Christ, God will no longer remember my sins or my corrupt nature, against which I am to fight all my life long; but that He graciously gives me the justification of Christ Jesus, that I may never come into judgment before Him.

57. What comfort does the resurrection of the body' give you?

That not only my soul, upon the leaving this life, shall be immediately carried up to heaven, to be united to Jesus Christ its Head, but that my body, being also raised again by the power of that Divine Redeemer, shall be reunited to my soul, and rendered conformable to the glorious body of Jesus Christ.

58. And what consolation do you receive from the article of eternal life?

That as at present I perceive in my heart a beginning of eternal joy, I shall likewise after this life enjoy that perfect happiness which the eye has not seen, or ear heard, and which never entered into the heart of man to conceive, by praising God to all eternity.

59. But what does the believing of all this signify to you? That in believing it I am justified before God, and made an inheritor of life everlasting.

60. How are you justified before God?

By a true faith in Jesus Christ alone; so that although my conscience reproaches me with having grievously sinned against all the Commandments of God, that I have not kept so much as one of them, and moreover that I have been continually inclined to all evil; God, nevertheless, without any merit on my part, but as an effect of His grace, gives and imputes to me the full satisfaction of Jesus Christ, His justification and holiness, in such a manner as if I had not sinned at all, and as if I myself had fulfilled that perfect obedience which Jesus Christ has accomplished for me, provided I embrace that favour with a faithful heart.

61. Why do you say that you are justified only by faith?

It is not that, in consideration of the worthiness of my faith, I am made agreeable to God, but because the satisfaction of Jesus Christ, His justification and holiness, are instead of my justification before God, and that I cannot apply or appropriate them to myself otherwise than by faith alone.

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62. But why cannot our good works justify us before God, or at least in part?

Because the justification which is to avail before the judgment-seat of God must be entirely perfect, and conformable in all its parts to the law of God; and because our best deeds in this life are all imperfect, and sullied with sin.

63. How is it that our good works deserve nothing, since God will reward them both in this world and in that which is to come?

That reward is not a reward merited, but graciously given. 64. But does not this doctrine throw mankind into negligence and impiety?

No; since it is impossible for those who are planted in Jesus Christ by a true faith, not to bring forth the fruits of acknowledgment.

65. Since, then, it is by faith alone that we have a part in Jesus Christ, and in all His benefits, whence have we that faith?

It comes from the Holy Ghost, who produces it in our hearts by the preaching of the Holy Gospel, and who confirms it in us by the use of the Sacraments.

66. What are those Sacraments?

They are visible signs and seals instituted by God, that by their frequent use He might make us better understand, and seal to us the promises made in His Gospel; that is to say, that in consideration of the sacrifice alone of Jesus Christ once offered upon the cross, He grants us remission of our sins and freely gives us life everlasting.

67. Were, then, the Word and the Sacraments instituted and designed for that end, to conduct our faith to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, as to the only foundation of our salvation?

Yes, certainly; for the Holy Ghost teaches us in the Gospel, and assures us by the Sacraments, that our entire salvation is founded upon the sacrifice alone of Jesus Christ offered for us on the cross.

68. How many Sacraments has Jesus Christ instituted in the New Covenant?

Two: Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

69. How is it that Baptism teaches you, and seals it to you, that the sacrifice alone of Jesus Christ made upon the cross turns to your benefit?

From this: that Jesus Christ has established this outward washing, by adding to it this promise, That as certainly as I am washed with this outward baptism, which is proper to cleanse the filth of my body, He will wash me with His blood and Spirit, to cleanse me from the impurities of my soul-that is to say, from my sins.

70. What do you mean by washing with the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ?

That is, to obtain from God a gracious remission of our sins by the blood which Jesus Christ shed for us in the sacrifice of the cross. It means also to be renewed by the Holy Spirit, and to be sanctified in order to become members of Jesus Christ, to die more and more to sin, and to walk before God in a way unblameable.

71. Where is it that Jesus Christ has promised us to wash us with His blood and His Spirit, as certainly as we are washed with the water of baptism?

In the very institution of this Sacrament, of which these are the terms: 'Go and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.' This proposition is also mentioned in those places where the Holy Scripture calls baptism the washing of our regeneration, and the cleansing us from our sins.

72. Does, then, that outward washing with water cleanse us from our sins?

No; for 'tis only the blood of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, that cleanseth us from our sins.

73. Why, then, does the Holy Ghost call baptism the washing of our regeneration and the cleansing of us from our sins?

It is not without great reason that God thus expresses Himself; for He does not only teach us from thence, that as the filth of the body is cleansed by water, so are our sins by the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ; but, moreover, He does hereby assure us, as it were by a pledge and a holy sign, that we are as really

washed spiritually from our sins as we are outwardly with the water of baptism.

74. Must little children also be baptised?

Yes; for since they belong as well as the adult to the covenant with God, and are included in His Church, and also since the remission of sins by the blood of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which brings forth faith, are not less promised to them than to the adult; they ought likewise to be incorporated into the Christian Church by baptism, as by a sign of the covenant, and be distinguished by that means from the children of unbelievers; as it was practised under the old covenant by circumcision, in the stead of which baptism has been instituted in the New Testament.

75. How does the Holy Supper teach you and assure you that you have Communion with the only sacrifice which Jesus Christ offered upon the cross, and with all its benefits ?

In that Jesus Christ has commanded me, and all His believers, to eat of that broken bread, and to drink of that cup in remembrance of Him; and, moreover, in that He assures me, first, that His body has been as really offered up on the cross, and broken for me, and His blood shed for my sins, as I with my own eyes see in the Holy Supper the bread of the Lord broken for me, and the cup communicated to me. And, secondly, that He will nourish my soul in eternal life with His body crucified and blood shed, as certainly as I receive from the hand of the minister, and eat and drink with my mouth, the bread and wine as the true Sacraments of the Lord's body and blood.

76. What is the meaning of eating the body of Jesus Christ crucified and drinking His blood that was spilt ?

It is not only to embrace with a lively faith the Passion and death of Jesus Christ, and by that means to obtain remission of our sins and life everlasting, but also to be more and more so united to the sacred body of Christ by the Holy Ghost that dwells both in Him and in us, that although Jesus Christ is in heaven, and we upon the earth, we may be nevertheless flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bone; and that we may be eternally animated and conducted by one and the same spirit, as the members of a body are by one and the same soul.

77. Where is it that Jesus Christ has promised that He

would give to those who believe in Him His body to eat and His blood to drink, as certainly as they eat of that broken bread and drink of that cup?

In the institution of the Holy Supper, of which these are the words: Our Lord, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take, eat, this is My body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in My blood; this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me: for as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come.' This promise is also mentioned by the Apostle St. Paul when he says, 'The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread.'

78. Are the bread and the wine, then, really changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ ?

No; but as in baptism the water is not changed into the blood of Christ, and that it is not so much as the washing away of our sins, but only the assurance of it, and the Sacrament ordained by God; so in the Holy Supper, the bread is not changed into the body of Jesus Christ, although according to the nature and propriety of Sacraments it is called His body.

79. Whence comes it, then, that Jesus Christ calls the bread His body and the cup His blood, or the New Covenant in His blood; and that St. Paul calls it the communion of the body and blood of Jesus Christ?

It is not without great reason that Jesus Christ speaks to us after that manner; for He would teach us thereby not only that as the bread and the wine nourish us in this temporal life, so His body crucified, and His blood which was spilt, are truly the meat and drink which nourish our souls in life everlasting, but also to assure us much more by these visible signs and pledges that we are as truly made partakers of His body and of His blood by the operation of the Holy Ghost, as it is true that we receive by the mouths of our bodies these tokens con