Q. Why are these torments called the second death? Rev. xxi. 8.

A. Because the damned there will still be, as it were, in the agonies of death; but that death will differ from the first in this, that they will be ever dying, but never able to die.

Q. What will be the torments of the soul in hell?

A. The souls of the wicked there will be immediately liable to the strokes and lashes of God's wrath, and the worm that never dieth, which will fill them with eternal anguish and horror, Heb. x. 31. Mark ix. 44.

Q. What is meant by the worm that dieth not 2

A. An awakened conscience, that will gnaw, bite and sting them for ever.

Q. How will it do that?

A By upbraiding them for their by-past sins, and for slighting the remedy offered to them: by throwing up to them the happiness they have lost, and the miseries brought upon them by their folly, and ever telling them what more is a coming. God's wrath in hell will be still wrath to come. All which reflections, improven by a despairing conscience, cannot but distress the guilty soul with such cutting thoughts, bitter anguish, and tormenting stings, as cannot now be imagined, Luke xvi. 25. Heb. x. 26, 27, 29.

Q. What sort of wrath is the wrath of God, which will be poured out upon the wicked in hell?

A. It is called in scripture, great wrath, anger, fury, and vengeance, which will be fierce, powerful, irresistible, insuffer.ble, unmixed, eternal and unquenchable; and is oft exprest by fire, which is the most terrible element, Zech. vii. 12. Rev, vi. 17. 2 Kings xxiii. 26. Neh. i. 6. Psal. xc. Psal. lxxvi. 7. Ezek. xxii. 14. Isa. xxxiii. 14. Rev. xiv. 10. Mark ix. 43, 44, 45, &c. Heb. x. 30, 31.

Q. How doth it appear that the wrath poured out on the damned is so great and terrible ?

A. In regard it is poured out upon every power and faculty of the soul, and upon every sense and member of the body; and both their souls and bodies are made capacious and strong to receive and support much of it: and hence they are called vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, Rom. ix. 22.

Q. Why is it called unmixed wrath ?

A. Because it is without any mixture of mercy. They have no sympathy, or pity from any hand, no drop of comfort to relieve them, no ground of hope to support them, no interval of rest under it day or night; but the smoke of their tor

ment ascendeth up for ever and ever, Rev. xiv. 10, 11. Mark ix. 44. Luke xvi. 24, 25. John iii. 36.

Q. How is it agreeable to justice to punish the wicked with eternal sufferings for temporary sinning ?

A. It is just, because they provoke an eternal God, and despise an infinite good, for which finite or temporary sufferings can never satisfy. It is just for God to punish the wicked as long as he can, seeing they sin as long as they can; and, when they can sin no longer here, they carry their sins to hell with them, and continue sinning there for ever, whereby they still add oil to the flame, and keep it burning for ever.

QIs not this wrath so terrible, that the very devils are afraid of it?

A. Yes; for the dread they have of it makes them to tremble and cry out at the approach of their Judge, James ii. 19. Matt. viii. 29.

Q. Did the man Christ Jesus suffer this terrible wrath in the room of an elect world? A. Yes.

Q. How was he able to bear all that was due to them? A. His Godhead supported the human nature under it. Q. Had it not terrible effects upon him while he was suffering it?

A. Yes; it cast him into dreadful agonies, caused him to sweat forth blood in great drops, and make that fearful outcry, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?

Q. Will not one spark of this wrath let fly into the conscience drive a sinner to despair amidst all the world's comforts? A. Yes; as hath been verified in the instances of Cain, Judas, Spira, and many others.

Q. Do all the wicked in hell suffer equal punishment there? A. No; some have hotter places in hell than others, according to the different measures of their guilt, Matt. xxiv. 51. Luke xii. 47, 48.

Q. Must there not be an unspeakable evil in sin, that exposeth man to all this wrath and misery ?

A. Yes; we may see much of sin's evil in the glass of hell's torments.

Q. What ought we to learn from the scripture-doctrine concerning the wrath to come?

A. To bless God for contriving a way, and providing a Saviour, to redeem us both from sin and hell: and highly to esteem and love Jesus Christ, that willingly undertook and came to bear our sins, and suffer all this wrath for us, 2 Cor. ix. 15. 1 Thess. i, 10. 1 Pet. ii. 7, 24. John i. 29.

Quest. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

Ans. God having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

us.

Q. Are all men left to perish in their fallen estate ?

A. No; blessed be God, who hath provided a remedy for

Q. Doth God deliver all men from perishing in their fallen estate? A. No, but only some.

Q. Who are these?

A. The elect.

Q. Who are these you call the elect?

A. These whom God hath chosen out of Adam's fallen

race.

Q. What hath God elected them to ?

A. To everlasting life.

Q. When did God make this choice of these persons?

A. From all eternity.

Q. What was the cause of God's chusing some, and passing by others?

A. God's own mere good pleasure, Luke xii. 32.

Q. Did God elect any to eternal life because of their foreseen faith or holiness?

for

A. No: these are not the cause, but fruits of election ; God hath chosen all his people to faith and holiness as the necessary means of salvation, Eph. i. 4, 5, 6.

Q. Dught we not to try and examine our election by such fruits as these of faith and holiness?

A. Yes, 2 Pet. i. 10. 2 Thess. ii. 13.

Q. By what other plain evidences may we know if God hath chosen us to eternal life?

A. If we have chosen God to be our God and portion, and given ourselves away to him, we may conclude that he hath first chosen us; for if we love him, it is because he first loved 2189 1 John iv. 19.

Q. In what way and method doth God bring his elect into an estate of salvation?

A. In the way of a covenant, and by a Redeemer.

Q. Is it in the way of a covenant of works that he saves them? 4. No, but in the way of a covenant of grace.

Q. What is meant by the covenant of grace in the answer ? A. It may either point at, 1st, The covenant of grace as made from eternity with Christ in the name of the elect, called frequently the covenant of redemption; or, 2dly, The covenant of grace as made in time with the elect themselves upon their believing in Christ.

Q. What is that covenant of grace or redemption which was made with Christ from eternity?

A. It is a gracious agreement made between the Father and Christ as the second Adam and representative of the elect; wherein God promised to him, that upon condition of his Mediatorial obedience and satisfaction in their stead, he should be gloriously assisted and rewarded himself, and have grace and glory to all his seed. And all this Christ accepted of, Isa. liii. 10, 11. Psalm lxxxix, 3, 4, 19, 20, &c. Heb. x. 5, 6, 7, &c.

Q. How can that covenant made with Christ be called a covenant of grace, seeing it required perfect obedience to the law?

A. It was a covenant of grace with respect to the elect whom Christ did represent, seeing in it God passed from their personal obedience, and accepted obedience from their Surety in their stead. Likewise it contains all the blessings and good things which are freely and gratuitously bestowed on the elect, these being first promised in that covenant to Christ as their head and representative, 2 Tim. i. 19. Titus i. 2. Gal. iii. 16.

Q. What is the covenant of grace, as made in time with the elect themselves ?

A. It is the execution or application of the covenant made with Christ, as to what immediately concerns the elect them. selves; and may be defined, God's gracious paction with elect sinners in Christ, wherein he offereth and promiseth pardon and salvation to them, and to all who hear the Gospel, upon their believing in his Son Jesus Christ, John iii. 36. Acts xvi, 31,

Q. When was this covenant first tendered to fallen sinners ? A. Immediately after the fall to our first parents in that great Gospel promise, The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent, Gen. iii. 15.

Q. Can you shew what is meant by that promise?

A. By the seed of the woman is meant Christ, that was to be born of a virgin. By the serpent is meant the devil, called so for his subtility. By breaking his head is meant Christ's disappointing his counsels, and destroying his works.

Q. What are the blessings promised to us in this covenant? A. All the blessings of Christ's purchase, such as illumination, pardon of sin, peace with God, freedom from the law's curses, sanctification, access to God, the conduct of the Spirit, victory over death, resurrection to life, and eternal glory, Ezek. xxxvi. 25, &c. Heb. viii. 10, &c. John iii. 18, 36. Psalm lxxxiv. 11. 1 Cor. xv. 22, 57.

Q. What is the condition required of us to interest us in these promised blessings?

A. Faith in Jesus Christ, Acts xvi. 31.*

Q. Can we fulfil this condition, or believe of ourselves? A. No; but Jesus Christ hath both purchased faith for us, and promised it to us in this covenant, John vi. 37. Phil. i. 29. Eph. ii. 7, 8. Rom. viii. 32.

Q. How then is it a condition required of us ?

A. Though faith be both purchased and promised, yet God doth still require it of us as a duty, and that to humble us, and to put us on to the use of means; to make unbelievers inexcusable, and to teach us the order and connexion in which he will bestow the blessings of this covenant.

Q. Hath faith the same place in the covenant of grace, that obedience had in the covenant of works?

A. No; for Adam's obedience, had he performed it, was a condition in a proper sense, which gave him a right to life, and was pleadable before God, for that effect; which cannot be said of faith, seeing it is not our faith, but Christ's surety

*The Westminster Assembly, and our Assembly, 1648, in Lar. Cat. 32 Quest. do also assert this in express words; "That God re"quireth faith as the condition to interest sinners in Christ;" proving it from John i. 12. and iii. 16. Now our Lar. Cat. that hath these words, was approven by the Westminster Assembly, and the Assembly 1648, after the most exact trial and examination, both by themselves, and by the respective Presbyteries of this church, as appears from the Act of Assembly 1648, Sect. 10. If these noble reforming Assemblies had not thought fit to use the word condition, to guard against the Antinorians, who say, The elect are justified before they believe; probably I might have dropt it, as being abused by some. But I continue to use it, in order to explain the words of our standards, to prevent inistakes, and to shew in what sense the word condition, may be safely used when applied to faith, as our reformers understood it, viz. That it is no wise a meritorious or pleadable condition, but only an instrumental or applying condition, mean, or qualification (these being all one and the same) required in us, in order to our getting an actual interest in Christ, and the possession of the ether benefits of his purchase (for faith is also his purchase, though required of us.) and that Christ's righteousness and satisfaction alone, is the meritericus and pleadable condition of a sinner's justificadan before Dod, and of his eterual salvation, and nothing else.