THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM.

Question 1.

What is thy only comfort in life and death?

Answer.

That I, with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who, with His precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation; and therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready henceforth. to live unto Him.

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Cor. 6: 20.

The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1: 7.

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Matt. 10:29-31.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. Rom. 8:16, 17.

Question 2.

How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort mayest live and die happy?

Answer.

Three; the first, how great my sins and. miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 7:24, 25.

Out of the Law of God.

By the law is the knowledge of sin. Rom. 3:20.
Question 4.

What does the law of God require of us?

Answer.

Christ teaches us that briefly, Matt. xxii, 37-40. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This the first and great commandment.

The second is like unto this: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commands hang the whole law and the prophets.

Question 5.

Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?

Answer.

In no wise: for I am prone by nature

to hate God and my neighbor.

The carnal mind is enmity against God. Rom. 8:7.
Question 6.

Did God then create man so wicked and perverse?

Answer.

By no means; but God created man good, and after His own image, in righteousness and true holiness, that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal happiness, to glorify and praise Him.

God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him. Gen. 1:27.

Question 7.

Whence then proceeds this depravity of human nature?

Answer.

From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise; hence our nature is become so corrupt, that we are all conceived and born in sin.

By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Rom. 5: 12.

Question 8.

Are we then so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all wickedness?

Answer.

Indeed we are, except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God.

Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5. Question 9.

Does not God then do injustice to man, by requiring from him, in His Law, that which he cannot perform?

Answer.

Not at all for God made man capable of performing it; but man, by the instigation of the devil, and his own wilful disobedience, deprived himself and all his posterity of those divine gifts.

The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty. 2 Cor. 11:3.

By one man's disobedience many were made sinners. Rom. 5:19.

Question 10.

Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?

Answer.

By no means: but is terribly displeased