PROM KING EDVARD * Master. That farfi was ing and reading of te thee concerning Ser Scholar. Tus But I there is one a E ghost, and bearen mex ing spirit, withou. Denne & any call God: whom al te se to worship with severe kind of reverence. words of Gud, vind beloved of Almigio Sa = 1 published, to the eiena pirr & learn the law and fie tureLUE the promises and the Suse & things, first write ir Toes ar God, have been presse M tures, to the end tur tainly carried hite zur me heavenly doctrine ten ar were, a certain entry Mast. Why dost two ment? Scho. Because it of religion, it is the what is the will of the evering; bu by the name of Testamen & Fone. will, but also a last auf uncua Tale are hereby admonished, that n regi nothing, nor seek for any thing were are therein taught by God; but the one only true God, so there be bar op shipping and pure religion of one oir Mast. Dost thou then affirn Luz cessary to godliness aut saive, 3095 in the written word of God Scho. Yea; for it were a Pu ungodliness and madness God hath left an imperfect Quem were able to make tua: perio imperfect. Therefore the forbidden men, that the w which will muse in the law of God both day and night. Remember that he calleth him blessed, which walketh in the way of the Lord, which will search diligently his testimonies, and will in his whole heart seek the same. FROM NOWELL'S CATECHISM. Scholar. Christian religion is the true and godly worshipping of God, and keeping of his commandments. Master. Of whom dost thou think it is to be learned? Scho. Of none other surely but of the heavenly word of God himself, which he hath left unto us written in Holy Scripture. Mast. What writings be those which thou callest the word of God and the Holy Scriptures? Scho. None but those which have been published, first by Moses, and the Holy Prophets, the friends of Almighty God, by the instinct of the Holy Ghost in the Old Testament, and afterwards more plainly in the New Testament by our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and by his Holy Apostles inspired with the Spirit of God, and have been preserved unto our time whole and uncorrupted. Mast. Why was it God's will so to open unto us his word in writing? Scho. Because we of ourselves (such is the darkness of our hearts) are not able to understand the will of Almighty God, in the knowledge of whom, and in obedience towards him true godliness consisteth. God having pity upon us, hath opened and clearly set it out unto us; and the same so clearly set out he hath left in the book of the two Testaments, which are called the Holy Scriptures, to the end that we should not be uncertainly carried hither and thither, but that by his heavenly doctrine there should be made us, as it were, a certain entry into heaven. Mast. Why dost thou call God's word a Testament? Scho. Because it is evident that in conceiving of religion, it is the chief point to understand what is the will of the everliving God. And sith by the name of Testament is signified, not only a will, but also a last and unchangeable will, we are hereby admonished, that in religion we follow nothing, nor seek for any thing further than we are therein taught by God; but that as there is one only true God, so there be but one godly worshipping and pure religion of one only God. . Mast. Dost thou then affirm that all things necessary to godliness and salvation, are contained in the written word of God? Scho. Yea; for it were a point of intolerable ungodliness and madness to think, either that God hath left an imperfect doctrine, or that man were able to make that perfect which God left imperfect. Therefore the Lord hath most straitly forbidden men, that they neither add any thing |