The first book published by the Banner of Truth Trust, this has been one of the best sellers and consistently the most useful and influential of their publications. There are several reason for this:

1. The subject of the book. It deals with foremost doctrinal and experimental truths of the Christian Faith.

2. The means of instruction used. It is based on the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism, in which the main principles of Christianity that lie scattered in the Scriptures are brought together and set forth in the form of question and answer. This Catechism is unsurpassed for its 'terse exactitude of definition" and logical elaboration of the fundamentals.

3. The style of the author. Thomas Watson conveys his thorough doctrinal and experimental knowledge of the truth in such an original, concise, pithy, pungent, racy, rich and illustrative style that he is rightly regarded as the most readable of the Puritans (backcover).

For "part two" of Thomas Watson's work on the Shorter Catechism see Watson's book, The Ten Commandments, and for part three see Thomas Watson's, The Lord's Prayer (Westminster Shorter Catechism), also on this site.