22. Q. For what purpose is this account to be given? A. That the children of God as well as the wicked, may all receive according to their works. 23. Q. What must become of you, if you are wicked? A. If I am wicked, I shall be sent down to everlasting fire in hell, among wicked and miserable creatures. 24. Q. And whither shall you go, if you are a child of God? A. If I am a child of God, I shall be taken up to heaven, and dwell there with God and Christ forever. AMEN. End of the First Catechism. TO THE TEACHER. In the following Catechism there is a line drawn along in the margin by those questions and answers, which may be omitted in teaching children of seven or eight years old; and when they arrive at nine or ten years of age, they may learn the an swers which were before omitted, and so become masters of the whole. If this method be followed, there will be, as it were, three catechisms, for three ages of childhood, differing in length, in a more exact proportion to the growing years and memories of children, till they are prepared to learn the Assembly's Catechism with greater improvement. But in this aud all other methods of instruction, which relate to children, much of the management and practice must be left to the discretion and care of those who teach them, and all must be committed to the grace and blessing of God. SECOND CATECHISM OF THE PRINCIPLES OF RELIGION. 1. Quest. DEAR child, do you know what you are? Ans. I am a creature of God, for he made me, both body and soul. 2. Q. How do you know that you have a soul? A. Because I find something within me that can think and know, can wish and desire, can rejoice and be sorry, which my body cannot do. 3. Q. Wherein does your soul differ farther from your body? A. My body is made of flesh and blood, and it will die; but my soul is a spirit, and it will live after my body is dead.. 4. Q. For what purpose. did God make you such a creature, with a body and a soul? A. To know him and serve him here on earth, that I may dwell with him and be happy hereafter in heaven. 5. Q. How must you learn to know God and serve him? A. By the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament, which are the Word of God. 6 Q. What do the scriptures teach you of the knowledge of God? A. The scriptures teach me what God is, in himself; and what he is, in relation to us who are his creatures. 7. Q. Who is God, considered in himself, or in his own nature? A. God, in his own nature, is a Spirit, every where present, without beginning and without end, most wise and powerful, most holy and merciful, most just and true. 8. Q. What is God in relation to us, who are his creatures! A. As the great God is our Maker, who gave us our being, so he continually preserves us, and does us good: He is our Lord and Ruler now, and he will be our Judge at last. 9. Q. And how do the scriptures teach you to serve God? A. I must serve God, by keeping all his commandments; that is, by doing every thing, that he requires of me, and avoiding every thing, that he forbids me. 10. Q. What commandments has God given to men? A. He gave the law of ten commandments to the Jews in the Old Testament; and they are summed up in two commandments for us in the New Testament. 11 Q. Repeat the ten commandments of God in short, which he gave in the Old Testament. What is the first commandment? A. Thou shalt have no other gods before me? A. Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, or the likeness of any thing in heaven or earth, to bow down and worship it. 13. Q. What is the third commandment? A. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 14. Q. What is the fourth commandment? A. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 15. Q. What is the fifth commandment? A. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long. 16. Q. What is the sixth commandment? A. Thou shalt do no murder. 17. Q. What is the seventh commandment? A. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 18. Q. What is the eighth commandment? 19. Q. What is the ninth commandment? A. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 20. Q. What is the tenth commandment? A. Thou shalt not covet any thing, that is thy neighbour's. [See all these commandments at large, in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, from the first verse to the eighteenth.] 21. Q. What is the sum of these ten commandments, which is given us in the New Testament? A. The sum of the ten commandments is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; and thou shalt love thy neighbour, as thyself. 22. Q. What do you mean by loving God with all your heart? A. To love God with all my heart, is, to have the highest and best thoughts of him; to desire his favour above all things; and to delight to please him always. 23. Q. How must you show your love to God? A. By paying him constantly the worship that he requires of me; by doing heartily whatsoever else he commands me; by bearing patiently what he suffers to befal me. 24. Q. What worship doth God require of you? A. I must hearken diligently to his holy word, and praise him for his greatness and his goodness; I must pray to him daily for what mercies I want; and give him thanks for what I receive. 25. Q. And what do you mean by loving your neighbour as yourself? A. To love my neighbour as myself, is, to do to all other persons, as I could reasonably desire them to do to me if I were in their place. 26. Q. How must you show your love to your neigbour? A. By honouring and obeying those who are set over me; by speaking the truth, and dealing honestly with all who are about me; by wishing well and doing good to all mankind, whether they be friends, strangers, or enemies. 27. Q. You have told me the duties that you must do; can you tell me also the sins that you must avoid? A. I must avoid all the sins of the heart, the sins of the tongue, and the sinful actions of life.. 28. Q. What are the sins of the heart? A. The sins of the heart are these, a neglect of God; pride and stubbornness; malice and envy; with all other evil thoughts and unruly passions. 29. Q. What are the chief sins of the tongue ? A. The chief sins of the tongue are, swearing and cursing; abusing the name of God, or any thing that is holy; scoffing and calling ill names; lying and filthy speaking. 30. Q. What are those sinful actions, which you must avoid? A. Sinful actions are such as these, gluttony, drunkenness, and quarrelling; wanton carriage, and mispending of time, especially the Lord's day; doing dishonour to God, or injury to man. 31. Q. Have you never broken the commands of God, and sinned against him? A. My own heart and conscience tell me, that I have broken God's holy commandments, and sinned against him in thought, word, and deed. 32. Q. How do you know that you have sinned in thought, word, and deed, against the blessed God? A. I have let evil thoughts run too much in my mind, and spoken too many evil words; I have too often done such deeds as are evil, and neglected what is good. 33. Q. Whence comes it to pass, that you have been such a sinner? A I was born into the world with inclinations to that which is evil, and I have too much followed these inclinations all my life. 34. Q. How came you to be born with such inclinations to evil? A. All mankind are born in sin, because they come from Adam, the first man who sinned against God. 35. Q. But why did you follow these evil inclinations? Was it not your duty to resist them, when you knew they were evil? A. I ought to resist every sinful inclination, and therefore I have no sufficient excuse for myself before the great God. |