head, had deferved that he, and his pofterity, fhould become legally and fpiritually dead; and as he de. ferved it, fo God ordained it to be fo the foul then, of every one, being a part of that person who is curfed in Adam, God in the creating thereof, doth not infufe any fin, or impurity, but only, as a righteous judge, denies or withholds that original righteoufnefs which it once had in Adam, and that as a just punishment of his first fin; and there. upon corruption naturally follows, even as darknefs naturally follows upon the setting of the fun. Queft. 28. Doth the holiness of the parents prevent the propagation of original corruption to their chil

dren?

Anfw. By no means the faints are holy but in part, and that by grace, not by nature; wherefore, as after the pureft grain is fown, we reap corn with the chaff, fo the holiest parents beget unholy children, and cannot communicate their grace to them, as they do their nature.

Queft. 29, Hath this poifon of corruption run through the whole man ?

Anfw. Yes: The whole head is fick, and the whole heart is faint from the fole of the foot to the head, there is no Joundness in it, etc. Ifa. i. 5, 6.

Queft. 30. Wherewith is the understanding corrupted?

Anfw. With darkness and blindness, so that we cannot know and receive the things of the Spirit of God, I Cor. ii. 14. Eph. v. 8. Jer. iv. 22.

Queft. 31. Wherewith is the will corrupted? An/w. With enmity and rebellion against God; with oppofition to his law and gospel; with averfion from the chiefeft good; and inclination to all evil, Rom. viii. 7. and x. 3. Job xxi. 14, 15

Queft. 32. How are the affections corrupted? Anfw. By being difplaced and difordered, fet upon trifling vanities and finful pleasures, instead of

God

God the fupreme good, Pfalm iv. 2, 6. Ifa. Iv. 2. Jer. ii. 12, 13.

Queft. 33. How is the confcience corrupted?

Anfw. By not discharging its office faithfully according to the law, in accufing or excufing, but many times calling evil good, and good evil, etc. Ifa. v. 20.

Queft. 34. How is the memory corrupted?

Anfw. It is like the riddle that lets through the pure grain, and keeps the refufe: it retains what is vain and unprofitable, and forgets what is fpiritual and truly advantageous, Pfal. cvi. 13, 21. Quelt. 35. How is the body corrupted ?

Anfw. All the members of it are become inftru ments, or weapons, of unrighteousness unto fin, Rom. vi. 13.

Queft. 36. Is original fin of its own nature damning?

Anfw. Beyond all doubt it is: because it is a state of fin and spiritual uncleannefs we are born in, Pfal. li. 5. And there shall in no wife enter, into the heavenly Jerufalem any thing that defileth, Rev. xxi. 27. The blood of Chrift is necessary to cleanse from it, as well as from actual fin, for Chrift is the Lamb of God which taketh away the fin of the world, both original and actual, John i. 29.

Queft. 37. How may we know the being of original fin, antecedent to the commiffion of any actual tranfgreffion?

Anfw. From the fore troubles and diftreffes which infants are liable to, and from death paffing upon them before they are capable of finning after the fimilitude of Adam's tranfgreffion; that is, of com mitting actual fin, Rom. v. 14.

Queft. 38. What do you understand by actual sm, or tranfgreffion?

Anfw. Every deviation from the law of God in our actions, whether internal or external.

L 3

Quest 39.

Queft. 39. How may actual fin be diftinguished from original?

Anfw. As the act is distinguished from the habit; or, a fault of the perfon, from a fault of the

nature.

Quest. 40. Is omiffion of what is required an actual fin, as well as the commiffion of what is forbidden ?

Anfw. Yes: because all omiffions are either accompanied with fome act of the will confenting, directly or indirectly, thereunto ; or flow from fome antecedent act, which is either the cause, occafion, or impediment of the duty omitted, as excess in eating and drinking is frequently the caufe or occafion of omitting the public or private duties of God's worship.

Queft. 41. From whence do all actual tranfgreffions flow?

Anfw. They all proceed from orginal fin, or the corruption of nature, as impure ftreams from a corrupt fountain, Eph. ii. 3. James iii. 11.

Queft 42. What may we learn from the doctrine of original fin?

:

Anjw, That it is no wonder the grave open its devouring mouth for us, as foon as we come into the world, feeing we are all, in a spiritual sense, dead born that as every thing acts agreeably to its own nature, fo corrupt man acts corruptly and that therefore we may fee the neceffity of regeneration, and ingraftment in a fecond Adam, without which it is impoffible we can enter into the kingdom of heaven, Eph. ii. 1. Mat. vii. 17. John iii. 3.

19. QUEST.

19. QUEST. What is the mifery of that eftate whereinto man fell?

ANSW. All mankind, by their fall, loft communion with God, are under his wrath and curfe, and fo made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.

Quest. 1. What are the branches of man's mifery, expreffed in this answer, as the effects of the fall? Anfw. They are these three; the happiness man hath loft; the evil he lies prefently under; and the future mifery and punishment he is liable unto. Queft. 2. Is the lofs which man has sustained by the fall, great and grievous?

Anfw. Yes it is fo great, that we have all reafon to cry out, with the church, Wo unto us that we have finned! How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! Lam. iv. 1. and v. 16. Queft. 3. What is that great lufs which man has fuftained by the fall?

Anfw. He has loft all that good that was promifed him in the covenant of works, upon condition of perfect obedience.

Quest. 4. What was the good promised?

Anfw. Life in its full latitude and extent; or all the happiness man was capable of, either in this world or that which is to come.

Queft. 5. What was man's chief happiness in that ftate wherein he was created?

Anfw. His chief happiness lay in his enjoyment of fellowship and communion with God.

Queft. 6. Wherein did that fellowship and commu nion confift?

Anfw. In the most agreeable intimacy and fami liarity that man had with God, in the uninterrupted enjoyment of his gracious prefence.

Quest. 7.

Queft. 7. How doth it appear that man has lojt this by the fall?

Anfw. It appears from his being without God in the world; and alienated from the life of God, Eph. ii. 12. and iv. 18.

Queft. 8. Did this breach of fellowship between God and man immediately follow upon the firft fin? Anfw. Yes for we find that our first parents immediately effayed to run from the prefence of God, and to hide themselves from him among the trees of the garden, Gen. iii. 8.

Queft. 9. Upon what footing had man fellowship with God before the fall?

Anfw. Upon a law-footing, namely, his continuing in his integrity of nature, and yielding perfect obedience to the holy law.

Queft. 10. Is that door of access to God, and fellowship with him, condemned and shut against all mankind?

Anfw. Yes; because all have finned and come Short of the glory of God: the broken law, and its curfe, ftand as an infuperable bar in our way to God and glory, Gal. iii. 10.

Queft. II. What is the fecond branch of man's mifery?

Anfw. His being under the wrath and curse of God.

Queft. 12. What is it to be under the wrath of God?

Anjw. It is to be under his anger, in the fad and difmal effects of it, whether in a more vifible, or more fecret way, Pfal. xi. 6. and 1. 21.

Queft. 13. What is it to be under his curse ? Anfw. It is to be under the fentence of his law, denouncing all evil upon the tranfgreffor, Gal. iii. 10. Queft. 14. How doth it appear that man is now under the wrath and curfe of God?

Anfw. From thefe paffages of fcripture where

God