QUESTION II. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
ANSWER. The word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.
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ANNA SHERWIN was an orphan child of Mrs. Dermott's deceased brother. For a year she had been residing in the family of her aunt, who treated her with all the tenderness which she manifested for her own children. With the buoyancy natural to youth, Anna had ceased to mourn her parents' loss, though she loved to call to mind their instructions, and to govern her conduct as she thought would please them.
With the enthusiasm of a child, she looked forward to "the catechising," as her cousins had styled the teaching of their mother, and was the first to take her seat and to be in readiness for the second question. When the others were in their places, Mrs. Dermott requested Anna to repeat the answer given at the head of this chapter, and then asked, "What volume contains the word of God?"
"The Bible, or 'The Book.'"
"How do we know it is the word of God?"
"Because—because—" The little ones looked at each other, but could not answer the question.
"I will ask another question. How do we know, Walter, that the Shorter Catechism was written by the Westminster Assembly?"
"Because we have always heard so," replied the boy. "I suppose people who lived then told their children, and they told theirs, until it has come down to us."
"I once saw an old gentleman," remarked the mother, "who told me some interesting circumstances respecting that most remarkable body of men. His father had told him that his great-great-grandfather was a member of the Assembly; that he knew and had conversed with those who wrote the Catechism, and that he had related many interesting facts, which, with letters and other papers, were now preserved in an antiquarian library.