A catechism for Sunday schools and families

Front matter

A

CATECHISM

FOR

Preface

The preparation of this Catechism was to the author a labor of love and a spiritual recreation. Every Christian feels the need of going back, from time to time, to the simplest elements of religion, and becoming a child again among children. " Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength." " Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." The best part of our knowledge of divine things is contained in those familiar verses of the Bible and the hymn-book which we learned at home and in school ; and, when we come to die, we willingly exchange the most learned systems of theology for the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, which recall to our heart the sacred memories and traditions of childhood.

A Catechism on the Christian religion should present the articles of faith fresh from the fountain of the word of God to the mind and heart of the pupil, for his instruction and comfort in life and in death. It should give no undue proportion to any particular doctrine, but should move in the central current of Christian truth. The more important denominational differences may be stated for historical information, but in a kind and charitable spirit, and with a view to promote rather than to diminish unity and harmony among the various branches of Christ's kingdom. There is room, however, for a variety of Catechisms, corresponding to the different degrees of Christian nurture, which commences at home under the eye of the mother, is carried forward in the school under the instruction of the teacher, and is completed in the catechetical class under the care of the pastor.

We have endeavored in the present work to combine the advantages of a historical with those of a merely doctrinal Catechism, and clearness and simplicity of style with fulness of matter. Whether, and to what extent, we have succeeded, and what position this Catechism may assume in the Sunday-school literature of our age and country, can only be determined by actual use. In commencing with the exposition of the Lord's Prayer, we deviated from catechetical usage, but conformed to the natural educational order ; for children are gene-

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PREFACE.

rally first taught the Lord's Prayer, or how to pray, then the Apostles' Creed, or what to believe, and last, the Ten Commandments, or how to act. The division into fifty-two lessons was not made with reference to the number of Sundays in the year (as in the modern editions of the Heidelberg Catechism), but naturally grew out of the internal order and arrangement of the material, and was gladly accepted as an appropriate, and perhaps useful, coincidence.

To satisfy different wants and tastes, we thought proper to issue two editions, — a small one, which contains only the questions and answers, and a large one, with proof-texts and notes for teachers and more advanced scholars. The latter has imperceptibly grown almost to the extent and character of a popular outline of theology. Those Scripture passages which should be committed to memory, are marked by a (*). Occasional explanations are carefully distinguished from the text by brackets.

Although independent in method, order, and design, this book will be found to agree in every essential doctrine with the Heidelberg Catechism, which was first published three hundred years ago, in January, 1563. For spirituality, depth, unction, freshness, and wise moderation, this venerable symbol of the Reformed Church has no superior in the catechetical literature of Christendom. Born of genuine evangelical inspiration in the pentecostal days of Protestantism, it has stood the test of three centuries, gathering strength and honor with advancing age, and bids fair long to continue its mission of peace, both as a guide of catechetical instruction and as a standard of public doctrine. It gives us pleasure to make this statement, from a somewhat careful comparison of ancient and modern Catechisms of different denominations, in view of the approaching tri-centenary celebration of the formation of the Heidelberg Catechism, for which preparations are now making in the German and Dutch Reformed Churches of Europe and America.

We now commit this new Catechism to the hands of pastors and tearhers, unto whom the chief Shepherd has intrusted the feeding of His lambs.

P. S.

May 10, 1862.

TABLE OF LESSONS.

THE LORD'S PRAYER. — THE CREED. — THE TEN

COMMANDMENTS. Pages 5-8.

INTRODUCTORY LESSONS.

PAGE

I. — The True End of Man 9

II.— -The Way of Salvation 11

III. — The Holy Scriptures 12

IV. — The Old and the New Testament 16

V.— The Old Testament 19

VI.— The New Testament 20

Part First. The Lord's Prayer

VII.— Of Prayer 23

VIII.— The Lord's Prayer 28

IX.— The Address 29

X.— The First Three Petitions 31

XL— The Last Three Petitions 35

Part Second. The Apostles' Creed, Or, The Christian Faith

XII.— Of the Christian Faith 40

XIIL— The Apostles' Creed 43

XIV.— The Existence and Attributes of God 45

XV.— The Unity and Trinity of God 47 vi

TABLE OF LESSONS.

PAGE

XVI.— The Creation of the World 49

XVII. — Preservation and Providence 51

XVIII. — The State of Innocence 53

XIX.— The Fall 56

XX.— Of Sin 60

XXL— The Punishment of Sin 63

XXII. — Preparation for the Coming of Christ 66

XXIIL— Jesus Christ.— His Karnes 70

XXIV.— The Person of Christ 72

XXV.— The Two States of Christ 76

XXVI.— The Birth and Childhood of Christ 77

XXVII.— The Public Life and Ministry of Christ 79

XXVIII.— The Passion and Death of Christ 83

XXIX.— The Burial, and Descent into Hades 86

XXX. — The Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ.. 88 XXXI.— The Sitting at the Right Hand of God, and

Return to Judgment 90

XXXII.— The Threefold Office and Work of Christ.... 93

XXXIII. — The Holy Spirit 95

XXXIV. — The Christian Church, and the Communion

of Saints 99

XXXV.— The Means of Grace 104

XXXVI.— Holy Baptism 108

XXXVIL— The Lord's Supper 112

XXXVIII.— The Order of Salvation.— Regeneration 116

XXXIX. — Justification and Sanctification 122

XL. — The Resurrection of the Body, and the Life

Everlasting 126