A
 
SHORT CATECHISM,
 
FOR
 
YOUNG CHILDREN.
 
 
BY JOHN BROWN,
 
Late Minister of the Gospel at Haddington.
 

Question 1: Who made you?
Answer: God.
Q 2: Who redeemed you?
A:    Christ.
Q 3: Who sanctifies you?
A:    The Holy Ghost.
Q 4: Of what were you made?
A:    Of dust.
Q 5: What doth that teach you?
A:    To be humble and mindful of death.
Q 6: For what end were you made?
A:    To serve God.
Q 7: Why ought you to serve God?
A:    Because He made, preserves, and redeemed me.
Q 8: How should you serve God?
A:    By believing on His Son, calling on His Name, and obeying His commands.
Q 9: To whom are you to pray?
A:    To God only.
Q 10: How often ought you to pray unto God?
A:    At least every morning and evening.
Q 11: For what things are you to pray daily to God?
A:    That He would bring me to Christ, renew my heart, forgive my sin, and keep me from evil.
Q 12: What kind of a heart have you by nature?
A:    A heart filled with all unrighteousness.
Q 13: Does your wicked heart make all your thoughts, words, and actions sinful?
A:    Yes; I do nothing but sin.
Q 14: Can you of yourself reform and renew your wicked heart?
A:    No; I am dead in trespasses and sins.
Q 15: What then can change and melt your rebellious, hard and stony heart?
A:    Nothing but God's Almighty power and free grace.
Q 16: Hath God promised you a new heart, pardon of sin, with every other blessing, and commanded you to ask them from Him by prayer?
A:    Yes.
Q 17: For whose sake are you to seek these mercies from God in prayer?
A:    Only for Christ's sake.
Q 18: Why must you be so earnest in praying for an interest in Christ, newness of heart, and pardon of sin?
A:    That I may live always in readiness for death.
Q 19: Is your life very short, frail and uncertain?
A:    Yes; perhaps I must die the next moment.
Q 20: What will become of you if you die in your sins?
A:    I must go Hell with the wicked.
Q 21: What kind of a place is Hell?
A:    A place of endless torment, being a lake that burns with fire and brimstone.
Q 22: Who are the wicked that go to Hell at death?
A:    Such as refuse Christ, neglect to read God's word, and pray to Him; or who lie, steal, curse, swear, profane the Sabbath, and disobey their parents.
Q 23: Who are wicked men's companions in Hell?
A:    Their father the Devil and all his angels.
Q 24: Where do the godly go at death?
A:    To Heaven.
Q 25: What kind of a place is Heaven?
A:    A most glorious, holy, and happy place.
Q 26: Who are the godly that go to Heaven at death?
A:    Such as embrace Christ, love God, and hate evil.
Q 27: Who will be godly men's companions in Heaven?
A:    God their Father, Christ their Savior, and the holy angels.
Q 28: What is the only way of getting safe to Heaven?
A:    Receiving the Lord Jesus, and walking in Him.
Q 29: What are you chiefly to remember in the days of your youth?
A:    My Creator and Redeemer.
Q 30: What doth God chiefly require of you?
A:    To believe and obey Him.
Q 31: What is the only rule of your faith and obedience?
A:    The Bible or Holy Scriptures.
Q 32: Whom are you to love above all things?
A:    God in Christ, as my Father and portion.
Q 33: Why must you love God above all things?
A:    Because He is so glorious in Himself, and so kind to me.
Q 34: Wherein is God so kind to you?
A:    He gives me my life, health, food, raiment; and offers me His Christ, and all good things with Him.
Q 35: Where lies your chief happiness?
A:    In the enjoyment of God.
Q 36: What is God?
A:    God is a Spirit.
Q 37: What manner of Spirit is God?
A:    He is an infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Spirit.
Q 38: Doth God see and know all things?
A:    Yes; He knows the very thoughts of our hearts.
Q 39: Cannot God do whatsoever He pleaseth?
A:    Yes; for He is Almighty.
Q 40: Can He do or approve any thing sinful?
A:    No; for He is infinitely holy.
Q 41: How many Gods are there?
A:    One only.
Q 42: How many persons are there in the Godhead?
A:    Three; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Q 43: Is each of these three persons the most high and only true God?
A:    Yes.
Q 44: Do not then these three persons make three Gods?
A:    No; They are but one and the same God.
Q 45: Wherein are they the same?
A:    In substance.
Q 46: Wherein are they equal?
A:    In power and glory.
Q 47: Is not then God far more great and glorious than we can conceive?
A:    Yes.
Q 48: Had ever God a beginning?
A:    No.
Q 49: Will God have an end?
A:    No; He is from everlasting to everlasting.
Q 50: Had every thing besides God a beginning?
A:    Yes.
Q 51: Will every thing besides God have an end?
A:    No; angels and souls of men will live forever.
Q 52: Who gave all things their beginning?
A:    God.
Q 53: Of what did God make all things?
A:    Of nothing.
Q 54: By what did God make all things?
A:    By the word of His power.
Q 55: In what time did God make all things?
A:    In the space of six days.
Q 56: For what end did God make all things?
A:    For His own glory.
Q 57: In what condition did God make all things?
A:    God made all things very good.
Q 58: Do all things continue to be very good?
A:    No; sin hath made devils and men very bad.
Q 59: Which is the worst thing in the world?
A:    Sin; that abominable thing which God hates.
Q 60: What makes sin so exceeding bad?
A:    It offends God and breaks His law.
Q 61: How many kinds of sin are there?
A:    Two.
Q 62: What are these?
A:    Original and actual.
Q 63: What is original sin?
A:    It is that sin I was conceived and born in.
Q 64: Doth original sin wholly defile you, and is it sufficient to carry you to Hell, though you had no other sin?
A:    Yes.
Q 65: What other sin besides original have you?
A:    I have actual sin also.
Q 66: What is actual sin?
A:    It is the sin which I daily commit in thought, word, and deed.
Q 67: What are the wages of sin?
A:    Death and Hell.
Q 68: What are you then by nature?
A:    I am an enemy to God, a child of Satan, and an heir of Hell.
Q 69: Was mankind originally created in such a sinful and miserable state?
A:    No; our first parents, Adam and Eve, were created in a holy and happy state.
Q 70: Did they continue in that holy and happy state in which they were created?
A:    No; they fell from it.
Q 71: How fell they from it?
A:    By sinning against God.
Q 72: What was Adam and Eve's first sin?
A:    Their eating the forbidden fruit.
Q 73: Who forbade them to eat this fruit?
A:    God.
Q 74: Who tempted them to eat it?
A:    The Devil.
Q 75: What evil was there in their eating this fruit?
A:    They thereby broke God's covenant, and so ruined themselves and their natural posterity.
Q 76: How many covenants are there?
A:    Two.
Q 77: What are these?
A:    The covenant of works, and the covenant of grace.
Q 78: With whom did God make the covenant of works?
A:    With Adam for himself and his posterity.
Q 79: With whom did God make the covenant of grace?
A:    With Christ, in the elect's name.
Q 80: What was the condition of the covenant of works?
A:    Adam's perfect obedience.
Q 81: What is the condition of the covenant of grace?
A:    Christ's fulfilling all righteousness.
Q 82: Which of these two covenants is most excellent and glorious?
A:    The covenant of grace.
Q 83: Wherein is the covenant of grace more excellent?
A:    Its blessings are both large and free, and it cannot be broken.
Q 84: Why cannot the covenant of grace be broken?
A:    Because Christ cannot fail as Adam did.
Q 85: Did you and all mankind break the covenant of works, in Adam's eating the forbidden fruit?
A:    Yes.
Q 86: How can that be, since you were not then born?
A:    Adam represents me, and I sinned in him.
Q 87: What did you fall from by Adam's eating the forbidden fruit?
A:    A state of holiness and happiness.
Q 88: Into what did you fall by it?
A:    Into an estate of sin and misery.
Q 89: Is there any recovery from that state of sin and misery, into which the breach of the covenant of works has brought you?
A:    Yes; by the covenant of grace.
Q 90: Cannot your good thoughts, words, or actions, recover you by the covenant of works?
A:    No; every thing I do is sinful.
Q 91: Can God pardon your sin without satisfaction to His justice?
A:    No; He will by no means clear the guilty.
Q 92: Can you satisfy God's justice for your own sin?
A:    No; I cannot cease from adding to my sin.
Q 93: Is God willing to receive satisfaction for your sin from another in your stead?
A:    Yes.
Q 94: But who is able and willing to give satisfaction for your sin?
A:    Jesus Christ is both able and willing, and hath fully satisfied  the law and justice of God for me.
Q 95: Why could none but Christ satisfy for your sin?
A:    Because none but He could bear infinite wrath.
Q 96: But who is this Jesus Christ?
A:    He is the eternal Son of God in our nature.
Q 97: Who provided Jesus Christ to be our Redeemer?
A:    God, Whom we have offended by our sin.
Q 98: What moved God to provide this glorious Surety and Redeemer for us?
A:    Nothing but His own free love.
Q 99: How many offices hath Christ?
A:    Three.
Q 100: What are the three offices of our Redeemer?
A:    The office of a Prophet, Priest, and King.
Q 101: For what end do you need a Redeemer with this threefold office?
A:    To cure my threefold misery.
Q 102: What is your threefold misery?
A:    Ignorance, guilt, and bondage.
Q 103: How doth Christ as a Prophet cure your ignorance?
A:    By His word and Spirit teaching me.
Q 104: How doth Christ as a Priest remove your guilt?
A:     By obeying God's law and dying for me.
Q 105: How doth Christ as a King redeem you from bondage?
A:     By delivering me from the power of sin and Satan.
Q 106: How many natures hath Christ?
A:     Two.
Q 107: What are the two natures of our Redeemer?
A:     The nature of God and the nature of man.
Q 108: Was Christ God from all eternity?
A:     Yes.
Q 109: Was Christ man from all eternity?
A:     No.
Q 110: When did our Redeemer become man?
A:     In the fulness of time; more than 1800 years ago.
Q 111: What doth Christ now continue to be?
A:     Both God and man in one Person.
Q 112: How long will Christ continue to be both God and man in one Person?
A:     Forever.
Q 113: In what condition was Christ born when He became man?
A:     In a low condition.
Q 114: What was that low condition?
A:     He was born of a mean woman, in a stable, and laid in a manger.
Q 115: What kind of a life had Christ in this world?
A:    A most afflicted and sorrowful life.
Q 116: What made Christ's life so afflicted and sorrowful?
A:    The wrath of God and contradiction of sinners.
Q 117: What shameful and painful death did Christ die?
A:    The cursed death of the cross.
Q 118: For what end did Christ endure all these sufferings?
A:    To satisfy God's justice, and atone for our sins.
Q 119: What became of Christ after His death?
A:    His body was buried, and His soul went to heaven.
Q 120: How long did Christ's body continue in the grave?
A:    Part of three days.
Q 121: Did Christ's body corrupt in the grave?
A:    No.
Q 122: How came that?
A:    Because He was without sin.
Q 123: What became of Christ after His lying in the grave?
A:    He arose from the dead and ascended to Heaven.
Q 124: Where sits He there?
A:    At the right hand of God.
Q 125: How long will Christ continue sitting at the right hand of God?
A:    Forever.
Q 126: Will Christ ever come again to this world?
A:    Yes.
Q 127: When will He come again to it?
A:    At the last day.
Q 128: For what end will He come again at the last day?
A:    To judge the world.
Q 129: Whom will Christ judge at the last day?
A:    All, devils and men, both quick and dead.
Q 130: Of what must we then give an account to God?
A:    Of all our thoughts, words, and actions.
Q 131: Whereby will the dead be raised up to the last judgment?
A:    By the almighty power of God.
Q 132: Who will bring us and all mankind to the judgment seat of Christ?
A:    The holy angels.
Q 133: Whom will Christ set up on His right hand in the day of judgment?
A:    The righteous.
Q 134: Whom will He place on His left hand?
A:    The wicked.
Q 135: What will be the sentence of the righteous?
A:    Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Q 136: What will be the sentence of the wicked?
A:    Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.
Q 137: What will become of the wicked after the passing of this sentence?
A:    They will be cast soul and body into Hell fire.
Q 138: What will become of the righteous?
A:    They will triumphantly pass into Heaven with Christ.
Q 139: How long will the wicked continue in Hell, and the saints in Heaven?
A:    Forever and ever.
Q 140: What will the wicked forever do in Hell?
A:    They will roar, curse, and blaspheme God.
Q 141: What will the righteous forever do in Heaven?
A:    They will behold the glory, and sing the praises of God in Christ.
Q 142: How may we attain to that blessed state?
A:    By getting an interest in Christ and His righteousness.
Q 143: What mean you by the righteousness of Christ?
A:    His obedience and suffering; or, His doing and dying.
Q 144: Can you be saved by the righteousness of Christ, in a state of sin and course of disobedience to God's commands?
A:    No; without holiness no man shall see the Lord.
Q 145: How many commandments of God are there?
A:    Ten.
Q 146: Upon what did God of old write the ten commandments?
A:    Upon two tables of stone.
Q 147: How many commandments are in the first table?
A:    Four.
Q 148: How many commandments are in the second table?
A:    Six.
Q 149: What doth the first table contain?
A:    Our duty to God.
Q 150: What doth the second contain?
A:    Our duty to man.
Q 151: To whom did God deliver these two tables of His law?
A:    To Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
Q 152: What is the fulfillment of the whole law of God?
A:    Love to God and man.
Q 153: What doth the first command require of you?
A:    To take the Lord alone to be my God in Christ.
Q 154: Why must you take God as in Christ for your God?
A:    Because out of Christ God is a consuming fire.
Q 155: What doth the second command require of you?
A:    To pray and to praise God, and read and hear His word.
Q 156: What doth the third command forbid you?
A:    To curse, swear, or speak lightly of God.
Q 157: What doth the fourth command require of you?
A:    To remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Q 158: What doth the fifth command enjoin you?
A:    To honor and obey my father and mother.
Q 159: What doth the sixth command forbid you?
A:    To fight, and hurt myself or my neighbour.
Q 160: What doth the seventh command forbid you?
A:    All uncleanness and filthy language.
Q 161: What doth the eighth command forbid?
A:    All cheating, stealing, and robbing.
Q 162: What doth the ninth command forbid?
A:    Lying and speaking evil of my neighbour.
Q 163: What doth the tenth command forbid?
A:    All envying and coveting what is my neighbor's.
Q 164: In what manner ought you to keep all these ten commands?
A:    Perfectly and constantly.
Q 165: Can you keep any of them in this manner?
A:    No; I break them every day.
Q 166: In what do you daily break the commands of God?
A:    In my thoughts, words, and deeds.
Q 167: What doth the least breach of these commands deserve?
A:    God's eternal wrath and curse.
Q 168: By whom think you to escape God's wrath and curse?
A:    By Jesus Christ the Surety of lost sinners.
Q 169: Will every man be saved by what Christ hath done and suffered?
A:    No; many are called, but few chosen.
Q 170: Who may warrantably expect salvation through Christ?
A:    Such as truly believe in Him and repent of their sins.
Q 171: Can you believe and repent of yourself?
A:    No; faith and repentance are the gift of God.
Q 172: Are you not a stranger to God, and far off from by nature?
A:    Yes; but I am brought near to Him by the blood and Spirit of Christ.
Q 173: What are the ordinary means of our acquaintance with Christ?
A:    The word, sacraments and prayer.
Q 174: How many sacraments are there?
A:    Two.
Q 175: What are these?
A:    Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Q 176: Who appointed these sacraments?
A:    Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of the Church.
Q 177: For what end hath Christ appointed these sacraments?
A:    To seal and apply Himself and His benefits to us.
Q 178: How long will baptism and the Lord's Supper continue in the Church?
A:    Till Christ's second coming.
Q 179: Wherewith were you baptized?
A:    With water.
Q 180: What doth the water used in baptism signify?
A:    The precious blood of Christ.
Q 181: From what doth the blood Christ cleanse us?
A:    From the filth and guilt of our sins.
Q 182: From what sin did you need to be washed in your infancy?
A:    From my original sin.
Q 183: In whose name were you baptized?
A:    In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Q 184: What did you renounce in your baptism?
A:    The service of the Devil, the world, and the flesh.
Q 185: What did you engage in your baptism?
A:    To take the Lord alone to be my God in Christ, and serve Him always.
Q 186: How can you perform your baptismal engagements?
A:    I must pray daily for God's grace to enable me.
Q 187: Can you pray aright of yourself?
A:    No; but I most earnestly plead that Christ would teach and enable me to pray.
Q 188: By what means doth Christ teach and enable us to pray?
A:    By His word and Spirit.
Q 189: What special pattern of prayer hath Christ left us in His word?
A:    The Lord's prayer.
Q 190: Can you repeat the Lord's prayer?
A:    Yes; Our Father which art in Heaven, etc.
Q 191: How many petitions are in it?
A:    Six.
Q 192: Which is the first petition in the Lord's prayer?
A:    Hallowed be Thy name.
Q 193: What is the second petition?
A:    Thy kingdom come.
Q 194: What is the third petition?
A:    Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Q 195: What is the fourth petition?
A:    Give us this day our daily bread.
Q 196: What is the fifth petition?
A:    Forgive us our debts (or sins) as we forgive our debtors.
Q 197: What is the sixth petition?
A:    Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Q 198: How doth Christ's Spirit enable you to pray?
A:    By giving me a praying heart, and showing me what I ought to plead for.
Q 199: Will not God accept the request of your lips?
A:    No; unless it proceed from my heart.
Q 200: Can you pray with your heart before it be renewed by the Spirit of God?
A:    No.
Q 201: What is the prayer of the wicked in God's account?
A:    It is an abomination to the Lord.
Q 202: Will you then receive Christ, pray earnestly, and live soberly, righteously, and godly?
A:    Yes; through the grace of God enabling me I will.
Q 203: What will your sincere prayers and holy life end in at last?
A:    In my full enjoyment of God in Christ and triumphant praising of Him for evermore.