Chap. I. — Of the Scripture.
Ques. 1. What is Christian religion?
Ans. The 1only way of2 3 knowing God aright, and 4living unto him.
Q. 2. Whence is it to be learned?
A. From the holy5 Scripture only. Isa. viii. 20; John v. 39.
Q. 3. What is the Scripture?
A. The books of the ^aOld and ^bNew6 7 8 Testament, ^cgiven by inspiration from God, containing all things necessary to be believed and done, that God may be worshipped and our souls saved. ^aIsa. viii. 20; Rom. iii. 2. ^bRev. xxii. 19, 20. ^c2 Tim. iii. 16, 17; Ps. xix. 7, 8; Jer. vii. 13; John xx. 31.
Q. 4. How know you them to be the word of God?
A. By the 9testimony10 of God’s Spirit, working faith in my heart to close with that 11heavenly majesty, and clear divine truth, that shineth in them.
← The Lesser Catechism · Contents · Chapter II — Of God →
Footnotes
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John xiv. 5, 6, xvii. 3; Acts iv. 12. ↩
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Every one out of this way everlastingly damned. ↩
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The life of religion is in the Life. ↩
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Col. i. 10; 2 Cor. v. 15; Gal. ii. 19, 20. ↩
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Popish traditions are false lights, leading from God. ↩
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The authority of the Scripture dependeth not on the authority of the church, as the Papists blaspheme. ↩
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All human inventions unnecessary helps in the worship of God. ↩
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The word thereof is the sole directory for faith, worship, and life. ↩
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Matt. xvi. 17; John xvi. 13; 1 Thess. ii. 13; 1 John ii. 20, v. 6. ↩
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This alone persuadeth and inwardly convinceth the heart of the divine verity of the Scripture; other motives, also, there are from without, and unanswerable arguments to prove the truth of them, as, — 1. Their antiquity; 2. Preservation from fury; 3. Prophecies in them; 4. The holiness and majesty of their doctrine agreeable to the nature of God; 5. Miracles; 6. The testimony of the church of all ages; 7. The blood of innumerable martyrs, &c. ↩
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Luke xxiv. 32; 1 Cor. ii. 14; Heb. iv. 12; 2 Pet. i. 19. ↩