A. At twelve years old he was found talking with the doctors in the temple, but he went home at his mother's call, and was subject to his parents; Luke ii. 42, 46, 51.

13. Q. When did Christ begin his public ministry? A. At thirty years of age he came forth and was baptized by John, who was sent from God to preach and to baptize with water; Luke iii. 16, 21, 23.

14. Q. What was the doctrine which John the Baptist preached? A. He reproved sinuers, he preached repentance. and the forgiveness of sins; and he directed his disciples to Jesus as the Saviour; Mark i. 4, 7, 8. John i. 29. Act. xix. 4.

15. Q. What became of John the Baptist at last? A. He was beheaded by Herod, at the wicked request of his niece when she had pleased him with her fine dancing; Mark vi 17-28.

16. Q. What honour was done to Christ at his baptism? A The Spirit of God like a dove descended upon him, and a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Mat. iii. 17. Luke iii. 22.

17. Q. What became of Chris. immediately after his baptism? A. He was forty days in the wilderness, where he endured the temptations of the devil, and overcame the temper; Mat. iv. 1-11.

18. Q. What were the chief parts of the ministry of Christ in his life? A. These five, viz.*-1. He fulfilled the whole law, and gave us a perfect example of piety toward God, and goodness to men.-2. He preached to the people his divine doctrine which he brought from heaven.-3. He wrought miracles to prove that he was sent from God.-4. He chose out his apostles, and trained them up for their public service.-5. He appointed two lasting ordinances in his church.

19. Q. Wherein did he give an example of piety toward God? A. In his constant obedience to God his Father in all things, in his zeal for God's honour among men, and in his frequent converse with God in prayer; John viii. 28, 29, 49. and ii. 17. Mark i. 35. Luke vi. 12. John xvii.

20. Q. Wherein did he shew a pattern of goodness toward men? A. He went about doing good to the bodies and souls of men, he was full of compassion to the miserable, he took children in his arms and blessed them; Mat. iv. 23. Acts x. 38. Mark x. 13-16.

21. Q. What were the chief subjects of Christ's preaching to the people? A. These six things:-1. He explained the law

In this as well as in the Child's Catechism of the principles of religion, there are some answers which are divided into distinct parts by figures, 1, 2, 3, 4. Now in order to make the remembrance of these answers easier to children, the teacher may repeat the question as often as there are parts in the answers Thus, Q. Which is the first part of his ministry-Q. Which is the second, &c.

of God to the people, and shewed them that it required holiness in their thoughts as well as in their words and actions; Mat. v. and vi. and vii.-2. Ile reproved and condemned many for their sinful and foolish traditions, and taught them that God did not regard ceremonies so much as the great duties of love to God and love to men; Mat. xxii. 36–40. and xxiii. 4, 16, 18, 23, 24, 25.-3. He preached the gospel of pardon of sin and eternal life in heaven to them that repent and believe in him; Mat. iv. 17. John iii. 16, 17.-4. He threatened the eternal punishment of hell to all wilful and obstinate sinners, particularly to hypocrites and unbelievers; Mat. viii. 41, 42, and xxiii. 28, 29, 33. John iii. 18, 36. and viii. 24.-5. He sometimes declared and maintained his own commission, that he was sent from God to be the Saviour of men ; John v. 19-41.6. He foretold the destruction of the Jews, and his own second coming in glory to raise the dead, and to judge the world Mat. xxiv. 15-21-35. xxv. 31-46. John v. 27, 28, 29.

22. Q. What were the chief miracles that he wrought to prove he was sent from God? A. Such as these:-1. He fed many thousand persons twice with a very few loaves and fishes; Mat. xiv. and xv.-2. He gave sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf, he made the dumb to speak, the lame to walk, and healed all manner of diseases by a word; Mat. iv. 23. and xi. 5-3. He commanded evil spirits to depart out of the bodies of many whom they had possessed; Mark i. 27.-4. He raised several persons from the dead, and one, namely Lazarus, out of the grave; Mark ix. Luke vii. John xi.

23. Q. How did he train up his apostles for their public service? A. These four ways:-1. He explained to them in private what he taught the people by parables and similitudes in public; Mark iv. 34.-2. He told them more plainly that he was the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, and that he should die as a ransom for sinners, and rise again the third day; Mat. xvi. 16-22. and xx. 28.-3. He prayed with them often, and taught them to pray, first without his name and then in his name; Luke xi. 1, 2. John xvi. 23.-4. He promised them to send the Spirit of God after his departure to fit them for their public service; Luke xxiv. 49. John xv. 26. and xvi. 7.

24. Q. What were the two ordinances which Christ appointed in his church? A. He appointed baptism and the Lord'ssupper to continue to the end of the world; Mat. xxviii. 19, 20. 1 Cor. xi. 23-26.

25. Q. Thus we have heard how Jesus lived, let us hear now in what manner did he die? A. He was meek and patient and resigned to the will of God in suffering and dying; John xviii. . Mat. xxvi. 39.

26. Q. What were his sharpest sufferings? A. The anguish which he endured in his soul in the garden just before his

death, which made him sweat drops of blood; Mark xiv. 33, 34. Luke xxii. 44.

27. Q. What kind of death did he die? A. He was crucified, that is, his hands and feet were nailed to a wooden cross, and there he hung till he died in extreme pain; Mark xv. 24. John xx. 25.

28. Q. When Jesus Christ had honoured God so much in his life, how came he to die so shameful and painful a death? A. He was appointed of God to be a sacrifice, to take away the sins of men who had deserved to die; Acts ii. 23. 2 Cor. v. 21. Heb. ix. 26.

29. Q. But what reason had men to kill him? A. No just reason at all; but the teachers and the rulers of the Jew hated his doctrine and reproofs, and were much enraged to see the people follow him; Mat. xxi. 45, 46. Mark xv. 10.

30. Q. How did they lay hold of Jesus? A. They bribed Judas one of his apostles to betray him into the hands of their officers, and he led them to his Master by night, and shewed which was he by kissing him; Mat. xxvi. 14, 15, 47, 49.

31. Q. Did none of the disciples defend their Lord and Master? A. Peter at first defended him with the sword, but afterwards his courage failed him so far as to deny that he knew him; John xviii. 10, 25, 27. Mat. xxvi. 72.

32. Q. Did Peter continue in this sin, or did he repent? A. Jesus cast his eye upon him, and he repented and wept bitterly; Mat. xxvi. 75.

33. Q. Who condemned Christ to die? A. Caiaphas the high-priest condemned him as worthy of death, and Pontius Pilate the Roman governor, at the desire of the Jews gave him up to be nailed to the cross; Mat. xxvi. 57, 65, 66, and xxvii, 24-26.

34. Q. Was he crucified immediately, or did he suffer other injuries before his death? A. He was mocked, he was spit upon, he was crowned with thorns, he was scourged and wickedly abused; Mat. xxvii. 29-31.

35. Q. In what company was he crucified? A. He was crucified in a most shameful manner between two thieves, as if he had been the chief of sinners; Luke xxiii. 33.

36. Q. What miracles attended his death? A. The sun was darkened at noon for three hours together; there was an earthquake which opened many graves, and the veil of the temple was rent in two pieces; Mat. xxviii. 50-54.

37. Q. Who took care of his burial? A. Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man and one of his disciples, buried him in his own new tomb, and Pilate and the Jews set a guard of soldiers about it; Mat. xxvii. 57-66.

38. Q. When did he rise from the dead? A. On the first day of the week after he had lain three days in the grave, tha part of three days; Mat. xxviii. 1—5.

A.

39. Q. To whom did he appear after his rising again? He appeared many times to his disciples, he eat and drank and talked with them, and gave them most certain proofs of his resurrection; Acts i. 3. and x. 41.

40. Q. How long did he tarry on earth after his rising from the dead? A. He tarried forty days conversing with his apostles, and instructing them further in the gospel and the doctrines and rules of his kingdom; Acts i. 3.

41. Q. How did he go up to heaven? A. When he had given his apostles their commission to preach the gospel to all nations, and blessed them, they saw him carried up to heaven in a bright cloud; Mark xvi. 15-19. Acts i. 9.

42. Q. What did the disciples do when their. Lord had left them? A. They returned to Jerusalem, and waited for the Spirit of God to come upon them, according to the promise of Christ; Acts i. 4, 12, 14.

43. Q. What was the first thing they did towards their public work? A. They chose Matthias by prayer and by lot to be an apostle in the room of Judas the traitor; Acts i. 23-26.

44. Q. What became of Judas? A. When he saw that Christ was condemned he went and hanged himself; and falling down, his bowels gushed out; Mat. xxvii. 3, 5. Acts i. 18.

45. Q. When did the Spirit of God come upon the apostles and other disciples? A. At the feast of pentecost, which was about ten days after Christ went to heaven; Acts ii. 1, &c.

46. Q. In what manner did the Spirit of God come upon them? A. A noise like a rushing wind filled the house where they were met, and cloven tongues of fire sat upon them; Acts ii. 2, 3.

47. Q. What was the first remarkable effect of the Spirit of God coming upon them? A. Each of them was enabled to preach the gospel in strange languages; Acts ii. 4, 5, 6.

48. Q. What was the doctrine they preached? A. That Jesus who was crucified was the Messiah, that is, the Christ, the Son of God the Saviour of men; and that sinners who repent and believe in his name should be saved; Acts ii. 36, 38. and iii. 19. and iv. 10, 12.

49. Q. What success had their preaching? A. Three thousand were converted and baptized in one day, and five thousand in another; Acts ii. 41. and iv. 4. and v. 14.

50. Q. What miracles did they work to confirm their doctrine A. Some that were cripples had the use of their limbs given them, multitudes of sick were healed by them, some persons were struck dead, and others raised to life; Acts iii. 2, 7. and v. 1-11, 15, 16. and ix. 40.

51. Q. Had not other believers in Christ power of working miracles also? A. Yes, Jesus Christ communicated very great gifts and powers to them by laying on of the hands of the apostles; Mark xx. 17. Acts vi. 6, 8. and viii. 14—18.

52. Q. Were not the apostles greatly persecuted? A. Yes, they were put in prison by the high-priest, they were beaten by order of the council, James the brother of John was slain by Herod, and Peter was put in prison again, in order to be put to death; Acts v. 18, 19, 40. and xii. 2, 3, 11.

53. Q. Did God give them any miraculous deliverances? A. Several times when the apostles were imprisoned they were released by angels; Acts v. 18, 19. and xii. 7. and xvi. 25, 26.

54. Q. Who was one of the chief persecutors of the christians at this time? A. Saul, a young man, a zealous pharisee, who was afterwards called Paul; Acts vii. 58. and viii. 1, 3.

55. Q. Did he live and die a persecutor? A. No, he was struck down to the ground by a blaze of light as he was going to Damascus to imprison the christians, and Jesus Christ called him with a voice from heaven; Acts ix. 1-8.

56. Q. What is afterwards related of him? A. That he became a zealous preacher of the gospel, he was made the apostle of the Gentiles, and spent his days in travelling to convert the heathen nations; Acts ix. 20-22. Gal. ii. 7, 8. Rom. xv. 16-21.

57. Q. What became of Paul at last? A. After he had done more service for Christ by preaching and writing than any of the other apostles, and endured more sufferings in his life he was put to death as a martyr for Christ; 2 Cor. xi. 23-27. 2 Tim. iv. 6.

58. Q. Is there any further account given of Peter? A. When he had laid out his life in preaching the gospel, and had writ letters to the christians, he was crucified in his old age as Christ foretold him ; John xxi. 18, 19. 2 Pet. i. 14.

59. Q. What is recorded concerning John the apostle? A., After many labours in the ministry he was banished to the isle of Patmos, where Jesus Christ appeared to him in visions, and instructed him by his angels to write the book of the Revelation; Rev. i. 1, 2, 9.

60. Q. What became of the other apostles? A. Ancient histories give us some uncertain account of their travels and their sufferings, but there is very little written in scripture concerning them.