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LECTURES

ON THE

SHORTER CATECHISM

OF THE

Presbyterian Church,

IN THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

ADDRESSED TO YOUTH.

BY ASHBEL GREEN, D. D.

PHILADELPHIA:

A. FINLEY, CORNER OF FOURTH AND CHESNUT STREETS; E. LITTELL & BROTHER,
136 CHESNUT STREET; AND TOWAR & HOGAN, 255 MARKET STREET.

Clark & Raser, Printers, 33 Carter's Alley.

NEW JERSEY

COLLEGE LIBRARY

Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to wit:

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the second day of October, in the fifty-fourth year of the independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1829, Clark & Raser, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit:

"Lectures on the Shorter Catechism of the Presbyterian Church, in the United States of America: addressed to Youth. By Ashbel Green, D. D."

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, intituled, "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned"-And also to the act, entitled," An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for the Encourage ment of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." D. CALDWELL,

Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

PREFACE.

THE following Lectures were originally delivered to the youth of the author's pastoral charge. They are to be considered as the concluding part of a course of religious instruction, commencing with children at the dawn of intellect and the nature and design of the lectures may perhaps best be explained, by briefly stating the process, of which they were the termination.

While memory remains, the interesting scenes will never be obliterated from the author's mind, in which he had before him the children of his congregation-from the age of three or four years, to that of ten or twelve. They were counselled, and admonished, and prayed with, in language the most simple, plain, and tender, that could be devised; and never did the speaker find the difficulty so great, in addressing any other audience, or in leading any other devotions, as in performing these duties for the lambs of his flock; in adapting his thoughts and his language to their capacities, and becoming their mouth to God. They were all taught some little forms of devotion, suited to their several ages. Some of the youngest, learned the Mother's Catechism; but, eventually, they all committed to memory that on which the lectures composing the present volume are founded. The children were divided into classes, according to the progress they had made-from those who had learned but four or five answers of the catechism, to those who could accurately repeat the whole. Of this last de

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