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72

The Manner of Receiving the CATECHUMENS.

who are here proftrate before Thee, and of the rest of us who call upon Thee, who worship Thee, who glorifie Thee and who defire thy Grace, through Jefus Chrift, who has commanded us to pray unto Thee, after this manner :

UR Father which art in Heaven: Hallowed be Thy Name:

Heaven. Give us this Day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Tref paffes, as we forgive them that trefpafs against us. And lead us not into Temptation, but deliver us from Evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

After the Lord's-Prayer, they conclude with the Blessing, which is given to the Catechumens in this Form.

HE Bleffing of the Lord God Almighty, the Father, the Son, Tand and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.

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SPECIMEN

OF THE

Arguments & Exhortations

UPON THE

OLD TESTAMENT,

As used in the

Churches of Neufchatel.

T

GENESIS, Chapter XXV.

HIS Chapter treats of the Marriage of Abraham with Keturab his fecond Wife; of the Death of Abraham and of Ishmael; of the Birth of Efau and Jacob, the Sons of Ifaac; and of Efau's felling his Birth-right to Jacob his Brother.

My Brethren,

WE

After Reading the Leffon.

E have read the Hiftory of the Death of Abraham; upon which St. Paul obferves, that he died as well as the other Patriarchs, without having feen the Accomplishments of God's Promises; having been Strangers and Travellers upon the Earth: From whence we may infer, that God had reserved for them a heavenly Country. The Multiplication of the Pofterity of Ishmael, fhews us the Truth of thofe Promifes which had been made to Abraham. The Choice that God made to Jacob, preferably to his elder Brother Efau, fhews us, that

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that God is free in the Distribution of his Favours, and that he be ftows them on fuch as he thinks fit.

Laftly, The Contempt that Efau fhewed of his Birth-right, by felling it to Jacob, fhould make us remember that Warning of St. Paul, Heb. XII. ver. 16. Let none of you be a Fornicator, or prophane Perfon, as Efau, who for one Morfel of Meat fold his Birth-right.

TH

GENESIS, Chap. XLII.

HE Sons of Jacob being come to buy Corn in Egypt, were dif covered by Jofeph, but he did not make himself known to them; yea, he caufed them to be put into Prifon, and kept Simeon, to oblige them to bring their Brother Benjamin to him: Nevertheless, he fent them back with fome Corn, and caufed their Money to be returned to them.

My Brethren,

TH

After the Leffon.

THIS Leffon prefents us with Three Reflections: First, We may obferve by the Arrival of Jofeph's Brethren in Egypt, and the Homage which they did him, the Accomplishment of his Dreams, and that God had fent him before them into Egypt, for the Support of Jacob's Family, and to draw them into that Country. Secondly, The Behaviour of Jofeph unto his Brethren, fhews his Affection for them, but at the fame Time his great Wifdam, in not difcovering himfelf to them, and in ftopping Simeon, which he did to oblige his Brethren to return and to bring Benjamin with them, both because he had Reafon to diftrust them, and because he was afraid if he had declared himself to them, they would have concealed it from their Father. Thirdly, We must carefully obferve what the Brethren of Jofeph faid when they were put into Prifon, and how they then remembred the Anguish in which they had feen: Jofeph, and the Inhumanity with which they had treated him. Thus we fee how Confcience will be: awakened in Adverfity, and how Remorfe follows after Sin carly, or late..

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HE Ifraelites murmuring against Moses because they had nothing to eat, God fent them Quailes, and afterwards Manna, which was their Food for Forty Years in the Wilderness.

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N the Hiftory that we have now read, we fee the Ingratitude of the Children of Ifrael, who after fo many Miracles that God had wrought for them, murmured against Mofes, and was forry for their Departure out of Egypt. One may alfo fee how graciously God was pleas'd to put a Stop to thofe Murmurings, and to provide for their Subfiftance by the Means of Manna which He fent them. But that which we ought chiefly to confider, is that which Chrift Jefus fays in the Gospel, This is that Bread which came down from Hea Joh. VI. ven not at your Fathers did eat Manna, and are dead: He that eat eth of this Bread fhall live for ever. Let us therefore, My Brethren, pray to God that He would always give us this heavenly Food whilft we are in the Defart of this World; and let us make a better Ufe of it than the Jews did formerly of the Manna that God fent to feed them in the Wilderness.

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T

EXODUS, Chap. XXII.

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HIS Chapter treats of the Punishment of thole that rob or do any Damage to their Neighbours, and of the Reftitution they are obliged to make of Things that have been pledg'd or lent to them; of Uncleannefs; of Idolatry; of oppreffing the Poor of the Refpect due to Magiftrates, and of the First-Fruits which the fes were to offer to God.

My Brethren,

T

After the Leffon.

HIS Chapter affords us feveral Inftructions. The First, which is alfo repeated feveral Times, is, that thofe who have wronged another, either by Theft or Deceit, or even by Carelefnefs, are obliged to Reftitution: That we ought faithfully to restore

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the Things wherewith we are intrufted: That we ought to reverence an Oath, and to abhor Uncleannefs and Idolatry. God does alfo therein declare, that it is a great Sin to opprefs the Widows and Strangers, and rigorously to extort our Due from the Poor: That these are the Sins that cry to God; and provoke Him to Wrath. We are alfo taught in this Chapter to speak of Magiftrates with respect; and the Obligation the Jews were laid under to offer their FirstFruits to God, fhews that Religion requires us to devote Part of our Goods to the Service of God, and to Works of Charity.

H

LEVITICUS, Chap. XX.

Leave out all between the 10th and 22ď Verfe.

ERE God commands that all thofe fhould be put to Death who caufed their Children to pass through the Fire, in Honour” to Moloch, which was the Idol of the Ammonites; alfo thofe that curfed Father and Mother; Adulterers, Incestuous Perfons; thofe that fall into the heinous Crimes of Fornication and Witchcraft. The Hebrews exhorted to be holy, and to keep God's Commandments, and to avoid the Cuftoms and Manners of the Canaanites.

My Brethren,

After the Leffon.

The

HESE are the Reflections, which thefe Laws offer to us. Prohibition of burning Children, and offering them to the Idof Moloch, fhews us to what horrible Actions, and Excefs of Inhumanity, the idolatrous People abandon themfelves in the Service of their falfe Gods, and of what Things thofe that know not the true God are capable. You may obferve likewife, that God had made it punifhable with Death, to have Recourfe to Wizards or Witches; Adulterers, both Men and Women, punished with Death; as alfo thofe that Curfe Father and Mother; by which you may judge how abominable thofe Crimes were, and with what Severity they ought to be punished in Chriftians. Laftly, The repeated Exhortations from God to the Jews, that they should not be like the Canaanites, but become a holy People to Him, ought to make us remember who are Christians that God having feparated us from the World, we

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