Kitabı oku: «A Christian Directory, Part 2: Christian Economics», sayfa 23

CHAPTER XX.
DIRECTIONS FOR PROFITABLE READING THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

Seeing the diversity of men's tempers and understandings is so exceedingly great, that it is impossible that any thing should be pleasing and suitable to some, which shall not be disliked and quarrelled with by others; and seeing in the Scriptures there are many things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction, 2 Pet. iii. 16; and the word is to some the savour of death unto death, 2 Cor. ii. 16.;⁴⁷ you have therefore need to be careful in reading it. And as Christ saith, "Take heed how you hear," Luke viii. 18; so I say, Take heed how you read.

Direct. I. Bring not an evil heart of unbelief. Open the Bible with holy reverence as the book of God, indited by the Holy Ghost. Remember that the doctrine of the New Testament was revealed by the Son of God, who was purposely sent from heaven to be the light of the world, and to make known to men the will of God, and the matters of their salvation.⁴⁸ Bethink you well, if God should but send a book or letter to you by an angel, how reverently you would receive it! How carefully you would peruse it; and regard it above all the books in the world! And how much rather should you do so, by that book which is indited by the Holy Ghost, and recordeth the doctrine of Christ himself, whose authority is greater than all the angels! Read it not therefore as a common book, with a common and unreverent heart; but in the dread and love of God the author.

Direct. II. Remember that it is the very law of God which you must live by, and be judged by at last. And therefore read with a full resolution to obey whatever it commandeth, though flesh, and men, and devils contradict it. Let there be no secret exceptions in your heart, to balk out any of its precepts, and shift off that part of obedience which the flesh accounteth difficult or dear.

Direct. III. Remember that it is the will and testament of your Lord, and the covenant of most full and gracious promises; which all your comforts, and all your hopes of pardon and everlasting life, are built upon. Read it therefore with love and great delight. Value it a thousandfold more than you would do the letters of your dearest friend, or the deeds by which you hold your lands, or any thing else of low concernment. If the law was sweeter to David than honey, and better than thousands of gold and silver, and was his delight and meditation all the day, oh what should the sweet and precious gospel be to us!

Direct. IV. Remember that it is a doctrine of unseen things, and of the greatest mysteries; and therefore come not to it with arrogance as a judge, but with humility as a learner or disciple; and if any thing seem difficult or improbable to you, suspect your own unfurnished understanding, and not the sacred word of God. If a learner in any art or science, will suspect his teacher and his books, whenever he is stalled, or meeteth with that which seemeth unlikely to him, his pride would keep possession for his ignorance, and his folly were like to be uncurable.

Direct. V. Remember that it is a universal law and doctrine, written for the most ignorant as well as for the curious; and therefore must be suited in plainness to the capacity of the simple, and yet have matter to exercise the most subtle wits; and that God would have the style to savour more of the innocent weakness of the instruments, than the matter. Therefore be not offended or troubled when the style doth seem less polite than you might think beseemed the Holy Ghost; nor at the plainness of some parts, or the mysteriousness of others; but adore the wisdom and tender condescension of God to his poor creatures.

Direct. VI. Bring not a carnal mind, which savoureth only fleshly things, and is enslaved to those sins which the Scripture doth condemn: "For the carnal mind is enmity against God, and neither is nor can be subject to his law," Rom. viii. 7, 8. "And the things of God are not discerned by the mere natural man, for they are foolishness to him, and they must be spiritually discerned," 2 Cor. ii. 14: and enmity is an ill expositor. It will be quarrelling with all, and making faults in the word which findeth so many faults in you. It will hate that word which cometh to deprive you of your most sweet and dearly beloved sin. Or, if you have such a carnal mind and enmity, believe it not, any more than a partial and wicked enemy should be believed against God himself; who better understandeth what he hath written, than any of his foolish enemies.

Direct. VII. Compare one place of Scripture with another, and expound the darkest by the help of the plainest, and the fewer expressions by the more frequent and ordinary, and the doubtfuler points by those which are most certain; and not on the contrary.

Direct. VIII. Presume not on the strength of your own understanding, but humbly pray to God for light; and before and after you read the Scripture, pray earnestly that the Spirit which did indite it, may expound it to you, and keep you from unbelief and error, and lead you into the truth.⁴⁹

Direct. IX. Read some of the best annotations or expositors; who being better acquainted with the phrase of the Scripture than yourselves, may help to clear your understanding. When Philip asked the eunuch that read Isa. liii. "Understandest thou what thou readest? he said, How can I except some man should guide me?" Acts viii. 30, 31. Make use of your guides, if you would not err.

Direct. X. When you are stalled by any difficulty which over-matcheth you, note it down, and propound it to your pastor, and crave his help, or (if the minister of that place be ignorant and unable) go to some one that God hath furnished for such work. And if, after all, some things remain still dark and difficult, remember your imperfection, and wait on God for further light, and thankfully make use of all the rest of the Scripture which is plain. And do not think as the papists, that men must forbear reading it for fear of erring, no more than that men must forbear eating for fear of poison, or than subjects must be kept ignorant of the laws of the king, for fear of misunderstanding or abusing them.

CHAPTER XXI.
DIRECTIONS FOR READING OTHER BOOKS

Because God hath made the excellent, holy writings of his servants, the singular blessing of this land and age; and many a one may have a good book, even any day or hour of the week, that cannot at all have a good preacher;⁵⁰ I advise all God's servants to be thankful for so great a mercy, and to make use of it, and be much in reading: for reading, with most, doth more conduce to knowledge than hearing doth, because you may choose what subjects and the excellentest treatises you please; and may be often at it, and may peruse again and again what you forget, and may take time as you go to fix it on your mind: and with very many it doth more than hearing also to move the heart, though hearing of itself in this hath the advantage; because lively books may be easilier had than lively preachers. Especially these sorts of men should be much in reading: 1. Masters of families, that have more souls to care for than their own. 2. People that live where there is no preaching, or as bad or worse than none. 3. Poor people, and servants, and children, that are forced on many Lord's days to stay at home, whilst others have the opportunity to hear. 4. And vacant persons that have more leisure than others have. To all these, but especially masters of families, I shall here give a few directions.

Direct. I. I presuppose that you keep the devil's books out of your hands and house. I mean cards, and idle tales, and play-books, and romances or love-books, and false, bewitching stories, and the seducing books of all false teachers, and the railing or scorning books which the men of several sects and factions write against each other, on purpose to teach men to hate one another, and banish love: for where these are suffered to corrupt the mind, all grave and useful writings are forestalled; and it is a wonder to see how powerfully these poison the minds of children, and many other empty heads. Also books that are written by the sons of Korah, to breed distastes and discontents in the minds of the people against their governors, both magistrates and ministers. For there is something in the best rulers, for the tongues of seditious men to fasten on, and to aggravate in the people's ears; and there is something even in godly people, which tempteth them too easily to take fire and be distempered before they are aware; and they foresee not the evil to which it tendeth.

Direct. II. When you read to your family, or others, let it be seasonably and gravely, when silence and attendance encourage you to expect success; and not when children are crying or talking, or servants bustling to disturb you. Distraction is worst in the greatest businesses.

Direct. III. Choose such hooks as are most suitable to your state, or to those you read to.⁵¹ It is worse than unprofitable to read books for comforting troubled minds, to those that are blockishly secure, and have hardened, obstinate, unhumbled hearts. It is as bad as to give medicines or plasters contrary to the patient's need, and such as cherish the disease. So is it to read books of too high a style or subject, to dull and ignorant hearers. We use to say, That which is one man's meat, is another man's poison. It is not enough that the matter be good, but it must be agreeable to the case for which it is used.

Direct. IV. To a common family begin with those books, which at once inform the judgment about the fundamentals, and awaken the affections to entertain them and improve them. Such as are treatises of regeneration, conversion, or repentance: to which purpose I have written myself, The Call to the Unconverted; – The Treatise of Conversion; – Directions for a Sound Conversion; – A Treatise of Judgment; – A Sermon against making Light of Christ; – True Christianity; – A Sermon of Repentance; – Now or Never; – A Saint or a Brute; with others; which I mention, not as equalling them with others, but as those which I am more accountable for. On this subject these are very excellent: Mr. R. Allen's Works; – Mr. Whateley on the New Birth; – Mr. Swinnock of Regeneration; – Mr. Pinks's five Sermons; – most of Mr. Hooker's Sermons; – Mr. J. Rogers's Doctrine of Faith; – Mr. Dent's Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven; – most of Mr. Perkins's and Mr. Bolton's Works, and many the like.

Direct. V. Next these, read over those books which are most suited to the state of young christians for their growth in grace, and for their exercise of faith, and love, and obedience, and for the mortifying of selfishness, pride, sensuality, worldliness, and other the most dangerous sins. My own on this subject are, my Directions for Weak Christians; – my Saints' Rest; – A Treatise of Self-denial; – another of The Mischiefs of Self-ignorance; – Life of Faith; – Of Crucifying the World; – The Unreasonableness of Infidelity; – Of Right Rejoicing, &c. To this use these are excellent: Mr. Hildersham's Works; – Dr. Preston's; – Mr. Perkins's; – Mr. Bolton's – Mr. Fenner's; – Mr. Gurnall's; – Mr. Anthony Burgess's Sermons; – Mr. Lockier on the Colossians; with abundance more that God hath blessed us with.

Direct. VI. At the same time labour to methodize your knowledge; and to that end read first and learn some short catechism, and then some larger (as Mr. Ball's, or the Assembly's, larger); and next some body of divinity (as Amesius's Marrow of Divinity and Cases of Conscience, which are Englished). And let the catechism be kept in memory while you live, and the rest be thoroughly understood.

Direct. VII. Next read (to yourselves or families) the larger expositions of the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments; such as Perkins, Bishop Andrews on the Commandments, and Dod, &c.; that your understanding may be more full, particular, and distinct, and your families may not stop in generals, which are not understood.

Direct. VIII. Read much those books which direct you in a course of daily communion with God, and ordering all your conversations. As Mr. Reyner's Directions; – The Practice of Piety; – Mr. Palmer's; Mr. Scudder's; – Mr. Bolton's Directions; – and my Divine Life.

Direct. IX. For peace, and comfort, and increase of the love of God, read Mr. Symmond's Deserted Soul, &c.; – and his Life of Faith; – all Dr. Sibbs's Works; – Mr. Harsnet's Cordials; – Bishop Hall's Works, &c.: – my Method for Peace, and Saints' Rest, &c.

Direct. X. For the understanding of the text of Scripture, keep at hand either Deodate's, or the Assembly of Divines, or the Dutch Annotations; with Dr. Hammond's, or Dickson's and Hutchinson's Brief Observations.

Direct. XI. For securing you against the fever of uncharitable zeal and schism, and contentious wranglings and cruelties for religion's sake, read diligently Bishop Hall's Peacemaker (and other of his books); – Mr. Burrough's Irenicon; – Acontius's Stratagems of Satan; – and my Catholic Unity; – Catholic Church; – Universal Concord, &c.

Direct. XII. For establishing you against popery, on the soundest grounds, not running in the contrary extreme, read Dr. Challoner's Credo Ecclesiam, &c.; – Chillingworth; – Dr. Field of the Church, &c.; – and my True Catholic; – and my Key for Catholics; – and my Safe Religion; – and Windingsheet for Popery; – and Disputation with Mr. Johnson.

Direct. XIII. For especial preparation for affliction, sufferings, sickness, death, read Mr. Hughes's Rod; – Mr. Lawrence's Christ's Power over Sicknesses; – Mr. S. Rutherford's Letters, &c.; – my Treatise of Self-denial; – the Believer's Last Work; – the Last Enemy Death; – and the Fourth Part of my Saints' Rest. I will add no more, lest they seem too many.

CHAPTER XXII.
DIRECTIONS FOR THE RIGHT TEACHING OF CHILDREN AND SERVANTS, SO AS MAY BE MOST LIKELY TO HAVE SUCCESS

I here suppose them utterly untaught that you have to do with; and therefore shall direct you what to do, from the very first beginning of your teaching, and their learning. And I beseech you study this chapter more than many of the rest; for it is an unspeakable loss that befalls the church, and the souls of men, for want of skill, and will, and diligence, in parents and masters in this matter.

Direct. I. Cause your younger children to learn the words, though they be not yet capable of understanding the matter. And do not think as some do, that this is but to make them hypocrites, and to teach them to take God's name in vain: for it is neither vanity nor hypocrisy to help them first to understand the words and signs, in order to their early understanding of the matter and signification. Otherwise no man might teach them any language, nor teach them to read any words that be good, because they must first understand the words before the meaning. If a child learn to read in a Bible, it is not taking God's name or word in vain, though he understand it not; for it is in order to his learning to understand it; and it is not vain which is to so good a use: if you leave them untaught till they come to be twenty years of age, they must then learn the words before they can understand the matter. Do not therefore leave them the children of darkness, for fear of making them hypocrites. It will be an excellent way to redeem their time, to teach them first that which they are capable of learning: a child of five or six years old can learn the words of a catechism or Scripture, before they are capable of understanding them. And then when they come to years of understanding, that part of their work is done, and they have nothing to do but to study the meaning and use of those words which they have learned already. Whereas if you leave them utterly untaught till then, they must then be wasting a long time to learn the same words which they might have learned before; and the loss of so much time is no small loss or sin.

Direct. II. The most natural way of teaching children the meaning of God's word, and the matters of their salvation, is by familiar talk with them suited to their capacities: begin this betimes with them while they are on their mother's laps, and use it frequently. For they are quickly capable of some understanding about greater matters as well as about less; and knowledge must come in by slow degrees: stay not till their minds are prepossessed with vanity and toys, Prov. xxii. 6.

Direct. III. By all means let your children learn to read, though you be never so poor, whatever shift you make. And if you have servants that cannot read, let them learn yet, (at spare hours,) if they be of any capacity and willingness. For it is a very great mercy to be able to read the holy Scripture, and any good books themselves, and a very great misery to know nothing but what they hear from others. They may read almost at any time, when they cannot hear.

Direct. IV. Let your children when they are little ones read much the history of the Scriptures. For though this, of itself, is not sufficient to breed in them any saving knowledge, yet it enticeth them to delight in reading the Bible, and then they will be often at it when they love it; so that all these benefits will follow. 1. It will make them love the book (though it be but with a common love). 2. It will make them spend their time in it, when else they would rather be at play. 3. It will acquaint them with Scripture history, which will afterwards be very useful to them. 4. It will lead them up by degrees to the knowledge of the doctrine, which is all along interwoven with the history.

Direct. V. Take heed that you turn not all your family instructions into a customary, formal course, by bare readings and repeating sermons from day to day, without familiar personal application. For it is ordinarily seen that they will grow as sleepy, and senseless, and customary, under such a dull and distant course of duty, (though the matter be good,) almost as if you had said nothing to them. Your business therefore must be to get within them, and awaken their consciences to know that the matter doth most nearly concern them, and to force them to make application of it to themselves.

Direct. VI. Let none affect a formal, preaching way to their families, except they be preachers themselves, or men that are able for the ministry: but rather spend the time in reading to them the powerfullest books, and speaking to them more familiarly about the state and matters of their souls. Not that I think it unlawful for a man to preach to his family, in the same method that a minister doth to his people; for no doubt he may teach them in the profitablest manner he can; and that which is the best method for a set speech in the pulpit, is usually the best method in a family. But my reasons against this preaching way ordinarily, are these: – 1. Because it is very few masters of families that are able for it (even among them that think they are); and then they ignorantly abuse the Scripture, so as tends much to God's dishonour. 2. Because there is scarce any of them all, but may read at the same time, such lively, profitable books to their families, as handle those things which they have most need to hear of, in a far more edifying manner than they themselves are able (except they be so poor that they can get no such books). 3. Because the familiar way is most edifying; and to talk seriously with children and servants about the great concernments of their souls, doth commonly more move them than sermons or set speeches. Yet because there is a season for both, you may sometimes read some powerful book to them, and sometimes talk familiarly to them. 4. Because it often comes from pride, when men put their speech into a preaching method to show their parts, and as often nourisheth pride.

Direct. VII. Let the manner of your teaching them be very often interlocutory, or by way of questions. Though when you have so many or such persons present, as that such familiarity is not seasonable, then reading, repeating, or set speeches may do best; but at other times, when the number or quality of the company hindereth not, you will find that questions and familiar discourse are best. For, 1. It keepeth them awake and attentive, when they know they must make some answer to your questions; which set speeches, with the dull and sluggish, will hardly do. 2. And it mightily helpeth them in the application; so that they much more easily take it home, and perceive themselves concerned in it.

Direct. VIII. Yet prudently take heed that you speak nothing to any in the presence of others, that tends to open their ignorance or sin, or the secrets of their hearts, or that any way tendeth to shame them (except in the necessary reproof of the obstinate). If it be their common ignorance that will be opened by questioning them, you may do it before your servants or children themselves, that are familiar with each other, but not when any strangers are present. But if it be about the secret state of their souls that you examine them, you must do it singly, when the person is alone. Lest shaming and troubling them make them hate instruction, and deprive them of all the benefit of it.

Direct. IX. When you come to teach them the doctrine of religion, begin with the baptismal covenant, as the sum of all that is essential to christianity; and here teach them briefly all the substance of this at once. For though such general knowledge will be obscure, and not distinct and satisfactory, yet it is necessary at first; because they must see truths set together: for they will understand nothing truly, if they understand it but independently by broken parts. Therefore open to them the sum of the covenant or christian religion all at once, though you say but little at first of the several parts. Help them to understand what it is to be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And here you must open it to them in this order. You must help them to know who are the covenanters, God and man: and first the nature of man is to be opened, because he is first known, and God in him who is his image. Familiarly tell them, "That man is not like a beast that hath no reason, nor free-will, nor any knowledge of another world, nor any other life to live but this: but he hath an understanding to know God, and a will to choose good and refuse evil, and an immortal soul that must live for ever: and that all inferior creatures were made for his service, as he was made for the service of his Creator. Tell them that neither man, nor any thing that we see, could make itself; but God is the Maker, Preserver, and Disposer of all the world. That this God is infinite in power, and wisdom, and goodness, and is the Owner, and Ruler, and Benefactor, Felicity, and End of man. That man was made to be wholly devoted and resigned to God as his Owner, and to be wholly ruled by him as his Governor, and to be wholly given up to his love and praise as his Father, his Felicity, and End. That the tempter having drawn man from this blessed state of life, in Adam's fall the world fell under the wrath of God, and had been lost for ever, but that God of his mercy provided us a Redeemer, even the eternal Son of God; who being one with the Father, was pleased to take the nature of man, and so is both God and man in one person; who being born of a virgin, lived among men, and fulfilled the law of God, and overcame the tempter and the world, and died as a sacrifice for our sins, to reconcile us unto God. That all men being born with corrupted natures, and living in sin till Christ recover them, there is now no hope of salvation but by him. That he hath paid our debt, and made satisfaction for our sins, and risen from the dead, and conquered death and Satan, and is ascended and glorified in heaven; and that he is the King, and Teacher, and High Priest of the church. That he hath made a new covenant of grace and pardon, and offered it in the Scriptures and by his ministers to the world; and that those that are sincere and faithful in this covenant shall be saved, and those that are not shall remedilessly be damned, because they reject this Christ and grace, which is the last and only remedy. And here open to them the nature of this covenant: that God doth offer to be our reconciled God, and Father, and Felicity; and Christ to be our Saviour, to forgive our sins, and reconcile us to God, and renew us by his Spirit; and the Holy Spirit to be our Sanctifier, to illuminate, and regenerate, and confirm us; and that all that is required on our part, is such an unfeigned consent, as will appear in the performance in our serious endeavours. Even that we wholly give up ourselves to be renewed by the Holy Spirit, to be justified, taught, and governed by Christ, and by him to be brought again to the Father, to love him as our God and End, and to live to him, and with him for ever. But whereas the temptations of the devil, and the allurements of this deceitful world, and the desires of the flesh, are the great enemies and hinderances in our way, we must also consent to renounce all these, and let them go, and deny ourselves, and take up with God alone, and what he seeth meet to give us, and to take him in heaven for all our portion. And he that consenteth unfeignedly to this covenant, is a member of Christ, a justified, reconciled child of God, and an heir of heaven, and so continuing, shall be saved; and he that doth not shall be damned. This is the covenant, that in baptism we solemnly entered into with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as our Father and Felicity, our Saviour, and our Sanctifier." This in some such brief explication, you must familiarly open to them again and again.

Direct. X. When you have opened the baptismal covenant to them, and the essentials of christianity, cause them to learn the creed, the Lord's prayer, and the ten commandments. And tell them the uses of them; that man having three powers of soul, his understanding, his will, and his obediential or executive power, all these must be sanctified, and therefore there must be a rule for each; and that accordingly the creed is the summary rule to tell us what our understandings must believe; and the Lord's prayer is the summary rule to direct us what our wills must desire and our tongues must ask; and the ten commandments are the summary rules of our practice: and that the holy Scripture, in general, is the more large and perfect rule of all; and that all that will be taken for true christians, must have a general, implicit belief of all the holy Scriptures, and a particular, explicit belief, desire, and sincere practice, according to the creeds, Lord's prayer, and ten commandments.

Direct. XI. Next teach them a short catechism (by memory) which openeth these a little more fully, and then a larger catechism. The shorter and larger catechisms of the Assembly are very well fitted to this use. I have published a very brief one myself, which in eight articles or answers containeth all the essential points of belief, and in one answer, the covenant consent, and in four articles or answers more, containeth all the substantial parts of christian duty; the answers are some of them long for children;⁵² but if I knew of any other that had so much in so few words, I would not offer this to you, because I am conscious of its imperfections. But there are very few catechisms that differ in the substance; whichever they learn, let them as they go have your help to understand it, and let them keep it in memory to the last.

Direct. XII. Next open to them more distinctly the particular part of the covenant and catechism. And here I think this method most profitable for a family: 1. Read over to them the best expositions that you can get on the creed, the Lord's prayer, the ten commandments, which are not too large to confound them, nor too brief, so as to be hardly understood. For a summary, "Mr. Brinsley's True Watch" is good; but thus to read to them, such as "Mr. Perkins on the Creed," and "Dr. King on the Lord's Prayer," and "Dodd on the Commandments," are fit; so that you may read one article, one petition, and one commandment at a time; and read these over to them divers times. 2. Besides this, in your familiar discourse with them, open to them plainly one head or article of religion at a time, and another the next time, and so on till you come to the end. And here, (1.) Open in one discourse the nature of man and the creation. (2.) In another, (or before it,) the nature and attributes of God. (3.) In another, the fall of man, and especially the corruption of our nature, as it consisteth in an inordinate inclination to earthly and fleshly things, and a backwardness, or averseness, or enmity to God and holiness, and the life to come; and the nature of sin; and the impossibility of being saved till this sin be pardoned, and these natures renewed, and restored to the love of God and holiness, from this love of the world and fleshly pleasures. (4.) In the next discourse, open to them the doctrine of redemption in general, and the incarnation, and natures, and person of Christ, particularly. (5.) In the next, open the life of Christ, his fulfilling the law, and his overcoming the tempter, his humble life, and contempt of the world, and the end of all, and how he is exemplary and imitable unto us. (6.) In the next, open the whole humiliation and suffering of Christ, and the pretences of his persecutors, and the ends and uses of his suffering, death, and burial. (7.) In the next, open his resurrection, the proofs, and the uses of it. (8.) In the next, open his ascension, glory, and intercession for us, and the uses of all. (9.) In the next, open his kingly and prophetical offices in general, and his making the covenant of grace with man, and the nature of that covenant, and its effects. (10.) In the next, open the works or office of the Holy Ghost in general, as given by Christ to be his agent in men on earth, and his great witness to the world; and particularly open the extraordinary gift of the Spirit to the prophets and apostles, to plant the churches, and indite and seal the Holy Scriptures; and show them the authority and use of the Holy Scriptures. (11.) In the next, open to them the ordinary works of the Holy Ghost, as the illuminator, renewer, and sanctifier of souls, and in what order he doth all this, by the ministry of the word. (12.) In the next, open to them the office, and use, and duty of the ordinary ministry, and their duty toward them, especially as hearers, and the nature and use of public worship, and the nature and communion of saints and churches. (13.) In the next, open to them the nature and use of baptism and the Lord's supper. (14.) In the next, open to them the shortness of life, and the state of souls at death, and after death, and the day of judgment, and the justification of the righteous, and the condemnation of the wicked at that day. (15.) In the next, open to them the joys of heaven, and the miseries of the damned. (16.) In the next, open to them the vanity of all the pleasure, and profits, and honour of this world, and the method of temptations, and how to overcome them. (17.) In the next, open to them the reason and use of suffering for Christ, and of self-denial, and how to prepare for sickness and death. And after this, go over also the Lord's prayer, and the ten commandments.