088. Of Christ's ordinances in general
QUESTION 88. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption?
ANSWER:The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption, are his Ordinances, especially the word, sacraments, and prayer, all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.
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Q. 1. What do you understand by the benefits of redemption?
A. All the blessings of Christ’s purchase, which may be summed up in grace here, and glory hereafter, Psalms 84:11.
Q. 2. Who communicateth these benefits or blessings to us?
A.Christ himself, who has them wholly at his disposal, Luke 22:29 - “I appoint unto you a kingdom.”
Q. 3. How comes Christ to have the disposal of them wholly in his hands?
A. By his Father’s gift, John 3:35 - “The Father loveth the Son, and hath GIVEN all things into his hand;” and by his own purchase of them; hence called a “purchased possession,” Ephesians 1:14.
Q. 4. What is it for Christ to communicate the benefits of redemption?
A. It is not to give away the property of them from himself, but to make us “sharers with him” in them all; that is, to make us “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ,” Romans 8:17.
Q. 5. Does Christ communicate them in a mediate or immediate way?
A. In a mediate way, through the intervention of ordinances, Ephesians 4:11-14.
Q. 6. What are the ordinances by which Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?
A. They are “prayer and thanksgiving, in the name of Christ; the reading, preaching, and hearing of the word; the administering, and receiving the sacraments; church government and discipline; the ministry and maintenance thereof; religious fasting; swearing by the name of God, and vowing unto him.” 1
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 108. See them all explained, on the Duties required in the Second Commandment.
Q. 7. Why are these called His ordinances?
A. Because they are all of them instituted and prescribed by him in his word, as the alone King and Head of his church, to be observed in it to the end of the world, Matthew 28:20.
Q. 8. Have we any reason to expect, that the benefits of redemption will be communicated by ordinances of man’s invention and appointment?
A. No; for all such ordinances, having no higher sanction than the commandments of men, are declared to be IN VAIN, Matthew 15:9; they are condemned as will-worship, Colossians 2:23; and the observers of them severely threatened, Micah 6:16.
Q. 9. Why is it said, especially the word, sacraments, and prayer?
A. Because, though the other ordinances above mentioned are not to be excluded, as being all of them useful in their own place; yet the word, sacraments, and prayer, are the chief or principal outward means for communicating the benefits of redemption, Acts 2:42.
Q. 10. What is the special usefulness of the word for communicating the benefits of redemption?
A. In the word these benefits are exhibited and offered to sinners of mankind, as the ground of their faith, that, believing they may be possessed of them all, John 20:31.
Q. 11. What is the special usefulness of the sacraments for communicating these benefits?
A. The sacraments represent to our senses, 1 Corinthians 10:16, what the word does to our faith, and are designed for the confirmation of it, Romans 4:11.
Q. 12. What is the special usefulness of prayer for the above purpose?
A. The prayer of faith fetches home to the soul all the good that is wrapped up both in the word and in the sacraments, Mark 11:24 - “What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Q. 13. Why are the word, sacraments, and prayer, called means, by which Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?
A. Because he is pleased to begin and carry on the work of grace in the soul, by and under these ordinances, Acts 2:41-42.
Q. 14. Why called the outward means?
A. To distinguish them from faith, repentance, and other inward means; and particularly to distinguish them from the inward and powerful influences of the Holy Spirit, which are necessary to accompany the outward means in order to salvation, Zechariah 4:6.
Q. 15. Why called ordinary means?
A. Because they are the stated and ordinary way and method, by which Christ communicates the benefits of redemption to sinners of mankind, Romans 10:14-18; Ezekiel 37:28.
Q. 16. Are there any extraordinary means without the word, by which Christ communicates the benefits of redemption to adult persons?
A. No; for whatever providences God may make use of, when he is beginning or carrying on his work of grace in the soul, Acts 9:3-7; yet these dispensations are always to be considered in a subserviency to the word, chap. 16:25-33 [Acts 16:25-33], or as occasions of the Spirit’s working in concurrence with it, 2 Peter 1:18-19.
Q. 17. Are the ordinances, of themselves, effectual for communicating the benefits of redemption?
A. No; they are made effectual, Romans 1:16.
Q. 18. To whom are they made effectual?
A. To the elect only, Acts 13:48.
Q. 19. For what end are they made effectual to the elect?
A. For salvation,Hebrews 10:39
Q. 20. What is meant by salvation?
A. Not only a begun deliverance from all sin and misery, and a begun possession of all happiness and blessedness in this life, John 3:15; but likewise a total freedom from the one, and a full and uninterrupted enjoyment of the other, in the life to come, Revelation 21:4.
Q. 21. If the ordinances are made effectual to the elect only for salvation, why have others, in the visible church, the benefit of them?
A. To show the infinite intrinsic sufficiency of the satisfaction of Christ, 1 John 4:14; and, at the same time, to render those who slight such valuable privileges the more inexcusable, John 15:22.
Q. 22. What may we learn from Christ’s instituting his Ordinances to be the outward and ordinary means of salvation?
A. We may from thence learn the difference between the church militant, which sees but through a glass darkly, and the church triumphant, which sees “face to face,” 1 Corinthians 13:12 ÷089. Of the word made effectual to salvation QUESTION 89. How is the word made effectual to salvation?
ANSWER:The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation.
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Q. 1. What is meant by the word in this answer?
A. The whole of divine revelation, contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament.
Q. 2. What has God appointed with reference to his word, that it may be effectual to salvation?
A. He has appointed the reading,John 5:39; “but especially the preaching thereof,” 2 Timothy 4:2.
Q. 3. “Is the word of God to be read by all?”
A. “Although all are not permitted to read the word publicly to the congregation, Deuteronomy 31:9, Deuteronomy 31:11, yet all sorts of people are bound to read it apart by themselves, chap. 17:19 [Deuteronomy 17:19], and with their families, chap. 6:7 [Deuteronomy 6:7].” 1
1 Larger Catechism. QUESTION 156.
Q. 4. What is the meaning of these words in our Larger Catechism, “all are not permitted to read the word publicly to the congregation?”
A. The meaning is: not, as if there were an order of men appointed by Christ, to be READERS in the church, distinct from ministers; but only, that none ought to read publicly to the congregation, except those whose office it is, not only to read the word of God, but to explain it to the edification of others, Nehemiah 8:8 - “So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the SENSE, and caused them (namely, the people) to understand the reading.”
Q. 5. Why is the reading of the scriptures apart by ourselves necessary for every one?
A. Because the scriptures are a sword for defence, Ephesians 6:17; a lamp for direction, Psalms 119:105; and food for nourishment, Jeremiah 15:16; in all which respects they are necessary for every Christian travelling Zion-ward, 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
Q. 6. May not the reading of the scriptures in our families, supersede the reading of them apart by ourselves?
A. No; the doing of the one ought by no means to jostle out the other.
Q. 7. What is essentially requisite in order to capacitate the unlearned to read the scriptures?
A. That they be “translated out of the original into vulgar languages, 1 Corinthians 14:11.” 2
2 Larger Catechism. QUESTION 156.
Q. 8. How is the word of God to be read?
A. “The holy scriptures are to be read with a high and reverend esteem of them, Nehemiah 8:5; with a firm persuasion that they are the very word of God, 2 Peter 1:21; and that he only can enable us to understand them, Luke 24:45.” 3
3 Ibid., QUESTION 157.
Q. 9. Why should we read the scriptures with a high and reverend esteem of them?
A. Because they are dictated by the Holy Ghost, and “are able to make us wise unto salvation,” 2 Timothy 3:15.
Q. 10. Why should we read them with a firm persuasion that they are the very word of God?
A. Because without this we can never build our hope on them, as containing the words of eternal life, 1 Thessalonians 2:13.
Q. 11. Why should we read them with a persuasion that God only can enable us to understand them?
A. Because, without this, we cannot exercise a dependence upon him, for that spiritual and internal illumination, which is necessary to a saving and experimental knowledge of them, 1 Corinthians 2:10.
Q. 12. “By whom is the word of God to be preached?”
A. “Only by such as are sufficiently gifted, Malachi 2:7, and also duly approved and called to that office, Romans 10:15; 1 Timothy 4:14.” 4
4 Ibid., QUESTION 158.
Q. 13. Who are they that are sufficiently gifted?
A. They are such as are not only of a blameless moral walk, and “have a good report of them that are without,” 1 Timothy 3:7; but likewise such as have a competent stock of human literature, Titus 1:9; and are, in the judgment of charity, reputed to be pious and religious men, 2 Timothy 1:5.
Q. 14. What is it to be duly approved and called to that office?
A. It is not only to be approved by the presbytery, who have the sole power of trying the ministerial qualifications, and of ordination to that office, 1 Timothy 4:14; but likewise to have the call and consent of the people, who are to be under the pastoral inspection and charge, Acts 1:23; Acts 14:23.
Q. 15. “How is the word of God to be preached by those that are called thereunto?”
A. They are to preach sound doctrine “diligently, plainly, faithfully, wisely, zealously, and sincerely.” 5
5 Ibid., QUESTION 159.
Q. 16. What are we to understand by sound doctrine?
A. The whole system of divine truth, contained in the holy scriptures, or evidently deducible from it; particularly whatever has the greatest tendency to depreciate self, and to exalt Christ, who ought to be the main and leading subject of all gospel-preaching, 2 Corinthians 4:5.
Q. 17. What is it to preach sound doctrine diligently?
A. It is to be instant “in season, and out of season,” 2 Timothy 4:2 6 embracing every opportunity of doing good to souls; and watching for them, “as they that must give account,” Hebrews 13:17.
6 Ibid.
Q. 18. What is it to preach plainly?
A. It is to essay it, “not in enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power,” 1 Corinthians 2:4. 7 7Ibid.
Q. 19. What is it to preach the word faithfully?
A. It is a “making known the whole counsel of God,” (or at least a not shunning to do so), Acts 20:27. 8 8Ibid.
Q. 20. When may ministers be said to preach wisely?
A. When in studying, or preaching, they are wholly taken up in applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers,” 9Luke 12:42; 1 Corinthians 3:2.
9 Ibid.
Q. 21. When do they preach the word zealously?
A. When they do it “with fervent love to God, and the souls of his people,” 102 Corinthians 5:14, and 2 Corinthians 12:15.
10 Ibid.
Q. 22. How is the word preached sincerely?
A. When there is an “aiming at God’s glory,” and his people’s “conversion, edification, and salvation, 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 Corinthians 9:22; 1 Timothy 4:16.” 11
11 Ibid.
Q. 23. Who is it that makes the reading and preaching of the word effectual to salvation?
A. (THE SPIRIT OF GOD), 1 Corinthians 2:11 - “The things of God knoweth no man, but the SPIRIT of God.”
Q. 24. How does he make them effectual?
A. By accompanying them with his divine power upon the soul, Romans 1:16.
Q. 25. Of what is it that the Spirit of God makes the reading and preaching of the word an effectual means?
A. He makes them an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto Salvation.
Q. 26. Does the Spirit make more frequent and ordinary use of the reading, or of the preaching of the word, for these valuable ends?
A. He makes more frequent and ordinary use of the preaching of the word; and therefore there is an ESPECIALLY prefixed to it in the answer.
Q. 27. How do you prove, that the preaching of the word is honoured as the most ordinary means?
A. From express scripture testimony to this purpose, Acts 4:4 - “Many of them which heard the word believed;” chap. 11:20, 21 [Acts 11:20-21] - “And some of them - spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.” [See Acts 2:37, Acts 6:7]
Q. 28. May not people be more edified in reading good sermons at home, than in hearing from the pulpit, such as are not perhaps, so well digested?
A. If they are in health, and not necessarily detained from the public ordinances, they have no ground to expect any real and saving benefit to their souls in the neglect of hearing the word preached: because it pleases “God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe,” 1 Corinthians 1:21; and “faith cometh by HEARING,” Romans 10:17.
Q. 29. What use does the Spirit make of the reading, but especially of the preaching of the word, with reference to sinners in a natural state?
A. He makes use of them as an effectual means of convincing and converting them, 1 Corinthians 14:24; Acts 26:18.
Q. 30. What does the Spirit convince sinners of by the word?
A. Of their sin and misery. 12
12 Part I. On effectual calling.
Q. 31. Is it by the word of the law, or the word of the gospel, that the Spirit convinces of sin?
A. It is ordinarily by the word of the law, Romans 3:20 - “By the LAW is the knowledge of sin.”
Q. 32. What of sin does the Spirit convince sinners by the law?
A. Both of the nature and desert of sin.
Q. 33. In what consists the nature of sin?
A. In the want of conformity to, and transgression of, the law of God. 13
13 Part I. On sin in general.
Q. 34. What is the desert of sin?
A. The wrath and curse of God, both in this life and that which is to come. 14
14 See above, On the desert of sin.
Q. 35. How does the Spirit convince men effectually, by the word, that they are sinners?
A. By convincing them, from it, that they are unbelievers, John 16:8-9 - “He the Spirit will reprove or convince the world of sin, because they believe not on me,” says our Lord.
Q. 36. What influence has a conviction of unbelief, upon convincing a person that he is indeed a sinner?
A. Were a person once convinced, that unbelief is a rejection of the only method of salvation, devised in infinite wisdom, or treating of God’s unspeakable gift offered in the word, with the utmost contempt, he could not but conclude himself, on this account, to be the greatest of sinners, and that he deserved the severest of punishments, Hebrews 10:29.
Q. 37. How does the Spirit make the word an effectual means of converting sinners?
A. By making use of it “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God,” Acts 26:18.
Q. 38. Do all convictions of sin issue in conversion?
A. Far from it: many may be very deeply convinced of sin by the law, and yet never have a thorough change wrought upon their hearts; as in the instances of Cain, Judas, and others.
Q. 39. What is conversion?
A. It is the spiritual motion of the whole man toward God in Christ, as the immediate effect of the real and supernatural change, that is wrought in regeneration, Jeremiah 3:22.
Q. . Is there any difference between conversion and regeneration?
A. They are as inseparably conjoined, as the effect is to its cause. Regeneration, or the formation of the new creature (in which we are wholly passive), is the cause; and conversion, or the motion of the soul to God, is the effect, which infallibly follows, Hosea 6:2.
Q. 41. Cannot man be the author of his own regeneration?
A. No; he can neither prepare himself for it, nor co-operate with God in it.
Q. 42. Why can he not prepare himself for it?
A. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, and remains so until regenerating grace take place in the soul, Romans 8:7-8.
Q. 43. Why cannot man co-operate with God in this work?
A. Because there can be no acting, without a principle of action. Regeneration, being the infusing of spiritual life into the soul, it is impossible the creature can co-operate or concur with God in it, any more than Lazarus in the grave could concur in his own resurrection, till the powerful voice of Christ infused life and strength into him.
Q. 44. What would be the consequence if man could co-operate with God in regeneration?
A. The consequence would be, that God would not be so much the author of grace, as he is of nature; nor have such a revenue of glory from the one, as from the other.
Q. 45. How are regeneration and conversion denominated in scripture, to prove that God alone can be the author of them?
A. They are called a “creation,” Ephesians 2:10, and a “resurrection,” chap. 5:14 [Ephesians 5:14].
Q. 46. Why called a creation?
A. Because there is nothing in the heart of man, out of which the new creature can be formed; “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart” being “only evil continually,” Genesis 6:5.
Q. 47. Why called a resurrection?
A. Because it is God only “who quickeneth the dead, and calleth things which be not, as though they were,” Romans 4:17.
Q. 48. What influence has the word upon the conversion of sinners?
A. It has no physical or natural influence of itself, but only as it is an instituted means, in the hand of the Spirit of God to that end, John 6:63.
Q. 49. What is the efficacy of the word, in the work of conversion, compared to in scripture?
A. It is compared to a fire, to a hammer, Jeremiah 23:29; to rain, Deuteronomy 32:2; and to light, Psalms 119:105.
Q. 50. Why compared to fire?
A. Because as fire purifies the metal, separating the dross; so the word, in the hand of the Spirit, purifies the heart, purging away the dross of sin and corruption that is there, Isaiah 4:4.
Q. 51. Why compared to a hammer?
A. As a hammer “breaketh the rock in pieces,” Jeremiah 23:29, and thus fits it for the building, so the Spirit of God, by the word, breaks the hard heart of man, and fits it for being built on the foundation God has laid in Zion, Proverbs 16:1.
Q. 52. Why compared to rain?
A. Because as the rain falls irresistibly, so there is no withstanding the efficacy of the word in the hand of the Spirit, Isaiah 55:11.
Q. 53. Why compared to light?
A. Because as light discovers things that were indiscernible in the dark; so the Spirit, by the word, discovers the latent wickedness of the heart, 1 Corinthians 14:25, and the matchless glory and excellency of Christ, as IMMANUEL, “God with us,” John 16:14.
Q. 54. What use does the Spirit make of the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, with reference to SAINTS, who are brought into a state of grace?
A. He makes use of it as an effectual means of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith unto salvation,Acts 20:32; Romans 15:4.
Q. 55. Is holiness necessary in order to our justification before God?
A. It is necessary in the justified, but not in order to their justification; because this would found their justification upon works, contrary to Romans 3:20 - “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.” 15
15See Part I. On Sanctification, QUESTION 45.
Q. 56. Is it necessary as the ground of our title to heaven?
A. It is necessary to clear our title; but our title itself can be founded only in our union with Christ, and the imputation of his righteousness, 1 Corinthians 3:22-23 - “All are yours, and ye are Christ’s “compared with Romans 8:30 - “Whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
Q. 57. Why are the saints said to be built up in holiness?
A. Because the work of sanctification, like a building, is gradually carried on towards perfection until death, Proverbs 4:18.
Q. 58. How does the Spirit make the reading and preaching of the word, an effectual means of building up the saints in holiness?
A. By giving them, in the glass of the word, such clear and repeated discoveries of the glory of Christ, as to transform them more and more into the same image with him, 2 Corinthians 3:18.
Q. 59. How does he, by means of these ordinances, build them up in comfort?
A. By conveying with power to their souls, the great and precious promises, which contain all the grounds of real and lasting comfort, Galatians 3:29; Galatians 4:28.
Q. 60. Through what instrument is it, that the Spirit makes these means effectual, for building up the saints in holiness and comfort?
A. It is through faith,1 Thessalonians 2:13.
Q. 61. What instrumentality has faith, in the hand of the Spirit, for building up the saints, in holiness and comfort?
A. It rests upon God’s faithful word for the promotion of both, Psalms 138:8 - “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.”
Q. 62. To what end does the Spirit, by means of the word, build them up in holiness, and comfort through faith?
A. It is unto their complete and eternal salvation,Romans 1:16.
Q. 63. What may we learn from the Spirit’s making the means effectual to salvation?
A. That as no special blessing can be expected from God, in the wilful neglect of the ordinances, Proverbs 28:9; so we may sit all our days under a pure dispensation of the gospel, without reaping any spiritual profit, unless divine supernatural agency concur, 1 Corinthians 3:6.
÷090. Of the manner of reading/hearing the word QUESTION 90. How is the word to be read and heard, that it may become effectual to salvation?
ANSWER:That the word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer; receive it with faith and love; lay it up in our hearts, and practise it in our lives.
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Q. 1 What has God enjoined upon us, in order to our reading and hearing his word in a right manner?
A. That we attend thereunto; that we receive it; and that we lay it up in our hearts, and practise it in our lives.
Q. 2. What is it to attend to the reading and hearing of the word?
A. It is to make the reading and hearing of it the main business of our life; to have it mostly at heart, because the word contains “that good part which shall not be taken away,” Luke 10:42.
Q. 3. How ought we to attend to, or set about the reading and hearing of the word?
A.With diligence, preparation, and prayer.
Q. 4. What do you understand by attending to the word with diligence?
A. A careful observing and embracing every seasonable opportunity, that may offer in providence, for reading and hearing the same, Proverbs 8:34.
Q. 5. What preparation should we make for reading and hearing the word?
A. We should consider, that the word has the authority of God stamped upon it, 2 Timothy 3:16; that it is he himself who speaks to us in it, Hebrews 12:25; that it is his ordinance for our salvation, John 5:39; and will be the savour either of life or death to us, 2 Corinthians 2:16.
Q. 6. Why is prayer requisite for reading and hearing the word in a right manner?
A. Because as it is God alone, and none else, who can dispose our hearts for the right performance of those religious exercises, so he ought always to be addressed and supplicated for that end, Psalms 119:18.
Q. 7. What should we pray for, when setting about the reading and hearing of the word?
A. That it may be “the power of God unto our salvation,” Romans 1:16; or an effectual means in his hand for convincing, converting, and edifying our souls, John 6:63.
Q. 8. What is our immediate duty, when we are actually engaged in reading or hearing of the word?
A. Our immediate duty, in that case, is to receive it.
Q. 9. What is it to receive the word?
A. It is, with all readiness of mind, to take it in, as the dictates of the Holy Ghost to our souls, Acts 17:11.
Q. 10. Why is the right improvement of the word, in time of reading and hearing of it, called a receiving it?
A. Because we can reap no real benefit to our souls, by the offer and exhibition of all the blessings that are brought nigh to us in it, unless we receive them as God’s free gift to us, John 3:27.
Q. 11. How are we to receive the word, and all the good that is in it?
A.With faith and love.
Q. 12. When is the word received with faith, in time of reading and hearing of it?
A. When there is an application of it to the soul in particular, in a suitableness to the state and case of the person, and the nature of the word, whether in a way of promise, Lamentations 3:24, or threatening, Psalms 119:120.
Q. 13. How may a person know if he receives the word with faith?
A. By the quickening, Psalms 119:50, enlightening, ver. 130 [Psalms 119:130], sanctifying, ver. 9 [Psalms 119:9], and strengthening effect of it, Daniel 10:19.
Q. 14. What is the native consequence of receiving the word with faith?
A. A receiving it also with love; for “faith worketh by love,” Galatians 5:6.
Q. 15. How may our receiving the word with love be discerned?
A. When our affections are drawn out to the blessed truths and objects revealed in it; so as to esteem them more than “thousands of gold and silver,” Psalms 119:72, or even than our “necessary food,” Job 23:12.
Q. 16. What improvement ought we to make of the word after reading or hearing of it?
A. We should lay it up in our hearts, and practise it in our lives.
Q. 17. What do you understand by the heart, where the word should be laid up?
A. The soul, with all its faculties, Proverbs 23:26; the understanding, to know the word; the will to comply with it; the affections to love it; and the memory to retain it.
Q. 18. What is implied in laying up the word in our hearts?
A. That we account it the most valuable treasure, Psalms 119:127; that we keep it with the utmost care, ver. 11; and that we resolve to use it in all the future exigencies 1 of our souls, ver. 24.
1 ex•i•gen•cies n. pl. [L. exigens from exigo, to exact; ex and ago, to drive.] 1. Demand; urgency; urgent need or want. We speak of the exigence of the case; the exigence of the times, or of business. 2. Pressing necessity; distress; any case which demands immediate action, supply or remedy. A wise man adapts his measures to his exigencies. In the present exigency, no time is to be lost. [ ed WD]
Q. 19. How may we know if the word is really laid up in our hearts?
A. By our delighting to meditate upon it, Psalms 119:97; by the Spirit’s bringing it to our remembrance, John 14:26; and by our habitual desire of farther conformity and subjection unto it, Psalms 119:5.
Q. 20. For what end should we lay up the word in our hearts?
A. That we may practise it in our lives.
Q. 21. What is it to practise the word in our lives?
A. It is to have a conversation becoming the gospel, Php 1:27; or to have both the outward and inward man regulated according to the unerring rule of the word, Psalms 119:105.
Q. 22. What does the right manner of reading and hearing of the word teach us?
A. That the bare outward performance of duty will not be acceptable to God, unless the heart is engaged in it, Isaiah 29:13.
÷091. Of the sacraments as means of salvation QUESTION 91. How do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation?
ANSWER:The sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not from any virtue in them, or in him that doth administer them; but only by the blessing of Christ, and the working of his Spirit in them that by faith receive them.
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Q. 1. What is meant by effectual means of salvation?
A. Such means as, by the blessing of God, do fully attain the end for which they are appointed, 1 Thessalonians 2:13.
Q. 2. What is the meaning of these words in the answer not from any virtue in them?
A. The meaning is, that the sacraments have not any virtue or efficacy in themselves to confer salvation; being only among the outward and ordinary means of grace, which can have no more efficacy of themselves to confer any saving benefit than the rainbow of itself has to prevent a deluge.
Q. 3. Who are they who maintain that the sacraments have a virtue or power in themselves to confer grace?
A. The Papists, who affirm that the sacraments of the New Testament are the true, proper, and immediate causes of grace; and that the efficacy of them flows from the sacramental action of receiving the external elements.
Q. 4. How do you prove that the sacraments have not any innate or intrinsic virtue in themselves to confer grace or salvation?
A. From this one argument, that if the sacraments had any such virtue, then grace, or salvation, would be infallibly connected with the external use of them: but it is obvious from scripture, that after Simon Magus was baptised, he remained still “in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity,” Acts 8:13, Acts 8:23.
Q. 5. Why is it said in the answer, that the sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not from any virtue in him that doth administer them?
A. It is so said in opposition to the Papists, who maintain, that the efficacy of the sacraments depends upon the intention of the priest; so that any benefit by them, is conferred, or withheld, according to them, just as the secret will of the administrator would have it.
Q. 6. How is this error refuted?
A. If the efficacy of the sacraments depended upon the intention of the administrator, then there could be no certainty about the efficacy of them at all; because no mortal can be absolutely certain about the intention of another; the secrets of the heart being known to God only, Acts 1:24.
Q. 7. From whence, then, have the sacraments their efficacy and virtue?
A.Only from the blessing of Christ, and the working of his Spirit.
Q. 8. What do you understand by the blessing of Christ?
A. That divine power and life, with which he is pleased to accompany the sacraments and other ordinances; and without which they would be utterly ineffectual, Romans 1:16.
Q. 9. What is the working of his Spirit, which is necessary to make the sacraments effectual means of salvation?
A. Not only the planting of grace in the soul at first, but the drawing of it out into suitable exercise on all sacramental occasions, Zechariah 4:6.
Q. 10. Why is the working of the Spirit necessary to the efficacy of the sacraments?
A. Because we are utterly impotent of ourselves for any thing that is spiritually good, John 15:5.
Q. 11. In whom are the sacraments (by the blessing of Christ, and the working of his Spirit,) effectual means of salvation?
A.In them that by faith receive them.
Q. 12 What is it to receive the sacraments by faith?
A. It is to apply Christ, and the benefits of his purchase, as represented, and exhibited to us in them, Luke 22:19-20.
Q. 13. What may we learn from the necessity of Christ’s blessing, and of the Spirit’s working, in order to the efficacy of the sacraments?
A. It teaches us, that our whole dependence for the blessing, whether upon ourselves, when we partake of the sacrament of the supper, or upon our children, when we are sponsors for them in baptism, should be only on Christ alone, and the saving influences and operations of his Spirit, held forth in the promise, to accompany his own institutions; and therefore our partaking of these solemn ordinances, dispensed by some ministers, to the slighting of them as dispensed by others, equally sound and faithful, though perhaps in our esteem somewhat inferior in outward gifts, says upon the matter, that the efficacy of the sacraments depends, somehow, upon the administrator, and not upon the blessing of Christ alone: quite contrary to the mind of the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 3:7 - “So, then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”
÷092. Of the nature of sacraments QUESTION 92. What is a sacrament?
ANSWER:A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ, wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.
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Q. 1. From whence is the word sacrament derived?
A. It is of Latin origin, being anciently used, by the Romans, to signify their military oath; or that oath which their soldiers took to be true and faithful to their prince, and that they would not desert his standard.
Q. 2. How is it used by the church?
A. Not only to signify something that is sacred, but likewise a solemn engagement to be the Lord’s.
Q. 3. What is the general nature of a sacrament?
A. It is a holy ordinance, instituted by Christ.
Q. 4. Why is a sacrament called a holy ordinance?
A. Because it is appointed not only for holy ends and uses, but likewise for persons federally holy.
Q. 5. Is it necessary that a sacrament be instituted by Christ?
A. Yes; it is essentially necessary that it have his express and immediate warrant and institution, otherwise it does not deserve the name, 1 Corinthians 11:23 - “For I have RECEIVED of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you,” &C.
Q. 6. Why must sacraments be expressly or immediately instituted by Christ?
A. Because he alone is the head of the church; and has the sole power and authority to institute sacraments and other ordinances in it, Ephesians 1:22, Ephesians 1:23.
Q. 7. “What are the parts of a sacrament?”
A. “Two; the one, an outward and sensible sign, used according to Christ’s own appointment; the other, an inward and spiritual grace, thereby signified, Matthew 3:11; 1 Peter 3:21.” 1
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 163.
Q. 8. What are the outward signs in sacraments?
A. They are the sacramental elements, and the sacramental actions; but chiefly the elements, because it is about these that the sacramental actions are exercised.
Q. 9. Why called sensible signs?
A. Because they are obvious to the outward senses of seeing, tasting, feeling, &c.
Q. 10. What kind of signs are sensible signs in a sacrament?
A. They are not natural, nor merely speculative; but voluntary and practical signs.
Q. 11. Why are they not natural signs?
A. Because natural signs always signify the self-same thing, as smoke is always a sign of fire, and the morning light a sign of the approaching sun; whereas the signs in a sacrament never signify what they represent in that holy ordinance, but when sacramentally used.
Q. 12. Why are they practical, and not merely speculative signs?
A. Because they are designed not only to represent the spiritual grace signified by them; but likewise to seal and apply the same.
Q. 13. Why are the signs in a sacrament called voluntary signs?
A. Because they depend entirely upon the divine institution to make them signs; yet so as there is some analogy or resemblance between the sign and the thing signified.
Q. 14. When are sacramental signs used according to Christ’s own appointment?
A. When they are dispensed with the words of institution annexed to them, Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25.
Q. 15. What do the words of institution imply or contain in them?
A. They contain, “together with a precept authorising the use” of them, “a promise of benefit to the worthy receivers, Matthew 28:20.” 2
2 Confession of Faith, chapter 27 § 3.
Q. 16. What is the inward and spiritual grace signified by the sensible signs in a sacrament?
A.Christ and the benefits of the new covenant.
Q. 17. Why is the covenant of grace called the new covenant?
A. Because it is always to remain in its prime and vigour, without the least change or alteration; for “that which decayeth and waxeth old, is ready to vanish away,” Hebrews 8:13.
Q. 18. What are the benefits of the new covenant?
A. They are all the blessings contained in the promises of it, which may be summed up in grace here, and glory hereafter, Psalms 84:11.
Q. 19. Are Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, separable from one another?
A. No; for, “he that hath the Son, hath life,” 1 John 5:12; whoever has Christ, has all things along with him; “all are yours, and ye are Christ’s,” 1 Corinthians 3:22-23.
Q. 20. What is the intention and design of sensible signs in a sacrament, with reference to Christ and the benefits of the new covenant?
A. The design of them is, that Christ and his benefits may be represented, sealed, and applied by them.
Q. 21. Why are Christ and his benefits said to be represented by the signs in a sacrament?
A. Because as sacramental signs are of divine institution, so there is a resemblance or similitude between the signs and the things signified.
Q. 22. Why are Christ and his benefits said to be sealed by these signs?
A. Because, by the sacramental signs, Christ and his benefits are confirmed to the believer, even as a seal is a confirmation of a bond or deed, Romans 4:11.
Q. 23. Why said to be applied?
A. Because, by the right and lawful use of the sacramental signs, Christ and his benefits are really communicated, conveyed, and made over to the worthy receiver, 1 Corinthians 11:24 - “Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you.”
Q. 24. To whom do the sacramental signs represent, seal, and apply Christ and his benefits?
A. Not to all who use them, but to believers only.
Q. 25. Why to believers only?
A. Because nothing but true faith can discern, and apply the spiritual grace, which is represented and exhibited by sensible signs in the sacrament, Galatians 3:26-27.
Q. 26. In what consists the FORM of a sacrament?
A. In “a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified.” 3
3 Confession of Faith, chapter 27 § 2.
Q. 27. What is the consequence of this sacramental union between the sign and the thing signified?
A. The consequence is, “that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.” 4 Thus Christ is called our passover, 1 Corinthians 5:7; and the bread in the supper is called Christ’s body - “This is my body,” 1 Corinthians 11:24.
4 Ibid.
Q. 28. When are the signs and the things signified, united in those who partake of the sacraments?
A. When, together with the signs, (in virtue of Christ’s institution) the blessings signified are received by faith, Galatians 3:27.
Q. 29. How may this be illustrated by an example?
A. A little earth and stone put into a man’s hand at random, signify nothing; but when this is done in a regular manner, according to the forms of law, to give a proprietor possession of his lands, from whence these symbols were taken, it is of great importance to corroborate his right: so bread and wine in the sacrament, are of little value in themselves abstractly considered; yet when received in faith, as the instituted memorials of the death of Christ, by which his testament was ratified and sealed, the believer’s right to all the blessings of his purchase is by it most comfortably confirmed, 1 Corinthians 11:24 - “This is my body, which is broken FOR YOU.”
Q. 30. Are the sacraments necessary for the confirmation of the word?
A. No; the word being of divine and infallible authority, needs no confirmation without itself: but they are necessary on OUR account, for helping our infirmity, and confirming and strengthening our faith, Romans 4:11.
Q. 31. What is the difference between the word and the sacraments?
A. The word may be profitable to the adult, without the sacraments; but the sacraments cannot profit them without the word, Galatians 5:6.
Q. 32. What is the END of the sacraments?
A. It is “to represent Christ and his benefits; and to confirm our interest in him: as also to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the church, and the rest of the world; and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according to his word.” 5
5 Ibid., 27 § 1.
Q. 33. Who are they that have a right to the sacraments?
A. They “that are within the covenant of grace, Romans 15:8.” 6
6 Larger Catechism, Quest. 162.
Q. 34. Who are to be reckoned within the covenant of grace, in the sight of men?
A. They who “profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him, Acts 2:38;” and “infants descending from parents, either both or but one of them professing faith in Christ, and obedience to him, are, in that respect, within the covenant, Romans 11:16.” 7
7 Ibid., QUESTION 166.
Q. 35. What may we learn from the nature of the sacraments in general?
A. The amazing love of the Lord Jesus, in giving us not only the word as the instrument in the hand of the Spirit, for besetting faith, and all other graces, Ephesians 1:13; but likewise the sacraments for strengthening and increasing the same, as well as for cherishing our love and communion with one another, 1 Corinthians 12:13.
÷093. Of the number of the sacraments QUESTION 93. What are the sacraments of the New Testament?
ANSWER:The sacraments of the New Testament are, baptism and the Lord’s supper.
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Q. 1. What were the ordinary sacraments under the Old Testament?
A. They were two: CIRCUMCISION and the PASSOVER.
Q. 2. When was circumcision first instituted?
A. In the ninety-ninth year of Abraham’s age, Genesis 17:24; at which time, both he, “and all the men of his house, were circumcised,” verse 26, 27.
Q. 3. At what age were the male children afterwards to be circumcised?
A. Precisely on the eighth day after they were born, Genesis 17:12.
Q. 4. What was the spiritual meaning of this sacramental ceremony?
A. It signified the impurity and corruption of nature, Jeremiah 4:4; the necessity of regeneration, or being cut off from the first Adam, as a federal head, Romans 2:28-29; and of being implanted in Christ, in order to partake of the benefits of his mediation, chap. 8:1 [Romans 8:1]; together with a solemn virtual engagement to be the Lord’s, Genesis 17:11.
Q. 5. What was the other sacrament of the Old Testament?
A. The passover.
Q. 6. When was it instituted?
A. At the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, Exo chapter 12.
Q. 7. Why called the PASSOVER?
A. Because the destroying angel passed over the houses of the Israelites in the night when he smote the first-born with death, in every house or family of the Egyptians, Exodus 12:27.
Q. 8. On what account did the angel pass over the houses of the Israelites?
A. Because, according to the express command of God, the blood of the passover-lamb was stricken upon the lintels and side posts of their doors, as a signal to the destroying angel to pass over them, Exodus 12:22-23.
Q. 9. What was meant by striking the blood upon their lintels and door posts?
A. It signified, that it is only in virtue of the blood or satisfaction of Christ, that the curse and sentence of the law (which is the Wrath of God) is not executed upon the sinner, Romans 5:9.
Q. 10. What were the significant ceremonies of divine institution that were to be observed in this sacrament?
A. The passover lamb was to be without blemish, Exodus 12:5; it was to be slain, verse 6 [Exodus 12:6]; it was to be roasted with fire, verse 9 [Exodus 12:9]; and it was to be eaten, and that wholly and entirely, verse 10 [Exodus 12:10].
Q. 11. Why was it necessary that the passover-lamb should be without blemish?
A. To signify, that though our sins were imputed to Christ, yet he was in himself “holy, harmless, undefiled,” Hebrews 7:26; and therefore called “a Lamb without blemish and without spot,” 1 Peter 1:19.
Q. 12. Why must the lamb be slain, or killed by blood shedding?
A. To denote, that the death of Christ was necessary, for satisfying justice, and reconciling us to God, Luke 24:26 - “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?”
Q. 13. Why was it to be roasted with fire?
A. To intimate, that Christ’s sufferings, as our Surety, were exquisitely and inconceivably great, without the least abatement of any of that wrath which was due to our sins, Isaiah 53:10 - “It pleased the Lord to bruise him;” Romans 8:32 - “God spared not his own Son.”
Q. 14. Why was it to be eaten wholly and entirely, and none of it to be left?
A. To signify, that Christ was to be wholly applied, in a way of believing, as being, “of God, made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,” 1 Corinthians 1:30.
Q. 15. Why were all the families of Israel to eat the passover, at one and the same time? Exodus 12:8.
A. To signify that there is enough in Christ to satisfy the need of all his people at once; “for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” Colossians 2:9.
Q. 16. Why was it to be eaten the very same evening in which it was slain? ver. 6, 8 [Exodus 12:6, Exodus 12:8].
A. To signify, that Christ ought to be applied and appropriated by faith speedily, without delay: “Behold, NOW is the accepted time,” 2 Corinthians 6:2.
Q. 17. “How many sacraments hath Christ instituted in his church under the New Testament?
A. “Under the New Testament, Christ hath instituted in his church only two sacraments; baptism and the Lord’s supper.” 1
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 164.
Q. 18. How do these two sacraments come in the place of those under the Old Testament?
A. Baptism comes in the place of circumcision; and the Lord’s supper in the place of the passover.
Q. 19. Were the sacraments of the Old Testament no more than shadows of that grace, which is actually conferred by the sacraments under the New, as the Papists would have it?
A. By no means; for “the sacraments of the Old Testament, in regard of the spiritual things thereby signified and exhibited, were, for substance, the same with those of the New, 1 Corinthians 10:1-5.” 2
2 Confession of Faith, chapter 26.
Q. 20. In what do they differ?
A. The sacraments of the Old Testament represented Christ as yet to come; whereas those of the New hold him forth as already come, and as having finished the work of our redemption, as to the purchase of it, Ephesians 5:2.
Q. 21. Is there any difference between them as to clearness and perspicuity?
A. The words annexed to the outward signs in the sacraments of the New Testament, make the things signified appear vastly more plain and perspicuous, than in the sacraments of the Old.
Q. 22. What other sacraments do the Papists add to baptism and the Lord’s supper?
A. They boldly venture to add other five; namely, confirmation, penance, orders, marriage, and extreme unction.
Q. 23. How may it appear, in a word, that all these are false and spurious sacraments?
A. In regard that none of them have sacramental signs of divine institution, signifying any inward and spiritual grace; and, consequently, none of them can be appointed seals of God’s covenant.
Q. 24. Who may lawfully dispense the sacraments of the New Testament?
A. “Neither of them may be dispensed by any, but a minister of the word, lawfully ordained, 1 Corinthians 4:1” 3
3 Ibid., 27 § 5.
÷094. Of the nature of baptism QUESTION 94. What is baptism?
ANSWER:Baptism is a sacrament, wherein the washing with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace and our engagement to be the Lord’s.
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Q. 1. What is the proper signification of the word baptism?
A. It is of Greek origin, and properly signifies a washing, sprinkling, or pouring out, in order to cleansing, Mark 1:8 - “I indeed baptise you with water, but he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost;” that is, he shall pour his Spirit upon you, according to the promise, Isaiah 44:3 - “I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”
Q. 2. Who is the author of baptism?
A. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Mediator and Head of the church.
Q. 3. When did he institute and appoint it, as a sacrament of the New Testament?
A. A little before his ascension into heaven, when he gave his apostles that solemn charge, Matthew 28:19 - “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
Q. 4. Was not baptism used before that time?
A. It was used long before by the Jews, in receiving their proselytes, but not by divine institution.
Q. 5. When came baptism to have a divine warrant and restitution?.
A. When God sent Joh the Baptist to baptise with water, John 1:33.
Q. 6. Was there any difference between the baptism of John, and the baptism dispensed by the apostles after Christ’s ascension?
A. There was no essential difference between them; for both of them had the same visible sign, and the same blessings signified by it. The difference was only circumstantial, in respect of time, and the objects of administration.
Q. 7. How did they differ in respect of time?
A. The baptism of Joh was dispensed before Christ had finished the work which his Father gave him to do; but the baptism of the apostles was mostly after Christ had suffered, and had entered into his glory.
Q. 8. How did they differ as to the objects of administration?
A. The baptism of Joh was confined to Judea only; but the baptism of the apostles extended to all nations, to whom the gospel was preached, Matthew 28:19.
Q. 9. Did not Paul rebaptise some disciples at Ephesus who had been before baptised by John?
A. No; he only declares, that they who had heard Joh preach the doctrine of repentance and faith in Christ, were by Joh baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, and so needed not to be rebaptised by any other.
Q. 10. Why did Christ, who had no need of it, condescend to be baptised by John?
A. He gives the reason himself; “It becometh us,” says he, “to fulfil all righteousness,” Matthew 3:15.
Q. 11. Did Christ himself baptise any?
A. No; “Jesus himself baptised not, but his disciples,” John 4:2.
Q. 12. Why did not Christ baptise any himself?
A. That he might commend the ministry of men of like passions with ourselves; and to show that the efficacy of the ordinance did not depend upon the administrator, but upon the divine blessing; even as the words spoken by him on earth, when they were efficacious, were so, not merely as spoken or uttered from his lips, but as accompanied with his own almighty power, Luke 5:17.
Q. 13. What is the visible sign, or outward element in baptism?
A. Only water, pure and unmixed, Acts 10:47.
Q. 14. How is water to be applied to the body in baptism?
A. “Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary, but baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person.”1 1 Confession of Faith, chapter 28 § 3.
Q. 15. How does it appear from scripture, that baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person?
A. From repeated instances of the administration of baptism by the apostles in this manner; particularly when three thousand were baptised by them, Acts 2:41, water must have been sprinkled upon them, as the apostles could not have time, in a part only of one day, to take them one by one, and plunge them into it. Nor is it probable that the jailer, Acts 16:33, had such store of water in the night season, as was sufficient for himself and whole family to be dipped into; or that they went abroad in quest of some river for that purpose; it is much more reasonable to infer, that in both the above instances, they were baptised by sprinkling. The same may be said of Paul’s baptism, Acts 9:18; and of the baptism of Cornelius and his friends, Acts 10:47-48.
Q. 16. Why is it most expedient to sprinkle water upon the face in baptism?
A. Because the face is the principal part of the body, and the whole person is represented by it, Exodus 10:29.
Q. 17. What is signified by water in baptism?
A. The cleansing virtue of the blood of Christ, Revelation 1:5, and Spirit of Christ, Titus 3:5.
Q. 18. What is the difference between cleansing by the blood, and cleansing by the Spirit of Christ?
A. The blood of Christ cleanseth meritoriously, 1 John 1:7; the Spirit of Christ efficaciously, Ezekiel 36:27. By the former, the guilt of sin is, at once, taken away in justification; by the latter, the blot and stain of it is gradually carried off in sanctification.
Q. 19. What is signified by sprinkling of water upon the body?
A. The application of the blood of Christ to the soul, by the Spirit of God, Titus 3:5-6.
Q. 20. What is the analogy, or resemblance, between the sign in baptism, and the thing signified?
A. Water makes clean, what before was foul; so the blood and Spirit of Christ purify from the guilt and pollution of sin, Zechariah 13:1water is open and free to all; so Christ and his benefits are freely offered to all the hearers of the gospel, Revelation 22:17.
Q. 21. In whose name are we baptised?
A.In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,Matthew 28:19.
Q. 22. What is it to be baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost?
A. It is not only to be baptised by the will, command, and authority of the Three-one God; but likewise to be, by baptism, solemnly dedicated and devoted to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as our God and portion for ever, Isaiah 44:5.
Q. 23. What is it to be baptised by the command and authority of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?
A. It intimates that the Trinity of persons do not only authorise and appoint baptism to be a sacrament of the New Testament; but that they become jointly engaged to make good all the blessings of the covenant, signified and sealed by that ordinance, Jeremiah 31:33 - “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Q. 24. What is included in our being by baptism, solemnly dedicated and devoted to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as our God and portion for ever?
A. It includes a solemn profession, that these three adorable persons have the sole right to all our religious worship, Psalms 5:7; that all our hope of salvation is from them, Psalms 62:1, Psalms 62:5, and that we should be wholly and for ever the Lord’s, Psalms 48:14.
Q. 25. Is it necessary that baptism be dispensed in these express words, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost?”
A. Yes; because ministers are peremptorily commanded by Christ, to baptise in this very form, Matthew 28:19 - “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations; baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
Q. 26. Did not the apostles baptise in another form, when they baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus? Acts 8:16.
A. It is not to be supposed, that the apostles would alter the form, so expressly delivered to them by their glorious Master; and therefore, when any are said to be baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, it is not designed by this to notify to us in what form of words they were baptised; but only that they were baptised by the authority of Christ, who appointed this sacrament; and to faith in him, and communion with him.
Q. 27. How ought the mentioning of the holy Trinity to be introduced in baptism?
A. It is proper that it be introduced by words in the first person, expressing the present act of administration; and likewise setting forth the authority that a minister, lawfully called, has to dispense this sacrament; such as, “I baptise thee, in the name,” &c. 2
2 See the Directory for Public Worship, on the head of Baptism.
Q. 28. What are the ends and uses of baptism?
A. They are to signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace.
Q. 29. What is it to signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ?
A. It is to signify and seal our union with him, and consequently the imputation of his righteousness to us, Galatians 3:27 - “As many of you as have been baptised into Christ, have put on Christ.”
Q. 30. What are the benefits of the covenant of grace, the partaking of which is signified and sealed in baptism?
A. They are “remission of sins by the blood of Christ; regeneration by his Spirit, adoption, and resurrection unto everlasting life.” 3
3 Larger Catechism, Quest. 165. See all these explained, Part 1, On justification, sanctification, adoption, and resurrection.
Q. 31. What is the consequence of its being signified and sealed to us in baptism, that we partake of such great and glorious benefits?
A. The consequence is, that on this account, we enter into an open and professed engagement to be - the Lord’s.” 4
4 Larger Catechism, Quest. 165.
Q. 32. What is included in our engagement to be the Lord’s?
A. That we shall be his “wholly and only.”
Q. 33. What is it to be his wholly? 5
5 Ibid.
A. It is to be his, in all that we are, soul, spirit, and body, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; and in all that we have, whether gifts, graces, or worldly comforts, 1 Chronicles 29:14.
Q. 34. What is it to be the Lord’s only?
A. It is to be his in opposition to all his rivals and competitors, every one of whom we profess to renounce in baptism, Hosea 14:8.
Q. 35. Who are these rivals and competitors with God, whom we profess to renounce in baptism?
A. They are sin, Romans 6:6; Satan, Acts 26:18, and the world, John 17:14.
Q. 36. Does baptism make or constitute persons church members?
A. No; they are supposed to be church-members before they are baptised, and if they are children of professing parents, they are born members of the visible church, 1 Corinthians 7:14.
Q. 37. Why must they be church-members before they are baptised?
A. Because the seals of the covenant can never be applied to any, but such as are supposed to be in the covenant; nor can the privileges of the church be confirmed to any that are without the church.
Q. 38. Why then do our Confession, 6 and Larger Catechism, 7 say that “the parties baptised are solemnly admitted into the visible church?”
A. Because there is a vast difference between making a person a church-member, who was none before; and the solemnity of the admission of one, who is already a member. All that our Confession and Catechism affirm, is, that, by baptism, we are SOLEMNLY admitted into the visible church; that is, by baptism we are publicly declared to be church-members before, and thus have our membership solemnly sealed to us: “For by one Spirit we are all baptised into one body,” 1 Corinthians 12:13.
6 Confession of Faith, Chapter 28 § 3.
7 Larger Catechism, Quest. 165.
Q. 39. Is it warrantable to call the baptising of any, the Christening of them?
A. No; because this is an encouraging of the superstitious Popish notion, that baptism makes even those who are born within the visible church, to become Christians; and that by the want of it, they remain infidels, and are left to uncovenanted mercy.
Q. . What are the extremes about the necessity of baptism?
A. The Socinians and Quakers deny that it is necessary at all; on the other hand, the Papists, and some others, maintain that it is so absolutely necessary, that no salvation can be expected without it.
Q. 41. What is the doctrine of our Confession of Faith, on this head?
A. That “although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it, as that no person can be regenerated and saved without it; or that all who are baptised are undoubtedly regenerated.” 8
8 Confession of Faith, chapter 28 § 5
Q. 42. In what consists the greatness of the sin of contemning and slighting this ordinance?
A. It consists in despising an express and positive institution of Christ, appointed to be administered in his church to the end of the world, Matthew 28:19-20; and in slighting all the great and glorious benefits and privileges signified and sealed by it, Luke 7:30.
Q. 43. How does it appear that grace and salvation are not inseparably annexed to baptism?
A. From the instance of Abraham, who had the righteousness of faith before he was circumcised, Romans 4:11; of Cornelius, who feared God, and was accepted of him, before he was baptised, Acts 10:2, Acts 10:4; and from the instance of the thief on the cross, who was saved without being baptised at all, Luke 23:43.
Q. 44. How does the scripture evince, that all who are baptised are not regenerated and saved?
A. From the instance of Simon Magus, who was baptised, and yet, after baptism, remained “in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity,” 9Acts 8:13, Acts 8:23.
9 Confession of Faith, chapter 28 § 5.
Q. 45. Does baptism give a right to covenant-blessings; or, is it only a declarative sign and seal of them?
A. It is only a declarative sign and seal of them, as circumcision was, Romans 4:11.
Q. 46. What, then, gives a right?
A. The promise of the covenant, which is endorsed to the children, as well as to the parents, Acts 2:39 - “The promise is unto you, and to your CHILDREN.”
Q. 47. Is baptism designed to make the covenant more sure, or our faith stronger?
A. It is designed only to make our faith stronger; for the sureness of the covenant flows from the faithfulness of God, which is inviolable and unchangeable, Psalms 89:33, Psalms 89:34; Isaiah 54:10.
Q. 48. In what consists the efficacy of baptism?
A. It consists in sealing and ratifying the right to covenant blessings, which persons have from the promise, so infallibly, that they shall certainly be put in possession of them, Ephesians 5:25-26. For, according to the doctrine of our Confession, “the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred, by the Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age, or infants,) as that grace belongeth unto, according to the counsel of God’s own will, in his appointed time.” 10
10 Confession of Faith, chapter 28 § 5.
Q. 49. Is baptism efficacious at the time of its administration?
A. Not always: “the efficacy of baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered,” 11 but may take place afterwards, as God in his sovereignty has fixed it; “for the wind bloweth where it listeth,” &c., John 3:8.
11 Confession of Faith, chapter 28 § 5.
Q. 50. What may we learn from the nature of baptism?
A. The infinite goodness of God, in appointing an initiating ordinance, irreversibly sealing all the blessings of the covenant to the elect seed, Genesis 17:7.
÷095. Of the subjects of baptism QUESTION 95. To whom is baptism to be administered?
ANSWER:Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him: but the infants of such as are members of the visible church are to be baptised.
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Q. 1. Who may administer the sacrament of baptism?
A. Neither of the two sacraments “may be dispensed by any, but by a minister of the word, lawfully ordained. 1
1 Confession of Faith, chapter 27 § 4.
Q. 2. How do you prove, that ordination by presbyters is lawful and valid, without a diocesan bishop?
A. From express scripture testimony, asserting the validity of ordination to the ministry, by “the laying on of the hands of the PRESBYTERY,” 1 Timothy 4:14.
Q. 3. Why should ministers lawfully ordained, and no other persons whatsoever, dispense the sacraments of the New Testament?
A. Because they only are the “stewards of the mysteries of God,” 1 Corinthians 4:1; and have the sole commission and authority from Christ to preach and baptise, Matthew 28:19 - “Go ye, therefore, and TEACH all nations, BAPTISING them,” &c.
Q. 4. Is public prayer requisite before the administration of baptism?
A. It is evident, that our Lord, at the first institution of the supper, and his apostles, afterwards, according to his example, prayed for the divine blessing to attend the dispensation of that solemn ordinance, 1 Corinthians 11:24; and therefore, by parity of reasoning, ministers ought to pray, and the people to join in it, for the same blessing upon the administration of the sacrament of baptism.
Q. 5. Ought not teaching, or preaching of the word, to go before baptism?
A. Yes; because our Lord has joined them together, Matthew 28:19 - “Go ye, therefore, and TEACH all nations, BAPTISING them,” &c. And accordingly it was the uniform practice of the apostles to preach when they baptised, Acts 2:38-41; Acts 8:35, Acts 8:38, and Acts 16:32-33.
Q. 6. Is naming of children necessary at baptism?
A. No; baptism dispensed by sprinkling of water, together with the words of institution, is every way valid and complete, though the person baptised is not named at all.
Q. 7. But was not the naming of children, at circumcision, an ancient practice among the Jews? Luke 1:59.
A. It was so; and the names of children may be published at baptism still, provided it is not looked upon as essential to that solemn ordinance; for it is the parent, and not the minister, who gives the name.
Q. 8. May baptism be administered in private?
A. It is more agreeable to the nature of this ordinance, when the Lord gives his people peace and opportunity for their public assemblies, that it be administered wherever the congregation is orderly called together, to wait on the dispensing of the word, Acts 2:41. 2 2See Act X. Assembly, 1690.
Q. 9. What if the child should be removed by death, before such a regular opportunity can be had?
A. Then the parents may comfort themselves in this, that they were neither guilty of an unnecessary delay, nor of contemning the ordinance; and that, in these circumstances, the want of it cannot harm the child, 2 Samuel 12:18, 2 Samuel 12:23.
Q. 10. With what frame and disposition of mind ought this sacrament to be dispensed and witnessed?
A. With a firm persuasion that it is an ordinance of God; with a filial and reverential fear of him on our spirits; and with gratitude and thankfulness for the inestimable benefits that are signified and sealed in it.
Q. 11. How often is baptism to be administered to any person?
A. But once only, Acts 19:4-5.
Q. 12. Why but once only?
A. Because when our ingrafting into Christ (which is the comprehensive benefit signified and sealed in baptism) once takes place, it is never repeated, but remains firm and inviolable for ever, John 17:23.
Q. 13. To whom is baptism not to be administered?
A.Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church.
Q. 14. Whom do you understand by those that are out of the visible church?
A. All infidels, or such as are Jews, or Heathens, and their children.
Q. 15. Why may not these be baptised?
A. Because being strangers from the covenant of promise, they can have no right to the seals of it, Ephesians 2:12.
Q. 16. May infidels in no event be baptised?
A. Yes, they may, so soon as they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him.
Q. 17. What is it to profess faith in Christ?
A. It is to profess a belief of the whole doctrines of the Christian religion, Acts 8:37.
Q. 18. What is it to profess obedience to him?
A. It is to yield an external subjection to all the ordinances and institutions of Christ, Acts 2:46.
Q. 19. Whom does such a profession respect?
A. It respects only the adult, or such as are grown up to ripeness of age.
Q. 20. Have not INFANTS (who can make no such profession) a right to baptism?
A. Yes; the infants of such as are members of the visible church are to be baptised.
Q. 21. Who are the members of the visible church?
A. They “are all such as profess the true religion, and their children.” 3
3 Larger Catechism, Quest. 62.
Q. 22. What are we to understand by the true religion?
A. We are to understand by it the whole of those doctrines deduced from the holy scriptures, which are contained in our Confession of Faith, and Catechisms, as agreeing, in the main, with the Confessions of other reformed churches, 2 Timothy 1:13 - “Hold fast the form of sound words.”
Q. 23. What is it to profess the true religion?
A. It is openly to acknowledge, on all proper occasions, a steadfast adherence to the whole of divine truth; without espousing or countenancing any opposite error, Psalms 119:105. Romans 10:10.
Q. 24. Is a bare profession of the true religion sufficient?
A. No; for “faith without works is dead.” James 2:26.
Q. 25. Upon what ground have the infants of such as are members of the visible church a right to baptism?
A. Upon the ground of the grace and goodness of God in the promise, including them in the same covenant with their parents; as in the promise made to Abraham, Genesis 17:7 - “I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee - to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”
Q. 26. But what if this promise of including the seed in the same covenant with the parents have a respect only to the natural offspring of Abraham, and to none else?
A. The apostle Peter plainly affirms, that it is a promise of the covenant of grace, extending to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews; and, at the same time, that it is the foundation of church-membership, and consequently, of baptism, when he says, Acts 2:38-39, “Repent, and be baptised, every one of you; - for the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
Q. 27. How does it appear from the text, that the promise of assuming the children into the same covenant with their parents, extends to the Gentile nations?
A. Because the apostle says, that the promise is unto “all that are AFAR OFF, even as many as the Lord our God shall call;” namely, by the external call or the word, which is appointed to be published “to every creature,” Mark 16:15.
Q. 28. How does it appear, that this promise is the foundation of church-membership, and consequently of baptism?
A. It appears from this, that the apostle enforces his exhortation to repent, and be baptised, upon the adult persons to whom he is speaking, from this powerful and encouraging motive, that then their children should have a right and title to the privileges of the same covenant of promise, and the seal of which they themselves were to receive in their baptism; “Repent,” says he, “and be baptised; for the promise is unto you and to your children.”
Q. 29. To what promise does the apostle here point?
A. He points at the promise made to Abraham, Genesis 17:7 - “I will be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”
Q. 30. What seal was annexed to this promise, or promulgation of the covenant of grace, made to Abraham?
A. The seal of circumcision, ver. 10 [Genesis 17:10] - “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you; - Every man-child among you shall be circumcised.” And ver. 12 [Genesis 17:12] - “He that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you.”
Q. 31. What connexion is there between circumcising the seed of Abraham on the eighth day, under the Old Testament, and baptising the children of professing parents under the New?
A. The connexion is, that though circumcision and baptism be different signs, yet they are both of them seals of the same covenant of grace; and since the infant-seed of Abraham received the seal of circumcision under the Old Testament, by parity of reason, the infant children of professing parents should receive the seal of baptism under the New; especially as baptism is now come in the room of circumcision.
Q. 32. How do you prove, from scripture, that baptism is come in the room of circumcision?
A. From Colossians 2:10-12 - “Ye are complete in him - in whom, also, ye are circumcised with the circumcision made WITHOUT hands - buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him.”
Q. 33. How does it appear, from this text, that baptism is now come in the room of circumcision?
A. From the plain and obvious scope of it, which is to show, that there is no need now of that circumcision which was outward in the flesh, as we have all the blessed fruits and effects of Christ’s death and resurrection more clearly, and, at the same time, more extensively, represented and sealed in baptism; which is dispensed equally to both sexes.
Q. 34. What would be the consequence, if the infants of professing parents, under the New Testament, were not admitted to the initiating seal of the covenant, as well as the infants of the Jews under the Old?
A. The consequence would be, that the privileges of the New Testament church would be more abridged and lessened, than those of the Old, whereas they are rather increased and enlarged, Isaiah 54:2-3.
Q. 35. How can infants be baptised, when they are incapable of making a profession of their faith, which seems to be required in order to baptism? Acts 8:37.
A. An explicit or formal profession of faith, is required only of them that are adult, or come to age, when they are to be baptised: but not of infants now, any more than when they were circumcised of old, on the eighth day after their birth.
Q. 36. Are infants capable of the blessings signified and sealed in baptism?
A. Undoubtedly they are; for some of them have been filled with the Holy Ghost even from their mother’s womb, Luke 1:15; and, consequently, by grace capable of regeneration, pardon, and eternal life; wherefore the sign and seal of these blessings ought not to be withheld.
Q. 37. How are children of professing parents designated in scripture?
A. If any one of the parents be a visible believer, or regular church-member, the children, on that account, are called holy, 1 Corinthians 7:14 - “The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife; and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; else were your children unclean, but now are they holy.”
Q. 38. What holiness is here meant?
A. Federal holiness, or being admitted to church membership, together with their believing or professing parent.
Q. 39. May not this holiness be understood of legitimacy, or being lawfully begotten?
A. No; because marriage being an ordinance of the law of nature, the children of married parents, though both of them be infidels, are as lawfully begotten as those of professing Christians.
Q. . How does federal holiness entitle an infant to baptism?
A. Federal holiness necessarily supposes a being within the covenant, in virtue of the credible profession of the parent; and, consequently, a right to the initiatory seal of it.
Q. 41. Is there any express precept in the New Testament for baptising the infants of visible believers?
A. The privilege of the infant seed of visible church members, having been settled ever since Abraham’s time, and never reversed, there was no need of any more than the general precept, “Go, teach and baptise,” Matthew 28:19.
Q. 42. Why is there need of no precept more express than this general one?
A. Because the infants’ privilege of being assumed into the same covenant with their parents is declared to be continued in New Testament times, Acts 2:39 - “The promise is unto you, and to your children.”
Q. 43. Have we any scripture example for infant baptism?
A. Yes; the apostles baptised whole households or families at once; such as the household of Lydia, Acts 16:15; all the jailer’s family, ver. 33 [Acts 16:33]; and the household of Stephanas, 1 Corinthians 1:16.
Q. 44. But there is no mention of their baptising infants in those families.
A. Neither is there mention of their baptising adult persons in them; only, since they baptised the whole, it may be inferred that there were some infants, or young ones, among them.
Q. 45. “How is our baptism to be improved by us?”
A. “By serious and thankful consideration of the nature of it, and of the ends for which Christ instituted it; - by being humbled for our sinful defilement, our falling short of, and walking contrary to our engagements; - and by endeavouring to live by faith, to have our conversation in holiness and righteousness, as those that have therein given up their names to Christ, and to walk in brotherly love, as being baptised by the same Spirit into one body.” 4
4 Larger Catechism, Quest. 167.
Q. 46. When should we thus improve our baptism?
A. “All our life long, especially in the time of temptation, and when we are present at the administration of it to others.” 5
5 Ibid.
÷096. Of the Lord’s supper QUESTION 96. What is the Lord’s Supper?
ANSWER:The Lord’s supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointments his death is showed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.
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Q. 1. Why is this sacrament compared to a supper?
A. Because it was instituted immediately after eating the passover, (Matthew 26:26), which was always at night, Exodus 12:6, Exodus 12:8.
Q. 2. Why is it called the Lord’s supper?
A. Because the Lord Jesus was the sole author of it, 1 Corinthians 11:23; and it is highly requisite it should be so.
Q. 3. Why was it highly requisite that the Lord Jesus should be the sole author of this holy ordinance?
A. Because all the grace that is held forth in it, is treasured up wholly in him; and is conveyed and applied by him to the soul, John 1:16.
Q. 4. When did Christ institute and appoint this sacrament?
A. “The same night in which he was betrayed,” 1 Corinthians 11:23.
Q. 5. What night was that?
A. It was the very last night before his death, Matthew 26:47-48, compared with chap. 27:1, 35, 46, 50 [Matthew 27:1, Matthew 27:35, Matthew 27:46, Matthew 27:50].
Q. 6. What is implied in his instituting this sacrament the same night in which he was betrayed?
A. It implies his infinite goodness, and inviolable attachment to mankind lost, whom he represented; that in the immediate prospect of his greatest sufferings and soul agonies in their stead, he should have their salvation and comfort so much at heart, as to leave this memorial and pledge of his dying love among them, till he come again, Matthew 26:29.
Q. 7. Are Christians under any obligation to celebrate this ordinance at night, as our Lord and his disciples did at the first institution of it?
A. No; the substitution of this sacrament in the room of the passover, (which was eaten immediately before) was the occasion of its being first administered at night; and that particular occasion can never recur again.
Q. 8. In what posture should the Lord’s supper be received?
A. This sacrament being called the Lord’s table, 1 Corinthians 10:21, a table posture, which is sitting, seems to be most agreeable to the practice of our Lord, and his disciples, at the first supper, Matthew 26:20, Matthew 26:26.
Q. 9. From whence did the practice of kneeling at the sacrament take its rise?
A. From the church of Rome, who maintain that the consecrated bread, or wafer, is changed into the real body of Christ, and therefore to be worshipped.
Q. 10. What are the outward ELEMENTS, appointed by Christ, in this sacrament?
A. They are bread and wine,Mark 14:22-23.
Q. 11. What sort of bread and wine is proper to be used?
A. Just such as is ordinarily used in entertainments among men.
Q. 12. Is the sacrament of the supper to be received, by every partaker, in both elements?
A. Certainly it ought; for our Lord gave both elements to his disciples; and the apostle appoints both the elements to be dispensed to communicants, 1 Corinthians 11:28 - “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that BREAD, and drink of that CUP.” And therefore the withholding of the cup from the people, as is done by the church of Rome, is both sacrilegious and impious.
Q. 13. What is signified by the bread and the wine?
A. The body and blood of Christ, 1 Corinthians 11:24-25.
Q. 14. What is to be understood by Christ’s body and blood?
A. His incarnation and satisfaction, for the complete accomplishment of our redemption, John 6:51 - “The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Q. 15. What is the analogy, or resemblance, between the bread and wine, and what is signified and represented by these elements?
A. As bread and wine make a sufficient entertainment for the nourishment of the body; so the righteousness and fulness of Christ, are a full and satisfying feast for the refreshment of the soul, John 6:55 - “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.”
Q. 16. What are the sacramental actions with reference to these elements?
A. They are all of them comprehended in the answer, under giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment.
Q. 17. Whom do these sacramental actions respect?
A. Some of them respect the administrator, and some the partakers in this holy ordinance.
Q. 18. Who are the administrators of this sacrament?
A.Christ himself was the first administrator of it; and after him, ministers of the word, lawfully called and set apart to that office.
Q. 19. What were the actions of Christ, the first administrator, which ministers are to imitate, in dispensing this sacrament?
A. After his example, they take the bread, and the cup; they bless these elements; they break the bread, and give both the bread and the wine to be distributed among the communicants.
Q. 20. What is meant by taking the bread and the cup?
A. Christ’s voluntarily assuming the human nature into union with his divine person, Hebrews 2:16, that in it he might be a sacrifice of infinite value in our stead, Ephesians 5:2.
Q. 21. What is implied in blessing the elements?
A. That Christ has appointed the bread and the wine in this sacrament to be the visible signs or symbols of his body and blood; and likewise, by his example, has warranted ministers to set apart, by solemn prayer, so much of these elements, as shall be used in this sacrament, from a common, to a holy use.
Q. 22. Why is Christ’s blessing the elements called his giving thanks? 1 Corinthians 11:24.
A. Because so inconceivably great was his love to lost sinners of mankind, that he was thankful he had all their debt to pay, Psalms 40:7-8 ew:7-8 ew:7-8; and that he was able to do it to the uttermost, Hebrews 7:25.
Q. 23. What is to be understood by breaking the bread?
A. The most exquisite sufferings of the Son of God, Psalms 22:14-15, and the necessity of them, as the channel, in which mercy was to be vented to the sinner, Romans 5:21.
Q. 24. What is intimated to us by giving the bread and giving the cup? Matthew 26:26-27.
A. It intimates, that Christ is the free gift of God to sinners of mankind, for salvation and eternal life, John 3:16.
Q. 25. What are the sacramental actions of the partakers in this sacrament, included in their receiving of bread and wine?
A. They take the bread and the cup: they eat the bread, and drink a part of the wine in the cup.
Q. 26. What is imported in their taking the bread and the cup?
A. It imports, that our receiving of Christ, is founded on the gift and grant that is made of him in the word; for, “a man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven,” John 3:27.
Q. 27. What is included in their eating the bread, and drinking the wine?
A. It includes that there ought to be an application of Christ to the soul in particular, in virtue of the particular endorsement of the promise, to every one that hears the gospel: “For the promise,” says the apostle Peter, “is unto you, (that is, unto every one of you,) and to your children,” Acts 2:39.
Q. 28. For what end did Christ institute these sacramental elements and actions?
A. That thereby his death, might be showed forth,1 Corinthians 11:26, and the remembrance of it kept up, Luke 22:19.
Q. 29. What is it to show forth the death of Christ?
A. It is to profess, by partaking of the sacrament, that we believe his death, in our room, to have been most acceptable to God, Ephesians 5:2; and that we acquiesce in it, together with his obedience, as the sole ground of our hope of salvation, Romans 4:25.
Q. 30. How does it appear, that his death, in our room, was most acceptable to God?
A. By his resurrection from the dead, 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and his entrance into glory, Luke 24:26.
Q. 31. How may we know if we acquiesce in the obedience and death of Christ, as the sole ground of our hope of salvation?
A. If we are renouncing all other confidences, Hosea 14:3, and are convinced that the meritorious obedience unto death of the Son of God as our Surety, is the sole payment of the debt we owed to law and justice, Jeremiah 23:6 - “This is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Q. 32. Why has Christ appointed this sacrament to be observed in remembrance of him, Luke 22:19 - “This do in remembrance of me?”
A. Because though his incarnation and satisfaction are the greatest events that ever happened in the world, and the most interesting to us, yet we are apt to forget them; or at least not to have the solid and lively impression of them habitually upon our spirits, Psalms 106:13 - “They soon forgot his works.”
Q. 33. What is it about the death of Christ which we ought to remember in this sacrament?
A. The truth of it, the necessity of it, and the sufficiency of it.
Q. 34. What is it to remember the truth of Christ’s death?
A. It is by a true and saving faith, to believe that Christ really did and suffered all these things for us, that are recorded of him in scripture, 1 Corinthians 15:3, 1 Corinthians 15:4.
Q. 35. What is it to remember the necessity of his death, Luke 24:26 - “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?”
A. It is to believe, that we had certainly gone down to the pit, unless God had found a ransom, or an atonement, Job 33:24.
Q. 36. What is it to remember the sufficiency of it?
A. It is to believe that it is infinitely valuable; and, therefore, could have procured the salvation of thousands of worlds, had it been so ordained, it being the death and blood of him, who is the supreme God, Acts 20:28 - “Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
Q. 37. In what MANNER should we show forth and remember the death of Christ in this sacrament?
A. We ought to do it fiducially, 1 humbly, mournfully, and thankfully.
1 fi•du´cial•ly adv. [from L. fiducia, from fido, to trust.] Confident; undoubting; firm; as a fiducial reliance on the promises of the gospel. [ed. WD]
Q. 38. Why ought we to remember his death fiducially?
A. Because as he “was delivered for our offences,” Romans 4:25, so “God raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God,” 1 Peter 1:21.
Q. 39. Why ought we to remember it humbly?
A. Because when we are unworthy of the least of all God’s mercies, Genesis 32:10, we are much more so of the greatest that can be conferred, John 3:16 - “God so loved the world” &c.
Q. . Why mournfully?
A. Because our sins were the procuring cause of his sufferings, Isaiah 53:5-6 - “He was wounded for OUR transgressions, he was bruised for OUR iniquities - The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.” 2
2 Margin. Hath made the iniquities of us all to meet in him.
Q. 41. Why should the death of Christ be remembered thankfully?
A. Because his death was in our room, Titus 2:14; and was the finishing stroke of the work which his Father gave him to do, John 19:30.
Q. 42. How often should the death of Christ be remembered, by partaking of this sacrament?
A. The scripture has not precisely determined how often; but it would appear that it ought frequently to be done.
Q. 43. How does it appear that the death of Christ should be frequently remembered in the supper?
A. From the words of our Lord, 1 Corinthians 11:25-26 - “This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me; for, AS OFTEN as ye eat this bread,” &c., plainly implying, that it ought OFTEN to be done.
Q. 44. When will the death of Christ be remembered perpetually, without interruption?
A. In heaven, though not in a sacramental way, Revelation 21:22 - “I saw no temple there.”
Q. 45. How may it be proved, that it will be perpetually remembered in heaven?
A. From the song of the redeemed there, recorded, Revelation 1:5-6 - “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood - to him be glory.” And chap. 5:9-14 [Revelation 5:9-14] - “And they sung a new song; saying - Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood,” &c.
Q. 46. Who are called worthy receivers, in the answer?
A. None are worthy receivers of this sacrament, but true believers; and even they, in order to their partaking worthily and comfortably, ought to have grace in exercise, as well as in the habit; Song of Solomon 1:12.
Q. 47. Why are true believers called WORTHY receivers?
A. Not on account of any worthiness in themselves, for they have nothing of their own of which they can boast; but because they are united to Christ, and have all that grace from him, which enables them to partake in a suitable and becoming manner, 2 Corinthians 3:5.
Q. 48. What are the worthy receivers made partakers of in this sacrament?
A. They are made partakers of Christ’s body and blood, with all his benefits.
Q. 49. What is it to be partakers of Christ’s body and blood?
A. It is to be entertained, in the sacrament upon all that was transacted upon the person of Christ, as God-man, Mediator: this being the only proper and suitable food of the soul, John 6:51, John 6:53.
Q. 50. In what respect is it, that the worthy receivers are NOT made partakers of his body and blood?
A. They are not made partakers after a corporal and carnal manner.
Q. 51. Why are these words inserted in the answer, not after a corporal and carnal manner?
A. They are inserted in opposition to the Popish doctrine of transubstantiation, “which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ’s body and blood, by consecration of a priest.” 3
3 Confession of Faith, chapter 29 § 6.
Q. 52. What is the absurdity of this doctrine?
A. It is “repugnant not to scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason; overthroweth the nature of the sacrament; and hath been and is the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries.” 4
4 Ibid., 29 § 6.
Q. 53. How is it repugnant to scripture?
A. The scripture expressly affirms, that Christ gave the very same bread and cup to his disciples, after consecration, that he had taken into his hands before, Matthew 26:26-27. Whereas the doctrine of transubstantiation maintains, that the elements, after consecration, are no more the same, having only the form, colour, taste, and smell of bread and wine, wanting the substance of either; being turned into the substance of Christ’s body and blood; in opposition to which, the apostle calls the elements, after consecration, by the same names they had before it, to intimate, that there was no change of their substance, 1 Corinthians 11:26-28 - “As often as ye eat this BREAD, and drink this CUP,” &c.
Q. 54. How is transubstantiation repugnant to common sense and reason?
A. Common sense and reason tell us, that a body occupies but one place, and cannot be in divers places at one and the same time; whereas they who defend transubstantiation must allow, that the body of Christ may be in a thousand places at once, even as many places as there are consecrated wafers.
Q. 55. How does transubstantiation overthrow the nature of the sacrament?
A. By destroying the spiritual or sacramental relation, that is between the sign and the thing signified; for if the sign be turned into the thing signified, then all relation and similitude between them cease. Besides, the sacrament being a commemoration of what was done and suffered in the human nature of Christ, it supposes his body to be absent, whereas transubstantiation supposes it present.
Q. 56. How is it the cause of manifold superstitions and gross idolatries?
A. In as much as strange and surprising effects are ascribed to the host, or consecrated wafer, even when not used sacramentally; and the alleged change of the bread and wine, into the substance of Christ’s body and blood in the sacrament, is the very pretence, why they pay religious worship and adoration to the elements themselves; which is gross superstition and idolatry.
Q. 57. What is the difference between the Papists and Lutherans on this head?
A. The Papists maintain, that the bread and wine lose their own natural substance, and are turned into the substance of Christ’s body and blood; but the Lutherans affirm, that the bread and wine retain their own natural substance still, and, at the same time, that the substance of Christ’s body and blood is in, with, or under, these elements.
Q. 58. Are not both opinions equally absurd?
A. Yes; for transubstantiation supposes, that one body may be in many places at the same time; and consubstantiation takes it for granted, that two bodies may be together in the very same place, or that they may both occupy the same individual space at the same time.
Q. 59. Is Christ offered up, in this sacrament, as a sacrifice for the remission of sins?
A. No; there is in it “only a commemoration of that one offering up of himself, by himself; upon the cross, once for all; and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same. 5
5 Confession of Faith, chapter 29 § 2.
Q. 60. Why does our Confession say, that Christ’s once offering up of himself was done BY HIMSELF?
A. In opposition to the unbloody sacrifice of the mass, which is offered up daily by the Popish priests, for remission of the sins both of the quick and the dead.
Q. 61. What does our Confession of Faith affirm concerning this Popish “sacrifice of the mass,” as they call it?
A. It affirms, that it is “most abominably injurious to Christ’s one only sacrifice, the alone propitiation for all the sins of the elect, Hebrews 7:27.”6
6 Ibid.
Q. 62. Is not Christ really present in the sacrament of the supper?
A. He is “as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses, 1 Corinthians 11:29.” 7
7 Ibid., § 7.
Q. 63. If Christ be really present in the sacrament only in a spiritual sense, and not corporally, why does he say of the bread, “This is my body”?
A. The plain and obvious meaning is, “This bread is the sign or symbol of my body”: so that the words are to be understood in the figurative, not in the literal sense.
Q. 64. How do you prove, that these words, “This is my body,” are to be understood in the figurative, and not in the literal and proper sense?
A. From this known rule in all language, that when the strict literal sense involves a manifest absurdity, or contradiction, we must of necessity have recourse to the figurative sense; as when the apostle says, 1 Corinthians 10:4 - “That rock was Christ,” it cannot be understood literally, as if that rock, materially considered, was really Christ; but, figuratively, that rock signified Christ; and so of a great many other scripture expressions.
Q. 65. Since the worthy receivers are not made partakers of Christ’s body and blood after a corporal and carnal manner, how do they partake of the same?
A. They partake of his body and blood, in this sacrament, only by faith.
Q. 66. What is it for the worthy receivers to partake of his body and blood by faith?
A. It is to apply and appropriate himself and his righteousness, with all his benefits, to themselves, Psalms 16:5-6.
Q. 67. What are these benefits which faith, in this sacrament, applies together with Christ himself?
A. Among many others, there are these three comprehensive ones; namely, an ample indemnity of all sin, Micah 7:19; an unquestionable security for the progress of sanctification, Job 17:9; and an undoubted title to eternal life, John 10:28.
Q. 68. Why are these, and the like, called his benefits?
A. Because he is the purchaser, Titus 2:14, proprietor, John 3:35, and dispenser of them, Ephesians 4:8.
Q. 69. Why are worthy receivers said to be made partakers of all his benefits?
A. Because where himself is received, all good things go along with him, 1 Corinthians 3:22-23 - “all are yours; and ye are Christ’s.”
Q. 70. What is the fruit and effect of their being, by faith, made partakers of Christ, and all his benefits?
A. The fruit and effect of it is, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.
Q. 71. What does their spiritual nourishment imply in it?
A. That this sacrament is not a converting, but a nourishing ordinance.
Q. 72. What does their growth in grace imply?
A. That the worthy receivers are already in a state of grace.
Q. 73. How may spiritual nourishment and growth in grace be discerned?
A. If there is a more enlarged desire after the sincere milk of the word, 1 Peter 2:2; if there is more living by faith, and not by sense, 2 Corinthians 5:7; and if there is more inward opposition to sin, Psalms 66:18, and outward tenderness in the walk, Psalms 39:1.
÷097. Of the worthy receiving of the Lord¼ÇÖs supper QUESTION 97. What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord’s supper?
ANSWER:It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord’s supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience; lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.
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Q. 1. What preparatory duty is here required of those that would partake of the Lord’s supper?
A. It is, that they examine themselves,1 Corinthians 11:28 - “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”
Q. 2. What is it for persons to examine themselves?
A. It is to make a strict inquiry into, and to pass an impartial judgment upon their spiritual state and frame, by the rule of the word, Psalms 77:6, and Psalms 119:105.
Q. 3. What is the best and most successful way of essaying this duty?
A. It is to put it into the hand of the Spirit of God to manage it for us, Psalms 139:23-24 - “Search me, O God, and know my heart,” &c.
Q. 4. Why is self-examination necessary before receiving the Lord’s supper?
A. Because it is peremptorily commanded, in order to discover whether we be in a gracious state; or, if we have grace in any measure of exercise; without either of which there can be no comfortable participation of this ordinance: “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat.”
Q. 5. Is this the duty of every man, or of some only?
A. It is unquestionably the duty of every man: “Let a man examine himself;” that is, every man and woman, without exception, whether they think themselves gracious or graceless.
Q. 6. Why should a gracious man examine himself?
A. Because “there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not,” Ecclesiastes 7:20.
Q. 7. Why should they, who think they are graceless, examine themselves?
A. Because “they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick,” Matthew 9:12. They thus come to see more clearly their absolute need of Christ.
Q. 8. Is self-examination the duty of those only who are to partake for the first time?
A. It is the duty of persons every time they venture to partake of this ordinance, as the words of the precept evidenty bear, “so let him eat;” that is, let none approach this holy table at any time without first essaying this duty.
Q. 9. Is self-examination to be practised only about the time of communion?
A. It ought to be practised daily or habitually, 2 Corinthians 13:5; and especially in the view of such a solemn approach to the Lord at his table.
Q. 10. What are those things, about which they that would worthily partake of the Lord’s supper are required to examine themselves?.
A. They are required to examine themselves of their knowledge - of their faith - of their repentance, love, and new obedience.
Q. 11. What are they to try or examine about their knowledge?
A. If they have a competent measure of it; and if the measure they have, be of a saving kind.
Q. 12. What is that competent measure of knowledge, which is requisite to the worthy receiving of the Lord’s supper?
A. That there be some understanding of the person, offices, and righteousness of Christ; of the fulness, freedom, and stability of the covenant of grace; of the nature, use, and end, of the sacrament of the supper; and likewise of our own manifold sins and wants.
Q. 13. Why is such a knowledge necessary?
A. It is necessary, to discern the Lord’s body.
Q. 14. What is it to discern the Lord’s body in this sacrament?
A. It is to view the meritorious atonement, made by the Son of God in our nature, through the symbols of bread and wine, which are designed to signify and represent the same.
Q. 15. Who are they who are guilty of not discerning the, Lord’s body?
A. They who rest in partaking of the outward elements, without a firm belief of the mysteries that are wrapped up in them.
Q. 16. How may we know if the measure of knowledge we have attained, be of a saving kind?
A. If we think we know nothing yet, as we ought to know, 1 Corinthians 8:2; if we are following on to know the Lord more and more, Hosea 6:3; and if our knowledge influences our practice, John 13:17 - “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”
Q. 17. Why is faith necessary to the worthy partaking of the Lord’s supper?
A. It is necessary in order to feed upon him.
Q. 18. What is it to feed upon Christ in the sacrament of the supper?
A. It is to receive into our souls, from his fulness, all that spiritual good which is exhibited to us in the promise, John 1:16.
Q. 19. What is it of Christ that faith feeds upon in the sacrament?
A. It feeds upon all those discoveries of him that are made in the word; such as, his person, offices, mediatorial character, and relations, John 6:57.
Q. 20. How may we know if we have that faith which feeds on Christ in the word and sacrament?
A. Where this true and saving faith is, it is of an appetising nature, whetting the spiritual appetite after more and more of him, Isaiah 26:8-9; it purifies the heart, Acts 15:9; accounts all things but loss for Christ, Php 3:8; and is careful to maintain good works, Titus 3:8.
Q. 21. What is the use of repentance in this sacrament?
A. Without repentance there can be no mourning for sin, which is an inseparable concomitant of faith’s looking to, or improving a crucified Saviour in this ordinance, Zechariah 12:10 - “They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him.”
Q. 22. How may we know if our repentance be genuine or of a right kind?
A. It is true and genuine, if we are grieved for sin as it is offensive to God, Psalms 51:4; if we are forsaking, and turning from it both in heart and life, Hosea 14:8; and, particularly, if we are deeply affected with the sin of unbelief, John 16:9.
Q. 23. What necessity is there for the exercise of the grace of love in partaking of the Lord’s supper?
A. Without love to Christ, there can be no communion with him in this, or any other ordinance, John 14:21 - “He that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him.”
Q. 24. How may we know if our love to Christ be sincere and unfeigned?
A. If it put us upon essaying the most difficult duties he may call us to, Psalms 23:4; if it engage us to put a favourable construction upon the afflicting providences we meet with in our lot, Hebrews 12:10, and if we love his members out of love to himself, or because they are “begotten of him,” 1 John 5:1.
Q. 25. Why is the obedience required of worthy receivers called new obedience?
A. Because it flows from a new principle of faith and love, Galatians 5:6; it is performed in a new manner, namely, in the strength of “the grace that is in Christ Jesus,” 2 Timothy 2:1, and is directed to a new end, even the glory of God; 1 Corinthians 10:31.
Q. 26. How may we know if our obedience is indeed new obedience?
A. If we are conscientiously diligent in the practice of every duty, and at the same time look on ourselves as unprofitable servants, Luke 17:10, and lean wholly to the surety-righteousness as the sole ground of our acceptance, Isaiah 45:24.
Q. 27. What risk do they run who omit to examine themselves as to the above graces, before they come to the Lord’s table?
A. They run the risk of coming unworthily.
Q. 28. What is it to come unworthily?
A. It is to come without any real sense, or consciousness of the need that we stand in of Christ, as “of God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,” 1 Corinthians 1:30.
Q. 29. What danger do they incur who thus come unworthily?
A.They eat and drink judgment to themselves,1 Corinthians 11:29.
Q. 30. In what sense can they who come unworthily, be said to eat and drink judgment to themselves?
A. In so far as by their eating and drinking unworthily, they do that which renders them obnoxious to the righteous judgment of God.
Q. 31. To what judgment do they render themselves obnoxious?
A. To temporal judgments, or afflictions of various kinds, in the present life; and to eternal judgment, or condemnation (if mercy prevent not) in the life to come, 1 Corinthians 11:30, 1 Corinthians 11:32.
Q. 32. “May not one who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation, come to the Lord’s supper?
A. “If he be duly affected with the apprehension of the want of” an interest in Christ, “and unfeignedly desires to be found in him, and to depart from iniquity:” in that case, “he is to bewail his unbelief, and labour to have his doubts resolved; and, in so doing, he may and ought to come to the Lord’s supper, that he may be further strengthened.” 1
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 172.
Q. 33. When may a person be said to be duly affected with the apprehension of his want of an interest in Christ?
A. When he is filled with a restless uneasiness, and can take no comfort in any outward enjoyment, while he thinks himself destitute of an interest in Christ; and, at the same time, is active and diligent in the use of all the ordinary means, in which Christ is usually to be found, Song of Solomon 3:1-5.
Q. 34. “May any who profess their faith, and desire to Come to the Lord’s supper, be kept from it?”
A. “Such as are found to be ignorant or scandalous, notwithstanding their profession of the faith, and desire to come to the Lord’s supper, may and ought to be kept from that sacrament, by the power which Christ hath left in his church; until they receive instruction, and manifest their reformation.” 2
2 Larger Catechism, Quest. 173.
Q. 35. Why ought the ignorant to be kept back?
A. Because they cannot discern the Lord’s body, nor comprehend the end and design of this sacrament; and, therefore, will but eat and drink judgment to themselves, 1 Corinthians 11:29.
Q. 36. Why ought the scandalous to be kept back from this sacrament?
A. Because, by the habitual immorality of their practice, they manifest themselves to be under the dominion of the prince of darkness; and, therefore, while in that state, can have no right to the privileges which belong only to the members of Christ’s family, 1 Corinthians 10:21.
Q. 37. “What is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, in the time of the administration of it?”
A. “It is required of them, that they - heedfully discern the Lord’s body, and affectionately meditate on his death and sufferings, and thereby stir up themselves to a vigorous exercise of their graces; in sorrowing for sin, hungering and thirsting after Christ, feeding on him by faith - and in renewing their covenant with God, and love to all the saints.” 3
3 Ibid., QUESTION 174.
Q. 38. What is it for the Lord’s people to renew their covenant with him at his table?
A. It is to acquiesce anew in the covenant of grace, as made with Christ, Isaiah 44:5; and, in so doing, to surrender themselves to the Lord, to be wholly his, trusting that he will keep them by his power, “through faith unto salvation,” 1 Peter 1:5.
Q. 39. What is it for them to renew their love to all the saints on that occasion?
A. It is to embrace the opportunity of being at the Lord’s table, to breathe out the secret and habitual desires of their souls before him, that all the saints, as well as themselves, may share abundantly out of the fulness of Christ, Psalms 90:14; and that they keep themselves “in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life,” Jude ver. 21 [Jude 1:21].
Q. . What is the duty of Christians, after they have received the sacrament of the Lord’s supper?
A. It is “seriously to consider how they have behaved themselves therein, and with what success; if they find quickening and comfort, to bless God for it, beg the continuance of it, watch against relapses, fulfil their vows, and encourage themselves to a frequent attendance on that ordinance.” 4
4 Larger Catechism, Quest. 175.
Q. 41. What is it to fulfil our vows?
A. It is to set about the practice of all commanded duty, according to our engagements, Psalms 116:16, Psalms 116:18; and at the same time depend upon the grace and furniture that is in Christ Jesus for the right performance of it, Php 4:13.
Q. 42. What if Christians can find no present benefit by their attendance on this ordinance?
A. Then they are “more exactly to review their preparation for, and carriage at the sacrament; in both which, if they can approve themselves to God, and their own consciences, they are to wait for the fruit of it in due time.” 5
5 Ibid.
Q. 43. What if they have failed in their preparation for, and carriage at the sacrament?
A. Then “they are to be humbled, and attend upon it afterward, with more care and diligence.” 6
6 Ibid.
Q. 44. “Wherein do the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper agree?”
A. “In that the author of both is God; the spiritual part of both is Christ and his benefits; both are seals of the same covenant; and to be continued in the church of Christ until his second coming.” 7
7 Ibid., QUESTION 176.
Q. 45. In what do they differ?
A. In that baptism is to be administered but once, with water, to be a sign and seal of our regeneration and in-grafting into Christ, and that even to infants: whereas the Lord’s supper is to be administered often, in the elements of bread and wine, to represent and exhibit Christ as spiritual nourishment to the soul, and to confirm our continuance and growth in him, and that only to such as are of years and ability to examine themselves.” 8
8 Ibid., QUESTION 177.
÷098. Of the nature of prayer QUESTION 98. What is prayer?
ANSWER:Prayer is an offering up of our desires to God for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.
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Q. 1. “Are we to pray to God only?”
A. “God only being to be believed in, and worshipped with religious worship, prayer, which is a special part thereof, is to be made by all to him alone, and to none other.” 1
1 Larger Catechism, Quest 179.
Q. 2. Why is prayer to be made by all to God alone, and to none other?
A. Because “God only is able to search the hearts, hear the requests, pardon the sins, and fulfil the desires of all.” 2
2 Ibid.
Q. 3. May we not direct our prayers to any of the persons of the adorable Trinity?
A. To be sure we may: for the Three-one God being the sole object of religious worship, whichever of the three persons we address, the other two are understood as included, 2 Corinthians 13:14.
Q. 4. Why may we not pray to angels, or saints departed?
A. Because it would be gross idolatry, they being but mere creatures; nor can they supply the wants, nor remove the miseries which sin has brought upon us.
Q. 5. Do we pray to God to inform him of what he knew not before?
A. Not at all: for from eternity he knew all the thoughts that ever should pass through our minds in time, Psalms 139:2, Psalms 139:4.
Q. 6. Do we pray to him that we may alter his mind, or incline him to any thing which he was formerly unwilling to grant?
A. No; for with him is “no variableness, neither shadow of turning,” James 1:17; but we pray to him, that we may obtain what we know and believe he is willing to confer, 1 John 5:14 - “This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.”
Q. 7. What are the several parts of prayer mentioned in this answer?
A. They are these three; petition, confession, and thanksgiving.
Q. 8. In which of these does prayer properly consist?
A. In PETITION, or supplication.
Q. 9. How does the answer describe our petitions, or supplications?
A. It describes them to be an offering up of our desires to God.
Q. 10. Why are our petitions called our desires?
A. Because the words of our mouth, without the desires of our heart, are nothing but empty sounds in the ears of God, Isaiah 29:13 - “This people draw near to me with their mouth, - but have removed their heart far from me.”
Q. 11. Why must there be an offering up of our desires to God?
A. Because prayers are “spiritual sacrifices,” 1 Peter 2:5; and all sacrifices were appointed to be offered to God only, 2 Kings 17:35-36.
Q. 12. From whence flow the desires of the heart?
A. From a sense of need: we cannot have any earnest desire after that, with the want of which we are no way affected; for, “the full soul loatheth a honey comb,” Proverbs 27:7.
Q. 13. For what THINGS ought we to offer up our desires to God?
A.For things agreeable to his will.
Q. 14. What will of God are we to have our eye upon, when we ask any thing from him?
A. Not upon his secret, but his revealed will, Deuteronomy 29:29.
Q. 15. How shall we know, if what we ask be agreeable to his revealed will?
A. If we ask what he has promised, we are sure it is agreeable to his revealed will to confer it, because the promise is to us, Acts 2:39.
Q. 16. Are we straitened, or narrowed, in our requests, when we are confined to the promise as the subject-matter of them?
A. By no means; for the promise contains infinitely more than we are able to “ask or think,” Ephesians 3:20.
Q. 17. May we ask temporal mercies at the hand of God?
A. Yes; because they are promised, so far as we have any real need of them, Psalms 34:10; Isaiah 33:16.
Q. 18. Whether ought temporal or spiritual mercies to have the preference in our requests?
A. Spiritual mercies ought to have the preference, Matthew 6:33 - “SEEK ye FIRST the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Q. 19. What is meant by the kingdom of God, and his righteousness?
A. The work of grace in the soul, and the surety-righteousness imputed, as the foundation of it, Romans 8:4.
Q. 20. Why are these to be sought in the first place?
A. Because absolutely necessary to salvation, Romans 5:21.
Q. 21. In whose NAME are we to ask things agreeable to God’s will?
A.In the name of Christ.
Q. 22. What is it to pray in the name of Christ?
A. It is, “in obedience to his command, and in confidence of his promise, to ask mercies for his sake?” 3
3 Larger Catechism, Quest. 180.
Q. 23. Is the bare mentioning of Christ’s name, a praying therein?
A. No; but a “drawing our encouragement to pray, and our boldness, strength, and hope of acceptance in prayer, from Christ and his mediation.” 4
4 Ibid.
Q. 24. “Why are we to pray in the name of Christ?”
A. “Because the sinfulness of man, and his distance from God, by reason thereof, is so great, as that we can have no access into his presence without a Mediator.” 5
5 Ibid., QUESTION 181.
Q. 25. Is there any other Mediator but Christ, in whose name we may approach to God?
A. No; “there being none in heaven or earth appointed to, or fit for that glorious work but Christ alone, we are to pray in no other name but his only, Colossians 3:17. 6 6Ibid.
Q. 26. Can we, of ourselves, pray in a right manner?
A. No; unless the Spirit of supplication is poured upon us, (Zechariah 12:10) to help our infirmities; “for we know not what to pray for as we ought,” Romans 8:26.
Q. 27. How doth the Spirit help us to pray?
A. By enabling us to understand both for whom, and what, and how prayer is to be made?” 7
7 Ibid., QUESTION 182.
Q. 28. For whom are we to pray?
A. For the whole church of Christ upon earth; for magistrates, and ministers; for ourselves, our brethren; yea, our enemies; and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter.” 8
8 Ibid., QUESTION 183.
Q. 29. For what are we to pray, in behalf of the whole church of Christ upon earth?
A. “That they all may be one” in Christ, the glorious head, John 17:21; and that they may “grow up unto him in all things,” Ephesians 4:15, till they “all come in the unity of the faith, and knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,” verse 13 [Ephesians 4:13].
Q. 30. For what should we pray with reference to magistrates?
A. That they may not be “a terror to good works, but to the evil,” Romans 13:3; and that, under them, we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty, 1 Timothy 2:2.
Q. 31. For what should we pray in behalf of ministers?
A. That they may not SHUN to declare to their hearers “the whole counsel of God,” Acts 20:27; and that they may “watch for their souls, as they that must give account,” Hebrews 13:17.
Q. 32. Can we be hearty in praying for others, if we neglect to pray for ourselves?
A. No; for if we are indifferent about the state of our own souls, it is impossible we can be concerned for others, any farther than our interest and affection bind us, Job 27:10.
Q. 33. Who are our brethren for whom we are to pray?
A. They are not only our kindred, according to the flesh, but all the members of the visible church; yea, all our fellow-creatures, 1 John 4:21.
Q. 34. For what are we to pray in behalf of our, enemies?
A. That their hearts may be changed, their tempers softened, that however they have treated us, they may be made Christ’s friends, and partakers of eternal salvation through him, Matthew 5:44, compared with Luke 23:34.
Q. 35. If we are to pray for all sorts of men living, how may we pray about the Roman Antichrist?
A. Out of the love we should bear to our fellow-creatures, who are under the yoke and dominion of the Roman Antichrist, we ought to pray no otherwise about him, than that the Lord would soon “consume him with the Spirit of his mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of his coming,” 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
Q. 36. What do we mean, when we pray for those that shall live hereafter?
A. We hereby desire, that Christ’s kingdom and interest may be propagated and advanced in the world, until his second coming, Psalms 102:18; John 17:20.
Q. 37. For whom are we not to pray?
A. We are not to pray “for the dead, 2 Samuel 12:23; nor for those that are known to have sinned the sin unto death, 1 John 5:16.” 9
9 Larger Catechism, Quest. 183.
Q. 38. Why should we not pray for the dead?
A. Because at death the state of every man and woman is unalterably fixed, Luke 14:22-27.
Q. 39. How may those be known, who have sinned the sin unto death?
A. By their rejection of the gospel which they once professed to embrace; by their malice and envy against Christ, and the way of salvation through him; by their treating the convincing evidences of Christianity, and the peculiar doctrines of it, with blasphemy and contempt; and by their rooted hatred of all religion, and the professors of it.
Q. . Why are we not to pray for those, who are known to have sinned this sin?
A. Because the sin against the Holy Ghost is declared, in scripture, to be unpardonable, Matthew 12:31-32, in regard it is a wilful and blasphemous opposition to the testimony of the Spirit of God concerning Christ, as the only way of salvation, Luke 12:10. 10 10See a further account of the sin against the Holy Ghost, Part 1. On the head of Sin in General.
Q. 41. For what things are we to pray?
A. For all things tending to the glory of God, the welfare of the church, our own or others’ good, but not for any thing that is unlawful. 11
11 Larger Catechism, Quest. 184.
Q. 42. How are we to pray?
A. We are to pray - with understanding, faith, sincerity, fervency, love, and perseverance. 12
12 Ibid., QUESTION 185.
Q. 43. What is it to pray with understanding?
A. It is to have some knowledge of God, who is the object of prayer, Psalms 65:2; of our own necessities, which are the subject-matter of it, Psalms 60:11; and of the promises, which are our encouragement in it, Numbers 14:17-19.
Q. 44. What is it to pray in faith?
A. It is to believe that we receive the promised blessings we ask, because he has said, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them,” Mark 11:24.
Q. 45. What is it to pray with sincerity and fervency?
A. It is to have the heart and affections earnestly intent upon what we are praying for, Psalms 17:1 - “O Lord, attend unto my cry; give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.”
Q. 46. What is that love to God, which should be exercised in prayer?
A. It is an ardent desire of his presence, Isaiah 26:9; and an unfeigned delight in him, as the most amiable and soul-satisfying object, Psalms 73:25.
Q. 47. What is it to pray with perseverance? Ephesians 6:18.
A. It is to continue “instant in prayer,” as the word is rendered, Romans 12:12; or, to bear up against all discouragements, and not to give over, though we have not a speedy answer or return, Matthew 15:22-29.
Q. 48. Is there any difference between praying with perseverance, and praying always, or without ceasing? 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
A. The difference may lie in this, that to pray with perseverance, is not to become weary of the duty, or desist from it, though we do not immediately obtain what we are praying for; but to pray always, or without ceasing, is to study to maintain a praying frame, Psalms 73:23, and not to neglect the seasons of prayer, as they recur, Psalms 61:2.
Q. 49. What are the several kinds of prayer mentioned in scripture?
A. They are commonly ranked under these three, namely, secret, private, and public prayer.
Q. 50. What is SECRET prayer?
A. It is the retirement of individuals, or single persons, from all company with others, for a time, that they may have free and familiar intercourse with God by themselves: Matthew 6:6 - “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.”
Q. 51. Is secret prayer incumbent on every Christian?
A. Yes; because every Christian has his own particular wants to be supplied, Psalms 70:5; doubts to be solved, Isaiah 38:14; and difficulties to be removed, 2 Corinthians 12:8, which none but God himself can do, Psalms 35:10.
Q. 52. May there not be secret prayer even in company with others?
A. Yes; there may be what is ordinarily called EJACULATORY prayer.
Q. 53. What is ejaculatory prayer?
A. It is a secret and sudden lifting up of the soul’s desires to God, upon any emergency that may occur in providence.
Q. 54. How may we engage in this kind of prayer?
A. Either by a simple thought darted up to heaven, as it would seem Nehemiah did, chap. 2:4 [Nehemiah 2:4]; or by words uttered in the mind, yet so as the voice cannot be heard, as we read that Hannah did, 1 Samuel 1:13.
Q. 55. With what success have these ejaculatory breathings of the soul met?
A. They have met with very quick and happy returns, as in the instance of Moses, who, in the midst of the people’s murmuring at the Red Sea, despatched his desires to heaven, in some short ejaculation, to which the Lord gave a present return, Exodus 14:15 - “Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.” And the sons of Reuben, &c., when fighting with the Hagarites, 1 Chronicles 5:20 - “They cried to God in the battle, and he was entreated of them.”
Q. 56 What is the usefulness of ejaculatory prayer?
A. It tends to maintain fellowship with God, without any interruption of our lawful callings, Psalms 73:23. It is also a mean to repel sudden temptations, 2 Corinthians 12:8-9; and to dispose the heart for a more solemn performance of the stated duties of prayer and praise in the season of them, Psalms 42:6-8 compared.
Q. 57. What is PRIVATE prayer?
A. It is prayer among a few Christians, met together for joining in that solemn exercise, Romans 16:5.
Q. 58. How is it commonly distinguished?
A. Into family, 13 and social prayer.
13 About family prayer, see on the head of Sanctifying the Sabbath.
Q. 59. What is social prayer?
A. It is to pray in a fellowship society of Christians, out of several families, intermixed with spiritual conference upon soul-edifying subjects; and that at such times as they mutually agree among themselves, Malachi 3:16.
Q. 60. What is PUBLIC prayer?
A. It is the solemn worshipping of God by the church, in her public assemblies, in which a pastor, or one authorized to preach the gospel, is always the mouth of the people to God, Acts 20:36.
Q. 61. What is it to JOIN in private or public prayer, where one is the mouth of the rest?
A. It is to offer up the desires that come from the mouth of the speaker, (for things agreeable to God’s will), as if uttered by ourselves.
Q. 62. What is incumbent on those who are the mouth of others in prayer to God?
A. They are called, to take very special care, that their prayers be regulated exactly by the revealed will of God; in which case all present will be encouraged to join in every part of the duty.
Q. 63. What is requisite for joining in prayer in a right manner?
A. It is highly requisite, in order to this, that there be close attention without wandering, Acts 2:42 - “And they continued steadfastly in prayers;” that there be a lively faith, without doubting, James 1:6; and a series of ejaculation concurring with the words of God that may be spoken, 1 Chronicles 16:36.
Q. 64. What is the SECOND PART of prayer mentioned in the answer?
A. It is confession of our sins.
Q. 65. Why is confession of sin mentioned as a part of prayer?
A. Because, being sinners, we cannot pray in faith for any promised mercy, without acknowledging our unworthiness of it; or that it is infinitely above our desert, Daniel 9:18.
Q. 66. What then does the confession of sin necessarily suppose?
A. It supposes guilt, and deserved punishment on account of it, Ezra 9:13.
Q. 67. Why is confession of sin necessary in prayer?
A. Because we cannot be cordial and hearty in asking forgiveness of our sins, unless we are some way affected by a sense of them, Psalms 25:11.
Q. 68. For what end should we confess our sins in prayer?
A. That God may be justified, and have the glory of his judgments, as being all of them just and righteous, Psalms 51:4; and that we may be humbled, and disposed to receive undeserved favours with gratitude, Psalms 32:5.
Q. 69. In what manner should we confess our sins?
A. With grief and hatred of them, Luke 18:13; and with full purpose (in the strength of grace) to forsake them, Job 34:32.
Q. 70. What is the THIRD PART of prayer mentioned in the answer?
A. It is a thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.
Q. 71. Are prayer and thanksgiving joined together in scripture?
A. Yes; Psalms 116:17 - “I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.”
Q. 72. What is the subject-matter of thankfulness?
A. It is mercies, or benefits, whether offered or received.
Q. 73. Why are the blessings we want called mercies?
A. Because having made ourselves miserable by sin, we are most unworthy and undeserving of them, Genesis 32:10.
Q. 74. Why called his mercies?
A. Because God himself is the author of them, and they are his free gift to us, 1 Timothy 6:17.
Q. 75. For what mercies ought we to be thankful?
A. Both for temporal and spiritual; common and special mercies, Psalms 145:9.
Q. 76. What is the best evidence of thankfulness to God for his mercies of any kind?
A. It is to be thankful for Christ, his unspeakable gift, 2 Corinthians 9:15.
Q. 77. When ought we to make thankful acknowledgment to God for his mercies?
A. At all times, and on all occasions; there being no condition of life, but what has some mixture of mercy in it, Job 11:6; Psalms 101:1.
Q. 78. Is there ground of thankfulness under afflictions or chastisements?
A. “Though no chastening for the present be joyous, but grievous;” nevertheless it is ground of thankfulness, if “afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness, and be for our profit, and that we may be partakers of his holiness,” Hebrews 12:10-11.
Q. 79. Why ought prayer to be joined with a thankful acknowledgment of God’s mercies?
A. That the mercies we receive may be blessed to us in the use of them; and that we may not, by our ingratitude, provoke God to deny us the mercies we may ask for the future, Isaiah 1:15.
Q. 80. How may we know if our prayers are accepted and heard?
A. If we have been helped to enlargement and importunity in prayer, and yet have attained to a holy submission to the will of God, as to the particular we were asking, it is a good evidence that he has heard the voice of our supplication, 2 Chronicles 20:12, 2 Chronicles 20:17.
Q. 81. How may we know whether mercies come to us in the course of common providence, or as an answer to prayer?
A. This may be known both from the manner, and from the time, in which mercies are received.
Q. 82. How may it appear from the manner in which mercies are received, that they are in answer to our prayers?
A. It may be known by these two signs; namely, if the mercy be granted speedily and unexpectedly, Isaiah 65:24; and other mercies are conferred together with, and over and above that which we desired, 1 Kings 3:12-13.
Q. 83. How may it be known from the time in which mercies are received, that they are given in return of prayer?
A. If they are granted at the time when we need them most, or at the time when we are most earnest and importunate about them; as Peter’s deliverance from prison was on the very night which Herod had determined should be his last; and likewise when the church was assembled to wrestle in prayer for him, Acts 12:6-7, Acts 12:12.
Q. 84. Why does the Lord delay mercies, which he designs afterwards to confer?
A. He delays granting them, that we may be the more thankful for them when they come; and in the mean time to make us more assiduous and ardent supplicants for them, 2 Corinthians 12:8-9.
÷099. Of direction in prayer QUESTION 99. What rule hath God given for our direction in prayer?
ANSWER:The whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; but the special rule of direction, is that form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples, commonly called The Lord’s Prayer.
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Q. 1. Why do we need direction in prayer?
A. Because man is naturally a stranger, both to God and himself; being ignorant both of the glorious perfections of God, Romans 3:11; and of his own sins and wants, Revelation 3:17.
Q. 2. From whence are we to take direction in prayer?
A. From the whole word of God which is of use to direct us therein.
Q. 3. Is every part of the word of equal use for our direction in prayer?
A. Though “all things in the scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all;” 1 yet there is no part of the word from whence an intelligent person in the due use of the ordinary means, may not gather something that may be proper matter either for petition, confession, or thanksgiving in prayer, 1 John 5:14.
1 Confession of Faith, chapter 1 § 7
Q. 4. Of what use in prayer, are the sins of which we read in scripture, that other churches before us have been guilty of, and the judgments which have been inflicted for the same?
A. They are of use to direct us to pray, that the Lord would keep his church and people, in the day in which we live, from running into the same snares, and thus exposing themselves to the same judgments, 1 Corinthians 10:11.
Q. 5. Of what use in prayer are the doctrines of the word in general?
A. They are of use to instruct us in the principles of religion, or chain of divine truth; without some knowledge of which, it is impossible to pray to the edification, either of ourselves or others, Romans 10:14.
Q. 6. Of what use is the doctrine of the blessed Trinity, in particular, for our direction in prayer?
A. It is of singular use, to point out the method in which we are to hope for the blessings we pray for; namely, from the Father, through Christ, by the Spirit, according to Ephesians 2:18 - “Through him (that is, through Christ), we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”
Q. 7. Of what use are the offices of Christ, for our direction in prayer?
A. They are of use to us to direct us to pray, that, of God he may be made unto us wisdom, as a prophet; righteousness, as a priest; sanctification, as a king; and complete redemption, as being all the three in one person, 1 Corinthians 1:30.
Q. 8. Of what use are the promises for this end?
A. They contain the very matter of prayer; and the pleading of them by faith, as also the right manner in which the duty should be performed, James 1:6.
Q. 9. What is the special rule of direction for the duty of prayer?
A. It is that form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples, commonly called, The Lord’s Prayer.
Q. 10. Why is this called the special rule of direction?
A. Because, there is not any one portion of scripture, where the petitionary part of prayer is so comprehensively and methodically laid down, as in the Lord’s prayer.
Q. 11. Could Christ use this prayer for himself?
A. No; he could not put up the fifth petition, “Forgive us our debts;” because he had no sins of his own to forgive, being “separate from sinners,” Hebrews 7:26.
Q. 12. Why then is it commonly called the Lord’s Prayer?
A. Because it was dictated by him to his disciples, in answer to their request, Luke 11:1 - “Lord, teach us to pray, as Joh also taught his disciples.”
Q. 13. Did Christ prescribe this prayer as a form, or as a pattern?
A. He prescribed it as a PATTERN, for direction in the duty of prayer, Matthew 6:9 - “After this MANNER pray ye.”
Q. 14. What is the difference between a form and a pattern of prayer?
A. A form of prayer is a certain mode of expression, which must be used without the least variation; whereas a pattern is only a directory as to the matter, leaving the suppliant himself to clothe his desires with such words as are most adapted to his present circumstances.
Q. 15. Why then is the Lord’s prayer called, in the answer, that form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples?
A. Because the words of this prayer, “may be used as a prayer” to God, equally with other scriptures, “so that it be done with understanding, faith, reverence, and other graces necessary to the right performance of the duty of prayer.” 2
2 Larger Catechism, Quest. 187.
Q. 16. How does it appear, that this prayer is not designed for a form to the precise words of which Christ’s disciples and followers are to be tied strictly down, in all after ages?
A. This plainly appears, from its not containing expressly all the parts of prayer; and from its not being related by Matthew and Luk in the same manner.
Q. 17. What are those parts of prayer which are not expressly contained in the Lord’s prayer?
A. They are the confession of our sins, and the thankful acknowledgment of God’s mercies: neither of which are in express terms, but by consequence only, contained in the said prayer.
Q. 18. From what part of this prayer may confession of sins be deduced?
A. From the fifth petition; for, when we pray, “Forgive us our debts,” we, by consequence, confess that we have debts to be forgiven.
Q. 19. How is a thankful acknowledgment of mercies included in the Lord’s prayer?
A. When we pray, “Hallowed be thy name,” we, of consequence, make a thankful acknowledgment of all those known instances, in which God’s name has been glorified; and when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we acknowledge the bounty of his providence, which has hitherto so kindly supplied our wants.
Q. 20. How do the evangelists, Matthew and Luke, differ, as to the manner in which they relate this prayer?
A. Though there be a perfect harmony between them, as to the sense or matter of the prayer; yet there is some difference as to the mode of expression, particularly in the fourth and fifth petitions.
Q. 21. How do they differ in the fourth petition?
A. Matthew has it, “Give us this day our daily bread,” chap. 6:11 [Matthew 6:11]; Luke, “Give us day by day our daily bread,” chap. 11:3 [Luke 11:3].
Q. 22. What is the meaning of “give us this day?”
A. It is a petition of what we want at present.
Q. 23. What is imported in “give us day by day?”
A. The expression imports, that the wants, which need to be supplied, will daily recur.
Q. 24. How do the two evangelists differ, as to their manner of expressing the fifth petition?
A. Matthew says, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” chap. 6:12 [Matthew 6:12]; Luke expresses it, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive every one that is indebted to us,” chap. 11:4 [Luke 11:4].
Q. 25. How do they differ as to the conclusion?
A. Matthew has it; Luk leaves it out.
Q. 26. What is the argument from all this, against the Lord’s prayer being designed for a set form?
A. The argument is, that if it had been designed for a set form, the two evangelists would have expressed it in the very same words, without the least variation.
Q. 27. What argument is there from the practice of the apostles against its being a set form?
A. That though several prayers of theirs are recorded in the New Testament, yet none of them use the express words of the Lord’s prayer.
Q. 28. Would it not seem that this prayer is commanded to be used as a form, from our Lord’s prefixing these words to it: “When ye pray, SAY, Our Father,” &c.? Luke 11:2.
A. No more can be intended by this expression in Luke, “When ye pray, SAY,” than what is meant in the parallel place, Matthew 6:9 : “AFTER THIS MANNER pray ye;” namely, to use the Lord’s prayer as a directory; otherwise, Luke’s form, and not Matthew’s, should be followed.
Q. 29. May none, at any rate, use set forms, however sound?
A. If set forms are sound, or agreeable to the will of God, they may be used by children, or such as are weak in knowledge, till they acquire some insight in the principles of religion; and then they ought to be laid aside, and extemporary prayer practised and improved.
Q. 30. But may not they, who are weak in knowledge, read sound forms as their prayers to God?
A. No; they ought to repeat them, because the committing of them to memory will tend to imprint the matter of them more deeply on the mind, than the bare reading can possibly do: besides, there is not the least shadow of an example in scripture, for reading prayers to God on any account whatsoever.
Q. 31. Why is the continued practice of set forms unwarrantable?
A. Because the case and circumstances of the church in general, and every member of it, in particular, are so exceedingly various, that it is impossible any set form can correspond to them. Moreover, the continued practice of a set form, as it encourages sloth, so is an overlooking the aid of the Spirit, whose office it is to help our infirmities, when “we know not what we should pray for as we ought,” Romans 8:26.
Q. 32. “Of how many parts does the Lord’s prayer consist?”
A. The Lord’s prayer consists of three parts, a “preface, petitions, and a conclusion.” 3
3 Larger Catechism, Quest. 188.
÷100. Of the preface of the Lord¼ÇÖs prayer QUESTION 100. What doth the preface of the Lord’s prayer teach us?
ANSWER:The preface of the Lord’s prayer which is, “Our Father which art in heaven,” teacheth us, to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a Father, able and ready to help us; and that we should pray with and for others.
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Q. 1. In what words is the preface of the Lord’s prayer contained?
A. It is contained in these words, Our Father which art in heaven.
Q. 2. What is the end and design of this preface?
A. It is to give us a directory how to invoke or address the true object of all religious worship.
Q. 3. What is it to invoke or address God in prayer?
A. It is, in a believing and reverential manner, to make mention of some of his names, titles, or attributes, in a suitableness to the nature of the duty in which we are engaged: as in 1 Kings 8:23; Daniel 9:4.
Q. 4. Whom do we invoke, or call upon, when we address the Father.
A. We invoke the Three-one God; because though each person of the Trinity be the object of worship, 2 Corinthians 13:14; yet when any of these adorable persons is addressed, we are, in our minds, to include the other two; in as much as the very same divine nature and essence is in them all, 1 Chronicles 29:10.
Q. 5. Why are we directed to address the Three-one God as a Father?
A. To teach us, that the object of true and acceptable worship, is a reconciled God, Psalms 130:4.
Q. 6. In what respect is God called a Father, with reference to men?
A. He is called a Father, with reference to them, either in respect of creation, external covenant-relation, or the grace of adoption.
Q. 7. To whom is he a Father in respect of creation?
A. In this respect he is a Father to all mankind in general, Malachi 2:10.
Q. 8. To whom is he a Father in respect of external covenant relation?
A. To all the members of the visible church, or such as profess the true religion, and their children, 2 Corinthians 6:18.
Q. 9. To whom is he a Father in respect of the grace of adoption?
A. To believers only, or such as are “the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus,” Galatians 3:26.
Q. 10. May not every one who hears the gospel warrantably cry to God, “My Father,” according to Jeremiah 3:4?
A. No doubt but it is their duty to do so, upon the call and command of God; but none will actually do it in faith, but they into whose hearts “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son,” Galatians 4:6.
Q. 11. What are we taught, when we are directed to invoke God in prayer, by the title of Father?
A. We are hereby taught, to draw near to God - as children to a Father.
Q. 12. In what manner should God’s children draw near to him as their Father?
A.With all holy reverence and confidence.
Q. 13. Why called holy reverence?
A. To distinguish it from that dutiful regard and respect which children owe to their parents by the dictates of nature’s light.
Q. 14. In what consists the nature of this holy reverence?
A. It consists in a most profound inward esteem of God, as a Father, accompanied with “other child-like dispositions,” 1 becoming that relation, Isaiah 64:9.
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 189.
Q. 15. What are these other child-like dispositions, which accompany the reverence with which God’s children approach him?
A. Among others, there are patience under his rebukes, Micah 7:9; obedience to his commands, Acts 9:6; and a fervent zeal for his honour and glory, Malachi 1:6.
Q. 16. What is that confidence which God’s children have in him as their Father?
A. It is that entire trust they repose in him, as able and ready to help them.
Q. 17. Whence are they persuaded of his ability and readiness to help them?
A. From his all-sufficiency, Luke 11:13, and boundless liberality, Psalms 84:11, as laid out in the promise for their benefit.
Q. 18. What help does he afford them?
A. Such a help as to do all; “for it is God that worketh in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure,” Php 2:13.
Q. 19. Why are we directed to address our Father in heaven?
A. To teach us to draw near to him with “heavenly affections, Lamentations 3:41, and due apprehension of his sovereign power, majesty, and gracious condescension, Isaiah 63:15-16.” 2
2 Larger Catechism, Quest. 189.
Q. 20. What does the consideration of his being in heaven more particularly teach us?
A. It teaches us from whence to expect our blessings and benefits, and likewise the manner in which we ought to address God for them.
Q. 21. From whence are we to expect our blessings?
A. “From above,” James 1:17, because they are in heavenly places, Ephesians 1:3.
Q. 22. Why are our blessings said to be in heavenly places?
A. Because their original is from thence, and there will the full enjoyment of them at last be, Psalms 16:11.
Q. 23. What does the consideration of God’s being in heaven teach us, with reference to the manner in which we ought to address him for our blessings?
A. It teaches us to be modest, humble, and cautious, in our conceptions of, and applications to him; as being a God of such inconceivable greatness, and glorious majesty, Ecclesiastes 5:2 - “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few.”
Q. 24. To whom does the relative pronoun our, in the preface, refer?
A. It refers both to ourselves and others.
Q. 25. What is the import of it as it refers to ourselves?
A. When we are directed to say our Father, it imports the faith and confidence we are warranted to express in him, as standing in such an amiable relation.
Q. 26. Upon what grounds are we warranted to express our faith and confidence in him, as standing in the amiable relation of our Father?
A. Upon the ground of his being “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Ephesians 1:3; and upon the ground of our new-covenant Head calling him “my Father,” in the name of all his spiritual seed, Psalms 89:26 - “He shall cry unto me, Thou art MY FATHER.”
Q. 27. What do these words, our Father, import, as they have a respect to others?
A. They import that we should pray with and for others.
Q. 28. What is it to pray with others?
A. It is to be the mouth of others to God, or to join with them in family or social worship.
Q. 29. What is it to pray for others?
A. It is to express our concern about them, or our sympathy with them before God, as sincerely and ingenuously, as we would do with reference to ourselves, were we in the same circumstances, Psalms 35:13.
Q. 30. Who are these others for whom we should pray?
A. We should pray for “all men,” 1 Timothy 2:1; yea, for them which despitefully use us and persecute us, Matthew 5:44; but especially for “all saints,” Ephesians 6:18.
Q. 31. Why have all the saints a special claim to our prayers?
A. Because they are the special favourites of heaven, John 15:9, and therefore the very butt of the keenest resentment of hell, 1 Peter 5:8.
÷101. Of the first petition QUESTION 101. What do we pray for in the first petition?
ANSWER:In the first petition, (which is, Hallowed be thy name,) we pray, That God would enable us, and others, to glorify him in all that whereby he maketh himself known and that he would dispose all things to his own glory.
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Q. 1. What is the meaning of the word petition?
A. It signifies asking or desiring any thing.
Q. 2. How many petitions are there in the Lord’s prayer?
A. There are six.
Q. 3. In what order are these six petitions ranged?
A. The first three bear a more immediate respect to God; and the last three to ourselves.
Q. 4. What are we taught by this order of ranking the petitions?
A. We are thus taught, first to pray for what concerns the glory of God, as being the highest and most valuable end; and then for what respects our own advantage, as being only subordinate to it, Matthew 6:33.
Q. 5. Which is the first of these petitions?
A. It is in these words, Hallowed be thy name.
Q. 6. What is signified by the name of God in this petition?
A. It is explained in the answer to be all that whereby he maketh himself known.
Q. 7. What is our duty with reference to this name of God?
A. It is to pray that it may be hallowed.
Q. 8. What is the meaning of the word HALLOWED?
A. It is explained in the answer to be the same with glorified: when we pray Hallowed be thy name, we pray, that God himself may be glorified.
Q. 9. By whom should we pray that God’s name may be hallowed or glorified?
A. We should pray, that his name may be glorified by himself; and likewise that he would enable us and others to glorify him.
Q. 10. What do we mean, when we pray that God’s name may be glorified by himself?
A. We mean, that he would be pleased daily to demonstrate it more and more to the world, to be what it really is, most holy and most glorious, so as to excite that adoration and esteem which is due to him: for, says he, “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh to me, and before all the people will I be glorified,” Leviticus 10:3.
Q. 11. Where does he thus demonstrate the glory of his own name?
A. In his word; and by his works both of creation and providence, particularly by the glorious device of redemption.
Q. 12. What do we acknowledge, when we pray that God would enable us and others to glorify him?
A. We thus acknowledge “the utter inability and indisposition that is in ourselves and all men, to honour God aright, 2 Corinthians 3:5.” 1
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 190.
Q. 13. What is requisite in order to our honouring God aright?
A. In order to this, it is requisite that we diligently attend to the several ways, by which God maketh himself known, such as his attributes, ordinances, word, and works; and see if we are studying to glorify him in all these.
Q. 14. How do we glorify him in his attributes or perfections?
A. When we think or speak of them with becoming reverence, and endeavour to exercise suitable acts of faith upon them; such as, admiring his wisdom, depending on his power, and trusting to his faithfulness, that he will do as he has said.
Q. 15. How do we glorify him in his ordinances?
A. When we attend upon them, and improve them for our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace, Psalms 84:10.
Q. 16. How do we glorify him in his word?
A. When we believe it as the record of God, John 20:31.
Q. 17. How do we glorify him in his work of creation?
A. When we apprehend and admire his “eternal power and Godhead,” as shining in it, Romans 1:20.
Q. 18. How do we glorify him in his works of providence?
A. When we have a grateful sense of his mercies, Genesis 32:10; and tremble at his judgments, Psalms 119:120.
Q. 19. How do we honour him in his glorious device of redemption?
A. When we receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel, Acts 15:11.
Q. 20. What do we mean, when we pray that God would enable others to glorify him, as well as ourselves?
A. We thus, in effect, pray, that the “earth may be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,” Isaiah 11:9; that so “from the uttermost parts of the earth may be heard songs, even glory to the righteous,” chap. 24:16 [Isaiah 24:16].
Q. 21. What are those things we should pray God would prevent and remove, that his name may be glorified?
A. We should pray, “that he would prevent and remove atheism, ignorance, idolatry, and whatever is dishonourable to him.” 2
2 Larger Catechism, Quest. 190.
Q. 22. What should we pray God would do, in the course of his providence, for glorifying his own name?
A.That he would dispose all things to his own glory.
Q. 23. How does God dispose all things to his own glory?
A. By bringing a revenue of glory to himself, even out of those things that seem most opposite to it, Isaiah 43:20.
Q. 24. What are these seemingly opposite things, out of which God brings a revenue of glory to himself?
A. Among others, there are persecutions and the falls of believers.
Q. 25. How does he bring a revenue of glory to himself out of persecutions?
A. By overruling them to the furtherance of the gospel, Acts 11:19-21.
Q. 26. How does he bring glory to himself out of the falls of believers?
A. By overruling their falls and miscarriages, in such a manner, as that they are thus made more humble, watchful, and circumspect, for the future, Psalms 51:3.
÷102. Of the second petition QUESTION 102. What do we pray for in the second petition?
ANSWER:In the second petition, which is, “Thy kingdom come,” we pray, That Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.
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Q. 1. How many fold is God’s kingdom in this world?
A. TWOFOLD; namely, his general, essential, or providential kingdom; and his special kingdom.
Q. 2. What is his general kingdom?
A. It is the absolute power and sovereignty which he exercises over all things in heaven, earth, and hell, for the purposes of his own glory, Psalms 103:19 - “His kingdom ruleth over all.”
Q. 3. What is his special kingdom?
A. It is the government and care which he exercises in and over his church and people, as a society distinct from the rest of the world, Psalms 59:13 - “God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth.”
Q. 4. Into whose hands is the management of God’s special kingdom committed?
A. Into the hands of Christ as Mediator, Psalms 2:6.
Q. 5. How is this kingdom, as committed into his hands, usually called?
A. His mediatory, or donative kingdom.
Q. 6. Why called his mediatory kingdom?
A. Because he holds it as Mediator, Luke 22:29.
Q. 7. Why called his donative kingdom?
A. Because it is given him of the Father as a reward of his meritorious obedience and sufferings, Matthew 28:18; and to distinguish it from his essential kingdom.
Q. 8. May his essential kingdom be said to be given him?
A. By no means; because it is natural to him, as God equal with the Father, and can no more be given him than his divine nature and personality can.
Q. 9. For what are we directed to pray in this petition, with reference to God’s kingdom in general?
A. That it may COME: Thy kingdom come.
Q. 10. In what sense may we pray for the coming of his essential kingdom?
A. Only in this sense, that he would more and more demonstrate his supreme power and sovereignty over all things, and that the same may be more and more acknowledged by the children of men, Psalms 83:18.
Q. 11. Would it be warrantable for us to pray, that he would govern the world, or actually exercise his supreme power?
A. It would be no more warrantable to pray for this, than to pray that he would be an infinite Sovereign, which he cannot but be; and act agreeably to his nature, which he cannot but do.
Q. 12. Whether is it the coming of God’s general or special kingdom that is chiefly intended in the answer?
A. It is the coming of his special kingdom of grace here, and of glory hereafter.
Q. 13. Are the kingdoms of grace and glory different kingdoms?
A. They are not so much different kingdoms, as different STATES in the same kingdom: according to the common maxim, Grace is glory begun, and glory is grace consummated, or in perfection.
Q. 14. How may the kingdom of grace in this world be viewed?
A. Either as to outward dispensation, or inward operation.
Q. 15. What is it as to outward dispensation?
A. It is just the preaching of the gospel, Mark 1:14 - “Jesus came, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.”
Q. 16. What is it as to inward operation?
A. It is the work of saving grace in the soul, Luke 17:21 - “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Q. 17. Why called the kingdom of grace?
A. Because the gathering of sinners into this kingdom, for their salvation, is of grace, both as to the means and end, Ephesians 2:8.
Q. 18. What do we pray for with reference to the kingdom of grace, when we say, Thy kingdom come?
A. We do not pray that it may be erected as a new thing in the world, but that it may be advanced in it.
Q. 19. Why should we not pray, that Christ’s kingdom of grace may be erected or set up as a new thing in the world?
A. Because this would be, in effect, to deny that Christ had ever a church upon this earth; whereas, it is most certain, that ever since the first promise, he has always had a church in it, and will have it to the end of time, Isaiah 59:21.
Q. 20. But is it not our duty to pray, that the kingdom of grace may be set up in those parts of the world where it is not at present?
A. To be sure it is; for we should pray,” That the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified,” 2 Thessalonians 3:1; and that the earth may “be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,” Isaiah 11:9; which is the same with praying, “That the kingdom of grace may be advanced.”
Q. 21. For what should we pray as pre-requisite to the advancing of the kingdom of grace?
A. In order to this, we should pray, That Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed.
Q. 22. What is the meaning of the name SATAN?
A. It is a Hebrew word, signifying an adversary; as, indeed, the devil is an implacable adversary, burning with hatred and enmity both against God, and therefore called “his enemy,” Matthew 13:25, and against man, 1 Peter 5:8 - “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
Q. 23. What do you understand by Satan’s kingdom?
A. That power and dominion which he usurps over mankind-sinners, who are by nature lawful captives, Isaiah 49:24-25.
Q. 24. If sinners of mankind are by nature lawful captives, how can Satan’s dominion over them be said to be usurped?
A. Though they be justly delivered into his hands, as a jailer, yet he has no right to rule over them as a prince.
Q. 25. Do they not voluntarily subject themselves to his dominion?
A. Yes; and this is both their sin and their judgment John 8:44.
Q. 26 What is the principal seat of Satan’s kingdom?
A. The HEART of every man and woman by nature, Ephesians 2:2.
Q. 27. What is the foundation and bulwark of this kingdom?
A. SIN, both original and actual, Ephesians 2:3.
Q. 28. For what should we pray, with reference to this kingdom of Satan?
A. That it may be destroyed.
Q. 29. Why should, we pray for the destruction of this kingdom?
A. Because the work, of grace cannot take place, nor succeed in the soul, except upon the ruins of Satan’s interest in it, Luke 11:21-22.
Q. 30. How then is Satan’s kingdom destroyed in the world?
A. By the advancement of the kingdom of grace in it.
Q. 31. When may the kingdom of grace be said to be advanced?
A. When ourselves and others are brought into it, and kept in it.
Q. 32. How are we and others brought into this kingdom?
A. By the gracious influences of the Spirit of God, accompanying the dispensation of the gospel with irresistible power, Psalms 110:2-3.
Q. 33. How are we and others kept in it?
A. By continued emanations of grace out of the fulness of Christ, by which the principle of grace is quickened, strengthened, and preserved, Hosea 14:5.
Q. 34. For what should we pray, as the means of bringing into this kingdom?
A. We should pray, “that the gospel may be propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins.” 1
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 191.
Q. 35. For what should we pray as means of being kept in it?
A. That the same ordinances may be effectual to the “confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted.” 2
2 Ibid.
Q. 36. Can any subject of this kingdom ever apostatise from it?
A. No; they are “kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation,” 1 Peter 1:5.
Q. 37. Why then should we pray to be kept in it?
A. Because perseverance, being a promised privilege, should, on that account, be prayed for, Psalms 119:28 - “Strengthen thou me, according to thy word.”
Q. 38. What security have the saints that they shall be kept in this kingdom?
A. They have the stability of the promise, Jeremiah 32:40 the efficacy of Christ’s obedience to the death in their stead, Ephesians 5:25, Ephesians 5:27; the prevalency of his intercession, John 17:24; and the inhabitation of his Spirit, Romans 8:11, for their security in this matter.
Q. 39. What is the kingdom of glory?
A. It is that state of inconceivable happiness and bliss into which the saints shall be brought after death, John 14:2-3.
Q. . In what will the glory of this kingdom consist?
A. In a perfect conformity to, and the immediate and uninterrupted vision and fruition of God through all eternity, 1 John 3:2.
Q. 41. When will the kingdom of glory come in the full manifestation of it?
A. At the second coming of Christ to judgment, Matthew 25:31, Matthew 25:34.
Q. 42. For what are we to pray, with reference to this kingdom?
A. That it may be hastened.
Q. 43. When we pray that it may be hastened, do we mean, that the set time for the second coming of Christ may be anticipated, or come sooner than the moment fixed for it in infinite wisdom?
A. No; we wish it no sooner; but only express our ardent “desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” than to be here always, Php 1:23.
Q. 44. Why do the saints so earnestly desire to be with Christ in glory?
A. That an eternal period may be put to all their sinning, and to every thing that has a tendency to detract from the glory of his kingdom, and the happiness of his subjects: wherefore, as he saith, “Surely, I come quickly;” so they pray, “Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus,” Revelation 22:20.
÷103. Of the third petition QUESTION 103. What do we pray for in the third petition?
ANSWER:In the third petition, which is, “thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” we pray, that God, by his grace, would make us both able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things, as the angels do in heaven.
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Q. 1. How many fold is the will of God?
A. TWOFOLD; his will of purpose, or disposing will; and his will of precept, or revealed will.
Q. 2. What is his will of purpose, or disposing will?
A. It is what he himself purposes to be done, as the final determination of the event of things, Isaiah 46:10 - “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”
Q. 3. How is this will commonly designated?
A. It is termed his will of providence, because he infallibly brings it about, or accomplishes it, in the course of his adorable providence, Psalms 135:6.
Q. 4. What is God’s will of precept, or his revealed will?
A. It is the rule of our duty, prescribing what he would have us to do, or not to do, Matthew 26:39 - “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
Q. 5. Whether is it God’s will of purpose or precept that is meant in this petition?
A. Both are included, but chiefly his will of precept.
Q. 6. When we say, “Thy will be done,” for what do we pray with reference to God’s will of purpose?
A. We pray, that God, by his grace, would make us able and willing - to submit to it, and acquiesce in it, so soon as it is discovered or made known to us, Acts 21:14 - “And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.”
Q. 7. What does our praying for submission to God’s will of purpose or providence, necessarily imply in it?
A. It implies that we are “by nature - prone to repine and murmur against his providence,” 1 especially in afflictive dispensations, Numbers 14:2.
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 192.
Q. 8. When do we submit to afflictive dispensations?
A. When we justify God in them, Daniel 9:7; and acknowledge that he “hath punished us less than our iniquities deserve,” Ezra 9:13.
Q. 9. For what do we pray, when we pray that God’s will of precept may be done?
A. We pray that God, by his grace, would make us able and willing to know and obey the same.
Q. 10. Why do we pray that God would make us able and willing to know and obey his revealed will?
A. Because, “by nature, we and all men, are not only utterly unable and unwilling to know and do the will of God; but prone to rebel against his word, - and wholly inclined to do the will of the flesh, and of the devil.” 2
2 Ibid.
Q. 11. Why do we pray that God would make us able and willing by his grace?
A. Because it is wholly of his free love and sovereign grace, that he works in us either to will or to do, Php 2:13 - “It is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
Q. 12. For what do we pray, when we pray that God would make us able and willing to know his revealed will?
A. We pray, that, by his Spirit, he would take away our natural blindness, and open our understanding, that we may “understand the scriptures,” Luke 24:45.
Q. 13. For what do we pray, when we pray that God would make us able and willing to obey his will?
A. We pray, that he would remove the weakness, indisposedness, and perverseness of our hearts; and, by his grace, incline us to set about, and keep up the practice of every commanded duty, in the strength of that grace which is secured in the promise, Ezekiel 36:27 - “I will cause you to walk in my statutes;” 2 Corinthians 12:9 - “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Q. 14. Why is knowing the will of God mentioned before the obeying of it?
A. Because there can he no true and acceptable obedience, but what flows from that saving knowledge which is inseparable from the faith of God’s operation, John 13:17 - “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”
Q. 15. Where should we desire that the will of God may be done?
A. We should desire that it may be done on earth, by all persons, and in all places on it, Psalms 150:6.
Q. 16. In what things should we pray that the will of God may be done on earth?
A. We should pray that it may be done in all things,Psalms 119:6.
Q. 17. Why in ALL THINGS?
A. Because we may be quite sure, that God’s will, both of precept and providence, is perfectly, or in every respect, equal, and just, Ezekiel 18:25.
Q. 18. Whom should we resemble in our obedience?
A. The holy angels: we should study to do the will of God as the angels do in heaven.
Q. 19. Can we know and obey the will of God as perfectly on earth, as the angels do in heaven?
A. No; but we should copy after them, as to the manner of their obedience.
Q. 20. What is it to copy after them as to the manner of their obedience?
A. It is to essay obedience “with the like humility, cheerfulness, faithfulness, diligence, zeal, sincerity, and constancy, as the angels do in heaven.” 3
3 Larger Catechism, Quest. 192.
÷104. Of the fourth petition QUESTION 104. What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
ANSWER:In the fourth petition, which is, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we pray, That of God’s free gift, we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life, and enjoy his blessing with them.
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Q. 1 What does our Catechism mean by bread in this petition?
A. It explains it to be the good things of this life.
Q. 2. What do you understand by the good things of this life?
A. Not only meat and drink; but clothes to cover us, houses to shelter us, sleep to refresh us, and the like; which are called “things needful to the body,” James 2:16.
Q. 3. May not spiritual mercies, or food to our souls, be intended by the bread here mentioned?
A. No; the petition respects temporal mercies, or the good things of the present life.
Q. 4. How do you prove, that the good things of this life, and not spiritual mercies, are intended in this petition?
A. From the completeness, and compendiousness of the Lord’s prayer; for, it cannot be supposed, that, in a prayer so complete, the good things of this life would be quite omitted; or, that in a prayer so compendious, spiritual mercies would, without necessity, be repeated in this petition, when the other petitions are so full of them.
Q. 5. Why are these good things called by the general name of BREAD?
A. Because, though bread be the most common, yet it is the most useful and necessary support of natural life; and therefore called the staff, or stay of bread, Isaiah 3:1.
Q. 6. Why called daily bread?
A. Both because our need of the supports of nature recurs daily; and likewise to teach us contentment with our present allowance in providence, Php 4:11.
Q. 7. For what quantity of daily bread, or of the good things of this life, may we lawfully pray?
A. For a competent portion of them.
Q. 8. What is meant by a competent portion?
A. Such a measure of temporal comforts, as our necessities may require, or will tend to our good, Proverbs 30:8 - “Give me neither poverty nor riches: feed me with food convenient for me.”
Q. 9. What is imported in our praying, that God would give us this competent portion?
A. It imports our desire to receive it of God’s free gift.
Q. 10. What do we acknowledge, when we pray to receive temporal comforts of God’s free gifts?
A. We thereby acknowledge, that in Adam, and by our own sin, we have forfeited our rights to all the outward blessings of this life, and deserve to be wholly deprived of them by God.” 1
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 193.
Q. 11. How does it appear that we have, by sin, forfeited our right to outward blessings?
A. It appears from this, that we have thereby forfeited our life itself, Genesis 2:17; and, therefore, by necessary consequence, all the supports of it, Jeremiah 5:25.
Q. 12. Why do we say, Give us this day?
A. Because if God shall be pleased to afford us the necessary supplies of each day, when it comes, we ought not to be anxiously solicitous about tomorrow, Matthew 6:34.
Q. 13. May we not lawfully pray for what respects the future condition of ourselves, or families, in this world?
A. Yes; if God shall continue us, or them, in life, then, in this case, we may lawfully beg of him, that neither we, nor they, may ever be destitute of what is necessary for our glorifying God, in the respective stations, in which he has, or may place us while in it, Genesis 28:20-22.
Q. 14. Does God’s giving us our daily bread, exclude the use of means for the obtaining of it?
A. No; for, “if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel,” 1 Timothy 5:8.
Q. 15. May we not then ascribe our daily bread to our own diligence and industry?
A. No; because it is God who gives us ability to pursue our respective callings, and it is he who succeeds our lawful endeavours in them, Deuteronomy 8:17, Deuteronomy 8:18 - “Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth.”
Q. 16. Why do we say, Give us our daily bread? why do we call it OURS?
A. Because whatever measure or proportion of outward blessings, God in his providence, thinks fit we should receive, is properly OURS, whether it be more or less, 1 Timothy 6:8 - “Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content.”
Q. 17. Since both the godly and the wicked have their daily provision from God, what difference is there as to the manner in which the one and the other hold their outward comforts?
A. There is a wide difference as to the manner in which the godly and the wicked hold their outward comforts, whether we consider their respective right and title; their present enjoyment; or their future expectation.
Q. 18. What is the difference as to their respective right and title?
A. The wicked have only a civil and common right; but the godly have, besides this, a spiritual and covenant right also, 1 Timothy 4:8.
Q. 19. What is the difference as to their present enjoyment?
A. The godly have God’s blessing on what they presently enjoy; but the wicked his curse. In this respect, “a little that a righteous man hath, is better than the riches of many wicked,” Psalms 37:16.
Q. 20. What is the difference as to their future expectation?
A. The godly have the good things of this world, as pledges of the far better things of another; but the wicked have them as their whole pay; for they have their portion in this life, Psalms 17:14.
Q. 21. For what should we pray in order to have the comfortable use of the good things of this life, which God may confer upon us?
A. That we may enjoy his blessing with them.
Q. 22. Why is the blessing of God necessary to all our outward comforts?
A. Because without this none of them could reach the end for which they are used: our food could not nourish us, nor our clothes warm us, nor medicines, however skilfully applied, give any relief from our ailments, Job 20:22-23.
Q. 23. Will God’s blessing make the meanest fare answer the end of comfortable nourishment?
A. Yes; as is evident from the example of Daniel, and the other three children of the captivity, who desired to be proved ten days, with no better cheer than pulse and water: “And at the end of ten days, their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh, than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat,” Daniel 1:12, Daniel 1:15.
Q. 24. Why do we pray in the plural number, Give us?
A. To express a concern for the good things of this life to the rest of our fellow-creatures, as well as to ourselves, 1 Kings 8:35-40 ÷105÷105. Of the fifth petition QUESTION 105. What do we pray for in the fifth petition?
ANSWER:In the fifth petition, which is, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” we pray, That God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because, by his grace, we are enabled, from the heart, to forgive others.
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Q. 1. Why is this petition connected with the former, by the copulative conjunction and?
A. To teach us, that we can have no outward comfort with God’s blessing, unless our sins are pardoned, and our persons accepted in Christ, 1 Corinthians 3:22-23.
Q. 2. What are we to understand by debts in this petition?
A. By debts we are to understand our sins, whether original or actual, of omission or commission, Luke 11:4.
Q. 3. Why are these called debts?
A. Because of the debt of punishment we owe to the justice of God, on account of them, Romans 6:23 - “The wages of sin is death.”
Q. 4. Can we pay any part of this debt to the justice of God?
A. No; “neither we, nor any other creature, can make the least satisfaction for it, Psalms 130:3;” 1 or pay the least farthing of it, Matthew 18:25.
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 194.
Q. 5. What other debt are we naturally owing, besides the debt of punishment as transgressors?
A. We likewise owe a debt of obedience to the law as a covenant; in which we are also utterly insolvent; “being unto every good work reprobate,” Titus 1:16.
Q. 6. What are we to pray for with reference to our sins or debts?
A.That God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon them all.
Q. 7. Whose prerogative is it to pardon?
A. It is God’s only, Micah 7:18.
Q. 8. From what spring or fountain in God does pardon flow?
A. From his own gracious nature, Psalms 86:5, and sovereign will, Exodus 33:19.
Q. 9. What is it for God to pardon?
A. It is to “acquit us both from the guilt and punishment of sin, Romans 3:26.” 2
2 Ibid.
Q. 10. For whose sake does he pardon?
A. Only for Christ’s sake.
Q. 11. What is it for God to pardon for Christ’s sake?
A. It is to vent his pardoning grace “through the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, apprehended and applied by faith, Romans 3:25.” 3
3 Larger Catechism, Quest. 194.
Q. 12. Could God pardon sin, without any respect to the obedience and satisfaction of Christ?
A. No; because justice behoved to be satisfied; for, “without shedding of blood is no remission,” Hebrews 9:22.
Q. 13. What is the extent of pardoning grace?
A. It extends to all our sins,Psalms 103:3.
Q. 14. In what manner should we expect that God will pardon all our sins?
A. We should expect that he will do it freely, for his own name’s sake, Psalms 25:11.
Q. 15. How can God be said to pardon our sins freely, when he does it on account of the surety-righteousness imputed to us?
A. God’s accepting of Christ as our Surety, and his fulfilling all righteousness in our room, were both of them acts of rich, free, and sovereign grace, Psalms 89:19; Luke 12:50. Though the pardon of our sins be of debt to Christ, yet it is free to us, Ephesians 1:7.
Q. 16. When a believer prays for the forgiveness of his daily sins, does he pray for a new and formal pardon of them?
A. Whatever may be the believer’s practice as to this matter, at some times, through the prevalence of darkness and unbelief; yet it is certain, that the pardon of sin, in justification, is one perfect act, completed at once, and never needs to be repeated, Micah 7:19 - “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
Q. 17. If daily sins are already forgiven in justification, in so far as the not imputing of them is secured in it; why is the believer here directed to pray for the pardon of them?
A. As the evidences of pardon may be frequently eclipsed, and fatherly displeasure incurred, by our daily failings; it is therefore our duty to pray, that God’s fatherly displeasure may be removed, and the joy of his salvation restored, by his “giving us daily more and more assurance of forgiveness, Psalms 51:8-10, Psalms 51:12.” 4
4 Larger Catechism, Quest. 194.
Q. 18. Upon what ground may we be encouraged to ask and expect from God, the intimation of the pardon of our daily sins and failings?
A.Because, by his grace, we are enabled, from the heart, to forgive others.
Q. 19. What is it we are to forgive others?
A. Personal injuries; or injuries as committed against ourselves, Matthew 18:15.
Q. 20. Have personal injuries an offence done to God in them?
A. They certainly have; and it is our duty to pray that God would forgive it, Psalms 35:13.
Q. 21. In what manner should we forgive personal injuries?
A. We should do it from the heart.
Q. 22. What is it to forgive our fellow-creatures from the heart?
A. It is not only to lay aside all resentment against them; but to wish and do them all offices of kindness that lie in our power, as if they had never done us any injury, Matthew 5:44.
Q. 23. Have we naturally such a disposition in us?
A. No; God enables us to do it by his grace.
Q. 24. To what are we naturally inclined, with reference to personal injuries?
A. We are naturally inclined to harbour hatred and malice in our hearts on account of them, and to revenge them if we can; as was the case with Esau against his brother Jacob, Genesis 27:41.
Q. 25. What should excite us to the duty of forgiving personal injuries?
A. The examples of this disposition recorded in scripture for our imitation; such as, the example of Joseph, Genesis 50:17, Genesis 50:21; of Stephen, Acts 7:60; and of our Lord himself, Luke 23:34.
Q. 26. Can it ever be dishonourable to forgive a personal injury?
A. No; it is a man’s glory to pass over a transgression, Proverbs 19:11.
Q. 27. Can forgiving the person infer an approbation of his crime?
A. No; we may forgive the person, and yet charge his sin close home upon his conscience, as Joseph did to his brethren, Genesis 45:4, and Genesis 50:20.
Q. 28. What if forgiveness imbolden the offender in the like injuries for the future?
A. The fear of this should not be an excuse for omitting the present duty of forgiving; because we should leave events to the Lord.
Q. 29. When we say, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;” do we mean to state a comparison between our forgiving others, and God’s forgiving us?
A. No; there is an infinite disproportion between the one and the other; the injuries our fellow-creatures do us are but few and small, in comparison of the innumerable and aggravated crimes we are guilty of against God, Matthew 18:1-35 verses 24th and 28th [Matthew 18:24, Matthew 18:28] compared.
Q. 30. Can we consistently with the scope of this petition, make our forgiveness of others, the ground and reason of God’s forgiving us?
A. No; for this would be to put our forgiveness of others in the room of Christ’s righteousness, on the account of which alone it is that God forgives us.
Q. 31. What then, is the true meaning of these words as we forgive our debtors?
A. The meaning is, that we take encouragement to hope, that God will forgive us the sins of our daily walk, from this evidence, or “testimony in ourselves, that we, from the heart, forgive others their offences, Matthew 6:14-15, - ‘If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.’“ 5
5 Larger Catechism, Quest. 194.
Q. 32. What may we learn from the verses just now quoted, for illustrating the meaning of this petition?
A. We may learn this from them, as the meaning of it, that our forgiving others, may be an evidence of God’s forgiving us: and that our being of an implacable and unrelenting disposition towards our fellow creatures, who have injured us, is a sad sign, that our own sins are not forgiven us of God, Matthew 18:35.
÷106. Of the sixth petition QUESTION 106. What do we pray for in the sixth petition?
ANSWER:In the sixth petition, (which is, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,) we pray, That God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.
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Q. 1. What does this petition necessarily suppose?
A. It supposes, “that the most wise, righteous, and gracious God, for divers holy and just ends, may so order things, that we may be assaulted, foiled, and, for a time, led captive by temptations, 2 Chronicles 32:31.” 1
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 195.
Q. 2. How many ways may God be said to lead a person into temptation, and yet not be the author of sin?
A. Two ways, objectively and permissively.
Q. 3. How may he be said to lead into temptation objectively?
A. When his providential dispensations, which, in themselves, are holy, just, and good, do offer, or lay before us occasions for sin.
Q. 4. May these occasions be called incitements or motives to sin?
A. No; only our corrupt hearts abuse or pervert them to this end; thus, David was envious when he “saw the prosperity of the wicked,” Psalms 73:3.
Q. 5. When may God be said to lead his people into temptation permissively?
A. When he suffers them to be assaulted by the tempter, and, at the same time, withholds those aids of grace, which would prevent their compliance with the temptation, as in the case of David’s numbering the people, 2 Samuel 24:1, compared with 1 Chronicles 21:1.
Q. 6. What is the evil from which we pray to be delivered, and the temptations we pray against in this petition?
A. The evil of sin, and temptations to sin.
Q. 7. What is it to be tempted to sin?
A. It is to be strongly solicited, instigated, and enticed to it, Proverbs 7:16-24.
Q. 8. Can God be the author or efficient of such instigations and allurements?
A. By no means; “For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man,” James 1:13.
Q. 9. Why then does he permit them to take place?
A. That he may direct and over-rule them to the purposes of his own glory; as in the instance of Peter, Luke 22:31, Luke 22:32 - “The Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.”
Q. 10. From whence do all temptations to sin spring, or take their rise?
A. All of them flow from “Satan, 1 Chronicles 21:1; the world, Luke 21:34; and the flesh, which are ready powerfully to draw us aside and insnare us, James 1:14.” 2
2 Larger Catechism, Quest. 195.
Q. 11. Are we liable to be drawn aside and insnared by enemies, after we are in a state of grace?
A. Yes; “even after the pardon of our sins, by reason of our corruption, Galatians 5:17, weakness, and want of watchfulness, Matthew 26:41, we are both subject to be tempted, and forward to expose ourselves unto temptations, ver. 69-72 [Matthew 26:69-72].” 3
3 Ibid.
Q. 12. Are we able to resist temptations when assaulted with them?
A. No; we are, “of ourselves, unable and unwilling to resist them, to recover out of them, and to improve them, Romans 7:23, Romans 7:24.”4
4 Ibid.
Q. 13. How is Satan denominated in scripture, with reference to temptations?
A. He is called, by way of eminence, THE TEMPTER, Matthew 4:3.
Q. 14. Why is he so called?
A. Because of his strong and violent instigation and solicitation to sin, Acts 5:8.
Q. 15. When did he begin this trade of tempting?
A. He began it in Paradise, Genesis 3:1, Genesis 3:4, Genesis 3:5; and has been making his assaults upon all ranks of mankind ever since, 1 Peter 5:8.
Q. 16. Can Satan force and compel the will to yield to his temptations?
A. No; otherwise all his temptations would be irresistible.
Q. 17. How do you know that they are not irresistible?
A. Because the saints are exhorted to resist them, James 4:7; and have actually been enabled, by grace, to do it, 2 Corinthians 12:8-9.
Q. 18. How many are the ways by which Satan manages his temptations?
A. Two ways chiefly, either in a way of SUBTLETY, using wiles and devices; hence called “that old serpent which deceiveth the whole world,” Revelation 20:2, compared with chap. 12:9 [Revelation 12:9]; or in a way of FURIOUS ASSAULT, throwing his “fiery darts,” Ephesians 6:16. In both which respects he is called, in the Greek tongue, APOLLYON; that is, a destroyer, Revelation 9:11.
Q. 19. Why called a destroyer?
A. Because he aims at nothing less than the eternal ruin and destruction of all mankind, 1 Peter 5:8 - “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.”
Q. 20. What are some of those chief wiles and stratagems in which he displays his SUBTLETY?
A. He makes choice of the most advantageous seasons for tempting; he employs the fittest instruments for carrying on his designs; and sometimes gilds over the foulest sins with the fairest names.
Q. 21. What are these advantageous seasons for tempting, of which Satan makes choice?
A. When a person is under sore affliction and distress, Job 2:9; when the object is present that will enforce the temptation, 2 Samuel 11:2, 2 Samuel 11:4; and after some remarkable manifestation of divine love, 2 Corinthians 12:2, 2 Corinthians 12:7.
Q. 22. Who are the instruments he employs for carrying on his temptations?
A. Men of the greatest power and policy, 1 Kings 12:26-30; and sometimes men of reputed piety and godliness; thus he employed the old prophet to seduce the man of God with a lie, 1 Kings 13:18.
Q. 23. What are these fair names, under which Satan wants to make the vilest sins pass among men?
A. He allures to covetousness, under the name of frugality, Ecclesiastes 4:8; to profuseness, under the specious title of generosity, chap. 5:13, 14 [Ecclesiastes 5:13-14]; he tempts to drunkenness, under the disguise of good fellowship, Proverbs 23:29-30; and to neutrality and indifference in religion, under the colour of a prudent and peaceable spirit, Acts 18:14-15, Acts 18:17.
Q. 24. What are those temptations, which Satan endeavours to throw in upon the soul, in the way of FURIOUS ASSAULTS?
A. They are his temptations to blasphemous and atheistical thoughts.
Q. 25. What is his plot by injecting these horrid suggestions?
A. Either to beget unbecoming thoughts of God, or to disturb, vex, and distract the Christian.
Q. 26. Does he ever gain his design, in begetting unbecoming thoughts of God, in the minds of any of God’s children?
A. Yes; as would appear by their speaking sometimes very unadvisedly with their lips, Psalms 77:8, Psalms 77:9 - “Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? hath God forgotten to be gracious?”
Q. 27. Are the saints suffered to continue long in such sentiments?
A. No; for as such words are far from their stated judgment; and only flow from their lips in the hour of temptation; so the Lord, by his grace, will soon make them change their speech, as in the words immediately following: “And I said, this is mine infirmity; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High,” Psalms 77:10.
Q. 28. Do blasphemous and atheistical thoughts ever take their rise in our own hearts?
A. Frequently they do; as our Lord testifies, Matthew 15:19 - “Out of the HEART proceed - blasphemies.”
Q. 29. When may we charge ourselves with such thoughts, as arising in our hearts?
A. When we make no resistance, but give way to them; contrary to the command of God: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” James 4:7.
Q. 30. Can the saints of God distinguish between blasphemous and atheistical thoughts, suggested by Satan, and those that arise in their own hearts?
A. Yes, they can, in some measure; otherwise they would frequently be deprived of the comfortable use of those consolations that are allowed them in the word.
Q. 31. How may they know the one from the other?
A. If they are violent and sudden, coming in like a flash of lightning upon the mind, Matthew 16:22, Matthew 16:23; if their souls tremble at such thoughts, and oppose them with the utmost abhorrence, Psalms 73:15; and if nothing is more grievous than to be assaulted with them, ver. 21, 22 [Psalms 73:21-22]; then they may conclude, that they are rather to be charged on Satan than themselves.
Q. 32. What are the extremes, to which Satan labours to drive sinners by his temptations?
A. Either to presumption or despair.
Q. 33. What is PRESUMPTION?
A. It is a confident hope of the favour of God, and of obtaining eternal life, without any sufficient foundation to support it, like the foolish virgins, Matthew 25:11-12.
Q. 34. What is Satan’s conduct with reference to presumption?
A. He does all he can to foster and cherish it, and is sure to give it no disturbance, Luke 11:21 - “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace.”
Q. 35. What is DESPAIR?
A. It is the melancholy apprehension of a person’s case as being quite hopeless, and of there being no help for him in God, Jeremiah 2:25.
Q. 36. By what artifices does Satan labour to drive persons to this deplorable extreme?
A. By suggesting that their sins are too many, and too heinously aggravated to be pardoned; that the time of forgiveness is past; or that they have been guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost.
Q. 37. Is it possible that our sins can be more numerous and more heinously aggravated, than that they can be pardoned?
A. No; because no bounds or limits can be set to the infinite mercy of God, as vented through the meritorious obedience and satisfaction of Jesus; “for, he will abundantly pardon,” (margin, “he will multiply to pardon,” Isaiah 55:7); and he declares, that though our “sins be as scarlet, or red like crimson, they shall be white as snow, and as wool,” Isaiah 1:18.
Q. 38. Can any be certain in this life, that the time of forgiveness is past as to them, or that their day of grace is over?
A. No; because while the gospel continues to be published to them, it is their unquestionable duty to believe the report made in it, concerning salvation for them in Christ, without diving into the secret counsels of God, 1 John 5:11 - “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son.”
Q. 39. How may a person know if he is not guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost?
A. If he is deeply concerned and perplexed about this matter, and has an habitual desire after salvation by grace, he may be verily assured he is not guilty of this: for “they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick,” Matthew 9:12.
Q. . What is the second spring of our temptations above mentioned?
A. The WORLD, Mark 4:19.
Q. 41. What are the things of the world which give rise to temptations?
A. Both the good things and the bad things of it.
Q. 42. What are the good things of the world, which may prove a snare and occasion to sin?
A. The profits, pleasures, and preferments of the world, when trusted to, and rested in, Matthew 13:22.
Q. 43. For what should we pray, in order to be delivered from such temptations?
A. That God would incline our hearts unto his “testimonies and not to covetousness,” Psalms 119:36, and that he would set our “affections on things above, not on things on the earth,” Colossians 3:2.
Q. 44. What are the evil things of this world, which may prove temptations?
A. The outward troubles and afflictions we meet with in it, John 16:33 - “In the world ye shall have tribulation.”
Q. 45. Is God the author of all outward afflictions?
A. Yes; Amos 3:6 - “Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?” Though men may indeed have an instrumental and sinful hand in their own troubles and distresses; Jeremiah 2:17 - “Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God?”
Q. 46. When do afflictions prove temptations?
A. When we either “despise the chastening of the Lord,” or “faint when we are rebuked of him,” Hebrews 12:5.
Q. 47. For what should we pray when visited with afflictions?
A. That when the Lord is pleased to chasten us, it may be “for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness,” Hebrews 12:10.
Q. 48. What is the third spring or fountain of our temptations?
A. The FLESH, Galatians 5:17.
Q. 49. What is meant by the flesh?
A. Our corrupt and depraved nature, Romans 8:8 - “They that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Q. 50. How is the flesh, or corrupt nature, the spring of temptation?
A. As it entices to it, James 1:14, and is the inlet to temptations from Satan and the world, Jeremiah 17:9.
Q. 51. How should we pray against such temptations as have their rise from corrupt nature?
A. That God would not only restrain the pernicious tendency of our natural dispositions, Psalms 19:13, but likewise fortify our souls, by the powerful influence of his grace, against all these evils, to which we are naturally addicted, Ephesians 3:16.
Q. 52 May we pray absolutely against temptations?
A. No; but we may put an alternative into God’s hand with reference to them.
Q. 53. What alternative may be put into God’s hand with reference to temptations?
A. That he would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.
Q. 54. What do we mean, when we pray, that God would keep us from being tempted to sin?
A. We mean by it, that, since the event of a temptation, with respect to us, is so dangerous and uncertain, if God has not some gracious ends to answer by it, he would rather be pleased, by his providence, to prevent the temptation, than suffer us to fall into it, Psalms 19:13.
Q. 55. What do we mean, when we pray, that God would support and deliver us when we are tempted?
A. We thus express our desire, “that, if tempted, we may, by his Spirit, be powerfully enabled to stand in the hour of temptation, Ephesians 3:16; or, if fallen, raised again and recovered out of it, Psalms 51:12, and have a sanctified use and improvement thereof, 1 Peter 5:8.” 5
5 Larger Catechism, Quest. 195.
Q. 56. How does the Lord enable his people to stand in the hour of temptation?
A. By making his grace sufficient for them, and perfecting his strength in their weakness, 2 Corinthians 12:9.
Q. 57. How does he raise and recover them out of temptation, when fallen into it?
A. By discovering the corrupt and natural bias of their heart toward the temptation; humbling them on account of it, and the offence done to God by their compliance; and by quickening their faith, to draw virtue from the righteousness of the Surety, for a fresh intimation of pardon, Psalms 51:4-5, Psalms 51:7.
Q. 58. When have they a sanctified use and improvement of temptations?
A. When they are made more circumspect, watchful, and dependent on Christ for the future, as being sensible of their inability to resist the least temptation without him; for he has said, “Without me ye can do nothing,” John 15:5.
Q. 59. What should be our habitual scope, and general end, in offering up this petition, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil?”
A. Our aim and end in it, should be, “that our sanctification and salvation may be perfected, 2 Corinthians 13:9; Satan trodden under our feet, Romans 16:20; and we fully freed from sin, temptation; and all evil for ever, 1 Thessalonians 5:23.” 6
6 Larger Catechism, Quest. 195.
÷107. Of the conclusion of the Lord¼ÇÖs prayer QUESTION 107. What doth the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer teach us?
ANSWER:The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, which is, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever, Amen,” teacheth us to take our encouragement in prayer from God only, and in our prayers to praise him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to him. And, in testimony of our desire and assurance to be heard, we say, AMEN.
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Q. 1. What does the particle for, which ushers in the conclusion of the Lord’s prayer, teach us?
A. It “teacheth us to enforce our petitions with arguments, Romans 15:30.” 1
1 Larger Catechism, Quest. 196.
Q. 2. From Whence are these arguments to be taken?
A. “Not from any worthiness in ourselves, or in any other creature, but from God, Daniel 9:19.” 2
2 Ibid.
Q. 3. What argument, for instance, may we fetch from God, to enforce our petitions?
A. That “mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other,” Psalms 85:10.
Q. 4. What force is there in this argument?
A. A very great force, namely, that all the perfections and excellencies of the divine nature, harmoniously agree in conferring all promised blessings upon sinners of mankind, on account of the meritorious obedience, and satisfaction of Christ imputed to them, 1 Corinthians 3:22, 1 Corinthians 3:23 - “All things are yours, and ye are Christ’s.”
Q. 5. For what end should we use arguments with God in prayer?
A. Not to prevail with him to grant what he does not see fit for us; but to quicken our own faith, and encourage our hope, to expect the good things of the promise which we want, in his own time and way, Daniel 9:18.
Q. 6. Why should we essay in our prayers to praise him?
A. Because “praise glorifies God,” Psalms 50:23, and engages him to hear our prayers, Psalms 67:5-6.
Q. 7. What way should we praise him in our prayers?
A. By ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to him.
Q. 8. What is meant by kingdom, power, and glory?
A. “Eternal sovereignty, omnipotency, and glorious excellency,” as appertaining “to God alone,” 1 Chronicles 29:10-14. 3 3Larger Catechism, Quest. 196.
Q. 9. What kingdom do we ascribe to God as his?
A. The kingdom of nature, as God Creator; and the kingdom of grace, as God Redeemer.
Q. 10. What encouragement may we take in prayer, from the kingdoms both of nature and grace being his?
A. That we shall want nothing that is good for us, either as we are his creatures, Psalms 145:16, or his children, Matthew 7:11.
Q. 11. Why do we ascribe power to God, as well as kingdom?
A. Because, without power, his sovereignty could not be maintained, or his kingdom managed, Psalms 66:3, Psalms 66:7.
Q. 12. What encouragement may we take in prayer, from the power being his?
A. That no difficulty whatever shall hinder the accomplishment of the promise, Romans 4:21.
Q. 13. What do we mean by ascribing glory to him?
A. We thus acknowledge, that he is possessed of all those excellencies, which render him glorious in the eyes of men and angels; and that the praise and honour of every thing that is great and excellent, or has a tendency to raise our esteem and admiration, is due to him; Psalms 78:4.
Q. 14. What encouragement may we take in prayer, from the glory being his?
A. That the accomplishment of his glorious purposes, and performance of his gracious promises, will bring in a revenue of glory and praise to him, Psalms 45:17.
Q. 15. How long will the kingdom, power, and glory be his?
A.For ever, without intermission through eternity. Exodus 15:18.
Q. 16. What is the difference, in this respect, between God and all earthly kings and potentates whatsoever?
A. Their kingdom, power, and glory, are only of a short duration, Psalms 82:6-7; whereas the God with whom we have to do changes not, but is ever the same, James 1:17.
Q. 17. Why do we say Amen in our prayers?
A. We should do it in testimony of our desire, and assurance to be heard.
Q. 18. How may we know we say Amen in testimony of our desire?
A. When “by faith we are imboldened to plead with God, that he would - fulfil our requests, 2 Chronicles 20:6, 2 Chronicles 20:11.” 4
4 Larger Catechism, Quest. 196.
Q. 19. What does the word signify, when we say it in testimony of our desire?
A. In this view it properly signifies, so be it, or so let it be.
Q. 20. When do we say Amen in testimony of our assurance to be heard?
A. When “by faith we are imboldened - quietly to rely upon him that he will fulfil our requests, 2 Chronicles 14:11.” 5
5 Ibid.
Q. 21. What does the word signify, when we say it in testimony of our assurance to be heard?
A. In this sense it denotes, so it is; or, so it shall be.
Q. 22. In which of these views is the word, Amen, to be understood in the conclusion of this prayer?
A. It is to be understood as signifying both; namely, as including a testimony of our desire, and likewise an assurance of being heard.
Q. 23. How does this appear?
A. Because there cannot be a desire of any promised blessing in faith, but there must be some measure of assurance that it will be granted in God’s time and order, Psalms 10:17. THE END ÷108. Historical notes HISTORICAL NOTES
Notes are from the, CYCLOPEDIA of BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL and ECCLESIASTICAL LITERATURE, 12 vols. (New York: Harper & Bros., 1894) by James Strong & John McClintock - As published by Ages Software on CD-ROM in 2000
Fisher, James
One of the four leaders of the secession from the Established Church of Scotland, and professor of divinity to the Associate (Burgher) Synod, was born at Bar, Scotland, January 23, 1697. He commenced his curriculum in Glasgow in 1712, and closed it in St. Andrews in 1716; and then entered the Divinity Hall in the University of Edinburgh, where he continued six sessions. He was licensed to preach in 1722, and for some time supplied pulpits within the bounds of the presbytery. His first parish was at Glenisla, Forfarshire, and in 1725 he removed to Kinclaven. In 1732 he took an active part in denouncing the encroachments of the British legislature on the ecclesiastical liberties of Scotland, before the General Assembly, which soon resulted in his being suspended from the ministry. Mr. Fisher, with his other dissenting brethren, shortly afterwards constituted themselves into a presbytery, and with their respective congregations thus formed The Associate Presbytery. After various fruitless endeavors on the part of the General Assembly to induce Mr. Fisher to return to the Established Church, he, in 1741, was ejected from the church and manse of Kilclaven, whence he removed to Glasgow in response to a unanimous call from a newly organized Church holding his views, which he served continuously for over thirty years. He died September 28, 1775. Mr. Fisher was somewhat under the middle size, well proportioned, had a lively, affectionate, cheerful countenance, easy and alert in all his movements, was neat in dress, and orderly and punctual in all his affairs, an habitual early riser, and a conscientious, diligent student. His published works are, The Inestimable Value of Divine Truth, (Edinb. 1739): - Christ Jesus the Lord, Considered as the Inexhaustible Matter of Gospel Preaching (ibid. 1741): - The Character of a Faithful Minister of Christ (ibid. 1752): - The Assembly’s Shorter Catechism Explained by Way of
QUESTION and Answer (Glasgow, 1753, part 1, 8vo; part 2, 1760): - Christ the Sole and Wonderful Doer in the Work of Man’s Redemption (ibid. 1755), and a few reviews. See Memorials of Alexander Moncrieff and James Fisher, in the United Presbyterian Fathers, 1849, page 9; Fasti Eccles. Scotianae, 2:802.
Erskine, Ebenezer An eminent and pious Scotch divine, founder of the “Secession Church.” He was born in the prison of the Bass Rock, June 22, 1680, and educated at the University of Edinburgh. He acted for some time as tutor and chaplain in the family of the earl of Rothes, and became a licentiate in divinity in 1702. In 1703 he was chosen minister of Portmoak, in the shire of Kinross, and became a very popular preacher. He accepted a charge in Stirling in 1731. “Mr. Erskine’s first difference with his colleagues of the Church of Scotland was in his support of the principles of ‘the Marrow of Modern Divinity,’ a subject of great contention during the early part of the 18th century. He was one of several clergymen who, in connection with this subject, were ‘rebuked and admonished’ by the General Assembly. The ‘secession of the body, headed by Mr. Erskine, was occasioned by the operation of the act of queen Anne’s reign restoring lay patronage in the Church of Scotland, and, though not in all respects technically the same, it was virtually on the same ground as the late secession of ‘The Free Church.’ The presbytery of Kinross, led by Erskine’s brother Ralph, had refused to induct a presentee forced on an objecting congregation by the law of patronage. In 1732, the General Assembly enjoined the presbytery to receive the presentee. At the same time they passed an act of Assembly regulating inductions, which, as it tended to enforce the law of patronage, was offensive to Mr. Erskine, and he preached against it. After some discussion, the General Assembly decided that he should be ‘rebuked and admonished,’ confirming a decision of the inferior ecclesiastical courts. Against this decision Mr. Erskine entered a ‘protest,’ in which he was joined by several of his brethren. He was afterwards suspended from his functions. The Assembly subsequently endeavored to smooth the way for his restoration, but he declined to take advantage of it, and he and his friends, including his brother Ralph, formally seceded in 1736. When the Secession was divided into the two sects of Burghers and anti- Burghers, Mr. Erskine and his brother were of the Burgher party. He died on the 2d of June, 1756. The Secession Church, reunited by the junction of the Burghers and antiBurghers in 1820, remained a distinct body till 1847, when a union being effected with the Relief Synod (a body which arose from Mr. Gillespie’s secession from the Established Church of Scotland in 1752), the aggregate body assumed the name of the United Presbyterian Church” (English Cyclopedia). Erskine bore a very high reputation as a scholar. His writings are collected in The whole Works of Ebenezer Erskine, consisting of sermons and discourses on the most important and interesting subjects (Lond. 1799, 3 volumes, 8vo). See Hetherington, Church of Scotland, 2:297 sq.
Erskine, John, D.D An eminent Scotch divine, was born in Edinburgh, June 2, 1721, and was educated at the University of Edinburgh. His father (author of the Institutes of the Laws of Scotland) wished him to devote himself to law, but finally yielded to his son’s desire that he should study theology. At twenty he published an essay on The Law of Nature sufficiently propagated to the Heathen World, aiming to show that the ignorance and unbelief of the heathen is not due to want of evidence (Romans 1:29). In 1743 he was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Dunblane, and in 1744 he became minister of Kirkintillock. In 1748, Mr. Erskine, and other evangelical clergymen of the Established Church, invited Whitefield into their pulpits. An animated discussion took place, in which Mr. Erskine triumphantly defended himself. Such a course required courage at a time when the character and doctrines of Whitefield, as well as his openair preaching, were looked upon by many with suspicion or dislike. In the following year Mr. Erskine published An Essay intended to promote the more frequent dispensation of the Lord’s Supper. In 1753 he was translated to Culross, and in 1758 to New Greyfriars’ church, Edinburgh. Here he prepared his Theological Dissertations (Lond. 1765, 12mo), including the two essays above mentioned: one on the Covenant of Sinai, one on Saving Faith, and one on the Apostolic Churches. He also edited a new edition of Hervey’s Theron and Aspasio, with a preface against John Wesley, written with some bitterness, which gave rise to some letters between Erskine and Wesley, in which the latter appears to decided advantage (Wesley, Works, N. York ed. 6:125 sq., 744). In 1769 he published anonymously a pamphlet under the title ‘‘Shall I go to war with my American brethren?” to expose the impolicy of such a contest. On the outbreak of hostilities he republished it with his name, following it up with another, entitled Reflections on the Rise, Progress, and probable Consequences of the present Contentions with the Colonies, in which he urged the duty of the mother country resorting to conciliatory measures. In 1776 he issued a third pamphlet, under the title The Equity and Wisdom of the Government in the Measures that have occasioned the American Revolt tried by the sacred Oracles. On this subject Erskine was one of the few clear-sighted men of the time in Great Britain. When nearly sixty he studied Dutch and German in order to read the Continental divines; the fruit of these studies appeared in Sketches and Hints of Church History and theological Controcersy, translated or abridged from foreign Writers (Edinburgh; 1790-97, 2 volumes, 12mo). He died January 19, 1803. After his death appeared his Discourses (Edinburgh, 1818, 2 vols. 12mo). - Jamieson, Religious Biography, page 139; Jones, Christian Biography, page 191; Wellwood, Life of Erskine.
Erskine, Ralph
Brother of Ebenezer, was born at Monilaws, Northumberland. March 18, 1685, and was educated at the University of Edinburgh. In 1711 he became minister at Dunfermline. In 1734 he joined his brother and others in their secession from the Church. He died November 6, 1752. He was a preacher of great popular abilities, devotional and zealous. His writings are collected under the title Sermons and other practical Works, consisting of above 150 sermons, besides his poetical pieces, to which is prefixed an account of the author’s life and writings (Falkirk, 10 volumes, 8vo, 1794-96). - Darling, Cyclop. Bibliographica, 1:1063.
Cameron, Richard
Founder of the “Cameronians” or “Covenanters,” was born at Falkland, in the county of Fife. He first acquired notice by his bold opposition to the measures of Charles II for enforcing the Episcopal form of worship on the Scottish people. The measures adopted by the government roused the people, and among those who gave fullest expression to the popular sentiments was Richard Cameron. He belonged to the extreme party, who held by the perpetually binding obligations of the Solemn League and Covenant, which were set aside at the restoration of Charles II. Along with some others, he strenuously resisted the measures that reinstated, the Episcopal Church in Scotland, and that proscribed the meetings for public worship of unauthorized religious bodies. Contrary to law, he persistedin preaching in the fields, and became obnoxious to government, to which, indeed, he finally assumed an attitude of defiance. Not only were his doctrines obnoxious to the government, but many of his brethren of the clergy dreaded his zeal, which they considered extreme, and at a meeting held in Edinburgh in 1677 they formally reproved him. He retired to Holland, but soon returned; and on the 22d of June, 1680, in company with about twenty other persons, he entered the town of Sanquhar in Dumfriesshire, and at the marketcross proclaimed that Charles Stuart had, by his perjuries, his tyrannical government, and his usurpation, forfeited all right and title to the crown. The party kept together in arms for a month; but on the 20th of July, while lying at Airdsmoss in Kyle, they were surprised by a large body of horse and foot, and in the skirmish which followed Cameron was killed, and his followers were dispersed or taken prisoners. A neat monument has been recently placed on the spot where Cameron fell, replacing an old and plainer structure. - English Cyclopcedia; Chambers’ Encyclopcedia; Hetherington, Hist. of Church of Scotland, 2:106 sq.; Biog. Presbyteriana (Edinb. 1835, vol. 1).
Presbyterian Church in Scotland A history of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland would be, in effect, a history of that country; for since its establishment by the Reformation its political and religious history have flowed on in one and the same channel. Christianity was planted in Scotland about the beginning of the 3rd century; and it is claimed that the early churches, particularly those of the ancient Culldees, were non-prelatical. Under the vigorous missions of Palladius and Augustine they were, however, reduced to conformity with the rule of Rome, and so remained until the period of the Reformation. At that time the corruption of the hierarchy, its encroachments on the civil power, and its greedy appropriation of the right of patronage to benefices, had created a wide-spread dissatisfaction, and prepared the way for the favorable reception of the principles of the Reformation. For twenty years persecution followed, and many were burned at the stake, among whom were Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart. The first general and public movement leading to the organization of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland was the drawing-up of a common bond or covenant, known as “The First Covenant,” and subscribed at Edinburgh, Dec. 3, 1557, by several of the most powerful of the Scotch nobility and a large number of lesser barons and influential country gentlemen, known subsequently (on account of their frequent use of the word congregation to designate those for whom they professed to act) as lords of the congregation. The signing of the covenant was followed by a proclamation from the queen regent forbidding any one to preach or administer the sacrament without the authority of the bishop. At length, however, the party of the Reformers triumphed, and in the year 1560 (Aug. 17-24) the Parliament abolished the Roman Catholic worship, adopted a confession of faith agreeing with the confessions of the Reformed churches on the Continent, appointed ministers of the Protestant religion in eight principal towns, and assigned the remaining portions of the country to five other ministers as superintendents who were to take temporary charge of the interests of religion in their several districts. On Dec. 20, 1560, the first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was constituted in Edinburgh, consisting of six ministers and thirty-four laymen. Up to this period, the Scottish Reformers had followed, as their rule of worship and doctrine, the Book of Common Order used by the English Church at Geneva. In April, 1560, however, the Privy Council appointed a committee of five persons, including Knox, “to commit to writing their judgments touching the reformation of religion.” This First Book of Discipline, setting forth a polity adapted to the existing condition of affairs, though adopted by the Church, was rejected by the nobles, who wished to appropriate to themselves the patrimony of the old Church. In 1581 the Second Book of Discipline, drawing its system directly from the Scriptures, was adopted by the Assembly, and this-confirmed in 1592 by King James, along with the Westminster documents-is still in force. Nothing but the undaunted perseverance of those two eminent men, John Knox and Andrew Melville, succeeded at last in procuring the complete recognition of the Calvinistic faith and the Presbyterian form of government as the established religion of Scotland, which was finally and formally effected by act of Parliament and with the consent of king James (I of England and VI of Scotland) in the year 1592. The duplicity of the king, however, soon became apparent, for within a few years he intrigued to bring about the establishment of Episcopacy, and to assimilate the two national churches of Scotland and England. In this he was followed by his successors, Charles I, Charles II, and James II. The resistance of the people, the bloody persecutions that ensued, the civil turmoil, and the subsequent downfall of the Stuart dynasty, are matters of history. From 1660 to 1688, the Church was in the wilderness, scourged by such men as Claverhouse (q.v.) and Dalziel (q.v.), but leaving the record of many noble martyrdoms-as given in the story of the Scots Worthies and the Cloud of Witnesses.
Under William and Mary, Presbyterianism again became ascendant. In 1690 an “Act of Settlement” was passed, prelacy was abolished, and the Westminster Confession recognized as the creed of the Church. But the settlement of the Church on this basis was objected to by a small body of earnest men, the “Reformed Presbyterians,” who had already distinguished themselves in zeal for the “Covenants” as securities alike for the freedom of the Church and the Christianity of the State, and who now felt unable either to enter into the Church or to give their unqualified adherence to the constitution of the State. Many of the more earnest descendants of the Covenanters (q.v.) protested against the reception of such men into the Church, and, finding their protest in vain, withdrew, and organized the Reformed Presbyterian Church. (See below.) Though this secession took place in 1681, the churches were not finally organized into a presbytery till 1743. Upon the union of the two kingdoms in 1707, Presbyterianism obtained every guarantee that could be desired. Since that time it has continued to be the established religion of Scotland, as much as Episcopacy is that of England. The only confession of faith legally established before the Revolution of 1688 was that which is published in the History of the Reformation in Scotland, attributed to John Knox. It consists of twenty-five articles, and was the confession of the Episcopal as well as of the Presbyterian Church. The Parliament, however, during the Commonwealth, adopted the Westminster Confession. At the Revolution this confession was declared to be the standard of the national faith; and it was ordained by the same acts of Parliament which settled Presbyterian Church government in Scotland, “that no person be admitted or continued hereafter to be a minister or preacher within this Church unless he subscribe the [that is, this] confession of faith, declaring the same to be the confession of his faith.” By the act of union in 1707 the same is required of all professors, principals, regents, masters, and others bearing office. The Westminster Confession of Faith, then, and what are called the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, contain the publicly recognized doctrines of this Church; and it is well known that these formularies are an embodiment of the Calvinistic faith. No liturgy or public form of prayer is used in the Church of Scotland, the minister’s only guide being the Directory for the Public Worship of God. The administration of the Lord’s Supper, as a general thing observed four times a year, is conducted with simple forms, but is accompanied, usually preceded and followed, by special religious services, consisting of prayers and exhortations. A metrical version of the Psalms on the basis of that of Rous (died 1659) is used, and supplementary hymns have recently been introduced. The provision which has been made by the law of Scotland for the support of the clergy of the Established Church consists of a stipend, a small glebe of land, and a manse (parsonage house) and office houses. By an act of Parliament passed in 1810, £10,000 per annum were granted for augmenting the smaller parish stipends in Scotland. By this act the lowest stipend assigned to a minister of the establishment is £150 sterling, with a small sum, generally £8 6s. 8d., for communion elements. Patronage, in part abrogated at the Revolution, was restored in 1712 by act of Parliament. Scottish independence rebelled at this, the people claiming the right to elect their own clergy, or at least to exercise a veto over the appointment of an unsatisfactory one; and the controversy which ensued led to secession, which was ushered in first by indifference, and was helped on by the renewal of the old interest. From that time a worldly spirit crept into the Church; men of talents, but lax in principle, obtained possession of influential positions; the leaven of moderatism-ridiculed in Dr. Witherspoon’s Characteristics- set extensively to work; and in the course of time Arminian, Pelagian, and even Socinian tenets were propagated, with little attempt at concealment. The result was the secession of several important bodies from the Church. The first who formally withdrew were the Covenanters, or Cameronians, who objected to the interference of the state authorities in Church affairs, and to the Erastian principle involved in the existing establishment, as inconsistent with the covenant to which the Church had sworn. A few faithful men, led by Ebenezer Erskine, endeavored to breast the tide; but, being deposed by the commission of the Assembly, who were Moderates, they seceded in 1733, and formed themselves into a distinct body, called the Associated Presbytery, more commonly known as Seceders. They became known as the Secession Church. This secession proved a severe blow, and shook the establishment to its foundations. Another secession arose in 1760, and from it was formed the Presbyterians of Relief, better known as “The Relief Synod.” These bodies have since been united, and constitute the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Those who remained in the Established Church were divided in opinion on the subject of lay patronage. The sentiment against it continued to grow because of the indifference of the clergy. For a while moderatism held the upper hand, but its reign was dreary. Under the dominant influence of principal Robertson, whose studies were more devoted to elegant literature than to the Holy Scriptures, the preaching of tie Gospel was superseded by moral essays, and Dr. Blair’s cold and polished sermons were regarded as models of the highest excellence. This state of things continued till near the close of the 18th century, when Christians in Scotland began to share in that general reviving of evangelical principles which then pervaded Great Britain. A positive reaction set in, and gradually new life began to animate the frozen limbs of the Established Church. The evangelical party took heart, and constantly increased in strength. Dr. Andrew Thomson, Dr. Chalmers, and others came upon the stage of action, and under their vigorous lead a new era was inaugurated. The Assembly entered with zeal into the subject of foreign missions, while it multiplied churches to supply the need at home. The burden of patronage was felt to be a great hindrance to the progress of vital piety and active effort, and the autonomy or independent jurisdiction of the Church became a topic of earnest debate. In 1834 the General Assembly passed the celebrated “Veto Act,” giving to the Church courts the power of rejecting a presentee if judged by them unfit. This act was set aside by the civil court, and subsequently, on appeal, by the House of Lords, in the Auchterarder case, in 1839. The Assembly yielded so far as the temporalities were concerned, but at the same time unequivocally maintained the principle of nonintrusion as one that could not be given up consistently with the doctrine of the headship and sovereignty of Christ. The Strathlbogie case next occurred, bringing the civil and ecclesiastical courts into direct collision, which ended at last in the Disruption of 1843, under the lead of Chalmers, Cunningham, Welsh, Candlish, and Dunlop; 470 members signed an “Act of Separation and Deed of Demission,” and the Free Church of Scotland was organized. Soon after the separation of 1843 an act of Parliament was passed, called “Lord Aberdeen’s Act,” to define the rights of congregations and presbyteries in the calling and settlement of ministers. But in 1874 this was suspended by another act, whereby patronage was abolished, and the right of electing ministers was vested in the people. Government still reserves, however, the appointment of theological professors. The Free Church carried off about one half the communicants of the Established Church, and became a rival communion in most of the parishes of Scotland. The three denominations-the Established Presbyterian Church, the United Presbyterian Church, and the Free Church (in which the Reformed Presbyterian Church merged in 1876) -constitute the chief Presbyterian churches of Scotland at the present time.
Solemn League and Covenant
There were several covenants drawn up in Scotland having regard to the maintenance of the Reformed or Presbyterian religion in that country. The First Covenant was subscribed in Edinburgh Dec. 3, 1557, the mass of signers being known as the Congregation, and the nobility and leading subscribers as the Lords of the Congregation (q.v.). They petitioned the government for liberty of worship. Being met with dissimulation and treachery, a Second Covenant was signed at Perth, May 31, 1559, wherein the subscribers bound themselves to mutual assistance in defense of their religious rights. The appeal was made to arms, and the aid of queen Elizabeth of England was called in to counteract the French troops invited by the Papal party. On the death of the queen-mother in 1560, the French troops were withdrawn, and Parliament, being left at liberty, ordained the Presbyterian as the Established Church of Scotland. In 1638 the National Covenant was subscribed over all Scotland with great enthusiasm. This was not only a repetition of the former covenants, but contained, moreover, a solemn protest against prelacy. The Solemn League and Covenant was a compact entered into in 1643 between England and Scotland, binding the united kingdoms to mutual aid in the extirpation of popery and prelacy, and the preservation of true religion and liberty in the realm. It was drawn up by Alexander Henderson, approved by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Aug. 17, ratified by the Convention of Estates, and accepted and subscribed Sept. 25 by the English Parliament and the Westminster Assembly (q.v.). In 1645 it was again ratified by the Scottish General Assembly, together with the Directory for Worship framed by the Westminster Assembly. Although Charles I would not approve of it, Charles II engaged by oath to observe it, a promise which he broke upon the first opportunity. The Scottish Parliament of 1661, in the interest of the king, established the royal supremacy, annulled the Solemn League and Covenant, and absolved the lieges from its obligations. The “Covenants” have a place in the volume which comprehends the Westminster Confession of Faith (Scottish edition), but for what reason it is difficult to say, for the Church of Scotland does not make adherence to them obligatory on either clerical or lay members. Certain Scottish and Irish dissenters, however, still profess attachment to the covenants, and on particular occasions renew their subscription to them. - Hetherington, Hist. of Church of Scotland; McCrie, Sketches of Ch. Hist.; Rudloff, Geschichte der Reformation in Schottland (Berlin, 1853, 2 vols.).
Covenanters The name given primarily to that body of Presbyterians in Scotland who objected to the Revolution settlement in Church and State, and desired to see in full force that kind of civil and ecclesiastical polity that prevailed in Scotland from 1638 to 1649. “According to the Solemn League and Covenant, ratified by the Parliaments of England and Scotland, and also by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster in 1643, Presbyterianism was to be maintained in the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and popery, prelacy, superstition, heresy, schism, etc., were to be extirpated. The ‘Covenanters’ in Scotland contended, as is well known, under much suffering, for this species of Presbyterian supremacy throughout the reigns of Charles II and James VII (II). As a measure of pacification at the Revolution, Presbytery was established in Scotland by act of Parliament, 1690; but it was of a modified kind. Substantially the Church was rendered a creature of the State, more particularly as regards the calling of General Assemblies; and prelacy was not only confirmed in England and Ireland, but there was a general toleration of heresy - i.e. dissent. In sentiment, if not in form, therefore, this party repudiated the government of William III and his successors, and still maintained the perpetually binding obligations of the Covenants. The Covenanters acted under strong convictions, and only desired to carry out to a legitimate issue principles which have always been found in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland; but which, for prudential considerations, had been long practically in abeyance. In short, it is in the standards of the Covenanters that we have to look for a ‘true embodiment of the tenets held by the great body of English and Scotch Presbyterians of 1643. Others gave in to the Revolution settlement, and afterwards found cause to secede. The Covenanters never gave in, and, of course, never seceded. Although thus, in point of fact, an elder sister of the existing Church of Scotland and all its secessions, the Cameronian body did not assume a regular form till after the Revolution; and it was with some difficulty, amidst the general contentment of the nation, that it organized a communion with ordained ministers. The steadfastness of members was put to a severe trial by the defection of their ministers, and for a time the people were as sheep without a shepherd. At length, after their faith and patience had been tried for sixteen years, they were joined by the Reverend John M’Millan, from the Established Church, in 1706. In a short time afterwards the communion was joined by the Reverend John M’Neil, a licentiate of the Established Church. As a means of confirming the faith of members of the body, and of giving a public testimony of their principles, it was resolved to renew the Covenants; and this solemnity took place at Auchensach, near Douglas, in Lanarkshire, in 1712. The subsequent accession of the Reverend Mr. Nairne enabled the Covenanters to constitute a presbytery at Braehead, in the parish of Carnwath, on the 1st of August, 1743, under the appellation of the Reformed Presbytery. Other preachers afterwards attached themselves to the sect; which continued to flourish obscurely in the west of Scotland and north of Ireland. For their history and tenets we refer to the Testimony of the Reformed Presbyterian Church (Glasgow, John Keith, 1842). Holding strictly to the Covenants, and in theory rejecting the Revolution settlement, the political position of the Covenanters is very peculiar, as they refuse to recognize any laws or institutions which they conceive to be inimical to those of the kingdom of Christ” (Chambers, Encyclopaedia, s.v. Cameronians). The Reformed Presbyterians regard themselves as the modern representatives of the Covenanters. See History of the Covenanters (2 vols. 18mo, Philad. Presb. Board)