4. Duties to your families.-You are to provide and lay up for your families (k); to take care of your children's bodies, to render them healthful, and breed them up so as to support themselves-and have a regard to their souls (1); to pray for them and with them daily (m), and to have them taught to read and pray, and to be instructed in religious principles (n).-You are, moreover, to reprove every thing sinful and unbecoming in them. (0).

5. Duties to yourselves.-Set a constant guard on your passions; especially anger (p): and avoid all the sinful lusts of the flesh (q); be sober (r), chaste (s), and diligent (t); bridle your tongues (u), and strive to grow wiser and better every day (w).

TEXTS.

4. () If any provide not for his own, and especially for his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse that an infidel: 1 Timothy, vi. 8.—(1) Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord: Ephes. vi. 4.-(m) O Lord, give unto Solomon, my son, a perfect heart to keep thy commandments: 1 Chron. xxix 19.-(n) These things shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children: Deut. iv. 6, 7.—(0) Chasten thy son while there is hope; (but as some translate it), be not transported or in a passion to cause him to die: Prov. xix. 18.-But correct him with moderation, justice, and tenderness.-Ye fathers, provoke not [by improper corrections] your children to wrath: Ephes. vi. 4.

5. (p) He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that ruleth a city: Prov. xvi. 32.—(9) Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul: 1 Pet. ii. 11.-(r) Let us watch and be sober: 1 Thess. v. 6.—(s) Be discreet, chaste: Titus, ii. 5.-Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge: Heb. xii. 4.—(1) The hand of the diligent maketh rich: Prov. x. 4.-The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat: Prov. xiii. 4.—Be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace: 2 Pet. iii. 14.-(u) If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, that man's religion is vain: James, i. 26.—(w) Let us go on unto our perfection Heb. vi. 1.

SHORT HEADS.

OF

SELF-EXAMINATION.

Would you know whether you believe, and live as a Christian ought to do, ask yourself these questions.

Do I believe in God?

Do I believe that he is a Being of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness? that he made and preserves every thing? that he is present every where? and knows all the thoughts and intentions of my heart?

Do I believe the holy Scriptures to be the word of God; and that they contain all things necessary to salvation?

Do I believe in Jesus Christ? that he suffered death for the sins of mankind? and do I expect salvation through his merits?

Do I believe that God will assist me by his Holy Spirit? Do I believe in a future state? the resurrection of the dead? and a last judgment?

Is my life consistent with my faith?

Doth my belief in the power and wisdom of God, make me afraid of offending him: and give me patience and resignation in my distresses?

- Doth my belief in his goodness excite me to love him : and to be thankful to him for his mercies?—and

Do I feel that my belief of his continual presence is a check upon the badness of my thoughts, words, and actions? - Do I read the holy Scriptures with an intention to improve my heart; and obey the precepts which I find in them?

Do I abstain from swearing, lying, drinking, cheating, envy, malice, obscene actions and discourse, and every thing which my own conscience tells me is wrong, and which the word of God tells me is inconsistent with my salvation?

If I am led into sin, do I immediately repent of it, and not suffer it to become habitual?

Do I love my neighbour as myself: that is, am I as ready to do good to him as to receive good from him?— and do to others as I might reasonably desire them to do to me?

Do I endeavour to do my duty faithfully, whatever my station is, whether it be to obey my parents, to serve my master, or to maintain and instruct my family?

Upon the whole, do I find myself increase in goodness? that is, do I feel a pleasure in obeying God, and doing my duty knowing that the life of a Christian should always be advancing towards perfection?

Do I pray daily to Almighty God; and beg that he will be pleased to assist these endeavours by his Holy Spirit, knowing that without his assistance I can do nothing? and that his assistance is only to be obtained by prayer, and my own earnest endeavours?

Do I go regularly to church, to pray to God in publick as well as in private, and to hear the holy Scriptures read and explained? and do I endeavour to remember what I hear, and to live up to it?

Lastly, Does my belief in a future state, and in the resurrection of the dead, raise my thoughts above this mortal life? and does my belief in a last judgment, make me in earnest careful to prepare myself for it?

THE CHURCH CATECHISM.

To be learned by heart by every little Boy and Girl, before they are brought to be confirmed by the Bishop.

Q. What is your name?

A. N. or M.

Q. Who gave you that name?

A. My godfathers and godmothers in my baptism, wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.

Q. What did your godfathers and godmothers then for you?

A. They did promise and vow three things in my name. First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh. Secondly, that I should believe all the articles of the Christian faith. And thirdly, that I should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.

Q. Dost thou not think that thou art bound to believe and to do as they have promised for thee?

A. Yes, verily; and by God's help, so I will. And I heartily thank my heavenly Father that he hath called me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's end.

Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried: he descended into hell: the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Q. What dost thou chiefly learn in these articles of thy belief?

A. First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made me and all the world: Secondly, in God the

Son, who hath redeemed me and all mankind: Thirdly, in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and all the elect people of God.

Q. You say that your godfathers and godmothers did promise for you, that you should keep God's commandments; tell me how many there be?

A. Ten.

Q. Which be they?

A. The same which God spake in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. See the Commandments in pages 270, 271, and 272.

Q. What dost thou chiefly learn by these commandments?

A. I learn two things; my duty towards God, and my duty towards my neighbour.

Q. What is thy duty towards God?

A. My duty towards God, is to believe in him, to fear him, and to love him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength; to worship him; to give him thanks; to put my whole trust in him ; to call upon him; to honour his holy name and word, and to serve him truly all the days of my life.

Q. What is thy duty towards thy neighbour?

A. My duty towards my neighbour is to love him as myself, and to do unto all men as I would they should do unto me. To love, honour, and succour, my father and mother. To honour and obey the king, and all that are put in authority under him. To submit myself unto all my governours, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters. To order myself lowly and reverently to all my betters. To hurt nobody by word or deed. To be true and just in all my dealings. To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart. To keep my hands from picking and stealing, and my tongue from evil speaking, lying, and slandering. To keep my body in temperance, soberness, and chastity. Not.

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