A. I can. Paul says to Timothy, "From a child you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise to salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ; for all Scripture given by inspiration of God, is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly fitted for every good work."

Q. 23. Who of the New Testament authors writes the most upon the mysteries, or secrets of the christian religion?

A. Paul.

Q. 24. Is there any declaration of his which would lead any of his readers to think that he could understand the knowledge which Paul communicates on these secrets of Christ.

A. Yes: Paul says to the Ephesians concerning the greatest secrets communicated to him, "By revelation God made known to me the mystery, as I wrote to you in few words; whereby, when you read, YOU MAY UNDERSTAND my knowledge in the mystery of Christ."

Q. 25. Might it not be said that the natural man savors not spiritual things, while the spiritual man savors all things?

A. Yes; in Paul's sense of these words. The natural man can understand the things addressed to him, and these are all the things that should be addressed to him, so long as he continues out of the kingdom of Jesus-until he believes and obeys the gospel. But when he is naturalized or born again, then may be communicated to him the secrets of the reign: for he can then discover the things of the Spirit. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." The things of the kingdom are veiled from those at a distance from it. They are too far off to discern them. Therefore they should be addressed as unbelievers, exhorted and commanded to do the things enjoined upon such; but after turning to the Lord, a new song is put into their mouth; and a new lesson put into their hands; and thus the book of God adapts itself to all classes and conditions of men.

Q. 26. How comes it to pass that a book from such an author, on such a subject, and addressed to all mankind, should be so difficult to understand?

A. There are in religion, as in nature, deep and unfathomable things, which overwhelm, in religious awe, all the powers of the human mind. These are the "things hard to be understood," while the language which suggests them is as plain and intelligible as any other language in the book.

Q. 27. But is not the gospel one of the plainest things in all the divine communications, and are not all the christian institutions as plain as language can make them?

A. Most unhesitatingly we must answer yes. To the poor and the ignorant the gospel is announced. As it is designed for their salvation, it must be plain.

Q. 28. What then are the deep and unfathomable things?

A. Some of the principles of the divine government; the original and ultimate designs of creation, providence, and redemption; to which department belong all the pages of prophecy yet unfulfilled, EXTRA-NO, IV.

29*

1

and all the prophecies of past times. In reference to these one may say, with the arch-treasurer of Ethiopia, "How can I understand these annunciations, unless some one guide me?" But while prophecy always required an expositor, and while there are developements of that incomprehensible mind, which, in religion, as in nature, avouch the grandeur and majesty of Him who modeled the temple of the universe after the counsels of his own will; the word of life, the gospel of salvation, with all its sanctifying institutions, is so perspicuously and familiarly expressed that no honest mind can possibly mistake the path of life.

Q. 29. To what, then, are we to attribute the numerous and discordant theories of faith and salvation which have fractured christendom into so many sects?

A. These are not to be charged to the obscurities of the revelation, but to the pride of the human mind. Men will not submit to the righteousness of God. Mysticism, and philosophy falsely so called, have created an aristocracy in the commonwealth of religion, and from the times of the Platonic conversions till now, men have prided themselves in belonging to this aristocracy, in taking rank according to the precedence of mysticism and speculative science, and have thus become the prey of an empty and a deceitful philosophy. Not one in ten thousand of the men of renown in the kingdom of the clergy, have ever stooped to the simplicity that there is in Christ. They have been soaring to the skies in their speculations, and by their own recondite abstractions, have sought for elevation in a kingdom which regards not humility as the high road to honor. They have been interred in the piles of rubbish which they have reared. To them one might apply the lines of the poet

"O sons of earth! attempt you still to rise,

"By mountains piled on mountains, to the skies!
"Heaven still with laughter the vain toil surveys,
"And buries madmen in the heaps they raise."

Every

But while God visits the proud, he gives grace to the humble. one who will sit at the feet of Jesus, will know that the knowledge of salvation is easily acquired'; and that the simpleton, or he that becomes a fool that he may be wise, will attain to the full assurance of understanding in the mystery of Christ.

Q. 30. What! are there mysteries in christianity?

4. Secrets there were until developed, and until developed to every man, there are mysteries still. But the greatest of all secrets, to this age, is, that christianity consists in simply believing what Godhas said, and in doing what he has commanded.

Q. 31. Are there not many honest men on the opposite sides of all theological questions?

4. Honest to a theory and to the prejudices of education, they are, honest, also, to what they conscientiously apprehend to be the will of heaven; honest, as was Saul of Tarsus, while he anathematized the Messiah-but honest to the Bible they cannot be, who mistake the way of salvation.

32. But how can a man be honest to himself and not honest to the Bible?

A. In the same manner that many persons are honest to the rules of commerce and the approved course of trade, honest according to civil law and the principles of mercantile education, while the commerce itself, and the principles of traffic approved by the world, are reprobated at the bar of right reason and the Scriptures of truth.

Q. 33. How can a man be honest to the Bible?

A. By coming to it without a single inclination to any opinion, theory, or system, whatever; submitting his mind to it, as the sealing wax is submitted to the signet, prepared to receive from it, its own impression. The mind of such a person, like a mirror, reflects the image of the book.

Q. 34. Will all who approach it thus, receive from it the same impression?

A. Yes: the same impression, differing only as the substances which are impressed by the same seal, according to their respective qualities. Thus the characters engraved by the same type, will be the same in all the grand outlines; although on paper of different qualities, and on materials of a different fabrication, there may be a considerable variety as respects distinctness and beauty.

Q. 35. Are there not many who approach the Bible without any bias, who, nevertheless, arrive at very different conclusions, or receive very different impressions?

A. Not on the matters which are connected with salvation. But it is to be suspected that the number who thus approach the Bible are fewer than any sectary can think. The minds of almost the whole community are polluted with human inventions, from the first dawnings of reason, even before reflection has dared to compare, examine, or decide. From the constitution of the human family, the mind, as well as the body, of one generation is dependent on that which preceded it; and this greatly contributes to the difficulty of reading the book without any prejudice.

Q. 36. Why are many good people so much divided in their eral views of the Scriptures?

gen.

A. "Because they belong to different sects, and have different systems, and they rather make the Bible bow to their own system, received by tradition from their fathers, than make their system bow to the Bible; or in other words, each man, too generally, views the Bible through the medium of his system, and of course it will appear to him to favor it. Just as if A, B and C should each put on different coloured glasses; A puts on green spectacles, B yellow, and C blue: each one of them looks through his own glasses at a piece of white paper, and eac concludes he is right, not remembering that he has his spectacles on. Thus to A it appears green, to B yellow, and to C blue. They begin to argue on the subject, and it is impossible for any one of them to convince another that he is wrong-each one feels a conviction next to absolute certainty that his opinion is right. But D, who has no spectacles on, and who is standing looking

on, during the contest, very well knows that they are all wrong; he sees the spectacles on each man's nose, and easily accounts for the difference. Thus one professor reads the Bible with John Calvin on his nose, another with John Wesley on his nose, a third with John Gill on his nose, and a fourth with good old Thomas Boston, or the good old lights of Scotland. Thrice happy is the man who lifts the Bible as if it had dropped from heaven into his hand alone, and whose eyes are anointed with the true eye salve that he may see." Debate with Walker, 2d Ed. p. 207.

CREEDS.

Q, 37. How many creeds are there in christendom?
A. One for every day in the

year.

Q. 38. How many sects are there?

A. As many sects as there are authoritative creeds.

Q. 39. What is an authoritative creed?

A. An abstract of human opinions concerning the supposed cardinal articles of christian faith, which, summary is made a bond of union, or term of communion.

Q. 40. Who has made these creeds?

A. Philosophers, Conferences, Synods, or some individual leader. Q. 41. Which is the oldest creed of human contrivance?

A. Perhaps that irreverently and falsely called "The Apostle's Creed."

Q. 42. Can you repeat it as received by the Catholic Church?
A. I can-

"I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and born of the Father before all ages; God of God; light of light; true God of true God; begotten, not made; consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. Was crucified also for us, under Pontius Pilate, he suffered and was buried: and the third day he rose again, according to the scriptures. He ascended into heaven; sits at the right hand of the Father; and is to come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; of whose kingdom there shall be no end. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and lifegiver, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who, together with the Father and the Son, is adored and glorified, who spoke by the Prophets. And (I believe) One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church: I confess one baptism for the remission of sins: and I expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen."

Q. 43. Can you repeat the creed of St. Athanasius?

A. I can:

"Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith.

Which faith, except every one doth keep entire and inviolate, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

Now the Catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity.

Neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance.

For one is the person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost.

But the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the glory equal, and the majesty co-eternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.

The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Ghost uncreated.

The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.

The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.

And yet they are not three Eternals, but one Eternal.

And also they are not three Uncreateds, nor three Incomprehensibles, but one Uncreated, and one Incomprehensible.

In like manner the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty.

And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.

And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.

So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Ghost is Lord. And yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord.

For as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge every person by himself to be Lord and God:

So we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there are three Gods or three Lords.

The Father is made of no one, neither created nor begotten.

The Son is from the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is from the Father and the Son, not made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.

And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or lesser, but the whole three persons are co-eternal to one another, and co-equal. So that in all things, as has been already said above, the Unity is to be worshipped in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity.

He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now the right faith is; that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both God and Man.

He is God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the world; and he is Man of the substance of his Mother, born in the world.

Perfect God and perfect Man; of a rational soul, and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father according to his Godhead; and lesser than the Father according to his Manhood.

Who, although he be both God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ. One, not by the conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by the taking of the manhood unto God.

One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the rational soul and the flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ.

Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.

He ascended into heaven: he sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give an account of their own works.

And they that have done good, shall go into life everlasting: and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.

This is the Catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully and sted" fastly, he cannot be saved."