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ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION.

THE words of the Shorter Catechism, being advised with the greatest judgment, and with a peculiar view, both for establishing scripture-truth, and likewise for refuting contrary errors, they are therefore, in this edition particularly taken notice of: and to distinguish them, they are inclosed within crotchets, that the reader may the more easily discern how they are explained in this treatise.

As the Confession of Faith and Larger Catechism, are granted to be the best interpreters of the Shorter, the latter is carefully explained by the former; and several of the following questions and answers, framed from these standards, as will easily appear by the quotations taken from them, and the references made unto them on the margin.

In this edition, almost every answer is confirmed by the scriptures; many are added, where they were formerly wanting, and several exchanged, for those that are thought more apposite.—In the former impressions, the scripture-proofs were, mostly, subjoined to the end of the answer; but now, each scripture is immediately annexed to that part of the answer it is designed to confirm, that it may be consulted with greater certainty, and less trouble, by those who incline to bring every position, here advanced, to the unerring rule and standard of the word.-Some of the longer answers are divided into two or more, for sake of the memory; and some additional questions are interspersed, through the whole, for illustration.-A short Index is likewise annexed, of the most material things in both parts.

I have employed my spare time for several months, in studying to make this edition as correct and useful to the public as I could; and now I leave it in the hands of the God of truth, that he may use it for the purposes of his own glory, in edifying the body of Christ, till they all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

JAMES FISHER.

Glasgow, Jan. 14, 1765.

THE

SHORTER CATECHISM EXPLAINED.

QUEST. 1. What is the chief end of man? ANS. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him for ever.

Q. 1. What is meant by man's [chief end]?

A. That which ought to be man's chief aim and design; and that which he should seek after as his chief happiness.

Q. 2. What ought to be man's chief aim and design?

A. The glory of God: 1 Chron. xvi. 28, 29. "Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, -give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name."

Q. 3. What should he seek after as his chief happiness?

A. The enjoyment of God:Isa. xxvi. 8. "The desire of our soul is to thy name, and the remembrance of thee."

Q. 4. What connexion is there betwixt the glorifying God, and the enjoying of him?

A. They are connected by rich and sovereign grace, persuading and enabling the sinner to embrace Jesus Christ as the only way to God and glory: Eph. ii. 8. "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." John xvi. 6.-"I," says Christ, "am the way;-no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Q. 5. Doth the chief end exclude subordinate ends?

A. No: for, in aiming principally at the glory of God, men may use the supports of natural life for refreshing their bodies, 1 Cor. x. 31, and be diligent in their particular callings, that they may provide for themselves and their families, 1 Thess. iv. 11, 12. 1 Tim. v. 8.

Q. 6. Why ought the glory of God to be the chief end and design of man?

A. Because it is God's chief end in man's creation, preservation, redemption, and regeneration: Prov. xvi. 4. "The Lord hath made all things for himself;" and therefore it ought to be man's chief end likewise1 Cor. iv. 19, 20. "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

Q. 7. How manifold is the glory of God?

A. Twofold; his essential and declarative glory.

Q. 9. What is God's essential glory?

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A. It is what he is absolutely

in himself. Exod. iii. 14.-I AM THAT I AM.

Q. 9. What is his declarative glory?

by a perfect obedience since Adam's fall?

A. Never, until CHRIST, the second Adam, appeared as a new covenant head, Isa. xlii. 21. and by and xlix. 3.

A. His showing, or making known his glory, to, in, his creatures, Isa. xliv. 23.-2 Q. 17. How did Christ, the seThess. i. 10. Q. 10. Can any creature what- surety and representative on cond Adam, glorify God, as our soever add any thing to God's earth?

essential glory?

A. No: for his essential glory Father gave him to do, John xvii. A, By finishing the work the is infinite, eternal, and unchange-4. able, Job xxxv. 7.

Q. 11. Do not the heavens and the earth, and all inferior creatures, glorify God?

A. Yes: in a passive way, all his works praise him; Psal. xix. 1. and cxlv. 10.

Q. 12. How ought man to [glorify] God?

A. Man being endued with a reasonable soul, ought to glorify God in an active way, Psal. Ixiii. 4. by declaring his praise, Psal. ciii. 1, 2. and essaying to give him the glory due to his name, Psalm xcvi. 7.

Q. 13. How was man to glorify God in a state of innocence?

A. By a perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience to his law, Gen. i. 27; and by giving him the glory of all his works, chap. ii. 19.

Q. 14. Has man answered his chief end?

A. No: for, "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," Rom. iii. 23.

Q. 15. Has God then lost his end in making man?

Q.,18. What was the work the Father gave him to do?

A. It was to assume a holy human nature, Luke i. 35; to yield a perfect sinless obedience to the whole law, Mat. iii. 15; and justice, for man's sin, by his to give a complete satisfaction to meritorious sufferings and death,, Luke xxiv. 26.

Q. 19. How does Christ glorify God in heaven?

A. By appearing in the presence of God for us, Heb. ix. 24. and applying, by the power which he purchased by the of his Spirit, that redemption price of his blood on earth, Tit. iii. 5, 6.

Q. 20. When is it that a sinner begins uprightly to aim at the glory of God?

A. When, through a faith of God's operation, he believes in Christ: Acts viii. 37. 39.-"The eunuch answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he went on his way rejoicing."

Q. 21. Can no man glorify God A. No: for God will glorify acceptably, unless he first believe his justice and power upon some, in Christ? and his grace and mercy upon A. No: for, "Without faith others of Adam's family, Rom. it is impossible to please him." ix. 22, 23. Heb. xi. 6; and, "Whatsoever is Q. 16. Was ever God glorified not of faith is sin," Rom. xiv. 23,

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Q. 24. What are these fruits brought forth by believers, whereby God is glorified?

A. They may be summed up in faith working by love, Gal. v. 6; or, their aiming, in the strength of Christ, at universal obedience to the law, as the rule of duty, Phil. iv. 13. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Q. 25. How should we glorify God in eating and drinking?

Q. 28. Why should we aim at the enjoyment of God?

A. Because he is the chief good of the rational creature, Psal.cxvi. 7. and nothing else besides him, is either suitable to the nature, or satisfying to the desires of the immortal soul, Psal. cxliv. 15.

Q. 29. How may a finite creature [enjoy] an infinite God?

A. By taking and rejoicing in him, as its everlasting and upmaking portion, Psal. xvi. 5, 6. and xlviii. 14.

Q. 30. Did our first parents, in a state of innocence, enjoy God?

A. Yes there was perfect friendship and fellowship between God and them; for," God made man upright," Eccl. vii. 29.

Q.31. What broke that blessed friendship and fellowship?

A. Sin: our iniquities have separated between us and our God, and our sins have hid his face from us, Isa. lix. 2.

A. By taking a right to the supports of natural life, through the second Adam, the heir of all Q. 32. Can a sinner, in a nathings, who has purchased a cove-tural state, enjoy God, or have nant right to temporal, as well as any fellowship with him? spiritual mercies, for his people, 1 Cor. iii. 21-23. and thankfully acknowledging God for the same, 1 Tim. iv. 4, 5.

Q. 26. How must we glorify God in our religious worship, and other acts of obedience?

A. By doing all that we do in the name of the Lord Jesus, Col. iii. 17; worshipping God in the Spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the flesh, Phil. iii. 3.

Q. 27. What is it, next to the glory of God, we should aim at? A. Next unto God's glory, we should aim at the enjoyment of him, Psal. lxxiii, 25, 26.

A. No: for, "What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?" 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15.

Q. 33. How may a lost sinner recover the enjoyment of God, and fellowship with him?

A. As we lost it by our fall in the first Adam, so it can only be recovered by union with a second Adam, Rom. v. 18, 19; for there is no coming to God but by him, John xiv. 6.

Q. 34. When is it that a sinner begins to enjoy God?

A. When, having received Christ by faith, he rests upon

him, and upón God in him, for righteousness and strength, Isa. xlv. 24. and out of his fulness receives, and grace for grace, John i. 16.

Q. 40. What is the difference as to the manner of the enjoyment here and hereafter?

A. Here, the enjoyment is mediate; by the intervention of Q. 35 What are the external means; hereafter, it will be immemeans by, or in which, we are diate, without any use of these to seek after the enjoyment of means: "Now we see through a glass darkly; but then FACE TO FACE," 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

God?

A. In all the ordinances of his worship, public, private and secret; such as the word read and heard, the sacraments, prayer, meditation, fasting, thanksgiving, and the like.

Q. 41. What is the difference as to the measure of the enjoyment in this life, and that which is to come?

A. In this life the enjoyment is Q. 36. Are the saints of God only partial; in that which is to admitted to enjoy him in these? come, it will be full and complete, A. Yes: they are the trist-1 John iii. 2.-here, the enjoy. ing places where his name is ment is only in the seed, or first recorded, and to which he has fruits; there it will be in the full promised to come and bless harvest, Psal. cxxvi. 5, 6. them. Exod. xx. 24.-"In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee."

Q. 37. What scripture-evidence have we, of their enjoying God in the duties and ordinances of his appointment?

A. We find them much employed in religious duties, Song iii. 1, 2, 3; and expressing the utmost regard for the ordinances of his grace, Psalm lxxxiv. 1, 2. Q. 38. What satisfaction has the soul in the enjoyment of God?

A. Unspeakably more gladness than when corn, wine, and all earthly comforts, do most abound, Psalm iv. 7.

Q. 39. Is there any difference betwixt the enjoyment of God in this life, and that which the saints shall obtain in the life to come?

A. Not an essential, but a gradual difference, as to the manner and measure of it.

Q. 42. Is the partial enjoyment of God in grace here a sure pledge of the full enjoyment of him in glory hereafter?

A. It is both the pledge and earnest thereof, Eph. i. 13, 14. Psal. lxxxiv. 11.

Q. 43. Doth the gracious soul, in that state, fully receive its chief end?

A. Yes; in regard that then it shall be brimful of God, and celebrate his praises with high and uninterrupted Hallelujahs through all eternity. Psal. xvi. 11. Isa. XXXV. 10.

Q. 44. Why is the glorifying God made the leading part of man's chief end, and set before the enjoyment of him?

A. Because, as God's design in glorifying himself was the reason and foundation of his design in making man happy in the enjoyment of him, Rom. xi. 26.; so he has made our aiming at his glory, as our chief end, to be the very way and means of our

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