Bowles' Catechism

Edward Bowles, English Puritan (1613-1662), was the son of Oliver Bowles, Westminster Divine, and is the one who published Oliver's famous treatise on the evangelical pastor. He was a zealous supporter of Parliament during the English Civil War, and likewise supported the Restoration of the Monarchy, but refused to conform to the Church of England due to his Presbyterian principles. A fellow minister from York, Matthew Poole, gave him the highest possible praise.

Edmund Calamy the Historian wrote of him (A Continuation of the Account, Vol. 2, p. 933)

The ingenious Mr. Matthew Pool once told a Friend (from whom I have it) that he never undertook any Enterprize of publick Concernment, without confulting Mr. [Edward] Bowles: And that he more relied upon his Judgment, than upon any one Man's in England.

Calamy's Continuation is also the source of the Catechism reproduced below, which was a famous and highly regarded Catechism of its day. Since it is rare, I have provided the text in full (for more information about Bowles and another edition of the Catechism itself see here).

Edward Bowles, A Plain and Short Catechism:

Q. Who made you?
A. God the Creator of Heaven and Earth. [Acts 17.24-26; Gen. 1.1]
Q. To what End did he make you?
A. He made me and all Things for his Glory. [Prov. 16.4]
Q. In what Condition did he make Man?
A. Righteous and happy. [Eccl. 7.29; Gen. 1.27]
Q. Did Man continue in that Estate?
A. No, He fell from it by Sin. [Gen. 3]
Q. What is Sin?
A. A Transgression of the Law of God. [1 John 3.4]
Q. What was the Sin of our first Parents?
A. Eating the forbidden Fruit. [Gen. 3.6]
Q. What was the Fruit of that Eating?
A. It filled the World with Sin and Sorrow. [Gen. 3.14, 16-17; Rom. 6.12]
Q. In what Condition is the Posterity of our first Parents born?
A. In a sinful and miserable Condition. [Rom. 5.17-19 and Rom. 3.13]
Q. Wast thou born in that Condition?
A. Yes, I was conceived in Sin, and am by Nature a Child of Wrath, as well as others. [ Ps. 51.5; Eph. 2.3]
Q. Hath thy Life been better than thy Birth?
A. No; I have added to Sin to Sin, and made myself above Measure sinful. [Rom. 3.30; Col. 1.21]
Q. What if thou shouldst die in the Condition thou wast born and bred in?
A. I should perish everlastingly. [John 3.2; 2 Thess. 1.8]
Q. Is there no Way to get out of this sinful and miserable Estate?
A. Yes. [1 Tim. 1.9-10]
Q. Is it to be done by any Power or Righteousness of thy own?
A. No; but God in his rich Mercy hath appointed a Way. [Tit. 3.4-5]
Q. What Way hath God appointed?
A. Only by Jesus Christ. [John 14.5; Acts 4.11]
Q. What is Jesus Christ?
A. The Son of God, manifest in the Flesh. [Gal. 4.4; 1 Tim. 3.16]
Q. What hath Jesus Christ done for Man?
A. He hath laid down his Life for our Redemption. [Matt. 20.28; Col. 1.14]
Q. What farther Benefit have we by him?
A. Life and Salvation. [John vi.27, 48; Heb. 5.9]
Q. Shall all Men partake of this Redemption and Salvation?
A. No; there are many who perish notwithstanding. [Matt. 7.13-14; Phil. 3.18]
Q. By what Means may a Sinner obtain a Part in this Redemption?
A. By Faith in Christ. [Eph. 2.8; John 3.16]
Q. What is to believe?
A. To rely on Jesus Christ, and him alone, for Pardon and Salvation, according to the Gospel. [John 3.31; Acts 16.36; Isa. 50.10; John 5.44]
Q. How doth the Gospel teach us to rely on Christ?
A. So to cast our Burthen upon him, as to take his Yoke upon us. [Matt. 11.28-29]
Q. Why hath God appointed Faith to this excellent use?
A. Because Faith gives him what he looks for, the whole Glory of our Salvation. [Eph. 2.8-9]
Q. How is Faith wrought in the Soul?
A. By the Word and Spirit of God. [Rom. 10.14, 17; 2 Cor. 3.6; John 16.9-10]
Q. What call you the Word of God?
A. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. [Eph. 2.20]
Q. Doth God work Faith by the Word read, or preached?
A. Ordinarily by the Word preached. [Rom. 10.14; Eph. 1.14; 1 Cor. 1.11]
Q. In what Order doth God work Faith by the Word?
A. First he shows Men their Sins, and then their Savior. [Acts 2.37; John 16.9]
Q. Why doth he observe this Order?
A. That Christ may be the more precious to the Soul. [1 Pet. 2.7; Luke 7.47]
Q. Doth not Repentance go along with Faith?
A. Yes. [Mark 1.15; Heb. 6.1; Acts 10.21]
Q. What is Repentence?
A. It is a sorrowful Sense of Sin, with a turning from it unto God. [Acts 26.20; 2 Cor. 7.10; 1 Thess. 1.6]
Q. How is true Faith farther discerned?
A. By its Fruits. [Gal. 5.6; Rom. 6.1; Acts 1.9; 2 Cor. 1.7]
Q. What are the Fruits of Faith?
A. Love in the Heart, Peace in the Conscience, Holiness in the Life. [Gal. 5.6; Rom. 5.1; Acts 15.9; 2 Cor. 1.7]
Q. How doth Faith work Love?
A. It lays hold upon the infinite Love of Christ, and works a mutual Love in us. [1 John 4.19; Luke 7.47]
Q. How must we express our Love to Christ?
A. By our Love to Christians, and keeping his Commandments. [John 14.15; 1 John 5.12]
Q. Are not the Ten Commandments, the Commandments of Christ?
A. Yes, they are a special Part of God's Word, which is a Rule of Life. [Ps. 19.7; Matt. 5.17]
Q. What doth God look for from his redeemed People?
A. That they should walk before him in Holiness and Righteousness. [Luke 1.74-75; Tit. 2.12, 14]
Q. Have we Strength of ourselves so to walk?
A. No; without Christ we can do nothing. [John 15.5]
Q. How shall we obtain Strength from Christ?
A. By a diligent and right use of his Ordinances. [Isa. 40.31; Ps. 38.3]
Q. What are the Ordinances of Christ to this Purpose?
A. The Word preached, the Administration of the Sacraments and Prayer. [Rom. 10.14-15; 1 Cor. 11.23; Matt. 28.19-20; 1 Thess. 5.17]
Q. When do we use the Ordinances aright?
A. When we mingle them with Faith. [Heb. 4.2; James 1.6]
Q. How may it appear that Christ hath left such an Ordinance as Preaching?
A. The Scripture tells me so. [Eph. 4.11-12; 2 Tim. 4.2]
Q. What are the Sacraments which Christ hath left to his Church?
A. Two: Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord.
Q. What is Baptism?
A. It is dipping or sprinkling with Water, in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. [Matt. 28.19; Acts 10.47]
Q. What is the Nature of this Sacrament?
A. It represents and (through Faith seals), the sprinkling of the Blood of Christ, and the Washing of the Holy Ghost. [Acts 22.16; Tit. 3.5; Acts 8.37; 1 Pet. 3.1]
Q. What is done in Baptism on our Part?
A. By it our Names are given up to the Profession of the Gospel, and we are bound to walk according to it. [Gal. 2.27; Col. 3.1; 1 Cor. 6.11]
Q. What is the Supper of the Lord?
A. It is a solemn Eating of Bread, and Drinking of Wine, in Remembrance of the Death and Blood of Jesus Christ. [Luke 22.19-20]
Q. What is the End of this Sacrament?
A. One main End is to show forth the Lord's Death till he come. [1 Cor. 11.26]
Q. What is the Benefit of this Sacrament to a worthy Receiver?
A. It strengthens his Faith, and confirms his Love to Christ, and all his Members. [1 Cor. 10.16-17]
Q. Who is the worthy Receiver?
A. He who discerneth the Body and Blood of Christ, partaking thereof with Faith and Love. [1 Cor. 11.28-29; John 6.56]
Q. What is the Danger of unworthy receiving?
A. The unworthy Receiver becomes guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ; eating and drinking Judgment to himself. [1 Cor. 11.27, 29]
Q. What is Prayer?
A. It is a making our Request unto God, according to his Will, in the Name of Christ. [Phil. 4.6; 1 John 5.14; John 16.23]
Q. Wherein lies the Strength of Prayer?
A. In Faith and Fervency. [Matt. 21.22; James 1.6 and 5.26]
Q. What other Duties are especially required in an holy Life?
A. Watchfulness, and Christian Communion. [Mark 13.37; 1 Cor. 16.13; Heb. 10.24; Col. 3.16]
Q. Why must we watch?
A. For two Reasons.
First, because we walk in the Midst of our Enemies, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.
Secondly, lest the Day of Death or Judgment come upon us unawares. [Luke 24.42[?]; 1 Pet. 4.7]
Q. Shall Death come upon all Men?
A. It is appointed for me and all Men once to die, and it is good to remember it oft. [Heb. 9.27; Eccl. 12.1; Ps. 90.12]
Q. What is Death?
A. A Separation of the Soul from the Body. [Acts 5.5; Eccl. 12.7]
Q. What remaineth after Death?
A. The general Resurrection, and the Day of Judgment. [1 Cor. 15; John 5.29; Acts 17.21]
Q. What is the Work of that Day?
A. To render to every man according to his Works. [Matt. 16.2; Rom. 2.6]
Q. What shall be the condition of the Godly after this Life?
A. They shall be ever with the Lord. [1 Thess. 4.17; John 17.17, 24]
Q. What shall be the Condition of the Unbelievers, and wicked men?
A. They shall perish with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord. [2 Thess. 1.8-9; Matt. 25.41, 46]