The Assembly's Shorter Catechism Explained

Question: 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: What is it to believe what the scriptures teach?

Answer: It is to assent and give credit to the truths thereof, because of the authority of God, whose word the scriptures are, John 3:33 - "He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true."

Question: Are we to believe nothing in point of faith, and do nothing in point of duty, but what we are taught in the scripture?

Answer: No; because the scripture is the only book in the world of divine authority; and the revealed will and command of God therein, being so exceeding broad, nothing is incumbent on us to believe and do, but what is either directly, or consequentially prescribed in it, Isaiah 8:20.

Question: Why are the scriptures said principally to teach matters of faith and practice?

Answer: Because though all things revealed in the scripture be equally true, yet every thing in it is not equally necessary to salvation, 1 Cor. 7:12, 13.

Question: What is the order of doctrine laid down in this question?

Answer: Faith or believing is made the foundation of duty, or obedience; and not our obedience, or duty, the foundation of our faith, Titus 3:8.

Question: Why are the things to be believed, set before the things to be practised?

Answer: To distinguish between the order of things in the covenant of grace, from what they were in innocency, in the covenant of works, Gal. 3:12.

Question: What was the order of things in the covenant of works?

Answer: Doing, or perfect obedience to the law, was the foundation of the promised privilege of life: "The man which doeth these things, shall live by them," Rom. 10:5.

Question: Is this order inverted in the covenant of grace, or gospel revelation?

Answer: Yes; the promise is to be believed, and the promised privilege, namely, life, must be freely received; and upon this follows our obedience to the law, from gratitude and love, Jer. 31:18, 19.

Question: How does it appear that this is the order of gospel doctrine?

Answer: Because this is the order that God laid, in delivering the law at Mount Sinai; the foundation of faith is first laid in these words of the preface, "I am the Lord thy God," &c., which is the sum and substance of the covenant of grace; and then follow the Ten Commandments, which are, as it were, grafted upon this grant of sovereign grace and love, Ex. 20:2-17.

Question: Is this the order of doctrine laid down in the standards of the church of Scotland?

Answer: Yes; as appears from this answer to that question in the Shorter Catechism, "What doth the preface to the Ten Commandments teach us?" The Answer is, "That because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemer; therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments."11

Question: Are we then to keep the commandments, that God may become our God?

Answer: No; for this were to slide into a covenant of works; but we are to keep them, because "he is our God," according to the tenor of the covenant of grace; Psalm 45:11, in metre, - "Because he is thy Lord, do thou him worship reverently."

Question: Why do men naturally think, that upon their doing certain acts, God will be their God?

Answer: Because of the natural bias of the heart of man, to the order in the covenant of works, "Do, and live," Rom. 9:32, and chap. 10:3

Question: Does not this order make void the law, or weaken our obligation to the duties of it?

Answer: By no means; but rather establishes the law, and settles our obligation to duty upon its proper foundation, Rom. 3:31. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."

Question: How is this order of doctrine further evinced?

Answer: From the method of doctrine observed by the apostle Paul, who tells us, that all true gospel obedience is the obedience of faith, Rom. 16:26. And accordingly in his epistles, he first lays down the doctrine of faith to be believed; and, upon that foundation, proceeds to inculcate the duties that are to be practised.

Question: Does gospel obedience interest us in God, as our God?

Answer: No; but it is a fruit and evidence of our interest in him, 1 John 2:3, 5.

Question: Is there any danger of inverting this order, and of making duty done by us, the foundation of believing the Lord to be our God?

Answer: There is exceedingly great danger; for it is the very soul of Popery. By inverting this order, they were led back to a covenant of works, and the doctrine of the merit of good works, which is the foundation of the whole Antichristian superstructure.

Question: Do not we find frequently in scripture, a reward promised to good works, Psalm 19:11 - "In keeping of thy commandments there is a great reward:" Psalm 58:11 - "Verily there is a reward to the righteous?"

Answer: True; but this is a reward of grace, not of debt: the man that is rewarded, must be a believer in Christ, whose person is first accepted, through his union to Christ by faith, and the imputation of his righteousness, before any of his works or duties can be accepted, Eph. 1:6; Gen. 4:4.

Question: What may be said of the works of a man that has no faith?

Answer: They are dead works, and so cannot please a living God. An evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit, Matt. 7:18; and without Christ, and union with him, we can do nothing, John 15:4, 5.

Question: What is to be thought of those who inculcate moral duties, without discovering the necessity of the new birth and union with Christ by faith, as the spring of all acceptable obedience?

Answer: They are foolish builders, laying their foundation on the sand, perverting the gospel of Christ; against whom the apostle denounces an awful doom, Gal. 1:9 - "If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. "


The Assembly's Shorter Catechism Explained

Question: What is God?

Answer: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Of the nature and perfections of God in general.

Question: What is the first fundamental truth to be believed, and upon which all other truths depend?

Answer: That God is; or that there is a God, Heb. 11:6 - "He that cometh unto God, must believe that he is."

Question: Is this fundamental truth known by the light of natural reason?

Answer: Yes; as the apostle declares, Rom. 1:20 - "The invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; even his eternal power and Godhead."

Question: In what volumes has God discovered the knowledge of himself to all mankind?

Answer: In the great volumes of creation and providence; which he opens to all the world.

Question: What says the volume of creation as to the being of a God?

Answer: All creatures in general, and every creature in particular, say that God "made us, and not we ourselves," Psalm 100:3.

Question: What says the volume of providence?

Answer: It says, that the same God who gave us being, upholds us therein; and governs us to the end for which he made us, Heb. 1:3.

Question: Is not every man's own being, a convincing evidence that there is a God?

Answer: Yes; for, "in him we live, move, and have our being." No man can have any hand in his own formation in the womb, Psalm 139:15, 16; nor can he add a cubit unto his stature, or make one hair of his head either white or black, Matt. 6:27; and 5:36.

Question: Though the works of creation and providence declare that God is, can they also tell us what God is?

Answer: They afford us some dark glimpses of his eternal power, wisdom, greatness, and goodness; but it is only by and through the scriptures of truth, set home on the soul by his Spirit, that we can attain the saving knowledge of God, and of his perfections, John 5:39; 2 Pet. 1:19; Rom. 15:4.

Question: Who is it that reveals God to the sons of men in the word?

Answer: Christ, the eternal Son of God: "No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him," John 1:18.

Question: What account of himself, has God given us in the scriptures?

Answer: There are three short, but comprehensive descriptions which he has given of himself there: (1.) That God is light, 1 John 1:5. (2.) That God is love, 1 John 4:8, 16. (3.) That God is a Spirit, John 4:24.

Question: Why is God said to be light?

Answer: Because of his infinite purity and omniscience, Hab. 1:13; Heb. 4:13; and because he is the fountain and father of all light, whether material, natural, gracious, or glorious, James 1:17.

Question: Why is God said to be love?

Answer: Because, according to the manifestation he has made of himself in Christ, love is the reigning excellency of his nature, which gives a dye or tincture to all his other perfections, in their egress, or exercise about the salvation of sinners, of mankind, John 3:16; 1 John 4:8-10.

Question: Why is he said to be a Spirit?

Answer: Because he is necessarily and essentially a living intelligent substance; incorruptible, incorporeal, without flesh, or bones, or bodily parts, Luke 24:39.

Question: How far does God transcend all created spirits?

Answer: He is as infinitely above the being of all created spirits, as he is above the conception of all intelligent creatures. Job 37:23 - "Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out."

Question: Since God is a most simple and pure Spirit, why are bodily parts, such as eyes, ears, hands, face, and the like, ascribed to him in scripture?

Answer: Such figurative expressions ought not to be understood in their literal sense, but according to the true scope and intent of them; which is to set forth some acts and perfections of the divine nature, to which these members of the body bear some faint resemblance. Thus, when eyes and ears are ascribed to God, they signify his omniscience; hands are desired to denote his power; and his face, the manifestation of his favour: and in this light, other metaphors of like nature, when applied to God, ought to be explained.

Question: Is it lawful to form any external image of God with the hand, or any internal imaginary idea of him in the fancy?

Answer: It is absolutely unlawful and idolatrous; condemned in the Second Commandment, and other scriptures, Deut. 4:12, 15. Rom. 1:23. Man cannot form an imaginary idea of his own soul or spirit, far less of Him who is the Father of spirits.

Question: What may we learn from God's being a spirit?

Answer: To worship him in spirit and in truth, John 4:24.

Question: What is it to worship him in spirit and in truth?

Answer: It is to worship him, from a real and saving knowledge of what he is in Christ to lost sinners of mankind, John 17:3.

Question: Is it possible for man to attain the real and saving knowledge of God?

Answer: Although neither men nor angels can have a comprehensive knowledge of God, Job 11:7-9; yet, besides the speculative and merely rational knowledge of him, which men have, and may have much of, by the light of nature, a saving and satisfying knowledge of him is attainable, and is promised in the word, Jer. 24:7 - "I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord." And John 6:45 - "It is written in the prophets, They shall be all taught of God."

Question: Wherein consists the saving knowledge of God?

Answer: It is like the white stone and new name, which no man knows but he that receives it, Rev. 2:17; and he that attains it, cannot make language of it, but silently admires what he cannot comprehend: only, there is no saving knowledge of God, but in and through Christ the Saviour, 2 Cor. 4:6.

Question: What is the language of the soul that sees God, and knows him savingly in Christ?

Answer: It is like that of Moses, Ex. 15:11 - "Who is like unto thee, O Lord? - who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" Or that of the Psalmist, Psalm 48:14 - "This God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death."

Question: What are the rays of divine glory in the face of Jesus Christ by which we come to know God savingly?

Answer: They are the attributes and perfections of his nature, by which he is pleased to manifest himself; such as, that he is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

Question: Are these attributes of God, distinct things from God himself, or the divine essence?

Answer: By no means; for, whatever is in God, is God himself; and therefore the infinity of all perfection, is inseparable from the divine essence.

Question: Are the divine attributes separable from one another, so as that which is infinite should not be eternal, and that which is infinite and eternal, should not be unchangeable, and so of the rest?

Answer: All perfections whatsoever being inseparable from God, must also be inseparable from one another; for though we, through weakness, must think and speak of them separately, yet all of them taken together, are, properly speaking, but the one infinite perfection of the divine nature, which cannot be separated from it, without granting that God is not infinitely perfect, which would be the height of blasphemy to suppose.

Question: Why are the perfections of God called his attributes?

Answer: Because they are attributed or ascribed to him, as the essential properties of his nature, 1 Chron. 29:11.

Question: How are the attributes of God commonly divided?

Answer: Into incommunicable and communicable.

Question: What are the incommunicable attributes of God, mentioned in the answer?

Answer: His infinity, eternity, and unchangeableness.

Question: Why called incommunicable?

Answer: Because there is not the least resemblance of them to be found among the creatures.

Question: What are the attributes that are called communicable?

Answer: They are being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

Question: Why called communicable?

Answer: Because there is some faint resemblance or similitude of them to be found among the creatures, namely, angels, and saints: hence are they proposed in scripture for our imitation, Psalm 11:6 - "The righteous Lord loveth righteousness." 1 Pet. 1:16 - "Be ye holy, for I am holy."

Question: Can these communicable attributes be ascribed to any creature, as they are in God?

Answer: No; for they are in God, infinitely, eternally, and unchangeably; he is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being; infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his wisdom, and so on of the rest, which would be blasphemy to affirm of any creature: hence it is said, Matt. 19:17, "There is none good but one, that is God:" None infinitely, eternally, and unchangeably good, but he only.

Question: What is it for God to be infinite?

Answer: It is to be absolutely without all bounds or limits in his being and perfections, Job 11:7-9.

Question: What does the infinity of God imply in it?

Answer: His incomprehensibleness, immensity, and omnipresence.

Question: What is it for God to be incomprehensible?

Answer: It is infinitely to transcend the most enlarged capacity of men or angels, as to his being and perfections, Psalm 145:3; Job 36:26.

Question: What is the immensity of God?

Answer: As it includes his omnipresence, it is that perfection of his nature, by which he is every where present with all and every one of his creatures; and infinitely exceeds all their limits and boundaries, 1 Kings 8:27.

Question: What is the difference between the omnipresence and immensity of God?

Answer: The omnipresence of God is included in his immensity, and though not separable therefrom, yet may be conceived as having a respect to created substances, with every one of which he is intimately present; whereas his immensity extends infinitely beyond the boundaries of all created substance, 2 Chron. 6:18.

Question: Is God every where present only as to his knowledge and power?

Answer: He is every where present also as to his essence of being, as is evident from Jer. 23:23, 24.

Question: How may this be evinced also from reason?

Answer: Reason teaches us that no creature can subsist by itself, without the presence of God to uphold it in its being and operation. Acts 17:28 - "In him we live, and move, and have our being."

Question: How is God present with the church here on earth?

Answer: He is present, with the church visible, by the ordinances and symbols of his institution, Ex. 20:24; and with the church invisible, or believers, by the inhabitation and operation of his Holy Spirit, Ezek. 36:27.

Question: How is he present in heaven?

Answer: By the most bright and immediate displays of his glory; all the inhabitants of the upper sanctuary seeing him as he is, and enjoying him without interruption for ever, 1 John 3:2; Psalm 16:11.

Question: How is he present in hell?

Answer: In a way of tremendous power and justice, upholding the damned in their being, that they may lie under the strokes of his vindictive wrath for evermore, Psalm 90:11; Matt. 25:46.

Question: What may we learn from God's omnipresence?

Answer: That no affliction or temptation can befall the saints without his knowledge and sympathy, Isaiah 43:2.

Question: What is the difference between time and eternity?

Answer: Time has a continual succession, the former time passing away, and another succeeding; but eternity is an infinite immutable duration.

Question: What is it for God to be eternal?

Answer: It is that perfection of his nature, by which he continually exists, without any beginning, end, or succession of time.

Question: How do you prove that God is without beginning?

Answer: From Psalm 90:2 - "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God;" that is, since thou didst exist before the mountains were brought forth, or before the beginning of time, thou art absolutely eternal.

Question: How do you prove that God is without end?

Answer: From Psalm 102:12, 27 - "Thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever, - and thy years shall have no end;" for that which had no beginning of duration, can never have an end of it, but must always necessarily exist.

Question: How do you prove that he is without succession of time?

Answer: From Psalm 90:4 - "A thousand years are in thy sight but as yesterday when it is past:" and 2 Pet. 3:8 - "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." He does not only always remain in being, but is always the same in that being, Psalm 102:27.

Question: What is the difference between God's eternity, and the eternity of angels and the souls of men?

Answer: God's eternity is essential, absolute, and independent, without beginning, as well as without end; but the eternity of angels, and of the souls of men, is quite of another nature; for, as they had a beginning, so their duration admits of a succession, as long as time lasts: and though they shall never have an end, yet this eternity of theirs is not necessary and essential to their nature, but flows from the will and power of God; who, if he pleased, could bring them to an end, as well as he gave them a beginning.

Question: What use should the wicked make of God's eternity?

Answer: It should be matter of the greatest terror to them while they continue in their wickedness; for, in this case, God will be their eternal foe, and will punish them with everlasting destruction, 2 Thess. 1:9.

Question: What use should the godly, or believers in Christ, make of it?

Answer: They should improve it as matter of unspeakable comfort; because their God, being the eternal God, will therefore be the strength of their heart, and their portion for ever, Psalm 73:26.

Question: What do you understand by God's being unchangeable?

Answer: His most perfect constancy, by which he is infinitely free from any actual or possible change, and is always the same.

Question: How is God's unchangeableness proved from scripture?

Answer: From Mal. 3:6 - "I am the Lord, I change not;" and James 1:17 - "The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

Question: How may it be proved from reason?

Answer: Reason teaches, that if God did change, it behoved either to be to the better, or to the worse; neither of which is consistent with his absolute perfection, Matt. 5:48.

Question: Can any creature be unchangeable in its nature?

Answer: No; because every creature depends upon God for being and operation, Acts 17:28.

Question: Are not holy angels, and glorified saints, unchangeable?

Answer: They are in a state of unchangeable happiness, Eph. 1:10; but this is owing to sovereign grace, and not to their own natures, Rom. 6:23.

Question: Did creation make any change in God?

Answer: It made a change in the creature, from nothing to being; but none in God, because his will and power to create were the same from eternity.

Question: How is God unchangeable, when he sometimes said in scripture to repent, as in Gen. 6:6. Jonah 3:10?

Answer: When, in these or the like places, he is said to repent, it imports only an alteration of his way, or outward conduct according to his infallible foresight, but no change of his mind or will, Job 23:13.

Question: What may we learn from God's unchangeableness?

Answer: That he will accomplish his promise, Micah 7:20; rest in his love, Zeph. 3:17; and finish the good work which he has begun in the soul, Phil. 1:6.

Question: In what is God infinite, eternal, and unchangeable?

Answer: In his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

Question: What is understood by God's being?

Answer: It is what is usually called his essence.

Question: What is the divine essence?

Answer: It is the glorious and transcendent nature of God, by which he is infinitely blessed in himself, and comprehended by none beside himself.

Question: What is the highest perfection of being?

Answer: That to which nothing can be added, and from which nothing can be taken, and which is independent of all things else, Job 35:6-8.

Question: Can being itself, or being in a proper and strict sense, be attributed to any, but God only?

Answer: No; for though the heavens and the earth, angels and men, have a being; yet there is no infinite, eternal, and unchangeable being, but God only. It is God alone that can say, I AM, Ex. 3:14.

Question: What is the import of that name, I AM?

Answer: It is of the same import with the name JEHOVAH: as if he had said, I am being itself, the author and fountain of all beings in heaven or earth.

Question: What are all other beings, in comparison with the being of God?

Answer: All other beings are but created, contingent, and shadowy beings, if compared with his, who spoke them into being, Psalm 33:6, 9.

Question: What says God concerning those that are taken up with created beings, without ever reflecting upon the supreme, infinite, and eternal Being?

Answer: That they are brutish among the people; fools, destitute of wisdom, Psalm 94:8; more brutish than the ox that knoweth his owner, Isaiah 1:3.

Question: Are not all created beings, with their perfections, originally in God, and from him?

Answer: Yes; as is evident from the unanswerable reasoning of the Spirit of God, Psalm 94:9, 10:- "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? - He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?"

Question: What may we learn from God's being?

Answer: That as he gave being to all the creatures, so he will give being to all his promises, in their full accomplishment, Ex. 6:8.

Question: Is not omniscience, or infinite knowledge and understanding, inseparably connected with infinite wisdom?

Answer: Yes; "For the Lord is a God of knowledge, by him actions are weighed," 1 Sam. 2:3.

Question: What is God's omniscience?

Answer: It is that perfection of his nature, by which he knows all things most perfectly in himself, by one eternal act, Acts 15:18.

Question: How do you prove from scripture that he knows all things?

Answer: From 1 John 3:20 - "God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things."

Question: How does God's omniscience appear from reason?

Answer: He who made all things, cannot but know and comprehend his own workmanship, Psalm 94:9.

Question: How does it appear that he has a perfect knowledge of intelligent creatures?

Answer: If he did not perfectly know them, and their actions, he could not be their supreme governor and judge, Heb. 4:13.

Question: What is the object of the divine knowledge or omniscience?

Answer: God himself, Matt. 11:27, and all other things whatsoever, John 21:17.

Question: How is it evident, that God has a most perfect knowledge of himself, and his own glorious excellencies?

Answer: Because otherwise his understanding would not be infinite, as it is asserted to be, Psalm 147:5, in regard all other objects, beside himself, are but finite.

Question: Is the knowledge of God absolutely independent upon12 the creature?

Answer: It is so independent upon the creature, "as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain, Acts 15:18; Ezek. 11:5."13

Question: How does it appear, that God has a certain and infallible knowledge of contingent actions, or of such things as seem casual and accidental to us?

Answer: It appears from this, that future events, which depend upon the freedom of man's will, or upon second causes, are expressly foretold in scripture, and, therefore, certainly foreknown by God; such as, Joseph's preferment, and Israel's oppression in Egypt; Ahab's death, though by an arrow shot at a venture; Caesar's decree, that all the world should be taxed, bringing about Christ's birth at Bethlehem; and many other instances.

Question: How does God know things that are only possible?

Answer: He knows them in his power, which could easily bring them to pass if he had so decreed, Matt. 19:26.

Question: How does he know things future, or such as actually come to pass in time?

Answer: He knows them not only in his power, as able to effect them; but in his will, as determining their futurition,14 or after-existence, Gen. 17:21.

Question: Is God's knowledge of things general or particular?

Answer: It is a particular knowledge of every individual creature, and every circumstance about it, Psalm 139:2; Matt. 10:29, 30.

Question: Is there any succession in his knowledge, or does he know one thing before another?

Answer: As there is no succession in his essence, so there is none in his knowledge; he knows all things eternally, infallibly, and immutably, by one single act of his infinite understanding, Heb. 4:13 - "All things are naked and opened, unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

Question: What conception may we have of the difference between the infinite knowledge and wisdom of God?

Answer: His infinite knowledge comprehends all things in heaven and earth, by one intuitive glance of his infinite mind; but his infinite wisdom directs these things to the proper ends, for which he gave them their being, Rom. 11:36.

Question: How does the wisdom of God appear in the work of creation?

Answer: It appears in the excellent order, beauty, and harmony that are to be seen in all parts of the creation, Psalm 19:1-7; in the subserviency of one thing to another, Hos. 2:21, 22; the tendency of the whole, to manifest the glory of God, Rev. 4:11; and calculate also for the good of man as his peculiar favourite, Psalm 115:16.

Question: How does the wisdom of God appear in the works of providence?

Answer: In adjusting the whole of his administrations according to the plan laid in his infinite mind from eternity; or his most judicious and regular putting his counsels into execution, Psalm 33:10, 11.

Question: How does the wisdom of God shine in the work of redemption?

Answer: In making an honourable egress and vent for his mercy and love to sinners of mankind, in the way of satisfying his justice to the full, by the obedience and death of the blessed Surety, Rom. 5:21.

Question: What encouragement ought we to take from the wisdom of God?

Answer: That he will make all things work together for our good, Rom. 8:28; and that no plot can be so deeply laid for our ruin, but his wisdom can easily frustrate and disappoint, Job 5:13.

Question: What is the power of God?

Answer: It is that essential perfection of his nature, by which he can do whatsoever he pleases, in heaven and earth, in the seas, and all deep places, Psalm 135:6.

Question: What is the object of divine power, or to what does it extend?

Answer: To all things possible, though limited, by his will, to those things only which he has decreed to be done, Matt. 26:53, 54.

Question: Is it any impeachment of God's omnipotence, that he cannot lie, cannot deny himself?

Answer: By no means; for, on the contrary, God is therefore omnipotent, because it is impossible for him to do evil or depart from the infinite rectitude of his own will, 1 Sam. 15:29 - "The strength of Israel will not lie."

Question: In what does God manifest his infinite power?

Answer: In creation, providence, and redemption.

Question: How is the power of God manifested in creation?

Answer: In calling "those things that be not as though they were," Rom. 4:7; without the assistance or instrumentality of any whosoever, Isaiah 44:24.

Question: How is it displayed in the conduct of providence?

Answer: In upholding and preserving all his creatures from sinking into their original nothing, Heb. 1:3; and, particularly, in protecting and defending his church, in midst of all the dangers and enemies, with which it is surrounded, Matt. 16:18.

Question: How is the power of God illustrated in the glorious work of redemption?

Answer: By laying the chief cornerstone thereof, in the union of the human nature to the person of the Son of God; supporting him under the inconceivable load of divine wrath, for our sins, and spoiling principalities and powers in that very nature which Satan had vanquished at first; hence he is called "the power of God," 1 Cor. 1:24 - "the arm of the Lord," Isaiah 53:1; and "the man of his right hand," Psalm 80:17.

Question: How is the power of God denied or abused by men?

Answer: By limiting it, as Israel did, Psalm 78:19; by trusting more to an arm of flesh, than to the arm of God, Jer. 17:5; and by fearing the wrath of man more than the displeasure of God, Isaiah 51:12, 13.

Question: What improvement may faith make of the power of a promising God?

Answer: It can fasten upon it, for the performance of his gracious word, Rom 4:20, 21; for resisting and conquering sin, Satan, and the world, saying, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Rom. 8:31; and for the practice of any commanded duty, however difficult, saying, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me," Phil. 4:13.

Question: What is the holiness of God?

Answer: It is that essential rectitude or integrity of his nature, by which he infinitely delights in his own purity, and in every thing agreeable to his will, Hab. 1:13; and has a perfect hatred and abhorrence of every thing contrary to it, Jer. 44:4.

Question: Is God necessarily holy?

Answer: Holiness is as necessary to him as his being: he is as necessarily holy, as he is necessarily God: "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord? - for thou only art holy," Rev. 15:4.

Question: What peculiar honour does God put upon his own holiness?

Answer: He singles it out as the attribute to swear by, for the accomplishment of his promises and threatenings, Psalm 89:35 - "Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David."

Question: Are finite creatures able to behold the brightness of God's holiness?

Answer: No; for when the angels themselves view his infinite holiness, as manifested in Christ, they are represented as covering their faces with their wings, Isaiah 6:2.

Question: How are sinners of mankind made partakers of his holiness?

Answer: By regenerating grace, and spiritual ingraftment into the second Adam, John 15:4, 5; by faith's improvement of the great and precious promises, 2 Pet. 1:4; and by beholding the glory of this attribute, as it shines in the person and sufferings of the Son of God, presented to our view in the glass of the gospel revelation, 2 Cor. 5:21.

Question: Does every thing pertaining to God, bear the stamp and impress of his holiness?

Answer: Yes; he is holy in all his works, Psalm 145:17; his word is holy, Rom. 1:2; his covenant or promise is holy. Psalm 105:42; his Sabbath is holy, Isaiah 58:13; his people are holy, chap. 62:12; his ministering spirits are the holy angels, Rev. 14:10; and the place where he dwells, is the high and holy place, Isaiah 57:15.

Question: In what did the holiness of God appear in the creation of man?

Answer: In making him upright, Eccl. 7:29, after his own image, Gen. 1:27; and writing a law upon his heart, which was the transcript of his holiness, Rom, 7:12.

Question: How has God discovered his holiness in his providential procedure?

Answer: In not sparing the angels who sinned; and in the visible and remarkable judgments, which he has inflicted upon notorious offenders in this life, 2 Pet. 2:4-6.

Question: What was the highest display of God's holiness, and detestation of sin?

Answer: His hiding his face from his own beloved Son, as bearing our iniquity, Matt. 27:46.

Question: What is the greatest opposite of the holiness of God?

Answer: Sin: therefore called that abominable thing which God hates, Jer. 44:4.

Question: How does God hate sin?

Answer: He hates it necessarily, and with a "perfect hatred," Psalm 5:4-6.

Question: Since God thus hates sin, how does his permission of it consist with his holiness?

Answer: It fully consists with it, because his permission of sin has no influence upon the commission of it, which entirely flows from the free will of the sinner, James 1:13, 14. Besides, God thereby takes occasion to give a brighter display of his holiness and detestation of sin, than though Adam had continued in innocence; when he spared not his own Son, but gave him unto death on account of it, Rom. 8:32.

Question: What improvement ought we to make of the holiness of God?

Answer: To "give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness," Psalm 30:4; to proclaim the glory of it, Ex. 15:11; and to study holiness in all manner of conversation, 1 Pet. 1:15.

Question: How may we know if we have suitable impressions of God's holiness?

Answer: If we stand in awe to offend him, Gen. 39:9; and have an habitual desire after more conformity to him, 1 John 3:3.

Question: What is the justice of God?

Answer: It is that essential attribute of his nature, by which he is infinitely righteous and equal in himself, and in all his ways towards his creatures, Deut. 32:4.

Question: How may the justice of God be considered?

Answer: Either as it relates to himself, or to rational creatures.

Question: What is God's justice as it relates to himself?

Answer: It is his making his own glory the fixed and invariable rule of the whole of his procedure, Isaiah 42:8.

Question: What is God's justice in relation to rational creatures?

Answer: It is his righteous government of them, according to their nature, and the law he has given them, Rom. 2:12, 14, 15.

Question: How is it usually distinguished?

Answer: Into legislative and distributive justice.

Question: What is legislative justice?

Answer: It is his giving most holy, just, and good laws to rational creatures, commanding and forbidding them, what is fit for them to do, or forbear, Isaiah 33:22.

Question: Has man a power to give obedience to these laws?

Answer: He once had power, but by the fall has lost it, Rom. 3:23.

Question: How does it consist with the justice of God to demand that obedience, which man has not power to give?

Answer: God cannot lose his right to demand obedience to his laws, though man has lost his power to give it; especially as man's inability was contracted by his own voluntary apostasy and rebellion, Eccl. 7:29 - "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions."

Question: What is God's distributive justice?

Answer: It is his constant will, to render to rational creatures their due, according to law, without respect to persons, Job 34:11. 1 Pet. 1:17.

Question: What are the laws according to which God will distribute justice among men?

Answer: They are two: the law of works, and the law of faith.

Question: Where are they mentioned?

Answer: In Rom. 3:27 - "Where is boasting, then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith."

Question: What is understood by the law of works, and the law of faith?

Answer: By the law of works, is understood the covenant of works; and by the law of faith, the covenant of grace.

Question: What is due to the sinner, in justice, according to the law of works?

Answer: Death and the curse; which include all woe and misery, in time, and through eternity, Rom. 6:23; Gal. 3:10.

Question: What is the sinner's due according to the law of faith?

Answer: Acquittance and acceptance, on account of the surety-righteousness imputed to him, and apprehended by faith, Rom. 3:24, and 8:1.

Question: Is God just in dealing thus with the ungodly sinner, who believes in Christ?

Answer: Yes; his righteousness is declared in so doing, Rom. 3:25, 26 - "Whom God hath set forth for a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness, - that he might be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus."

Question: Does God reward the sincere, though imperfect obedience of his people to the law, as a rule of life?

Answer: In keeping of his commandments there is indeed great reward, Psalm 19:11; but then this reward is entirely of free grace, and not of debt, Rom. 4:4, 5; it is not on account of any worth in their obedience, Psalm 115:1; but only on account of what Christ has merited, by his obedience to the death, 1 Pet. 2:5.

Question: How is this kind of justice called?

Answer: Remunerative or rewarding justice, Psalm 58:11 - "Verily, there is a reward for the righteous."

Question: Is not God's taking vengeance on transgressors, a righteous act of justice?

Answer: Yes; for "every transgression and disobedience receives a just recompense of reward," Heb. 2:2. "It is a righteous thing to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you," 2 Thess. 1:6. Hence says the same apostle, Rom. 3:5, 6 - "Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?"

Question: How is this justice of God called?

Answer: Vindictive or punishing justice, Acts 28:4.

Question: What is vindictive justice?

Answer: It is God's inflicting the punishment upon sin, which is threatened in the law, Gen. 2:17; Ezek. 18:4.

Question: Could God, of his own free will, have pardoned sin without a satisfaction to his justice?

Answer: No; for he has declared, "that in forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin," he "will by no means clear the guilty;" namely, without a satisfaction, Ex. 34:7.

Question: How do you prove, that vindictive, or punishing justice, is essential to God?

Answer: From the infinite holiness of God, who cannot but hate, and consequently punish sin, Hab. 1:12, 13; from his faithfulness in the threatening, Gen. 2:17; Psalm 95:11; from the remarkable judgments that have been inflicted on sinners in this life, Jude, verse 5, 7; and from the sufferings and death of God's only begotten Son, whom he would surely have spared, if there had been any other possible way of pardoning sin, but through his satisfaction, Matt. 26:42; 2 Cor. 5:21.

Question: What improvement ought we to make of the justice of God, as glorified by the satisfactory death of his own Son?

Answer: To plead the perfect and full satisfaction of it by the Surety, as the honourable channel, in which we expect all mercy and grace to flow plentifully to us, as the Psalmist did, Psalm 25:11 - "For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great."

Question: What is the goodness of God?

Answer: It is that essential property of his nature, by which he is infinitely good in himself; and the author and fountain of all good to others, Psalm 119:68.

Question: How may the goodness of God be distinguished?

Answer: Int: his absolute and relative goodness.

Question: What is his absolute goodness?

Answer: It is the essential goodness of his nature, without considering it in relation to the creatures, Matt. 19:17 - "There is none good but one, that is, God."

Question: What is his relative goodness?

Answer: It is the relation that his goodness bears to the creatures; both in the propensity of his nature to do them good, Ex. 33:19, and in the actual manifestation and communication of the blessings of his bounty to them, in creation, providence, and redemption, chap. 34:6, 7.

Question: How is the goodness of God manifested in the work of creation in general?

Answer: In giving being to his creatures, when he stood in no need of them, being infinitely happy in himself, though no creature had ever been made, Psalm 16:2; and in making all things very good, Gen. 1:31.

Question: How is the goodness of God displayed in the creation of man in particular?

Answer: In making him after his own image; furnishing the world with such a variety of creatures for his use; giving him dominion over them, Gen. 1:27, 28; and in entering into covenant with him, chap. 2:16, 17.

Question: How is the goodness of God manifested in his providence?

Answer: In preserving his creatures, and making bountiful provision for them, Psalm 145:9, 15, 16.

Question: How is this goodness distinguished?

Answer: Into common and special goodness.

Question: What is his common goodness?

Answer: His dispensing the good things of this life, promiscuously among his creatures, Matt. 5:45 - "He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

Question: Is God good even to the wicked who are his enemies?

Answer: Yes; for he not only provides for them, "filling their hearts with food and gladness," Acts 14:17; but exercises long-suffering patience towards them, Neh. 9:17; and affords such of them as are within the visible church, the means of salvation, Acts 13:26.

Question: What is the special goodness of God?

Answer: It is his distinguishing love to a certain number of mankind lost, manifested in their redemption through Christ, Rev. 5:9.

Question: In what does the goodness of God appear in the work of redemption?

Answer: Both in the contrivance and execution of it.

Question: How does the goodness of God appear in the contrivance of redemption?

Answer: In remembering us in our low state, Psalm 136:23; laying our help on his own Son, the mighty One, Psalm 89:19; and in setting him up as a new covenant head from everlasting, Proverbs 8:23.

Question: How does it appear in the execution of our redemption?

Answer: In sending his Son to assume our nature, and thus to fulfil all righteousness for us, John 3:16, Jer. 23:6; and on the foundation of that righteousness, giving us grace and glory, and every good thing, from a cup of cold water, to a seat with him on his throne, Psalm 84:11; Rev. 3:21.

Question: What are the streams in which the special goodness of God flows out?

Answer: In the streams of love, grace and mercy, according to his name, Ex. 34:6, - "the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious," &c.

Question: What is the difference between the love, grace, and mercy of God?

Answer: They are much the same, only love considers the sinner simply as God's creature; grace views him as ill-deserving; and mercy, through a satisfaction, respects him as in misery.

Question: Who are the objects of God's special goodness?

Answer: His chosen ones, Psalm 106:4, 5 - "O visit me with thy salvation, that I may see the good of thy chosen."

Question: Can this special goodness of God be expressed in words?

Answer: No; for "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him," 1 Cor. 2:9. And Psalm 31:19 - "O! how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee."

Question: Where is this goodness of God laid up?

Answer: It is laid up in Christ, who has received the gifts of God's goodness for men, Psalm 68:18 - "When he ascended up on high, he - gave gifts unto men," Eph. 4:8; and therefore, God has made him most blessed for ever, Psalm 21:6.

Question: How is this goodness laid out and brought near to us?

Answer: It is laid out in the exceeding great and precious promises, 2 Pet. 1:4; and brought near in the full, free, and unhampered offer of the gospel, Mark 16:15.

Question: How are we savingly interested in all this goodness?

Answer: By faith, receiving and resting upon Christ alone for salvation, as he is freely offered in the gospel, John 1:12; 1 Cor. 3:22, 23.

Question: What are the properties of this goodness?

Answer: It is seasonable goodness, Heb. 4:16; it is soul-satisfying, Psalm 107:9; and it is immutable and everlasting, Psalm 52:1.

Question: What improvement ought we to make of the goodness of God?

Answer: We ought to "praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men," Psalm 107:8; to be influenced to repentance from the consideration of his goodness, Rom. 2:4; and to imitate God in it, Heb. 13:16.

Question: What is the truth of God?

Answer: It is that essential perfection of his nature, by which he cannot but fulfil and accomplish whatever he has spoken; or do as he has said, Num. 23:19.

Question: What is it that this perfection of God has a special relation to?

Answer: To the revelation of his will in his word: hence the whole scripture is infallible truth; "one jot, or one tittle, shall in no wise pass therefrom, till all be fulfilled," Matt. 5:18. For, "the word of the Lord endureth for ever," 1 Pet. 1:25.

Question: What is God's truth, as respecting his word, commonly called?

Answer: His faithfulness, or veracity, Heb. 10:23 - "He is faithful that promised."

Question: To what is the truth or faithfulness of God opposed?

Answer: To all change of mind, Job 23:13 - "He is in one mind, and who can turn him?" and to all lying and dissimulation, Heb. 6:18 - "It is impossible for God to lie."

Question: Can there be any inconsistency in his words?

Answer: No; for truth always hangs with itself, and he "keepeth truth for ever," Psalm 146:6.

Question: Can he possibly forget what he has said?

Answer: No, surely; for "he will ever be mindful of his covenant," Psalm 111:5.

Question: In what is the truth or faithfulness of God manifested?

Answer: In the exact accomplishment of his promises, Josh. 23:14; and the certain execution of his threatenings, Zech. 1:6.

Question: How do we give God the honour of his truth and faithfulness?

Answer: By faith, which sets to the seal that God is true, John 3:33; and judges him faithful who hath promised, Heb. 11:11.

Question: By what sin is this attribute of God most dishonoured?

Answer: By the sin of unbelief, which makes God a liar, because it believes not "the record that God gave of his Son," 1 John 5:10.

Question: What record does God give of his Son?

Answer: "This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son," 1 John 5:11.

Question: To whom is this record given?

Answer: To all the hearers of the gospel, as a ground of faith. Mark 16:15 - "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature:" Acts 2:39 - "The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."

Question: How does it appear that this record is given as a ground of faith, to all the hearers of the gospel?

Answer: If it were not so, it were impossible that unbelievers, under the gospel, could make God a liar; for if they have no concern in this record, and are not bound to believe it with application to themselves, their rejecting of it could not be their sin; because "where no law is, there is no transgression," Rom. 4:15.

Question: If the record, or promise of the God of truth, be made to every one of the hearers of the gospel, is he not, in that case, obliged to fulfil it to every one?

Answer: By no means: because the unbeliever wilfully rejects the promise, and will have no benefit by it, Psalm 81:10-13.

Question: By what example, in scripture, may this be illustrated?

Answer: By the example of the promise of Canaan, made indefinitely to all Israel who came out of Egypt, Ex. 6:6, 8; yet many of them "could not enter in because of unbelief," Heb. 3:19; even so, the promise of eternal life is made to all the hearers of the gospel; yet many of them come short of it, because "the word preached doth not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that hear it," Heb. 4:1, 2.

Question: What then is the deplorable case of unbelievers under the gospel?

Answer: They are condemned already, and "the wrath of God abideth on them," John 3:18, 36.

Question: What improvement ought we to make of the truth and faithfulness of God?

Answer: We ought to choose the way of truth, Psalm 119:30; walk in it, 3 John, ver. 4; bear witness for it before the world, Heb. 10:23; praise God for his truth, Psalm 148:2; and trust him on his word, without staggering at the promise through unbelief, Rom. 4:20.


The Assembly's Shorter Catechism Explained

Question: Are there more Gods than one?

Answer: There is but one only, the living and true God.

Question: How does it appear from scripture, that there is but one God only?

Answer: From Deut. 6:4 - "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord:" Isaiah 45:22 - "I am God, and there is none else."

Question: How does reason demonstrate this truth, that there is but one God?

Answer: Reason says, that there is but one first cause and ultimate end of all things: and that there cannot be two, or more, infinite, eternal and unchangeable beings.

Question: Why is God's omnipotence commonly adduced to prove, that he can be but one only?

Answer: Because he could not be omnipotent, or almighty, if any other could oppose or resist him, Job 9:12.

Question: How may it be proved from his government of the world?

Answer: There could not be a uniform governing of all things in the world, to one certain end, if the infinitely wise Governor, who is at the helm, were not one only.

Question: How are some of the divine perfections expressed in scripture, for proving the unity of the essence?

Answer: They are expressed in the abstract; for instance God is said to be "light," 1 John 1:5; to be "love," ch. 4:8; to be "strength," 1 Sam. 15:29; all which, and the like abstract properties, plainly denote that God is one only.

Question: Is God compounded of the several perfections of his nature, as the Socinians speak?

Answer: By no means: for all the several attributes of God are only the one infinite perfection of his most simple and uncompounded nature; which infinite perfection, because of our weakness, is described by parts, according to the several objects about which it is conversant.

Question: Is the vast variety of the divine decrees any argument against the divine unity?

Answer: No; because the decrees are various only with respect to the different objects and effects to which they extend, but not with respect to the act of the divine will, which is but one.

Question: Are there not several in scripture who are called gods?

Answer: Yes; angels, magistrates, and the idols of the heathen nations.

Question: Why are angels called gods? Psalm 97:7.

Answer: Because of the excellency of their nature, power, and wisdom, Psalm 103:20.

Question: Why are magistrates so called? Ex. 22:28.

Answer: Because they are God's deputies for government and justice among men, Rom. 13:4.

Question: Why are the idols of the heathen nations called gods? 1 Chron. 5:25.

Answer: Because ignorant and brutish persons have honoured them as such; but there is no reason at all to be "afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good," Jer. 10:5.

Question: Why is Satan called the god of this world? 2 Cor. 4:4.

Answer: Because he reigns and rules over the greatest part of the world, as his servants and slaves; for he is "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience," Eph. 2:2.

Question: Why are covetous men called idolaters? Eph. 5:5.

Answer: Because the world has that room in their heart which God should have.

Question: What may we learn from God's being one only?

Answer: To beware of mistaken notions of him, as if he were partly in heaven and partly on earth; for he is so much one, that he is wholly every where present, Jer. 23:24.

Question: Why is this one only God said to be the living God?

Answer: Because he has life essentially in himself, John 5:26; and is the author and giver of that life that is in any living creature, Acts 17:28; and likewise in opposition to dead and dumb idols, Psalm 115:4-7.

Question: Why is he called the true God?

Answer: In opposition to all false and imaginary gods, Jer. 10:10, 11.

Question: Why are living, and true put together in the answer?

Answer: Because they are inseparably conjoined in the infinitely perfect nature of God. He who is the living God is the only true God; and the true God, the only living God, 1 Thess. 1:9.

Question: What may we learn from his being the living God?

Answer: To present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service, Rom. 12:1.

Question: What may we learn from his being the only true God?

Answer: To worship him in spirit and in truth, John 4:24, because he desires truth in the inward parts, Psalm 51:6; and likewise to beware of setting up an idol, or regarding any iniquity in our hearts; otherwise he will not hear us, Psalm 66:18.


The Assembly's Shorter Catechism Explained

Question: How many persons are there in the Godhead?

Answer: There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

Question: Whence is it, that this article of our holy religion has been so much opposed by adversaries, in every period of the church?

Answer: The devil and his instruments have warmly opposed it because they know it is the primary object of our faith and worship; it not being enough for us to know what God is, as to his essential attributes, without knowing who he is, as to his personality, according as he has revealed himself in his word, to be Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 1 John 2:23, - "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father."

Question: Is this doctrine of the Trinity, then; a fundamental article, upon the belief of which our salvation depends?

Answer: Beyond all doubt it is: because without the knowledge and belief of the Trinity of persons, we would remain ignorant of the love of the Father, the merit of the Son, and the sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost, in the purchase and application of redemption; without which there could be no salvation, John 17:3, - "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."

Question: Can the Trinity of persons be proved from the Old Testament?

Answer: Yes; not only from the history of man's creation, where God speaks of himself in the plural number, "Let us make man," Gen. 1:26; but likewise from such passages, as expressly restrict this plurality to three persons, such as, Psalm 33:6, - "By the word of the Lord, or JEHOVAH, were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath, or spirit, of his mouth;" where there is mention made of JEHOVAH, the Word, and the Spirit, as concurring in the creation of all things: accordingly, we are told that all things were made by the Word, John 1:3, and that the Spirit garnished the heavens, Job 26:13. The same truth is also evident from Isaiah 63:7, 9, 10; where we read of the loving-kindness of JEHOVAH; Of the Angel of his presence saving them; and of their vexing his Holy Spirit. A plain discovery of a Trinity of persons.

Question: What is the meaning of the word Trinity, so commonly used in expressing this doctrine?

Answer: It signifies the same with Tri-unity, or three in one; that is, three distinct persons, in one and the same individual or numerical15 essence, 1 John 5:7.

Question: Is not a Trinity of persons, in the divine Essence, an unsearchable mystery?

Answer: Yes; and so is every perfection of God, which infinitely transcends our thoughts, and finite capacities, Col. 2:2; Job 11:6, 7.

Question: Is it not unreasonable to require a belief of what we cannot understand?

Answer: It is not at all unreasonable in matters that are entirely supernatural; but, on the contrary, it is the highest reason we should believe what God says of himself, and of the manner of his own subsistence, John 20:31; besides, it is the peculiar office of faith to subject our reason to divine revelation, Heb. 11:1.

Question: How has God revealed this mystery in his word?

Answer: He :as in it told us, that "there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one," 1 John 5:7. Or, as our Confession expresses it, "In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost," Matt. 3:16, 17 and 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14.

Question: What is meant by the word Godhead?

Answer: The divine nature or essence; Rom. 1:20, compared with Gal. 4:8.

Question: What is meant by a person in the Godhead?

Answer: A complete, intelligent, and individual subsistence, which is neither a part of, nor sustained by any other; but is distinguished by an incommunicable property in the same undivided essence.

Question: Has each person then a distinct nature, or essence of his own?

Answer: No; but the same divine nature, or essence, is common to all the three glorious persons, 1 John 5:7, - "These three are one;" not only united in will and affection, but in one and the same common nature, or essence: it being the transcendent and incommunicable property of the divine nature, to reside in more persons than one.

Question: What was the heresy of the Sabellians, and Tritheists, in opposition to this fundamental doctrine of the Trinity?

Answer: The Sabellians maintained that there is but one person in the Trinity under three different names; the Tritheists, that the three persons are three Gods.

Question: Is the word Person, as applied to this mystery, made use of in scripture?

Answer: Yes; for the Son is said to be the "express image of the Father's person," Heb. 1:3.

Question: How do you prove that there are three persons in the Godhead?

Answer: From the institution of baptism, Matt. 28:19; from the apostolical blessing, 2 Cor. 13:14; from John's salutation to the seven churches, Rev. 1:4, 5; and from the baptism of Christ, Matt. 3:16, 17; where the Father is manifested by a voice from heaven; the Son, by his bodily appearance on earth; and the Holy Ghost, by his lighting on him in the shape of a dove.

Question: How is it farther evident that they are three distinct persons?

Answer: From the distinct capacities in which they are represented to act; for, in the work of redemption, we find in scripture, the Father "ordaining," the Son "purchasing," and the Holy Ghost "applying it," 1 Pet. 1:2.

Question: How are the persons in the Godhead distinguished from each other?

Answer: By their personal properties, which are incommunicable to each other.

Question: What is the personal property of the Father?

Answer: To beget the Son, and that from all eternity, Psalm 2:7.

Question: What is the personal property of the Son?

Answer: To be eternally begotten of the Father, John 1:14, - "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father."

Question: What is the personal property of the Holy Ghost?

Answer: To proceed eternally from the Father and the Son, John 15:26 - "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."

Question: How does it appear that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son, as well as from the Father, when it is not expressly affirmed that he does so, in the above text?

Answer: Because he is called "the Spirit of the Son," Gal. 4:6 - "the Spirit of Christ," Rom. 8:9; the Spirit is said to receive all things from Christ, John 16:14, 15; to be sent by him, John 15:26; and the Father is said to send him in Christ's name, John 14:26; from all which, it may be safely gathered, that he proceeds from the Son, as well as from the Father.

Question: What is the difference between a personal and an essential property?

Answer: A personal property is peculiar to one of the persons only, but an essential property is common to them all.

Question: Why are the personal properties called incommunicable?

Answer: Because each of them is so proper to one of the persons in the Trinity, that it cannot be affirmed of any of the other two.

Question: Is it the divine essence that begets, is begotten, or proceeds?

Answer: No; for these are not essential, but personal acts. It is the Father who begets the Son; the Son who is begotten of the Father; and the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from both.

Question: Are the terms necessary existence, supreme Deity, and the title of the only true God, essential or personal properties?

Answer: They are essential properties of the divine nature, and so common to all the persons of the adorable Trinity, who have all the same essence, wholly, equally, and eternally.

Question: May the above terms be taken, or are they, by sound authors, taken in a sense that includes the personal property of the Father, and so not belonging to the Son and Holy Ghost?

Answer: They may not be, and never are, by sound authors, taken in that sense; for this would be to make the Son and Holy Ghost inferior to, and dependent upon, the Father, for being or existence, which is the very soul of Arianism.

Question: Does not the Father, being called the first; the Son, the second; and the Holy Ghost, the third person in the Godhead, imply an inequality, or preference of one person to another?

Answer: These are only terms of mere order, and imply no preference or priority, either of nature, excellency, or duration; and therefore we find in scripture, that sometimes the Son is named before the Father, as in 2 Cor. 13:14, Gal. 1:1; and sometimes the Spirit before the Son, as in Rev. 1:4, 5.

Question: Is not each of these glorious persons truly and properly God?

Answer: Each of these persons is God, in the true and proper sense of the word; though none of them can be called the Deity, exclusively of the rest, in regard the Deity, being the same with the divine nature, or essence, is common to them all.

Question: But does not our Lord say, that the Father is the "only true God," John 17:3 - "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God?"

Answer: Our Lord does not say, that the Father only, is the true God, exclusive of the other persons of the Trinity; but that He is the only true God (as each of the other persons is) in opposition to idols, or gods falsely so called.

Question: How does it appear that the Father is God?

Answer: From his being expressly so called every where in scripture: particularly, 1 Cor. 8:6; and 15:24; Gal. 1:1, 3, &c.

Question: Is it proper to say, that the Father is the fountain of the Deity?

Answer: The expression is dangerous, and now used by adversaries in an unsound sense, to exclude self-existence and independency from the Son and Holy Ghost, and therefore is to be avoided.

Question: How does it appear from scripture, that Christ, the Son, is truly and properly the supreme God, equal with the Father?

Answer: From the same names, attributes, works, and worship being ascribed to him in scripture as are ascribed to the Father, and in as full and ample a sense.16

Question: What are the names ascribed to Christ, that prove him to be equal with the Father?

Answer: He is expressly called "God," John 1:1 - "the great God," Titus 2:13 - "the mighty God," Isaiah 9:6 - "the true God," 1 John 5:20 - "the only wise God," Jude ver. 25; and JEHOVAH, which is a name never ascribed to any, in scripture, but the living and true God, Jer. 23:6; Psalm 83:18.

Question: What are the divine attributes ascribed to Christ, that prove him to be the supreme God?

Answer: Eternity, in the strict and proper sense of the word, Micah. 5:2; unchangeableness, Heb. 13:8; omniscience, John 21:17; omnipotence, for he calls himself "the Almighty," Rev. 1:8; omnipresence; "Lo," says he, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," Matt. 28:20; and supremacy, Rom. 9:5.

Question: What are those works which manifest Christ to be the true God?

Answer: The creating and preserving of all things, Col. 1:16, 17; the obtaining eternal redemption for us, Heb. 9:12; the working of miracles by his own power, Mark 5:41; the forgiving of sins, Mark 2:5; the raising of the dead at the last day, John 5:28, 29; and his judging the world, Rom. 14:10.

Question: What is that worship ascribed to Christ which proves him to be the supreme God?

Answer: The same divine worship and adoration that is given to the Father, John 5:23; we are commanded to believe in him equally with the Father, John 14:1; and we are baptised in his name, as well as in the name of the Father, Matt. 28:19.

Question: In what sense does Christ say, John 14:28 - "My Father is greater than I?"

Answer: He does not speak in that place of his nature, as God, but of his office, as Mediator; in which respect he is the Father's servant, Isaiah 42:1.

Question: How do you prove the supreme Deity of the Holy Ghost?

Answer: From the same arguments, by which the Deity of the Son was proved; for, (1.) He is expressly called God, Acts 5:3, 4. (2.) Attributes, which are peculiar only to God, are ascribed to him, Heb. 9:14; 1 Cor. 2:10; Luke 2:26; Psalm 139:7. (3.) Works which can be accomplished by none but God, are performed by him, Psalm 33:6; Job 26:13; Luke 1:35; 2 Pet. 1:21; John 16:13; Rom. 15:16. (4.) The same divine worship is paid to him, as to the Father and the Son, Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14.

Question: Could the Trinity of persons, in the unity of essence, have been discovered by the light of nature?

Answer: By no means: for then it would be no mystery, seeing divine mysteries are such secrets, as the wisdom of man could never have found out, Matt. 11:27; 1 Cor. 2:9, 10, 14.

Question: Is it lawful to explain this mystery by natural similitudes?

Answer: No; for there is no similitude amongst all the creatures, that has the remotest resemblance to this adorable mystery of the three one God. By making similes or comparisons of this kind, men have become vain in their imaginations, and their foolish minds have been darkened, Rom. 1:21-26; and therefore, as this doctrine is entirely a matter of faith, it becomes us to adore it, without prying curiously into what is not revealed.

Question: Does the asserting of three persons in the Godhead, with distinct personal properties, infer any separation, or division, in the divine essence?

Answer: No; for the persons in the Godhead are not separated, but distinguished from one another, by their personal properties. As the unity of the essence does not confound the persons, so neither does the distinction of persons imply any division of the essence, 1 John 5:7.

Question: Can any worship God aright, without the faith of this mystery of the Trinity?

Answer: No; "for he that cometh to God, must believe that he is," Heb. 11:6; namely, that he is God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Question: How is our worship to be directed to this three-one God?

Answer: We are to worship the Father, in Christ the Son, by the Spirit; and thus, when we pray, we are to ask the Father, in the name of the Son, by the Holy Ghost, Eph. 2:18 and 5:20.

Question: Will not this mystery be more fully known and displayed in heaven?

Answer: Yes; for, says Christ, "at that day ye shall know, that I am in my Father," John 14:20; See also 1 Cor. 13:12; 1 John 3:2.

Question: What comfortable instruction may we learn from this doctrine of the Trinity?

Answer: That the gift of eternal life, in the promise and offer of the gospel, to sinners of mankind, is attested by the three famous witnesses in heaven, who are above all exception, 1 John 5:7, 11; and consequently, that a portion infinitely rich, is insured by the covenant of grace to all those who believe, when it makes over all the three persons to them, as their God, Jer. 31:33.

Question: What is the duty of the judicatures of the church with reference to Arians, Socinians, and Deists, who deny this fundamental doctrine of the Trinity?

Answer: It is their duty after the first and second admonition, to reject them as heretics, Titus 3:10.


The Assembly's Shorter Catechism Explained

Question: What are the decrees of God?

Answer: The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

Question: What does the word counsel as ascribed to God import?

Answer: Not the receiving the knowledge of things from another, or in the way of study and advisement, as among men; but the eternity, wisdom, and immutability of his determinations, Psalm 33:11; Proverbs 19:21.

Question: Does the scripture speak expressly of God's decrees?

Answer: Yes; in many places; such as, Psalm 2:7; Job. 28:26 and 38:10; Isaiah 10:22; Jer. 5:22, &c.

Question: Are we by the decrees of God, to understand the things decreed, or the act decreeing?

Answer: The act decreeing or discerning.

Question: Is the decreeing act of God one simple act only?

Answer: Yes; because of the perfect oneness or simplicity of his nature, on account of which he could not but decree all things at once; because all things are naked and opened unto his omniscient eye, Heb. 4:13; and because of his immutability, Mal. 3:6.

Question: Why then do we speak of the divine decrees as various, or many?

Answer: Because of the many objects which the decreeing act of God respects: the things decreed are many, but the act decreeing is but one only.

Question: What are the properties of the divine decrees?

Answer: That they are eternal, most wise, absolute, and unchangeable.

Question: How do you prove the decrees of God to be eternal?

Answer: The decrees of election, and publishing the gospel, are eternal, as is evident from Eph. 1:4; and 1 Cor. 2:7; and therefore, all other decrees must be eternal likewise, because he decreed all things at once, by one simple act, Acts 15:18.

Question: In what does the wisdom of God's decrees appear?

Answer: In the beautiful order in which they are executed, Mark 7:37 - "He hath done all things well"

Question: Why are the divine decrees said to be absolute?

Answer: Because they depend upon no condition without God himself, but entirely and solely upon his own sovereign will and pleasure, Eph. 1:11.

Question: Are there not certain means by which the decrees of God are executed?

Answer: Yes; but these means are decreed as well as the end, 2 Thess. 2:13.

Question: How does it appear from scripture, that the means and the end are connected in the decree?

Answer: Fro: the preservation of Paul, and those who were with him in the ship; God had decreed to preserve them all, Acts 27:24; yet lawful means were to be used; the shipmen must not get leave to flee out of the ship, otherwise the rest cannot be saved, as Paul tells the centurion and the soldiers, ver. 31.

Question: What is the difference between the means of execution, and decreeing conditionally?

Answer: The means of execution are stated in the decree; but to decree a thing conditionally, is to decree it upon an uncertain event, which may, or may never take place.

Question: What is the absurdity of conditional decrees?

Answer: They make the will of God, which is the first cause, to depend upon the will of the creature: and they plainly suppose, that either God is ignorant of the event, or incapable to accomplish it, or that he has determined nothing certainly about it; all which are blasphemously absurd.

Question: Are all the decrees of God then unchangeable?

Answer: Yes; "from all eternity he hath, for his own glory, unchangeably foreordained whatsoever comes to pass in time," Eph. 1:11.17

Question: How do you prove the decrees of God to be unchangeable?

Answer: From scripture and from reason.

Question: How is it proved from scripture?

Answer: From Job 23:13 - "He is in one mind, and who can turn him?" Isaiah 46:10 - "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."

Question: How do you prove from reason, that the divine decrees are unchangeable?

Answer: From this one argument - That there is in God no defect of wisdom, power, or faithfulness, from whence any change of his will may flow; as is the case among men, when they alter their resolutions.

Question: Does the immutability of God's decree destroy the liberty of man's will, or the contingency of second causes?

Answer: No; there is in it no "violence offered to the will of the creature, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established," Matt. 17:12; Acts 2:23.18

Question: Whence is it, that the absolute or unchangeable decree does not take away the liberty of the will?

Answer: Because God, in the execution of his decree, does not change the nature of things, but suffers rational agents to act freely and voluntarily, as being under no more constraint or compulsion, than though there had been no such decree.

Question: How is this made clear from scripture?

Answer: By the instance of Pilate and the Jews, when they crucified the Lord of glory: what they did was with full freedom of their will, and yet they did nothing but what God's "hand and counsel determined before to be done," Acts 4:27, 28.

Question: Does any thing come to pass in time, but what was decreed from eternity?

Answer: No; for the very reason why any thing comes to pass in time, is because God decreed it, Eph. 1:11; Acts 15:18.

Question: Are things that are casual or accidental, positively decreed?

Answer: Yes; as is evident from the instances of Joseph's advancement in Egypt; and the not breaking a bone of Christ; and many others.

Question: What has the decree of God fixed with respect to man's continuance in this world?

Answer: It has immovably fixed the precise moment of every one's life and death, with every particular circumstance thereof.

Question: How may it be proved that the precise moment of every one's death is unalterably fixed in the decree?

Answer: From express scripture testimony, Job 14:5; Psalm 39:4; from the reason given why the Jews could not lay hands on Christ; namely, "because his hour was not yet come," John 7:30; and from God's numbering the hairs of our head, Matt. 10:30; much more the days and moments of our life.

Question: Were there not fifteen years added to Hezekiah's days, after the prophet said to him, "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live," Isaiah 38:1, 5?

Answer: The sentence of death, by the prophet, was not an intimation of the decree of God, that Hezekiah was presently to die; but of the nature of his disease, which, according to the ordinary course of second causes, was mortal, if the power of God had not miraculously interposed.

Question: How does the decree of God extend to things naturally and morally good?

Answer: Effectively: because God is the author and efficient cause of all good, Phil. 2:13.

Question: How does it extend to things morally evil?

Answer: Permissively and directively only, Acts 14:16.

Question: Is the permissive decree a bare inactive permitting of evil?

Answer: No; it determines the event of the evil permitted, and overrules it to a good end, contrary to the intention both of the work and worker.

Question: What scripture example is there of this?

Answer: God permits Joseph's brethren to sell him into Egypt, and Potiphar to throw him unjustly into prison, and yet overrules both these evils, and makes them means, contrary to the intention both of the work and workers, for executing the decree of his advancement to the greatest honour, Gen. 45:5-8; and 50:20 - "Ye thought evil against me, (says Joseph to his brethren,) but God meant it unto good."

Question: How can the decree of God be permissive and efficacious at the same time?

Answer: It is permissive, with respect to the sinfulness of the action as a moral evil; and efficacious, with respect to the matter of it as a natural act.

Question: How do you prove that God cannot be the author of sin?

Answer: From the contrariety of it to his holy nature and law, and the indication he has manifested against it, in what Christ suffered on account of it; for he can never be the author of that of which he is the avenger.

Question: What is the great end of all God's decrees?

Answer: His own glory, Proverbs 16:4 - "The Lord hath made all things for himself;" and particularly the glory of his mercy and justice, Rom. 9:22, 23, and, next to his own glory, the good of the elect, both here and hereafter, Rom. 8:28.

Question: Who are the special objects of God's decrees?

Answer: Angels and men.

Question: What is God's decree concerning angels and men, commonly called?

Answer: His predestinating of them.

Question: What is meant by predestination?

Answer: It is God's unchangeable purpose or decree, concerning the last end, and eternal state, of angels and men, 1 Tim. 5:21; Jude ver. 6; Ex. 33:19; Rom. 9:11, 13, 18.

Question: Is the precise number of angels and men, thus predestinated, particularly and unchangeably defined?

Answer: Yes; "their number is so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished," 2 Tim. 2:19; John 13:18.19

Question: How is the decree of predestination usually divided?

Answer: Into the decree of election and reprobation.

Question: What is God's decree of election, as it respects men?

Answer: It is his choosing a certain number of mankind, in Christ, to eternal life, and the means of it, to the praise of his glorious grace, Eph. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13, 14.

Question: Was it the foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing whatsoever in the creature, that moved God to make choice of some men, and not of others?

Answer: By no means; but his mere free grace and love Eph. 1:6, 12.

Question: What is God's decree of reprobation, as it respects men?

Answer: It is his passing by, and ordaining all the rest of mankind whom he has not chosen, to dishonour and wrath, to be for their sins inflicted, to the praise of the glory of his justice, Rom. 9:17, 18, 22; 1 Pet. 2:8; Jude verse 4.

Question: Since God has appointed the elect to glory, has he not also foreordained all the means?

Answer: Yes; for "they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ," 1 Thess. 5:9, 10;20 and free grace reigns, through his righteousness, to their eternal life, Rom. 5:21.

Question: Do the decrees of election and reprobation import any partiality, or, injustice in God?

Answer: No more than a potter is esteemed partial, or unjust, in making, out of the same lump, one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour, Rom. 9:20, 21.

Question: Is sin in the reprobate the cause of their damnation, or of their reprobation?

Answer: Their sin is indeed the cause of their damnation, Rom. 6:23 - "The wages of sin is death;" but the sovereign will and pleasure of God is the cause of their reprobation, Matt. 11:25, 26; Rom. 9:18.

Question: Are the secret decrees of God, concerning the eternal state of men, the rule of faith and practice?

Answer: No; but the revealed will of God only, Deut. 29:29.

Question: Does not this doctrine of particular election and reprobation limit the general call of the gospel?

Answer: No; for Christ commissions to go "into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," Mark 16:15; not as they are elect or reprobate, but as they are lost sinners of Adam's family, Matt. 9:13; therefore, all that hear the gospel have an equal warrant to believe, 1 John 3:23.

Question: Has it a tendency to make men careless in the use of the means of salvation?

Answer: No; because God has chosen us to salvation, "through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth," 2 Thess. 2:13.

Question: Ought we then to improve the means of salvation, without regard to the decree?

Answer: We ought no more to regard the decree in the matter of believing to the salvation of our souls, than in eating, drinking, buying, selling, or any other common action of life; because "the secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed, belong unto us, and to our children for ever," Deut. 29:29.

Question: What improvement ought we to make of the doctrine of absolute election?

Answer: We ought to be encouraged to believe in Christ: considering that electing love pitches on the chief of sinners, Ezek. 16:6; that it flows not from, nor is rounded upon, any condition to be performed by men, Rom. 9:11; and that it contains in it all things pertaining to life and godliness, 2 Pet. 1:3.


The Assembly's Shorter Catechism Explained

Question: How does God execute his decrees?

Answer: God executes his decrees, in the works of creation and providence.

Question: What is it for God to execute his decrees?

Answer: It is to bring them to pass; or, give an actual being in time, to what he purposed from eternity, Isaiah 46:10.

Question: Does not God leave the execution of his decrees to second causes?

Answer: Whatever use God may make of second causes, in the execution of his decrees, yet they are merely tools in his over-ruling hand, to bring about his glorious designs; they are his servants, and must do all his pleasure, Acts 4:27, 28.

Question: What difference is there between the decree and the execution of it?

Answer: The decree is an immanent or inherent act in God, and is nothing else but God decreeing; but the execution is a transient or passing act of his infinite power, bringing the thing decreed into actual existence, 2 Pet. 1:3.

Question: Is there an exact harmony, or correspondence, between God's decree and the execution of it?

Answer: When the thing decreed is brought actually into being, it exactly corresponds to the idea or platform of it in the infinite mind of God, Psalm 139:16; as the tabernacle of Moses answered the pattern given of it in the Mount, Ex. 25:40.

Question: Can none of the decrees of God be defeated, or fail of execution?

Answer: By no means; the counsel of the Lord shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure, Isaiah 46:10. "Who hath resisted his will?" Rom. 9:19. "None can stay his hand, or say unto him, What dost thou?" Dan. 4:35.

Question: What are the works of God, in which his decrees are executed?

Answer: They are the works of creation and providence.

Question: To which of these works of God does redemption belong?

Answer: To the providence of God, as the most glorious part of it towards men.

Question: What then is the first external work of God?

Answer: It is creation: which is therefore called, "The beginning of his ways," Proverbs 8:22.

Question: What is the difference between God's executing the work of creation, and that of providence?

Answer: He executed the work of creation entirely without means, by the word of his power; but he executes the work of providence, ordinarily, in the use of them.

Question: What may we learn from God's executing his decrees?

Answer: That all his promises shall be punctually accomplished, and not one of them fall to the ground, Mark 13:31.


The Assembly's Shorter Catechism Explained

Question: What is the work of creation?

Answer: The work of creation is, God's making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good.

Question: How do you know that the world had a beginning?

Answer: The light of nature teaches, that there must be a first cause; besides, "through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God," Heb. 11:3.

Question: Might not this world have existed from eternity?

Answer: No; it is impossible: this supposition is not only contrary to scripture, but to common sense and reason, which tells us, that what is created; and has a duration by succession of time, must have had a beginning.

Question: From whom did this world receive its being and beginning?

Answer: From God only, who is being itself, and gives being to all things, Neh. 9:6.

Question: What is it for God to create?

Answer: It is his making all things of nothing.

Question: When did God create this world?

Answer: In the beginning of time, Gen. 1:1.

Question: Was there any pre-existent matter out of which God created the world?

Answer: No; for, by his powerful word, he called "those things which be not, as though they were," Rom. 4:17; "so that things which are seen, were not made of things which do appear," that is, of any pre-existent matter, Heb. 11:3.

Question: In what time did God create all things?

Answer: In the space of six days, Ex. 20:11.

Question: Could he not have created all things in a moment of time?

Answer: Yes; but he saw it more for his own glory, and the good of mankind, to set them an example of working six days, and resting the seventh.

Question: On which of the six days, is it reckoned, that the angels were created?

Answer: It is probable they were created upon the first day, as would seem from Job 38:4, 7 - "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth, - when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"

Question: Can creating power be imparted to any creature?

Answer: No; it implies a contradiction for a creature to create, because this would vest a finite creature with infinite power, Isaiah 14:12.

Question: Is it not then a clear proof of the supreme Deity of the Son of God, that all things were made by him?

Answer: No doubt it is: for, none but he, who is truly and properly God, can command things that are not into being, Isaiah 44:24.

Question: Is creation a work common to all the persons of the Trinity?

Answer: Yes; for all the external works of God are common to each person; every one of the three adorable persons being the same in substance, equal in power and glory, 1 John 5:7 - "These three are one."

Question: For what end did God make all things?

Answer: He made all things for himself, or for the display of his matchless excellencies, Proverbs 16:4.

Question: What are those excellencies or perfections of God which are more especially displayed in the work of creation?

Answer: His infinite power, extensive goodness, and manifold wisdom, Rom. 1:20.

Question: How does the infinite power of God shine forth in creating the world?

Answer: In bringing all things, of a sudden, out of nothing, by his bare word, Psalm 33:6.

Question: What was that bare word?

Answer: Let such a thing be, Gen. 1:3.

Question: How is his manifold wisdom displayed in this work?

Answer: In the vast variety of creatures, great and small, which he has made; the order and harmony of them all; and their subserviency one to another, Psalm 104:24.

Question: Why is it said that he made all things very good?

Answer: Because God, upon a survey of his works, declared them to be so, Gen. 1:31 - "God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good."

Question: In what consists the goodness of the creatures of God?

Answer: In the perfection of their nature, their being fit to answer the end of their creation; and their usefulness to man, being both profitable and pleasant to him.

Question: Are not many creatures hurtful to man?

Answer: They were not so at their first creation, and while man continued in his allegiance to God: but through his sinning against God he has brought a curse on himself, and the whole creation, Gen. 3:17 - "Cursed is the ground for thy sake."

Question: Is not God said to create evil, Isaiah 45:7?

Answer: Not the evil of sin; but of punishment, as a just judge, Rom. 3:5, 6; Amos 3:6.

Question: How then came sin and death into the world?

Answer: Man is the parent of sin, and sin opened the door to death: "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin," Rom. 5:12.

Question: Upon what day did God rest from creating the world?

Answer: Upon the seventh day, Gen. 2:2, 3; which was therefore appointed to be the weekly Sabbath, till the resurrection of Christ.

Question: Does this resting, on the seventh day, say that he was weary with working?

Answer: No; "The everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary," Isaiah 40:28.

Question: What then is meant by his resting?

Answer: It is spoken after the manner of men; and the meaning is, that God ceased to create any other sorts of creatures than he had already made.

Question: Is not the same power that created all things, exerted in sustaining them in their being?

Answer: Yes; for he, by whom the worlds were made, is said to uphold all things by the word of his power, Heb. 1:2, 3.

Question: Do not the scriptures speak of a new creation, as well as of the old?

Answer: Yes; the Spirit of God, in scripture, speaks of a new world of grace, under the name of "new heavens" and a "new earth," Isaiah 66:22; Rev. 21:1.

Question: What is to be understood by this new creation, or new world of grace?

Answer: The true church of Christ, particularly under the New Testament, not excluding the church triumphant in heaven.

Question: By whom is this new world created?

Answer: By the same God that made the old world; "Behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth," Isaiah 65:17.

Question: Who are the inhabitants of this new world?

Answer: They are all new creatures, taken out of the old world, 2 Cor. 5:17.

Question: How came they out of this material, into that spiritual world?

Answer: By the new birth; for, except a man be born again, he cannot enter into it, John 3; flesh and blood, or corrupted nature, continuing such, cannot inherit it, 1 Cor. 15:50.

Question: Is there any difference of nations, sexes, or persons, in this new world?

Answer: No; for "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision, nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all," Col. 3:11.

Question: By what door do men enter into this new world of grace?

Answer: Christ says, "I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture," John 10:9, and chap. 14:6 - "I am the way - no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Question: In what lies the happiness of the inhabitants of this new world of grace?

Answer: None so happy as they, because they dwell in God, and God dwells in them as in a temple, 1 Cor. 3:16; and walks in them as in his garden of pleasure, 2 Cor. 6:16; and, at death, they are transported by the ministry of angels, to the world of glory above, Luke 16:22.

Question: What may we learn from the doctrine of the creation?

Answer: That we ought to contemplate God in all his creatures, Psalm 104; acknowledge him as the rightful proprietor and sovereign disposer of them all, 1 Chron. 29:11; and believe that the same almighty power of God, which was put forth in creating of all things, shall be exerted in defence and support of his church and people, in the time of their need, Psalm 121:2.