Q. Though in times past God spake unto the fathers by the prophets, has he not in these last days spoken to us by another?

A. Yes; his Son.

Q. What has been the result of this?

A. It has enlarged the object of faith to us by him, by which it becomes to be the faith of

Jesus.

Q. Did Christ make a further revelation?

A. Yes; he revealed the will of God to the apostles.

Q. Then the faith of the apostles had the same ground as that of Moses and the prophets?

A. Yes; it was grounded on the immediate revelation of God.

Q. If the apostles believed on Christ through his own word, how did those to whom they preached believe?

A. As the Israelites believed on Moses, assured by his miracles that he spake from God—so were the apostles believed, through the miracles by which their testimony was avouched.

Q. What, then, was the faith of those who were converted by the apostles?

A. It was an assent unto the word, as credible, upon the testimony of God, delivered to them by a testimony apostolical.

Q. How then do you explain the true nature of a Christian's faith?

A. It is an assent to truths credible upon the

testimony of God, delivered unto us in the writings of the apostles and prophets.

Q. State then what it is to believe, as the word stands in the front of the Creed.

A. It is to assent to the whole and every part of it, as to a certain and infallible truth revealed by God, and delivered to us in the writings of the apostles and prophets.

Q. Explain what you mean by "I believe." A. It is a confession, or an external profession of faith.

"be

Q. Why is this external profession necessary? A. Because we are commanded to do so: ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you;" and as there can be no reason of hope but what is grounded on faith, so there can be no answer given to that, without an acknowledgment of this.

Q. But the promises of the gospel are made to faith-how then does it involve the confession?

A. True, they are; but the same promises are made to the confession of faith as well. "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven."

Q. Are there any other motives to this confession?

A. Yes; mutual edification; and, above all, the glory of God.

Q. Is the neglect of such confession sinful?
A. Yes; as by this we withhold the glory due

to God, dishonour our faith, and cast a contumely upon the Author of it..

Q. Does the scripture any where condemn this neglect ?

A. Yes; our Saviour has said, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

Q. State then the necessity for it, in respect to God.

A. Because he commanded it, and is glorified by it.

Q. Also in respect to ourselves.

A.

Q.

A.

by it.

Because we shall be rewarded for it.

Also in respect to our brethren.

Because they are edified and confirmed

Q. What do you mean, when you say, “I believe in God?"

A. An acknowledgment or assertion of his being or existence. "He that cometh to God must believe that he is." i. e. I believe that God is.

Q. What do you understand by the name of God?

A. Here it is understood of him who is styled "God of Gods," (Deut. x. 17. Ps. cxxxvi, ii. Dan. ii. 47; xi. 36.) and "Lord of lords;" "God over all.'

Q. On what ground are these titles given to him?

A. In right of his divine nature or essence, which all other who are called Gods have not, and therefore are not by nature Gods.

Q. Explain your sense of this divinity.

A. It is a being or nature of infinite perfection, and this infinite perfection consists: 1. In its being absolutely and essentially necessary, and therefore independent of any other. 2. In its being the cause of all things; and that on which all things else depend. 3. That by which all things are governed.

Q. Is the knowledge of God innate, or connatural to the soul of man?

A. No. We cannot refer the apprehension of a deity to any connate notion or inbred opinion. Q. Why do you draw this inference?

A. Because all knowledge comes by sensation, instruction, and rational collection.

Q. May the truth, that "God is," be evidenced and made apparent by its connexion with other truths?

A. Yes. "The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead."

Q. How do you discover the Creator in the works of his hands, and by the existence of any thing demonstrate the first cause of all things?

A. Some things have a beginning, before which they were not. Now, if there be any thing which

had a beginning, there must be something which had no beginning; because nothing can be its own beginning. Whatever is, must have been made or not made; and there must be something which was never made; because all things cannot be made; for whatever is made, is made by another, for nothing can produce itself: otherwise it would follow, that the same thing is, and is not, at the same instant, in the same respect. Since all things were made by some other, that other either was itself produced, or was not; if not, we have an independent being-if it were, we must at last come to something which was never made, or else admit, either a circle of productions, in which the effect shall make its own cause; or an infinite succession in causalities, by which nothing will be made; both which are equally impossible. There must then be something which was never made, or had a beginning.

Q. But these effects, or dependent beings, singly considered, do not infer one supreme cause and maker of them all?

A. No; but the admirable order and connexion of things show as much; and this one supreme cause is God.

Q. Since all things have their existence, have they also their operations for some end?

A. Yes; for though those creatures which are endued with reason can thereby apprehend thegoodness of the end for which they work, and