mankind was in before the Redeemer was sent among them.

Q. 14. Why did Almighty God leave mankind in this sad condition, and so long delay the coming of the Redeemer?

A. To teach us, by sad experience, our own extreme perverseness, and the dreadful corruption of our nature by sin; to cure the deep wound of pride which sin had made in our souls, by letting us see what we are capable of when left to ourselves; to convince us of the great need we have of a Redeemer, and to make us receive him with the greater readiness when he should come amongst

us.

Q. 15. Did God totally abandon mankind to their wicked ways during all that time?

A. Far from it; for, (1.) He raised up holy men from time to time, to warn the wicked of their evil ways, and exhort them to repentance. (2.) He often punished them in a visible and dreadful manner for their crimes, as when he drowned the whole world by the deluge; and rained down fire and brimstone from heaven to consume the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And (3.) When wickedness was still more and more spreading over the face of the earth, he chose a whole nation, whom he separated from the rest of mankind, and by a special providence, preserved them from the general corruption.

Q. 16. Who was this so highly favoured nation?

A. The posterity of his faithful servant Abraham, whose fidelity and obedience God tried many different ways, and finding him always constant and uniform in his duty, he made choice of him to be the father of his chosen people, renewed to him the promise of the Redeemer, and assured him

that he should come of his posterity:" And the Lord appeared to Abraham, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be perfect; and I will make my covenant between me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly- -And thou shalt be father of many nations- -And kings shall come out of thee.And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee, in their generations, by a perpetual covenant, to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee," Gen. xvii. And again, "By myself have I sworn," saith the Lord to Abraham, "I will bless thee, and 1 will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the sea-shore ; thy seed shall possess the gates of their enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice,' Gen. xxii. 16.

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Q. 17. What did God do for this people, the posterity of Abraham?

A. He multiplied them into a great nation. He watched over them by a special providence, and wrought numberless and most amazing miracles in their favour, and for their defence. He settled them in a most excellent land, "flowing with milk and honey," as the Scripture expresses it. He gave them by his servant Moses a holy law to direct them, written with his own hand in tables of stone. He taught them the way in which he would be worshipped by them, revealing to them his holy religion for that end. He gave them his holy Scriptures for their instruction and consolation.-He sent among them, from time to time, his holy prophets to declare his will to them, and keep them steady in his service. He often renewed his promise of a Redeemer to several of his holy servants among them, and foretold by his prophets all the

circumstances of his coming, and what he was to do for mankind. For all which, see their whole history in Scripture.

Q. 18. How was this people called?

A. They were sometimes called Israelites, or the Children of Israel, from the name of one of their patriarchs; sometimes Jews, from one of their principal tribes, out of which the Redeemer was to come; and sometimes the People of God, from the care and protection which God had of them, choosing them for his inheritants from among all the nations of the earth, and preferring them from that deplorable corruption into which all the other nations fell.

Q. 19. Did this people always continue faithful to God, and grateful to him for such special protection shewn by him to them?

A. Far from it; they often rebelled against him, forsook his service, and fell into idolatry and other abominations, for which he most severely punished them, till, by their repentance, they regained his favour, and returned again to the faithful observance of his law.

Q. 20. What kind of religion did God institute among them?

A. The full and perfect manifestation of the will of God to man was reserved to be the work of the Redeemer; but to this people God gave an imperfect revelation of the truths of eternity, such as the grossness of their minds, and the hardness of their hearts, was able to receive: their religion, therefore, principally consisted in the several kinds of sacrifices of beasts and other creatures, which God instituted to be offered for bis honour, and in their obedience to the law he had given them.

Q. 21. Had these sacrifices of beasts and other creatures any worth or value in themselves before God?

A. All these sacrifices, and indeed all the religion which God instituted among this people, were but types and figures of the Redeemer then to come, and of the perfect religion which was afterwards to be instituted by him, and as such they were agreeable to God; and when offered by the people with a view to the Redeemer, and with faith in him, were most beneficial to them; for, from the beginning, "There is no other name under heaven given to man whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus only," Acts iv. 12. So that, from the beginning, before the Redeemer appeared among men, none could be saved but by faith in him, who was then to come; as none can be saved since his coming, but by faith in him, as already come.

Q.22. In what condition were the Jews when the Redeemer came among them?

A. They still retained the knowledge and worship of the true God, according to the law of Moses; but had corrupted the true sense of the law in many things, by human opinions, and were divided into several different sects among themselves.

Q. 23. In what condition was the rest of mankind when the Redeemer came into the world?

A. All the other nations of the earth, who, in Scripture language, are called the Gentiles, at the time our Saviour appeared, and for many ages before, were sunk in those miserable vices, which are mentioned above, Question 13, and wholly ignorant of the God that made them, and of every thing else concerning their eternal salvation, and upon which our salvation depends.

Q. 24. What are those truths of eternity, of which they were so ignorant, and the knowledge of which is so necessary for salvation?

A. They may all be reduced to these heads; the knowledge of the one true living God that created us; the way of worshipping this great God according to his will; the cause of all our miseries, which is sin, or disobedience to his law; the only remedy of sin, and of all our miseries, which is the grace of a Redeemer; the great end for which we were created, which is the possession and enjoyment of God in heaven; and the means on our part to obtain this end of our being, which are faith and obedience. Of these great and important truths, all the nations of the earth were wholly ignorant, the Jews only excepted; and they had by their depraved opinions in many things, corrupted even that imperfect knowledge of them which God had given them.

Q. 25. Could not man, by the strength of reason and study, have attained the knowledge of these things?

A. No; that was absolutely impossible; for these truths are all supernatural, they belong to another world, they do not fall under our senses or reason, so as to be examined or investigated by them; and some of them flow entirely from the free will and appointment of Almighty God: so that it was impossible man should ever come to the knowledge of them, except God himself had discovered them to him. And this is proved to a demonstration by experience itself, not only from the ancient heathens before the Redeemer came, among whom there were many great men remarkable for their strength of genius and learning, who yet could never acquire any rational knowledge of the above great truths, though they often applied themselves with great assiduity to study them; but also from many different nations in the remoter regions of the globe, to whom the revelation of these truths has not yet reached, and who, though endowed