Chap. VIII. -- Of the State of Corrupted Nature.

Q. 1. Which is the law that God gave man at first to fulfil?

A. The same which was afterwards [37] written with the finger of God in two tables of stone on Mount Horeb, called the Ten Commandments. Rom. ii. 14, 15.

Q. 2. Is the observation of this law still required of us?

A. Yes, to the uttermost tittle. Matt. v. 17; 1 John iii. 4; Rom. iii. 31; James ii. 8-10; Gal. iii.

Q. 3. Are we able of ourselves to [38] [39] perform it?

A. No, in no wise; the law is spiritual, but we are carnal. 1 Kings viii. 46; Gen. vi. 5; John xv. 5; Rom. vii. 14, viii. 7; 1 John i. 8.

Q. 4. Did, then, God give a law which could not be kept?

A. No; when God gave it, we had power to keep it; which since we have
lost in Adam.
Gen. i. 26; Eph. iv. 19; Rom. v. 12.

Q. 5. Whereto, then, doth the law now serve?

A. For two general ends; first, ^ato be a rule of our duty, or to discover to us the obedience of God required; secondly, ^bto drive us unto Christ. ^aPs. xix. 7-11; 1 Tim. i. 8, 9. ^bGal. iii. 24.

Q. 6. How doth the law drive us unto Christ?

A. Divers ways; as, first, ^aby laying open unto us the utter disability of our nature to do any good; secondly, ^bby charging the wrath and curse of God, due to sin, upon the conscience; thirdly, ^cby bringing the whole soul under bondage to sin, death, Satan, and hell, so making us long and seek for a Saviour. ^aRom. vii. 7-9; Gal. iii. 19. ^bRom. iii. 19, 20, iv. 15, v. 20; Gal. iii. 10. ^cGal. iii. 22; Heb. ii. 15.

[37] This law of God bindeth us now, not because delivered to the Jews on Mount Horeb, but because written in the hearts of all by the finger of God at the first.

[38] After the fall, the law ceased to be a rule of justification, and became a rule for sanctification only.

[39] It is of free grace that God giveth power to yield any obedience, and accepteth of any obedience that is not perfect.

Q. 1. How came this weakness and disability upon us?

A. By the sin and [40] shameful fall of our first parents. Rom. v. 12, 14.

Q. 2. Wherein did that hurt us, their posterity?

A. Divers ways; first, ^ain that we were all guilty of the same breach of covenant with Adam, being all in him; secondly, ^bour souls with his were deprived of that holiness, innocence, and righteousness wherein they were at first created; thirdly, ^cpollution and defilement of nature came upon us; with, fourthly, ^dan extreme disability of doing any thing that is well-pleasing unto God; ^eby all which we are made obnoxious to the curse. ^aJohn iii. 36; Rom. v. 12; Eph. ii. 3. ^bGen. iii. 10; Eph iv. 23, 24; Col. iii. 10. ^cJob xiv. 4; Ps. li. 7; John iii. 6; Rom. iii. 13. ^dGen. vi. 5; Eph. ii. 1; Jer. vi. 16, xiii. 23; Rom. viii. 7. ^eGen. iii. 17; Gal. iii. 10.

Q. 3. Wherein doth the curse of God consist?

A. In divers things; first, ^ain the [41] guilt of death, temporal and eternal; secondly, ^bthe loss of the grace and favour of God; thirdly, ^cguilt and horror of conscience, despair and anguish here; with, fourthly, ^deternal damnation hereafter. ^aGen. ii. 17; Rom. i. 18, v. 12, 17; Eph. ii. 3. ^bGen. iii. 24; Ezek. xvi. 3-5; Eph ii. 13. ^cGen. iii. 10; Isa. xlviii. 22; Rom. iii. 9, 19, Gal. iii. 22. ^dGen. iii. 10, 13; John iii. 36.

Q. 4. Are all men born in this estate?

A. Every one without exception. Ps. li. 5; Isa. liii. 6; Rom. iii. 9-12; Eph. ii. 3.

Q. 5. And do they continue therein?

A. Of themselves [42] they cannot otherwise do, being able neither to ^aknow, nor ^bwill, nor ^cdo any thing that is spiritually good and pleasing unto God. ^aActs viii. 31, xvi. 14; 1 Cor. ii. 14; Eph. v. 8; John i. 5. ^bJer. vi. 16, xiii. 23; Luke iv. 18; Rom. vi. 16, viii. 7. ^cJohn vi. 44; 2 Cor. iii. 5.

Q. 6. Have they, then, no way of themselves to escape the curse and wrath of God?

A. None at all; they can neither satisfy his justice, nor fulfil his law.

[40] This is that which commonly is called original sin, which in general denoteth the whole misery and corruption of our nature; as, --
1. The guilt of Adam's actual sin to us imputed; 2. Loss of God's glorious image, innocency and holiness; 3. Deriving by propagation a nature -- (1.) Defiled with the pollution, (2.) Laden with the guilt, (3.) Subtitled to the power of sin; 4. A being exposed to all temporal miseries, leading to and procuring death; 5. An alienation from God, with voluntary obedience to Satan and lust; 6. An utter disability to good, or to labour for mercy; 7. Eternal damnation of body and soul in hell.

[41] All that a natural man hath on this side hell is free mercy.

[42] The end of this is Jesus Christ, to all that fly for refuge to the hope set before them.