A. Yes: he did not take this honour unto himself, but was called of God, as was Aaron, Heb. v. 4, 5. the sacrificing part of it, re- Q. 8. What respect have these offices to our misery by sin? A. The prophetical office respects our ignorance; the priestly office our guilt; and the kingly office our pollution or defilement. Q..9. What is Christ made of God to us, in virtue of these offices for the removal of these miseries? Q. 14. Of what parts did his call consist? A. Of his unction and inau stand by his unction? A. The consecrating of him x. 36; and the giving of the to all his mediatory offices, John Spirit, with all his gifts and him, for his being fully furnished graces, without measure unto for the execution of these offices, John iii. 34. Q. 16. In which nature was Christ anointed with the Spirit? anointed in the human nature, A. The person of Christ was which was the immediate re A. As a prophet he is made of God to us wisdom; as a Priest, righteousness; and as a King, sanctification; and as vested with ALL these offices, he is made ceptacle of all gifts and graces; of God to us complete redemp-received gifts for men:" MarPsal. lxviii. 18.-" Thou hast tion, 1 Cor. i. 30. Q. 10. Was he ordained or appointed unto these offices? A. Yes, from all eternity; gin, in the man; that is, in the human nature. Q. 17. When was he inau 1 Pet. i. 20." Who verily was gurated into his mediatory offore-ordained before the foun-fices? dation of the world." Q. 11. What were the necessary consequences of this eternal designation? A. Although, in virtue of his assuming the human nature, he was born to the execution of them, yet he was not solemnly installed into the public exer A. His mission and call. Q. 12. Wherein consisted his cise of these offices, till his bapmission? tism. A. In his being promised, Isa. vii. 14; and typified under the Old Testament, John iii. 14; and in his being actually sent, in the fulness of time, to assume our nature, and finish the work which it was given him to do, Gal. iv. 4, 5. Q. 13. Was he formally called unto his mediatory office? Q. 18. What was the solemnity of his inauguration or instalment at that time? A. "The heavens were opened, the Spirit of God descended like a dove, and lighted upon him: and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," Matt. iii. 16, 17. Q. 19. Why was Christ vested with this threefold office? A. The nature of our salvation required that it should be revealed by him as a Prophet; purchased by him as a Priest; and applied by him as a King. Q. 20. Did ever all these offices centre in any ONE person but Christ alone? A. No: for, in order to set forth the vast importance of these offices, as united in the person of Christ, none of these who were typical of him under the Old Testament, were ever clothed with all the three: this honour was reserved for himself, as his peculiar dignity and prerogative; John xiv. 6. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life:" that is, the way in my death, as a Priest; the TRUTH in my word, as a Prophet; and the LIFE in my Spirit, as a King? Q. 21. In what estates doth Christ execute all these offices? A. [Both in his estate of humiliation] on earth, and in his estate of [exaltation] in hea ven. Q. 22. What do you understand by Christ's executing of his offices? ward parts; and I WILL be their God; I WILL forgive their iniquity; and I WILL remember their sin no more, Jer. xxxi. 33, 34; "I WILL take away the stony heart out of your flesh; and I will give you an heart of flesh," &c. Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. Q. 24. What connection then have the promises with the offices of Christ? A. They are revealed to us by Christ as a Prophet, Heb. i. 2; confirmed by his blood, as a Priest, Heb. ix. 16; and effectually applied by his power, as a King, Psal. cx. 3. Q. 25. Is the order in which the offices of Christ are here laid down, the very order in which they are executed? A. Yes: for it is the order laid down in scripture, 1 Cor. i. 30. Q. 26. By whom is this order inverted? A. By the Arminians and other legalists, who make Christ's kingly office the first which he executes, in the application of redemption. Q. 27. How do they make Christ's kingly office the first which he executes? A. His doing or fulfilling what A. By alleging that Christ, as was incumbent upon him, in a King has, in the gospel, given virtue of each of these offices, out a new preceptive law, of Mat. iii. 15. faith and repentance, by obediQ. 23. Are the offices of ence whereunto we come to be Christ, the proper fountain entitled unto Christ and his from whence the promises doth righteousness. flow? Q. 28. What is the danger of this scheme of doctrine? A. No: the proper fountain and spring of all the promises, A. It is a confounding of law is the sovereign will and good and gospel; and a bringing of pleasure of God: hence is the works into the matter and cause Sovereign will of God set in the of a sinner's justification before front of all the promises, God, contrary to Rom. v. 19. I WILL put my law in their in-and Gal. ii. 16. Q. 29. When faith closes with Christ, does it not close with him in all his offices? A. Yes: for Christ is never divided: we the law for righteousness," Rom. x, 4. Q. 31. What may we learn for must have him encouragement from Christ's wholly, or none of him, John being clothed with this three viii. 24. fold office? Q. 30. Which of his offices A. That since all these offidoth faith act upon for justifica- ces have a relation to us, we tion? may warrantably employ him A. Upon his priestly office in every one of them; that in only: for the great thing a guilly like manner as he is made over sinner wants is righteousness, of God unto us, so we may acto answer the charge of the tually have him for our "wislaw; and the enlightened sin- dom, righteousness, sanctificaner sees that Christ, in his tion, and redemption," 1 Cor. i. priestly office, is "the end of 30. QUEST. 24. How doth Christ execute the office of a Prophet? ANSW. Christ executeth the office of a Prophet, in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation. Q. 1. Is Christ expressly called a [Prophet] in scripture? A. Yes: Acts iii. 22; where Peter applies the words of Moses to him, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me," &c. Q. 2. Why does he bear this name? A. Because he has made a full revelation of the whole counsel of God, concerning the salvation of lost sinners of mankind, John xv. 15. Q. 3. By what other names is Christ described, with relation to this office? A. By the names of an Apostle, Heb. iii. 1; of a Witness, Isa. Iv. 4; and of an Interpreter, Job xxxiii. 23. Q. 4. Why is he called an Apostle? A. Because he is the great Ambassador of Heaven, sent to declare the will of God unto men, John iii. 34; hence called the Messenger of the covenant, Mal. iii. 1. Q.5. Why called a Witness? A. Because being a son of Adam, Luke iii. 38. he was the more fit to attest the will of God unto men; and being the eternal Son of God, was therefore liable to no error or mistake in his testimony: hence called the Amen; the faithful and true Witness, Rev. iii. 14. Q. 6. Why is he called an Interpreter? A. Because the mystery of godliness lies so far beyond the reach of our natural under standing, that we could never shall not we escape, if we turn take it up in a saving manner, un-away from him that speaketh less the Son of God gave us an un- from heaven." derstanding, that we may know him that is true, 1 John v. 20. Q. 7. What was the necessity of his bearing this office of a Prophet? A. Because there could be no knowledge of the things of the Spirit of God, without a revelation of them, 1 Cor. ii. 14; and there could be no revelation of these things, but through Christ, John i. 18. Q. 8. By what means doth Christ reveal to us the will of God? A. He reveals it to us outwardly [by his word], and inwardly, by his [spirit,] 1 Pet. i. 11, 12. Q. 9. To whom doth he reveal the will of God outwardly in his word? A. To his church; which, on this account, is called the valley of vision, Isa. xxii. 1. Q. 12. In what manner did he reveal the will of God under both Testaments? A. Both immediately, in his own person; and mediately, by the intervention of others. Q. 13. How did he reveal the will of God immediately in his own person? A. By voices, visions, dreams, and divers others manners, under the Old Testament, Heb. i. 1; and by his own personal ministry, while here on earth, under the New, Heb. ii. 3. Q. 14. How doth he reveal the will of God mediately, or by the intervention of others? A. By inspiring the prophets under the Old Testament, and his apostles under the New, to speak and write "as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," 2 Pet. i. 21; and by commissionQ. 10. Did he reveal the willating ordinary pastors to teach of God to his church under the all things whatsoever he has comOld Testament? manded; and in so doing, promising to be with them "alway, even unto the end of the world," Mat. xxviii. 20. A. Yes; for the Spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament prophets, 1 Pet. i. 11; he is said, in the days of Noah, to have preached unto the spirits [now] in prison, 1 Pet. iii. 19; and "to have spoken with Moses on Mount Sinai," Acts vii, 38. Q. 11. Does he continue to be the prophet and teacher of the church, still, under the New Testament? A. Yes; and therefore said to speak from heaven, in his word and ordinances, Heb. xii. 25.-"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh; for, if they escaped not, who refused him that spake on earth, much more K Q. 15. Wherein doth Christ excel all other prophets and teachers whatsoever, whether ordinary or extraordinary? A. They were all commissioned by him as the original Prophet, Eph. iv. 11; none of them had ever any gifts or furniture, but what they received from him, John xx. 22; and none of them could ever teach with such authority, power and efficacy as he doth, John vii. 46. Q. 16. What will become of those who will not hear this prophet? A. "They shall be destroyed from among the people," Acts iii. 23. Q. 17. May not a people that enjoy a faithful ministry, have the word purely preached unto them, and yet not profit thereby? A. No doubt they may; as was the case of many of the Jews in Isaiah's time, Isa. liii. 1; and of Chorazin and Bethsaida, under the ministry of Christ himself, Mat. xi. 21. Q. 18. What is the reason why the word purely preached doth not profit? A. Because "it is not mixed with faith in them that hear it," Heb. iv. 2. Q. 19. What commonly follows upon people's not profiting by the word preached? A. The word of the Lord slays them, Hos. vi. 5; and proves the savour of death unto death unto them, 2 Cor. ii. 16. Q. 20. Seeing the external dispensation of the word has so little influence the generality, what else is necessary to make it effectual? upon A. The inward teaching of Christ by his Spirit, John vi. 63. and xiv. 26. Q. 21. How doth this great prophet teach inwardly by his Spirit? A. He opens the understanding, and makes the entrance of his words to give such light, Psal. cxix. 130. as the soul is made to see a divine beauty and glory in the gospel-method of salvation, 1 Cor. ii. 10-12. and powerfully inclined to fall in therewith, 1 Tim. i. 15. Q. 22. Doth Christ, as a prophet, make all welcome to come and be taught by him? A. Yes: for, in the outward dispensation of the gospel, he casts open the door to every man and woman, saying, "Come unto me--and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart," Mat. xi. 28, 29. Q. 23. At what schools doth Christ, as a prophet, train up his disciples? A. At the school of the law, the school of the gospel, and the school of affliction. them at the school of the law? Q. 24. What does he teach A. The nature and desert of sin; that thereby they are "withwithout God in the world," Eph. out Christ-having no hope, and ii. 12. Q. 26. What doth he teach them at the school of affliction? A. To justify God, Ezra ix. 13; to set their affections on things above, 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18; and, to pray that their affliction may be rather sanctified, than removed without being so, Isa. xxvii, 9. Q. 27. How may a person know, if they have profited under this great Prophet and Teacher? A. They will follow on to know him more and more, Hos. vi. 3; they will delight in his company, Psalm xxvii. 4; grieve at his absence, Job xxiii. 3; and hide his word in their heart, Psal. cxix. 11. |