A historical and practical exposition of the Catechism of the Church of England

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Part I. The Baptisbial Covenant

SECT.

I. Privileges of Baptism 21

II. Engagements of Baptism 25

Questions on the First Part S3

PART IT.

THE ARTICLES OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

I. Introductory : Origin and History of Creeds II. The Creed, or rule of faith III. Of God the Father IV. Of God the Son .

V. Of God the Holy Ghost VI. The Holy Catholic Church Questions on the Second Part

39 50 52 56 77 79 90

Part III. The Commandments

I. Introductory 99

II. Our duty towards God 102

III. Our duty towards our neighbour . . .117 Questions on the Third Part 128

VIU CONTENTS.

Part IV. The Lord's Prayer

8B0T. VAOB

I. Introductory 135

II. For the promotion of God's glory . . .138

III. For the supply of onr wants . . .148

Questions on the Fourth Part .... 160

Part V. The Sacraments

I. Introductory: the meaning and nature of Sacraments . 165

II. Baptism 171

III. The Supper of the Lord 179

Questions on the Fifth Part 199

Appendix 203

THE CHURCH CATECHISM.

" It was the observation of that wise and learned king James of blessed memory, that the reason why so many of ours were perverted to popish superstition was, for that the people were not well grounded by due catechising in the principles of Christian religion ; and that there is no employment in the world wherein Gk)d*s ministers can so profitably employ themselves as in this of plain and familiar catechising. What is a building without a foundation ? If this groundwork, therefore, be not surely laid, all their divine discourses (for such their sermons are) lie upon the loose sand, and are easily washed away by the insinuative suggestions of false teachers. As for matter of belieE^ where the fbundation is surely laid of the doctrines of faith, contained in the ApottcliCf Nicene, Athanaaian Creeds; and of the doctrine of the sacraments, briefly comprised in our publicly allowed Catechism,— I see no reason but to think our people so sufficiently defenced against the danger of error, that no heretical machinations could be able to batter or undermine them. And surely, if ever there were or can be time wherein this duty of catechising were fit to be enforced, it is this upon which we are fallen, when the souls of Christian people are so hard laid at, not only by Papery^ Anabaptum^ Antinomianismt P^agianum, but by the confounding and hellish heresies of Socifiianismy AntUrinitarianiim, iViKiriflinn,-— prodigious mischiefs, tending not only to the disturbance of our peace, but to the utter destruction of Christianity.'* -^Bishop HaU.

INTRODUCTORY.

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF CATECHISMS.

ATECHISM is derived Meuiing of % Greek tenn, and de- cmiechiim. instruction in the eleany art or science com- ' means of question and im the earliest ages of :he word has been emclesiastical writers in a ed sense, to signify inistruction in the rudiments of the Christian faith.

The method of instructing children in elementary Catechiiing truth by catechising is sanctioned by the authority siiioium. of Scripture. In the Old Testament, Ood commanded the Jews, by His servant Moses, " to teach Deui. «i. t. His commandments diligently to their children ;" and besides this domestic instruction, the priests were enjoined by the same divine authority to teach the ib. mi. u. laws of Ood to children in the public assembly. In the New Testament, also, the same practice is distinctly recognised; for St. Luke, in the preface to his gospel, says, that he thought it fit to write to Theophilus, " that thou mightest know the certainty Luke i. 3, 4. of those things wherein thou hast been instructed ;" or, as the original may more literally be translated, " wherein thou hast been catechised :" which implies that Theophilus had been only orally instructed in Christianity, and that the express object of St. Luke in writing his gospel was, that his noble convert might have an authentic written account of those facts which had laid the foundation of the Christian faith, and had formed the subject of his catechetical instructions.

Of universal Agreeably to this divine command, the duty of prac ice. ijistructing their children in those doctrines and precepts which contained their own religious faith has been duly observed as well among Jews as Christians. With regard to the former, their historian Josephus informs us, that they were especially careful that their children might be instructed in the law ; and that they had in every village a teacher, who was called the " instructor of babes." Every child, as soon as he was able to learn, was instructed in the law till he was ten years of age ; and, after that period, in the Talmud^ to the age of fifteen.

^ The Talmud is composed of two Jewish books, the Mishna and the Gemara. The Mishna, or second law, as it was called, consbts of those traditionary precepts which were supposed to have been orally communicated by God to Moses at the time of the giving of the ** written'' law. It was compiled from existing works by Rabbi Jehuda, about 150 years after Christ In the beginning of the 6th century, another Jewish rabbi col-

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF CATECHISMS. 3

At the age of thirteen he was publicly examined in a place of worship, and, if approved, was declared to be '* a child of the precept ;" that is, he was obliged to observe the 613 precepts' which contained the substance of the Mosaic law, and was from that time held responsible for his own actions, and answerable for his sins. Some have supposed that our Saviour underwent this catechetical examination in the temple at Jerusalem when He was only twelve years old; His extraordinary genius and qualifications, according to the rabbinical sapng, outrunning the command,^

This general practice of the Jews was adopted by the early Christians, who had in every church an officer called a catechist, whose duty it was to instruct the catechumens, or, as we should say, learners of the catechism, in the principal doctrines of Christianity, preparatory to their admission into the Church of Christ by the rite of baptism, which was generally administered at the two great baptismal seasons of Easter and Whitsuntide.

lected all the annotations of preceding writers on the Mishna and law together; and this work was called the Gemara, or completion : and the two being united, received the name of the Talmud of Jerusalem. About the same period a similar work was compiled by some Jewish rahhies at Bahylon, which was called the Talmud of Bahylon. This last work is highly prized by the Jews, and is held in much greater repute than the former. See Spanheim's Ecelea. Ann., translated hy Wright Also Lardner's Works, vol. yi. p. 506.

' ** The Jews reduced the whole law to 613 precepts, according to the number of the letters of the Decalogue, intimating that the whole law was reductively contained therein/' —Gray' a Key to the Old Test. p. 49.

3 See Shepherd on the Common Prayer, vol. ii. p. 260.

4 INTRODUCTORT.

Catechu. "^^ catechumens were ditided into two classes,

Sto twJ'^*^ —first, those who, having been bom of Christian classes. parents, were baptised in their infancy, and admitted into the catechetical schools^ as soon as they were capable of instruction. The other sort of catechumens were persons, generally adults, who, having been bom and bred among heathen, had embraced the Gospel from conviction, and were put in the way of being catechised previously to their being baptised. It was not the custom to admit such persons immediately to the solemn sacrament of baptism; they were required to go through a preparatory course of instruction and discipline, in order that the Church might have satisfactory evidence of their sincere belief of the truths revealed in the Gospel, and of their sincere determination to shew forth that belief in their lives. The term of this probation and instruction varied, according to circumstances of time and place, or the proficiency and moral conduct of the catechumen. In the apostolic times, indeed, the interval between conversion and baptism was very

^ These schools were apartments adjoiniiig and belonging to the Christian churches, and were appropriated to purposes not only of sacred, but also of secular, learning. St John erected a school of this description at Ephesus ; and one of the same nature was founded by Polycarp at Smyrna. But of these the greatest in repute was that established at Alexandria, which was commonly called the Catechetical school, and is generally supposed to have been erected by St. Mark. There were also at Rome, Antioch, Csesarea, Carthage, and several other places, similar schools, though not all of equal reputation. See Bingham's Ecclesiastical Antiquities, b. ill. ch. x. § 4, 5. Also Mosheim's Eccles, Hist. toL l p. 119.

OaiOIN AND HI8T0BT OF CATECHISMS. O

short, as we leani from the cases of the ^Ethiopian Acts vUi. 37, eunuch, of Cornelius, of Lydia, and the jailor at xvi. i4, i5, '

31>3

Philippi. But in subsequent times it was thought expedient to prolong the period of probation ;' as the too hasty and indiscriminate admission of converts was found, by experience, to fill the Church with immoral characters, and to increase, especially in times of persecution, the number of apostates.

Of the pagan catechumens there were at least Pagan catetwo classes, — the imperfect and the perfect, or the two sorts. beginners and the proficients, who were the immediate candidates for baptism. The former were distinguished by the name of hearers, from their being permitted to hear sermons preached and the Scriptures read in the church. The others were called kneelers or prostrators, from their being allowed not only to hear sermons, but to remain in the church during the repetition of the prayer which was especi* ally offered up for them whilst they continued kneeling, and waiting for the imposition of hands and the minister's benediction.^

Our Church Catechism is drawn up, after the Form and form of the primitive Church, in the way of question catechism. and answer. So Philip catechised the eunuch ; and

^ The most common period of probation was two years. In some phices it was three years, in others only eight months, •nd sometimes it was limited to the forty days of Lent. In cases of dangerous sickness, or the general conyersion of whole nations, the term of catechising was reduced to a much shorter period; baptism being administered in the former case immediately, and in the latter only a few days after the conversion. Bingham, b. z. ch. i. § 5.

3 Bingham, b. z. ch. ii and b. xiv. ch. y.

piled.

SO adults in general were catechised previous io their admission to baptism. In matter, likewise, it corresponds with the ancient formularies. Clement of Alexandria styles the catechism a brief instruction: the catechumens being obliged to learn no more than the Renunciation, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, which they repeated at their baptism. In the more ancient British Church, likewise, and also at the period of the Reformation, the exposition of the apostles' creed, the Lord's prayer, and the ten commandments, formed the principal part of catechetical instruction.

When com- The Catechism, except the explanation of the sacraments with which it ends, was drawn up nearly in its present form in the year 1548, in the second year of King Edward the Sixth's reign, and, together with the other divine offices for public worship, was approved by convocation, and ratified by act of parliament. Its origin is doubtful. From the close resemblance that it bears to the smaller Catechism supposed to have been compiled by Nowell,^ dean of St. Paul's in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it has been conjectured that that eminent divine was the author t>f it ; though the modem biographer of the dean disputes his title to it, and seems rather

^ Izaak Walton, in his Complete Angler (part i. ch. i ), speaks of Nowell as the author of the Church Catechism. ** The good old man, though he was very learned, yet knowo ing that God leads us not to heaven by many nor by hard questions, like an honest angler, made that good, plain, unperplexed Catechism, which is printed with our good old Service-Book."

OBIOIK AND HISTORY OF CATKCHISM8. 7

inclined to attribute the authorship to Poinet, afterwards bishop of Winchester J In any case. Archbishop Cranmer appears to have reviewed and digested it, not without the able co-operation of Ridley. With regard to the history of its composition, it is probable that the author, whoever he was, merely introduced a few explanatory questions and answers before, and intermixed with the creed, the ten commandments, and the Lord's prayer, which had been previously published in £nglish, under the sanction of royal authority, in King Henry the Eighth's Primer, printed in the year 1545. The Catechism formed a part of the two liturgies of Edward, published in the years 1549 and 1552, being inserted not as a separate office, as is the case in the Book of Common Prayer now in use, but in the service for confirmation.^

After the conference that was held before King EzDiuuition James the First in the year 1604, at the palace of ments added Hampton Court, before the Episcopalian and Puritan a£, iSm. divines, at which the latter complained that the Catechism of Dean Nowell was too long, and that in the Prayer-Book too short, all the questions and answers relating to the sacraments were added. This part was drawn up by Bishop Overall,^ then dean of St. Paul's, was approved by the bishops, and annexed to the Catechism by order of the king.

^ Churton's Life of Dean Nowell, p. 403-7.

^ See Dr. Cardwell's Two Liturgies of King Edward VI. compared.

B The additions made by Bp. Overall were evidently abridged from Nowell's smaller Catechism.

8 INTRODUCTOBT.

With the exception of this addition, scarcdy a single office in the Prayer-Book has undergone fewer or less material alterations than the Catechism. Cranmer's Besides this brief Catechism, two much larger

iM8.^ °"' works were published in the reign of King Edward. The first, which appeared in the year 1548, is commonly known by the name of Cranmer's Catechism, and is entitled, A Short Instruction into Christian Religion, for the singular commodity and profit of Children and Young People. The archbishop, howerer, was not the auliior of the work. It was originally written in the Grerman language, for the use oi the youth in Nuremburg, and was probably one of the numerous Catechisms to which Luther's own gave rise, and by which the Reformation in Germany was forwarded. It was translated into Latin by Justus Jonas, a man of considerable celebrity among the reformers ; and was probably brought into England by a son of the same name, when he was driven from his home through the severity with which the religious ordinance of Charles the Fifth, known by the name of the Interim, was enforced, and hospitably received, among other refugees, under the roof of the archbishop. From the Latin it was translated into English, either by the archbishop himself, or by one of his chaplains under his immediate inspection and superintendence.^ This version was puUii^ed ^dth a dedication by Cranmer to the king, and with a title, professing that it had been " set forth, overseen, and corrected," by the archbishop. It appears for the most part to have been faithfully made ; but,

^ Strype's Life of Cranmefi yoL iL c. v.

ORIOIN AND HISTORY OF CATECHISMS. 9

in some instances, additions have been introduced into the text, of which there is not the slightest vestige in the original, and which may, therefore, be reasonably attributed to the primate himself.

The work is drawn up on the same plan as the «* Bishops' Book" and the " King's Book,"' which had preceded it; being an elementary exposition of the apostles' creed, the Lord's prayer, the commandments, and the sacraments. In this book the commandments are arranged conformably to the Romish practice; that is, the first and second are consolidated, and the tenth is divided into two ; but in the dissertation upon idolatry which Cranmer introduced into the translation, he acknowledges that the two first were anciently divided. Besides the two sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper, a third is insisted upon ; namely, absolution, or the authority

^ These two books are brief formularies of doctrine published in the reign of Henry VIII., after the secession of that monareh from the Church of Rome, and were among the first pabUc attempts that were made at a reformation of religious opinion. The first, which appeared in 1537, was entitled The Godly and Pious Institution qfa Christian Man ; and was vulgarly called the ** Bishops' Book/' because it was principally composed by the bishops, although not without the assistance of other eminent divines. It contains an explanation of the apostles' creed, the seven sacraments, the ten commandments, the Lord's prayer, and the salutation of the Virgin ; to which are annexed two articles on justification and purgatory. The other was published in 1543, and was, in fact, Uttle more than a revised and enlarged edition of the Bishops' Book, with its title slightly altered. It was then called The Necessary JOoctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man, or, popularly, ** The King;s Book ;" either because Henry himself had had a of the keys, by virtue of whicli sinners are reconciled to Grod: a circumstance which leaves it somewhat doubtful whether Cranmer had at that time finally resolved on the rejection of all the sacraments but two.^ In the explanation of the doctrine of the holy communion, the translation exhibits one remarkable variation from the original, which can scarcely be considered accidental and undesigned; for it asserts that the body and blood of Christ are received in the sacrament, whereas the Latin catechism speaks of them as being present,^

considerable share in its execution, or as being set forth by royal authority. With the exception of some additional matter respecting free-will, good works, justification, and prayer for departed saints, it is in substance the same as the former work. Although these documents carry no authority along with them in the present day as formularies of fetith, being set forth antecedently to the formal renunciation of the errors of popery in the reign of Edward V I., still they are of interest and importance to all who would acquaint themselves with the rise and progress of the Protestant opinions in this country, or would examine into the history and meaning of those formularies which were afterwards established, and are still of primary authority in the Church of England. See Lawrence's Bamp, Lecti. p. 199, 200 ; Burnetts Hist, Reform, voL i. p. 572 ; Collier's Eccles, Hist. vol. iL p. 139.

1 See Dr. Burton's Pre£Bu;e to Cranmer's Catechism.

' The circumstance of Cranmer's early familiarity with Germans, and his translation of a Lutheran Catechism, has led to the idea that he once maintained the Lutheran doctrine of the sacrament; and undoubtedly the language held concerning the real presence, in the English version, is extremely strong. But that he had renounced all notions of the bodily and local presence, whether Romish or Lutheran, previously to the publication of the Catechism, seems tolerably clear from

ORIGIN AND HISTOKY OF CATECHISMS. 1 1

The second larger Catechism was published in the Poinet's year 1553, only a short time before the king's death, i55d. and is commonly called King Edward the Sixth's Catechism. This work corresponds in some degree with the Church Catechism which had been published four years before, and is copied very closely by Dean Nowell in his larger Catechism, published in 1570. In the royal letter of recommendation prefixed to it, the king speaks of it as having been composed by a " certain pious and learned man," and that he committed the examination and revisal of it to certain bishops and other men of learning whose judgment he much regarded. These were most probably Cranmer, Ridley, and the other divines who in the preceding year had been employed in drawing up the articles of religion. Who was the author of the Catechism is not ascertained. It has been ascribed by some, and perhaps correctly, to Poinet, who was successively Bishop of Rochester and Winchester ; and by others

the answers he returned to the ten questions submitted to the bishops respecting the Mass in 1547 ; in which he affirms that the oblation and sacrifice of Christ in the Mass is so entitled merely because it is a representation and memorial of his cross and passion. It is further evident from his answer to Dr. Smythe's Preface, in which he confesses that ** not long before he wrote this Catechism he was in the error of the real presence, as he had been in divers others, such as transubstantiation, propitiatory masses, pilgrimages, purgatory, and pardons." It is undoubted that Cranmer was indebted for his first convictions of the true doctrine of Christ's presence in the Eucharist to Ridley, who had been previously led to embrace the Anglican doctrine of the sacrament by the perusal of the celebrated treatise of Bertram on the Body and Blood of Christ, published about 840. See Le Bas's Life qf Cranmerf p. 313.

12 INTRODtJCTOBY.

to Alexander Nowell,^ who was at the time headmaster of Westminster School, and subsequently dean of St. Paul's, probably because he afterwards either revised it, or composed another upon the same plan. But whoever might be its author, Cranmer probably recommended it to the notice of the king, and consequently to public use ; "it being that prelate's chief object," as Strjrpe remarks, " by catechisms, articles of religion, and plain expositions of fundamentals, to instil right principles into the minds of youth, and effectually eradicate popery."^ It was

^ Str3rpe assigns this Catechism expressly to Nowell. His argument is grounded on its similarity to the one of which Nowell was the acknowledged author, and published in 1570. ** The coUocutores," he says {Memorials, ii. chap, it b. xv.), '' are in both Catechisms the same, viz. Magister and Auditor, And in many places the very same questions and answers are given Terbatim ; only NoeFs Catechism, published under Queen Elizabeth, is much larger." Churton, however, in his Life of Nowell, seems to furnish a more probable account of the resemblance. '* It was a principle,' ' he remarks, ** with our Reformers, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, not to frame a new liturgy, but to revise and retain what was already well done in the Liturgy and Articles of Edward VI. ; and Nowell, one of those reformers, thought himself bound to pay similar deference to the Catechism of that reign, which, in point of authority, was only inferior to the established Liturgy, and Homilies, and Articlea of the Church. This also obviated a popular pretext of the Roman Catholics, who objected no* thing more frequently against the Reformed than the novelty and variety of their catechisms, or, as they chose to call them, religions."

^ See Strype's life of Cranmer, b. ii. c. xxxiv. ; Collier's Eodes. Hist. (Lond. 1840), vol v. b. iv. ; Todd's Hist, and Crit. Jntrod. to the 39 Articles, p. xxiL

OKIOIN AND HISTORY OF CATECHISMS. 13

originally printed both in English and Latin; and was enjoined to be taught in schools as a sequel to the other brief Catechism set forth in the beginning of this reign. It differs from the first Catechism of King Edward; for it is drawn up in a catechetical form. It is distributed under the heads of the Decalogue, the Creed, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Prayer. The commandments of the first table are merely rehearsed ; those of the second are explained. The two sacraments are only incidentally noticed in the course of the exposition of the creed. The fortytwo articles, which had been put forth a short time before by the authority of Cranmer, are appended to it.

Besides these Catechisms of Edward, there is also Dean No.

^ well's Cate-

another in Latin, compiled by Nowell, dean of St. chism,i57o. Paul's, which was published in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 1570. This Catechism had been drawn up seven years before by Nowell, the prolocutor of the lower house of convocation, at the solicitation of secretary Cecil, to whom it was dedicated ; and was framed chiefly on the model of the one set forth at the latter end of Edward the Sixth's reign, and usually attributed to Poinet. Its history is this : — In the year 1562, the same year in which the thirty-nine articles of our Church were compiled and agreed upon, the work was submitted to the convocation, who, after carefully examining it, and introducing into it extensive alterations, imanimously gave to the performance the sanction of its approbation. Nowell having received the manuscript interlined, and in some places blotted, caused the whole to be transcribed, and sent the corrected copy to Cecil ; ** not," as he informs him in the letter with which it was accompanied, " in his own name, as afore, but in the name of the clergy of the convocation, as their book ; seeing it was by them approved and allowed."' The fresh transcript of the Catechism remained in the secretary's hand for above a year, and was then returned to the author " with some learned man's notes." It remained with Nowell till 1570, when, at the urgent request of the two archbishops, it was published, and, with Cecil's permission, dedicated to the archbishops and bishops.

It was translated, by the dean's desire, into English in the course of the same year ; and afterwards into Greek, by Dr. Whittaker, his nephew. This Catechism was designed not only for the use of schools, it was likewise intended to be a guide to the younger clergy and students in theology, and also to serve as a systematic and standing summary of the reformed doctrines of the Church of England.^ Although it was approved by the lower house of convocation, it appears never to have received the formal sanction of the upper house ; and has never

^ The letter may be seen in Strype's Annals, voL L p. 352.

* See Strype*s Annals, vol. L ch. xxiL ; Mem. voL iL eh. ii. b. XV. ; Life of Abp. Parker, b. iv. ch. ill. ; Collier's Eccles. Hist voL vi p. 888. Also Noelli Catechismus, with Preface by W. Jaoobson, to which I am indebted for some of the above remarks.

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF CATECHISMS. 15

obtained a place among the authorised formularies of the Church,^

^ From the minutes of matters which were to be considered in the Convocation of 1562, it appears to have been originally designed that this Catechism, with the Thirty-nine Articles, and Jeweirs Apology, should have been published '*in one book, and by common consent authorised as containing true doctrine, and enjoined to be taught to the youth in the universities and grammar-schools throughout the realm." — See Strype's Annals, voL i. p. 474 ; Todd's Introd. p. xxviiL

QUESTIONS ON THE INTRODUCTORY PART.

1. What is the derivation and meaning of the term Catechism ? and in what sense is it used by ecclesiastical writers ?

2. On what authority is the practice of catechising grounded ? Shew that this practice is recognised in both the Old and New Testament.

3. State the practice of the Jews in this respect.

4. Who were the catechumens? and when was Baptism generally administered ?

5. Into how many classes were the catechumens divided ? State what these were.

6. Were adult converts admitted immediately to Baptism?

7. What regulated the period of catechetical instruction?

8. What was the practice of the early Church in this respect? What at a subsequent period ? and why?

9. Of how many sorts were the pagan catechumens ? and by what name was each class distinguished ?

10. What is the form and matter of the Church Catechism ?

] 1 . In what year and in whose reign was it drawn up ? and who is supposed to have been its author ?

12. What is the probable history of its composition?

1 3. Was it originally a separate office ?

14. When and by whom was the explanation of the Sacraments added ?

15. In whose reign and in what year was the Cate-

QUESTIONS ON THE INTRODUCTORY PART. 1 7

chism commonly known by the name of Cranmer's Catechism published i What is the history of the work ?

16. How are the Commandments arranged in it? and does it insist upon more than the two Sacraments now recognised by our Church ?

17. In whose reign and in what years were the " Bishops' Book" and the " King's Book" published? Why were they so designated ? Had they any other titles V

18. What was the title of the Catechism published in the year l653l

1 9. To what persons has the authorship been ascribed ?

20. How does it differ from the first Catechism of King Edward ? and what is the plan of the work ?

21. What Catechism was published in Queen Elizabeth's reign ? In what year was it set forth ?

22. Give some account of its history.

23. What was the design of this Catechism ?