our own selves Q. What is meant in Scripture by those thorns which choak the good seed of the word A. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life and the lusts of other things these are the thorns which choak the word so that it becometh unfruitful Q. The third and last means you mentioned was the Sacraments How many Sacraments are there under the New Testament A. There are only two namely Baptism and the Lords Supper Q. What is Baptism A. Baptism is washing with water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Q. What doth this Baptism or washing with water signifie A. This Baptism or washing with water signifies the washing away of sins or the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost Q. What are they engaged to in reference to God the Father and the Son and Holy Ghost who are baptized in or into the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost A. They are engaged so to live as that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed by them but that the name of Christ may be glorified in them they are obliged to put onChrist and as they name the name of Christ or profess his Religion so to depart likewise from all iniquity and seeing that they who are baptized into Jesus Christ are baptized into his death they are to reckon themselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God unto whom they are to yield themselves as those that are alive from the dead And lastly they are engaged not to grieve the holy Spirit of God whereby they are sealed unto the day of Redemption Q. What are they engaged to in reference to men who are baptized into Christ A. They are engaged to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace for there is one Baptism and by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body Q. What is the Sacrament of the Lord's supper A. The Lord's Supper is a Sacrament wherein after the giving of thanks and blessing bread is broken and eaten and wine is poured out and drank in remembrance or for a commemoration of Christ. Q. What doth the Bread broken fignifie and teach us to remember A. The Bread broken signifieth and teacheth us to remember the Body of Christ which was given and broken for us for he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities he gave himself a ransom for all and by his stripes we are healed Q. What doth the Wine poured out into the Cup signifie and teach us to remember A. The Wine poured out into the Cup signifieth and teacheth us to remember the Blood of Christ which was shed for many for the remission of sins for he poured out his soul or life unto death and by his blood he hath redeemed us unto God Q. How may we worthily receive the Lord's Supper A. Let a man examine or approve himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that Cup. Q. Of what benefit and advantage is the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to those that worthily receive it A. The Cup of blessing which we bless it is the communion or communication of the Blood of Christ and the bread which we break it is the communion or communication of the body of Christ. Q. What is the danger of receiving the Lord's Supper unworthily A. Whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord and he eateth and drinketh damnation or judgment to himself not discerning the Lord's body That is not eating it in a holy manner or making no difference between it and ordinary food Q. How do the sufferings and death of Christ represented in this Sacrament shew unto us the evil and heynousness of sin and by that means engage us to godly sorrow and repentance A. The sufferings and death of Christ represented in this Sacrament shew unto us the evil and heynousness of sin in that we are not redeemed from it but with the precious Blood of Christ his soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death it pleased the Lord to bruise him and to put him to grief and to lay upon him the iniquities of us all That is he would not admit sinners to terms of reconciliation with himself without such a Sacrifice for sin as that of his own dear Son Q. How doth the love of Christ in dying for us engage us to live a new life A. The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves that is to their lusts and carnal affections but unto him which died for them Q. How doth the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper engage Christians to love each other A. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper engageth us to love each other in that we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread and are all made to drink into one Spirit That is our drinking all of the same Cup signifieth our being animated by the same spirit Q. How farther doth the Lord's Supper engage us to Christian love A. It farther engageth us to Christian love in that we are commanded to walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour and in this Sacrament this Sacrifice is commemorated Q. Seeing Jesus Christ hath set Bishops and spiritual Governours and Teachers over his Church who by their prayers preaching the Word and administration of the Sacraments and Ecclesiastical Discipline are for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry and edifying of his body and hath promised to be with them to the end of the world How are we to behave our selves towards them 1 Cor. 12. 28. Eph. 4. 11 12. 1 Tim. 3. 1. Mat. 28. 19 20. A. We are commanded to obey them that have the rule over us and submit our selves to them for they watch for our souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief and to esteem those that are over us in the Lord and admonish us very highly in love for their works sake and to account them worthy of double honour But as for those false Apostles and deceitful workers which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which we have learned we must avoid them for they serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple having a form
A SCRIPTURE Catechism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A FORM OF Sound Words OR A Scripture-Catechism SHEWING What a Christian is to Believe and Practise in order to Salvation Very useful for Persons of all Ages and Capacities as well as Children Composed by the Pious and Learned JOHN WORTHINGTON D. D. Deceased LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXIII THE PREFACE THat the seasoning of Youth with Truth and the pure genuine Doctrine of Christianity is a business of mighty consequence cannot be in the least doubted by any that observe as who may not that the lamentable ignorance of the generality of those who are honoured with the name Christians and the gross Erroneousness and Misunderstanding of the Gospel that multitudes which yet make a great profession of it are manifestly guilty of are to be imputed to no one thing so much as to the neglect of that duty And that the want of pious education hath more than any other thing whatsoever rendred ineffectual the industrious endeavours of faithful Ministers for the good of Souls First this is apparently the grand and fundamental Cause of so many peoples gross Ignorance of that Religion which they are baptized into and have all their days lived under the preaching of and 't is not to be denied that those whose understandings gain none or but very inconsiderable improvement by hearing the Holy Scriptures read and the Doctrines they contain explained in the Church are almost universally such as whose Parents or those that had the charge of them took none or very little care to instruct at home And who doth not see also that the strange proneness of people to be misled and turned about with every wind of Doctrine is nothing so much to be attributed to their want of good Preaching as to their not being prepossessed and early anticipated with the wholesom words of our Lord Jesus Christ their not being timely antidoted with the Doctrine that is according to godliness against the poysonous Principles of the many Deceivers that are entred into the world and make such sad Havock of souls among our selves And as the constant experience of mankind assureth us that there is no such time for improving in other Sciences or Mysteries as Youth and that few become very considerable in any profession who have not studied it in their younger years so 't is rare to find any that have attained to but a competent proficiency in the great Mystery of Godliness in whom the grounds of it have not been laid in that age Therefore the wise man adviseth to remember our Creator in the days of our youth and to train up a Child in the way that he should go adding that when he is old he will not then depart from it And as S. Paul told Timothy who had a religious Mother and Grandmother that from a Child he had known the Scriptures which are able to make him wise to salvation so hath it always been the practice of truly pious Parents and Governours of Youth to take care that God and the good things of his Law may get the first possession of their Childrens hearts and not to neglect the well principling of them till they arrive at a mature and settledjudgment as well knowing that Young ones are ordinarily as much more docile and tractable than those of Ripe years as is a Twig more lithe and yielding than the body of a Grown Tree and that 't is far easier to prevent the fixing of evil habits in their Souls than to extirpate them being fixed Now in order to the better instructing of Youth the way of learning them Catechisms or Books containing and explaining the Substance of Religion by Questions and Answers is commended by the General and very Ancient practice of the Church of God but it must be acknowledged that through the too imprudent and unskilful composure of most Catechisms this way hath not proved so successful as it might with the blessing of God have been had due care and judgment been used about them 'T is easie to shew how much there is of mistake and men in them and that whereas God commanded the Jews to teach their Children his Laws and Statutes not any notions of their own they are generally too faulty in this particular And by this means have become greater propagators of some uncertain Speculations and even dangerous Errors than furtherances of useful and necessary knowledge and possessed the Learners of them both with a wrong notion of Christianity in general and such particular opinions as tend to enervate and make insignificant the wholsome Doctrine taught by them This great abuse hath very much been complained of by Wise and Good men and it was the affecting sense that the most pious and worthy Person our Authour had of it that prevail'd with him to compose this Catechism of whom by the way I cannot forbear notwithstanding the extremely narrow room I am here confin'd to to give this general and very short Account viz. That as he was highly valued by men capable of understanding the worth of that accomplishment for his excellent Learning so all Good men that had the happiness of knowing him could do no other than greatly love and honour him for the incomparably more noble endowment of a divine temper and most Christ-like spirit that appeared in him Among other there were no vertues he was more observed to be an Example of than a Dove-like innocence and simplicity a Lamb-like meekness humility and peaceableness the greatest benignity candor and ingenuity the most Christian that is unlimited and universal charity in which those that dissented from him in matters of Religion which is rare in these days had not only a real but great interest intire self-resignation to the will of God a very devout temper of mind towards him And those must needs conclude that he loved God and the souls of men in an eminent degree that observed how very publick spirited he was and wonderfully industrious in contriving and promoting designs for the bettering of the World and in exciting others to do the like To omit other lasting Monuments of his pious industry Mr. Mede's most elaborate Discourses by him collected and published in one great Volume will perpetuate his memory All that know what he hath there alone performed will pronounce him a most indefatigable pains taker for the publick good And I presume that those that shall consider the following Catechism will acknowledg it a no less laborious than judicious work and consequently that it is another very singular instance of his solicitous concern for their better part And as I said that the sense he had of the ill services that too many Catechisms do in the world was the occasion of his composing this so I verily believe that a more effectual course cannot well be taken for remedying of that mischief For first that so it may neither be too large nor yet defective he hath with
or respects avail us any thing to justification and salvation without this new and spiritual obedience A. Neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcifion but a new creature the keeping of the commandments of God and not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of his Father which is in heaven For why call ye me Lord Lord saith our Saviour and do not the things which I say The hearers of the Law are not just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified Q. May it not suffice to keep some of the Commandments of God but must we obey all A. We must have respect unto all God's commandments and hate every false way for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet wilfully offend in one point he is guilty of all or liable to the punishment due to the breach of all viz. Eternal death Q. Will God accept at our hands nothing short of absolutely perfect Obedience A. Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him for he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are but dust and if there be a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not That is it is accepted if we demonstrate that we are reallywilling by our acting in a good suitableness to the strength we have received Q. Do you think that you can deserve forgiveness of sin and eternal Salvation at God's hands by obeying his commandments A. No by no means but when we have done all those things that are commanded us we must say that we are unprofitable servants we have done but that which was our duty to do and not by works of righteousness which we have done that is not for the desert of them but according to his mercy he saveth us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and he maketh us accepted in the beloved by whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of his grace Q. Seeing we cannot merit at God's hands by any thing we can do and that we are pardoned and saved purely by the free Grace of God in Christ how comes obedience to his commandments to be indispensably necessary to our being so A. Obedience to God's commandments is therefore indispensably necessary to our being pardoned and saved because that the righteous Lord loveth righteousness but hateth wickedness and all the workers of iniquity insomuch as he that justifieth the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord so that without holiness no man shall see the Lord for thereby we are made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light nor can we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness for God is light and in him is no darkness at all Wherefore God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless us by turning every one of us from our iniquities and hath exalted him to be a prince a Saviour first to give repentance and then forgiveness of sins and he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it that is to perfect it or preach it fully So the same word is used Rom. 15. 19. and Col. 1. 25. Q. Then you will never be perswaded to believe that Faith in Christ freeth us from our obligation to the Moral Law or any one precept of it A. Do we make void the law through faith God sorbid yea we establish the law And to live soberly righteously and godlily in this present world is that even the sum of all that which the grace of God that brings salvation teacheth us Nay it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than one jot or tittle of the law to fail till all be fulfilled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or till all things be done that is till the world be destroyed Q. Which are the ten Commandments into which the Moral Law as it was given by God to Moses is divided of which the four first contain our duty towards God and the other six our duty towards man A. God spake all these words saying I am the Lord thy God which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of Bondage 1. Thou shalt have no other Gods before or besides me 2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandments 3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain 4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter thy Man-servant nor thy Maid-servant nor thy cattel nor thy stranger that is within thy gates For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it 5. Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee 6. Thou shalt not kill 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery 8. Thou shalt not steal 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours House thou shalt not covet thy neighbours Wife nor his Man-servant nor his Maid-servant nor his Oxe nor his Ass nor any thing that is thy neighbours Q. How are these ten Commandments abridged by our Saviour Christ A. He hath reduced them all to these two Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength This is the first Commandment or the first Table And the second is like namely this Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Q. How is the love of God expressed A. This is the love of God that we keep his Commandments Q. How is this second Commandment or Table farther explained by Christ A. He hath farther explain'd it thus As ye would that men should do to you do ye also to them likewise Q. Can a man love God and hate his brother or refuse to supply his necessities according to his ability