THE LARGER CATECHISM by The Westminster Assembly
Publishers: Free Presbyterian Publications, 133 Woodlands Road, Glasgow.
Booklet, ISBN 0 902506 43 9, A5, 48 pages. Price £1.95, but available from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom (at the same address) at the the introductory price of £1.50, until October 31. Discounts are available for those who order in quantities from the Bookroom.
FREE Presbyterian Publications have been publishing The Westminster Confession of Faith for 40 years. Available both in hardback (£12.50) and in paperback (£6.95), this volume also includes both The Shorter Catechism and The Larger Catechism as well as the other documents of the Westminster Assembly. Now The Larger Catechism is being published as a separate booklet in the hope that it will help many to obtain a much better grasp of the faith once delivered to the saints.
The Larger Catechism was produced in 1646 by a body whose members included the cream of the Reformed ministers in Britain – in an age which was blessed with remarkably many godly theologians. In The Shorter Catechism they gave us a masterly summary of Christian truths which has been extensively used, often in translation, right round the world until today. For too long, however, The Larger Catechism has remained almost unknown. It is now being made available in this convenient format.
This great manual of Christian doctrine has been described as “a mine of fine gold”. In question and answer form, it gives reasonably brief, yet wonderfully comprehensive summaries of the main points of Scripture teaching. As a typical nugget from that mine of fine gold, we quote Question 77 and its answer.
Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ, in that God in justification imputeth the righteousness of Christ; in sanctification his Spirit infuseth grace, and enableth to the exercise thereof; in the former, sin is pardoned; in the other, it is subdued; the one doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation; the other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection.”
Our prayer is that this new edition of The Larger Catechism will prove to be spiritually profitable to many
Return to Table of Contents for The Free Presbyterian Magazine – August 1998