ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, BY H. GRIFFIN & Co. in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of New-York. A SCRIPTURE CATECHISM. Q. 1. What is the chief end of man? him for ever. Is happiness bound up in the creature? No: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit, Eccl. i. 14. Will the riches of the world make you happy? No: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth, Luke xii. 15. Will the praise and applause of men make you happy? No for it is vain glory, Gal. v. 26. Will sport and pleasure make you happy? No: for the wise man said of laughter, It is mad, and of mirth, What doeth it? Eccl. ii. 2. Can the gain of the world make you happy? No: for what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Matt. xvi. 26. Is God your chief end? Yes: for of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, Rom. xi. 36. Were you made for him? Yes: this people have I formed for myself, Isa. xliii. 21. Were you redeemed for him? Yes: ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price, 1 Cor. 5962 -967 3 (RECAP) 1 vi. 19, 20. Is it your chief business to glorify God? Yes: we must glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are God's, 1 Cor. vi. 20. Q. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him? A. The word of God (which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament) is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. Do we need a rule to direct us to our chief end? Yes for we all like sheep have gone astray, Isa. liii. 6. Could we not find it out of ourselves? No: for man is born like the wild ass's colt, Job xi. 12. Is divine revelation necessary to religion? Yes: for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, Rom. x. 17. Is not the light of nature sufficient? No: for the world by wisdom knew not God, 1 Cor. i. 21. Has God given us a revelation? Yes: at sundry times, and in divers manners, God spake unto the fathers, Heb. i. 1. Are the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament the word of God, and a divine revelation? Yes for all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, 2 Tim. iii. 16. Were they indited by the blessed Spirit? Yes: for holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. i. 21. Were they confirmed by miracles? Yes: God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders, Heb. ii. 4. Are the Scriptures the great upon support of our religion? Yes: for we are built the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Eph. ii. 20. Are they the standing rule of our faith and practice? Yes: we must have recourse to the law and to the testimony, Isa. viii. 20. Are they the only rule? Yes: for other foundation can no man lay, 1 Cor. iii. 11. Are they our guide? Yes: for the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, Prov. vi. 23. Do they show us the way to heaven and happiness? Yes: for in them we think we have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Christ, John v. 39. Must little children get the knowledge of the Scriptures? Yes Timothy is commended for this, that from a child he knew the Holy Scriptures, 2 Tim. iii. 15. Must their parents instruct them therein? Yes: they must teach them diligently unto their children, and talk of them, Deut. vi. 7. Q. 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach. A. The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. Are we to believe what the Scripture reveals concerning God? Yes: for these things are written that we may believe, John xx. 31. And must we believe all that the Scripture reveals? Yes: Believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets, Acts xxiv. 14. Does God re |