THE

GREATER CATECHISM.

CHAP. I.-OF THE SCRIPTURE.

QUES. 1. What is Christian religion?

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ANS. The only way of knowing God aright, and 'living unto him.-"John xiv. 5, 6, xvii. 3; Acts iv. 12.- Col. i. 10; 2 Cor. v. 15; Gal. ii. 19, 20.

Q. 2. Whence is it to be learned?

A. From the holy Scripture only.-Isa. viii. 20; John v. 39.
Q. 3. What is the Scripture?

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A. The books of the Old and New Testament, given by inspiration from God, containing all things necessary to be believed and done, that God may be worshipped and our souls saved.—*Isa. viii. 20; Rom. iii. 2.— Rev. xxii. 19, 20.—° 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17; Ps. xix. 7, 8; Jer. vii. 13; John xx. 31.

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Q. 4. How know you them to be the word of God?

A. By the testimony' of God's Spirit, working faith in my heart to close with that heavenly majesty, and clear divine truth, that shineth in them.-"Matt. xvi. 17; John xvi. 13; 1 Thess. ii. 13; 1 John ii. 20, v. 6.— Luke xxiv. 32; 1 Cor. ii. 14; Heb. iv. 12; 2 Pet. i. 19.

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1 Every one out of this way everlastingly damned.

The life of religion is in the Life.

Popish traditions are false lights, leading from God.

The authority of the Scripture dependeth not on the authority of the church,

as the Papists blaspheme.

5 All human inventions unnecessary helps in the worship of God. The word thereof is the sole directory for faith, worship, and life.

7 This alone persuadeth and inwardly convinceth the heart of the divine verity of the Scripture; other motives, also, there are from without, and unanswerable arguments to prove the truth of them; as,-1. Their antiquity; 2. Preservation from fury; 3. Prophecies in them; 4. The holiness and majesty of their doctrine, agreeable to the nature of God; 5. Miracles; 6. The testimony of the church of all ages; 7. The blood of innumerable martyrs, &c.

CHAP. II.-OF GOD.

Q. 1. What do the Scriptures teach concerning God? A. First, what he is, or his nature; secondly, what he doth, or his works.-Exod. iii. 14; Isa. xlv. 6; Heb. i. 1-3, xi. 6.

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Q. 2. What is God in himself?

A. An eternal, infinite,'

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being to all things, and doing with them whatsoever he pleaseth.— * Deut. xxxiii. 27; Isa. lvii. 15; Rev. i. 8.-1 Kings viii. 27; Ps. cxxxix. 2-5, &c.- Exod. xxxiii. 20; 1 Tim. vi. 16.- John iv. 24.- Gen. i. 1; Ps. cxv. 3, cxxxv. 6; Isa. xlvi. 10; John v. 17; Heb. i. 2. Q. 3. Do we here know God as he is?

A. No; his glorious being is not of us, in this life, to be comprehended. Exod. xxxiii. 23; 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

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Q. 4. Whereby is God chiefly made known unto us in the Word? A. First, by his names; secondly, by his attributes or properties.- Exod. iii. 14, vi. 3; Ps. lxxxiii. 18.— Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7; Matt.

V. 48.

Q. 5. What are the names of God?

A. Glorious titles, which he hath given himself, to hold forth his excellencies unto us, with some perfections whereby he will reveal himself.-Exod. iii. 14, 15, vi. 3, xxxiv. 6, 7; Gen. xvii. 1.

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Q. 6. What are the attributes of God?

A. His infinite perfections in being and working.-Rev. iv. 8-11. Q. 7. What are the chief attributes of his being?

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A. Eternity, 'infiniteness, simplicity or purity, "all-sufficiency,

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* perfectness, 'immutability, "life, will, and 'understanding.—" Deut. xxxiii. 27; Ps. xciii. 2; Isa. lvii. 15; Rev. i. 11.—1 Kings viii. 27; Ps. cxxxix. 1-4, 8-10.- Exod. iii. 14.—aGen. xvii. 1; Ps. cxxxv. 4-6.-Job xi. 7-9; Rom. xi. 33-36.- Mal. iii. 6; James i. 17. Judges viii. 19; 1 Sam. xxv. 34; 2 Kings iii. 14; Ezek. xiv. 16,

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'The perfection of God's being is known of us chiefly by removing all imperfections.

Hence the abominable vanity of idolaters, and of the blasphemous Papists, that picture God.

3 Let us prostrate ourselves in holy adoration of that which we cannot comprehend.

The divers names of God signify one and the same thing, but under diverse notions in respect of our conception.

"Some of these attributes belong so unto God, as that they are in no sort to be ascribed to any else,-as infiniteness, eternity, &c. Others are after a sort attributed to some of his creatures, in that he communicateth unto them some of the effects of them in himself,-as life, goodness, &c.

The first of these are motives to humble adoration, fear, self-abhorrency; the other, to faith, hope, love, and confidence, through Jesus Christ.

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xvi. 48; Matt. xvi. 16; Acts xiv. 15; 1 Thess. i. 9.- Dan. iv. 35; Isa. xlvi. 10; Eph. i. 5, 11; James i. 18.-'Ps. vii. 8, cxxxix. 2, cxlvii. 4; Jer. xi. 20; Heb. iv. 13.

Q. 8. What are the attributes which usually are ascribed to him in his works, or the acts of his will?

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A. Goodness, power, 12 justice, mercy, holiness, wisdom, and the like; which he delighteth to exercise towards his creatures, for the praise of his glory.-Ps. cxix. 68; Matt. xix. 17.- Exod. xv. 11; Ps. lxii. 11; Rev. xix. 1.— Zeph. iii. 5; Ps. xi. 7; Jer. xii. 1; Rom. i. 32.-Ps. cxxx. 7; Rom. ix. 15; Eph. ii. 4.—Exod. xv. 11; Josh. xxiv. 19; Hab. i. 13; Rev. iv. 8.-'Rom. xi. 33, xvi. 27.

CHAP. III.-OF THE HOLY TRINITY.

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Q. 1. Is there but one God to whom these properties do belong? A. One only, in respect of his essence and being, but one in three distinct persons, of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.- Deut. vi. 4; Matt. xix. 17; Eph. iv. 5, 6.- Gen. i. 26; 1 John v. 7; Matt. xxviii. 19.

Q. 2. What mean you by person?

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A. A distinct manner of 345 subsistence or being, distinguished from the other persons by its own properties.-John v. 17; Heb. i. 3. Q. 3. What is the distinguishing property of the person of the Father?

A. To be of himself only the fountain of the Godhead.-John v. 26, 27; Eph. i. 3.

Q. 4. What is the property of the Son?

A. To be begotten of his Father from eternity.—Ps. ii. 7; John i. 14, iii. 16.

Q. 5. What of the Holy Ghost?

A. To proceed from the Father and the Son.-John xiv 17, xvi. 14, xv. 26, xx. 22.

Q. 6. Are these three one?

A. One every way, in nature, will, and essential properties, 'distinguished only in their personal manner of subsistence.-John x. 30; Rom. iii. 30.- John xv. 26; 1 John v. 7.

1 Nothing is to be ascribed unto God, nor imagined of him, but what is exactly agreeable to those his glorious properties.

These last are no less essential unto God than the former;-only we thus distinguish them, because these are chiefly seen in his works.

3 This is that mysterious ark that must not be pried into, nor the least tittle spoken about it, wherein plain Scripture goeth not before.

To deny the Deity of any one person, is in effect to deny the whole Godhead;

for whosoever hath not the Son, hath not the Father.

This only doctrine remained undefiled in the Papacy.

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Q. 7. Can we conceive these things as they are in themselves? A. Neither we nor yet the angels' of heaven are at all able to dive into these secrets, as they are internally in God; but in respect of the outward dispensation of themselves to us by creation, redemption, and sanctification, a knowledge may be attained of these things, saving and heavenly.- 1 Tim. vi. 16.- Isa. vi. 2, 3.—° Col. i. 11-14.

CHAP. IV.-OF THE WORKS OF GOD; AND, FIRST, OF THOSE THAT ARE INTERNAL AND IMMANENT.

Q. 1. What do the Scriptures teach concerning the works of God? A. That they are of two sorts; first, internal,' in his counsel, decrees, and purposes, towards his creatures; secondly, external, in his works over and about them, to the praise of his own glory.-Acts xv. 18; Prov. xvi. 4.

Q. 2. What are the decrees of God?

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A. *Eternal, unchangeable purposes345 of his will, concerning the being and well-being of his creatures.- Mic. v. 2; Eph. iii. 9-11; Acts xv. 18.- Isa. xiv. 24, xlvi. 10; Rom. ix. 11; 2 Tim. ii. 19.

Q. 3. Concerning which of his creatures chiefly are his decrees to be considered?

A. Angels and men, for whom other things were ordained.—1 Tim. v. 21; Jude 6.

Q. 4. What are the decrees of God concerning men?

A. Election and reprobation.-Rom. ix. 11–13.

Q. 5. What is the decree of election?

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A. The eternal, free, immutable purpose of God, whereby in Jesus Christ he chooseth unto himself whom he pleaseth out of whole mankind, determining to bestow upon them, for his sake, grace here, and everlasting happiness hereafter, for the praise of his glory, by the way of mercy.-"Eph. i. 4; Acts xiii. 48; Rom.

1 We must labour to make out comfort from the proper work of every person towards us.

The purposes and decrees of God, so far as by him revealed, are objects of our faith, and full of comfort.

3 Farther reasons of God's decrees than his own will, not to be inquired after. The changes in the Scripture ascribed unto God are only in the outward dispensations and works, variously tending to one infallible event, by him proposed. The Arminians' blasphemy, in saying God sometimes fails of his purposes. The decree of election is the fountain of all spiritual graces, for they are bestowed only on the elect.

In nothing doth natural corruption more exalt itself against God, than in opposing the freedom of his grace in his eternal decrees.

From the execution of these decrees flows that variety and difference we see in the dispensation of the means of grace,-God sending the Gospel where he hath a remnant according to election.

viii. 29, 30.- Matt. xi. 26.-2 Tim. ii. 19.- Eph. i. 4, 5; Matt. xxii. 14. Rom. ix. 18-21.-'John vi. 37, xvii. 6, 9, 11, 24.

Q. 6. Doth any thing in us move the Lord thus to choose us from amongst others?

A. No, in no wise; we are in the same lump with others rejected, when separated by his undeserved grace.-Rom. ix. 11, 12; Matt. xi. 25; 1 Cor. iv. 7; 2 Tim. i. 9.

Q. 7. What is the decree of reprobation?

A. The eternal purpose of God to suffer many to sin, leave them in their sin, and not giving them to Christ, to punish them for their sin.-Rom. ix. 11, 12, 21, 22; Prov. xvi. 4; Matt. xi. 25, 26; 2 Pet. ii. 12; Jude 4.

CHAP. V. Of the Works of God that OUTWARDLY ARE OF HIM.

Q. 1. What are the works of God that outwardly respect his creatures?

A. First, of creation; secondly, of1 actual providence.—Ps. xxxiii. 9; Heb. i. 2, 3.

Q. 2. What is the work of creation?

A. An act or work of God's almighty power, whereby of nothing, in six days, he created heaven, earth, and the sea, with all things in them contained.-Gen. i. 1; Exod. xx. 11; Prov. xvi. 4.

Q. 3. Wherefore did God make man?

A. For his own glory in his service 23 and obedience.-Gen. i. 26, 27, ii. 16, 17; Rom. ix. 23.

Q. 4. Was man able to yield the service and worship that God required of him?

A. Yea, to the uttermost, being created upright in the image of God, in purity, innocency, righteousness, and holiness.-Gen. i. 26; Eccles. vii. 29; Eph. iv. 24; Col. iii. 10.

Q. 5. What was the rule whereby man was at first to be directed in his obedience?

A. The moral or eternal law of God, implanted in his nature and written in his heart by creation, being the tenor of the covenant between God and him, sacramentally typified by the tree of knowledge of good and evil.-Gen. ii. 15–17; Rom. ii. 14, 15; Eph. iv. 24.

1 The very outward works of God are sufficient to convince men of his eternal power and Godhead, and to leave them inexcusable, if they serve him not.

2 The glory of God is to be preferred above our own either being or well-being, as the supreme end of them.

The approaching unto God in his service is the chief exaltation of our nature above the beasts that perish.

God never allowed, from the beginning, that the will of the creature should be the measure of his worship and honour.