who are permitted to have influence with mankind on earth. Q. 82. What is the meaning of the term Angels? A. The term Angels, signifies messengers or ambassadors. (Heb. ii. 2; Acts vii. 53.) Q. 83. In what respect may good spirits be considered as messengers? A. Good spirits may be considered as messengers, because they are the ministers of God to the godly, and are ordained and sent of God to promote their spiritual welfare. (a) (a) Luke xxii. 43. And there appeared an angel unto him from Heaven, strengthening him.-Heb. i. 13, 14. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Matt. iv. 11.) Q. 84. Why is the term angel, or messenger, applied to bad spirits? A. Because they are the messengers of Beelzebub their prince, sent forth by him for the spiritual injury of mankind. Q. 85 And what are bad, or wicked spirits called in Scripture? A. They are called devils, (a) which signifies accusers, or calumniators; and they are so called, because they accuse and calumniate the godly before God, and continually tempt them to sin and wickedness. (a) Rev. xii. 9, 10. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Q. 86. What principal injury have they ever done to mankind? A. Satan, who is the Prince of the Devils, otherwise called Beelzebub,(a) in the form of a serpent, tempted and prevailed upon our first parents, Adam and Eve, to transgress the law of God,(b) and thereby the whole race of mankind became involved in condemnation and ruin.(c) (a) Matt. xii. 24. This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. (b) Gen. iii. 1-6. Now the Serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden And the woman said unto the Serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the Serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die : for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. (c) Gen. ii. 16, 17. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.-Rom. v. 12. 18. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, &c. (Rom. vi. 23; Gal. iii. 10; Eph. ii. 3.) Q. 87. Are these spirits, or any others, the objects of our senses; or, can they be seen by us? A. No: all spirits are invisible; and are never the objects of our bodily senses, except when God permits them to assume some bodily shape, or causes them to act by means of the organs of living animals, for some special purpose. Q. 88. Are there not different orders and degrees of these spirits? A. Yes; of both good and bad. Q. 89. How do you know there are different orders of good spirits or angels? A. The Holy Scriptures speak of cherubim(a) and seraphim,(b) of the angel Gabriel, (c) and of Michael the archangel.(d) (a) Gen. iii. 24.—(b) Is. vi. 2.-(c) Dan. viii. 16; Luke i. 19.-(d) Jude 9; Rev. xii. 7. Q-90. What proof have you of the different orders and degrees of wicked spirits, or devils? A. Of wicked spirits, or devils, the Scriptures frequently speak in terms which imply a difference of order; they are said to have a prince and a kingdom.(a) They must be also very numerous, since we read of legions; (b) and of Satan and his angels.(c) A. It appears evidently from the natural constitution of things. The holiness of God's nature, and the society and employments of heaven, must necessarily and wholly disqualify a depraved and corrupt being (unless his nature be changed) from all enjoyment in heaven, and render it, to him, if admitted there, a place of wretchedness and misery.* * No one really suffers condemnation for original or birth sin alone; and much less for the imputation of Adam's sin, abstractedly considered, to his posterity; although he be regarded as their federal head. For Christ is the "Lamb of God, who taketh away this sin of the world;" he is the great Peace-maker between God and man, by whom God has reconciled all things unto himself; and the propitiation and ransom for the "sins of the whole world." (1 Cor. xv. 22, See Q. 203.) But every one, even every newborn infant, "naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam," is depraved, being "conceived in sin ;" and is therefore, not by abstract imputation of Adam's sin, but in the ordinary course of nature, really sinful from its birth, although it has not sinned against knowledge, "after the similitude of Adam's transgression." Adam's sinfulness thus imparted, renders it unmeet for the kingdom of heaven for that which is born of corrupt flesh is corrupt flesh. To complain of any injustice in God, for excluding such sinful beings, unrenewed and unsanctified in their nature, from the society of the holy and blessed in heaven, where, in this state, everything is unsuited to their taste and enjoyment, would be worse than complaining of injustice for the exclusion of madmen from the society of rational beings. We must therefore suppose that all baptized infants dying in infancy (since, although "by nature children of wrath,” they are yet “undoubtedly saved”) are, in a way secret to us, (like the thief on the cross,) regenerated, i. e. re- « newed and sanctified. Of this regeneration, baptism is the sign and seal. (Note, Pub. Bap. Infants, Ch. Eng.) It may also be relied upon as a certain truth, that adults who perish, perish entirely by their own fault.-Matt. xxiii. 37; Acts xiii. 46; Luke vii. 30; John iii. 16–19; v. 40. Q. 33. How would you describe, summarily, the consequences of the fall of man from his original perfec tion ? A. I would say that the consequences of the fall of man summarily are, the loss of the divine image, (See Q. 139,) and death temporal, spiritual, and eternal. Q. 34. What do you mean by death temporal? A. I mean that separation between the soul and the body, which takes place at the end of this state of existence; together with all those pains, diseases, afflictions, and troubles, to which we are exposed in this state of probation. Q. 35. And what mean you by death spiritual? A. I mean that dreadful darkness of the understanding, together with all that depravity in the affections, and all that perverseness and intractability in the will of mankind, in spiritual and religious matters, which are natural to all men; and which are always accompanied by a guilty and self-accusing conscience, un * The admonitions of conscience have been considered as a part of the image of God originally stamped upon the soul of man in a state of innocence. But perfect innocence can surely admit of no admonitions of the conscience. Nor does it appear that our first parents felt any such admonitions, till after they lost their innocence. In Gen. iii. 2, 3, Eve relates, not what the admonitions of conscience dictated, but merely her knowledge of the tenor of the prohibition. And after once conceiving the pleasure it would probably afford her to partake of the forbidden fruit, she instantly, without any apparent hesitation, or admonitions of conscience, partook of it; and so also Adam. After this, conscience begins to work, and they know that they are naked; but not before. See Gen. ii. 25; compared with Gen. iii. 7. |