תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

A. a "Give us this day our daily bread;" that is, he pleased to provide us with all things b necessary for the body, that we may thereby acknowledge thee to be the only fountain of all e good, and that neither our care nor industry, nor even thy gifts can d profit us without thy blessing; and therefore that we may withdraw our trust from all creatures, and place e it alone in thee.

a Mat. 6. 11. b Psa. 145. 15. 25. and 14. 17. d 1 Cor. 15. 58. e Psa. 62. 11. and 55. 22.

Mat. 6. 25, &c. c Acts 17.
Deut. 8. 3. Psa. 127. 1 2.

LI. LORD'S DAY.

Q. 126. Which is the fifth petition?

A. a" And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors;" that is, be pleased for the sake of Christ's blood, b not to impute to us poor sinners, our transgressions, nor that depravity, which always cleaves to us; even as we feel this evidence of thy grace in us, that it is our firm resolution, from the heart, to c forgive our neighbour.

Mat. 6. 12. b Psa. 51. 1. 1 John 2. 1, 2. c Mat. 6. 14, 15.

LII. LORD'S DAY.

Q. 127. Which is the sixth petition?

A. a "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;" that is, since we are so weak in ourselves, that we cannot stand b a moment; and besides this, since our mortal enemies, c the devil, the d world, and our own e flesh cease not to assault us; do thou therefore preserve and strengthen us by the power of thy holy spirit, that we may not be overcome in this spiritual warfare; f but constantly and strenuously may resist our foes, till at last we g obtain a complete victory.

a Mat. 6. 13. b Rom. 8. 26. Psa. 103. 14. c 1 Pet. 5. 8. d Eph. 6. 12. John 15. 19. e Rom. 7. 23. Gal. 5. 17. f Mat. 26. 41. Mark 13. 33. g 1 Thes. 3. 13. and 5. 23.

Q. 128. How dost thou conclude thy prayer?

A. h" For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever;" that is, all these we ask of thee, because thou, being our King and almighty, art willing and able to i give us all good; and all this we pray for, that thereby not we, but thy holy name j may be glorified for ever.

A Mat. 6. 13. i Rom. 10. 12. 2 Pet. 2. 9. j John 14. 13 Psa. 115. 1. Phil. 4. 20.

Q. 129. What doth the word "Amen" signify?

A. k"Amen" signifies, it shall truly and certainly be for my prayer is more assuredly heard of God, than I feel in m beart that I desire these things of him.

k 2 Cor. 1. 20. 2 Tim. 2. 13.

A COMPENDIUM

OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

Question 1. How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou enjoying real comfort mayest live and die happily?

Answer. Three: first, how great my sins and miseries are: the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries: the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.

THE FIRST PART.

Of the Misery of Man.

Q. 2. Whence knowest thou thy misery?

A. Out of the law of God.

Q. 3. What hath God commanded thee in his law?

A. That is contained in the ten cominandments, which he hath revealed in scripture, as follows:

Exodus xx. and Deut. 5. 4, 5, &c. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

I. Com. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in

vain.

IV. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy: siz days shalt thou labour and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea ad all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

V. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

VI. Thou shalt not kill.

VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII. Thou shalt not steal.

IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; thou shalt not conet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neigh

bour's.

Q. 4. How are the ten commandments divided?

A. Into two tables.

Q. 5. Which is the sum of what God requires of thee in the four commandments of the first table?

A. That I love the Lord my God, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength: this is the first and great commandment.

Q. 6. Which is the sum of what God commands thee in the six commandments of the second table ?

A. That I love my neighbour as myself: on these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets.

Q. 7. Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?

A. In no wise: for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbour; and to transgress the commandments of God in thought, word, and deed.

Q. 8. Hath God created thee naturally so wicked and per. verse?

A. By no means: but he created me good and after his own image, in the true knowledge of God, in righteousness and in holiness.

Q. 9. Whence then proceeds that depravity which is in thee?

A. From the fall and disobedience of Adam and Eve in Paradise; hence our nature is become so corrupt, that we are all conceived and born in sin.

Q. 10. What was that disobedience?

A. That they did eat of the fruit of the tree, which God had forbidden them.

Q. 11. Does the disobedience of Adam concern us?

A. Certainly: for he is the father of us all; and we have all sinned in him.

Q. 12. Are we then incapable of doing any good of ourselves, and prone to all manner of wickedness?

A. Indeed we are: unless we are regenerated by the spirit of God.

Q. 13. Will God suffer such disobedience and corruption to go unpunished?

A. By no means: but in his just judgment will punish them, both in time and eternity, as it is written: "cursed is every one that continneth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do them."

27*

[merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed]

Q. 21. When you profess to believe in God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, do you mean three Gods thereby?

A. In no wise: for there is but one only true God.

Q. 22. Why do you then name three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost 7

A. Because God hath so revealed himself in his word, that these three distinct persons are the only one and true God, and we also are baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Q. 23. What believest thou when thou sayest, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth?" A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who of nothing made heaven and earth, and still upholds them by his providence, is my God and Father, for Christ his Son's sake.

Q. 24. What believest thou when thou sayest, "And in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son our Lord ?"

A. That Jesus Christ is the eternal and only Son of the Father, co-essential with God the Father, and the Holy Ghost.

Q. 25. Do you not believe that he also became man?

A. Yes: for he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary.

Q. 26. Is his Godhead then changed into humanity?
A. No: For the Godhead is immutable.

Q. 27. How is he then become man?

A. By assuming the human nature into a personal union with his divine.

Q. 28. Did he then bring his human nature from heaven? A. No: but he took it on him of the Virgin Mary, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, and is thus become like unto us his brethren in all things, sin excepted, Heb. 2. 17. and 4.

15.

Q. 29. Why is he called Jesus, that is, Saviour?

A. Because he saves his people from their sins.

Q. 30. Is there no other Saviour?

A. No: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, than in the name of Jesus, Acts 4. 12.

Q. 31. Why is he called Christ, that is, Anointed?

A. Because he was anointed with the Holy Ghost, and ordained by God the Father, to be our chief Prophet, our only High Priest, and our eternal King.

Q. 32. What then hath Jesus Christ done to save us?

A. He has suffered for us, was crucified and died, was bu ried, and descended into hell; that is, he suffered the torments of hell, and thus became obedient to his Father, that he might deliver us from the temporal and eternal punishment due to sin.

« הקודםהמשך »