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THE

SHORTER CATECHISM.

Question 1. WHAT is the chief end of man?

Anfwer. Man's chief end is, to glorify

God a, and to enjoy him for ever b.

Q. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?

A. The word of God, which is contained in the fcriptures of the Old and New Teftaments c, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him d.

Q3. What do the fcriptures principally teach?

A. The fcriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man e. Q4. What is GOD?

A. God is a spirit f, infinite g, eternal h, and unchange

1. a 1 Cor. x. 3.1. Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatfoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Rom. xi. 36. For of him, and thro' him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Pfa. Ixxiii. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I defire befides thee. v. 26. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. v. 27. For to, they that are far from thee fhall perith: thou haft deftroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. v. 28. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.

2. c 2. Tim. ii. 16. All fcripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for inftruction in

able,

righteoufnefs. Eph. ii. 20. And are built upon the foundation of the apoftles and prophets, Jefus Christ himself being the chief corner ftone.

dr John i. 3. That which we have feen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye alfo may have fellowfhip with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jefus Chrift. v. 4. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

3. 2 Tim. i. 13. Hold faft the form of found words, which thou haft heard of me, in faith and love which is in Chrift Jesus. 2 Tim, iii. 16. (See in letter c.)

4.f John iv. 24. God is a spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in fpirit and in truth.

g job xi. 7. Canft thou by fearching find out God: cant thou find Bb 4.

out

able i, in his being k, wisdom /, power m, holiness n, justice, goodness and trutho.

Q. 5.. Are there more gods than one?

A. There is but one only, the living and true God p.
Q. 6. How many perfons are there in the Godhead?

A. There are three perfons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghoft; and these three are one God, the fame in fubftance, equal in power and glory q.

Q.7. What are the decrees of God?

A. The decrees of God are, his eternal purpofe according to the counfel of his will, whereby, for his own glory,

out the Almighty unto perfection? v. 8. It is as high as heaven, what can't thou do? deeper than hell, what can't thou know v. 9. The meaiure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

b Pfa, xc. 2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadit formed the earth and the world: even from everlafting to everlafting thou art God.

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thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all nations fhall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifelt.

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• Exod. xxxiv. 6. And the Lord paffed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-fuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, v. 7. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and tranfgreffion and fin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; vifiting the ini

i Jamesi. 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variable-quity of the fathers upon the childneis, neither fhadow of turning.

* Exod. iii. 14. And God said unto Mofes, I AM THATIAM; and he faid, thus fhalt thou fay unto the children of Ifrael, I AM hath fent me unto you.

IPfa. cxlvii. 5. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is intinite.

m Rev. iv. 8. And the four beafts had each of them fix wings about him, and they were full of eyes with in: and they rest not day and night, faying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and

is to come.

"Rev. xv. 4. Who fhall not fear

ren, and upon the childrens children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

5. Deut. 6. 4. Hear, O Ifrael, the Lord our God is one Lord. Jer. x. 10. But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlafting King; at his wrath the earth fhall tremble, and the nations fhall not be able to abide his indignation.

6.9 1 John v 7. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghoft: and there three are one. Mat, xxvii 19. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,

and

he hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass r. Q. 8. How doth God execute his decrees?

A. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and

providence.

Q. 9. What is the work of creation?

A. The work of creation is, God's making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of fix days, and all very good.

Q. 10. How did God create man?

A. God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures t.

Q. 11. What are God's works of providence?

A. God's works of providence are, his most holy v, wife w,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft.

7. Eph. i. 4. According as he hath chofen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we fhould be holy, and without blame before him in love. v. 11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predeftinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counfel of his own will. Rom. ix. 22. What if God willing to fhew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-fuffering the veffels of wrath fitted to deftruction; v. 23. And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the veffels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory?

9.f. Gen. i, throughout. Heb. xi. 3. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, fo that things which are feen were not made of things which do appear.

10. 1 Gen. i. 26. And God faid, Let us make man in our own image,

and

after our likenefs: and let them have dominion over the fish of the fea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. v. 27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them. v. 28. And God blessed them, and God faid unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and fubdue it: and have dominion over the filh of the tea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Col. iii. 10. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him. Eph. iv. 24. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteou nefs, and true holiness.

11. Pfal. cxlv. 17. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

TM Pia. civ. 24. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wiidom haft

thou

and powerful preserving, and governing all his creatures, and all their actions y.

Q. 12. What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?

A. When God had created man, he enrred into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience: forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death z.

Q. 13. Did our firft parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?

A. Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by finning against God a.

Q.14. What is fin?

A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or tranfgreffion of,

thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. Ifaiah xxviii. 29. This alfo cometh forth from the Lord of hofts, which is wonderful in counfel, and excellent in working.

Heb.i. 3. Who being the brightnefs of his glory, and the expreis image of his perion, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himfelf purged our fins, fat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

Pfa, ciii. 19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. Mat. x. 29. Are not two fparrows fold for a farthing? and one of them fhall not fall on the ground without your Father. v. 30. But the very hairs of

your head are all numbered. v. 31. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

12. z Gal. iii. 12. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doth them, fhall live in them. Gen. ii. 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt

the

not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatett thereof, thou shalt furely die.

13. a Gen. iii. 6. And when the woman faw that tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be defired to make one-wife; the took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave alfo to her husband with her, and he did eat. v.7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they fewed fig. leaves together, and made themfelves aprons. v. 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themfelves from the prefence of the Lord God, amongst the trees of the garden. v. 13. And the Lord God faid unto the woman, What is this that thou haft done and the woman faid, The ferpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Eccl. vii. 29. Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have fought

out

the law of God b.

Q. 15. What was the fin whereby our firft parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?

A. The fin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit c.

Q. 1 6. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first tranfgreffion? A. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his pofterity, all mankind defcending from him by ordinary generation, finned in him, and fell with him in his first tranfgreffion d.

Q.17. Into what eftate did the fall bring mankind?

A. The fall brought mankind into an estate of fin and mifery e.

Q. 18. Wherein confifts the finfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?

A. The finfulness of that estate, whereinto man fell, confifts in the guilt of Adam's first fin, the want of original righ. teoufnefs, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original fin; together with all actual tranfgreffions which proceed from it f.

out many inventions.

14. b 1 John iii. 4. Whofoever committeth fin, tranfgreffeth alfo the law; for fin is the tranfgreffion of the law.

15. c Gen. iii. 6. (See in letter.) v. 12. The woman whom thou gaveft to be with me, the gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

16. d Gen. ii. 16. And the Lord God commanded the man, faying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayeft freely eat. v. 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou fhalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eateft thereof, thou fhalt furely die. Rom. v. 12. Wherefore, as by one man fin en

Q. 19.

tred into the world, and death by fin; and fo death paffed upon all men, for that all have finned. 1 Cor. xv. 21. For fince by man came death, by man came alfo the refurrection of the dead. v. 22. For as in Adam all die, fo in Chrift fhall all be made a live.

17. Rom. v. 12. Wherefore, as by one man fin entred into the world, and death by fin; and fo death paffed upon all men, for that all have finned.

18. f Rom. v. 12. Wherefore, as by one man fin entred into the world, and death by fin; and fo death paffed upon all men, for that all have finned. v. 19. For as by one man's

difobe

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