propositions for the historical teaching of the Creed on the Person of Christ and the Holy Spirit. The reader who has not access to the original may get some idea of the character of the shorter Westminster Catechism by turning ix.-xviii. of the Thirty-nine Articles into the form of question and answer. He will then be able to judge of the suitableness of it for the education of the young. 3. Before dealing with the Catechisms proper, issued with more or less authority in the Church of England, it is well to notice two books issued in Henry VIII.'s time, and intended to be used by the clergy as manuals of instruction. These books were The Institution of a Christian Man, commonly called The Bishops' Book, issued in 1537, and The Necessary Doctrine of a Christian Man, called The King's Book, issued in 1543. These books contain expositions of the Creed, the Seven Sacraments, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and some other matters. They have very much in common, but the latter is the fuller, and is characterised in parts by the reaction towards Romanism which marked the latter years of the reign of Henry As noted below, the version of the Commandments (in a short form) and that of the Lord's Prayer, which we have in the Prayer-Book, appeared first in these books. VIII. 4. The first Catechism proper that we need mention was called A Short Instruction into Christian Religion, issued with Cranmer's sanction in 1548. It was taken from a Latin Catechism written by Justus Jonas, a friend of Luther's, and agrees pretty closely in arrangement and doctrine with Luther's Catechism. In 1549 the first Prayer-Book appeared, and in it we have the Catechism in its present form1 to the end of the Lord's Prayer and its explanation. We next notice a Catechism drawn up by Poynet, Bishop of Winchester during Gardiner's deprivation, and issued in 1553 by the authority of Edward VI., intended to be used by schoolmasters. It is of considerable length, but does not seem to have exerted much influence. The next document is one of great moment. It is the Catechism written by A. Nowell, Dean of S. Paul's. This was drawn up, submitted to, and amended by the Convocation of Canterbury in 1562, but remained unpublished till 1570, when it appeared with the approbation of the Archbishop and Bishops. It was issued in several forms, both Latin and English, and, along with two 1 We do not here refer to merely verbal variations. These are discussed in treating of the various parts. abridgments published about the same time, was ordered by the Canons of 1571 to be exclusively used. It thus obtained a certain amount of authority. It is a long and elaborate work, based on Poynet's Catechism, but in every way a great improvement on it. It consists of four parts, treating of the Decalogue, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sacraments. It would be a useful book for any master who would consult it, but it is quite unsuited for putting into the hands of the young to be learnt. The idea of the three Catechisms seems to have been that the smallest which 'differed very little from the one in the Prayer-Book-should be taught to children preparing for Confirmation, the middle one should be used for the instruction of communicants, and the long one employed in schools and colleges. 5. We come now to the Hampton Court Conference. One of the chief complaints put forward by the Puritan party was that the Catechism in the Prayer-Book was too short, while the one drawn up by Dean Nowell (presumably this refers to the long Catechism) was too long for young novices to learn by heart. They therefore requested that one uniform Catechism might be drawn up for general use. This suggestion commended itself to the King, but, fortunately, instead of drawing up a new document, all that was done was to add the questions on the Sacraments nearly as they now stand. These questions were drawn up by Bishop Overall, at that time Dean of S. Paul's. He probably derived some hints for his work from Nowell's Catechism, but the teaching on Sacramental grace generally is very much clearer and better than Nowell's, while, as we shall see below, that on Infant Baptism is very inferior. At the Savoy Conference the Puritans raised many objections to the Catechism. These were, however, on the whole unimportant, and no change of any moment, except the modification of the questions1 on Infant Baptism, was made. It was at this time, however, that the Catechism was separated from the Confirmation Office, and the Title and concluding Rubrics reduced to their present form. These and other minor variations are discussed below in the sections treating of the different parts. So far as the Church of England is concerned, the Catechism has remained unaltered since 1662. The alterations made by other branches of the Anglican Church, and some proposals for altering it at home, are discussed in Supplementary Note A. 1 On this see p. 165. 1. THE object of all religious teaching is not to lead children to repeat certain religious formulæ, with more or less understanding, but to make them feel as a living reality the existence of their Father in Heaven, their own personal relationship to Him, and the obligations which that relationship necessarily involves. Abstract statements of doctrine, however valuable they may be in their own place, are quite unsuited to this end. They have a tendency to hide the truth that God is a living person, and induce the belief that He is a mere abstraction to be argued about. The Catechism as issued in 1549 was most admirably adapted to avoid this danger. The last part, on the Sacraments, perhaps did something to introduce the abstract element, but not at all sufficiently to destroy its prevailing character. The teacher, however, must be warned against the danger of allowing his lessons to assume the form of teaching abstractions. The Catechism is a standing protest against such things, but, in spite of that, a bad teacher can make it the peg on which to hang the dry bones of what often passes for religious instruction. 2. The following analysis will show the contents of the Catechism, and bring out the true relationship of the different parts. PART I. A. Every baptized person is by his baptism admitted to a state of salvation. a. One who is in this state is described as being : i. A member of Christ. ii. The child of God. iii. An inheritor of the kingdom of Heaven. N.B.-Godparents are introduced as the human agents through whom the child was brought to baptism. b. One who is in this state is bound to live as becometh the child of God. Hence he is bound: :- i. To renounce the devil and all his works. [What these are is explained in Part II.1] [What the Commandments are is explained in Part III.] N.B.-That the child should be willing to discharge these duties is promised by its Godparents it is their duty to see that it is brought up to do so. B. Without God's grace continually given, man necessarily falls away from the state of salvation in which he is placed hence the necessity of the continual use of the means of grace: these are: a. Prayer. b. The Holy Eucharist. [These things are explained in Part IV.1] 3. The foregoing analysis suggests one or two remarks. i. It will be seen that instead of the Catechism falling into five co-ordinate parts,2 the first part really contains a summary of the whole, the other parts, of which the last two really form one, containing explanations of matters referred to in it. ii. The treatment of Baptism in the last part clearly comes in illogically. It must be remembered that the age of confirmation was considerably increased in the sixteenth century. In the Middle Ages candidates were usually seven or eight years old. In the reign of Elizabeth they were probably about thirteen. This change gave great opportunities for additional preconfirmation teaching, and as the Catechism was intended to be the text-book for such teaching, it would 1 Subsidiary analyses setting forth the contents of these Parts in detail will be found in the sections which treat of them. 2 This is the division usually given; what I have called Part IV. being divided into Parts IV. and V. have been quite natural that some additions to it should have been made. The most natural form for these additions to take would have been a portion treating of Confirmation, regarded as a means of grace, and the Eucharist. The questions at the end, however, were added to satisfy the demand made by the Puritans at the Hampton Court Conference 1 for the construction of a Catechism, longer and fuller than the one then existing, and yet not too long to be learned by children, without apparently any consideration as to how far they were adapted to the preceding parts. iii. The phrase, The Baptismal Covenant, which is commonly used to describe Part I. of the Catechism, has been entirely avoided. This phrase is very objectionable as giving countenance to the widespread error that the word covenant, when applied to the relations of God to man, is nearly equivalent to bargain. This idea is in itself almost blasphemous, as it implies that God and man are in the position of two independent contracting parties, whereas man is and must be entirely dependent on God for everything. The true meaning of the word covenant, when applied to the relations of God and man, is that of a promise on God's part which places man in a position of privilege, and therefore lays on him obligations which he is bound to discharge. That this is so may be easily seen by studying the following passages: Gen. ix. 8-17, xvii. 1-14; Ex. xxiv. 7, 8; Num. xxv. 12, 13; Jer. xi. 1-6, xxxi. 31-34; and in the New Testament, Luke i. 72; Acts iii. 25; Rom. ix. 4. Further, this false idea is usually worked out by making the blessings conferred on the Christian in Baptism, which are stated in the second answer, follow instead of precede the obligations which the position of privilege involves, and which are stated in the third answer. Thus it cuts directly at the root of the whole teaching of the Bible and the Church. 1 Cf. on this p. 11, ana Cardwell: Conferences, p. 187. |