Some Helps for Young Scholars in Christianity
The source for this document is https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/B07554.0001.001
Project Note
This is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
The source of this document is the Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP) website. Those books were transcribed in a character for character manner and can be very cumbersome to read since there was no standard spelling during that time. Many spelling variations such as "unlesse", "vnlesse", and "vnles" regularly appear.
This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.
Although this is no substitute for a properly compared, proofed, and scholarly edition, I believe that the result is a document which is far more accessible, particularly for searching for terms using standard spelling. The document has been cleaned and presented in what I hope is a pleasing and useful format for the vast majority of Christian brothers and sisters who just want access to read these spiritually nourishing works.
However, a word of warning: The Puritans were a very diverse group of people and their age was characterized with godliness, but also much upheaval, disputation and strife. They disagreed on many doctrines and some of these works contain less orthodox or Scriptural views than others. The reader is strongly advised to read with discernment, particularly if it is unknown whether author is trustworthy.
This project took a huge amount of time and skill to bring to fruition. I would particularly like to thank David Jonescue for the initial list of Puritans he found on EEBO and the concept behind this project as well as the continuous, unceasing efforts toward seeing this complete. Without his labor, this would not be available. Alex Sarrouf was invaluable in providing the initial list of over 7,000 spelling variations he had identified and corrected, as well as continuing to review more than 16,000 additions to that list for any typos.
Logan West
(with David Jonescue and Alex Sarrouf)
www.puritansearch.org
Some helps for young Scholars in Christianity, as they are in use & taught; Partly, At the Examination before the Communion: And partly, In the ordinary Catechism every Sabbath day, in the new Kirk of Salt-Preston.
2. COR. 12.19. Now we do all these things dearly beloved, for your edifying.
PHILIP. 3.3. And rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
EDINBURGH Printed by Robert Walde-grave, Printer to the Kings Majesty. 1602.
Cum Privilegio Regio.
〈1 page duplicate〉To the Reader.
IF the often repetitions following, to any man seem tedious & superfluous, let him consider that here we have to do but with rude beginners, that are waned from the milk (as it were) & drawn from the breasts, to whom as to childrē beginning to learn, precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line unto line, line unto line, &c. whilk craves painful labor of the teachers, with great plainness, (which is not so common perhaps in this our Church and country as need were) and therefore the Apostle Peter saith, wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though that ye have knowledge, and be established in the present truth, &c. 2. Pet. 1.12. much more then, is repetition needful to such as are young in knowledge, or rather ignorant, as the gentiles wisely acknowledge who besought Paul and Barnabas, that they would preach these words, that is, the same words they hard that Sabbath day, to them the next Sabbath day. Act. 13.4 • .
TO HIS LOVING flock of Salt-prestoun who by the preaching of the Gospel, believe and turn to the Lord. JOHN DAVIDSON, wisheth increase of Faith & Repentance, with constancy therein, to the end & in the end, Amen.
W Hat hath been the drifte of my doctrine sen god placed me among you, well-beloved in Christ Jesus, ye cannot be ignorant, seeing without excellency of words and all curiosity, in moste plain sort ofter my familiar manner, I show you the Testimony of God, esteeming, not to know any thing among you, as the Apostle saith, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. For the whilk purpose this day seven year, to wit; the 16. day of November 1595. the first time I spake among you, I made choice of this place of Scripture following, to be as a ground of that doctrine whilk thereafter I minded to build thereupon, during our continuance together at gods pleasure. The place was this, as ye remember. The people that sat in darkness, saw great light. &c. Mat. 4.16. First, I opened the true meaning of the place, observing some pertinent notes thereupon. Thereafter I made some use thereof by applycation to you for that present, as a people by the sea-coaste, long sitting in no less darkness, then did they of Galilee, that dwelt by the lake of Genazareth, whilk was to them as a sea: showing therewithal the great mercy of God toward you, in offering to you that day the light of his gospel after such a rare manner, so that rightly it might be said over again of new, A people that sat in darkness, hath seen great light. Last, after all this, I gathered some general grounds of Christian religion out of that place, as first. The miserable blind estate of man by nature, without Christ. Secondly, the moste comfortable light of salvation in Christ. Thirdly, that men receive Christ his light by faith wrought by the holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel. Fourthly, the end, that walking in that light of Christ, we may glorify him that hes transtated us out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Heerevnto in the afternoon the same day, I added these words of Christ: Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him and he with me. Revel. 3.20. To serve as a spurr to exhort you to the cheerful embraceing of so comfortable a ghuest, whilk moved the whole parish present, so at that time and long thereafter, that as the Apostle speaketh of the Galatians, I bear you record that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes & have given them to me. Though now and then to some I be-come an enemy for speaking of the truth. God grant them amendment that offend of simplicity and not of malice. But we must not be offended, though one part only, of the four parts of ground that the seed of God's word lights on, (& seem for the most part to receive it,) be fruitful, for Satan is a busy Bishop; and persecution & cares of the world with fleshly pleasures, ar not soon overcome. But with this sort of people at this present I have not to do, but only with you who obey from the heart unto that form of doctrine, whereunto ye were delivered. Whilk ye know hes ever been according to the foresaid grounds. For the better keeping in memory whereof, I have thought good to put them in writ in diverse forms, and set them to printing for your use as ye see, that nothing be wanting that may further the sound grounding of you, according to your mean capacity, in the true Christian religion, so far as in me lieth. Wherefore it rests, that ye be not slouthful in exercising yourselves, & your families, in reading, learning, and practicing hereof. Fare-well in Christ. 16. November. 1602.
Some helps for young Scholars in Christianity
The Form of familiar instruction and examination of rude people, entering to be disciples in the school of Christ: practiced in the new erected Kirk of Salt-Prestoun, and parish thereof before the Communion, not without experience of some profit and edification of God's people. Praised be God blessed forever through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
AFter that the writer hath taken up the names in writ, of sa money as for the time are present of them, that were warned to that diet, according to our visitation pasting before: and hath demanded of every ane, whether they can say the x. commands, the Belief, & the Lord's Prayer, and hath tried some maiste suspected of ignorance in that caise, (thocht otherwise they affirm, as the manner is, they can say them) and exhortation given to learn with diligence where they want anything: we proceid to prayer, after this, or the like manner following.
The Prayer before the Catechyzing, at the Examination.
BLisse us gude Lord, and this familiar exercise, that presently we are to have (by thy grace) in catechizing and instructing thy people familiarly in the way of truth: that thereby our own misery by nature, and happy estate by grace in Christ, being the better knawin to every ane of us, and this grace in Christ truly believed, we may learn to deny all confidence in our selves, and all other creatures, and putting our hail traist in our allane Savior Jesus Christ, may study to earnest and vnfenzeit repentance, & amendment of life all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom with the Father, and the holy Gaist, be praise & glory, now and ever. Amen.
THE DOCTRINE AND teaching before the Examinatioun.
FOr your better instruction, well-beloved in Jesus Christ) before I demand anything of you, I will familiarly set down the sowme of the mater, whereof I mind particularly to examine you: that teaching going always before examination, though better ye may knaw, what, and how to answer. Now, as ye hear at the preaching from time to time, the sowme and chief drift of all our doctrine to be, that all wha wald have rest to their saules, and life eternal, must only cum to Christ Jesus, the son of God, and to nane other. Because there is salvation in nane other as the Scripture saith. (For his awin self (allane) bare our sins in his body on the Tree. So it is neidfull that we knaw whereof it comes, that we are sa sinful, that by nature we are subject to condemnation, and whereof our salvation in Christ cometh, and how we are made partakers thereof: and what is craved of us, being assured of our salvation in Christ. And therefore we shall bring the sowme of all whereof we are to speak of, unto these four points.
The first shall be of our miserable estate by nature, and the cause thereof. The second, of our redemption, & the cause thereof. The third, of our assurance of this redemption and salvation, with the cause and meinis thereof. And the fourth and last, of our duty being saved or assured of salvation.
But before we proceed farther, ye are to be admonished, that as all this mater belangs to every ane of you in particular: so this form of doctrine especially, craveth such particular attēdance, of every ane of you (nane of any estate, sex, or degree excepted) that ye be ready to answer to any question that shall be moved: for it is uncertain to you what question may be demanded of ony of you. Whairof seeing heir we have better occasion to try your attendance, then at the ordinary preaching, and general catechizing before the haill Parochin, every Sabbath afternoon: where na such several demanding is of every ane: ye are not to miss the hearing of ane word that shall be spoken, but to mark diligently for your instruction, the haill discourse and every part thereof, that the better ye may answer by your awin understanding to every point, & not upon the whispering and rounding in the ear by others next you, whilk on na ways we will permit. For I had rather haif ane sentence, yea never so small, spoken of your awin understanding, then ane thousand spoken by suggestion and tickling of vthers. And as for me, I sall labor to be so plain, that the maiste rude heir may be able to conceive what shall be proponed, gif attendance shall be given as becometh. Now then to the first.
THE FIRSTE PART OF our Christian doctrine, touching man's miserable estate by nature.
THen as concerning our condition by nature, we are the children of disobedience, that is, altogether given to rebellion against God, & his word, and sa are plain rebels to God. Whilk must not seem strange unto you, (as I perceive sum of you to be whispering, and saying, Jesus keep us, as though it were ane abomination sa to think, or speak: that we are plain rebels to God by nature) For except ye be surely persuaded of this point, and acknawledge it to be mayest true: all our teaching, and all your hearing is but in vain. For what account makes any man of a Pysician or Medicinar, that perceaueth and feeleth no sickness? And what account can we make of the doctrine of salvation, that misknawis our condemnation, and the cause thairof. Thairfore, let us acknawledge in our hearts, and confess with our mouths, that by nature we are rebels to God, as even in our common speech we grant with our tongue, though unwittingly and without feeling, and consenting of the heart, in the mayest parte, whill as we say, We are all sinners. That is, altogidder transgressors, & breakers of the Law of God (for sin is the transgression of God's Law) whilk seemeth to be spoken of many, rather to cloak and make light of sin then truly to acknaweldge the misery of our nature, whilk is imported thairby howsoever we dissemble the matter. For the Scripture hes concluded us all under sin, and pronounced that we are sauld under sin, & sa being altogidder sla • ts to sin, there remaineth not sa meikle in us, as ony free-will at all in us to do good, for we are d • a •• in trespasses & sins. And very experience itself teaches every • Christian, and such as willfully will not be blinds and senseless, that all the imaginations and thoughts of the heart of man, or the unregenerate part are only evil continually. Whairof it followeth, that being the children of disobedience, not only such as cannot think ane gude thocht, or ony wayis perform the least jot that God commands us, and sa offends in defectiō and omission of our duty: but also such as are given to commit all kind of sin with greediness. Being such, I say, it follows that we are the children o • wrath, through the justice of the wrathful God against sin, and sa are gylty of everlasting death & cōdamnation, for the reward of sin, is death. Now the Law, or the ten commands of God, serves as ane glass to let us see our sins, for the knowledge of sin cometh by the Law. And thairfoir it is, that we same • kle urge, that every ane have the ten commands, and the true understanding thairof in some measure, that knowing thairby what duty is craved of us towards God, in the four commandments of the first Table, and towards our nichthour, in the sex commandments in the second Table: & howe unable we are to perform any of them: yea how reddy and bent we are to brek every ane, and all of them, and sa to fall under the curse and condemnation of the Law: we may be driven to seek for the Gospel of grace and free remission of our sins in Christ, who is the end of the Law, for righte • usnes unto every ane that believeth, whairof mair heirafter shall be spoken in the awin place Godwilling. It rests then, that w • e knaw whairof, & how we have this bentnes by nature to sin and breaking of God's commandments, to our eternal condemnation. By creation we have it not, and 〈◊〉 God is not the author of it: for it is said, And God saw all that he had made, & loe it was gude. Yea, to his awin image God created man at the beginning, that amang all other creatures mayest percttely, he might represent y e s • ueraign • wisdom, righteousness, and gudenesse of God the Creator: sa that in him, as it were, was set up a little world. We have this bentnesse to sin then, of the corruption of that gude nature that God made at the beginning, whilk came to pass after the manner following.
Adam and Eve our first parents, being made of the dust of the ground, and having received the breath of life by the soul joined to the body, and made to the Image of God, gude, holy, and righteous, and placed by him in the gardine, or pleasant orcharde called Paradise, to bresse and labor it: and having received commandment to eat of every tree of the garuen, except of the tree of knowledge of gude and evil (whairof God forbade them to eat under the pain of death and condemnation: saying, for in the day thou eatest thairof, thou sall die the death ) it came to pass • through the subtelty of the Serpent, or rather the Devil, abusing the subtelty of the Serpent, (wha thairfor • is called that auld Serpent the Devil, and Satan) that they were begyled, & brought to break the plain command of God foresaid, in eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree: Whairthrow they falling from their former gude estate, into sinful disobedience, & consequently under condemnation: so defaced the Image of God in themselves, by corrupting and infecting their haill nature, that they and their haill posterity wer innolued under sin and death. For as touching themselves, it is plain that they became sinners, and so incurred the sentence of death and damnation according to the truth of God's word fore • auld them, and thereupon were thrust out of Paradise. And as for v • their post • rity, we cannot be bette • nor they whom of we come, & stock • ut of the whilk we are hewin. For wha can bring ane clean thing out of filthiness? and sa, as we say, we have sin by kind we co • t it not. And David sai • th, Behald, I was born in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. And this is that original sin whairwith the hail rase of mankind is infected, the reward whereof is death: as the power that very natural death hath over infants that sin not after the manner of Adam and oth • rs, wha sins with knowledge) is a sur • argument, because being included in sinning with Adam, they are sinners: and m •• kle mair are they and all we gyity of cōdamnation, when actual sin falloweth thairupon. Then, as by an • man sin entered into the world, and death by sin: so death went over all men, forasmuch as all men have sinned.
Heir I enlarge the dialogue between the Serpent and Eve, & the several judgments of God pronounced against every pairtie offending, in this first parte touching our misery: and thairafter shortly repeats the former discourse, and then says after this manner following.
THE FORME OF Demanding and asking, touching the first part of the familiar instruction.
Q. WHen I sall ask yo • then, what are ye by nature? Every ane of you sal • answer,
A. I am the child of wraith, and sa subject to eternal condemnation.
Q. When the question sal follow, what is the cause of this miserabill estate? Ye sall answer,
A. My sin is the cause.
Q. When it shall be demanded what is sin? Ye sall answer,
A. The transgression of the Law of God, contained in the ten commandments.
Q. When the sowme of the ten Commandments sall be craved? Ye sall say,
A. The some thairof is the entire and perfect love of God, & the lou • of my neighbor as myself. The first Tabill containing four commandments concerning God: & the second containing sex concerning my neighbor.
Q. When the question shall be moved, Can thou not obey and fulfill these commandments of thy awin nature? ye sall say,
A. I am sa far from obeying & fulfilling of thom, that I cā do nothing but transgress and break them.
Q. Whairof cometh this thy bent disposition to sin, & breking of God's commandments? Ye sall say
A. Of the gyltinesse and corruption of nature in my first parents, Adam and Eve.
Q. How were they corrupted, seeing God made them gude at the beginning? Ye are to say,
A. By the deceat of Satan in the Serpent, intysing them to break God's command.
Q. What was the command they brake? Ye sall answer,
A. They ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of gude and evil in Paradise, whairof God forbad thē to eat, under the pain of death & damnation.
Q. Howe can thou be partaker of the sin of our first parents, & consequently of cōdamnation? Ye sall answer,
A. As they, and we in them became sinners, for wha can bring an • clean thing out of • ithines: sa the sentence of death and condemnation fell upon us, their posterity • forever.
THE SECOND PART of the Catechism.
NOwe we are to see, gif there be any remedy or safety for us frō this • earefull condemnation. And in • erry deeds, if there were na remedy for us, man and woman were mair miserabill then the brute beast, yea, then the very Loade: for when the brains or harns o • it are dashed out, there is na mair of it: bot miserabill man by nature is subject to unspeakable pains eternally, whilk is set down in these words, Thou sal die y e death: that is, thou shall be subject to y e first and secund death, in body & saul, with all tha miseries that may accōpanie the same. Whilk must be sameikle the mair painful to man and womā, because they are endued with reason and understanding above the beast: whereby they may discourse & confer between the happy estate frō the whilk by sin they fell, and that endless misery whereinto they are fallen. Then seeing their is relief for miserabill and lost men, we are to see, from whence it cometh. From damned man it cannot come, from the Devil our readly enemy it cannot come, Angels who are diverse in nature from us, cannot satisfy for us. Our help and safety their, is only frō the Lord our God, who hath made both the heaven and the earth: who said, I am the Lord, and beside me their is no Savior. For our salvation cometh not of nature, but of grace And even as when a condemned maiefactor being freely pardoned by the Prince, is said to get grace: even sa it fareth with us, & our merci • ul God. Then of his a win gude will and free favor, moved of tender mercy and compassion toward such of the race of mankind, as his gude will hes predestinate and elected to salvation, before the beginning of the world, that as well his justice might be satisfied, as his mercy have place: ordained our salvation to be wrought by his a win deir and weilbeloued Son, verry God, and verry man in ane person: wha being the second person of the Trinity, took to him the nature of man, in the fullness of time, of the Virgin Marie, and so was called the seed of the Woman that sall tread down the head of the Serpent, and God manifested in the flesh, our Immanuel and Ithiel, and Lord Jesus Christ. This is that only Mediator between God and man, even the man Christ Jesus, wha was delivered to death for our sins, and rais again for our righteousness. Neither is there salvation in any other: For amongst men there is given nane other name under heavē whereby we must be saved. Now, as for the price whairwith he redeemed us, It was not corruptible things, as silver and gold, but his awin precious blood, as of an lamb undefiled, and without spot, when he suffered under Pontius Pilate, redeeming us thairby from everlasting death & damnation. And by his powerful resurrection from the dead the third day, restoring us to righteousness and life eternal: so he was crucified, & died that cursed death of the Cross, concerning his infirmity (or manhood) and liveth through the power of God, (that is his Godhead) to the whilk aggreeth Peters saying, he was put to death concerning the flesh, but was quickened in the Spirit. For performing of whilk twa parts of a perfect Savior, in suffering and overcoming, it behooved him to be God & man in one person.
THE FORME OF DEmanding and answering, touching the second part of this familier instruction.
Q. WHen I sall ask thairfore touching the second principle of our Religion, whether there be ony salvation for lost man? Ye sall answer,
A. Yes: or else our estate were more miserable thou the estate of brute beasts.
Q. From whence cometh this salvation? Ye sall answer,
A. From the tender mercy & grace of God, who loving us when we were his enemies, provided our salvation to be wrought only by his weilbeloued Son Jesus Christ, made man of the Virgin Marie without sin.
Q. What is Christ in person, and office? Ye sall answer,
A. In person he is God & man, the son of God, and the son of the Virgin Marie, very God & very man without cōfusiō of the twa nature •
Q. Why was it neidfull that he should be God and man in ane person?
A. He was man to suffer for mankind to though uttermost punishments due for man's sins: and God to • ear • up the manhood in suffering and overcoming to the full.
Q. What is he in office?
A. He is our King, Priest, and Prophet: our Mediatez, Redeemer, ruler, preserver, teacher: and finally, he is all in all things ne • rssarie for our perfect salvation without ony help, merit, or work of ours, first or last.
Q. How redeemed he you?
A. By his bludshed, death, and passion, and by rising again from the dead the third day.
Q. Then the salvation of man is so fully wrought and perfitelie accomplished by Christ in his awin person, that nothing is lef • to be done or wrought by us in our persons, to be onie cause of the least part thereof?
A. That is most certain. For as his blood purgeth us from all sin and his perfect rigteousnesse becommes cures, so in him we an • compleit: and so sure is that s • ntence, For by ane oblation h ••• he made perfect forever, them 〈◊〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 are sanctified. Heb. 10.14.
Q Can we have no salvation except we have participation, and be conjoined with Christ: so that we must be his, & he ours?
A. Nane at all: for seeing the cause of our salvation is in the person of Christ only, & never in our selves, but by participation of him: we can never be partakers of saluatiō but by our conjunction and union with him: whereby he becoming ane with us, and we ane with him, we get through him the full right of salvation and life everlasting.
THE THIRD PARTE OF our familiar Examination, before the Lord's Supper.
NOw seeing our reconciliation to God and eternal salvation, •• nds in our union and true coniun ••• n with Christ: we are to learn in the third part, by what means this strait communion is made between him and us. Means is their nane that properly joineth us with Christ but only Faith, whilk is ane hearty receiving of Christ crucified and risen again: our alone and sufficient Savior, as he is offered to us in the gospel: whilk is wrought by the holy Spirit through the preaching of God's word, heard and received of us: Whereby we are made assured of reconciliation to God, & life everlasting through him alone: yea, we are made ane with him, and he becomes ours, and we his: in such sort, that every ane that hath this faith, may say, neither death nor life, things present nor things to come, &c. falbe able to separate me from the love of God, whilk is in Christ Jesus my Lord, who hath loved me and given himself for me. Now we say, that faith only receives Christ, whereby he dwells in our harts. Because neither hope nor love, nor any other heuinly gift hes that office but only faith. Hope as a watchman luiks for the end or our faith, whilk is the salvation of our souls. And love is faiths handmaid and steward, disposing the graces and gudes of faith, by evident demonstration, as it were, witnesseth and declareth to our selves and to vthers, that we possess Christ by faith, and have sure hope of enjoying salvation by him. And heirfore it is, that to believe in Christ, and to receive Christ, is all one thing. So that when we say, faith only makes us partakers of Christ & his righteousness, we separate not Hope & Charity from Faith, but distinguishing them, gives every ane of them their own proper office, and namely, to faith her proper office: whilk is, to make a true and present conjunction with Christ crucified, and risen again to our assured reconciliatioun with God. As when we say, the Son only and not the Father, nor the holy Ghoste, was incarnate for the redemption of man. We separate not the Son from the Father, and the holy Spreit: but gives unto him his awin distinct and proper office. So The Papists sophistry serveth for nothing: saying, Faith only justifieth not, because Faith is not allone when it justifieth, but hath Hope and Charity joined with it: but they make little of hope, sa they may have some cloak of charity, whilk seems to make something for their stinking merits: for the whilks they make mair ado, then for Christ himself. We are said then to be saved or justified by Faith only: because Faith is the only instrument that receiveth Christ, wha saved us by those things whilk he did for us in his awin person, and not by anything whilk he worketh in or by us, in our awin persons, or the person of any other. And so the merits of men & Angels, are excluded from being any cause of the least part of our salvation. For God willing to make the salvation of his elect sure, in the person of his Son Jesus Christ, wald not commit the credit thereof to our selves, or to any other: for it is not meet that we should have the credit of our owin saluatiō in our awin keeping any mair, seeing when we had free-will and power of the keeping of our first gude estate in Paradise, sa sodanely, and upon sa small occasion we lost it. For a remembrance and castigation whairof, and for humbling of man, God will have a remanent of sin to remains during this life, even in his chosen children, whilk may ever keep them under scare of condemnation in themselves, and make them seek salvation in him only, in whom only it is to be found, that is, Christ Jesus his only Son, our Lord, of whom truly we are made partakers by Faith only: whilk is that beginning, as the scripture saith, whereby we are made partakers of Christ and are vphaldin sa, that no doubting that arriseth through our awin infirmity, can deface the assurance of our salvation in Christ, possessed by true Faith, whilk finds ever in Christ • he full satisfaction for our sins, & full restoring to righteousness and God's favor, and never any of either of them, nor of any part thereof, in our selves, nor in our warks, nor in any creature else. And this conjunction with Christ by Faith is mosts sure and certain, thoght it be not natural, civil, nor artificial: but mere spiritual, mystick, and secreit: and sa altogidder vnknawin to the natural warldly, and carnal man, wha perceaueth not the things of the spirit of God, whom the warlde cannot receive. And certain it is, that both y e enlightening of the mind to acknawledge the truth of the promise of salvation to us in Christ: and the sealing up of the certainty thairof in our hearts and minds (of the whilk twa parts, as it were, faith consists) are the works and effects of the Spirit of God, & neither of nature, nor art: the preaching of the word, and administration of the Sacraments interueening, as means and instruments whereby the holy Spirit begetteth and confirmeth Faith in our hearts. Now as this saith is ordinarily wrought by the halye Spirit through the preaching of the word, & by the Sacraments increased & confirmed: so it is certain, where no preaching is, their, ordinarily can be no faith, and where there is no faith, there is no Christ, and where there is no Christ, there is no salvation. And • owheit Faith cannot be wrought (we speak ay ordinarily) without hearing of the word, yet the preching and hearing of the word may be without Faith in many. For all men have not Faith, and without the mixture of Faith, the preaching and hearing is unprofitable. Heir of it is plain, that neither Turks, Jews, Pagans, nor they that hear not the word at all, as also neither Papists (who are enemies to true Faith, not knawing, but abolishing the lively nature thereof, and preferring the dumb guyse of their Mass, whilk is neither ministration of any sacrament, nor preaching of the word, but contumelious to both, before the preaching of the word) neither Atheists, nullifidians, bare and idle hearers, nor temporary believers, & wha hear not with ane honest and gude heart, wanting the gift of true Faith, can be partakers of salvation in anywise. And therefore we are earnestly to pray to the Lord of the Harvest, that he would thrust out faithful laborers into his Harvest, y e is, true Ministers and teachers in his Kirk. and that he would give us honest and reverent hearts, to be profitable and faithful hearers of them by true faith. Now, we have such a coniunctiō with Christ, by virtue of our union with him by justifying Faith only: that as our sins only are the ch • se of his death, and that condemnation whereunto he was subject: so his death and righteousness only is the cause of our salvation. And so the cause of our salvation is only in him, and the effect whilk is our salvation, cometh to us through him only, possessed by Faith: whereby he becōming ane with us, and taking our cause upon him, he delivered us from all sin and condemnation, and presents us faultless and righteous before God. Neither aucht this to seem strange to us, as though hereby we were not made free, & truly holy in God's presence, and meet to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light: or as though we could not get the effect in us, whereof he is the cause seeing the payment of ane man for another, where there is no such vniō nor conjunction, but the mere right of souerty-ship, doth make the pairty indebted for payment, free, and able to enjoy his freedom, as law, practice, & daily experience teacheth us. But we by virtue of our marriage, and conjunction with Christ by Faith, have just title and right to him, and so to all that is his. As concerning the sowme of our faith, contained in the articles of the Beliefe, whilk is continually rehearsed amongst us, we are to understand, that it sets down to us, that there is one God, and three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the holy Gaist: the Father the maker and preserver of all creatures, and fountain of grace and gudenesse. The Son, made man, the Redeemer and ransom for man. The holy Spirit, the sanctifier & worker of the conjunction betwixt Christ and the Faithful. The sowm of all is, that every Christian is sure and certain, that his salvation is soundly & thoroughly wrought & performed by Christ crucified and risen again. So that nothing rests for mā or ony other creature to do, for purchasing or meriting his salvation, or ony of the least part thereof, for here Christ received by faith, is all & in all things. For the greater confirmation of us in this Faith, beside the word preached, are added twa holy actions, with outward signs & ceremonies sealing up the same salvation & faith in Christ, to them that believe, called the Sacraments: that is, holy signs ordained by Christ in the new Testament, to seal up salvation in him, who is signified, represented, and really, though sacramentally, exhibited to them that believe. Shortly, they may be called the seals of the righteousness of Faith. These Sacraments are twa in number: to wit, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper. Baptism, importing wasching, and cleansing: and the Supper feeding & nourishment in Christ. For the whilk cause the outward sign in Baptism is water, representing the blood-shed of Christ, for drowning, washing away, and remission of our sins, and planting us in Christ, to grow up with him in newness of life. In the Supper are the twofold signs of bread and wine, setting out Christ crucified to be the only true fude of our saules to life everlasting. Our entres into Christ and his Kirk is set down by Baptism, and so to be ministered but once to everyone: the supper importeth our nourishment and continuance in the family & kirk of Christ, and so is to be reiterata, and often celebrate, for keeping us in fresh memory of Christ his Passion, as the continual fude of ane Christian saul, all the days of this our life. And so both the Sacraments (as doeth the word preached) lead us to Christ crucified only, for our full redemption wrought in his awin person, as that only cause of our salvation, and seal up the same more sensibly to all that believe.
THE FORME OF DEmanding and answering, touching the third parte of this familier instruction.
Q. HOwe are ye joined with Christ, and sa made partaker of him and of his righteousness?
A. By Faith only.
Q. What is Faith?
A. It is ane hearty assurance, that our sins are freely forgiven us in Christ. Or after this manner: It is the hearty receiving of Christ offered in the preaching of the word and Sacraments, by the working of the holy Spirit, for the remission of sins, whereby he becummes ane with us, and we ane with him, he our head, & we his members.
Q. When it sall be said, Hes every man this Faith? Ye sall answer
A. No: for as all men have not Faith, sa natte can believe in him of whom they have not heard by preaching: and none hears by preaching but they that have ears to hear, & are ordained to life everlasting. For many are called but few chosen.
Q. When it sall be asked, Can this be ane dead Faith that receiveth Christ? Ye sall answer,
A. How can it be dead that receiveth the Lord of life, and very life it self.
Heir I demand some few questions touching the articles of the Beliefe: and whether they feil any comfort in their harts through this Beliefe, and whether they find this sure belief wrought in their hearts by the preaching of the word: and so finds the preaching necessary, profitable, and comfortable to them. To the whilk I receive many sensible, cheerful, & pertinent answers, whilk is the fruit and joy of my labors that I crave. And therefore I chiefly labor this point of feeling knowledge of Christ in the people.
Q. What is joined with the preaching of the word in the Ministry, for your farther strengthening in this Faith? Ye sall answer,
A. The twa sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Q. What are these Sacraments? Ye sall say,
A. They ar actions cōmonded by Christ to be ministered in the Kirk, in y e ministratiō of visible signs, joined with the preaching of the word, offering Christ Jesus crucified only for salvation to the rest of the senses, that the word preached does to the ears and hearing.
Q. When I sall ask what is the sign in Baptism, and what are the signs of the Lord's Supper? Ye sall answer,
A. Water in Baptism, & bread and wine in the Lord's Supper.
Q. What signifies the signs? Ye sall say.
A. They both signify and truly offer Christ crucified to the receauers for salvation. The water applied, setting out the washing away of our sins by the bludeshed of Christ: and the bread and the wine the continual feeding and nourishment of our saules by his death to life everlasting.
Q. When ye shall be asked, Do the Sacraments mair really and power fully communicate Christ crucified unto us, then the word preached? Ye sall say,
A. Not, but more sensibly.
Q. Last, when I shall demand, Doth any Sacrament more effectually communicate Christ crucified unto us, then another, or any sign more then another? Ye sall say,
A. No: and therefore the bread in the Lord's Supper, is no more transubstantiat into Christ his body, thē is the water in Baptism, and the Cupe or the wine in the Supper into the new testament, or blood of Christ. Finally, all this communication of Christ by Faith into the Sacraments, is mere spiritual, and supernatural. Sa that thereby Christ is not corporally and locally brought out of heaven (whilk must needs contain him, and his bodily presence to the last day) to be in the place of the elements, or to be included within them. But contrariwise, by the use of the elements, our hearts are conuoyed and carried, to the lively consideration of his death and resurrection, and from thence to heaven, (where he sits at the right hand of God) to feed upon him by Faith, to life everlasting, whilk is the very washing of our sins, & true eating of his body, & drinking of his blood.
THE FOVRT PARTE OF our familiar Examination, before the Communion.
NOw being made truly and really partakers of Christ, and his righteousness by Faith only, and so justified, saved, and counted truly righteous in the sight of God, to whom we are reconciled: We are to see, what God craveth of us in our awin part, to witness our thankfulness for so great and unspeakable a benefit. We may not think that we are redeemed from sin, to live still in sin, and take our pleasure therein as we did before we were called or believed: or that faith destroyeth gude works, and taketh away the use of charity: No, no: for that were but to deceive our selves, with that dead faith, whereof James speaketh chap. • . and not to have that affectual faith whereby the just man liveth, Abac. 2.4. and whilk purifieth the hearts Acts 15.9. and that worketh by love Galath. 5.6. For being bought for so great a price, we are God's, and so must glorify him in body and spirit. 1. Corinth. 6.20. And as he is God all-sufficient to us: so must we walk before him, and be upright. Gen. 17.1 that is, we must serve him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. Luke 1.74.75. according to the ten commandments contained in the first and second Table, whilks every Christian aught to have by heart perfitely: First, to let him se his awin iniquity and condemnation in himself: & next, to lead him to Christ who is the end of the Law for righteousness, unto every ane that believeth, Rom. 10.4. And thirdly, to be as a rule whereby to lead his life, James 1.25. To be short, being in Christ, we must be new creatures, not in substance, but in qualities and disposition of our minds, and change of the actions of our lives: so that we must hate and flee that whilk before we loved & embraced: and we must love and follow that whilk before we hated and abhorred: that is, we must deny ungodliness, and warldly lusts, and must live soberly & righteously, & godly in this present world, Tit. 2.12. Al whilk, is impossible to them that have no Faith, and have but a dead faith, and are enemies to the justifying faith that is in Christ Jesus, brag foolishly vtherwayes of gude works as meikle as they list. For as it is impossible to please God without faith, Heb. 11.6. so it is impossible to please him by any other means then by faith only, because that in none other is he ever pleased, but in his only Son, who is made ours by faith only, as before is clearly proved. And so the person of the worker, must be in the favor of God, and acceptabill unto him, before ever his works can be accepted and please him: whilk cannot be but by Faith only, whilk makes us one with Christ his Son, in whom he is well pleased, Matth. 15.5. and sa being in the favor of God, by virtue of our union with Christ, and justification in him before we work, our works cannot be a preceiding cause of our reconciliation to God, nor the procurers of God's favor to us: na mair then breathing, feeling, seeing, hearing, and the haill actions of our natural life, are causes thereof, but the effects only: So gude warkes follow as effects of Christ in us, possessed by faith, who by the hid and secrete power of the holy Spreit, beginneth to work in us regeneration, and a renewing of the haill parts & powers of saule and body. Whilk begun sanctification and holiness, he never ceaseth to accomplish unto the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, at what time being grown to the fullness of our age in Christ, he will present us faultless to his heavenly Father, as meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light, in that life everlasting, when God fall be all in all things, blessed forever, Amen.
Now this begun regeneration or new birth in us, stands in the mortifying of our aulde corrupted & sinful nature, whilk is called the auld man: and in quickening and renewing the Image of God, whilk we lost in Adam: of righteousness and true, holiness, called the new man: whereby their grows an hatred, loathing, and lawing of sin in us: and a love, following, and embracing of godliness, and a gode life, whilk is commonly called repentance, or a turning and change of the mind and deed, from Satan and sin, to God and godliness, whilk endures all the days of this life, with a great strife and battle between the flesh and the spirit: that is, the auld man and the new: that every Christian sa becoming twa, (as it were in ane) the ane whairof is ever contrary to the other, is ever occupied in a continual warfare, though some in a greater, and some in a lesser measure: of whilke battle and strife, the unregenerate & unfaithful, have neither knowledge nor any feiling, because they remain on after the auld manner, in Satan's bondage: altogidder walking after their lusts, in fornication, uncleanness, wrath, anger, maliciousness, cursed speaking, leeing, and so forth. Colos. 3.5.8. Whilk, as the Apostle saith, being past feeling, have given themselves unto wātonnes, to work all uncleanness, even with greediness. Ephes. 4.19. Yea, they make a pastime of sin, Prouerb. 10.23. and have their delight so therein, that to twin and part them and sin, it is to part them, as it were, and their life. But in the person that is borne again of God, this auld corruption of nature called the aulde man, howheit it strive mightily, and by all means, through the working of Satan that works in the children of unbelief, to recover his kingdom of sin: yet by the power of the Spirit of Christ, renewing the spirit of our mind: he gets such a deads wound, that although he make us meikle cumber, yet is he never able to overcome, but in Jesus Christ we are mair nor victors. The assurance whairof is our singular comfort in this fearful battle between the Flesh and the Spirit: and therefore the grace of God is sufficient for us, who will have his power perfected in infirmity. And so with the scripture we say, that as the world is altogidder set upon sin, and can do nothing but sin: so they that are borne of God sin not: not that their sins of themselves are not deadly, but because their persons are so lively in Christ, that the deadliness of sin cannot prevail against them: for it is our faith that ouercommes the world, because Christ possessed by faith hath overcome the world. And so howheit the condemnation of sin be removed from the faithful altogidder: yet the battle with sin remaineth during this life. To this domestic inward battle, for the farther trial of our faith, as our God seeth it needfall, is the croce of persecution external added: for the better bearing out of all without desperate fainting, we have need of that worthy gift of patience, Philip. 1.29. whilk is a constancy given of God, to sustain & bear out all kind of afflictions for the name of Christ, and therefore is called the patience of God, and not our awin. Rom. 15.5. Revel. 3.10. for the better fighting asweill of this domestic battle, as patient sustaining afflictions for Christ, both in our selves, and the rest of Christ's menbers, and haill Kirk of God in this earth, continual and hearty prayer to God is commanded to all Christians, as the chief fruit and exercise of faith and hope, Ephes. 6.18. James 1 3.4.5. Whilk prayer is a confident and a familiar begging and craving of God, only at his commandment, publicly, and privately, in the name of his Son only, and in the name of no Saint, nor Angel, such things as be needful & requisite for God's glory and the comfort of our selves, and our neighbors: the sum whereof, is set down by Christ himself in the Lord's Prayer. Wherein are sex patitions, touching the glory of God, & our awin weilfare and our neighbors (answering to the twa Tables of the Law) The first three concerns the glory of God directlye, whilk of all things suld be most dear, and so most needful unto us: and the other three the well of our selves and our neighbors, in saule and body heir, and always to the end, and in the end, Amen. In the whilk Prayer, as we are taught to be moste humble in our selves, in respect of our manifold and unspeakable wants: sa we are taught to be moste confident in our God through christ, by whom all our wants are repaired and supplied in saules & bodies. Amen. And so whether we look to our justification or sanctification, they are wholly wrought and perfected by Christ, in whom we are compleit, howheit after a diverse sort: For our justification is only wrought by him in himself, without us, sa that how soon we truly believe, we are justified, counted righteous, and gets the right of life everlasting, through the death and resurrection of Christ. And as for our sanctificatiō, he worketh it in our selves by little and little, so that in this life it is never perfect in our selves, howbeit before the enjoying of life everlasting he presēts us faultles before his heavenly Father, to possess that kingdom prepared for us before the beginning of the world. Whairby the difference clearly appeareth betwixt the ane and the other, faith and works, justification and sanctification: the ane as the cause gives the right of salvation: the other as effect truly declares our meitnesse for possession of our right.
THE FORME OF DEmanding and answering, touching the fourth parte of this familier instruction.
Q. WHen I sall ask you then, What is craved of us after that we are joined to Christ by Faith, and made truly righteous in him? Ye sall answer,
A. We must repent and becum new persons, that we may show forth the virtues of him that hath called us out of darkness into his meruellous light.
Q. When I sall ask, What is Repentance? Ye sall answer,
A. It is ane sorrow and displeasure for sin, and hatred thereof, and a love to righteousness, preceeding of the knawlodge of the truth: whilk by the working of the holy Spirit of regeneration, changeth and reneweth the mind of man and woman.
Q. When I sall ask, Whairin chiefly stands Repentance? Ye sall answer,
A. In departing from evil, and doing good, as outward fruits before men of our inward regeneration before God, whilk ever accompanieth true faith in Christ.
Q. When it sall be demanded, Are we wholly & thoroughly made new by our new birth, so that there remains no more sin in us? Ye sall say,
A. Though the condemnation of sin be taken away, yet the battle with sin remains sa lang as we live in this life.
Q. When the question shall be moved, wha are the parties in this battle? Ye sall say,
A. The auld man, and the new man.
Q. What is the auld man, and what is the new man? Ye sall answer,
A. The remanent of sin according to our conversation in time past, after our corruption through the deceivable lusts, is the auld man: and the renewing of the spirit of the mind, wha after God is created in righteousness and true halinesse, is the new man. Or shortly ye may say, the unregenerate part is the auld mā and the regenerate part the new mā
Q. When I sall demand, Hath every Christian these twa parts, or twa men in him, and consequently this battle? Ye sall answer,
A. Yes in some sort, though all not in like measure of feeling & fighting.
Q. Gif I sal ask any of you touching your awin feeling and experience in this caise? Ye sall answer as ye find the truth in yourselves, but certain it is, ye may truly answer,
A. As our knowledge is small, our feeling is less: and namely, touching the true hatred of sin in our selves and vthers, and the true love of righteousness every way: but yet in Christ who is our true holiness, we are mair then victors.
Q. When I sall say, What is the chief armor of a Christian in this battle, beside faith & repentance? Ye sall say,
A. Hearty and continual Prayer unto God only, in the name of his Son only, for all things neidful to our saule and body: as summarly is contained in the Lord's Prayer.
Q. The last question will be this, Howe many petitions are in the Lord's prayer? Ye sall answer,
A. Sex: of the whilk the first three concerns the glory of God directlye: and the other three, his glory in our selves, and our neighbors weilfare: whilk Prayer, no man can make without Faith. For howe sall they call upon him in whom they have not believed. Rom. 10.14. Amen.
After the Doctrine delivered in effect foresaid, and a short & summar repetition made thereof again, we proceed to the Examination accordingly.
The ordinary Catechism, as it is taught in the new erected Kirk of Salt-Preston every Saboth day.
IEsus said to her (to wit, to Martha) I am the Resurrection, and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet sall he live, &c. Beleeues thou this? Sche said unto him, yea Lord, I believe that thou art that Christ the son of God, whilk suld cum into the world.
He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting lyse, and he that obeyeth not the Son, sall not se life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
For other foundation can no man lay, then that whilk is laid, whilk is Jesus Christ.
And ye are compleit in him, &c. Colos. 2.10. wha is Alpha & Omega, the beginning & the ending Revel. 1.8. the author and finisher of our Faith, Heb. 12.2. and obtained eternal redemption for us, Heb. 9.12. who in the ende of the world hath appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, Heb. 9.26. For with one offering hath he consecrate forever, them that are sanctified. So there is no more offering for sin. Heb. 10.14.18.
For amongst men there is given nane other name under heaven whereby we must be saved, neither is there salvation in any other.
FOllowes our ordinarye Catechism according to the former grounds, whilk we teach before the people on the Sabbath days, taking every Sabbath a part thereof: & so every Moneth once we go through the principles of Religion, as they are contained therein: the children of the school, as by turn they are appointed, by cuples, demanding and answering ane another before the people, as by the Catechism they are led, after that I have read and opened a fit and convenient place of Scripture, according to the part for the day. After all whilk, I sometimes demand the children, and sometimes as it seemeth meet for edification, any man of the Congregatiō, how he can answer to some principal things, after such easy manner as I think his capacity is able to understand: whairof (praised be God) baith I, and the party answering, many times receives comfort, and the Kirk edification.
This is not to prejudge the labors of any godly learned brethren, nor to make any prescriptiō unto them who follow the learned Catechisms made either by them selves, or any other godly learned man: but only for the edification of our own people, whomewe have trained up after this manner, as mayest meit in our judgment for their capacity, according to the approbation of our Provincial assembly of Lowthiane, by their act made thairanent. The tenor whereof is heirafter setdowne. And as we in the mean time are to use the godly Catechisms of vthers, as we may profit thereby, and to reject and contemn none: so gif any Christian can reap any profit by this, we offer it to their discretion: Beseiking God's holy Majesty, to bless the godly labors of all his seruands, to his awin glory, the edification of his Kirk, & comfort of the laborers, through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Savior. Amen.
At Edinburgh the 7. of November. 1599.
THe Prouincial assembly of Lothiane and Tweddale, having red and considered the form of Examination, and Catechism, written by our brother Master John Dauidson, approves the same, and aggrees that it sall be imprented. Extract forth of the books of the provincial assembly of Lothiane & Tweddale, by me Richard Thomesone Clerk thereto.
Richard Thomesone.
The first parte of the Catechism, touching the sinful and damnable estate of man by nature.
WHat does thou chiefly hear and learn at the hearing of God's word?
How art thou under condemnation, that thou hast need of salvation by Christ?
Rehearse the ten Commandments, as they are set down in the first and second Table?
What is summarly contained in these ten Commandments?
That I sulde love God entirely, with all my heart, with all my saul, and with my haill mind, and my neighbor as myself.
Can thou not do sa by nature, bot contrariwise hate both God & thy neighbor?
Al the imaginations of the thoughts of my heart, are only evil continually, and so are bent to all actual sin.
Whereof cometh this thy bentnesse to actual sin, & breaking of God's Commandments?
Howe were they corrupted, seeing they were made gude at the beginning?
What was the Commandemēt they brake?
Brought this their fault condemnation on them and their hail posterity?
Yes: for in them we all sinned, and who can bring ane clean thing out of filthiness: sa having sin from them, we have also death and damnation, the reward of sin, through thē.
THE SECONDE PARTE touching our salvation by the death and passion of Christ.
SEing then we are justly condemned by God's Law, as well for original as actual sin, whilk is the doctrine of the Law: whairof cometh our salvation?
Of the tender mercy and love of our God in Jesus Christ his Son, and second person of the Trinity, whilk is the doctrine of the Gospel, or word of grace.
Why say ye in Jesus Christ his Son?
Because he only is made unto us of God, redemption, and righteousness, neither is there salvation in any other.
Seeing then all our felicity stands in the true knowledge & acknawledging of Jesus Christ to be our only Savior, declare what he is in person and office?
In person he is God and man: & in office he is Mediator betwixt God and man, and our only Redeemer.
Was it neidfull to our salvation that he should be both God and man in one person?
Yes: for none could duly su • fer for man, but man with God: and none could overcome for man, but God with man in one person.
Why is he called Jesus, that is to say, that Savior?
Why is he called Christ, that is to say, he that is anointed?
Because he only is anointed, that is, endued of God with all gifts meit for a perfect Savior: as he that is our King, Priest, and Prophet.
How saved he us?
By suffering all our deserved punishments in saule and body, in shedding his blood on the Cross: and sa dying for our sins, & rising again for our righteousness.
Why died he that cursed kind of death on the Cross, rather then ony other?
That thereby taking our curse in saule and body plainly upon himself, he might fully deliver us from the wrath to come.
Doth Christ his blood clenge us from all sin, and his righteousness imputed unto us, truly justify us in God's sight?
Yes: for as our sins imputed unto him, made him truly gilty of death and condemnation: sa his righteousness imputed unto us, makes us truly righteous in God's sight.
Whereof cometh this Communion and mutual fellowship between Christ crucified and us?
THE THIRD PART OF the Catcchisme.
WHereby is this union and strait conjunction made between Christ crucified and us?
By Faith only: as the only instrument whereby we receive him to dwell in our hearts. And sa by Faith only we are said to be saved, because Faith only receiveth our only Savior.
Then there is no parte of our righteousness left, without the apprehension or grip of Faith, seeing it is all wholly in the person of Christ apprehended by Faith?
It is so: and sa we are perfitely saved by the warkes whilk Christ did for us in his awin person, and na ways by the gude warkes whilk he works in us with, and after Faith.
What is this Faith that is the only instrument of this strait conjunction between Christ crucified and us?
It is the sure persuasion of the heart, that Christ by his death and resurrection hath taken away our sins, and clothing us with his awin righteousness, hes throughlye restored us to the favor of God.
How is this sure persuasion ordinarily wrought and kept in the heart?
By the holy Spirit working with the hearing of God's word preached, and the right ministry of the Sacraments, according to the due administration of Christ's kingdom in the discipline of the kirk, established by him in his word.
Does every ane that hears the word preached believe, and get this sure persuasion?
No: for all men have not Faith▪ and they only believe that are ordained to life everlasting, and have ears to hear, wha only are the true Kirk of Christ, and his sheep, because they hear his voice.
Hes thou gotten this sure persuasion of forgiveness of thy sins, and full redemption in Christ?
Yes praised be God: for I live by my awin Faith, and thereby have peace towards God, through Christ.
Rehearse the sowme of thy Beliefe?
Thou believes then that there is ane God, and three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, & the holy Gaist?
Yes: the Father the maker of all creatures: the Son made man, redeemer of his people: and the halye Gaist the sanctifyer.
What helps beside the word preached, hes God ordained for the confirmation of thy Faith?
What does the Sacraments signify and seal up to thee, that believes in Christ?
THE FOURTH PART of the Catechism.
REsts there anything for us to do, after that we are perfitlie justified in God's sight, by Faith in Christ?
Yes, very meikle, albeit na ways to merit salvation: but only to witness by the effects of thankfulness, that we are truly saved.
The glorifying of God, and the edifying of our selves and our neighbors, by showing forth the fruits of our new birth in sanctification.
Whilk are the holy fruits of our regeneration and new birth?
Mortification of the aulde man, & quickening of the new man, whilk is called repentance, inherent justice, or our begun halinesse.
What call ye the auld man, and what call ye the new man?
The corruption of nature that we have from Satan by our first Parents, is the auld man: and the measure of Christ's begun holiness inherent in us, is the new man.
Then every Christian becumes twa, as it were in ane: the auld man and the new: the ane ever contrarious to the other, and the ane fighting against the other?
It is so: and this battle is that • oak and Cross of Christ that we must take on, and that strait way that we must pass, whilks never • uffers our sanctificatiō in our selves to be perfect in this life.
Is the new man able to fight against our sinful corruption, & get the victory in the end?
This Battle is sore: but the victory is sure through faith in him that loved us, and gave himself for us, in whom we are mair then victors.
What is our chief armor in this Christian Battle, beside Faith and Repentance.
Hearty and continual Prayer to God only, for all things serving to his glory and our comforts, for Christ's sake: as he hath taught us in the sex petitions of the Lord's Prayer, whilk is as follows, Our Father whilk art in heaven, and so forth.
How are these sex petitions divided?
Into twa parts, answering to the twa Tables of the Law: the first three, concerns the glory of God directly: and the other three his glory in our awin weilfare, and our neighbors.
What stirs up and sharpens us to earnest prayer?
The Spirit of God, by means of sobriety, fasting, and diverse afflictions, called the Cross of Christ, for the bearing whereof we have need of patience.
Then the begun halines of Christ in us, whereby at last we sall be thoroughly sanctified, is no cause of our salvation, though it must go before our full enjoying thairof in heaven?
Ye say true: for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we sall be saved by his life, in whom we are compleit.
N. to the Author, touching the short Catechism immediately going before
I Thanke God for your precious pearl little in quantity, but infinite in weight. I allow and approves the perspecuity, order, and substantious comprising of so great mysteries in little bounds.
The judgment of another learned man. N.
There is not an idle word heir.
If anything be wrang heir, it is of weakness, and not of willfulness: and therefore is humbly submitted to the loving and advised correction of the godly learned, by God's word.
THese forms of Prayer, and thanksgiving following, are only for thankful persons to God for his benefits, and not for profane abusers, and graceless devourers thereof: wha the mair wealth they have by God's gift, and the better cheer they make, the more forgetful of God they are, and swell in pride and disdain against all true thankfulness, swasshing down to the table like swine, and starting up like Dogs when they ar filled: thinking the true praising of God (namely at Table) to be but Monkish hypocrisy, a Popish ceremony, or lost time.
Neither is any man bound to these forms but at his pleasure, so the matter and substance be not omitted; but reverently observed at every meal, not only by children, but also by the best and most able in the house: for the chiefest is unworthy enough to praise God's holy Majesty. And the posting over of this worthy service, only to profane boys and serving-men becometh not Christian families.
A Prayer to be said before meat.
BLesse us gude Lord, and these thy creatures whilk of thy gudenesse thou givest us, for the nourishment of this our natural life, and give us grace to use them reverently, and soberly, with a gude conscience in thy fear, to thy glory, & our comforts. Sa that whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we do all to the glory of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and only Savior, Amen.
A thanks-giving after meat.
WE praise thy holy name, O heavenly Father, for all thy gracious benefits spiritual and corporal, bestowed upon us to this hour: namely, for the long liberty of the true preaching of the gospel (whereof alas, we have been most unworthy) as also, we praise thy heavenly Majesty for this present benefit of food and gladness, wherewith now thou haste filled our hearts: give us grace that so long as we may walk in the strength of this meat & drink, that we be ever reddy to gloryfie thy holy name, in thought, word, & deed, by true faith and repentance. Lord bless thy Kirk, the King, Queen, & Prince, with the rest of their Majesty's children, and give all the gude subjects of this Realm, and earnest care to pray heartily for their presernation, in soul & body, and for their long, happy, and prosperous government, in thy fear over this poor Realm: that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life under them, in all godliness and honesty, without all change or alteration, of the present true Religion, and ministry of the the gospel, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
THE TEN COMMANDEments of Almighty God.
HEarken and take heed Israel, I am the Lord thy God, whilk have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and from the house of bondage:
- 1. Thou sal have nane other God's before my face.
- 2. Thou sal not make to thyself any graven Image, nor the likeness of anything that is in Heaven above, nor in the Earth beneath, nor in the water under the earth: thou sall not bow down to them, nor worship thē For I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, & visits the sins of the fathers vpō the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, & shows mercy unto thousands of them that loves me, and keeps my Commandments.
- 3. Thou sall not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hald him guiltless that takes his Name in vain.
- 4. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day: sex days sall thou labor and do all that thou hast to do, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou sal do na na manner of wark, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manseruant, nor thy maidservant, thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. For in sex days the Lord made heaven & earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.
- 5. Honor thy Father & thy Mother, that thy days may be lang in the Land whilk the Lord thy God giveth thee.
- 6. Thou sall do na murder.
- 7. Thou sal not commit adultery.
- 8. Thou sall not steal.
- 9. Thou sal not bear false witness against thy Neighbor.
- 10. Thou sall not covet thy neighbors house: Thou sall not covet thy neighbors wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ore, nor his asse, nor anything that is his.