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Jeremias Bastingius, head and shoulders with a ruff, an engraving
Engraving, 16th century (Erfgoed Leiden)

commentary

A Catechisme of Christian Religion, with the Arguments and Use

1591 · 129 entries

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By
Jeremias Bastingius
Dates
first published 1591
Tradition
reformed
Also called
A Catechisme of Christian Religion … with the Arguments; and Use of the Several Doctrines of the Same Catechisme; Bastingius’s Catechism
Follows
A Catechisme of Christian Religion, Taught in the Schooles and Churches of the Low-Countries, and dominions of the Countie Palatine. With the Arguments, and vse of the seueral doctrins of the same Catechisme. By Ieremias Bastingius. And now authorized by the Kinges Maiestie, for the vse of Scotland. Wherunto is adioyned certaine Praiers, both publike and priuate, for sundry purposes, Printed by Robert Waldegrave, printer to the King’s Majesty, 1591 (Folger Shakespeare Library’s copy) (Edinburgh); STC 1562, ESTC S114402 · the scan (PDF) , from archive.org
Transcribed
From EEBO-TCP A05494Checked against a copy at archive.org: every heading, question number and “The vse”; the first and last pages and fourteen others (PDF pages 4, 9, 15–17, 38, 49–50, 63, 81–82, 85, 89, 103, 110 and 135), word by word; every gap in the TCP; and each margin note whose references the importer couldn’t read or doubted, by Claude, for cco3, 2026-10-29
License
Public domain
Notes

Jeremias Bastingius (1551–1595), a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, wrote a commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism (Latin, 1588; in English as An Exposition or Commentarie upon the Catechisme, Cambridge, 1589). This is its abridgement for Scotland, “authorized by the Kinges Maiestie”: the catechism’s 129 questions in the English of the day, its proofs in the margin, and for each of its fifty-two sections, one a Lord’s day, “The Argument”, and after many of its answers, “The vse” of the doctrine. Each entry is one of the catechism’s questions; its part is the heading of the section it is in. Its items are, in the printing’s order: the section’s argument (in the entry of the section’s first question), then the question and answer, the answer’s proofs as segments, then the use the printing sets after it, where it sets one (after 41 of the questions). The argument and the use ask no question: their question is the printing’s heading over them, “THE ARGVMENT.” or “The vse” as each is printed; the labels “Question.” and “Answere.” and the Lord’s days in the margin are left out. The printing sets most answers’ proof letters before the words they prove, but some after (those whose last letter ends the answer: 3, 5–8 and 10); the segments are cut as each is set. The uses’ margin references, which have no letters, prove the words after them. A proof letter in question 25 is that answer’s first segment, without text. The book’s other parts, the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the prayers and confessions “commonly vsed in the Church of Edinburgh”, are prose/; its title page and its A. B. C. are left out. Imported from EEBO-TCP A05494 by a script after scripts/import-tcp.mjs, keeping its spelling; the scan is EEBO’s film of the Folger copy. EMENDATIONS.md gives every correction: the TCP’s gaps filled, its misreadings, and some sixty references the printing or the TCP gets wrong.

On
Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
Download
bastingius1591.json · 319 kB

Prefaces and appendices

Contents

OF THE ONELY COMFORT OF MAN, IN LIFE AND IN DEATH.

  1. 1What is thy only comfort in life and death?HC Q. 1
  2. 2How many things are necessary for thee to know that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?HC Q. 2

THE FIRST PART, OF MANS MISERIE.

  1. 3Whence knowest thou thy misery?HC Q. 3
  2. 4What doth the law of God require of us?HC Q. 4
  3. 5Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?HC Q. 5

OF THE CREATION OF man, after the image of God.

  1. 6Did God then create man so wicked and perverse?HC Q. 6
  2. 7Whence then proceeds this depravity of human nature?HC Q. 7
  3. 8Are we then so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all wickedness?HC Q. 8

OF THE CAVSES OF mans miserie.

  1. 9Doth not God then do injustice to man, by requiring from him in his law, that which he cannot perform?HC Q. 9
  2. 10Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?HC Q. 10
  3. 11Is not God then also merciful?HC Q. 11

THE SECOND PART, OF MANS DELIVERANCE.

  1. 12Since then, by the righteous judgment of God, we deserve temporal and eternal punishment; is there no way by which we may escape that punishment, and be again received into favour?HC Q. 12
  2. 13Can we ourselves then make this satisfaction?HC Q. 13
  3. 14Can there be found anywhere, one who is a mere creature, able to satisfy for us?HC Q. 14
  4. 15What sort of a mediator and deliverer then must we seek for?HC Q. 15

OF THE MEDIATOVR.

  1. 16Why must he be very man, and also perfectly righteous?HC Q. 16
  2. 17Why must he in one person be also very God?HC Q. 17
  3. 18Who then is that mediator, who is in one person both very God, and a real righteous man?HC Q. 18
  4. 19Whence knowest thou this?HC Q. 19

OF THE GOSPEL.

  1. 20Are all men then, as they perished in Adam, saved by Christ?HC Q. 20
  2. 21What is true faith?HC Q. 21
  3. 22What is then necessary for a Christian to believe?HC Q. 22
  4. 23What are these articles?HC Q. 23

OF THE APOSTLES Creede.

  1. 24How are these articles divided?HC Q. 24
  2. 25Since there is but one only divine essence, why speakest thou of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?HC Q. 25

OF GOD THE FATHER.

  1. 26What believest thou when thou sayest, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth?”HC Q. 26

OF GODS PROVIDENCE.

  1. 27What dost thou mean by the providence of God?HC Q. 27
  2. 28What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence doth still uphold all things.HC Q. 28

OF GOD THE SONNE.

  1. 29Why is the Son of God called Jesus, that is a Saviour?HC Q. 29
  2. 30Do such then believe in Jesus the only Saviour, who seek their salvation and happiness of saints, of themselves, or anywhere else?HC Q. 30
  3. 31Why is he called Christ, that is, anointed?HC Q. 31
  4. 32But why art thou called a Christian?HC Q. 32

OF THE ONLIE BEGOTten Sonne of God.

  1. 33Why is Christ called the only begotten Son of God since we are also the children of God?HC Q. 33
  2. 34Wherefore callest thou him our Lord?HC Q. 34

OF THE CONCEPTION of the Sonne of God.

  1. 35What is the meaning of these words—“He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary?”HC Q. 35
  2. 36What profit dost thou receive by Christ’s holy conception and nativity?HC Q. 36

OF CHRISTES SVFFERING.

  1. 37What dost thou understand by the words “He suffered?”HC Q. 37
  2. 38Why did he suffer under Pontius Pilate, as his judge?HC Q. 38
  3. 39Is there any thing more in his being crucified, than if he had died some other death?HC Q. 39

OF CHRISTS SVFFERING.

  1. 40Why was it necessary for Christ to humble himself even unto death?HC Q. 40
  2. 41Why was he also “buried?”HC Q. 41
  3. 42Since then Christ died for us, why must we also die?HC Q. 42
  4. 43What further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross?HC Q. 43
  5. 44Why is there added, “he descended into hell?”HC Q. 44

OF CHRISTES RISING againe from the deade.

  1. 45What doth the resurrection of Christ profit us?HC Q. 45
  2. 46How dost thou understand these words, “he ascended into heaven?”HC Q. 46
  3. 47Is not Christ then with us even to the end of the world, as he hath promised?HC Q. 47
  4. 48But if his human nature is not present, wherever his Godhead is, are not then these two natures in Christ separated from one another?HC Q. 48
  5. 49Of what advantage to us is Christ’s ascension into heaven?HC Q. 49

OF CHRISTES ASCENDING into Heauen.

  1. 50Why is it added, “and sitteth at the right hand of God?”HC Q. 50
  2. 51What profit is this glory of Christ, our head, unto us?HC Q. 51

OF CHRISTS COMMING againe to judgement.

  1. 52What comfort is it to thee that “Christ shall come again to judge the quick and the dead?”HC Q. 52

OF GOD THE holie Ghost.

  1. 53What dost thou believe concerning the Holy Ghost?HC Q. 53

OF THE CHVRCH.

  1. 54What believest thou concerning the “Holy Catholic Church” of Christ.HC Q. 54
  2. 55What do you understand by “the communion of saints?”HC Q. 55
  3. 56What believest thou concerning “the forgiveness of sins?”HC Q. 56

OF THE RESVRRECTIon of the flesh.

  1. 57What comfort doth the “resurrection of the body” afford thee?HC Q. 57
  2. 58What comfort takest thou from the article of “life everlasting?”HC Q. 58

OF THE RIGHTEOVSnesse of Fayth.

  1. 59But what doth it profit thee now that thou believest all this?HC Q. 59
  2. 60How art thou righteous before God?HC Q. 60
  3. 61What sayest thou, that thou art righteous by faith only?HC Q. 61

OF IVSTIFICATION BY FAITH.

  1. 62But why cannot our good works be the whole, or part of our righteousness before God?HC Q. 62
  2. 63What! do not our good works merit, which yet God will reward in this and in a future life?HC Q. 63
  3. 64But doth not this doctrine make men careless and profane?HC Q. 64

OF THE SACRAMENTS.

  1. 65Since then we are made partakers of Christ and all his benefits by faith only, whence doth this faith proceed?HC Q. 65
  2. 66What are the sacraments?HC Q. 66
  3. 67Are both word and sacraments, then, ordained and appointed for this end, that they may direct our faith to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, as the only ground of our salvation?HC Q. 67
  4. 68How many sacraments has Christ instituted in the new covenant, or testament?HC Q. 68

OF BAPTISME.

  1. 69How art thou admonished and assured by holy baptism, that the one sacrifice of Christ upon the cross is of real advantage to thee?HC Q. 69
  2. 70What is it to be washed with the blood and spirit of Christ?HC Q. 70
  3. 71Where has Christ promised us that he will as certainly wash us by his blood and spirit, as we are washed with the water of baptism?HC Q. 71
  4. 72Is then the external baptism with water, the washing away of sin itself?HC Q. 72
  5. 73Why then doth the Holy Ghost call baptism “the washing of regeneration,” and “the washing away of sins?”HC Q. 73
  6. 74Are infants also to be baptized?HC Q. 74

OF THE SVPPER OF THE LORDE.

  1. 75How art thou admonished and assured in the Lord’s supper, that thou art a partaker of that one sacrifice of Christ accomplished on the cross, and of all his benefits?HC Q. 75
  2. 76What is it then to eat the crucified body, and drink the shed blood of Christ?HC Q. 76
  3. 77Where has Christ promised that he will as certainly feed and nourish believers with his body and blood, as they eat of this broken bread, and drink of this cup?HC Q. 77

OF TRANSVBSTANTIATION.

  1. 78Do then the bread and wine become the very body and blood of Christ?HC Q. 78
  2. 79Why then doth Christ call the bread his body, and the cup his blood, or the new covenant in his blood; and Paul the “Communion of the body and blood of Christ?”HC Q. 79

OF THE MASSE.

  1. 80What difference is there between the Lord’s supper and the Popish mass?HC Q. 80
  2. 81For whom is the Lord’s supper instituted?HC Q. 81
  3. 82Are they also to be admitted to this supper, who, by confession and life, declare themselves infidels and ungodly?HC Q. 82

OF THE KEYES.

  1. 83What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?HC Q. 83
  2. 84How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the holy gospel?HC Q. 84
  3. 85How is the kingdom of heaven shut and opened by Christian discipline?HC Q. 85

THE THIRD PARTE, OF MANS THANKFVLNES.

  1. 86Since then we are delivered from our misery, merely of grace, through Christ, without any merit of ours, why must we still do good works?HC Q. 86
  2. 87Cannot they then be saved, who, continuing in their wicked and ungrateful lives, are not converted to God?HC Q. 87

OF REPENTANCE.

  1. 88Of how many parts doth the true conversion of man consist?HC Q. 88
  2. 89What is the mortification of the old man?HC Q. 89
  3. 90What is the quickening of the new man?HC Q. 90
  4. 91But what are good works?HC Q. 91
  5. 92What is the law of God?HC Q. 92

OF THE LAWE OF GOD.

  1. 93How are these ten commands divided?HC Q. 93
  2. 94What doth God enjoin in the first command?HC Q. 94
  3. 95What is idolatry?HC Q. 95

OF THE SECOND Commandement.

  1. 96What doth God require in the second command?HC Q. 96
  2. 97Are images then not at all to be made?HC Q. 97
  3. 98But may not images be tolerated in the churches, as books of the laity?HC Q. 98

OF THE THIRD COMmandement.

  1. 99What is required in the third command?HC Q. 99
  2. 100Is then the profaning of God’s name, by swearing and cursing, so heinous a sin, that his wrath is kindled against those who do not endeavour, as much as in them lies, to prevent and forbid such cursing and swearing?HC Q. 100

OF THE THIRD COMmaundement.

  1. 101May we then swear religiously by the name of God?HC Q. 101
  2. 102May we also swear by saints or any other creatures?HC Q. 102

OF THE FOVRTH Commandement.

  1. 103What doth God require in the fourth command?HC Q. 103

OF THE FIFT COMMANDEMENT.

  1. 104What doth God require in the fifth command?HC Q. 104

OF THE SIXT COMMANDEMENT.

  1. 105What doth God require in the sixth command?HC Q. 105
  2. 106But this command seems only to speak of murder?HC Q. 106
  3. 107But is it enough that we don’t kill any man in the manner mentioned above?HC Q. 107

OF THE SEAVENTH COMmandement.

  1. 108What doth the seventh command teach us?HC Q. 108
  2. 109Doth God forbid in this command, only adultery, and such like gross sins?HC Q. 109

OF THE EIGHT COMMANDEMENT.

  1. 110What doth God forbid in the eighth command?HC Q. 110
  2. 111But what doth God require in this command?HC Q. 111

OF THE NINTH COMMANDEMENT.

  1. 112What is required in the ninth command?HC Q. 112

OF THE TENTH COMmandement.

  1. 113What doth the tenth commandment require of us?HC Q. 113
  2. 114But can those, who are converted to God, perfectly keep these commands?HC Q. 114
  3. 115Why will God then have the ten commands so strictly preached, since no man in this life can keep them?HC Q. 115

OF PRAIER.

  1. 116Why is prayer necessary for Christians?HC Q. 116
  2. 117What are the requisites of that prayer, which is acceptable to God, and which he will hear?HC Q. 117
  3. 118What hath God commanded us to ask of him?HC Q. 118
  4. 119What are the words of that prayer?HC Q. 119

HOW WE SHOVLD PRAY.

  1. 120Why hath Christ commanded us to address God thus: “Our Father?”HC Q. 120
  2. 121Why is it here added, “Which art in heaven?”HC Q. 121

OF THE FIRST PETITION.

  1. 122Which is the first petition?HC Q. 122

OF THE SECOND PETITION.

  1. 123Which is the second petition?HC Q. 123

OF THE THIRD PETITION.

  1. 124Which is the third petition?HC Q. 124

OF THE FOVRTH PETITION.

  1. 125Which is the fourth petition?HC Q. 125

OF THE FIFT PETITION.

  1. 126Which is the fifth petition?HC Q. 126

OF THE SIXT PETITION.

  1. 127Which is the sixth petition?HC Q. 127
  2. 128How dost thou conclude thy prayer?HC Q. 128
  3. 129What doth the word “Amen” signify?HC Q. 129