39. Qu. Will not an application to worldly business interfere with the duties of religion?

An. No, provided it be not immoderate. On the contrary, idleness is the greatest inlet to vice and wickedness of all kinds. Besides, we please God the most, by doing that which makes ourselves and others the most happy.

40. 2u. Whom do the scriptures inform us that God sent into the world, in order to reclaim men from wickedness, and to persuade and encourage them to return to virtue and goodness?

An. Besides the notices which mankind in general had of his will, God was pleased to favour the Jews with a particular revelation. To them he sent Moses, who gave them laws, assured them of the favour of God in case of obedience, and threatened them with his displeasure in disobedience.

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41. Qu. In what character did the Divine Being represent himself to the Israelites by Moses ?

An. Speaking to Moses from mount Sinai, he proclaimed himself, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping

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mercy

mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Ēr. xxxiv. 6.

42. Qu. Who succeeded Moses as messengers from God to the people of Israel?

An. Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many others, who are called prophets; and who succeeded one another almost without intermission, for the space of several hundred years.

43. Qu. What is the general strain of their preaching and exhortation?

An. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; why will ye die, oh house of Israel? As I live, says God, I will not the death of a sinner, but had rather that he would return and live.

44. Qu. Did the Divine Being enjoin the people of Israel nothing besides the practice of moral virtue ?

An. He enjoined them the performance of various ceremonies, to keep up the remembrance of certain remarkable facts, to prevent them from mixing with idolatrous nations, and to teach them many important moral truths in a symbolical manner, suited to their low apprehensions.

45. Qu. What proof did Moses and the prophets give, that they were sent of God?

An.

An. They performed many miracles, which could not have been done without the power of God being with them. Under Moses the people of Israel walked on dry land through the Red Sea, and were fed with manna from heaven forty years. The strong walls of Jericho fell down before them; the nation was often delivered from their enemies by the immediate hand of God; and most of the prophets foretold some great event which came to pass in their own time.

46. Qu. By whom did God speak, not only to the Jews, but to the whole world of mankind?

An. By Jesus Christ, who brought the most complete and extensive revelation of the will of God to man.

47. Qu. What was the proper design and end of Christ's coming into the world?

An. He came to make men happy in turning them from their iniquities, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

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48. Qu.

48. Qu. In what respects was Christ superior to the prophets who went before him? An. In the perfection of his example, the purity of his precepts, and the importance of the motives by which he enforced them; more especially, as he gave us more distinct information concerning a future state of rewards and punishments. He also sent his disciples to teach all nations the knowledge of God.

49. Qu. Who put Christ to death, and by what death did he die?

An. At the instigation of the Jews, the Romans (under whose dominion they then were) caused him to be put to death by crucifixion; which is a very painful and lingering death, and that to which only slaves and the vilest malefactors were exposed.

50. Qu. What was the chief strain of Christ's preaching?

An. He reformed many abuses, by which the Jewish teachers had corrupted the law of God. He taught men to worship God not so much by external services, as in spirit and in truth. He frequently inculcated the duties of loving one another, of forgiving our enemies, and of doing to others as we would that they should do to us; and he enforced

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a regard to these virtues by the doctrines of a resurrection, and of a judgment to come.

51. Qu. What proof did Christ give of his divine mission?

An. He healed multitudes of sick persons by a word speaking. He gave sight to the blind, raised persons from the dead, and rose himself from the grave after he had been dead three days, as he had foretold.

52. Qu. Did Christ appoint no outward ordinances, as means of promoting his religion?

An. He commanded his disciples to go and baptize all nations, upon their conversion to christianity; and he also appointed them to eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of him. This rite is called the Lord's Supper ? 53. Qu. What is the meaning of baptism?

An. The washing with water in baptism, probably represents the purity of heart and life required of all who become the disciples of Christ?

54. Qu. What is the nature and use of the Lord's Supper?

An.