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which Christ ate with his disciples the night before his
crucifixion-reasons for considering the celebration of
it as not now obligatory.-The supper of the Lord, of
which Christians partake, inward and spiritual.

Page 83-111.

CHAPTER I.

§. I.

1st. Question-What is the principal object sought after by mankind?

Answer-Happiness: all their pursuits, however various, may be traced to it as to a central point.

2d Q. How is true happiness to be attained?

A.-True happiness is only to be found in loving God, fearing to offend him, and obeying his commands.

Psal. xxxiv. 9. O fear the Lord, ye his saints; for there is no want to them that fear him. 10. The young hions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

Psal. cxxviii. 1. Biessed is every one that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways. 2. Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

Rom. viii. 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.

1 Cor. ii. 9. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit.

§. II.

3d Q-Who is God?

10.

A. God is the infinite, eternal, and in

B

visible Being or Spirit, who created and who upholds all things.

John iv. 24.

God is a Spirit.

Psal. xc. 2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.

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Jer. xxiii. 24. Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? do not I fill heaven and the earth? saith the Lord.

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Psal. cxxxix. 7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. 9. If I take

the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost part of the sea: 10. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me: even the night shall be light about me. 12. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thec.

Heb. iii. 4. He that built all things is God.

Heb. i. 3. Upholding all things by the word of his power.

4th Q.-Is it not true that there is but one God ?.

A. Certainly; for though there are the Father, Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, these three are one God.*

* This belief of the Father, Son, and Spirit, is usually called the Doctrine of the Trinity, which has been variously explained by the professors of Christianity, but we think it safest to adhere as much as possible to the guarded manner in which the sacred writers have treated this mysterious subject, as it necessarily extends into a depth unfathomable by the limited understanding of man, for "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection." Job xi. 7.

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Deut. iv. 35. The Lord he is God, there is none

else besides him.

John i. 1.

The Word was God.

18. No man hath

seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. I and my Father are one.

John x. 30. John xiv. 23. If a man love me he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 26. But the Comforter which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things.

John xv. 26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.

Matt. xxviii. 19. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Gal. iv. 6. God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

12 Cor. xiii. 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

5th Q.-What are the proofs we have of the existence of God?

A. They are of two sorts, 1st. The works of creation. 2dly. The revelation God has made of himself to man.

6th Q.-What are the proofs derived from creation?

A. They are innumerable: the earth we live upon abounds with them; which with the sun, the moon, and the stars, and the various revolutions in the planetary system, proclaims the existence of an all-wise, all

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