinances, or works, by blasphemy, perjury; all
sinful cursings, oaths, vows, and lots; violating of our oaths and vows, if
lawful; and fulfilling them, if of things unlawful; murmuring and quarreling
at, curious prying into, and misapplying of God's decrees and providences;
misinterpreting, misapplying, or any way perverting the Word, or any part of
it, to profane jests, curious or unprofitable questions, vain janglings, or
the maintaining of false doctrines; abusing it, the creatures, or anything
contained under the name of God, to charms, or sinful lusts and practices;
the maligning, scorning, reviling, or anywise opposing of God's truth,
grace, and ways; making profession of religion in hypocrisy, or for sinister
ends; being ashamed of it, or a shame to it, by unconformable, unwise,
unfruitful, and offensive walking, or backsliding from it.
Question 114: What reasons are annexed to the third commandment?
Answer: The reasons annexed to the third commandment, in these words, The
Lord thy God, and, For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his
name in vain, are, because he is the Lord and our God, therefore his name is
not to be profaned, or any way abused by us; especially because he will be
so far from acquitting and sparing the transgressors of this commandment, as
that he will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment, albeit many
such escape the censures and punishments of men.
Question 115: Which is the fourth commandment?
Answer: The fourth commandment is, Remember the sabbath day, to keep it
holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is
the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor
thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy
cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the
seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Question 116: What is required in the fourth commandment?
Answer: The fourth commandment requires of all men the sanctifying or
keeping holy to God such set times as he has appointed in his Word,
expressly one whole day in seven; which was the seventh from the beginning
of the world to the resurrection of Christ, and the first day of the week
ever since, and so to continue to the end of the world; which is the
Christian sabbath, and in the New Testament called the Lord's day.
Question 117: How is the sabbath or the Lord's day to be sanctified?
Answer: The sabbath or Lord's day is to be sanctified by an holy resting all
the day, not only from such works as are at all times sinful, but even from
such worldly employments and recreations as are on other days lawful; and
making it our delight to spend the whole time (except so much of it as is to
betaken up in works of necessity and mercy) in the public and private
exercises of God's worship: and, to that end, we are to prepare our hearts,
and with such foresight, diligence, and moderation, to dispose and
seasonably dispatch our worldly business, that we may be the more free and
fit for the duties of that day.
Question 118: Why is the charge of keeping the sabbath more specially
directed to governors of families, and other superiors?
Answer: The charge of keeping the sabbath is more specially directed to
governors of families, and other superiors, because they are bound not only
to keep it themselves, but to see that it be observed by all those that are
under their charge; and because they are prone ofttimes to hinder them by
employments of their own.
Question 119: What are the sins forbidden in the fourth commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the fourth commandment are, all omissions of
the duties required, all careless, negligent, and unprofitable performing of
them, and being weary of them; all profaning the day by idleness, and doing
that which is in itself sinful; and by all needless works, words, and
thoughts, about our worldly employments and recreations.
Question 120: What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment, the
more to enforce it?
Answer: The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment, the more to enforce
it, are taken from the equity of it, God allowing us six days of seven for
our own affairs, and reserving but one for himself, in these words, Six days
shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: from God's challenging a special
propriety in that day, The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God:
from the example of God, who in six days made heaven and earth, the sea, and
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: and from that blessing
which God put upon that day, not only in sanctifying it to be a day for his
service, but in ordaining it to be a means of blessing to us in our
sanctifying it;Wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Question 121: Why is the word Remember set in the beginning of the fourth
commandment?
Answer: The word Remember is set in the beginning of the fourth commandment,
partly, because of the great benefit of remembering it, we being thereby
helped in our preparation to keep it, and, in keeping it, better to keep all
the rest of the commandments, and to continue a thankful remembrance of the
two great benefits of creation and redemption, which contain a short
abridgment of religion; and partly, because we are very ready to forget it,
for that there is less light of nature for it, and yet it restrains our
natural liberty in things at other times lawful; that it comes but once in
seven days, and many worldly businesses come between, and too often take off
our minds from thinking of it, either to prepare for it, or to sanctify
it;and that Satan with his instruments much labor to blot out the glory, and
even the memory of it, to bring in all irreligion and impiety.
Question 122: What is the sum of the six commandments which contain our duty
to man?
Answer: The sum of the six commandments which contain our duty to man is, to
love our neighbor as ourselves, and to do to others: What we would have them
to do to us.
Question 123: Which is the fifth commandment?
Answer: The fifth commandment is, Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy
days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God gives thee.
Question 124: Who are meant by father and mother in the fifth commandment?
Answer: By father and mother, in the fifth commandment, are meant, not only
natural parents, but all superiors in age and gifts; and especially such as,
by God's ordinance, are over us in place of authority, whether in family,
church, or commonwealth.
Question 125: Why are superiors styled father and mother?
Answer: Superiors are styled father and mother, both to teach them in all
duties toward their inferiors, like natural parents, to express love and
tenderness to them, according to their several relations; and to work
inferiors to a greater willingness and cheerfulness in performing their
duties to their superiors, as to their parents.
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Question 126: What is the general scope of the fifth commandment?
Answer: The general scope of the fifth commandment is, the performance of
those duties which we mutually owe in our several relations, as inferiors,
superiors, or equals.
Question 127: What is the honor that inferiors owe to their superiors.?
Answer: The honor which inferiors owe to their superiors is, all due
reverence in heart, word, and behavior; prayer and thanksgiving for them;
imitation of their virtues and graces; willing obedience to their lawful
commands and counsels; due submission to their corrections; fidelity to,
defense and maintenance of their persons and authority, according to their
several ranks, and the nature of their places; bearing with their
infirmities, and covering them in love, that so they may be an honor to them
and to their government.
Question 128: What are the sins of inferiors against their superiors?
Answer: The sins of inferiors against their superiors are, all neglect of
the duties required toward them; envying at, contempt of, and rebellion
against, their persons and places, in their lawful counsels, commands, and
corrections; cursing, mocking, and all such refractory and scandalous
carriage, as proves a shame and dishonor to them and their government.
Question 129: What is required of superiors towards their inferiors?
Answer: It is required of superiors, according to that power they receive
from God, and that relation wherein they stand, to love, pray for, and bless
their inferiors; to instruct, counsel, and admonish them; countenancing,
commending, and rewarding such as do well; and discountenancing, reproving,
and chastising such as do ill; protecting, and providing for them all things
necessary for soul and body: and by grave, wise, holy, and exemplary
carriage, to procure glory to God, honor to themselves, and so to preserve
that authority which God has put upon them.
Question 130: What are the sins of superiors?
Answer: The sins of superiors are, besides the neglect of the duties
required of them, an inordinate seeking of themselves, their own glory,
ease, profit, or pleasure; commanding things unlawful, or not in the power
of inferiors to perform; counseling, encouraging, or favoring them in that
which is evil; dissuading, discouraging, or discountenancing them in that
which is good; correcting them unduly; careless exposing, or leaving them to
wrong, temptation, and danger; provoking them to wrath; or any way
dishonoring themselves, or lessening their authority, by an unjust,
indiscreet, rigorous, or remiss behavior.
Question 131: What are the duties of equals?
Answer: The duties of equals are, to regard the dignity and worth of each
other, in giving honor to go one before another; and to rejoice in each
other's gifts and advancement, as their own.
Question 132: What are the sins of equals?
Answer: The sins of equals are, besides the neglect of the duties required,
the undervaluing of the worth, envying the gifts, grieving at the
advancement of prosperity one of another; and usurping preeminence one over
another.
Question 133: What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment, the more
to enforce it?
Answer: The reason annexed to the fifth commandment, in these words, That
thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God gives thee, is an
express promise of long life and prosperity, as far as it shall serve for
God's glory and their own good, to all such as keep this commandment.
Question 134: Which is the sixth commandment?
Answer: The sixth commandment is, Thou shalt not kill.
Question 135: What are the duties required in the sixth commandment?
Answer: The duties required in the sixth commandment are, all careful
studies, and lawful endeavors, to preserve the life of ourselves and others
by resisting all thoughts and purposes, subduing all passions, and avoiding
all occasions, temptations, and practices, which tend to the unjust taking
away the life of any; by just defense thereof against violence, patient
bearing of the hand of God, quietness of mind, cheerfulness of spirit; a
sober use of meat, drink, physic, sleep, labor, and recreations; by
charitable thoughts, love, compassion, meekness, gentleness, kindness;
peaceable, mild and courteous speeches and behavior; forbearance, readiness
to be reconciled, patient bearing and forgiving of injuries, and requiting
good for evil; comforting and succoring the distressed, and protecting and
defending the innocent.
Question 136: What are the sins forbidden in the sixth commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the sixth commandment are, all taking away the
life of ourselves, or of others, except in case of public justice, lawful
war, or necessary defense; the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and
necessary means of preservation of life; sinful anger, hatred, envy, desire
of revenge;all excessive passions, distracting cares; immoderate use of
meat, drink, labor, and recreations; provoking words, oppression,
quarreling, striking, wounding, and: Whatsoever else tends to the
destruction of the life of any.
Question 137: Which is the seventh commandment?
Answer: The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Question 138: What are the duties required in the seventh commandment?
Answer: The duties required in the seventh commandment are, chastity in
body, mind, affections, words, and behavior; and the preservation of it in
ourselves and others; watchfulness over the eyes and all the senses;
temperance, keeping of chaste company, modesty in apparel; marriage by those
that have not the gift of continency, conjugal love, and cohabitation;
diligent labor in our callings; shunning all occasions of uncleanness, and
resisting temptations thereunto.
Question 139: What are the sins forbidden in the seventh commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the seventh commandment, besides the neglect
of the duties required, are, adultery, fornication, rape, incest, sodomy,
and all unnatural lusts; all unclean imaginations, thoughts, purposes, and
affections; all corrupt or filthy communications, or listening thereunto;
wanton looks, impudent or light behavior, immodest apparel; prohibiting of
lawful, and dispensing with unlawful marriages; allowing, tolerating,
keeping of stews, and resorting to them; entangling vows of single life,
undue delay of marriage; having more wives or husbands than one at the same
time; unjust divorce, or desertion; idleness, gluttony, drunkenness,
unchaste company; lascivious songs, books, pictures, dancings, stage plays;
and all other provocations to, or acts of uncleanness, either in ourselves
or others.
Question 140: Which is the eighth commandment?
Answer: The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.
Question 141: What are the duties required in the eighth commandment?
Answer: The duties required in the eighth commandment are, truth,
faithfulness, and justice in contracts and commerce between man and man;
rendering to everyone his due; restitution of goods unlawfully detained from
the right owners thereof; giving and lending freely, according to our
abilities, and the necessities of others; moderation of our judgments,
wills, and affections concerning worldly goods; a provident care and study
to get, keep, use, and dispose these things which are necessary and
convenient for the sustentation of our nature, and suitable to our
condition; a lawful calling, and diligence in it; frugality; avoiding
unnecessary lawsuits and suretyship, or other like engagements; and an
endeavor, by all just and lawful means, to procure, preserve, and further
the wealth and outward estate of others, as well as our own.
Question 142: What are the sins forbidden in the eighth commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the eighth commandment, besides the neglect of
the duties required, are, theft, robbery, man-stealing, and receiving
anything that is stolen; fraudulent dealing, false weights and measures,
removing land marks, injustice and unfaithfulness in contracts between man
and man, or in matters of trust; oppression, extortion, usury, bribery,
vexatious lawsuits, unjust enclosures and depopulations; engrossing
commodities to enhance the price; unlawful callings, and all other unjust or
sinful ways of taking or withholding from our neighbor: What belongs to him,
or of enriching ourselves; covetousness; inordinate prizing and affecting
worldly goods; distrustful and distracting cares and studies in getting,
keeping, and using them; envying at the prosperity of others; as likewise
idleness, prodigality, wasteful gaming; and all other ways whereby we do
unduly prejudice our own outward estate, and defrauding ourselves of the due
use and comfort of that estate which God has given us.
Question 143: Which is the ninth commandment?
Answer: The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against
thy neighbor.
Question 144: What are the duties required in the ninth commandment?
Answer: The duties required in the ninth commandment are, the preserving and
promoting of truth between man and man, and the good name of our neighbor,
as well as our own; appearing and standing for the truth; and from the
heart, sincerely, freely, clearly, and fully, speaking the truth, and only
the truth, in matters of judgment and justice, and in all other things:
Whatsoever; a charitable esteem of our neighbors; loving, desiring, and
rejoicing in their good name; sorrowing for, and covering of their
infirmities; freely acknowledging of their gifts and graces, defending their
innocency; a ready receiving of a good report, and unwillingness to admit of
an evil report, concerning them; discouraging talebearers, flatterers, and
slanderers; love and care of our own good name, and defending it when need
requires; keeping of lawful promises; studying and practicing of: Whatsoever
things are true, honest, lovely, and of good report.
Question 145: What are the sins forbidden in the ninth commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the ninth commandment are, all prejudicing the
truth, and the good name of our neighbors, as well as our own, especially in
public judicature; giving false evidence, suborning false witnesses,
wittingly appearing and pleading for an evil cause, outfacing and
overbearing the truth; passing unjust sentence, calling evil good, and good
evil; rewarding the wicked according to the work of the righteous, and the
righteous according to the work of the wicked; forgery, concealing the
truth, undue silence in a just cause, and holding our peace when iniquity
calls for either a reproof from ourselves, or complaint to others; speaking
the truth unseasonably, or maliciously to a wrong end, or perverting it to a
wrong meaning, or in doubtful and equivocal expressions, to the prejudice of
truth or justice;speaking untruth, lying, slandering, backbiting,
detracting, tale bearing, whispering, scoffing, reviling, rash, harsh, and
partial censuring; misconstructing intentions, words, and actions;
flattering, vainglorious boasting, thinking or speaking too highly or too
meanly of ourselves or others; denying the gifts and graces of God;
aggravating smaller faults;hiding, excusing, or extenuating of sins, when
called to a free confession;unnecessary discovering of infirmities; raising
false rumors, receiving and countenancing evil reports, and stopping our
ears against just defense; evil suspicion; envying or grieving at the
deserved credit of any, endeavoring or desiring to impair it, rejoicing in
their disgrace and infamy; scornful contempt, fond admiration; breach of
lawful promises; neglecting such things as are of good report, and
practicing, or not avoiding ourselves, or not hindering: What we can in
others, such things as procure an ill name.
Question 146: Which is the tenth commandment?
Answer: The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house,
thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his
maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.
Question 147: What are the duties required in the tenth commandment?
Answer: The duties required in the tenth commandment are, such a full
contentment with our own condition, and such a charitable frame of the whole
soul toward our neighbor, as that all our inward motions and affections
touching him, tend unto, and further all that good which is his.
Question 148: What are the sins forbidden in the tenth commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the tenth commandment are, discontentment with
our own estate; envying and grieving at the good of our neighbor, together
with all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his.
Question 149: Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?
Answer: No man is able, either of himself, or by any grace received in this
life, perfectly to keep the commandments of God; but does daily break them
in thought, word, and deed.
Question 150: Are all transgressions of the law of God equally heinous in
themselves, and in the sight of God?
Answer: All transgressions of the law of God are not equally heinous; but
some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more
heinous in the sight of God than others.
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Question 151: What are those aggravations that make some sins more heinous
than others?
Answer: Sins receive their aggravations, From the persons offending: if they
be of riper age, greater experience or grace, eminent for profession, gifts,
place, office, guides to others, and whose example is likely to be followed
by others. From the parties offended: if immediately against God, his
attributes, and worship; against Christ, and his grace; the Holy Spirit, his
witness, and workings; against superiors, men of eminency, and such as we
stand especially related and engaged unto; against any of the saints,
particularly weak brethren, the souls of them, or any other, and the common
good of all or many. From the nature and quality of the offense: if it be
against the express letter of the law, break many commandments, contain in
it many sins: if not only conceived in the heart, but breaks forth in words
and actions, scandalize others, and admit of no reparation: if against
means, mercies, judgments, light of nature, conviction of conscience, public
or private admonition, censures of the church, civil punishments; and our
prayers, purposes, promises, vows, covenants, and engagements to God or men:
if done deliberately, wilfully, presumptuously, impudently, boastingly,
maliciously, frequently, obstinately, with delight, continuance, or
relapsing after repentance. From circumstances of time and place: if on the
Lord's day, or other times of divine worship; or immediately before or after
these, or other helps to prevent or remedy such miscarriages: if in public,
or in the presence of others, who are thereby likely to be provoked or
defiled.
Question 152: What does every sin deserve at the hands of God?
Answer: Every sin, even the least, being against the sovereignty, goodness,
and holiness of God, and against his righteous law, deserves his wrath and
curse, both in this life, and that which is to come; and cannot be expiated
but by the blood of Christ.
Question 153: What does God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and
curse due to us by reason of the transgression of the law?
Answer: That we may escape the wrath and curse of God due to us by reason of
the transgression of the law, he requires of us repentance toward God, and
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and the diligent use of the outward
means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of his mediation.
Question 154: What are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us
the benefits of his mediation?
Answer: The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to his
church the benefits of his mediation, are all his ordinances; especially the
Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for
their salvation.
Question 155: How is the Word made effectual to salvation?
Answer: The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of
the Word, an effectual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling
sinners; of driving them out of themselves, and drawing them unto Christ; of
conforming them to his image, and subduing them to his will; of
strengthening them against temptations and corruptions; of building them up
in grace, and establishing their hearts in holiness and comfort through
faith unto salvation.
Question 156: Is the Word of God to be read by all?
Answer: Although all are not to be permitted to read the Word publicly to
the congregation, yet all sorts of people are bound to read it apart by
themselves, and with their families: to which end, the holy Scriptures are
to be translated out of the original into vulgar languages.
Question 157: How is the Word of God to be read?
Answer: The holy Scriptures are to be read with an high and reverent esteem
of them; with a firm persuasion that they are the very Word of God, and that
he only can enable us to understand them; with desire to know, believe, and
obey the will of God revealed in them; with diligence, and attention to the
matter and scope of them; with meditation, application, self-denial, and
prayer.
Question 158: By whom is the Word of God to be preached?
Answer: The Word of God is to be preached only by such as are sufficiently
gifted, and also duly approved and called to that office.
Question 159: How is the Word of God to be preached by those that are called
thereunto?
Answer: They that are called to labor in the ministry of the Word, are to
preach sound doctrine, diligently, in season and out of season; plainly, not
in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit,
and of power; faithfully, making known the whole counsel of God; wisely,
applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers;
zealously, with fervent love to God and the souls of his people; sincerely,
aiming at his glory, and their conversion, edification, and salvation.
Question 160: What is required of those that hear the Word preached?
Answer: It is required of those that hear the Word preached, that they
attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer; examine: What they
hear by the Scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and
readiness of mind, as the Word of God; meditate, and confer of it; hide it
in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.
Question 161: How do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation?
Answer: The sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not by any power
in themselves, or any virtue derived from the piety or intention of him by
whom they are administered, but only by the working of the Holy Ghost, and
the blessing of Christ, by whom they are instituted.
Question 162: What is a sacrament?
Answer: A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ in his church,
to signify, seal, and exhibit unto those that are within the covenant of
grace, the benefits of his mediation; to strengthen and increase their
faith, and all other graces; to oblige them to obedience; to testify and
cherish their love and communion one with another; and to distinguish them
from those that are without.
Question 163: What are the parts of a sacrament?
Answer: The parts of a sacrament are two; the one an outward and sensible
sign, used according to Christ's own appointment; the other an inward and
spiritual grace thereby signified.
Question 164: How many sacraments has Christ instituted in his church under
the New Testament?
Answer: Under the New Testament Christ has instituted in his church only two
sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Question 165: What is Baptism?
Answer: Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, wherein Christ has
ordained the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost, to be a sign and seal of ingrafting into himself, of
remission of sins by his blood, and regeneration by his Spirit; of adoption,
and resurrection unto everlasting life; and whereby the parties baptized are
solemnly admitted into the visible church, and enter into an open and
professed engagement to be wholly and only the Lord's.
Question 166: Unto whom is Baptism to be administered?
Answer: Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible
church, and so strangers from the covenant of promise, till they profess
their faith in Christ, and obedience to him, but infants descending from
parents, either both, or but one of them, professing faith in Christ, and
obedience to him, are in that respect within the covenant, and to be
baptized.
Question 167: How is our Baptism to be improved by us?
Answer: The needful but much neglected duty of improving our Baptism, is to
be performed by us all our life long, especially in the time of temptation,
and when we are present at the administration of it to others; by serious
and thankful consideration of the nature of it, and of the ends for which
Christ instituted it, the privileges and benefits conferred and sealed
thereby, and our solemn vow made therein; by being humbled for our sinful
defilement, our falling short of, and walking contrary to, the grace of
baptism, and our engagements; by growing up to assurance of pardon of sin,
and of all other blessings sealed to us in that sacrament; by drawing
strength from the death and resurrection of Christ, into whom we are
baptized, for the mortifying of sin, and quickening of grace; and by
endeavoring to live by faith, to have our conversation in holiness and
righteousness, as those that have therein given up their names to Christ;
and to walk in brotherly love, as being baptized by the same Spirit into one
body.
Question 168: What is the Lord's Supper?
Answer: The Lord's Supper is a sacrament of the New Testament, wherein, by
giving and receiving bread and wine according to the appointment of Jesus
Christ, his death is showed forth; and they that worthily communicate feed
upon his body and blood, to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace;
have their union and communion with him confirmed; testify and renew their
thankfulness, and engagement to God, and their mutual love and fellowship
each with other, as members of the same mystical body.
Question 169: How has Christ appointed bread and wine to be given and
received in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper?
Answer: Christ has appointed the ministers of his Word, in the
administration of this sacrament of the Lord's Supper, to set apart the
bread and wine from common use, by the word of institution, thanksgiving,
and prayer; to take and break the bread, and to give both the bread and the
wine to the communicants: who are, by the same appointment, to take and eat
the bread, and to drink the wine, in thankful remembrance that the body of
Christ was broken and given, and his blood shed, for them.
Question 170: How do they that worthily communicate in the Lord's Supper
feed upon the body and blood of Christ therein?
Answer: As the body and blood of Christ are not corporally or carnally
present in, with, or under the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, and yet
are spiritually present to the faith of the receiver, no less truly and
really than the elements themselves are to their outward senses; so they
that worthily communicate in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, do therein
feed upon the body and blood of Christ, not after a corporal and carnal, but
in a spiritual manner; yet truly and really, while by faith they receive and
apply unto themselves Christ crucified, and all the benefits of his death.
Question 171: How are they that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper
to prepare themselves before they come unto it?
Answer: They that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper are, before
they come, to prepare themselves thereunto, by examining themselves of their
being in Christ, of their sins and wants; of the truth and measure of their
knowledge, faith, repentance; love to God and the brethren, charity to all
men, forgiving those that have done them wrong; of their desires after
Christ, and of their new obedience; and by renewing the exercise of these
graces, by serious meditation, and fervent prayer.
Question 172: May one who doubts of his being in Christ, or of his due
preparation, come to the Lord's Supper?
Answer: One who doubts of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation to
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, may have true interest in Christ, though
he be not yet assured thereof; and in God's account has it, if he be duly
affected with the apprehension of the want of it, and unfeignedly desires to
be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity: in which case (because
promises are made, and this sacrament is appointed, for the relief even of
weak and doubting Christians) he is to bewail his unbelief, and labor to
have his doubts resolved; and, so doing, he may and ought to come to the
Lord's Supper, that he may be further strengthened.
Question 173: May any who profess the faith, and desire to come to the
Lord's Supper, be kept from it?
Answer: Such as are found to be ignorant or scandalous, notwithstanding
their profession of the faith, and desire to come to the Lord's Supper, may
and ought to be kept from that sacrament, by the power which Christ has left
in his church, until they receive instruction, and manifest their
reformation.
Question 174: What is required of them that receive the sacrament of the
Lord's Supper in the time of the administration of it?
Answer: It is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper, that, during the time of the administration of it, with all holy
reverence and attention they wait upon God in that ordinance, diligently
observe the sacramental elements and actions, heedfully discern the Lord's
body, and affectionately meditate on his death and sufferings, and thereby
stir up themselves to a vigorous exercise of their graces; in judging
themselves, and sorrowing for sin; in earnest hungering and thirsting after
Christ, feeding on him by faith, receiving of his fulness, trusting in his
merits, rejoicing in his love, giving thanks for his grace; in renewing of
their covenant with God, and love to all the saints.
Question 175: What is the duty of Christians, after they have received the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper?
Answer: The duty of Christians, after they have received the sacrament of
the Lord's Supper, is seriously to consider: How they have behaved
themselves therein, and with: What success; if they find quickening and
comfort, to bless God for it, beg the continuance of it, watch against
relapses, fulfil their vows, and encourage themselves to a frequent
attendance on that ordinance: but if they find no present benefit, more
exactly to review their preparation to, and carriage at, the sacrament; in
both which, if they can approve themselves to God and their own consciences,
they are to wait for the fruit of it in due time: but, if they see they have
failed in either, they are to be humbled, and to attend upon it afterwards
with more care and diligence.
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Question 176: Wherein do the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper
agree
Answer: The sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper agree, in that the
author of both is God; the spiritual part of both is Christ and his
benefits; both are seals of the same covenant, are to be dispensed by
ministers of the gospel, and by none other; and to be continued in the
church of Christ until his second coming.
Question 177: Wherein do the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper
differ?
Answer: The sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper differ, in that
Baptism is to be administered but once, with water, to be a sign and seal of
our regeneration and ingrafting into Christ, and that even to infants;
whereas the Lord's Supper is to be administered often, in the elements of
bread and wine, to represent and exhibit Christ as spiritual nourishment to
the soul, and to confirm our continuance and growth in him, and that only to
such as are of years and ability to examine themselves.
Question 178: What is prayer?
Answer: Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of
Christ, by the help of his Spirit; with confession of our sins, and thankful
acknowledgment of his mercies.
Question 179: Are we to pray unto God only?
Answer: God only being able to search the hearts, hear the requests, pardon
the sins, and fulfil the desires of all; and only to be believed in, and
worshiped with religious worship; prayer, which is a special part thereof,
is to be made by all to him alone, and to none other.
Question 180: What is it to pray in the name of Christ?
Answer: To pray in the name of Christ is, in obedience to his command, and
in confidence on his promises, to ask mercy for his sake; not by bare
mentioning of his name, but by drawing our encouragement to pray, and our
boldness, strength, and hope of acceptance in prayer, from Christ and his
mediation.
Question 181: Why are we to pray in the name of Christ?
Answer: The sinfulness of man, and his distance from God by reason thereof,
being so great, as that we can have no access into his presence without a
mediator; and there being none in heaven or earth appointed to, or fit for,
that glorious work but Christ alone, we are to pray in no other name but his
only.
Question 182: How does the Spirit help us to pray?
Answer: We not knowing: What to pray for as we ought, the Spirit helps our
infirmities, by enabling us to understand both for whom, and: What, and: How
prayer is to be made; and by working and quickening in our hearts (although
not in all persons, nor at all times, in the same measure) those
apprehensions, affections, and graces which are requisite for the right
performance of that duty.
Question 183: For whom are we to pray?
Answer: We are to pray for the whole church of Christ upon earth; for
magistrates, and ministers; for ourselves, our brethren, yea, our enemies;
and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter; but not for
the dead, nor for those that are known to have sinned the sin unto death.
Question 184: For what things are we to pray?
Answer: We are to pray for all things tending to the glory of God, the
welfare of the church, our own or others good; but not for anything that is
unlawful.
Question 185: How are we to pray?
Answer: We are to pray with an awful apprehension of the majesty of God, and
deep sense of our own unworthiness, necessities, and sins; with penitent,
thankful, and enlarged hearts; with understanding, faith, sincerity,
fervency, love, and perseverance, waiting upon him, with humble submission
to his will.
Question 186: What rule has God given for our direction in the duty of
prayer?
Answer: The whole Word of God is of use to direct us in the duty of prayer;
but the special rule of direction is that form of prayer which our Savior
Christ taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord's Prayer.
Question 187: How is the Lord's Prayer to be used?
Answer: The Lord's Prayer is not only for direction, as a pattern, according
to which we are to make other prayers; but may also be used as a prayer, so
that it be done with understanding, faith, reverence, and other graces
necessary to the right performance of the duty of prayer.
Question 188: Of how many parts does the Lord's Prayer consist?
Answer: The Lord's Prayer consists of three parts; a preface, petitions, and
a conclusion.
Question 189: What does the preface of the Lord's Prayer teach us?
Answer: The preface of the Lord's Prayer (contained in these words, Our
Father which art in heaven), teaches us, when we pray, to draw near to God
with confidence of his fatherly goodness, and our interest therein; with
reverence, and all other childlike dispositions, heavenly affections, and
due apprehensions of his sovereign power, majesty, and gracious
condescension: as also, to pray with and for others.
Question 190: What do we pray for in the first petition?
Answer: In the first petition (which is, Hallowed be thy name),
acknowledging the utter inability and indisposition that is in ourselves and
all men to honor God aright, we pray, that God would by his grace enable and
incline us and others to know, to acknowledge, and highly to esteem him, his
titles, attributes, ordinances, Word, works, and: Whatsoever he is pleased
to make himself known by; and to glorify him in thought, word, and deed:
that he would prevent and remove atheism, ignorance, idolatry, profaneness,
and: Whatsoever is dishonorable to him; and, by his overruling providence,
direct and dispose of all things to his own glory.
Question 191: What do we pray for in the second petition?
Answer: In the second petition (which is, Thy kingdom come), acknowledging
ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and
Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the
gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fulness of the
Gentiles brought in; the church furnished with all gospel officers and
ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil
magistrate: that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made
effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the
confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted:
that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second
coming, and our reigning with him forever: and that he would be pleased so
to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce
to these ends.
Question 192: What do we pray for in the third petition?
Answer: In the third petition (which is, Thy will be done in earth, as it is
in heaven), acknowledging, that by nature we and all men are not only
utterly unable and unwilling to know and do the will of God, but prone to
rebel against his Word, to repine and murmur against his providence, and
wholly inclined to do the will of the flesh, and of the devil: we pray, that
God would by his Spirit take away from ourselves and others all blindness,
weakness, indisposedness, and perverseness of heart; and by his grace make
us able and willing to know, do, and submit to his will in all things, with
the like humility, cheerfulness, faithfulness, diligence, zeal, sincerity,
and constancy, as the angels do in heaven.
Question 193: What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
Answer: In the fourth petition (which is, Give us this day our daily bread),
acknowledging, that in Adam, and by our own sin, we have forfeited our right
to all the outward blessings of this life, and deserve to be wholly deprived
of them by God, and to have them cursed to us in the use of them; and that
neither they of themselves are able to sustain us, nor we to merit, or by
our own industry to procure them; but prone to desire, get, and use them
unlawfully: we pray for ourselves and others, that both they and we, waiting
upon the providence of God from day to day in the use of lawful means, may,
of his free gift, and as to his fatherly wisdom shall seem best, enjoy a
competent portion of them; and have the same continued and blessed unto us
in our holy and comfortable use of them, and contentment in them; and be
kept from all things that are contrary to our temporal support and comfort.
Question 194: What do we pray for in the fifth petition?
Answer: In the fifth petition (which is, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive
our debtors), acknowledging, that we and all others are guilty both of
original and actual sin, and thereby become debtors to the justice of God;
and that neither we, nor any other creature, can make the least satisfaction
for that debt: we pray for ourselves and others, that God of his free grace
would, through the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, apprehended and
applied by faith, acquit us both from the guilt and punishment of sin,
accept us in his Beloved; continue his favor and grace to us, pardon our
daily failings, and fill us with peace and joy, in giving us daily more and
more assurance of forgiveness; which we are the rather emboldened to ask,
and encouraged to expect, when we have this testimony in ourselves, that we
from the heart forgive others their offenses.
Question 195: What do we pray for in the sixth petition?
Answer: In the sixth petition (which is, And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil), acknowledging, that the most wise, righteous, and
gracious God, for divers holy and just ends, may so order things, that we
may be assaulted, foiled, and for a time led captive by temptations; that
Satan, the world, and the flesh, are ready powerfully to draw us aside, and
ensnare us; and that we, even after the pardon of our sins, by reason of our
corruption, weakness, and want of watchfulness, are not only subject to be
tempted, and forward to expose ourselves unto temptations, but also of
ourselves unable and unwilling to resist them, to recover out of them, and
to improve them; and worthy to be left under the power of them: we pray,
that God would so overrule the world and all in it, subdue the flesh, and
restrain Satan, order all things, bestow and bless all means of grace, and
quicken us to watchfulness in the use of them, that we and all his people
may by his providence be kept from being tempted to sin; or, if tempted,
that by his Spirit we may be powerfully supported and enabled to stand in
the hour of temptation: or when fallen, raised again and recovered out of
it, and have a sanctified use and improvement thereof: that our
sanctification and salvation may be perfected, Satan trodden under our feet,
and we fully freed from sin, temptation, and all evil, forever.
Question 196: What does the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer teach us?
Answer: The conclusion of the Lord's Prayer (which is, For thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.), teaches us to
enforce our petitions with arguments, which are to be taken, not from any
worthiness in ourselves, or in any other creature, but from God; and with
our prayers to join praises, ascribing to God alone eternal sovereignty,
omnipotency, and glorious excellency; in regard whereof, as he is able and
willing to help us, so we by faith are emboldened to plead with him that he
would, and quietly to rely upon him, that he will fulfil our requests. And,
to testify this our desire and assurance, we say, Amen.
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This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal
Library at Calvin College, http://www.ccel.org,
generated on demand from ThML source.