AN ABRIDGEMENT OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. LESSON I. OF RELIGION. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: A "good understanding have all they that keep his com "mandments." 66 DAVID. you, "Be particular not to neglect religion in the education of your children. In vain will you endeavor to conduct "them by any other path. If they are dear to if you expect from them credit and comfort, from religion must "be derived their happiness and your own.” FATHER GERDIL. 66 RELIGI ELIGION! soother of all our keenest sorrows, source and refiner of all our real joys! shed thy heavenly influence on our souls; direct, animate, and crown all our pursuits; pervade and consecrate all our thoughts, words and actions; or we can never answer the design of God in our creation; we fall short of true happiness in this life, and we sink to the completest wretchedness in that which is to come. 2. What is religion? A. A worship rendered to the Divine Being after that manner we conceive to be most agreeable to his will, that so we may procure his favor and blessing, and avoid his anger and displeasure; and is either true or false, pure or corrupted. B Q. How How do you divide true religion? A. True religion admits of three divisions; First, The religion of nature, Second, The religion of the Jews, Third,The religion of Christians, Q. What is natural religion? A. As far as our notions of a Divine Being proceed from the ideas we have from the light of nature and reason. Man has been defined a religious animal, and by this one epithet, perhaps best distinguished from the brute. Q. On what is the religion of the Jews founded? A. On the Old Testament, and the law given by Moses to the tribes of Israel. Q. Who is the Author of the Christian religion? A. The Son of God, who left the bosom of the Father and all his glories there, to dwell in flesh and blood: He became the child of a poor maid in Galilee; when grown up, he appeared as a young carpenter. He travelled on foot to preach his divine gospel, when he night have been borne on the wings of Angels; he was content with mean lodgings in the tents of poor fishermen in Galilee, the most contemptible country of the Jews; and sometimes the Lord of Glory had not where to lay his head. An obscure life on earth, veiled the Majesty of the King of Heaven. Such wasthe amazing humility of the Son of God, the blessed Author of Christianity; such the example left us by the meck and lowly Jesus. Q. How many false or spurious religions are there? A. Two: Paganism and Mahometanism, Q. What Q. What is Paganism? A. The religion of the Pagans or Heathen nations; and because they represent the Deity under several forms or idols, it is called idolatry, or image worship. Q. From whom has Mahometanism its rise? A. From the impostor Mahomet, who appeared in the seventh century; his whole doctrine is a ridiculous jumble of Heathenism, Judaism, and Christian heresies, and is contained in the rhapsody of the Alcoran. Q. Of what advantage is an exact observance of religion to a state? A. Very great; it inspires honesty in every one, justice in princes, fidelity in subjects, integrity in magistrates, good faith in commerce, and union in marriage. LESSON II. OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. The taking a taste of every sort of knowledge is necessary "to form the mind; and is the only way to give the un"derstanding its due improvement to the full extent of "its capacity." LOCKE. Q. WHAT is science? A. A certain and evident knowledge of some thing. Q. What is art? A. Art is the way of doing a thing surely, readily, and gracefully. Q. How are the arts divided? A. Into those that belong to the sciences, at philosophy, rhetoric, grammar, mathematics, astronomy, astronomy, painting, music, and sculpture; all the others are called mechanical. Q. Why are they called the liberal arts? A. Because the ancients allowed them to be studied only by the Liberi or free persons. Q. How many sciences are there? A. Eight principal ones: First, Theology, Second, Philosophy, Third, Jurisprudence, Fourth, Medicine, Fifth, Rhetoric, Sixth, Grammar, Seventh, Poetry, and the Eighth, Mathematics. 1. OF THEOLOGY. Q. What is theology? A. That science which contemplates the nature of God, and divine things. Whence is the word theology derived? A. From the Greek words signifying the word of God. Q. How may the existence of God be proved? A. What is necessary to be known of God is manifest in the works of the creation. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the rich furniture thereof. The sun, the moon, and the stars, shew themselves to be his handy-work. There is no nation on the face of the whole earth where their voice is not heard, for it is. gone through all the earth, and their word to the end of the world. Q. To whom was the title of theologian first given ? A. TO ST. JOHN, who has by that name been distinguished from the other three Evangelists, because they only wrote the History of the lifeof Jesus Christ, but St. John wrote his gospel to establish his eternal divinity (as the word of God) and his incarnation. 11. PHILOSOPHY. |