Fifty-two Lectures on the Church Catechism

made powerful by the Holy Ghost, for the conversion and true holiness of fallen man. Such writings can never be unprofitable.

The growing humility of Mr. Walker, and his increasing holiness, led him to greater expressions of sympathy with those he addressed in his later than in his earlier writings. The more really holy we are, the more like our Divine Redeemer we shall be, full of compassion and charity towards all suffering under the disease of sin - the worst of all our diseases, and which has so deeply infected us all; and the more we grow in self-knowledge, while we increase in hatred of sin, the more we shall also have a yearning love over the souls of sinners, and tenderness, as well as holiness, in speaking of their sins. O how blessed is it to look backward to Jesus as having once appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself! and, then again, to look forward to his coming again in the blessed hope that unto them that look for him, he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Heb. ix. 26-28.

Watton Rectory,
June 4, 1836.

E. BICKERSTETH.

CONTENTS.

SERMON I.

ACTS xvi. 30.

What must I do to be saved?

THE universal importance of the inquiry, and of the answer to it

An explication of the Church Catechism is designed in these discourses

This Catechism, as all other Christian Catechisms, relates to the religion

of fallen lost man

It is a summary of salvation by Jesus Christ for fallen creatures
Wretched expositors of the Catechism, who do not explain the fall of
man and the deep apostasy of our nature

This doctrine believed by our Reformers, the true Church of England
The redemption wrought out by Jesus Christ the only means of our re-

This is the Christian covenant sealed by baptism

The substance of the Catechism lies in three things

covery

The Catechism sets forth true faith as the means of our being partakers

of salvation in Christ

And Baptism as the first sealing ordinance

The plan of the Catechism is that we are fallen creatures

And that the only way of salvation is by a true faith wrought by the

Holy Spirit

How the privileges of baptism may be said to belong to infants

Parents, sponsors, and Ministers, are to explain these privileges to

children

An exhortation to young persons to seek most seriously Christ and spi-

ritual heavenly blessings .

SERMON II.

Three things promised for infants at baptism

What things are necessary to the knowledge and practice of the baptis-

mal vow

Our renouncing sin, the devil, the world, and the flesh, and obedience
to God's commandments, is to be the business of our lives
Young persons not to be admitted to confirmation without the know-

ledge of and acquiescence in the baptismal vow

An exhortation to those that have neglected their baptismal vow, and

also to those that seek grace to perform it

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SERMON III.

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The baptismal vow consists of three parts, renunciation, faith, and obe-

dience

An inquiry into the necessity of its several parts, previous to the consi-

deration of the parts themselves.

Each part distinctly founded in the correspondent circumstances of

man's fallen state

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As wholly subject to the dominion of the devil, the world, and the flesh 21

As alienated from the life and image of God, and in rebellion against

him

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As subject thereby to the wrath of God, and therefore in a state of mi-

sery and ruin.

Renunciation respects the former, obedience respects the second, and

faith has respect to the third

And from each of these, namely, sin, the world, and the devil, we can

only have deliverance by Jesus Christ

Profession of this vow is acceptance of this deliverance

Three corollaries. 1. Such as deny or are ignorant of their fallen state

cannot have accepted the offer of salvation, nor be possibly keep-

ing the baptismal covenant

2. That such as acknowledge both the disease and remedy, and yet are

not keeping their baptismal vow, are, notwithstanding such know-

ledge, still in their natural state

SERMON IV.

Since the fall there is a principle of carnal independency in man

What the baptismal renunciation of man's natural state imports

The first part is a renunciation of the devil and all his works,

What meant by the devil; what by renouncing the devil and all his

Works

An examination whether we have made that renunciation

whether we commit sin, and whether we are for Christ's

kingdom or the devil's.

An exhortation to the servants of Satan, and another to those that are

delivered from him

SERMON V.

The devil, the world, and the flesh, the renunciation of one of these is

the renouncing of them all

What meant by renouncing the pomps and vanities of this wicked

world

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3. That such who really, though imperfectly, keep their vow, are as

certainly taken out of their natural state, and placed in a state of

salvation, and that such ought to take the comfort of it

The true believer's profession as to the world

Have we renounced the world itself? that question largely considered. 39

SERMON VI.

What meant by renouncing all the sinful lusts of the flesh
The true Christian's declaration in renouncing those sinful lusts
Are we living in sensual lusts, uncleanness, intemperance, sloth, idle-
ness, ease, and pleasure?

What meant by inward lusts .

Of hating them, being humbled for them, and fighting against them
The great sinfulness of sensual and spiritual lusts

The second part of the baptismal vow to be considered the believing all
the articles of the Christian faith

SERMON VIII.

I believe in God, that article of the Creed explained
What God is
What it is to believe in God
Divine illumination necessary to this believing

It implies a belief of the Gospel and reconciliation by Jesus Christ

And also our acceptance of God as revealed to us in Christ.

What is implied in this acceptance

The great happiness of the true believer

The unbeliever's misery and terror at the thoughts of death

SERMON IX.

The doctrine of the Trinity, or of three Persons in the divine nature
The first Person in the Godhead is the Father

SERMON VII.

ACTS xvi. 30, 31.

What must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus

Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

The Creed, its subject-matter

The Christian faith often expressed in Scripture by believing in the

Lord Jesus Christ

The substance of the Creed is God, as a covenant God in Christ
What ought to be meant by us when we repeat the Creed
The doctrine of the Trinity contained in the Creed

The Creed of Athanasius substantially the same as this
The nature of faith in general

The difference betwixt divine and human faith
The nature of true saving faith

True faith may be divided into weak and strong
Directions for the increase of faith

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What meant by believing in God the Father

What by believing that God the Father is a Father in Christ Jesus
It implies a child-like confidence and disposition towards God
And a readiness to submit to his disposals and dispensations
An examination whether we believe God to be our Father
The great happiness of having God for our Father