Anfw. That we ought to contemplate God in all his creatures; acknowledge him as the rightful proprietor, and fovereign difpofer of them all; and believe that the fame almighty power of God, which was put forth in creating of all things, shall be exerted in defence and fupport of his church and people, in the time of their need, Pfalm xix. 1. 1 Chron. xxix. 11. Rom. ix. 20. Pfalm cxxi. 2. 10. QUEST. How did God create man? ANSW. God created man, male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holinefs, with domini on over the creatures. Quest. 1. Upon which day of the creation was man made? Anfw. Upon the fixth day; as is clear from Gen. i. 26, and 31. compared. Queft. 2. Why was the creation of man delayed or put off, to the fixth day? Anfw. To difcover the great regard God had to man's happiness and welfare, in that he would first plenish the great houfe of the creation for him, before he brought him into it. Queft. 3. Was there any more folemnity obferved in the creation of man, than in making the rest of the creatures? Anfw. Yes: for, as to the rest of the creatures, he just commanded them into being; but when man is to be created, a council of the trinity is held about his formation, Gen. i. 26. Let us make man. Quest. 4. Why so much folemnity about man's formation beyond other creatures? Anfw. Because man was to be God's vice-roy in this lower world, the only image of his Creator in his his moral perfections; and it was the purpose of God, though not then revealed, that the fecond perfon of the Godhead was to become man. Queft. 5. What is it that con/titutes the human nature, or nature of man? Anfw. A true body and a reasonable foul united together. Queft. 6. Whereof was the body of man formed? Anfw. Of the duft of earth, Gen. ii. 7.: hence God is resembled unto a potter, and man unto the clay and potsherd, Ifaiah xlv. 9. and Ixiv. 8. Queft. 7. What Should this teach us? Anfw. To remember we are duft; to admire the condefcenfion of the Son of God in coming into our tribe, and assuming a human body; to confider that we are in God's hand, as the clay is in the hand of the potter, Eccl. iii. 20. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Jer. xviii. 6.; and that, in this our fallen ftate, we are to return to the duft, Gen. iii. 19. Queft. 8. How was the first woman formed? Anfw. Of a rib taken from the man's fide, Gen. ii, 21, 22.: but herein there was a figure of Chrift and the church, Eph. v. 31, 32.; in as much as the church was, as it were, taken out of the pierced fide of Chrift, when the Lord God caufed the deep fleep of death to fall on him. Queft. 9. Why was marriage inftituted of God before the fall? Anfu. To fhew that it belongs to the law of nature; and that mankind, as fuch, have a title thereunto, Heb. xiii. 4. Marriage is honourable in all. Quest. 10. What is the other part of man's nature? Quest. 11. How was the foul of man made? Anfw. To ་ Anfw. To fhew, that as the Lord is the God of the fpirits of all flesh, who creates them immediately, and by himself, without the intervention of fecond caufes, fo he has an abfolute dominion over them, and can call them back to himself when he pleases, Numb. xxvii. 16. Eccl. xii. 7. Ezek. › xviii. 4. Zech. xii. 1. Queft. 13. Wherein doth the foul of man differ from the body? Anfw. The body is a corporeal, but the foul a fpiritual and immaterial fubftance. Queft. 14. Wherein doth the foul of man differ from the spirit or life of a beaft? Anfw. The spirit or life of a beaft goeth downward to the earth, and perisheth at its death, but the foul of man, being rational and immortal, returns to God who gave it, Eccl. iii. 21. and xii. 7. Queft. 15. How do you prove the immortality of the foul of man ? Anfw. (1.) From the great price paid for the redemption of the foul, which had ceased for ever, without a ransom of infinite value, Pfal. xlix. 8. (2.) From the promises of eternal life, and the threatenings of eternal death, Mark xvi. 16. (3.) Chrift tells us, that they who kill the body, cannot kill the foul, Matth. x. 28. (4.) Chrift, and his dying faints, commit their fpirits, or fouls, into the hand of God, Pfal. xxxi. 5. Luke xxii. 46. Acts vii. 59.; and the foul of the thief went to paradife, with the foul of Chrift, that day they died, Luke xxiii. 43. In a word, if the foul perished with the body, the faints of God would be of all men the most miferable, 1 Cor. xv. 19. Queft. 16. What should this teach us? Anfw. To be more concerned for the falvation of our fouls, than for all things in the world; For, fays Chrift, what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own foul? Matth. xvi. 26. Quest. 17. Queft. 17. Why did God create man male and female? Anfw. For the propagation of mankind, and mutual helpfulnefs, Gen. i. 28. and ii. 18. Queft. 18. Why was both the man and the woman called Adam, Gen. v. 2.? Anfw. To intimate that their original was of the. earth; that they were both of the fame nature; that the promises and threatenings concerned them both equally; and to teach us, that notwithstanding hereof, the man was the reprefenting head of the covenant, Rom. v. 12. 1 Cor. xv. 22. Queft. 19. After whofe image did God create man? Anfw. After his own image, Gen. i. 26, 27. Queft. 20. Did this image of God ly in any outward fhape of man's body? Anfw. By no means for God is a pure spirit, without all bodily parts, John iv. 24. Queft. 21. What then was the proper feat thereof? An/w. The foul of man was the painting-table on which this image of God was expreffed and delineated, Gen. ii. 7. James iii. 9. Queft. 22. Wherein did the foul of man bear a likeness to God? Anfw. In its fpiritual and immortal nature; and in the faculties of understanding and willing, with which it was endowed. Quest. 23. Wherein did the image of God, which was drawn on man's foul, chiefly confift? Anfw. In knowledge, righteousness, and true holinefs, Eph. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10. Queft. 24. What knowledge was man indued with at his creation? An/w. A perfect knowledge of God, of his will, and works, fo far as was neceffary to render him happy, and fit for univerfal obedience. Queft. 25. What righteoufnefs had man at his creation? Anfw. Not Anfw. Not an imputed, but an inherent righteoufnefs; which confifted in a perfect conformity of all the powers and faculties of his foul, to the pure nature of God, and the moral law written upon his heart, Eccl. vii. 29. Quest. 26. Wherein confifted his holiness? Anfw. In the luftre and beauty of his perfect knowledge, and inherent righteousness, shining both in his heart and life. Quest. 27: Was the will of man, in a state of innocency, abfolutely indifferent to good and evil? Anfw. No God fet man's will only towards good, yet it was moveable to evil, and that only by man himself, to whom God gave a fufficient power to stand in his integrity, if he had pleased, Eccl. vii. 29. Queft. 28. What was the necessary confequence of this image of God, drawn upon our first parents? Anfw. The immortality of the whole man, and dominion over the creatures. Queft. 29. Would they have been immortal if they had not finned? Anfw. Yes for it was only in case of fin that death was threatned, Gen. ii. 17. Queft. 30. How could their bodies have been immortal, when made of the duft? Anfw. The perfect purity or holiness of their fouls would have preserved their bodies from ficknefs, death, and corruption, Rom. v. 12. and vi. 23. Queft. 31. Wherein did man's dominion over the creatures confift? Anfw. In his princely power over the inferior creatures; whereby he could rule and use them as he pleased, for God's glory and his own good, without any injustice, Gen. i. 28. and ii. 19, 20. Queft. 32. Where did God put the man when he had formed him after his own image? Anfw. In the garden of Eden; a place eminent for |