fear, to ask your life in requital for his. But can you not sacrifice an appetite or passion for him, who offered up his blood for you? How can you take up your abode in the bosom of Abraham, that father of the faithful, who offered up his only son to God, if you cannot bring so small a sacrifice to his altar, the sacrifice of a beastly appetite or passion? Or how can so unthankful niggards enter into the presence of God, who offered his only and well-beloved Son on the cross for your salvation? for the salvation of you, a parcel of impious wretches, in open rebellion against him? To say any thing more on a subject which so loudly speaks itself, would be to doubt the reality of that common sense, to which I am appealing. And therefore I shall only add so short a catechism on the necessary principles of our holy religion, as may be learned in one hour; to which whosoever will not out of his whole life give that one hour, must give up all pretensions to even the name of a Christian, and to that common sense, wherewith every human creature, properly so called, is, by the Author of nature, endowed. Some plain texts of Scripture, out of many, pointed to by their chapters and verses, separately to prove the truth of every answer in this short catechism, here follow each answer, and are referred to the several parts of each answer. CATECHISM. I. Question. What is your faith? Answer. I believe and trust in the one only God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the Holy Trinity.d II. Q. How do you hope to be saved from sin, and the eternal punishment of sin? A. By my Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of the Father, who came into the world to save sinners. III. Q. What hath he done to save you from sin and its punishment? A. He hath by his gospel, or testament left me in writing, called me to faith and repentance, hath taken on him my nature with the guilt of all my sins, hath in my nature a Isa. xliv. 6. Matt. iv. 10. b 1 Tim. iii. 16. d Matt. xxviii. 19. Mark xvi. 16. 1 John v. 7. e Acts v. 3, 4. e Acts xvi. 31. Acts iv. 12. f Mark xvi. 16. Acts ii. 38. suffered death, the wages of sin, for me" insomuch, that if I believe in him, and repent, I shall be forgiven; and the third day after his death arose again to life for the justification of this my faith. Rom. iv. 25. IV. Q. Do you hope for any thing more in and through Christ? A. Yes, for eternal life in heaven.k V. Q. Hath he done any thing farther to secure God's mercy to you, and your obedience to God? A. He hath in my baptism made a covenant of peace between his Father and me, whereof he himself is the Mediator;1 and hath offered me the food of eternal life," namely, his spiritual body and blood in his last supper, whereby, if I constantly and worthily receive it, I am fed to virtue, and that happy life by his Holy Spirit." VI. Q. What hath the Father promised you in this covenant? A. To adopt me for his own child, to unite me to his Son as a member of his spiritual body, the church, and to provide for me an inheritance of everlasting life, if I perform my part in this covenant.a VII. Q. What is your part in this covenant? A. I have therein vowed to renounce and fight against the enemies of his glory and my salvation,' to believe all the articles of the Christian faith, and to keep the commandments of God, which I cannot do, if I do not, in a reasonable degree, understand those articles and commandments. VIII. Q. What are the enemies of God and your salvation? A. The devil," the world," and the flesh. IX. Q. Have you any reason for renouncing these together? A. Yes, because they combine against God and my soul. I renounce the devil as the author of rebellion and sin; the pride and pomp of the world, as his instruments of tempta tion; and also the pride and lust of my own corrupted heart, as those inward traitors that lay me open to his temptations." X. Q. Do you renounce all fleshly pleasure? A. All, in thought, word, and deed, so far as it is sinful, and even innocent pleasure, so far as it may enfeeble my Christian resolution, and turn away my affections from God." XI. Q. What are you to believe? A. Not only in the one only God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but also, that God is always present with me;d knows every thing I speak, think, and do; that he will call me into judgment for them at the last day; and that he will adjudge me to happiness in heaven, or misery in hell, according as I shall have performed, or neglected, my engagements in the covenant.s XII. Q. And what have you vowed to do, or abstain from, in this covenant? A. I have vowed to do, to the best of my power, whatsoever God requires of me, and to abstain from whatsoever he forbids me in his ten commandments, delivered to the Israelites in the law by Moses, confirmed by Christ to all Christians, and summed up by him in two, Matt. ii. 22. and, among others, most particularly to obey his commandments, to mortify my pride, and love of fleshly pleasure, those original and diabolical causes of all other sins; together with his commandment of love for all my Christian brethren.i XIII. Q. Are you of yourself able to keep your part in this covenant? A. I am not; but I am commanded by my Saviour, continually to watch, lest I enter into temptation, and incessantly to pray for the assistance of the Holy Ghost, which he hath promised to all endeavouring Christians.' XIV. Q. Do you believe in the holy Catholic church, and in its four happy privileges? A. I do believe in the holy Catholic church," in the com a 1 John ii. 16. Phil. ii. 3. b Rom. xiii. 14. Gal. v. 17. Job v. 24. d Psal. cxxxix. 7, 8, 9. Acts xvii. 27, 28. f Rom. ii. 3. Rom. ii. 5. g Matt. xxv. 31. 2 Cor. v. 10. h Mark xiii. 37. Rom. viii. 13. Matt. xi. 29. Matt. xvi. 24. i John xiii. 34, 35. 1 Cor. xiii. Mark xiii. 37. Luke xviii. 1. 1 John xiv. 26. Acts x. 44, 45. Rom. viii. 5. Rom. xiv. 17. 1 Cor. vi. 19. m 1 Tim. iii. 15. Matt. xviü. 17, munion of saints," the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and everlasting life, and in every religious doctrine which the truly catholic church tells me by its head Christ Jesus, who, as the head always does, in his holy Scriptures, speaks to and for his whole body, the church; and I likewise believe that whosoever does not endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,' nor to live and act by the mind of Christ Jesus,' is cut off from him and his body." I have made this catechism as short and easy as possibly can be, without omitting any thing that is necessary, for two reasons: first, because I am sure, the knowledge of our religion is, in itself, short and easy; and secondly, because I fear there are some among you who will not give much time nor thought even to this one thing needful. Let such however consider, if they have indeed the use of common sense, how they can pass their lives in carelessness and ignorance as to religion, with death, judgment, and eternity before them. If the attentive reader of this catechism remembers scriptures sufficient to prove its doctrines, he hath nothing farther to do than to apply them feelingly to his conscience; but if he does not, let him at least search his Bible for those I have quoted, and he must be satisfied; for how often must God repeat the same thing to him, ere he can be convinced of its truth? And yet he hath been pleased to repeat these saving truths in many other passages of Scripture with a variety of plain expressions, which its attentive reader will himself observe and remember for his own use. Here is a very short view of the most necessary Christian principles, in regard both to faith and practice, which include and enforce on your minds a number of most excellent precepts, besides these necessary principles, such as, 'be you perfect men, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect God;' 'forgive and you shall be forgiven;' 'overcome evil with good ;'' do unto all men, as you would they should do unto you;' with many others, delivered by Christ him • Acts xxvi. 18. Luke xxiv. 47. n Acts ii. 42. Eph. iii. 6. self, or by the Holy Spirit, writing by the apostles, all closely connected with, or following from, the leading principles, delivered to you in this short catechism, which you will find, and ought carefully to consider, in the Scriptures of the New Testament. But among them all there is not one that might be applied to our hearts with more profit than Christ's saying of little children, of such is the kingdom of heaven.' Here the humility, the simplicity, and innocence of the Christian temper and spirit is set before our very eyes in a lovely little image, more strongly by far than words can possibly express it. If the great masters of painting have adopted this thought to represent the high order of cherubim by winged infants, should not the soul of a Christian much rather endeavour to copy into itself the beautiful representation? Finally, my beloved brethren, attend closely to the promise of eternal life, made to you in the gospel of God, that ye may firmly believe in, and trust to that promise, for St. Paul tells all true Christians, ye stand by faith.' 'Stand fast therefore in that faith,' according to the exhortation of the same apostle; quit ye like men; be strong. Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.' Begin with this work of God, to believe in him whom he hath sent.' Lift up this shield of faith, which shall quench all the fiery darts of the wicked,' and enable you both to prove and adorn your Christian profession by good works in the service of the living God, who hath told you, that the just shall live by his faith,' that is, shall rule his life by the principles of his faith, and by that faith shall be justified at the last day. As however you can do nothing of yourselves, fly to God, your strength, 'praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance.' If faith, no greater than a grain of mustard seed, is able to remove a mountain,' how much more easily may it remove the poor little hillock of your pride, and dry up the filthy puddle which the love of sinful pleasure and of worldly gain hath poured upon you? If this is once done, your conscience having dropped its clog, your lightened soul shall spring upward toward God on the wings of that faith, and on those of |