BRIEF PRINciples of religion, for the exercise of youth: done by Christopher Watson. Demand. How wast thou created? The first part pronounceth our condemnations Answer. By the hand of God. De. What is God? An. He is almighty, creator of all things, incomprehensible, invisible, eternal, preserver and governor of heaven and earth. etc. De. Why did he create thee? An. To serve him. De. What service requireth he of thee? An. Obedience to his laws. De. Which are they? An. God spoke all these words: 1 Thou shalt have none other Gods but me. Exod. 21.10. the 18. 2 Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven Image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them. 3 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 4 Remember that thou keep holy the Saboth day. 5 Honour thy father & mother. 6 Thou shalt do no murder. 7 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 8 Thou shalt not steal. 9 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 10 Thou shalt not desire thy neighbour's house: thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his servant, nor his Maid, nor his Ox, nor his Ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbours. De. Art thou bound to observe these precepts, in thought word and deed? An. Yea, for if I break but one of them in thought, once only in all my life, I shall be guilty of eternal death. De. Is eternal death than the reward of breaking these statutes? An. Yea. De. Dost thou keep them? An. No, nor no man living. De. Then thou grantest thyself, with all men worthy of God's displeasure and eternal damnation. An. Yea truly, I feel God's wrath, & see hell to be my proper inheritance, and the fruits of my desert. * De. How shalt thou escape gods wrath and this damnation? * The second declareth our delivery by Christ. An. Only by jesus Christ. De. How shall he save thee? An. Because he being God and man, hath suffered all the punishment due for my sins, and fulfilled the law. De. Shall all men be saved by Christ? An. No, none but such as believe effectually in him. De. Who believe thus in him? An. They only which assure themselves that all his sufferings was for them, and so travel mortification of the flesh. De. Who assures thee of this belief? An. The holy ghost works it by hearing the word preached. De. Declare the effect of thy belief. An. I Believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven & earth. And in jesus Christ his only son our Lord. Which was conceived by the holy Ghost, borne of the Virgin Mary. Suffered under Ponce Pilate, was crucified dead and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, & 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. De. Is thy faith perfect assoon as thou believest? An. No, but increaseth continually by hearing the word preached, with using the Sacraments & prayers. De. How many Sacraments be there? An. Two, Baptism and the lords supper. De. What meanest thou by Baptism? An. It declareth the washing away of my sins by Christ's blood, and my new birth. De. Then without this sacrament none can assure themselves of salvation. An. I say not so, God's grace is not tied to outward signs: we believe his promise, & therefore doubt not, but the children of the faithful are saved, which die before they be baptized. De. What thinkest thou by the lords Supper? An. I believe, that as my body is nourished with the bread there broken, & wine powered forth, that even so my soul is nourished spiritually by Christ's body broken, & blood shed for the remission of my sins. De. Are all, named Christians, fit to receive this sacrament? An. No, none but such as are able to discern the Lords body. * De. * The third our duty to God for all his benefits. Thou saidest, prayer was a help to increase faith. An. Yea, for it assures me that I shall have all that I ask in Christ's name, according to God's word. De. What prayest thou for? An. For such things as the Lord hath taught me, Sayings. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed he thy name, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, & the glory, for ever & ever. Amen. De. Dost rhou pray to god only, and not to the saints? An. Yea, for prayer is due to god only. De. Art thou not bound to God for this thy wonderful creation, preservation, & delivery from eternal death? An. Yea, so I account myself. De. What duties craves he at thy hands for the same? An. To serve & honour him precisely, according to his word: which I purpose to do, as he by his holy spirit shall enable me, knowing that he shineth to none but the elect, which labour according to their measure in reforming themselves, with a certain persuasion that Christ hath performed all their duties, & discharged their disobedience, in which holy work, God give me strength (for Christ's sake) to labour all the days of my life. De. Even so. And God increase thy faith, to the full assurance of thy salvation in CHRIST. God save our Queen Elizabeth. PRINTED AT LONDON, by Hugh Singleton, dwelling in Creed lane, near unto Ludgate. 1581. Cum privilegio. printer's device of Hugh Singleton, of his rebus and a tun or barrel, after McKerrow 127, with the motto arranged in a surrounding square as in McKerrow 250 GOD IS MY HELPER.