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practical anB Soctrtnal 
 
 EXPOSITION 
 
 THE CHURCH CATECHISM 
 
 CHIEFLY COMPILED FROM THE 
 
 WRITINGS OF THE MOST APPROVED DIVINES, 
 
 ESTABLISHED BY PROOFS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE. 
 
 I TRAINING 
 
 MEMBER OF ST. JOHN'S COLL. CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JAMES BURNS, 17 PORTMAN STREET, 
 
 PORTMAN SQUARE. 
 M.DCCC.XL. 
 
LONDON : 
 ITED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRA 
 
 46 St. Martin's Lane. 
 
It is not without much diffidence that the 
 following pages — originally intended for the 
 private amusement and useful employment 
 of a few leisure hours — are now designed to 
 assume a different character, and to be no 
 longer confined to the knowledge of the 
 writer alone. But in the present age of 
 rebuke and blasphemy, while the Church 
 is incessantly assailed by Her declared foes 
 without, and by treacherous or misguided 
 friends within, it is conceived that no person 
 would be justified in allowing the influence 
 of private feelings to withhold from Her sup- 
 port any assistance, however slender, which 
 it might be in his power to afford. These, 
 with other considerations which need not 
 
iv 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 here be mentioned, have prevailed with the 
 writer to offer this little work, which, he is 
 persuaded, contains no other than the incon- 
 trovertible doctrines of the Word of God (as 
 he has endeavoured to prove by references 
 throughout), to the notice of the Christian 
 public. 
 
 Whether it is worthy, or capable of being 
 applied to the object referred to in the title- 
 page, must be decided by those more qua- 
 lified to judge : but, shovdd the Supreme 
 " Bishop and Pastor of our souls" vouchsafe 
 His blessing on this feeble attempt to pro- 
 mote His honour and glory, and to advance 
 the interests of His " beloved '* Church 
 among men, by rendering it instrumental 
 either in reclaiming a single wanderer to his 
 allegiance, or in confirming a single waverer 
 in his attachment to Her sacred fold, the 
 prayers with which this humble tribute of 
 filial veneration is dedicated to Her service 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 V 
 
 will have been crowned with an abundant 
 " recompense of reward." 
 
 May \5th, 1840. 
 
 N.B. Since the original remarks, which 
 are interwoven in the following chapters, 
 are both few and unimportant, it is not 
 thought necessary, after this acknowledg- 
 ment, to distinguish the several quotations by 
 specific references or inverted commas ; but 
 the kindness of the Rev. George Ayliffe 
 Poole, of Leeds, in allowing him the use 
 of a private MS. of his own, demands the 
 writer's especial thanks. It is further to be 
 observed, that, although this little work is 
 exhibited in a catechetical form, it has been 
 drawn up rather with a view of furnishing 
 matter for general examination, than of be- 
 ing applied to purposes of verbal repetition. 
 The method of reference to Holy Scripture 
 has been preferred to that of extracting the 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 various portions in full detail ; partly that 
 the book might be compressed into as small 
 a size as possible, and partly in the hope of 
 by this means inducing some, into whose 
 hands it may chance to fall, to " search the 
 Scriptures," and to see for themselves "whe- 
 ther these things are so." 
 
SECTION I. 
 
 The Church Catechism, definition of — its design — scriptural 
 authority for catechetical instruction — consequent prac- 
 tice of Jewish and Christian Churches — the beneficial 
 effects of this Page l-i 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 The several divisions of the Church Catechism . i, 5 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Christian name — why so called — ante-baptismal state 
 — effects of Baptism — the sirname — why so called — the 
 reflections naturally created by these respective names 
 — the conditions required to Baptism — the baptismal 
 covenant — its obligations — the first condition to Bap- 
 tism explained — the second referred to the Apostles' 
 Creed — the third to the Ten Commandments — the pro- 
 fessions of sponsors binding on those in whose name 
 they are made — the duties of Godparents — their respon- 
 
viii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 sibility — their qualifications — parents disqualified as re- 
 gards their own children — the post-baptismal state, why 
 termed a state of salvation — why we are said to be called 
 to it through Jesus Christ — liability to a lapse from, and 
 recovery of, regenerating grace — the means of its pre- 
 servation when bestowed . . . Page 6-20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 SECTION I. 
 
 The Apostles' Creed — why so called — the Xicene and Atha- 
 nasian Creeds — identical in substance and equally bind- 
 ing with the former — their past and present necessity — 
 the first article of the Christian faith — the first Person 
 of the blessed Trinity, why called " the Father" — why 
 " Almighty" — proofs of this attribute — the signification 
 of the words "Jesus" and " Christ" — why appropriated 
 to the second Person of the glorious Trinity — His rela- 
 tion to God the Father — His incarnation — His relation 
 to us as man — the meaning of, and scriptural authority 
 for, bowing at His name — of Christinas Day — why one 
 of peculiar rejoicing to the C hurch — Jesus Christ, where 
 born, and why — His sufferings — His death — when com- 
 memorated by the Church — His burial — His descent 
 into hell — the place here signified by this word — His 
 resurrection — when commemorated by the Church — His 
 ascension — His return to judge the world, and the pre- 
 vious intimations of this event — of God the Holy Ghost 
 — the mutual relation of the Three Persons in the glo- 
 rious Trinity ...... 21-35 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ix 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Of the Church — the importance of being in communion 
 with, and the guilt of separation from, Her, pointed out 
 —charity not hereby infringed — the distinguishing marks 
 in the visible constitution of the true Church of Christ 
 — the use of these — the holy Sacraments, when only 
 duly administered — the three orders of Ministers inhe- 
 rent in the Church of Christ — deduction from this — 
 Bishops — their divine origin — the perpetual transmis- 
 sion from one to another of that authority which con- 
 stituted the first of their order — the functions peculiar 
 to their office — ordination — judicial superintendence of 
 both the doctrine and conduct of Ministers in the infe- 
 rior orders — regulation of Ecclesiastical discipline in 
 matters indifferent — Excommunication — Confirmation 
 
 — functions of inferior orders included in Episcopal — 
 . Presbyters — their divine institution — why called Priests 
 
 — the functions of their office — Presbyteral absolution — 
 its virtue and efficacy — the laity to understand the Scrip- 
 ture as expounded by these Ministers of the Church — 
 rule prescribed by the Church for their direction in this 
 — Deacons — the time and object of their first institution 
 
 — the present functions of their office — the guilt of an 
 unauthorized assumption of ministerial functions in the 
 Jewish Church — instances of its signal punishment — 
 equally applicable to the Christian Church — satisfactory 
 test of communion with the true Church of Christ — 
 brief historical sketch of the English Church — the com- 
 munion of saints — one Baptism for the remission of 
 sins — resurrection of the body — life and death everlast- 
 ing — force in this place of the word Amen — summary 
 of the various operations of the Three Persons of the 
 Blessed Trinity with respect to mankind — the elect — 
 
X 
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 who — the sin of rejecting any single article of the Chris- 
 tian faith Page 35-66 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 SECTION I. 
 
 The Ten Commandments — circumstances attending their 
 first delivery — supposed contents of each Table — their 
 design — duty to God, wherein it consists — the respective 
 precepts of the first four Commandments — what day 
 meant by the Sabbath — the spiritual exercises of the 
 Sabbath, why transferred to the Lord's Day — the fourth 
 Commandment as binding on Christians as on Jews 
 
 67-74 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Our neighbour, who — duty to, briefly summed up — the fifth 
 Commandment — on which Table written — precepts of 
 — parents divisible into natural and spiritual— spiritual 
 Parents — who — and how — duty to, wherein it consists 
 — sins forbidden by this Commandment — withholding 
 Church revenues — spoliation of the Church — lay impro- 
 priations — of the restitution of these, and its happy con- 
 sequences — contempt of the clergy, and of their office — 
 disobedience to Ecclesiastical authority — profanation of, 
 or disrespectful expressions towards, consecrated places 
 — natural parents — duty to, wherein it consists — duty 
 of subjects to their rulers — of servants to their masters 
 — of inferiors to superiors — consequences of performing 
 or neglecting any of the above duties . . 74-95 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 The respective precepts and restrictions of the last five 
 Commandments — deduction from the tenth . 95-99 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Prayer — the necessity for — its avail — the Lord's Prayer — 
 why so called — its several portions — their respective 
 purport — force of the word Amen at its conclusion — its 
 institution sanctions the use of a Liturgy — -further au- 
 thority for this from our Saviour's example and that of 
 the early Church — our obligation to follow this example 
 — the sin of refusing or scrupling to do so, as enjoined 
 by the Church .... Page 100-111 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Sacraments — why specifically said to be " two only " — 
 the names of these — proof of their reality — when insti- 
 tuted — for what necessary — force of the word " gene- 
 rally" — Scripture proofs of their being universally ne- 
 cessary to salvation — restricted to the Church alone — 
 the Church, therefore, generally necessary to salvation 
 — things necessary to constitute a Sacrament — the parts 
 of a Sacrament — things essential to the due administration 
 of holy Baptism — the sign of the cross, why used in Bap- 
 tism — the efficacy of the Sacraments independent of the 
 dispositions of Ministers — justification in Baptism — faith 
 and repentance, why necessary qualifications to Baptism 
 of adults — why not so to that of infants — scriptural au- 
 thority for infant Baptism — the consequence of children 
 dying unbaptized — the Lord's Supper — why so termed 
 — the object of its institution — bread and wine — why 
 used — their sacramental signification — the spiritual be- 
 nefits of receiving worthily — why to be received in a 
 kneeling posture — the consequences of receiving unwor- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 thily — of partial or total neglect of receiving the Lord's 
 Supper — who are to be debarred from receiving it — self- 
 qualification for, wherein it consists — repentance — faith 
 — test of the reality of this — gratitude to God— charity 
 towards all mankind . . . Page 112-139 
 
OF THE 
 
 CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 SECTION I. 
 On the authority for, and the use of, a Catechism. 
 
 Question. How do you define the Church Ca- 
 techism ? 
 
 Answer. It is an instruction in the fundamental 
 doctrines of Christianity, delivered by means of 
 question and answer, and appointed " to be learned 
 of every person before he be brought to be con- 
 firmed by the Bishop." 
 
 Q. What is it the design of the Church Cate- 
 chism to teach us ? 
 
 A. The extent of the several particulars of our 
 duty to God and man, as undertaken for us and 
 by us in our Baptism : and being so short that the 
 
•2 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 j'oungest children may learn it by heart, and yet 
 so full that it contains all things necessary to be 
 known in order to salvation, its excellency is very 
 apparent; for as all persons are baptized, not into 
 any particular Church, but into the Catholic 
 Church of Christ, so herein they are not taught 
 the opinions of any particular Church or people, 
 but those only which the whole Church hath, as 
 a body, in every age been universally agreed 
 upon. 
 
 Q. What authority is there for this method of 
 instruction ? 
 
 A. In the Old Testament, we find Almighty 
 God commanding the Jews to teach His words 
 diligently unto their children, 1 and declaring that 
 " the father to the children shall make known His 
 truth." 2 And in the New Testament, St. Paul 
 exhorts all parents to bring their children up " in 
 the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 3 
 
 1 Deut. vi. 7, Ps. lxxviii. 3-6. 2 Is. xxxriii. 19. 
 
 3 Eph. vi. 4. 
 
 Q. How was this acted upon in the Jewish 
 Church ? 
 
 A. In the Jewish Church they were above all 
 things careful that their children should be in- 
 structed in the Law; 3 and they had for this pur- 
 pose, in every village, a person called the " in- 
 
 * Joseph. Ant. L iv. c. 8. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 3 
 
 structor of babes," 1 whose business it was to teach 
 children the Law till they were ten years of age, 
 and, from thence till they were fifteen, to instruct 
 them in the Talmud. 1 ' At the age of-thirteen they 
 were brought to the house of God, to be publicly 
 examined, and, if approved, they were afterwards 
 called " children of the precept," 0 i. e. they were 
 obliged to keep the Law, and were from that time 
 answerable for their own sins. 
 
 1 See Rom. ii. 20. 
 
 Q. Was this practice continued in the Christian 
 Church ? 
 
 A. Yes : to every church there was attached in 
 primitive times a person called a catechist, d who 
 was appointed to instruct the children in the fun- 
 damental principles of Christianity ; and all peo- 
 ple, of whatever age, were wont to remain with 
 the Minister several days after their Baptism, to 
 be by him more fully catechized in all things ne- 
 cessary to salvation : e as in the case of St. Basil/ 
 who was kept by the Bishop in his house for some 
 
 b Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic, c. 7. 
 c Grotius in Luc. ii. 42. 
 
 11 Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. v. c. 10. p. 275 a. 1. vi. c. 3, 
 12, 20. See also Luke i. 4, Eph. vi. 4, Gal. vi. 6, Acts 
 viii. 37. 
 
 c Vicecomes de antiquis Ritibus Baptismi, lib. v. c. 53. 
 ' S. Amphilochius in Vit. S. Basil. 
 
4 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 time after being baptized, that he might be in- 
 structed in the things pertaining to eternal life. 
 
 Q. With what effects has this practice been 
 attended ? 
 
 A. It was principally by catechizing, as Hege- 
 sippus observes, that the religion of Jesus was in 
 a few years spread over the greater part of the 
 known world : and at the Reformation, there was 
 nothing that contributed more to the restoration 
 of the true catholic faith, than the diligent cate- 
 chizing of the orthodox divines ; as was testified 
 by the affirmation of the Romanists themselves at 
 the Council of Trent, wherein they declared, " the 
 age is sadly sensible what mischief they (the 
 Protestants) have done the Church (of Rome), 
 not only by their tongues, but especially by those 
 writings called catechisms." 
 
 SECTION II. 
 A short summary of the contents of the Catechism. 
 
 Q. Such being the authority for, and the bene- 
 ficial effects of the use of a catechism, let us ap- 
 proach this subject with an humble and teachable 
 mind, endeavouring to follow its precepts, and to 
 profit by its instruction ; and to this end tell me, 
 in the first place, into how many portions the 
 Church Catechism may be divided ? 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 5 
 
 A. Into five. 
 
 Q. To what does the first of these portions 
 refer? 
 
 A. To our baptismal privileges and obligations, 
 extending from the beginning of the Catechism to 
 the commencement of the Creed. 
 
 Q. What does the second portion contain ? 
 
 A. The several articles of the Christian faith, 
 from the commencement of the Apostles' Creed 
 to that of the Ten Commandments. 
 
 Q. What does the third portion embrace ? 
 
 A. The Ten Commandments fully explained, 
 from their commencement to the end of the an- 
 swer to the question, " What is thy duty towards 
 thy neighbour?" 
 
 Q. What may be learnt from the fourth part ? 
 
 A. A form of prayer, with its explanation, from 
 the beginning of the Lord's Prayer to the end of 
 the following answer. 
 
 Q. To what does the fifth portion refer? 
 
 A. To the holy Sacraments, from their com- 
 mencement to the end of the Catechism. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF THE BAPTISMAL PRIVILEGES AND 
 OBLIGATIONS. 
 
 Q. Why is the name which you give in reply 
 to the first question of the Catechism called your 
 Christian name? 
 
 A. Because it was given me when I was made 
 a Christian. 
 
 Q. When were you made a Christian ? 
 
 A. When I was baptized, or Christened. 1 
 1 Gal. iiL 2". 
 
 Q. In what condition were you before your 
 Baptism ? 
 
 A. I remained in that state of unpardoned sin 
 and rebellion against God into which I was born ; 1 
 being doomed to death for the transgression of 
 Adam ;'- without any covenanted hope of parti- 
 cipating in the benefits of the sacrifice of the 
 death of Christ; 3 and so abiding under the just 
 wrath of God and sentence of eternal condemna- 
 tion. 4 
 
 1 Ps. li. 5, Eph. ii. 3, Col. i. 21, Tit. iiL 3, 1 John i. 8. 
 » Rom. v. 12, 18. 3 Eph. ii. 12, 13. 
 
 4 Comp. Rom. v. 12, and vi. 23. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 7 
 
 Q. Then what were some of the consequences 
 of your being baptized? 
 
 A. In the administration of that holy Sacra- 
 ment God pardoned my sin, 1 and united me to 
 Christ, 2 by giving me a never-ending interest in 
 His atoning blood: 3 He adopted me for His 
 son, 4 and made me an heir of heaven, 5 with a 
 certainty of everlasting felicity, if I had died 
 before again committing sin, and also with a 
 capacity for obtaining, in the Ordinances of the 
 Church, the forgiveness of all my future trans- 
 gressions. 6 When the spiritual enemy of man- 
 kind had come into my soul " like a flood, the 
 Spirit of the Lord" then " put him to flight," 7 
 and entered my heart 8 to become the principle of 
 a new life, and to assist me in all my struggles 
 against the devil and his devices. 9 In the words 
 of a venerable saint of the Church, a " I descended 
 into the font a sinner, I arose purified: I went 
 down the son of death, I came up the son of the 
 resurrection : I entered in the son of folly and 
 prevarication, I returned the son of reconciliation : 
 I stooped down the child of wrath, and ascended 
 the heir of mercy : I was the child of the devil, 
 but then became the servant and the son of God." 10 
 
 1 Acts ii. 38, xxii. 16, Eph. v. 26. 
 
 2 1 Cor. xii. 27, Gal. iii. 27, Eph. v. 30. 
 
 3 1 Cor. vi. 11, Eph. i. 7, Heb. ix. 14, 1 John i. 7, ii. 2. 
 
 * Bede, lib. i. c. 3. in Joann. 
 
8 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 4 Is. Ivi. 5, Rom. viii. 15, Gal. iv. 6, 1 John iii. 2. 
 
 5 Gal. iii. 26, 27, 29, Rom. viii. 17, Eph. i. 11, CoL i. 12. 
 
 6 Mark xvi. 16, Acts ii. 38, 39, xxii. 16, Eph. ii. 4, 5, 
 v. 26, Tit. iii. 5, 1 Pet. iii. 21. 1 Is. lix. 19 (marg.). 
 
 8 Joel ii. 28, Gal. iv. 6, iii. 26, 27. 
 
 9 Rom. vi. 4, 5, 7, 1 John ii. 20, 27, Rom. viii. 10. 
 
 10 1 John iii. 9, 10. 
 
 Q. What is the other name called ? 
 
 A. It is called the sirname, or sire's name; and 
 being, as it were, the distinguishing badge of every 
 particular family, it is naturally derived from the 
 father or sire to all the successive members of the 
 same. 
 
 Q. But which is the name whereby you are 
 individually known in the Church of God? 
 A. My Christian name. 1 
 
 1 Is. Ivi. 5, Luke x. 20, Phil. iv. 3, Heb. xiL 23, Rev. 
 xiii. 8, xiv. 1. 
 
 Q. Of what may your sirname remind you ? 
 
 A. Of my state by nature, and of original sin. 
 
 Q. And of what should your Christian name 
 remind you ? 
 
 A. Of the privileges into which I was admitted 
 by Baptism, and of my duty as a Christian. 
 
 Q. On what conditions were you admitted to 
 the Sacrament of holy Baptism ? 
 
 A. I declared by the lips of my Godparents, 
 that I did then, and would from that time forth, 
 " renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 9 
 
 and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sin- 
 ful lusts of the flesh :"' that I would continue to 
 " believe all the articles of the Christian faith:" 2 
 and that I would " keep God's holy will and com- 
 mandments, and walk in the same all the days of 
 my life." 3 
 
 1 1 John ii. 15. 2 Acts viii. 36, 37. 3 Rom. vi. 4. 
 
 Q. How do you regard this mutual relation be- 
 twixt yourself and God, or, as it is sometimes 
 called, the baptismal covenant? 
 
 A. Not in that presumptuous light which would 
 lead me to suppose that I then made a stipulation 
 to the effect that if God would do such and such 
 acts for me, I would do such and such acts for 
 Him in return : for the motives with which we 
 perform even that small and imperfect part of our 
 duty which is ever attempted, are so questionable, 
 that " we are all as an unclean thing, and all our 
 righteousnesses are but as filthy rags," 1 deserving 
 punishment rather than mercy from Him who is 
 of purer eyes than to behold, with complacency, 
 the smallest tinge of iniquity. 2 And since what- 
 ever is due from man to his Creator after Baptism 
 must have been due to Him before its administra- 
 tion, 3 and would be so had this Sacrament never 
 been instituted or received, it is not to be sup- 
 posed that certain duties are hereby undertaken, 
 for the performance of which we were not pre- 
 
10 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 viously responsible. These professions may rather 
 be considered as pledges to satisfy the Church 
 that the desire for the Sacrament is sincere, and 
 that the applicant will not wilfully disgrace his 
 Christian profession ; but that, on the contrary, if 
 thus admitted to the pardon of his sins and the 
 privileges of the Church, he will endeavour to 
 walk worthy of his Christian vocation, and strive 
 to glorify the doctrine of God his Saviour in all 
 things. 4 
 
 1 Is. lxiv. 6, Luke xvii. 7-10, Ps. I 8, Acts xvii. 25. 
 
 2 Hab. i. 13. 3 Job xxiL 2-5, xxxr. 7. 
 4 Tit. ii. 10. 
 
 Q. But are you not hereby laid under the 
 greatest obligations to perform your duty ? 
 
 A. Yes, certainly : because although, on being 
 born into the world, I was bound to obey the laws 
 of its Maker, and liable to punishment if I did 
 not, as the subjects of an earthly king are obliged 
 to obey the laws of the land in which they may 
 happen to be born ; still, since these were the 
 express conditions on which I was admitted into 
 the peculiar family of God, 1 I am noiv liable to a 
 proportionably heavier punishment for the viola- 
 tion of His laws and failure in my duty, 2 than if 
 I had remained in my former state of ignorance 
 and guilt ; especially as a grateful obedience is the 
 only means in my power of evincing my thank- 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 11 
 
 fulness for such tender and unmerited mercies as 
 I have received at His hands. 3 
 
 1 Heb. iii. 14. 
 
 2 Deut. xxiii. 21, Luke xxii. 48, 2 Pet. ii. 20-22. 
 
 3 Heb. viii. 12, x. 16, 17. 
 
 Q. You say that the first branch of your bap- 
 tismal profession was, that you would from that 
 time forth " renounce the devil and all his works." 
 What have you to do in order to " renounce the 
 devil?" 
 
 A. I have bound myself to declare defiance to, 
 and utterly to forsake, the cause and empire of 
 that wicked spirit, the prince of fallen angels, 1 
 and the declared enemy of God and of all good 
 men; 2 who has set up a kingdom of wicked men 
 and unbelievers, 3 which it is the design of the 
 religion of Jesus Christ to overthrow. 4 
 1 Matt. ix. 34. 
 
 : Job i. 6, 2 Cor. ii. 11, Eph. vi. 11,1 Pet. v. 8. 
 3 Matt. xii. 25, Eph. ii. 2. 
 * Gen. iii. 15, Heb. ii. 14, 1 John iii. 8. 
 Q. Mention some of those " works" of the devil 
 which you then pledged yourself to renounce. 
 
 A. These are such as falsehood, pride, envy, 
 malice, murder, 1 and all other wicked practices 
 which men are led to commit at the instigation of 
 the devil. 2 
 
 1 John viii. 44, Acts xiii. 9, 10, 1 Tim. iii. 6, James iii. 
 14, 15, 1 John v. 19, 21. 
 
 ■ Eph. vi. 11, 1 Tim. iii. 7, 1 John iii. 8. 
 
12 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 Q. What do you mean by saying that you bound 
 yourself to renounce " the pomps and vanities of 
 this wicked world ?" 
 
 A. That I bound myself " not to set my heart 
 upon any of the fine things which this world affords, 
 as riches, honours, pleasures, &c.,' nor to be over 
 eager in pursuit of them ■? but if it should please 
 God to give me any of them, to use them sparingly 
 and with humility ; and if it should please Him to 
 take them from me, to bear the loss with patient 
 resignation. 3 
 
 1 Col. iii. 2, 1 John ii. 15. 2 1 Cor. viL 31, 1 Tim. vi. 17. 
 3 1 Sara. iii. 18, Job i. 21, Luke xxi. 19, 1 Thess. iv. 13. 
 
 Q. Why is it called a " ivicked world?" 
 A. Because, as it is written, " the whole world 
 lieth in wickedness." 1 
 
 1 1 John v. 19. 
 
 Q. Mention some of those " lusts of the flesh " 
 which you bound yourself to renounce. 
 
 A. These are all such sensual desires as dispose 
 us to those sins which are peculiarly called " the 
 works of the flesh," 1 as uncleanness, lasciviousness, 
 fornication, &c All these I have so renounced 
 " as not to follow or be led by them." b 
 
 1 Gal. v. 19-21, Col. iii. 5, 1 John ii. 16. 
 
 b See the baptismal services. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 13 
 
 Q. What was the second condition on which 
 you were admitted to holy Baptism? 
 
 A. That I would continue to " believe all the 
 articles of the Christian faith :" i. e. not only some, 
 but all. 
 
 Q. Where do you find all these articles of the 
 Christian faith ? 
 
 A. In the Apostles' Creed. 
 
 Q. Where do you find the revelation of God's 
 holy will, which you undertook to keep and observe 
 all the days of your life ? 
 
 A. In the Ten Commandments, as explained 
 in the Church Catechism. 
 
 Q. Why are you bound to believe and do 
 what your Godparents undertook for you in your 
 name? 
 
 A. Because, since it is the will of God that 
 these things should be believed and done by all 
 mankind, as in themselves right and good, 1 and 
 being informed of the great blessings He bestowed 
 upon me on the profession of my desire to con- 
 form to that His will, I am exceedingly bound by 
 a most sacred obligation, 2 and under pain of in- 
 curring the tremendous sin of lying unto God, 3 to 
 perform these several duties ; and solemnly with 
 my own mouth to acknowledge myself answerable 
 for their fulfilment, as soon as I shall be considered 
 sufficiently acquainted with their nature and ex- 
 tent to be admitted to the sacred Rite of Confirma- 
 c 
 
14 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 tion ; 4 whereby an additional supply of the Holy 
 Spirit is conveyed to all faithful receivers,* to en- 
 able them to discharge their respective duties. 
 
 1 Pi. xix. 8, Rom. vii. 12. 2 1 Thess. iv. 7. 8. 
 
 3 Acts v. 4. 4 Heb. vi. 2. 5 Acts viii. 17, xix. C. 
 
 Q. Such being the duty of the person baptized, 
 what is the duty which Godparents have to per- 
 form ? 
 
 A. They undertake to see that their Godchild 
 " be taught, 1 as soon as he shall be able to learn, 
 what a solemn vow, 2 promise, and profession," was 
 then " made in his name." They " are to call 
 upon him to hear sermons; 3 and especially to 
 provide that he may learn the Creed, 4 the Lord's 
 Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, in the vulgar" 
 (i.e. in his native) " tongue, and all other things 
 which a Christian ought to know and believe to 
 his soul's health ;" s and also " that he may be vir- 
 tuously brought up to lead a godly and Christian 
 life, 6 following the example of our Saviour Christ, 
 continually mortifying all his evil and corrupt 
 affections, and daily proceeding in all virtue and 
 godliness of living." 
 
 1 Deut. iv. 10, Gal. iv. 1,2. 2 Eccles. v. 4, 5. 
 3 Rom. x. 17. 4 1 Cor. iii. 2, Heb. v. 14. 
 
 6 John viii. 24, xvii. 3, Acts xiii. 39, Eph. vi. 4. 
 6 Rom. vi. 3-14. 
 
 Q. Is there any other duty which appertains to 
 this office? 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 [5 
 
 A. Yes ; the Godparents " are to take care that 
 the child be brought to the Bishop to be confirmed 
 by him so soon as he can say the Creed, 1 the Lord's 
 Prayer, and the Ten Commandments in the vulgar 
 tongue; and be further instructed in the Church 
 Catechism set forth for that purpose :" and it is 
 also provided that " every one shall have a God- 
 father, or a Godmother, as a witness of their 
 Confirmation." 2 
 
 1 Acts viii. 14-17, xix. 6. 
 
 2 1 Tim. vi. 12. 
 
 Q. Are Godparents answerable for the full per- 
 formance of this duty ? 
 
 A. Without a doubt they who voluntarily un- 
 dertake so important an office, will be severely 
 punished by God for the non-fulfilment of its 
 several duties, which are so intimately connected 
 with the salvation of an immortal soul ; and parents 
 are highly blameworthy, if they attempt to inter- 
 fere with the Godparents in the due discharge of 
 their " consecrated vow." 
 
 Q. What precaution has the Church wisely 
 taken to prevent any one entering on this trust 
 who will not be careful to fulfil its duties ? 
 
 A. The Church provides, as a qualification 
 for the office, that " no person be admitted 
 Godfather or Godmother to any child at Christ- 
 ening or Confirmation, before the said person 
 
1G 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 so undertaking hath received the holy Commu- 
 nion." 0 
 
 Q. What restriction on the subject has been 
 laid down by the Church in reference to parents? 
 
 A. Parents are by the Canons d prohibited from 
 undertaking this office for their own children. 
 Their natural obligations are considered a suffi- 
 cient pledge that they will bring their children up 
 in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ; and, 
 in cases of unnatural neglect on the part of the 
 parents, the Godparents are intended to step in 
 and exert their authority in providing for the reli- 
 gious education of the child. 
 
 Q. Why is your present condition called a 
 state of salvation ? 
 
 A. Because, as those who are admitted into 
 the Church by the Sacrament of Baptism receive 
 thereby the remission of the sins of which they 
 were guilty before they were baptized ; 1 so, after 
 they are thus made members of the Church, and 
 admitted to a participation in her saving ordi- 
 nances, they are in a capacity for obtaining the 
 remission of all future sins, upon their sincere re- 
 pentance for the same. Whereas, however truly 
 we might repent, or however sincerely we might 
 believe in Christ before our Baptism, there would 
 be no reason to hope that our repentance or faith 
 
 c Can. xix. 
 
 d Can. xxix. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 17 
 
 would ever avail to obtain our pardon from God : 2 
 else would they be meritorious, and the cause, 
 and not merely the condition, of our justification. 
 Thus the sins of St. Paul himself were not for- 
 given, even after his summons from heaven, until 
 the administration of this holy Sacrament; for 
 Ananias said unto him, " Arise, and be baptized, 
 and wash away thy sins.'" 6 
 1 Acts ii. 38, xxii. 16, Eph. v. 26. 
 
 - Matt. vii. 17, Rom. vii. 18, viii. 8, Tit. i. 15. Art. xiii. 
 3 Acts xxii. 16. 
 
 Q. Why are we said to be called to a " state of 
 salvation through Jesus Christ ? " 
 
 A. Because, unless it were for His merits and 
 intercession, we could not be saved. It is His 
 Blood alone 1 which has made an infinite satisfac- 
 tion for the sins of the whole world ; 2 and we are 
 by its efficacy redeemed from everlasting punish- 
 ment : neither is it but for His pleading with the 
 Father His merits in our behalf, that we are ever 
 capable of being admitted into His heavenly king- 
 dom. 3 
 
 1 Eph. i. 7, 1 Pet. i. 19, 1 John i. 7. 
 
 » John i. 29, 1 John ii. 2. 3 Heb. vii. 25, ix. 24, xii. 24. 
 
 Q. Why do you pray to be preserved in this 
 blessed state? 
 
 A. Because by running into grievous sin, I 
 should provoke Almighty God to withdraw the 
 assistance of His Holy Spirit, 1 which was given in 
 c 2 
 
1 8 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 my Baptism; 2 and also, if my sins were such as 
 justly to offend the Church, its Ministers, who are 
 the representatives of God on earth,-* might exclude 
 me from a further share in those Ordinances of 
 the Christian religion 4 which are necessary to lead 
 me to eternal salvation. 5 
 
 1 Is. lxiii. 10, Rom. xi. 22, Eph. iv. 30. 
 
 • John iii. 5, Gal. iv. 6. 3 1 Cor. iii. 9, 2 Cor. v. 20, vi. 1. 
 
 4 Matt, xvi. 19, John xx. 23. 5 John XV. 6. 
 
 Q. Then after the regenerating grace of God 
 hath been once bestowed, we are still liable to fall 
 away and finally perish ? 
 
 A. Yes ; for although conversion of the heart 
 unto God, and consequent holiness of life, is the 
 natural} it is not the necessary consequence of 
 our regeneration in Baptism : e for we may so 
 
 6 Regeneration and Baptism are — first, expressly com- 
 bined and identified with each other in John iii. 3, 5, Tit. 
 iii. 5 ; compare also Mark xvi. 16, and 1 Pet. iii. 21. 
 
 Secondly, this doctrine is plainly alluded to in parallel 
 expressions in Rom. vi. 1-1, Gal. iii. 26, 27, Eph. ii. 5, 6, 
 Col. iii. 1, vi. 12, &c. 
 
 Thirdly, those passages which attribute this change in 
 our spiritual state and relations (see p. 7) simply to washing 
 or Baptism, are— Mark xvi. 16, Acts ii. 38, 40, 41, 47, xxii. 
 16, 1 Cor. vi. 9-11, xii 13, Eph.v.25, 26, 1 Pet. iii. 21, &c. 
 
 Fourthly, those passages which allude to it, and bear 
 collateral testimony to the doctrine of baptismal regenera- 
 tion in figures and phrases not exactly parallel to any of the 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 19 
 
 " quench" the influences of "the Holy Spirit," 2 
 as to forget that we "have been purged from our 
 old sins," 3 and like a sow that has been washed, 
 we may return to our " wallowing in the mire." 4 
 We may " rebel and vex the Holy Spirit of God, so 
 as to provoke Him to turn our enemy and to fight 
 against us;" 5 and we may, again, like the prodigal 
 in the parable, 6 forsake our " wicked thoughts 
 and ways, and return unto the Lord, who will have 
 mercy upon us, and to our God, who will abun- 
 dantly pardon." 7 But if we who " died unto sin" 
 in Baptism, 8 " continue therein, that grace may 
 abound," we must anticipate a most grievous pun- 
 ishment for thus " treading under foot the Son 
 of God, and for counting the blood of the cove- 
 nant, wherewith we have been sanctified, an un- 
 holy thing, and for doing despite unto the Spirit 
 of grace." 9 Wherefore we must at all times be 
 exceeding watchful over ourselves, lest there still 
 abide in us " an evil heart of unbelief in depart- 
 ing from the living God;" 10 we must endeavour 
 to " work out our own salvation with fear and 
 trembling ;" 11 " looking diligently lest we fall from 
 the grace of God," 12 and so finally fail of attain- 
 ing " the prize of our high calling in Christ 
 Jesus." 13 
 
 former, are — Rom. iv. 11, viii. 15, 2 Cor. i. 21, 22, Eph. 
 i. 13, 14, iv. 30, Col. ii. 11, 12, 1 John ii. 20, 27 (comp. John 
 xvi. 13), &c. — See Bethell on Baptismal Regeneration. 
 
20 
 
 AN EXPOSITION, ETC. 
 
 1 Ps. cv. 41-45, Rom. vi. 4-6, viii. 13, xii. 1, 2, GaL 
 v. 25, Eph. iv. 22-24, Col. iii. 1. 
 
 2 Eph. iv. 30, 1 Thess. v. 19. 3 2 Pet L 9. 
 
 4 2 Pet. ii. 22. 5 Is. Ixiii. 10, Deut. vi. 10-12. 
 
 r ' Luke xv. 17-24. ' Is. Iv. 7. 8 Rom. vi. 1, 2, 7. 
 9 Heb. x. 29. >° Heb. iii. 12. 11 PhiL ii. 12. 
 
 12 Heb. xii. 15 (marg.), Gal. v. 4. 13 Phil. iii. 14. 
 
 Q. How are you to be kept in this state of sal- 
 vation ? 
 
 A. The grace of God is the only instrument by 
 which this can be effected; 1 and therefore I must 
 daily 2 and constantly pour forth my humble sup- 
 plications before " the throne of grace, that I may 
 obtain mercy and find grace to help me in the 
 time of need." 3 
 
 1 2 Cor. iii. 5, Phil. ii. 13. 
 
 2 Luke xviii. 1, Rom. xii. 12. 3 Heb. iv. 16. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF THE SEVERAL ARTICLES OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 FAITH. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 Of the Holy Trinity. 
 
 Q. What does the Apostles' Creed contain? 
 A. It contains all the articles of the Christian 
 faith. 
 
 Q. Why is it called the Apostles' Creed ? 
 
 A. Roth because it contains the doctrines which 
 they believed and taught ; and because from the 
 earliest ages it has been reverenced by the Church, 
 as that of which a profession was required by the 
 first Apostles. 
 
 Q. What other forms or confessions of faith are 
 received by the Church ? 
 
 A. The Nicene Creed — so termed because it 
 was drawn up at the great Council of Nice in 
 Bithynia ; and the Creed of St. Athanasius, as it 
 is commonly called. 
 
 Q. What have you to remark with respect to 
 these ? 
 
•2-2 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 A. That although they are differently expressed, 
 yet they contain no other than the doctrines of 
 the Apostles' Creed; and therefore I am bound to 
 believe and hold fast all that is set forth in (hem, 
 for the like reason that I am obliged to embrace 
 whatever appears in the former." 
 
 Q. What was the occasion of their being drawn 
 up ? 
 
 A. In consequence of evil men and false teach- 
 ers, who gradually introduced themselves into 
 the Church, it was found necessary to check the 
 growth of their heretical doctrines, by propound- 
 ing the several articles of " the faith which was 
 once delivered to the saints" 1 w ith greater fulness 
 and perspicuity than before ; so that these more 
 explicit declarations of the Christian faith became 
 bulwarks, as it were, to the Apostles' Creed, and 
 a standing fence against the wiles and equivoca- 
 tions of most kinds of heretics : for as there are 
 certain marks of distinction used in war, by which 
 the soldiers of one side are distinguished from 
 those of the other, so by these Creeds the orthodox 
 or sound Christians of the Catholic or universal 
 Church are to be distinguished from the infidels 
 and heretics of every age. 
 
 1 Jude iii. 
 
 ■ See page 13, line 1-5. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 •2;>, 
 
 Q. What is the first article of the faith of a 
 Christian ? 
 
 A. " I believe in God," L e. that there is but 
 one 1 living and true God, 2 everlasting, 3 without 
 body, 4 parts, or passions, 5 of infinite power, 6 wis- 
 dom, 7 and goodness, 6 distinguished into three 
 Persons, 9 the first of whom is God the Father. 
 
 1 1 Cor. viii. 4. - 1 Thess. i. 9. 
 
 3 Jer. x. 10, 1 Tim. i. 17. 4 John iv. 24. 
 
 6 Ps. cii. 26, 27. 6 Matt. xix. 26. 
 
 7 Ps. cxlvii. 5. s Luke xviii. 19. 
 9 Matt, xxviii. 19, 2 Cor. xiii. 14, 1 John v. 7. 
 
 Q. Whose Father do you believe He is ? 
 
 A. I believe that He is the Father of all man- 
 kind as their Creator : ! and in a more especial 
 degree of all Christians (/. e. of all duly baptized 
 persons), who are His adopted sons; 2 and that He 
 is in a peculiar manner the Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 3 
 
 ' Mai. ii. 10. > 1 John iii. 1. 
 
 3 John vi. 57, Heb. i. 1,2. 
 
 Q. What do you believe God the Father is? 
 A. Almighty, 1 i. e. able to do all things. 
 1 Is. xlv. 1 2, Rev. xix. 6. 
 
 Q. What proof has He given of His almighty 
 power ? 
 
 A. He is the Creator and Maker of heaven and 
 earth, 1 and of all things which are contained in 
 
24 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 either of them ; whether they be visible substances 
 on earth, or in the firmament of heaven, 2 or invi- 
 sible and spiritual substances, 3 of which we can at 
 present form no adequate conception. 
 
 1 Exod. xx. 11, Ps. cii. 25, John i. 10, Col. i. 16. 
 
 2 Gen. i. 14-18. 3 Ps. civ. 4. 
 
 Q. Who do you believe to be the second Person 
 in the glorious Godhead ? 
 A. Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 
 1 Acts ii 36. 
 
 Q. What is the meaning of the words " Jesus" 
 and " Christ ?" 
 
 A. "Jesus" means a " Saviour;" 1 "Christ" 
 means the " anointed one." 2 
 
 1 Luke L 31, Acts xiii. 23. 1 Is. lxi. 1, Acts x. 38. 
 
 Q. Why were these names given unto Him ? 
 
 A. The angel of the Lord appeared unto Jo- 
 seph, the husband of the blessed- Virgin Mary, in a 
 dream, and commanded that the name of her Son 
 should be called Jesus, because He would " save 
 His people from their sins."' He was called Christ, 
 because He was anointed above measure with the 
 Holy Spirit from on high, 2 to be our Prophet, 3 
 Priest,* and King? 
 
 1 Matt i. 20, 21, 25. ' Ps. xlv. 7. 
 
 3 Deut. xviii. 15, Luke xiii. 33, xxiv. 19. 
 
 4 Ps. ex. 4, Heb. vii. 24. 
 
 5 Zech. ix. 9, John xii. 14, 15, xviii. 37, Matt. xxv. 34. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 25 
 
 Q. In what relation do you believe He stands 
 with respect to God the Father ? 
 
 A. I believe that He is not the adopted, but 
 " the only begotten Son of God," 1 not created in 
 time, but "begotten of His Father" 2 from eternity 
 " before all worlds ;" 3 and that He is of the same 
 nature with the Father, 4 " God" begotten " of 
 God," after a wonderful manner, as " light" is 
 kindled " of light," 5 not diminishing His Father's 
 substance, yet being "very God of very God:" 6 
 and I believe that He was " begotten" by eternal 
 generation, " not made" as the creatures were, 
 " being of one" nature and " substance with the 
 Father," 7 and equal to Him in dignity and power: 8 
 for I believe that He is that eternal Word " by 
 whom all things were made out of nothing." 9 
 
 1 John i. 14, 18, iii. 16, 18, 1 John iv. 9. 
 
 2 Heb.i. 5,6,8, 10,11, v. 5. 3 John i. 3, Col. i. 16, 17. 
 
 4 John xiv. 10, 20, xvii. 21, 23. 
 
 5 John i. 9, viii. 12, Heb. i. 3, James i. 17. 
 
 6 Matt. i. 23, Luke i. 16, 17, John i. 1, Rom. ix. 5, Heb. 
 i. 8. 7 Col. i. 15, ii. 9, Heb. i. 3. 
 
 8 John v. 23, Phil. ii. 6, Heb. i. 6. 
 
 9 John i. 3, Eph. iii. 9, Col. i. 16. 
 
 Q. What do you believe as to His incarnation ? 
 
 A. I believe that it is He " who for us men, and 
 for our salvation," 1 when we were in a deplorable 
 state of sin and misery, " came down from hea- 
 ven" to this earth ; and that He left His glory, and 
 
26 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 was " incarnate," 2 assuming a body of flesh like 
 ours, 3 only it had no sin, because it was " con- 
 ceived by" the power of " the Holy Ghost," 4 in 
 the womb " of the Virgin Mary;" 5 so though He 
 still remained very God, 6 jet He took upon Him 
 our nature " and was made man," 7 being both 
 God and man in one Person. 8 
 
 1 Is. liiL 4-6, Matt. xx. 28, 1 Tim. ii. 6. 
 
 2 John i. 14, Rom. viii. 3, Phil. ii. 7, Heb. ii. 14, 15. 
 
 3 1 John iv. 3. 4 Matt. i. 20, Luke i. 35. 
 5 Luke i 27, 31. • John xx. 28. 
 
 7 Heb. U. 16'. s Phil. ii. 7, 1 Tim. ii. 5, hi. 16. 
 
 Q. What is His relation to us as man ? 
 A. He is our Lord in every condition. 1 
 1 Rom. xiv. 9, Rev. six. 16. 
 
 Q. By what significant action has the Church 
 ever kept alive the feeling of this truth ? 
 
 A. By bowing at the name of Jesus. 
 
 Q. Is there any authority for this practice in 
 holy Scripture ? 
 
 A. Yes : it is declared that God hath " given 
 Him a name which is above every name; that at 
 the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things 
 in heaven, and things in earth, and things under 
 the earth ; and that every tongue should confess 
 that Jesus Christ is Lord, (o the glory of God the 
 Father." 1 
 
 1 Phil. ii. 9-11, Is. xlv. 23. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 27 
 
 Q. On what day does the Church commemo- 
 rate the birth of Jesus Christ ? 
 
 A. The Church has, from time immemorial, set 
 apart the 25th day of December, in each return- 
 ing year, to be kept holy unto the Lord, through- 
 out all her generations, in commemoration of this 
 exceeding great event. 
 
 Q. Why is this day properly observed as one of 
 peculiar festivity and rejoicing? 
 
 A. Because the Church, in reflecting on the 
 birth of Jesus Christ, is naturally led to indulge 
 those feelings of holy joy which are inspired by 
 the recollection of her own ; for " that which is 
 the birthday of the head, is the birthday of the 
 body also." b Hence it is commonly called Christ- 
 mas-day — mass being an old word of Saxon origin, 
 and signifying a festival. 
 
 Q. Where was Jesus Christ born ? 
 
 A. He was born in Bethlehem of Judea. 1 
 
 1 Matt. ii. 1, Luke ii. 4, 6, 7. 
 
 Q. Why was He born there ? 
 
 A. That the prophecy might be fulfilled 1 which 
 says, " And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, 
 art not the least among the princes of Juda ; for 
 out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule 
 my people Israel." 
 
 1 Matt. ii. 5, G, Micah v. 2. 
 
 b P. Leo de Nat. Serin, vi. 
 
28 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 Q. Under whom did He suffer; and mention 
 some of these His sufferings ? 
 
 A. It was under Pontius Pilate 1 that He en- 
 dured His grievous sufferings, wherein He was 
 both scourged, 2 and spit upon, 3 and crowned with 
 thorns, 4 till at last He submitted to undergo that 
 inconceivable agony in the garden of Gethsemane, 
 W'hen His " soul was exceeding sorrowful even 
 unto death, and His sweat was as it were great 
 drops of blood falling down to the ground." 5 
 
 1 Matt, xxvii. 2, Acts iii. 13. 
 
 - Is. HiL 5, Matt, xxvii. 26, Mark xv. 15, John xix. 1. 
 
 3 Is. L 6, Matt. xxvi. 57, xxvii. 30. 
 
 4 Matt, xxvii. 29. 
 
 5 Matt. xxvi. 36-39, Mark xiv. 32-36, Luke xxii. 41-44. 
 Q. What is meant by the word under ? and 
 
 who was Pontius Pilate? 
 
 A. By " under" is here signified in the time of; 
 and it was also under sentence pronounced by 
 Pontius Pilate, 1 then Roman governor of Judea, 2 
 that Jesus Christ was condemned to die. 
 
 1 Matt, xxvii. 20, Luke xxiii. 24, John xix. 16. 
 
 2 Matt, xxvii. 2. 
 
 Q. How do you believe that His natural life 
 was terminated ? 
 
 A. I believe that " He was crucified," 1 endur- 
 ing that painful and shameful death to satisfy 
 God's justice " for us," 2 who were under the 
 dreadful sentence of eternal death ; and I believe 
 that in these most fearful torments He died. 3 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 29 
 
 1 Matt, xxvii. 35, Luke xxiii. 33, John xix 18. 
 
 2 1 Cor. v. 7, Eph. ii. 16-18, 1 Tim. ii. 6. 
 
 3 Luke xxiii. 46, John xix. 30. 
 
 Q. On what day does the Church commemo- 
 rate His crucifixion ? 
 
 A. On Good Friday, which hath been observed 
 by Christians of every age as a day of the strictest 
 fasting and humiliation ; but the grief and afflic- 
 tion they then express should not arise from the 
 loss they as on this day sustained, so much as 
 from a sense of the enormous guilt of sin, which 
 drew upon our blessed Redeemer that terrible and 
 ignominious death of the cross. 1 
 
 1 Rom. iv. 25, Gal. i. 4, 1 Pet. ii. 24, iii. 18. 
 
 Q. What do you believe became of His body ? 
 
 A. I believe that Joseph of Arimathea, 1 a rich 
 man (having obtained permission from Pilate to 
 bury the body of Jesus), took it and " laid it in 
 his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in a 
 rock," that the prophecy 2 might be fulfilled which 
 saith, " He made His grave with the wicked, and 
 with the rich in His death." c 
 
 1 Matt, xxvii. 57-60, Mark xv. 42-46. 2 Is. liii. 9. 
 
 Q. And what do you believe became of His 
 soul? 
 
 1 Or, " with the rich man was His tomb" (Bp. Lowth's 
 translation). 
 
 D 2 
 
30 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 A. I believe that His soul " descended into 
 hell," 1 or that intermediate state 2 where " they 
 which die in the Lord do rest from their labours,'" 3 
 and " are blessed ;" waiting for a still more perfect 
 happiness at the resurrection of the last day. 
 
 1 Ps. xvi. 10, Acts ii. 27, St. 2 See Luke xvi. 22-26. 
 
 3 Luke xxiii. 43, 2 Cor. xii. 4, Rev. xiv. 13. 
 
 Q. How long did His body remain in the tomb, 
 and His soul in hell? 
 
 A. I believe that " upon the third day'' 1 after 
 His crucifixion He truly rose again from death, 2 
 and took again His soul from hell, and His body 
 from the tomb, 3 " with flesh, bones, and all things 
 appertaining to the perfection of man's nature," 4 
 " according to" what was prophesied in " the 
 Scriptures" of the Old Testament, and declared 
 to be fulfilled in the New. 
 
 1 Matt. xvi. 21, xxvii. 63, Mark ix. 31. 
 
 3 John xx. 17, 27. 3 Acts ii. 31. 
 
 4 Luke xxiv. 39, Acts x. 41. Art. iv. 
 
 Q. On what day does the Church commemo- 
 rate His glorious resurrection? 
 
 A. On Easter-day, so called from an old Saxon 
 word " Oster," which signifies " to rise." This 
 was the birthday of our Saviour in His state of 
 glory and exaltation, as His nativity was his birth- 
 day to his state of humiliation ; and being that on 
 which He triumphed over death and hell, 1 the 
 Church, which is His body, through faith doth 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 31 
 
 triumph with Him, 2 and joyfully proclaims her 
 share in the victory as on this day achieved by 
 her risen Head. d And hence it was anciently 
 called the " great day," — " the feast of feasts." 
 1 1 Cor. xv. 20-28. 2 Col. iii. 1-4. 
 
 Q. How long did He remain on earth after His 
 resurrection ? 
 
 A. I believe that He conversed with His dis- 
 ciples for forty days. 1 
 
 1 Acts i. 3. 
 
 Q. Did He then leave them ? 
 
 A. Yes ; I believe that in their sight, 1 and with 
 all the constituent parts of man's nature, 2 He then 
 " ascended into heaven," 3 where He is restored to 
 all His glory, 4 " and sitteth at the right hand of 
 God the Father Almighty," 5 making intercession 
 for us who believe in His name. 6 
 
 1 Acts i. 9. 
 
 2 Luke xxiv. 51, John xxi. 12, 13. 
 
 3 Mark xvi. 19, Heb. iv. 14. 
 
 « Eph. i. 20-22, Heb. i. 3, 1 Pet. iii. 22. 
 
 5 Col. iii. 1. 
 
 6 Rom. viii. 84, 1 John ii. 1. 
 
 Q. What do you mean by " the right hand of 
 God?" 
 
 d See Anthem preceding the Collect for Easter-day ; and 
 also the Epistle for the day. 
 
32 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 A. I mean the highest place of honour and 
 glory in heaven. 1 
 
 1 1 Kings ii. 19, Heb. viii. 1. 
 
 Q. Do you think He will ever come again from 
 thence ? 
 
 A. Yes ; I believe that at the end of the world 1 
 He will " come again with glory," 2 in a trium- 
 phant procession of angels, and of all the hosts of 
 heaven. 
 
 1 Acts iii. 20, 21. 
 
 2 Matt. xxv. 31, 2 Thess. i. 7, Jude 14, Rev. i. 7. 
 Q. For what purpose will He then appear ? 
 
 A. " To judge" 1 all mankind, " both the quick 
 and dead," according to their works ; 2 condemn- 
 ing the wicked to everlasting torments, 3 and ad- 
 vancing the righteous to reign in endless glory 
 with this their Saviour, " whose kingdom shall 
 have no end." 4 
 
 1 Acts x. 42, Rom. xiv. 9, 10, 2 Tim. iv. 1. 
 
 - Rom. ii. 6, 2 Cor. v. 10, Rev. xx. 12, xxiL 12. 
 
 3 Is. lxvi. 24, Dan. xii. 2, Matt. xxv. 41, 46, Mark ix. 
 45, 46, 48. 4 Matt. xxv. 34, 1 Pet. i. 4. 
 
 Q. Who are meant by " the quick ?" 
 A. All who shall be alive upon the earth at the 
 last day. 1 
 
 1 1 Thess. iv. 15-17. 
 Q. How will the approach of that awful day be 
 marked ? 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 33 
 
 A. It is written, that " there shall be signs in 
 the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars ; and 
 upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ; 
 the sea and the waves roaring ; men's hearts fail- 
 ing them for fear, and for looking after those 
 things which are coming upon the earth : for the 
 powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then 
 shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud 
 with power and great glory." 1 " And He shall 
 send forth His angels with a great sound of a 
 trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect 
 from the four winds, from one end of heaven to 
 the other:" 3 and from before "His face the earth 
 and the heaven " shall flee away ; and there shall 
 be " found no place for them." 3 
 
 1 Lukexxi. 25-27. 2 Matt. xxiv. 31. 3 Rev. xx. 11. 
 
 Q. Will the resurrection and the judgment then 
 take place? 
 
 A. Yes : " the dead," both " small and great," 
 shall then stand " before God," and shall be 
 "judged every man according to their works;" 
 and whosoever shall not be " found written in the 
 book of life" shall be " cast into the lake of fire." 1 
 1 Rev. xx. 12, 13, 15. 
 
 Q. Can any one foretell the exact time when 
 these events will come to pass ? 
 
 A. No : for it is written, that " the day of the 
 Lord so cometh as a thief in the night ;" 1 and that 
 
AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 " in such an hour as " we " think not, the Son of 
 man cometh." 2 
 
 1 1 Thcss. v. 2. 2 Matt xxiv. 44. 
 
 Q. How must we conduct ourselves, that these 
 things may not find us unprepared ? 
 
 A. We must " take heed, watch, and pray," 1 
 " putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and 
 for an helmet the hope of salvation." 2 
 
 1 Mark xiii 33. 2 1 Thess. v. 8. 
 
 Q. Who do you believe to be the third Person 
 in the glorious Godhead ? 
 
 A. " I believe" also " in the Holy Ghost," the 
 third Person of the glorious Trinity, 1 that He is 
 very God 2 — " the Lord:" 3 and that He is " the 
 giver of " spiritual "life" and of sanctifying grace ; 4 
 " who " is not begotten as the Son, but " pro- 
 ceeded from the Father and the Son," 5 yet is not 
 less in majesty and glory : for it is He " who with 
 the Father and the Son together," 6 in all the 
 offices of the Church " is worshipped and glori- 
 fied," and " who" also " spake by the Prophets "'" 
 in the Old Testament, and by the Apostles in the 
 New. 8 
 
 1 Acts x. 19, Rom. viii. 26, Eph. iv. 30. 
 
 2 Acts v. 3, 4, Matt, xxviii. 19. 
 
 3 2 Cor. iii. 17, 18. 4 Rom. viii. 2, 2 Cor. iii. 6. 
 
 * John xiv. 26, xv. 26, xvi. 7, Rom. viii. 10, Gal. iv. 6, 
 1 Pet. i. 11. 6 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, vi. 19. 
 
THE CHUHCH CATECHISM. 
 
 35 
 
 » Is. vi. 8, 9, Ezek. xi. 5, 24, 2 Pet. i. 21. 
 8 1 Cor. viL 40, Eph. iii. 5, 1 Thess. iv. 8. 
 
 Q. What do you believe as to the mutual rela- 
 tion of the three Persons in the glorious God- 
 head ? 
 
 A. I believe that " in this Trinity none is afore 
 or after other : none is greater or less than ano- 
 ther;" but " that the whole Three Persons are 
 co-eternal together and co-equal: such as the 
 Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy 
 Ghost;" 1 "and these Three are One:" 2 so that 
 " the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is 
 to be worshipped." 3 And I further believe, that 
 he " that will be saved must thus think of the 
 Trinity." 4 
 
 1 Job xxxiii. 4, John v. 17, 18, Acts v. 3, 4, 1 Cor. 
 vi. 19, Phil. ii. 5, 6, Heb. i. 8. 
 
 2 1 John v. 7, John x. 30. 
 
 3 Is. xlii. 8, lxi. 1, Luke i. 35, Matt. iii. 16, 17, xxviii. 
 19, John v. 23, 2 Cor. xiii. 14, Heb. i. 6, 1 John v. 7, 
 Rev. v. 12, 13. 4 Matt, xxviii. 19, Mark xvi. 16. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Of the Church and Her privileges. 
 
 Q. What is the next article of the Christian 
 faith ? 
 
 Q. " I believe " that the whole body of Chris- 
 
36 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 tians which hold the true faith of Christ, 1 and have 
 been duly baptized in His name, 2 do make " one 3 
 holy, 4 catholic," e universal, true, " and apostolic 
 Church," 5 which has continued throughout all 
 ages from the Apostles' time, 6 and shall do so till 
 the second coming of Christ. 7 
 
 1 Rom. vi. 17, 2 Tim. i. 13. 
 
 2 Mark xvi. 16, Eph. ii. 18-21. 
 
 3 Comp. 1 Cor. x. 17, xii. 13, Gal. iii. 27, 28. 
 
 4 2 Tim. ii. 19. 5 MaL i. 11, Rev. vi. 19. 
 
 6 Matt. xvi. 18, Rev. xxi. 14. ' Is. lx 20, Ps. xlv. 18. 
 
 Q. What do you believe as to the importance 
 of being in communion with the Church ? 
 
 A. I believe that as it was in the days of Noah, 1 
 so also shall it be at the coming of the Son of 
 Man to judgment: and that as the only means of 
 safety from the flood of water was afforded to 
 those few individuals who took refuge in the ark ; 2 
 so it is only whilst, in that spiritual vessel, the 
 Church 3 (of which the former was a type 4 ), that I 
 can enjoy any sure and certain hope of obtaining 
 a safe passage for my soul through that over- 
 whelming flood of fire which is coming on the 
 earth ; 5 and to escape the terrors of that infernal 
 
 e " We affirm the ancient and Catholic Church, whe- 
 ther we respect its constitution, or our conception of it, its 
 beginning or its excellency, to be but one." — Clem. Alex. 
 Sfrom. vii. p. 549. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 37 
 
 " lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone,"" 
 " where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
 quenched." 7 
 
 1 Matt. xxiv. 37. 2 1 Pet. iii. 20. 
 
 3 Comi>. John x. 9, xiv. 6, Eph. ii. 18-22, John xv. 6, 
 1 Cor. iii. 11, Joel ii. 32. 
 
 4 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. 5 Zeph. iii. 8. 
 6 Rev. xx. 8. 7 Mark ix. ii. 
 
 Q. And what is the guilt of separating from 
 the Church ? 
 
 A. As the vesture of Christ was without seam, 1 
 so it was His earnest prayer that His Church 
 might remain at perfect unity in itself. 2 But 
 unity cannot be preserved without a general 
 belief and confession 3 of the several articles of 
 which the " one { faith" 4 is composed: wherefore 
 they who in any material point desert that faith, 
 and on this account refuse to communicate with 
 the Church, are acting in direct opposition to the 
 prayerof Christ — do cut themselves offs from " His 
 body" 5 — and are in reality no Christians. 6 For as 
 he that should in any principal doctrine differ 
 from Plato would not be a Platonist, so he that 
 
 ' " In all parts of the world this faith is one, because this 
 is the Christian faith." — Aug. c. Jul. i. 2, p. 203, 2. 
 
 B " He who flies and avoids communion with us, you in 
 your prudence may know, that such a man breaks himself 
 off from the whole Church" — S. Bas. Ep. lxxv. 
 
38 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 dissenteth from any doctrine of importance mani- 
 festly taught by Christ, and universally received 
 by His Church as such, doth in effect renounce 
 Christianity. 11 And though it is declared, that 
 " there must be heresies (or sects) amongst us, 
 that they which are approved may be made mani- 
 fest;" 7 it must be remembered, that this crime is 
 put in affinity with Satan, 8 and is represented by 
 St. Paul as equal in guilt with " murder, drunken- 
 ness, adultery, and such like;" 9 with respect to 
 which he affirms, that " they which do such things 
 shall not inherit the kingdom of God:" and more- 
 over that it is one on which a sentence of grievous 
 woe hath been emphatically pronounced by our 
 Blessed Lord Himself. 10 
 
 1 John xix. 23. 2 John xvii. 20-23. 
 
 3 Amos iii. 3. 4 Eph. iv. 5, 13, Jude 3. 
 
 5 Eph. i. 22, 23. 6 Tit. iii. 10, 11. 
 
 7 1 Cor. xi. 19. 8 Rom. xvi. 17, 20. 
 
 9 Gal. v. 19-21 ; see also 1 Cor. iii. 17 : " If any man 
 corrupt" [by false doctrines'], &c. 
 
 111 Matt, xviii. 7, Luke xvii. 1 , 2. 
 
 Q. But does not this view of the subject justly 
 involve us in the charge of a want of charity ? 
 A. No : for " as charity aims, or should aim, at 
 
 h " He denies Christ who confesses not a/I things that 
 are Christ's." — S. Ambros. in Luc. lib. iv. c. 9, p. 90. 
 " If a man be a heretic, he cannot be a Christian." — Tert. 
 de Pr&scr. cap. xxxvii. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 39 
 
 the welfare of mankind, and as the welfare of 
 men is inseparably involved in their reception of, 
 and adherence to the truth, 1 it follows that that 
 which is most true must be most charitable."* And 
 since it is declared, with respect to " the Church" 
 alone, that she is " the pillar and ground of truth," 1 
 and that " in Mount Zion 2 and in Jerusalem" (i. e. 
 the heavenly Jerusalem 3 — the Church) " shall be 
 deliverance ;" we dare neither affirm, nor believe, 
 this of any other institution. And because it is 
 revealed that " no man cometh unto the Father 
 but by Christ;"* therefore charity requires that 
 we should teach, and forbids our keeping back, 
 that no person is safe whilst separated from His 
 body — "the Church" 5 — of which He is both 
 Prince and Head. 
 
 1 1 Tim. iii. 15. 2 Joel ii. 32. 
 
 3 Gal. iv. 26. 4 John xiv. 6. 
 
 5 Eph. i. 22, 23. 
 Q. Then since the importance of being in com- 
 munion with the Church is so great, and the sin 
 of separation from her Ordinances so grievous ; is 
 it not of the greatest consequence that we should 
 be under no doubtful apprehension as to our con- 
 dition in this respect ? 
 
 A. Yes ; it is absolutely necessary for our safety, 
 
 ' ITim. i. 19, 20, 2 Tim i. 13. 
 
 > See Perceval's Apology for the Apostolical Succession, 
 p. 61. 
 
40 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 that we should know assuredly, whether we do 
 really belong to the true Church of Christ. 
 
 Q. How can this be ascertained ? 
 
 A. For this purpose our Saviour graciously 
 ordained certain outward marks or signs in the 
 visible constitution of His true Church, whereby 
 it should be distinguishable from all those socie- 
 ties, which might at any time falsely pretend to 
 be the same. 
 
 Q. Then give me a brief outline of these cha- 
 racteristics of the Church of Christ, as declared 
 in the Thirty-nine Articles. 
 
 A. The Church is that body of " faithful men" 1 
 by whom the Christian faith is held in its full inte- 
 grity ; 2 and " amongst whom the pure word of God 
 is preached, and the holy Sacraments are duly ad- 
 ministered according to Christ's ordinance in all 
 those things that of necessity are requisite to the 
 same." k 
 
 1 Matt. xiii. 47, xvi 18, Acts ii. 42, Eph. v. 23-25. 
 
 ! Phil i. 27, 1 Tim.i. 19, Eph. iv. 5, 2 Tim. i. 13, iv. 7, 
 Jude 3, Deut. iv. 2. 
 
 Q. When are the Sacraments thus " duly ad- 
 ministered ?" 
 
 A. As " it is not lawful" 1 [God's law is here 
 intended] " for any man to take upon himself the 
 office of public preaching, or ministering the Sa- 
 craments in the Congregation, before he be law- 
 
 k Art. xix. 
 
THE CIIURCU CATECHISM. 
 
 41 
 
 fully called 2 and sent 1 to execute the same;" so 
 " those" only are "lawfully called and sent, who 
 arc chosen and called to this work by men who 
 have public authority given unto them m"[not by~\ 
 " the Congregation 3 to call and send Ministers into 
 the Lord's vineyard." m Wherefore it is only by the 
 hands of these duly authorized Ministers that the 
 holy Sacraments can be " duly administered." 
 
 1 2 Cor. v. 20, vi. 4, Heb. v. 4. 
 
 2 Jer. xiv. 14-16, Rom. x. 15, 1 Cor. i. 17. 
 
 3 Acts vi. 6, xiv. 23, 2 Tim. i 6. 
 
 Q. By what appellations have these duly au- 
 thorized Ministers been constantly designated ? 
 
 A. " It is evident unto all men diligently read- 
 ing the holy Scripture 1 and ancient Authors," that 
 
 1 See Ezek. xiii. 2-9 ; where the "false prophets" are, 
 in the Hebrew, called the " self-made prophets," and se- 
 verely denounced for their presumption. 
 
 "> Art. xxiii. 
 
 « See the works of Clemens Romanus, who wrote his first 
 epistle to the Corinthians within forty years after our Sa- 
 viour's ascension, and consequently about twenty years 
 before the death of St. John. He was consecrated Bishop 
 by St. Peter (Tert. de Prsescr. 32) ; as Polycarp was by St. 
 John (Hierom. de Scrip. 17) ; and frequently speaks of 
 these three Orders of Ministers as then established in the 
 Church. So also Ignatius, who was ordained by St. Peter, 
 and consecrated Bishop of Antioch a d. (J<), and whose writ- 
 ings must consequently have been seen and approved by the 
 first Apostles, declares himself in these words:— "My 
 brethren, hearken unto the Bishop, that God may hearken 
 E 2 
 
4l' 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 from the Apostles' time there have been these 
 Orders of Ministers in Christ's Church;" viz. 
 " Bishops, Priests, and Deacons." 
 
 1 1 Cor.xii.28, Eph. iv. 11, Acts viii. 14-17, 1 Cor. v. 4, 
 5, 2 Cor. xi. 28, 1 Tim. v. 22, Tit. iii. 10, Eph. ii. 20, Tit. i. 
 5, 1 Tim. v. 17, 19, Acts vi. 5, 6, 1 Tim. iii. 8. 
 
 Q. What conclusion may be correctly drawn 
 from this fact ? 
 
 A. That that body does not belong to " Christ's 
 Church," in which there are not both Bishops, 
 Priests, and Deacons. Indeed the ancient Authors 
 are express upon this point, of whom it may be 
 sufficient to quote one only — viz. St. Ignatius ; who 
 declares, that " without these Orders of Clergy a 
 Church is not called." 0 
 
 Q. To what origin is the first Order, viz. that of 
 the Bishops, to be referred ? 
 
 A. Episcopal government is not to be derived 
 merely from apostolical practice or institution ; 
 but it is originally founded in the Person and 
 
 unto you. I pledge my soul for them who submit to their 
 Bishop, with the Presbyters and Deaeons ; and may my 
 portion be together with theirs in God.". — Ignat. Epist. 
 ad Polycarp. He was martyred in a.d. 1 10. 
 
 ° Ignat. ad Trail So also St. Cyprian says: — " The 
 Church is a congregation of believers united to their Bishop, 
 and a flock adhering to their Shepherd ; whence you ought 
 to know, that the Church is in the Bishop, and the Bishop 
 in the Church, and they that are not with the Bishop arc 
 not in the Church." 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 43 
 
 Office of the Messiah, our blessed Lord Jesus 
 Christ ; who was sent by His heavenly Father to 
 be the great " Apostle," 1 "Bishop and Pastor" 2 
 of His Church, and visibly anointed to that office 
 immediately after His Baptism by John, 3 " with 
 power and the Holy Ghost;" 4 — Who also, before 
 His ascension into heaven, sent and empowered 
 His holy Apostles, 5 giving them the Holy Ghost 
 likewise, as His Father had given Him, to execute 
 and perpetuate the same Apostolical, Episcopal, and 
 Pastoral office, for the ordering and governing of 
 His Church, until His coming again. 6 Thus we 
 find that as Christ was sent by the Father, 50 He 
 sent the first race of Apostles ; who, in obedience 
 to His command, and by virtue of His authority, 
 imparted the ecclesiastical powers with which 
 they were themselves invested, to those whom, by 
 imposition of hands, 7 and the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost, they consecrated as their successors in the 
 Apostolic Order. 8 And by the means then em- 
 ployed, — in obedience to the same command, — 
 and by virtue of the same authority, — this holy 
 office has been derived to the Apostles or Bishops 
 of the present day in regular descent from the 
 first Apostles ;P and will by them and their suc- 
 
 i' " With us, Bishops hold the place of Apostles. All 
 ( Bishops) are successors of the Apostles." — Hierom. Epitt. 
 ad Evag.) As the Apostles were the first Bishops, so in the 
 
44 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 cessors be thus continued in the Church, accord- 
 ing to the Divine decree, 9 even unto the end of the 
 world. So that these respective generations of 
 Apostles or Bishops do all along execute the func- 
 tions of their sacred office, by the transmission 
 from one to another of that authority which con- 
 stituted the first Apostles, 10 and gave the Messiah 
 His ministerial commission ; viz. that of Jehovah 
 Himself. Wherefore let us not fear to be herein 
 bold and peremptory, that if any thing in the 
 Church's government, surely the first institution 
 of Bishops, was from heaven, was even of God ; 
 the Holy Ghost was the author of it. 
 
 1 Heb. Hi. 1. 2 1 Pet. ii. 25. 
 
 3 Luke iii 22. 4 Acts x. 37, 38. 
 
 5 John xx. 21. 6 Matt, xxviii. 18-20. 
 
 " 2 Tim. i. 6, ii. 2, 1 Tim. v. 22, Heb. vi. 1, 2, 1 Thess. 
 v. 19. 
 
 8 1 Cor. xii. 28, Gal. i. 19, Rev. ii. 2. 
 
 9 Matt. xxiv. 45-47, Luke xii. 42-44. 
 
 10 Rom. i. 5, 1 Tim. i. 18, 2 Tim. ii. 2. 
 
 Q. What are the peculiar functions inalienably 
 connected with this office by the supreme Head 
 of the Church ? 
 
 first age of the Church the Bishops retained this title ; 
 though " in process of time the name of Apostle was left to 
 those Apostles strictly so called, and the name of Bishops 
 ascribed to the rest." — Theodoret in 1 Tim. iii. 1, torn. iii. 
 p. 473. See also St. Augustin in Ps. xliv. ; and St. Ambrose 
 in 1 Cor. xii. 28, and Eph. iv. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 45 
 
 A. These are several, of which we may men- 
 tion the following in particular : — 
 
 First, the ordaining of Priests and Deacons ; 
 for thus St. Paul, in writing to Titus, whom he 
 had consecrated Bishop, 1 declares, " For this cause 
 left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest ordain 
 Presbyters (or Priests) in every city, as I had 
 appointed thee." 1 In like manner also were special 
 directions given to Timothy,' another Bishop, 
 respecting the choice of those whom he should 
 ordain Priests and Deacons. 2 
 
 Secondly, the Bishops are to superintend the 
 doctrine of these inferior Ministers ; for St. Paul 
 declares to Timothy : " I besought thee to abide 
 still at Fphesus, when I went into Macedonia, that 
 thou mightest charge some that they teach no 
 other doctrine." 3 
 
 Thirdly, the Bishops are to superintend the con- 
 duct of these Ministers ; for thus St. Paul charges 
 Timothy : " Against a Presbyter receive not an 
 accusation but before two or three witnesses." 4 
 Now he that is authorized to receive accusations 
 and hear witnesses against any person, is autho- 
 rized to be the judge of that person; and hence 
 the Bishops have for matter of discipline, as well 
 
 i S. Ambrose, Preefat. in Tit. ; Theodoret apud CEcum. 
 Praefat. in Tit. 
 
 ' Hierom. de Scrip, ix. ; Chrysost. Phil. i. 
 
4G 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 litigious as criminal, their courts and consistories, 8 
 created by the heavenly authority of His most sa- 
 cred voice, who hath said, " Tell the Church." 
 
 Fourthly, the Bishops are to regulate those 
 affairs of the Church which are not settled by Di- 
 vine authority. « For this cause left I thee in 
 Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things 
 that are wanting" 5 (or left undone). This was a 
 branch of Apostolic authority here delegated to 
 Titus, as appears from that passage wherein St. 
 Paul, in speaking of himself, declares, " the rest 
 will / set in order when I come." 6 
 
 Fifthly, it appertains to the Episcopal office to 
 profiounce sentence of excommunication on obsti- 
 nate heretics and notorious offenders. For St. 
 Paul (who frequently exercised this power himself 
 in delivering offenders over to Satan") expressly 
 charges Titus, " A man that is an heretic, * after 
 the first and second admonition reject ;" 8 i.e. re- 
 fuse him any share in the saving Ordinances of the 
 Church, and let him be taken of all " the faithful 
 as an heathen and publican, 9 until he be openly 
 reconciled by penance, and received again into 
 
 ■ " Let him who is cast out have power to apply himself 
 to the neighbouring Bishops, that his cause may be carefully 
 heard and discussed." — Cone. Sard. can. xvii. : vide Cod. 
 Afr. can. exsv. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 47 
 
 the Church " u by the consent of that authority 
 which cast him out thereof. 
 
 Sixthly, the Bishops are, after the example of 
 St. Peter and St. John, 10 to confirm those who 
 have been baptized by Ministers of inferior de- 
 gree : " the custom of the Churches being, that 
 the Bishop should go abroad, and imposing his 
 hands, pray for the gift of the Holy Ghost on 
 them whom Presbyters and Deacons far off, in 
 lesser cities, have already baptized." v 
 
 And besides the particulars above specified, the 
 Episcopal office embraces all the functions which 
 appertain to the inferior Orders of Priests 11 and 
 Deacons. 12 
 
 I Tit. i. 5. 2 1 Tim. iii. 1-13. 
 3 1 Tim. i. 3. M Tim. v. 19. 
 
 5 Tit i. 5. 0 1 Cor. xi. 34. 
 
 * 1 Cor. v. 3-5, 1 Tim. i. 20. 8 Tit. iii. 10. 
 
 9 Matt, xviii. 17, 1 Cor. v. 11, 13, 2 Thess. iii 6, 14. 
 
 10 Acts viii. 14-17. 
 
 II 1 Peter v. 1, 2 John 1, 3 John 1. 
 13 1 Cor. iii. 5, 2 Cor. iii. 6, vi. 4. 
 
 Q. When was the second Order of Ministers in- 
 stituted, viz. that of the Presbyters or Priests? 
 
 A. This Order also was instituted by Christ 
 Himself, when He sent forth the seventy disciples 1 
 to preach the Gospel as "ambassadors" 2 in His 
 
 u Art. xxxiii. 
 
 * Hierom. adv. Lucif. cap. iv. Acts xv. 41. 
 
48 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 name ; declaring unto them, and in them unto 
 their successors? " He that heareth you heareth 
 Me, and he that despiseth you despiseth Me ; and 
 he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent 
 Me." The title which was at first given to a 
 member of this Order was that of Presbyter, (from 
 a Greek word signifying an elder); this was af- 
 terwards contracted into Prester, and then into 
 Priest.™ 
 
 1 Luke x. 1-20. 2 2 Cor. v. 20, vi. I. 
 
 3 Heb. xiii. 8. 
 
 Q. What are the functions appertaining to the 
 Order of Presbyters? 
 
 A. By the spiritual gifts conferred upon them 
 through the hands of the Bishop, 1 they receive 
 power and authority to declare and pronounce to 
 all penitent believers the absolution and remission 
 of their sins; 2 to dispense the Word of God; 3 
 and to administer the holy Sacraments in the re- 
 spective congregations whereunto they shall be 
 lawfully appointed. 4 They are also, with the Bi- 
 shops, co-rulers of the Church; 5 and should by 
 them be consulted on all important occasions : 
 neither can any public act relating to the govern- 
 ment or discipline of a provincial Church at large, 
 
 » See this term applied to Christian ministers in Ps. 
 cxxxii. 16, Isaiah lxi. (i, lxvi. 21, Jer. xxxiii. 18, Mai. 
 i. 11. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 49 
 
 or of the different dioceses thereof, 11 be regularly 
 sanctioned by the Bishops without their advice 
 and concurrence. 
 
 1 2 Tim. i. 6, Acts xx. 28. 
 
 2 Ezek. xxxiv. 2, 4, Matt, xviii. 18, John xx. 21-23. 
 
 3 1 Cor. ix. 17, Col. i. 25. 
 
 4 Luke xii. 42, 1 Cor. iv. 1, 1 Peter iv. 10. 
 
 5 1 Tim. iii. 5. 
 
 Q. What virtue is there in the Absolution which 
 it is the Priest's office to pronounce ? 
 
 A. Since the Priest has the ministry of recon- 
 ciliation 1 entrusted to him by those whom God 
 has empowered to grant this commission,? and 
 hath received both power and commandment to 
 declare and pronounce to His penitent people the 
 Absolution and remission of their sins ; 2 therefore 
 when he duly exercises this authority in obedience 
 to God's command, the Absolution which he then 
 pronounces, either publicly in the congregation, 
 or in his private ministrations, is truly effective 
 in conveying and sealing to the proper subjects 
 thereof the full pardon and remission of their 
 
 " See this important principle, which circumstances of 
 the present day may require to be called into active exer- 
 tion, fully discussed and most ably advocated in a pam- 
 phlet recently published, under the title of " Presbyterian 
 Rights asserted, by a Presbyter of the Church of Eng- 
 land." 
 
 y See p. 45. 
 
 F 
 
50 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 sins. It is as much a bringing of God's pardon to 
 the penitent member of Christ's Church, and as 
 effectual to his present benefit, as a sovereign's 
 pardon, conveyed by a duly authorized messenger 
 to a condemned penitent criminal, would be effec- 
 tual to his present pardon and release from the 
 before-appointed punishment. 
 
 1 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. = Matt, xvi. 19, John xx. 23. 
 
 Q. Are we bound to understand and believe 
 the Scriptures in the sense in which they are ex- 
 pounded by these Ministers of the Church ? 
 
 A. Yes. The Church is both the keeper and 
 the interpreter of holy Writ : 1 for as it cannot be 
 doubted but that the " key of knowledge " 2 was 
 included in the number of those mighty keys of 
 heaven 3 which were delivered to the successive 
 Ministers of the Church by our Blessed Lord ; 1 so 
 it is emphatically declared, that " the Priest's lips" 
 are to " keep knowledge," and that " the people" 
 are to " seek the Law at his mouth." 4 
 1 Acts xvi. 4. 2 L u k e x j. 52. 
 
 3 Matt xvi. 19, John xx. 22, 23. 
 
 4 Mai. ii. 7, Isaiah xxx. 1, 20, 21, Jer. xviii. 18. 
 
 Q. But is it not equally imperative on these 
 Ministers of the Church to take great heed as to 
 the interpretation they deliver ? 
 
 • " All we priests received in the blessed Peter the mighty 
 keys of the kingdom of heaven."— S. Ambros. Ep. 83. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 51 
 
 A. Yes. As we are commanded to " ask the 
 jniests concerning the law," 1 and " not to lean 
 unto our own understanding;" 2 so it is the duty 
 of these latter to " take heed to the doctrine" they 
 deliver, as well as " to the flock over which the 
 Holy Ghost hath made them overseers ;" 3 — that 
 they be not like those that " turn aside unto vain 
 jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, but 
 understanding neither what they say, nor whereof 
 they affirm." 4 
 
 1 Hag. ii. 11, Jer. iii. 15, Ezra vii. 10. 
 
 2 Prov. iii. 5, v. 12, 13. 
 
 3 Acts xx. 28, 1 Tim. iv. 16, 2 Tim. ii. 15. 
 
 4 1 Tim. i. 6, 7. 
 
 Q. Then by what rule may they safely be 
 guided? 
 
 A. For their direction in this respect it is gra- 
 ciously revealed, that " no prophecy of Scripture 
 is of any private interpretation;" 1 but that those 
 " holy men of God"— the " fellow-labourers" 2 of 
 the first Apostles — spake as they were moved by 
 " the Spirit of truth :" 3 wherefore that method of 
 interpretation which is sanctioned by the concur- 
 rent testimony of these early Fathers, as that which 
 was delivered by the first Apostles, and univer- 
 sally received by the Church as such, can be no 
 other than that which they adopted; and there- 
 fore must of necessity be the correct one. 4 And 
 hence it is ordered by the Canons of the English 
 
52 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 Church, that "the Clergy shall be careful never to 
 teach any thing from the pulpit, to be religiously 
 held and believed by the people, but what is agree- 
 able to the doctrine of the Old or New Testa- 
 ment, and collected out of that same doctrine by 
 the Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops."* 
 
 ' 2 Pet. i. 20, 21. - PhiL iv. 3. 
 
 3 John xiv. 17, xvi. 13, 1 Cor. xii. 4, 8, 10, 11, 30, 31. 
 
 1 Rom. xii. 6, 1 Cor. xiii. 2, xiv. 4. 
 
 Q. When was the third Order, viz. that of the 
 Deacons, instituted? 
 
 A. After our Lord's ascension, the Apostles 
 instituted this Order, for the immediate purpose 
 of superintending the charitable offerings of the 
 Christians; 1 though the duties of their office were 
 soon enlarged. 2 
 
 1 Acts vi 1 -6. 
 
 - Acts viii. 5-13, 26-40, 1 Tim. iii. 8-13. 
 Q. What are the functions of this office at pre- 
 sent ? 
 
 A. " It appertaineth to the office of a Deacon, 
 in the Church where he shall be appointed to 
 serve, to assist the Priest in Divine service, and 
 specially when he ministereth the holy Commu- 
 nion ;" b where his office remains what it was in the 
 
 a Lib Can. Discip. Eccles. Angl. a.d. 1571. Can de 
 Concionatoribus. 
 
 b See the Ordination Service. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 53 
 
 primitive Church, when they were never allowed 
 to consecrate the sacred elements ; but he has to 
 " help" the Priest " in the distribution thereof, 
 and to read holy Scriptures and Homilies in the 
 Church ; to instruct the youth in the Catechism ; 1 
 in the absence of the Priest to baptize infants ; 2 
 and to preach, if he be admitted thereto by the 
 Bishop." He has also to see that charity be be- 
 stowed on poor and deserving objects in the parish 
 where he has to serve. 
 
 1 1 Cor. xii. 28. 2 Acts viii. 38. 
 
 Q. What is the guilt in the sight of God of an 
 unauthorized assumption of these holy functions 
 of the Ministry ? 
 
 A. In the Jewish Church no less than death 
 was the penalty of invading the office of those Mi- 
 nisters, whom God had appointed for that system 
 of worship : 1 nay, God worked miracles through 
 His jealousy for the honour of this sacred office. 
 For when Corah and his company usurped the 
 Priests' office, God Almighty caused the earth to 
 open and swallow up the greater part, while the 
 remainder He slew with fire. 2 So also it is re- 
 corded, that misguided Uzzah was, by the imme- 
 diate hand of God, struck dead upon the spot for 
 only touching the ark, :! though he did it out of 
 zeal to hinder it from falling ; to shew that no pre- 
 tence of doing God service can justify meddling 
 f 2 
 
54 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 in holy things : and other instances to the same 
 purpose, as of Saul, 4 and King Uzziah, 5 might be 
 named. 
 
 1 Num. iii. 10, xviii. 7. 
 
 3 2 Sam. vi. 6, 7. 
 
 5 2 Chron. xxvi. 1G-21. 
 
 2 Num. sri. 1-40. 
 4 1 Sam. xiii. 9-14. 
 
 Q. But since these refer to the Jewish Church, 
 the}' appear at first sight to have no relation to 
 the Church of Christ ; are they, therefore, appli- 
 cable to it ? 
 
 A. Yes; for, as St. Jerome rightly observes: 0 
 " What Aaron and his sons and the Levites were 
 in the temple, such are the Bishops, Presbyters, 
 and Deacons in the Christian Church." 1 These 
 are appointed by God d no less than they were,'-' 
 and therefore it can be no less sacrilege to usurp 
 their office. Nay, it must be far greater, because 
 the honour of the ministry rises in proportion to 
 the dignity of their ministration : 3 and therefore, 
 as it cannot be denied but that the realities are 
 more valuable than types, and that heaven is better 
 than the land of Canaan ; so the Sacraments of the 
 Gospel are certainly to be preferred before all the 
 
 c Sub fine Epistolse ad Evagrium. 
 
 d " God hath set some in the Church — first, Apostles 
 (i. e. Bishops) ; secondarily, Prophets (i. e. Presbyters) ; 
 thirdly, Teachers (i. e. Deacons)." — See St. Ambrose on 
 1 Cor. xii. 28. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 55 
 
 offerings and expiations of the Law. Even our 
 Saviour Himself would not enter upon His minis- 
 terial office, till He was externally commissioned 
 thereto by the visible descent of the Holy Ghost 
 upon Him, 4 and by an audible voice from heaven 
 proclaiming Him to be the Messiah, when He was 
 about thirty years of age. All the former part of 
 His life was spent in a private capacity ; doubtless 
 to teach us that no internal qualifications, no 
 good end, or intention, can warrant a man's exer- 
 cising any holy function without a Divine com- 
 mission. 
 
 1 Isaiah Lxvi. 21. 
 
 - Jer. iii. 15, 1 Cor. i. 17, 1 Thess. ii. 4, 1 Tim. i. 11, 12. 
 
 3 2 Cor. iii. 7-11. 
 
 4 Matt. iii. 16, 17, Luke iii. 21-23. 
 
 Q. Having given the foregoing detail of the 
 peculiar characteristics of the Church, perhaps 
 you can tell me how you may satisfy yourself as 
 to your belonging to the true Church of Christ ? 
 
 A. I can be sure that I am a member of the 
 true Church, when I belong to that body w herein 
 the Christian faith is held in all its full integrity ; 
 and wherein the Word of God is preached, and 
 the holy Sacraments are duly administered, by the 
 three distinct Orders of Ministers which God hath 
 established in His Church ; viz. first, Bishops (who 
 have received their sacred authority in regular de- 
 
56 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 scent from the first Apostles, e and therefore act by 
 the same Divine commission); secondly, Priests; 
 and thirdly, Deacons. This is that Church to 
 which were delivered the precious promises of 
 Christ's everlasting presence and protection, 1 and 
 against which " the gates of hell shall never pre- 
 vail;" 2 and this is what I mean when I say that 
 " I believe in the holy Catholic Church." 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 20, Isaiah xliii. 1, 2, 5-7. 
 
 2 Matt. xvi. 18. 
 
 Q. Give a slight sketch of the history of that 
 branch of the Church which has been established 
 in England ; and shew from hence that She is, 
 without doubt, a constituent part of the true 
 Church of Christ. 
 
 A. Although there exists some difference of 
 opinion as to the exact person by whom Chris- 
 tianity was first introduced into England, there is 
 distinct evidence that a branch of the Church was 
 planted on British soil by some of the first Apos- 
 
 c " The catalogue having been carefully and providen- 
 tially preserved from the beginning, our present Bishops are 
 enabled to trace their spiritual descent to St. Peter and St. 
 Paul," and therefore to Jesus Christ Himself; " and thus 
 to prove their Divine authority to govern the Churches 
 over which they are canonical!)- appointed to preside." — 
 " Hear the Church ." a Sermon, by Dr. Hook, pp. 8, 9. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 57 
 
 tles; f and the testimony which has recorded the 
 preaching of St. Paul " in the utmost bounds of 
 the west," i. e. in Britain, is so indisputable, that it 
 would appear conclusive that the great Apostle of 
 the Gentiles was, a.d. 63, the founder of the Bri- 
 tish Church.s It is also recorded that the Church, 
 when thus planted, and entrusted by the Apostle 
 to those Bishops 11 and Ministers who were duly con- 
 secrated for the purpose, was enabled to carry on 
 a successful conflict against the idolatrous worship 
 of the pagan inhabitants ; yet not without being 
 watered in Her growth' by the blood of holy mar- 
 tyrs J before the third century had expired. And 
 
 ' Euseb. Demonst. Evang. lib. iii. p. 112 d., Colonise, 
 1688 ; and Tert adv. Judaeos, Lut. Par. 1664, p. 189. 
 
 s Clemens Rom. ad Cor., inter SS.Patres Apost., Coteler. 
 Lut. Par. 1672, p. 94. Hierom. in Amos, lib. ii. cap. 5. 
 Par. 1602, torn. v. col. 249. Theodoret. in Ps. cxvi. torn. i. 
 pp. 870 d. 871 a. 
 
 h Of these it is asserted in the Greek Menology, that 
 Aristobulus, saluted by St. Paul in Rom. xvi. 10, was the 
 first. " There were Bishops from Britain, whose names 
 are recorded" [viz. Eborius, Bishop of York ; Restitutio, 
 Bishop of London; and Adelphius, Bishop of Colchester], 
 " at the Council of Aries in France a.d. 314." They seem 
 also to have formed a part of that most illustrious assembly 
 the first Council of Nice, a.d. 325. See Usser Brit. Eccl. 
 Antiq. p. 105 ; and Churton's Early Eng. Ch. p. 17. 
 
 ' In the Diocletian persecution. 
 
 J " Among the foremost of this noble army were Aaron 
 and Julius, two citizens of Caer-leon, and Alban, an officer 
 
58 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 thus She remained exclusively administering the 
 true Christian doctrine and privileges, and eccle- 
 siastical discipline, in this island, until the year 
 a.d. 596 ; when, at the probable request of a 
 Saxon queen, a deputation was sent from the 
 Church at Rome to re-convert the eastern portion 
 of the island, which had, through the Saxon con- 
 quest, been overrun by those pagan invaders, who 
 drove the Christian natives with their Church into 
 the more "inaccessible parts of Britain." k This 
 deputation was conducted by St. Augustin, who 
 was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, 1 where 
 he was suffered to remain without molestation. 
 But when he attempted to assert his pre-eminence 
 over the British Church, in right of the office to 
 which he had been consecrated by Prelates in 
 
 in the Roman troops, who resided at the Roman town of 
 Verulam," which has since been called St. Alban's— See 
 Churton's Early English Ch. p. 15 ; also Horn, in Pass. S. 
 Alban, ap. Wheloc. in Bed. p. 36. 
 
 k They, however, gained several battles ; of which one of 
 the most important (about a.d. 429) was fought at a place 
 near Mold, in Flintshire, supposed by Archbishop Usher to 
 have been Maes-Garmon. It took place at Easter, " when 
 many of the young soldiers had been newly baptized ; and 
 from the shout which they raised, as they hurled the rocks 
 suddenly down upon the heads of the invaders, it was called 
 long afterwards the Hallelujah victory."— Churton, p. 23. 
 
 1 By Virgil, Archbishop of Aries, andEtherius, of Lyons, 
 in France. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 59 
 
 France, the dignitaries™ of that Church properly 
 opposed his pretensions, declaring that they al- 
 ready had a Primate of their own, whom, under 
 God, they were bound to obey; and that they 
 would acknowledge no other person as such. 
 But by degrees this newly introduced branch of 
 the Church became so amalgamated with the old 
 one," that the errors which in after ages crept 
 into the Romish ritual were imperceptibly de- 
 
 m Seven Welsh Bishops, and their most learned men from 
 Bangor-Iscoed, with Dunod, their Abbot, who spoke last, 
 saying :— " We are bound to serve the Church of God, and 
 the Bishop of Rome, and every godly Christian, as far as 
 helping them in offices of love and charity : this service we 
 are ready to pay ; but more than this I do not know to be 
 due to him or any other. We have a Primate of our own, 
 who is to oversee us under God, and to keep us in the way 
 of spiritual life." — Churton, p. 45. 
 
 ■ The first act of communion between the two branches 
 of the Church was on the occasion of the consecration of 
 Chad ; when two Welsh Bishops came to Winchester to 
 assist Wina, Bishop of Wessex, in the ceremony, a.d. CGO. 
 (Churton, p. 82.) They seem to have become more closely 
 united in a.d. 755, when the Welsh Christians, by the 
 advice of Elford, Bishop of Bangor, conformed to certain 
 indifferent practices of the Anglican Church, which they 
 had hitherto refused to adopt. It was not, however, until 
 a.d. 1115, when the archi-episcopal see of St. David's was 
 suppressed, and merged in that of Canterbury, that the 
 British Church became identified with the Anglican Branch 
 of the Christian Vine. 
 
60 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 rived from thence to various members of the 
 Anglo-British Church. However, as in Her sa- 
 cred fold there was never wanting a supply of 
 persons to raise their manful voice against the 
 various innovations upon Her ancient formularies 
 and discipline ;P so, when in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury it was attempted to impose their observance 
 upon every Church in communion with that of 
 Rome, by the authority of the Council of Trent; 
 Cranmer, who was a consecrated Archbishop of 
 the Anglo-British Church, assisted by other Pre- 
 
 F For instance : 1. A Letter from the Bishops of Albion, 
 a.d. 798, to Pope Leo III. , protests against the necessity of 
 their Metropolitan receiving his pall from Rome (Blcnt's 
 Hist, of Reformation, pp.51, 52). 2. Johannes Scotus 
 Erigena, a celebrated opponent of the novelty of transub- 
 stantiation, about a.d. 890, then first taught in France by 
 Paschase Radbert. 3. The Homilies of the Saxon /Elfric, 
 a.d. 987. 4. Robert Grostete, Bishop of Lincoln, a.d. 
 1235-1 254-, refused to submit to the authority of Rome ; as 
 did, 5. John Wickliffe also, a.d. 1367, supported by King 
 Edward III. and a large body of clergy. In a.d. 1236, it 
 is asserted by an act of 20 Hen. III., as a principle uni- 
 versally acknowledged, that the canons and decrees of the 
 Church of Rome had hitherto been of no force in England : 
 as also in stat. 35 Edw. L Carlisle, stat. 9 Edw. II. Artie. 
 Cleri 16, stat. 21 Edw. III. 40, stat. 16 Rich. II. cap. 5, 
 stat. 2 Hen. IV. cap. 37, stat. 3 Hen. V. cap. 4, stat. 8 
 Hen. VI., stat. 9 Edw. IV. f. 16, stat 2 Rich. III. f. 22, 
 stat. 1 Hen. VII. f. 10, quoted in a useful tract, entitled, 
 The Church of England before the Reformation. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 61 
 
 lates and learned Divines of the same,4 protested 
 against the ratification of these erroneous views 
 and corrupt superstitions, as far as that branch of 
 the Church which was committed to their pastoral 
 care was concerned. And for this purpose they 
 embodied in thirty-nine Articles the several princi- 
 ples of true Christian faith and practice, for which 
 their ancestors had not scrupled to die; r whose 
 noble example they declared themselves also ready 
 to follow, and to bear testimony to the truth with 
 their own blood. And thus, " by the aid of the 
 Holy Ghost," they proceeded with a careful hand 
 to purify the Church from all those novelties 
 which had, since the seventh century, been gra- 
 dually engrafted upon it by the influence of the 
 court of Rome ; while they themselves remained 
 
 i viz. 1. Thomas Goodrich, Bishop of Ely; 2. Henry 
 Holhech, Bishop of Lincoln ; 3. George Day, Bishop of 
 Chichester; 4. John Skip, Bishop of Hereford ; 5. Thomas 
 Tliirlby, Bishop of Westminster ; G.Nicholas Ridley, Bi- 
 shop of Rochester (martyred at Oxford Oct. 16, 1555) ; 7. 
 Dr. Wm. May, Dean of St. Paul's, London ; 8. Dr. John 
 Taylor, Dean, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln ; 9. Dr. Simon 
 Heynes, Dean of Exeter ; 10. Dr. John Redmayne, Master 
 of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Prebendary of West- 
 minster ; 11. Dr John Cox, Dean of Christ Church, Ox- 
 ford, afterwards Bishop of Ely ; 12. The venerable Thomas 
 Robertson, Archdeacon of Leicester. Cranmer was mar- 
 tyred at Oxford, March 21, 1556. 
 
 ' a.d. 1552. 
 
 G 
 
62 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 throughout the same Prelates and Divines of the 
 same most ancient Church ; which, after its purifi- 
 cation, was the same Church that it was before, 
 just as Naanian the leper was the same Naaman 
 both before and after his cure. Those who were 
 willing to accept the superstitions of Rome in pre- 
 ference to the apostolic faith, after remaining in 
 Her communion forsoine years, quitted the Church, 
 and formed (in this country) a new sect, from 
 which the present Romish dissenters have de- 
 scended, and in which were retained all those 
 errors in opinion and practice of which the Ca- 
 tholic Church in England had been purified and 
 cleansed : while those who were desirous of up- 
 rooting the Church altogether, departed from Her 
 bosom in an opposite direction, and split among 
 themselves into divers sects ; whose united fanati- 
 cism in the following age imbrued their impious 
 hands in their monarch's sacred blood, and revelled 
 in the gore of Her martyred saints. The Church of 
 England, therefore, which has through these holy 
 hands been transmitted to us their posterity, is the 
 old Anglo-British Church ; which was purified in 
 the reigns of Henry, Edward, and Elizabeth, of 
 certain superstitious errors ; and which has, by the 
 mercy of God, been preserved to the present days, 
 pure in Her doctrine, apostolic in Her constitution 
 and discipline, and edifying in all Her ceremonies 
 — having received the Orders of Her Ministry in 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM 
 
 G3 
 
 regular descent from the first Apostles— and pos- 
 sessing a Ritual and Liturgy, which can themselves, 
 in great part, be traced back to the apostolic age. 
 And since She was originally planted in this coun- 
 try by the instrumentality of the first Apostles, She 
 must of necessity be a true branch of that Church 
 which is « built on the foundation of the Apostles 
 and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief 
 corner-stone." 1 
 
 1 Eph. ii. 20. 
 
 Q. What do you believe as to the communion 
 of Christians ? 
 
 A. I believe that in the Ordinances of Christ's 
 Church the saints have communion, or spiritual 
 communication, with God the Father, 1 God the 
 Son, 2 and God the Holy Ghost ; 3 as also with the 
 holy angels ; 4 with all the saints in every Church 
 now on earth ; 5 and with all those departed this 
 life in the true faith and fear of God. 6 
 
 1 1 John i. 3. 2 1 Cor. i. 9. 
 
 3 Rom. viii. 9, Phil. ii. 1. * Heb. i. 14. 
 
 5 1 John i. 7. * Heb. xii. 22, 23. 
 
 Q. What is the next article of the Christian 
 faith ? 
 
 A. " I acknowledge" that among the privileges 
 which belong to this holy Catholic Church, there 
 is "one Baptism," 1 to be but once administered, 3 
 
 • As we can be born but once into the natural world, so 
 
64 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 which was instituted by Christ 2 " for the remis- 
 sion of sins." 3 
 
 1 John iv. 14, Eph. iv. 4, 5, Heb. vi. 4-6. 
 
 2 Matt, xxviii. 19. 
 
 3 Mark xvi. 16, Isaiah xliv. 3, 4, 22, Acts ii. 38. 
 
 Q. What do you believe as to the resurrection 
 of your body ? 
 
 A. I believe that my body, though corrupted 
 in the grave, shall be restored to life in " the re- 
 surrection of the dead ;" 1 and that all bad as well 
 as good men shall then be obliged to come forth 
 from the tomb, and hear the voice of their right- 
 eous Judge. 2 
 
 1 Job xix. 26, 27, 1 Cor. xv. 23. 
 
 2 John v. 28, 29, 1 Cor. xv. 22. 
 
 Q. What is the last article of the Christian 
 faith ? 
 
 A. I believe the " everlasting" duration of all 
 bad men in misery, 1 and of all good men in a state 
 of glory- and inconceivable happiness in heaven. 3 
 
 1 Matt. xxv. 41, 46, Rev. xx. 10. 
 
 2 1 Cor. ii. 9, Rev. xxi. 4. 
 
 3 Isaiah lxiv. 4, 1 Cor. ii. 9. 
 
 Q. What do you mean when you here say 
 " Amen ? " 
 
 we can be born again but once into the spiritual world ; 
 and as there is but " one Lord," and " one faith," so there 
 is but " one Baptism." 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 65 
 
 A. I mean by this word to declare, that this 
 full confession of my faith I make sincerely with 
 all my heart, in the face of God, and of the whole 
 Church. 
 
 Q. What does this declaration of the Christian 
 faith principally teach us ? 
 
 A. First, that God the Father, 1 by the Son, 2 
 and by the efficacy of the Holy Ghost, 3 made me 
 and all the world. 
 
 Secondly, that God the Son redeemed me and 
 all mankind from the curse of sin, by laying down 
 His life for our ransom on the Cross; 4 and 
 
 Thirdly, that God the Holy Ghost sanctifies, 5 
 or separates from the heathen world, as holy unto 
 the Lord, all the elect people of God. 6 
 
 1 Isaiah xlv. 12. 2 Heb. i. 2. 3 Ps. civ. 30. 
 4 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. 6 1 Pet. i. 2. 6 Zech. xiv. 20. 
 
 Q. Who do you understand by " the elect ?" 
 
 A. The whole body of Christians, 1 or duly bap- 
 tized persons, who have been "chosen" by God 
 out of the world, 1 and " called" by His great 
 mercy to a knowledge of the Gospel, and a parti- 
 cipation in the privileges it offers. 
 
 1 Ps. xxviii. 9, 1 Cor. i. 2, Eph. i. 3-12. 
 
 Q. Does the disbelief of any of the foregoing 
 articles involve the soul in danger and guilt ? 
 
 1 " 1 call the Church the congregation of the elect." — 
 Clem. Alex. Str. vii. p. 514. 
 
 g2 
 
66 
 
 AN EXPOSITION, ETC. 
 
 A. That men shall perish eternally for unbe- 
 lief, for rejecting the faith in the lump, cannot be 
 doubted, when it is expressly said, " He that be- 
 lieveth not shall be damned." 1 And as to reject- 
 ing Any particular article of it, it must of conse- 
 quence be a sin against the whole, 2 against truth 
 and peace, and therefore damnable in its own na- 
 ture, 3 as all wilful sins are without repentance. It 
 is therefore certain, from clear warrants of holy 
 Scripture, that " whosoever will be saved, before 
 all things it is necessary" that " he keep whole 
 and undefiled" the true Catholic faith; 4 yet that 
 he only is a faithful believer, who is influenced by 
 his faith to lead a holy and religious life;* but 
 that thus in this faith to live and die, cannot but 
 give salvation. 6 
 
 1 Mark xvi. 16. 2 Deut. iv. 2, Rev. xxii. 19. 
 
 3 Matt, xviii. 7, 1 Cor. xi. 19, Gal. v. 20, 21. 
 
 4 Isaiah xxvi. 2, 3, 2 Tim. ii. 12. 
 
 5 James ii. 14, 26. 
 
 6 Mark xvi. 16, John iii. 18, 36. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 Of t he first four Commandments. 
 
 Q. Thus far you have been explaining the first 
 two conditions on which you were admitted to 
 the forgiveness of your sins in Baptism ; viz. those 
 of renouncing the devil, the world, and the flesh, 
 and of continuing to believe all the articles of the 
 Christian faith. Now tell me what was the third 
 and last of these conditions ? 
 
 A. I bound myself to " keep God's holy Will 
 and Commandments, and to walk in the same all 
 the days of my life." 
 
 Q. And where did you say that we find His 
 holy will revealed ? 
 
 A. In the Ten Commandments, 1 as explained 
 in the Church Catechism. 
 
 1 Exod. xxxiv. 27, 28, Deut. iv. 13, Matt. v. 18, Heb. 
 viii. 10-12. 
 
 Q. To whom were these Commandments given ? 
 
68 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 A. They were delivered to Moses by God Him- 
 self at Mount Sinai, 1 when the Israelites were 
 journeying from Egypt to the promised land of 
 Canaan. 
 
 1 Exod. xix. 20. 
 
 Q. On what were they written ? 
 
 A. They were engraven by the finger of God 
 on two Tables of stone. 1 
 
 1 Exod. xxxi. 18, Deut. ix. 10, 11. 
 
 Q. What is the first Table supposed to have 
 contained ? 
 
 A. The first four Commandments. 
 
 Q. And what is the second Table supposed to 
 have contained? 
 
 A. The last six Commandments. 
 
 Q. What are you chiefly taught by these Ten 
 Commandments ? 
 
 A. I am taught " my duty towards God, and 
 my duty towards my neighbour." 
 
 Q. What is the first part of your duty towards 
 God? 
 
 A. That I must " believe in Him," 1 as pos- 
 sessing in infinite perfection all the attributes 
 assigned to Him in holy Scripture; as, for in- 
 stance, that He is omnipotent, 2 omnipresent, 3 om- 
 niscient, 4 supremely wise, 5 and infinitely just. 6 
 
 1 Heb. xi. 6. ■ Matt. xix. 26. 
 
 3 Ps. cxxxix. 7, Jer. xxiii. 24. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 G9 
 
 4 Ps cxxxix. 2-i, Heb. iv. 13. 
 6 Rom. xvi. 27, 1 Tim. i. 17. 
 6 Ps. ix. 7, xcvi. 13, Rev. xix. 1 1. 
 
 Q. What is the next part of your duty to God ? 
 
 A. I must "fear Him;" 1 for " the fear of the 
 Lord is the beginning of wisdom," 2 and leads us 
 to shrink from doing any tiling contrary to His 
 will. 3 
 
 1 Prov. i. 7, Eccles. xii. 13. - Ps. cxi. 10. 
 
 3 Ecclus. xxv. 12. 
 
 Q. What is the third part of this duty ? 
 
 A. For His unspeakable mercies towards a mi- 
 serable sinner like me, I ought " to love Him with 
 all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, 
 and with all my strength;" 1 rejoicing in being 
 under His righteous government, " making my 
 boast of Him all the day long," 2 and " choosing 
 Him for my portion for ever." 3 
 
 1 Luke x. 27. 2 Ps. xliv. 8. 
 
 3 Ps. lxxiii. 25, 20. 
 
 Q. What is the fourth part of this duty ? 
 
 A. I must " worship Him " 1 (both privately in 
 my own family, and publicly in His Church), by 
 " giving Him thanks" 2 for His past and present 
 mercies towards myself and all the world ; by ex- 
 pressing my entire trust and confidence in His 
 goodness for the future ; 3 and by " calling upon 
 Him," 4 in behalf of myself and others, with un- 
 
70 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 feigned humility, for such assistance in our duty, 
 such provision for our wants, and such defence 
 against our enemies of every kind, as infinite wis- 
 dom sees fit for us all. 
 
 1 Matt. iv. 10. 2 Eph. v. 20, 1 Thess. v. 18. 
 
 3 Ps. xxxvii. 3, 5, Prov. iii. 5. 
 
 4 Matt. xxi. 22, 1 Thess. v. 17, James i. 5-7. 
 
 Q. What is the fifth part of this duty ? 
 
 A. I must "honour His holy name 1 and His 
 word," 2 by preserving in every expression and 
 action that reverence to Him which is His due ; 
 by paying a decent and respectful regard to what- 
 ever bears a peculiar relation to Him, as His holy 
 Day, His Church, and Ministers ; and by paying 
 especial honour and dutiful attention to all that 
 His holy Word contains, as expounded by the 
 Church. 
 
 1 Lev. xix. 12, Mai. i. 7, 12. 2 James i. 21, 22. 
 
 Q. What is the sixth and last part of your duty 
 to God ? 
 
 A. I must " serve Him truly all the days of my 
 life," 1 by "walking in all the commandments and 
 ordinances of the Lord blameless;" 2 not thinking 
 any one so difficult as to despair of it, or so small 
 as to despise it ; always remembering, that " we 
 shall reap in due season, if we faint not;" 3 but 
 that " he " alone " shall be saved that endureth to 
 the end."* 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 71 
 
 ' Heb. xii. 28. » Luke i. 6. 
 
 3 Gal. vi. 9. « Matt. xxiv. 13. 
 
 Q. Having given this general summary of your 
 duty towards God, perhaps you can shew some- 
 what more in detail the particular parts of it in- 
 culcated by the several Commandments in which 
 it is more especially set forth. Let me hear, there- 
 fore, what are the precepts of the first Command- 
 ment? 
 
 A. By this Law we are commanded to pay to 
 God all the duties which are owing to Him as an 
 eternal Creator, and almighty Governor ; " be- 
 lieving" in Him, 1 "trusting" in Him, 2 "hoping" 
 in Him, 3 "loving," 4 "obeying," 5 and " fearing" 
 Him. 6 And we are forbidden to worship any 
 God together with Him, 7 or exclusively of Him. 8 
 
 1 Heb. xi. 6. » Prov. iii. 5, 1 Pet. v. 7. 
 
 3 ITini. i. 1. < Uohniv. 19. 
 
 5 1 John v. 3. " Ps. cxi. 10. 
 
 » 7 Deut. xxxii. 39, Isaiah xlv. 5, 18, 22. 
 
 8 Jer. v. 19. 
 
 Q. What does the second Commandment de- 
 clare ? 
 
 A. By this Law we are forbidden to worship 
 God after the pagan way of images, 1 or under any 
 kind of visible representation ; either by bowing, 
 or kneeling, or shewing towards them any other 
 token of religious regard. But we are com- 
 manded to worship God in His own appointed 
 
72 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 way, 2 by " praying" to Him, 3 " praising" Him, 4 
 " hearing" His holy Word, 5 and " frequenting the 
 public" congregations assembled for His worship 
 in the Church. 6 
 
 1 Deut. iv. 12, 15. » Deut. xii. 30-32. 
 
 3 Luke xxi. 36. 4 Deut. x. 21 , Acts xvi. 25. 
 
 5 Deut. iv. 10, Matt. iv. 4. 
 
 6 Ps. xxii. 22, Heb. x. 25. 
 
 Q. What is set forth in the third Command- 
 ment ? 
 
 A. By this Commandment we are forbidden to 
 make use of God's holy Name in an oath to attest 
 what is false, 1 or upon any trivial occasion, 2 or 
 to speak of His Attributes, 3 His holy Word, 4 His 
 Church, 6 or Ministers, 6 with irreverence. But 
 contrariwise we are commanded to honour God 
 by swearing truly and reverently by His Name," 
 especially if it be for a charitable design in decid- 
 ing differences ; 8 and when speaking of Him on 
 any occasion, to do so with feelings of reverential 
 awe. 9 
 
 1 Lev. xix. 12, Num. xxx. 2. 2 Matt. v. 34, James v. 12. 
 
 3 Ps. lxxviii. 19, Exod. v. 2. 4 1 Tim. i 13. 
 
 5 1 Cor. xi. 22. 6 Luke x. 16. 
 
 7 Deut. vi. 13, x. 20. s Exod.xxii ll,Heb.vU6. 
 
 a Isaiah vi. 3, 5, ix. fi, Ps. cvii. 8, 15, 31, Matt viii. 8, 
 Luke xv. 19, 21. 
 
 Q. What are the precepts of the fourth Com- 
 mandment ? 
 
 A. By this Law we are commanded to observe 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 73 
 
 with religious punctuality that day in the week 
 which God hath especially set apart for His 
 worship in the Church : by abstaining ourselves, 
 and prohibiting all that belong to us, from fol- 
 lowing the ordinary business of life on that day 
 though acts of necessity 2 and charity'' may be per- 
 formed. We are carefully to observe all devout 
 and spiritual exercises on that day ; joining in the 
 public worship of the Church ; 4 meditating upon 
 what has there been declared ; enlarging our own 
 private devotions with our families; reading the 
 holy Scriptures and other good books; visiting 
 the poor, and relieving the sick and needy ; and, 
 if opportunity serves, making up unhappy differ- 
 ences among neighbours. 
 
 1 Exod. xvi. 29, Neh. xiii. 15, Jer. xvii. 22. 
 
 2 Deut. xxii. 4, Matt. xii. 1, 11, 12, Mark ii. 27. 
 
 3 Ps. xli. 1, Hos. vi. 6, Matt. xii. 7. 
 
 4 Lev. xxiii. 2, 1 Cor. xvi. 2. 
 
 Q. Which day is it that was called the Sabbath 
 in this Commandment? 
 
 A. The seventh day; commonly called, from 
 the heathen custom, Saturday. 
 
 Q. How did it come to pass that the first day 
 of the week was substituted for the seventh as the 
 day of Christian rest ? 
 
 A. As God sanctified the Sabbath by resting 
 from His work upon it, so the first day of the 
 ii 
 
74 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 week was sanctified by the resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ from the dead. 1 He appeared to His dis- 
 ciples assembled for His worship on that day ; 2 and 
 on that day sent down the Holy Ghost. 3 Hence 
 the Apostles settled the first day of the week as 
 the stated time for constant Church-assemblies 
 and Communion : and all the Churches in the 
 world have uniformly called it the Lord s day ; 
 and, with one consent, have kept it as thus ap- 
 pointed and used from the days of the first Apos- 
 tles to the present time. 
 
 1 Mark xvi. 2, Luke xxiv. 1, John xx. 1. 
 
 2 John xx. 19, 26. 3 Acts ii. 1-4. 
 
 Q. Are the precepts then of this Commandment 
 still in force, and applicable to Christians? 
 
 A. Yes; whatever interferes with the religious 
 duties of the Lord's day is as strictly forbidden, 
 and whatever is conducive to their sober per- 
 formance is as earnestly enjoined, as it was in the 
 circumstances under which this Commandment 
 was first delivered. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Of the fifth Commandment. 
 
 Q. You say that from these Ten Command- 
 ments you chiefly learn your duty to God, and 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 75 
 
 your duty to your neighbour. I must now ask 
 you, who is your neighbour? 
 
 A. Any one with whom I may at any time 
 have the least concern, 1 or on whose interest my 
 ac tions can exert the remotest possible influence. 
 1 Luke x. 29-37. 
 
 Q. How is the extent of your duty towards 
 your neighbour briefly to be expressed ? 
 
 A. St. Paul affirms, that it is " briefly compre- 
 hended in this" one " saying, Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbour as thyself;" 1 — that is, as our Saviour 
 says, " All things, whatsoever ye would that men 
 should do unto you, even so do ye unto them; for 
 this is the Law and the Prophets." 2 
 
 1 Rom. xiii. 9. 2 Matt. vii. 12, xxii. 39. 
 
 Q. What are the words of the fifth Command- 
 ment ? 
 
 A. " Honour thy father and thy mother, that 
 thy days may be long in the land which the Lord 
 thy God giveth thee." 
 
 Q. Does this Commandment belong to the first 
 or the second Table ? 
 
 A. No man knows on which of the two Tables 
 it was written by God ; but if we may judge by 
 the subject, it seems to be as it were the hinge of 
 both, belonging partly to each : and accordingly 
 it is supposed that part of it was written on the 
 first Table of stone, and part on the second; 
 
76 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 although some have placed it entirely in the 
 first. 
 
 Q. What are the precepts of this Command- 
 ment ? 
 
 A. By this Law I am commanded " to love, 
 honour, and succour my father and mother ;' to 
 honour and obey the king,- and all that are put in 
 authority under him; 3 to submit myself to all my 
 governors, teachers, spiritual pastors, 4 and mas- 
 ters ; 5 and to order myself lowly and reverently to 
 all my betters." 6 
 
 1 Matt. xv. 4-6. 2 1 Pet. ii. 13, 17. 
 
 3 Tit. iii. 1, 1 Pet. ii. 14. 4 Heb.xiii. 17. 
 
 5 Eph. vi. 5, 1 Pet. ii. 18. 6 1 Pet. v. 5. 
 
 Q. You have two kinds of parents, viz. natural 
 and spiritual : now tell me who your spiritual Fa- 
 ther and Mother are, and when they became so? 
 
 A. My spiritual Father is God Almighty, 1 who 
 adopted me for His son 2 through the agency of 
 His authorized Ministers on earth ; 3 whom, there- 
 fore, as His representatives in this 4 as in other re- 
 lations, 5 I am bound to treat accordingly. My 
 spiritual Mother is the Church, 6 — the "beloved 
 spouse" of Christ, 7 — who supplied that holy Sacra- 
 ment, 8 by the due administration of which my 
 soul was withdrawn from the grasp of Satan, 8 and 
 transferred to the repose of my Saviour's bosom. 10 
 And thus it was brought into as new a state of 
 spiritual, as my body was of material relations 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 77 
 
 and existence, on being born into the visible 
 world." 
 
 1 Matt. vi. 9, Gal. iv. 6. 
 
 2 Is. lvi. 5, John i. 12, iii. 5, Rom. viii. 15. 
 
 3 Matt, xxviii. 19, 1 Cor. v. 15. 4 2 Cor. v. 20. 
 
 5 2 Kings ii. 12, xiii. 14, 1 Cor. iv. 15, 1 Tim. i. 2, 2 Tim. 
 i. 2, Tit. i. 4. 
 
 « Matt. Xxv. 1, Gal. iv. 26-31, Eph. v. 25, Rev. xix. 7, 
 xxi. 9, Is. liv. 3. 
 
 » Cant. v. 1. 8 Tit. iii. 5, 6. 
 
 9 Acts xxii. 16, Heb. ii. 14, 15, x. 22. 
 111 John x. 9, ICor. xii. 13, Gal. iii. 26-29, Eph. ii. 18. 
 11 Rom. viii. 1", Heb. x. 16-22, Rom. vi. 2-11, Col. iii. 1. 
 
 Q. How are you to perform your duty towards 
 these your spiritual Parents, according to this 
 Commandment ? 
 
 A. Since Christ and His Church are one, 1 any 
 actions by which honour is paid to the one are 
 equally conducive to the honour of the other also ; 
 and since He hath pronounced by the mouth of 
 His holy prophets : " Them that honour Me, I will 
 honour ; and they that despise Me shall be lightly 
 esteemed :" 2 so hath He also graciously revealed 
 to us the means by which our frail capacities may 
 be exerted in promoting His honour and glory. 
 For He hath declared, with respect to his Ministers 
 for ever, " He that receiveth" (or honoureth) 
 " you, receiveth" (or honoureth) " Me, and he 
 that receiveth" (or honoureth) " Me, receiveth" 
 (or honoureth) " Him that sent Me ;" — and again, 
 h 2 
 
78 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 "He that despiseth you despiseth Me; and he 
 that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me." 3 
 Therefore if I desire to honour God in obedience 
 to this Commandment, I must behave towards the 
 Minister whom He hath set over me, 4 with affec- 
 tion, 5 respect, and reverence: 6 I must submit 
 myself to his direction in all spiritual matters," 
 and also to his just reproofs : 8 I must contribute 
 to make him up a competent and liberal income ; 9 
 and uphold, to the utmost of my power, the respect- 
 ability and authority of his sacred profession. 10 
 
 1 Eph. i. 10, 22, ii. 20-22, iv. 15, CoL i. 18. 
 
 2 1 Sam. ii. 30, John v. 23. 3 Matt. x. 40, xxv. 40. 
 4 Jer. iii. 15. > 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. 
 
 6 Phil. ii. 29, 1 Tim. v. 17, 1 Pet. v. 5, 
 
 7 Psalm lxxvii. 20, Mai. ii. 7, Heb. xiii. 17. 
 
 8 Ezek. iii. 18-21. 
 
 9 Rom. xv. 27, 1 Cor. ix. 7-14, Matt. x. 10, Gal. vi. 6, 
 7, 1 Tim. v. 17, 18. 
 
 10 Job xxix. 9-11, 21, 22, Prov. xiv. 20, Eccles. ix. 16, 
 Matt. x. 40-42, xxv. 40-45, Mark ix. 41, 42. 
 
 Q. What sins are forbidden by this branch of 
 the fifth Commandment ? 
 
 A. First, the sin of withholding from the clergy 
 their legal dues in tithes and offerings, is one for- 
 bidden by this Commandment. For since in those 
 temporal revenues, which have, (by the piety of 
 our ancestors), been dedicated to the exclusive 
 service of God for ever, 1 none can have any pro- 
 perty but God Himself; 2 and since He has ap- 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 7!) 
 
 pointed these ecclesiastical officers to be His 
 " stewards," 3 and to dispose of the proceeds of this 
 His property at their discretion, 4 and as appears to 
 them most likely to promote the honour of His 
 religion ; so He hath declared, that to withhold 
 any portion of these revenues from His authorized 
 agents, 5 is no less than an act of robbery on Him- 
 self. Thus He pronounces that fearful sentence 
 on the Jews, when in their latter days, as a nation, 
 they were guilty of this crime (and " He is the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and for ever" 6 ) : " Will a 
 man rob God ? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye 
 say, Wherein have we robbed Thee ? " The answer 
 is, " In tithes and offerings." Therefore " ye are 
 cursed with a curse : for ye have robbed Me, even 
 this whole nation." 7 So jealous is God of His 
 honour in this respect, and so dreadful the conse- 
 quences of committing this crime. But the in- 
 tensity of its guilt must naturally be increased in 
 a nation like this; both because the chief re- 
 venues which (either in consequence of private 
 benefaction or public grant) belong to the English 
 Church, have usually been dedicated to the per- 
 petual service of God in formal writings, sealed 
 and witnessed, setting forth the founders' surrender 
 of all their right in them to God, u and making 
 
 u Thus our Magna Charta, cap. i. declares: " Conccssi- 
 mus Deo, quod Ecclesia Anglicana libera sit," &c. — " The 
 
80 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 Him the sole owner of them; — the tender of the 
 gift being solemnly made upon the Altar by the 
 donor on his knees, 8 and a curse at the same time 
 frequently invoked on those who should at any 
 time dare to frustrate his pious designs : v — And 
 a/so because the Church to which they belong is 
 the same that was transmitted from the first Apos- 
 tles through our British and Saxon ancestors," and 
 therefore inheriting a full and perfect title to all 
 Her original endowments : which were never, as 
 some people ignorantly suppose, taken from one 
 Church and given to another. Therefore, with- 
 out the greatest irreverence and guilt, we cannot 
 defraud God's Ministers of these His dues, nor 
 without acting contrary to the injunctions of the 
 fifth Commandment. 
 
 style of these ancient grants and charters is ; ' We have 
 given unto God both for us and our heirs for ever.' Yea, 
 ' We know,' saith Charles the Great, ' that the goods of 
 the Church are the sacred endowments of God; to the 
 Lord our God we offer and dedicate whatsoever we deliver 
 unto His Church.'" — Hooker (Selections by Keble), 
 p. 370, 371. 
 
 v Usually in this form: — " These things we offer unto 
 God ; from Whom if any take them away (which we hope no 
 man will attempt to do), but if any shall, let his account be 
 without favour in the last day, when he cometh to receive 
 the doom which is due for sacrilege against that Lord and 
 God unto whom we dedicate the same." — Hooker, p. 372. 
 
 • See p. 62. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 SI 
 
 1 Gen. xxviii. 20-22. 
 
 2 1 Chron. ix. 2G, 2 Chron. xxxi. 11, 12, Neh. x. 38, 
 Mai. iii. 10. 
 
 3 Num. xviii. 24, 28, xxxi., 1 Cor. iv. 1. 
 
 4 Acts iv. 34, xi. 30, xii. 17, xxi. 18, 2 Cor. viii. 5, Ezek. 
 xlv. 4, 5. 5 Neh. xiii. 10-14. 
 
 6 Heb. xiii. 8. 1 Mai. iii. 8, 9. 
 
 3 Psalm lxxii. 10, 11, Matt. ii. 11, v. 23, 24. 
 
 Q. What is the second sin forbidden by this 
 Commandment ? 
 
 A. The spoliation of the clergy. For if only 
 to withhold that which should be given, be no 
 better than to rob God Himself ; if to withdraw 
 any mite of that which is but in purpose only be- 
 queathed, and not yet delivered into the sacred 
 treasury of God, be a sin for which Ananias and 
 Sapphira felt so heavily the dreadful hand of Divine 
 revenge to take away that which we never gave, 
 and that after God has for many ages been in pos- 
 session of it, without any other show of cause than 
 only that it seems, in the eyes of those who seek it, 
 too much for them who have it in their hands, can 
 surely be nothing less than most impious injustice, 
 and most heinous sacrilege. Under the law of 
 Moses it was pronounced — " Ye shall not make 
 common the holy things of the children of Israel, 
 lest ye die, saith the Lord;" 2 and the Apostle is 
 earnest in declaring, that if the Ministers of the 
 Law had their property secured by so sacred a 
 
82 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 title, less regard should not be paid to those who, 
 under the Gospel of Jesus Christ, possess a corre- 
 sponding station in the Church ; 3 — implying by his 
 arguments, 4 that there is but very little difference 
 between adoring false gods, and robbing the true 
 God. x And indeed the instances are innumerable 
 wherein, by the just judgment of God, sacrilege 
 hath consumed the families of princes, broken 
 sceptres, and destroyed kingdoms ;? and thus it 
 is often brought to pass, that the very " prey of 
 savage beasts becometh dreadful unto them- 
 selves;" 5 as it did in Judas, Achan, and Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, whose evil-purchased goods were their 
 own snare, and whose prey was their own terror : 
 — a thing which is no where so likely to follow as 
 in those goods and possessions, which, having been 
 abstracted from their rightful and almighty Owner, 
 have, by the Lord's own testimony, His most bitter 
 curse for their inseparable companion. From all 
 which it is plain, that that individual, or king- 
 dom, does in vain pretend zeal for the honour of 
 (iod, by whom His clergy are in any way deprived 
 of their just rights of honourable maintenance : fi 
 and because such a line of conduct cannot but 
 reflect dishonour upon Him whose representatives 
 
 x Hence idolatry and sacrilege are equally forbidden by 
 the second Commandment. 
 
 1 See Spelman's History of Sacrilege. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 83 
 
 on earth are so meagrely and unhandsomely 
 treated therefore it is a sin against the fifth 
 Commandment. 
 
 1 Acts v. 2. 2 Num. xviii. 32, Ezek. xlviii. 14. 
 
 3 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14, 2 Cor. iii. 6-11. 
 
 4 Acts xix. 37, Rom. ii. 21-23. 
 
 5 Hab. ii. 17. 6 Isaiah lx. 
 
 1 Matt. xxi. 33-44, 1 Cor. ix. 7, 10, 2 Cor. ix. 6, 7, Gal. 
 vi. 6, 7. 
 
 Q. Are any people guilty of this sin besides 
 those by whom God is openly robbed of His pro- 
 perty in the Church. 
 
 A. Yes ; many men are involved in sacrilege 
 without their privity and consent, by inheritances 
 and descents; and it may be, have made pur- 
 chases very innocently of lands which they never 
 knew had been dedicated to the Church : and it 
 cannot reasonably be imagined that either of these, 
 especially if they have no other estates, or very 
 little, but what are marked with the same brand, 
 will, out of the conscience of their ancestors' im- 
 piety, ransom themselves from a leprosy which is 
 not discernible, by giving away all that they have ; 
 and which, by established human laws, are as un- 
 questionably their own as any thing can be made 
 to belong to any man : but they will rather leave 
 their ancestors to pay their own forfeitures, and 
 be very indulgent to those arguments which would 
 
84 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 persuade them, that what was sacrilege two or 
 three hundred years ago, is so purged away in so 
 many descents, that it ceases to be so in the pre- 
 sent possessor. But it must be remembered that 
 it is a well-known maxim of common law, that no 
 length of time can legalise an invasion of the 
 rights of God's Church ; and in His sight we can 
 surely be no less responsible for the sins of our 
 ancestors, by sanctioning them, than " the sinners 
 the Amalekites," 1 on whom judgment was inflicted 
 after an interval of five hundred years. The re- 
 storation, therefore, to the Church of any property 
 to which she is strictly entitled by both Divine and 
 human laws, is not so much a work of bounty and 
 benevolence, as of positive duty 2 and necessity. 8 
 " It is a great sin to steal from our neighbour ; 
 much greater, even sacrilege, to steal from God :" b 
 — and under such circumstances, it would be well 
 if this salutary admonition were more generally 
 borne in mind : " Thou that justly condemnest 
 this parson, or that vicar, for sometimes neglect- 
 ing his duty, think with thyself what account will 
 be exacted of thee that receivest the same salary 
 
 ■ Chiefly from Hooker. 
 
 b Chiefly from Spelman, quoted in an excellent pamphlet, 
 which cannot be too much recommended for perusal, enti- 
 tled, Restitution to the Church a Sacred Duty. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 85 
 
 and wages with the parson and vicar, yet dost 
 totally neglect the duty, and mispendest all the 
 Church-revenues upon thine own private occa- 
 sions." — " Wherefore, as the Philistines made haste 
 to send home the ark of God, 3 and the Egyptians 
 to be rid of the people of God, 4 so let us ply our- 
 selves to render unto God His lands and posses- 
 sions with all speed. Otherwise, as He struck the 
 Philistines with emerods secretly, and the Egyp- 
 tians with manifold scourges openly, so only Him - 
 self knoweth what He hath determined against 
 us." c 
 
 1 Comp. Exod. xvii. 8-16, 1 Sam. xv. 3, 7. 
 
 2 Matt. xv. 4-6. 3 1 Sam. vi. 
 4 Exod. xii. 33. 
 
 Q. But suppose in certain cases a full restora- 
 tion cannot be made without grievous inconve- 
 nience or actual ruin ; what more convenient plan 
 may be adopted in the hope of its being accepted 
 as a means of wiping away this stain ? 
 
 A. The least that can be done under these cir- 
 cumstances is, that such a portion of what is now 
 enjoyed by the present possessor should, with the 
 approval of the Church, be assigned to such pious 
 and charitable uses, as may probably do as much 
 good to that body to which the property strictly 
 belongs, as when it was in its possession ; and this 
 
 c Clement Spelman. 
 
86 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 at all events may be effected without depriving 
 the present proprietors of more than they might 
 without great damage part with. d And they who 
 were thus disposed to contribute, would find a 
 pleasing serenity of mind in the reflection that the 
 rest would prosper the better, and that they would 
 have more left than even they enjoyed before, ac- 
 cording to God's gracious promise, delivered in 
 these terms: 1 — " Bring ye all the tithes into the 
 storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, 
 and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of 
 hosts, if I will not open you the windows of 
 heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there 
 shall not be room enough to receive it. And I 
 will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he 
 shall not destroy the fruits of your ground : nei- 
 ther shall your vine cast her fruit before the time 
 in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all na- 
 tions shall call you blessed ; for ye shall be a 
 delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts." 
 
 1 Mai. iii. 10-12 ; see also 2 Chron. xxxi. 10, Prov. iii. 9, 
 10, Lev. xxvii. 30-32. 
 
 Q. What is the next siii forbidden by the fifth 
 Commandment ? 
 
 A. Contempt of the persons of the clergy and 
 their office : for as they are co-operators with God, 1 
 
 rt Chiefly from Hooker. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 87 
 
 and the heralds whom He hath appointed to pub- 
 lish His decrees, 2 denounce His judgments, to 
 blazon His titles, and defend His rightful autho- 
 rity in the world ; as they are His ministers of 
 state of His most glorious spiritual kingdom — the 
 orderly administration, advancement, preservation, 
 and enlargement of which, are especially com- 
 mended to their diligence and fidelity ; so they do 
 in a manner represent His Person, 3 and any ill- 
 usage or disrespect towards them does really and 
 truly terminate on God Himself, 4 and reflect upon 
 His honour, and prejudice His religion." 5 In short, 
 " he that sincerely worships God, will heartily love 
 His priests," f and provide that they have honour 
 and respect, both from himself and others, for the 
 sake of Him whose representatives they are, 5 and 
 for the sake of His religion, 6 to which a due re- 
 gard cannot be maintained without proportionable 
 respect to the Ministers thereof. And " since the 
 poioer of the ministry of God translateth out of 
 darkness into glory ; since it raiseth men from 
 the earth, and bringeth God Himself down from 
 heaven ; since by blessing visible elements, it 
 maketh them invisible grace ; since it giveth daily 
 the Holy Ghost, and hath to dispose of that Flesh 
 
 e " Is it possible for that man to fancy himself on Christ's 
 side, who acts in opposition to the Priests of Christ?" — 
 S. Cypr. de Unit. Ecel. p. 250. 
 
 ' Statius Epist. Dedic. in v. lib. Sylvaruin. 
 
88 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 which was given for the life of the world, and of 
 that Blood which was poured out to redeem souls ; 
 since, when it poureth malediction upon the heads 
 of the wicked, they perish ; and when it revoketh 
 the same, they revive :" & a contempt of this holy 
 office, which cannot but involve a contempt of 
 God its Author, must necessarily be forbidden by 
 the fifth Commandment. 
 
 1 1 Cor. iil 9. 2 Mai. ii. 7, Gal. iv. 14. 
 
 3 2 Cor. v. 20. 
 
 4 Num. xvi. 41-50, Jer. xx. 10, 11, Matt. x. 40, xxv. 40, 
 John xiii. 20. 5 Matt. x. 40, xxv. 40. 
 
 6 Lev. xix. 32, 2 Kings ii. 23, 24, 1 Tim. v. 17. 
 
 Q. What is the fourth sin forbidden by the 
 fifth Commandment? 
 
 A. Hesista?ice to ecclesiastical authority ; of 
 which, as it has no external force to abet it, 1 or 
 avenge disobedience to its laws, men commonly 
 stand but little in awe, and are insensible of their 
 obligation to obey it. Whereas, in truth, this 
 want of visible power is so far from proving the 
 authority of our spiritual governors to be weak 
 and precarious, that it renders our obligation 
 much greater, and their authority the more dread- 
 ful. For since God has commanded us to obey 
 them, 2 without assigning visible forces to con- 
 strain or chastise, it is plain that He has reserved 
 
 ! Selections from Hooker, p. 333. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 89 
 
 the vindication of their authority to His own hand, 
 which, therefore, will be infallibly certain and ter- 
 ribly severe : for the sentence that is upon earth 
 pronounced by His Ministers on contumacious 
 offenders, He has declared Himself ready to ratify 
 in heaven ; 3 and, therefore, most assuredly will 
 execute it. Even in the prophetical times, it was 
 an expression signifying the height of impiety, 
 " Thy people are as those who strive with the 
 priest:" 4 — for, in truth, what punishment is so 
 dreadful as "delivery to Satan?" 5 — to the being 
 confined in those bands, of which it is said, " What- 
 ever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ;" 6 
 and which engage the soul in a guilt never to be 
 loosed, except by sore contrition and serious re- 
 pentance ? What are any axes to that " sword of 
 the Spirit" 7 which cutteth off a member from 
 Christ ? h What are any faggots and torches to 
 that unquenchable "fire and brimstone" of the 
 infernal lake ? What, in short, does any condem- 
 nation here signify, to that horrible curse which 
 devotes an incorrigible soul to the bottomless pit ? 
 Ecclesiastical authority, therefore, is not a shadow, 
 void of substance and force, but has the greatest 
 power in the world to support and assert it. Its 
 
 b " The proud and contumacious are severed by the sword 
 of the Spirit, when they are expelled from the Church." — 
 S. Cypr. Ep. lxi. 
 
 I 2 
 
90 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 weapons " are not carnal," 8 but they are " mighty 
 through God:" — its chastisements are far more 
 dreadful than those which any earthly power can 
 inflict ; for these only touch the body, but those 
 pierce the soul ; these concern only our temporal 
 state, but those reach eternity itself. Whosoever, 
 therefore, despises or resists this power, despises 
 or resists the ordinance of God ; " and they that 
 resist shall receive to themselves damnation." 9 
 And since resistance to the power argues a want 
 of due reverence to its almighty Author,™ there- 
 fore this sin is forbidden by the fifth Command- 
 ment. 
 
 1 Matt. xx. 25, 26, 1 Pet. v. 3. 
 
 2 Heb. xiii. 17. 3 Matt, xviii. 15-18. 
 
 4 Hos. iv. 4, Deut. xvii. 12, Jer. vi. 17-21, xx. 1-6. 
 
 5 1 Cor. v. 3-5, 1 Tim. i. 19, 20. 
 
 6 Matt. xvi. 19, Is. xxii. 22. 7 Eph. vi. 17. 
 8 2 Cor. x. 4. 9 Rom. xiii. 2. 
 10 Job xx. 22, 23 ; see 2 Kings ii. 23, 24. 
 
 Q. What is the next sin reflecting dishonour 
 upon God, and forbidden by this Commandment ? 
 
 A. The sin of profaning or speaking with irre- 
 verence of places consecrated to Divine worship is 
 virtually forbidden by this Commandment, and 
 also more directly by the third. For though God 
 is in every place, 1 yet since He " loveth the gates 
 of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob;" 3 
 so, in a more especial manner, is His path to be 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 91 
 
 found in the holy sanctuary. 3 — Indeed we find that 
 when, at any time, He has vouchsafed to meet 
 His people, He Himself hath always prescribed 
 the placed Thus, when He commanded Abraham 
 to sacrifice his only son Isaac, place o$ offering 
 was not left to his discretion. 5 It was part of his 
 sacrifice not only what he should offer, but where. 
 — And so, under the Gospel-dispensation, our Sa- 
 viour doth in reality, though invisibly, meet His 
 chosen people when assembled for His worship in 
 the Church; 6 and from the Christian mercy-seat 
 doth distribute, through the hands of His Minis- 
 ter, the consecrated elements of His most precious 
 Body and Blood. 7 Hence the respect and rever- 
 ence which the primitive Christians paid towards 
 these sacred buildings was very great ; for, as St. 
 Chrysostom says, " they came into Church, as 
 into the palace of a great King, with fear and 
 trembling,"' and behaved while there with the 
 profoundest silence and devotion ;j so that any 
 indecorous behaviour in, or irreverent expressions 
 towards, the places duly set apart and dedicated 
 to the Christian worship of God, was always con- 
 sidered to involve the offender in the crime so 
 
 ' In Epist. ad Hebr. c. ix. Horn. 15, torn. iv. p. 515, lin. 
 bit See Eccles v. 1. 
 
 I Chrysost. in Johan. 13. Horn. 72, torn. ii. p. 861, 
 lin. 23. 
 
92 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 sharply denounced by St. Paul, of " despising the 
 Church of God." 8 Wherefore, since he that ad- 
 duced the Jewish Temple in attestation of his 
 word, swore also by Him that dwelt therein; 9 
 so he that is guilty of uttering irreverent expres- 
 sions towards the Christian Temple, is at the same 
 time guilty of shewing disrespect towards Him 
 whose honour dwelleth therein ; 10 and, therefore, 
 is guilty of transgressing the fifth Commandment. 
 
 1 Ps. cxxxix. 3-12. 2 Ps. Ixxxvii. 2. 
 
 3 Ps. lxxvii. 13, cxxxii. 13, 14, Is. lx. 13, John xx. 19, 26, 
 Acts ii. 1-4. 
 
 4 Zech. xiv. 16, 17, 19. 5 Gen. xxii. 2. 
 
 6 Matt, xviii. 20. 
 
 7 Hag. ii. 9, Matt, xviii. 19, 20, xxviii. 20. 
 
 8 1 Cor. xi. 22. » Matt, xxiii. 21. 
 * Is. lvi. 5, 7, ITim. iii. 14, 15. 
 
 Q. Having thus detailed some of the methods 
 by which the duty of honouring your spiritual 
 parents may be fulfilled, I should now wish to 
 know how this duty is to be performed towards 
 your earthly parents? 
 
 A. I must behave towards them with all due 
 reverence and respect, though they may happen 
 to be in a mean condition of life ;' I must obey 
 all their lawful commands, 2 and relieve them when 
 in want ; 3 I must submit myself to their instruc- 
 tions 4 and corrections ; 5 and, when grown up, I 
 must take their advice in any of the important 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 93 
 
 affairs of life; 6 never deriding their peculiarities, 
 nor murmuring at their frivolous demands, — for 
 " the eye that mocketh at his father, and de- 
 spiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the val- 
 ley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall 
 eat it." 7 
 
 1 Lev. xix. 3, Mai. i. 6, Matt. xxi. 28-31. 
 
 * Jer. xxxv. 8, 18, 19, Eph. vi. 1, 2, Col. iii. 20. 
 
 3 Matt. xv. 4, 5, 1 Tim. v. 4. 4 Prov. i. 8, iv. 1 , vi. 20. 
 
 5 Prov. xiii. 24, xix. 18, xxiii. 13, Heb. xii. 9. 
 
 6 Gen. xxiv. 1,2, xxvii. 46. 1 Prov. xxx. 17. 
 
 Q. How does this Law command you to behave 
 towards your king or queen ? 
 
 A. I must honour the prince whom God hath 
 set over me •} stand in awe of him, 2 and obey him 
 in all things not forbidden by God: 3 I must sub- 
 mit to his correction and punishment, 4 and assist 
 him personally, 5 or with my money, in his just 
 wars, and in his efforts to maintain the royal 
 dignity. 
 
 1 1 Pet. ii. 17. 2 Rom. xiii. 1. 3 1 Pet. ii. 13. 
 
 4 Tit. iii. 1, 1 Pet. ii. 14. 
 
 5 Matt. xxii. 17, Rom. xiii. 6, 7. 
 
 Q. If you are a servant, how must you treat 
 your master ? 
 
 A. I must pay him due reverence and honour, 1 
 and fear to displease him : 2 I must obey his com- 
 mands, 3 be patient under his rebukes and correc- 
 tions, 4 and be diligent in my business/' studying 
 
94 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 in all things to please him, 6 when he is absent, as 
 well as in his presence. 
 
 5 Rom. xii. 11, 2 Cor. viii. 21, Col. iii. 22, 23. 
 
 6 Eph. vi. 6, Tit ii. 9, Zeph. i. 9. 
 
 Q. How must you behave towards those who 
 are above you in the world ? 
 
 A. I must treat them with all lowliness and 
 humility ;' shewing them every possible respect in 
 my demeanour; and endeavouring, by my good 
 conduct, 2 to obtain their favourable opinion. 
 
 1 Rom. xii. 10, Eph. v. 21, Phil. ii. 3. 2 Rom. xiiL 3. 
 
 Q. What is promised to those who fulfil, to the 
 best of their ability, the several duties above spe- 
 cified, as enforced by this Commandment ? 
 
 A. It is declared that they who do these things 
 shall enjoy long life and happiness in this woi-ld; 1 
 and, if they spring from a lively faith in Christ, 
 with a sole dependence on His merits for accept- 
 ance, their performance shall be rewarded with 
 everlasting glory in the world to come. 2 
 
 1 Ps. cxxii. 6, Eph. vi. 2, 3. 2 Matt. x. 42, xxv. 34-40. 
 
 Q. What are you to apprehend, if you wilfully 
 fail to perform these duties ? 
 
 A. I cannot but expect a short life, and one 
 full of sorrow, Jiere; 1 with a fearful anticipation of 
 never-ending torments hereafter? Therefore may 
 
 1 ITim. vi. 1. 
 3 Eph. vi. 5. 
 
 2 Mai. i. 6. 
 4 1 Pet. ii. 18. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 95 
 
 the good Lord have mercy on my soul for past 
 transgressions, and incline my heart for the future 
 to keep and observe this Law. 3 
 
 1 Prov. xx. 20, Matt. xv. 4, Mark vii. 10. 
 
 - Job xvii. 5, 6, Prov. xxiv. 20, Matt. xxv. 8-12, 41-46. 
 
 3 Heb. viii. 10. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 Of the last five Commandments. 
 
 Q. What are the duties enforced by the sixth 
 Commandment ? 
 
 A. That I must " hurt nobody by word or 
 deed," 1 and "bear no malice nor hatred in my 
 heart." 2 
 
 1 Matt. v. 44. - 1 Cor. xiv. 20, 1 John ii. 9. 
 
 Q. Then the barbarous crime of taking away 
 the life of another, is not the only one forbidden 
 by this Commandment ? 
 
 A. No. By this Law I am also forbidden to lay 
 violent hands on myself, as some discontented 
 and wicked men have done, 1 or to harbour any 
 of those evil passions which may possibly lead to 
 murder, as immoderate anger, 2 hatred, 3 malice, or 
 bitterness of speech. 4 But I am taught, on the 
 contrary, to cultivate that peaceable, 6 meek, and 
 charitable disposition, which is " in the Lord's 
 sight of great price." 6 
 
96 
 
 AN EXPOSITION' OF 
 
 1 1 Sam. xxxi. 4, Acts i. 18. 2 Matt. v. 21, 22. 
 
 3 1 John iii. 15. 4 Eph. iv. 31. 
 
 5 Rom. xii. 17, 18, 20. 6 1 Pet. iii 4. 
 
 Q. What are the duties enforced by the seventh 
 Commandment ? 
 
 A. By this Law I am taught " to keep my body 
 in temperance, 1 soberness, and chastity," both of 
 thought, 2 word, 3 and behaviour. 4 
 
 1 Matt. v. 27, 28. 2 Matt. xv. 19. 
 
 3 1 Cor. v. 6, Col. iii. 8. 4 Tit. iL 3. 
 
 Q. What does this Commandment forbid ? 
 
 A. Every species of crime which can come 
 under the denomination of adultery, 1 fornication, 
 or uncleanness; with all the incitements there- 
 unto; as drunkenness, 2 wanton behaviour, 3 tawdry 
 attire, 4 and idleness. 5 
 
 1 Lev. xx. 10, Heb. xiii. 4, Ezek. xxii. 11, Lev. xviii. 18, 
 Mai. ii. 14, 15, 1 Cor. vii. 2, Lev. xviii. 6, 1 Cor. v. 1, Rom. 
 i. 26, 27, Lev. xviii. 22, 23, xx. 15, 1 Cor. vi. 9. 
 
 2 Prov. xxiii. 31, 33, Luke xxi. 34, 1 Pet. iv. 3. 
 
 3 Is. iii. 10, 17, 2 Cor. xii. 21, 2 Pet. ii. 7. 
 
 4 Prov. vii. 10, Zeph. i. 8. 5 Ezek. xvl 49. 
 
 Q. What are you commanded by the eighth 
 Commandment ? 
 
 A. "To be true and just in all my dealings,' 1 
 and " to keep my hands from picking and steal- 
 ing;" 2 to make restitution for any wrong I may 
 have done to another f to be merciful and charit- 
 able to the poor and needy ; 4 cheerfully to give to 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM 
 
 97 
 
 all their dues;'' and to be diligent in performing 
 the duties of my worldly calling. 6 
 
 1 Lev. xix. 36, Prov. xi. 1, xvi. 11. 
 
 - Lev. vi. 2-5, Mark x. 19. 
 
 3 Exod. xxii. 1, Ezek. xxxiii. 15. 
 
 4 Lev. xix. 9, Prov. xix. 17. 5 Rom. xiii. 7. 
 
 6 Prov. xviii. 9, Matt. xxv. 30, 2 Thess. iii. 11, 12. 
 Q. When are you guilty of breaking this Com- 
 mandment ? 
 
 A. Not only if I take away by force the property 
 of another, 1 but also if I steal articles of small 
 value from his premises; 2 if I commit an act of 
 extortion ; 3 or cheat another in making a bargain ; 4 
 or defraud the Church of her revenues; 5 or grudge 
 the poor a liberal bounty from my stores ; 6 I am 
 guilty of transgressing the eighth Commandment. 
 
 1 Lev. xix. 11, 13. 2 Eph. iv. 28. 
 
 3 Prov. xxviii. 8, Hab. ii. 9, 1 Cor. v. 11. 
 
 4 Prov. xx. 10, xxix. 5, Jer. xvii. 11,1 Thess. iv. 6. 
 
 5 Mai. iii. 8. c Prov. xxii. 16, Is. iii. 15, lviii. 10, 1 1. 
 Q. What are you taught by the ninth Com- 
 mandment ? 
 
 A. Not only " to keep my tongue from evil- 
 speaking, 1 lying, 2 and slandering;" 3 but. to keep 
 my heart kindly disposed towards all men, 4 and to 
 judge charitably of their actions. 
 
 1 James iv. 1 1. 2 Col. iii. 9. 
 
 3 Prov. x. 18. 4 1 Cor. xiii. 4-7. 
 
 Q. When are you guilty of disobeying this Com- 
 mandment? 
 
 K 
 
98 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 A. If I slander another by telling a malicious 
 lie to the injury of his character or interests ;' if I 
 willingly hear and repeat ill stories concerning 
 him ; 2 or if I rashly censure his actions ; 3 I am 
 guilty of breaking this Law. 
 
 1 Eph. iv. 25, James i. 26, iv. 11. 
 
 2 Gen. xxxix. 19, Exod. xxiii. 1, 2 Sam. xvi. 3, 4, Prov. 
 xvii. 4. 3 1 Sam. i. 13, Lev. vii. 39, Acts ii. 13. 
 
 Q. What are you taught by the tenth Com- 
 mandment ? 
 
 A. That I am " not to covet or desire other 
 men's goods, but" that I must " learn and labour 
 truly to get mine own living, 1 and to do my duty 
 in that state of life unto which it shall please God 
 to call me." 2 
 
 1 Eph. iv. 28, 1 Thess. iv. 11. 
 
 2 1 Cor. vii. 20, Phil. iv. 1 1 , 2 Thess. hi. 10,12, Heb. xiii. 5. 
 Q. What are you forbidden to do by this Com- 
 mandment ? 
 
 A. To indulge in any unlawful desires for the 
 possessions of another, 1 or to cherish any evil 
 thoughts which may incline me to the commission 
 of sin. 2 
 
 1 Deut. v. 21, 1 Kings xxi., 1 Sam. xii. 3, 2 Sam. xi. 
 5 Deut. xv. 9, Prov. xxiv. 9, Is. Iv. 7, Zech. viii. 17, Acts 
 viii. 22. 
 
 Q. What general truth may be learnt from this 
 Commandment? 
 
 A. Since the restrictions contained in this Com- 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 99 
 
 mandment have reference only to the inward af- 
 fections of the mind, it plainly reveals this awful 
 truth ; — that all our thoughts are heard and regis- 
 tered in heaven, 1 and that we shall be called to ac- 
 count at the judgment-day for every evil thought, 2 
 as well as for every idle word 3 and sinful action. 4 
 And since " he that offends" only "in one" single 
 " point is guilty of all ;" s most earnestly ought we 
 to pray the good Lord to have mercy upon us 
 for all that is past, 6 and that it may please Him 
 henceforth to " write all these" His " Laws in our 
 hearts;" 7 " that those things may please Him which 
 we do at this present ; and that the rest of our life 
 hereafter may be pure and holy, 8 so that at the 
 last we may come to His eternal joy, 9 through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen I" 
 1 Rom. vii. 7-21. 
 
 - Jer. xvii. 10, Matt. xv. 18-20, Mark vii. 21-23. 
 3 Matt. xii. 36, 37. 4 Matt. xvi. 27. 
 
 6 Gal. iii. 10, James iii. 10. 
 
 " 1 Kings viii. 57, 58, Ps. xli. i. 7 Heb. viii. 10. 
 s 2 Cor. vii. 1, 1 John iii. 3. 9 Judc 21. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 OF PRAYER. 
 
 Q. The above being an imperfect sketch of 
 the duties which man is bound to perform ; and 
 the punishment for disobedience being so dread- 
 ful in intensity, and eternal in duration ; aggra- 
 vated as it will be to those who know their Lord's 
 will, 1 but do it not ; and feeling (as we all must) 
 our inability of our own strength to fulfil our so- 
 lemn engagements respecting it ; how are we to 
 obtain God's assistance in our honest endeavours 
 to perform it ? 
 
 1 Luke xii. 47, 48. 
 
 A. I must pray earnestly and constantly to 
 Him 1 whose "grace is sufficient for" me; 2 and 
 Who has declared to us all, " If ye abide in Me, 
 and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye 
 will, and it shall be done unto you." 3 And again: 
 " If ye being evil know how to give good gifts 
 unto your children, how much more shall your 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 101 
 
 heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them 
 that ask Him." 4 
 
 1 Luke xviii. 1-14, 1 Thess. v. 17, James i. 5. 
 
 2 2 Cor. xii. 9. 3 John xv. 7. 
 4 Luke xi. 13. 
 
 Q. How are you to pray for this assistance ? 
 
 A. Our Saviour Himself, when applied to by 
 one of His disciples for instruction on the sub- 
 ject, 1 most graciously condescended to accede to 
 his request, and prescribed a form of prayer, which 
 He designed for the perpetual use of the Church ; 
 for He says, " When ye pray, say, Our Father, &c." 2 
 i. e. make use of these very words. Hence it is 
 called " the Lord's Prayer." 
 
 1 Luke xi. 1 . 2 # Luke xi. 2. 
 
 Q. Into how many portions may this prayer be 
 divided ? 
 
 A. Into three : the first of which is a preface, 
 relating to the goodness and greatness of God. 
 The second comprehends six petitions, viz. — 1. 
 " Hallowed be Thy name ; 2. Thy kingdom come ; 
 
 3. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven ; 
 
 4. give us this day our daily bread ; 5. and forgive 
 us our trespasses, as we forgive them that tres- 
 pass against us ; 6. and lead us not into tempta- 
 tion, but deliver us from evil." The third part 
 consists of a doxology, or an ascription of domi- 
 nion and might, mercy and praise, to Almighty 
 God for ever and ever; viz. " For Thine is the 
 
 k 2 
 
102 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever 
 and ever. Amen." 
 
 Q. What impression should the preface create 
 upon the attention of the person that uses these 
 words ? 
 
 A. When I address Almighty God, as " Our 
 Father," 1 I should be reminded that I ought to 
 shew Him that reverence and honour which is 
 His due, 2 and to treat all men, especially Chris- 
 tians, who, as well as myself, have been adopted 
 into His peculiar family, 3 as my brethren, with 
 kindness and brotherly love ; 4 and when I address 
 Him as peculiarly "in heaven," 5 I should be im- 
 pressed with a lively sense of His infinite great- 
 ness, 6 and my own lowliness in comparison of 
 Him, 7 " whose seat is in heaven, and whose king- 
 dom ruleth over all." 8 
 
 1 Is. lxiii. 16, lxiv. 8. 2 Mai. ii. 10. 3 Rom. viii. 15. 
 
 4 Rom. xii. 10, Heb. xiii. 1, 1 Pet iii. 8, 2 Pet. i. 7. 
 
 5 Is. lxvi. 1, Matt. xvi. 17. 6 Johnx. 29, Ps. lxxxix. 7. 
 7 Is. xl. 17, Ps. viii. 4, Heb. ii. 6. 8 Ps. xi. 4, ciii. 19. 
 Q. What is included in the first petition, viz. 
 
 " Hallowed be Thy name ?" 
 
 A. In this petition we heartily pray that we 
 ourselves, and all the world, may be enabled to 
 give unto God the glory and honour which is due 
 unto Him, 1 as He hath revealed and made Him- 
 self known unto us. That we may adore Him as 
 au infinitely and incomprehensibly glorious Being, 2 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 103 
 
 in all the excellencies of divine perfection, 3 eter- 
 nity, 4 purity, 5 power, 6 wisdom, and goodness, 7 far 
 above the thoughts of either men or angels. That 
 we may have high and honourable thoughts of 
 Him, and of all that in any way appertains to His 
 Attributes or worship ; and that we may use and 
 treat with reverence, and in a holy manner, what- 
 ever is called by His Name, as His Word, His Day, 
 His House, His Sacraments, His Ministers, and all 
 His children. 
 
 1 Eph. iii. 21. 2 Deut. xxviii. 58. 
 
 3 Is. xxxv. 2, Ps. cxlviii. 13. 4 Rom. i. 20. 
 
 5 Job xxv. 5, Prov. xxx. 5. 
 
 6 Job xxxvii. 23, Is. xxviii. 29. 7 Ps. xxxvi. 7. 
 
 Q. What is the force of the second petition, 
 viz. " Thy kingdom come ?" 
 
 A. Herein we pray that the power which the 
 devil has obtained by idolatry, or any sorts of 
 sins, over a great part of the world, may, by the 
 power of God's Spirit, and the preaching of the 
 Gospel, be destroyed. 1 That the Kingdom, or 
 Church of Christ, may be enlarged ; that all kings 
 and nations may be converted, and submit to the 
 government of Jesus Christ through His Church.* 
 That He may rule by His Word and Holy Spirit 
 in all our hearts ; that we may obey His Minis- 
 ters 3 as His ambassadors ; 4 and that they may 
 have the protection and support of all the higher 
 powers on earth, and that these may become 
 
104 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 nursing-fathers to the Church. 5 That there may 
 be no heresies, 6 schisms, or divisions amongst us, 
 but that we may hold the " Unity of the Spirit 7 in 
 the bond of peace." That God in Christ may be 
 worshipped with a pure and spiritual worship; 8 
 that all His Laws and Ordinances may be reli- 
 giously kept ; and that we may all grow in know- 
 ledge, holiness, and brotherly love. That we may 
 earnestly desire, be duly prepared, 9 and patiently 
 in faith and well-doing wait for, and finally with 
 joy enter into, God's kingdom of glory. 
 
 1 1 John in. 8. 2 Eph. i. 22, v. 2i. 3 Heb. xiii. 17. 
 
 4 2 Cor. v. 20. 5 Is. xlix. 23. 6 1 Cor. i. 10. 
 
 1 Eph. iv. 3. 8 2 Cor. v. 19. 
 
 ' J Phil. in. 13-21, 2 Pet. iii. 12. 
 
 Q. What is comprehended in the third petition, 
 viz. " Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven ?" 
 
 A. Herein we pray that, as we have in Bap- 
 tism professed our resolution not to obey the will 
 of the devil, nor to make the vain customs of the 
 world, nor the inclinations and lusts of the flesh, 
 but the will of God alone, the rule of our lives ; 
 so God would, by His Holy Spirit, 1 work in us 
 both to will and to do all that He commands. 
 That we may in thought, word, and deed, yield a 
 sincere, universal, and cheerful obedience to the 
 Gospel of Christ. That we may submit our un- 
 derstanding to His wisdom, and our wills to His 
 authority ; our affections and passions to His go- 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 L05 
 
 vernment; and our persons, lives, and estates to 
 J lis disposal. That we may endeavour after the 
 most perfect degrees of holiness and duty, and, as 
 the holy angels in heaven, 2 rejoice in a holy and 
 entire obedience to His commands. 
 
 1 Phil. ii. 13. - Dan. vii. 10. 
 
 Q. What is contained in the fourth petition, 
 viz. " Give us this day our daily bread ?" 
 
 A. Herein we pray that God would give us all 
 things needful for this life, until we be fitted for a 
 better. 1 That we may have health and strength 
 to serve God, and such a measure of other good 
 things, as He sees most expedient for us. That 
 He would give us grace to labour industriously in 
 an honest and profitable calling, so that we may 
 have enough to supply our own comforts, and to 
 administer to the wants of others. That we may 
 be able to pay every one his due, and to contri- 
 bute to the public good botli of Church and State. 
 That we may not, through the temptations of 
 poverty, do any unlawful thing; nor, by those 
 of riches, live proudly, luxuriously, or profanely. 
 That we may live contentedly and peaceably, and 
 use every thing we have religiously and soberly ; 
 free from all covetousness, and greedy desires, as 
 well as from all intemperance, 2 idleness, 3 waste, 
 and prodigality. 4 
 
 1 1 Tim. vi. 17. 8 Luke xv. 13. 
 
 3 Prov. xix. 15. 4 Is. lix. 7. 
 
106 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 Q. What is the force of the fifth petition, viz. 
 " Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them 
 that trespass against us ?" 
 
 A. Herein we pray that God would give us 
 such a hearty sorrow for all our sins, as may work 
 in us repentance unto life, never to be repented 
 of: 1 and, confessing our vileness, we beseech 
 Him of His rich mercy, and for the sake of Jesus 
 Christ, graciously to forgive us, and to grant unto 
 us a perfect hatred of our sins, with a power and 
 will to forsake them. We also pray for grace that 
 we may be enabled to be merciful to others, and 
 to forgive, love, and pray for our enemies, repay- 
 ing cursing with blessing, hatred with love, and 
 evil with good: 2 by all means endeavouring to 
 effect a reconciliation with them ; 3 knowing that 
 we ourselves cannot hope for pardon from God, 4 
 so long as we are not in love and Christian charity 
 with all mankind. 5 
 
 1 2 Cor. vii. 10. - Matt. v. 44-16. a Matt v. 23, 24. 
 
 4 Matt, sviii. 35. 5 1 Cor. xiii. 3. 
 
 Q. What is contained in the sixth and last peti- 
 tion, viz. " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver 
 us from evil ?" 
 
 A. As we must not presume that God will par- 
 don, or shew us mercy, unless we persevere in ho- 
 liness and obedience ; l so herein we pray that He 
 would, by the power of His grace, make us both 
 able and willing to shun, and manfully to resist, 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 107 
 
 all temptations to sin ; that He would frustrate all 
 the devices of the devil to draw us into sin ; 2 that 
 neither the love nor fear of any thing in the world, 
 nor our own lusts and appetites, may prevail with 
 us to do evil, or to neglect our duty ; but that, by 
 His grace, God would assist our endeavours after 
 a holy life, and preserve us from all evil, both of 
 sin and its punishments, as well in this world as in 
 that which is to come. 3 
 
 1 Mark xiii. 13. 2 1 Pet. v. 8. ' Heb. xii. 28. 
 
 Q. How ought we to be impressed by the third 
 division of this prayer, namely, the doxology ? 
 
 A. With a deep conviction of that holy rever- 
 ence which is due to that perfect Being, to whom 
 belong " the kingdom, and the power, and the 
 glory :" 1 — Who " heareth not sinners," 2 but Who 
 doth vouchsafe to accept the prayers of those that 
 "worship Him in spirit and in truth;" 3 namely, 
 those who worship Him with their hearts, and 
 with the offering of a holy life. 
 
 1 Matt. v. 48, Heb. ii. 10. « John ix. 31. 
 
 3 John iv. 23, Psalm lxv. 2. 
 
 Q. What force is there in the word " Amen," 
 with which this prayer is concluded ? 
 
 A. By this word we testify the sincerity and 
 earnestness of these our hearty desires and pray- 
 ers ; and moreover we hereby express our hope 
 and confidence, that God will most graciously 
 grant our requests. 
 
108 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 Q. What is sanctioned by the manner in which 
 this prayer was instituted ? 
 
 A. It furnishes a presumption that it was our 
 Saviour's design that the prayers of Christian con- 
 gregations should be offered up in a set form of 
 prayer, such as our Church-Liturgy is. 1 For no 
 one can have so mean an opinion, either of St. 
 John's or our Saviour's disciples, as to suppose 
 that they did not know how to pray ; and, there- 
 fore, it is plain they could only intend, by this re- 
 quest, to signify their wish that Christ would give 
 them a peculiar form (according to the custom of 
 the Jewish Doctors, k ) as a badge of their belonging 
 to Him. So that either our Saviour taught His 
 disciples to use these very words, or else He did 
 not answer the design of their requests; and 
 hence St. Austin declares that "we cannot be 
 God's children unless we use this prayer." 1 
 
 1 Num. vL 22-27, x. 35, 36, Deut. xxvi. 3-15, 1 Chron. 
 xxiii. 30, Ezra iii. 10, 11, Matt. xxvi. 39, 42, 44. 
 
 Q. What more definite authority is there to 
 sanction the use of a Liturgy ? 
 
 A. The example of our Saviour Himself, Who 
 
 k Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 158. 
 
 1 Serm. lviii. torn. 5. col. 337 d. e. And St. Cyprian 
 observes, " If we hope to have our prayers accepted of the 
 Father only for His Son's sake, why should we not hope to 
 have them most speedily accepted, when they are offered 
 up in His Son's own words?" — De Orat. Domin. p. 139. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 109 
 
 joined 1 in the Liturgy of the Jewish Synagogue,'" 
 and the practice of His first Apostles 2 and of the 
 primitive Christians," are sufficient to assure us 
 that this mode of worship is that which is most 
 acceptable unto God ; since otherwise they would 
 never have practised it. And of this we may be 
 the more certain, when we do not find that either 
 our Saviour Himself, or His first disciples, ever 
 joined in any prayers, but precomposed set forms 
 only? which forms were also such as the respective 
 congregations of the early converts were accus- 
 tomed to, and thoroughly acquainted with. 
 
 1 Matt. xii. 9, Mark iii. 1, Luke vi. 6. 
 
 2 Acts iii. 1, \iii. 15, xvii. 2. 
 
 3 Acts xvi. 25, iv. 23, 24, Eph. v. 19, Col. iii. 16. 
 
 Q. Are we under any obligation to perform 
 our acts of worship in a similar manner? 
 
 A. Yes: since our Saviour hath "left us an 
 example, that we should follow His steps," 1 so in 
 this, as in all other respects, ought we "also to 
 walk even as He walked;" 2 especially when we 
 recollect that He has made the previous consent 
 and agreement of the petitioners a condition to 
 the obtaining a fulfilment of their requests. For 
 
 - Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 922, 912, 946. 
 
 " Just. Mart. Apol. I. c. 85, p. 124, 1. 28. Origen cont. 
 Cels. lib. vi. p. 312, Aug. Vintlel. 1605. Cypr. de Laps, 
 p. 132. 
 
 L 
 
no 
 
 AN EXPOSITION' OF 
 
 although Christ hath declared, that "where two 
 or three are gathered together in" His "name," 
 He is " in the midst of them ;" 3 He hath first 
 premised, " if two of you shall agree on earth as 
 touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be 
 done for them of My Father which is in heaven :"° 
 — hereby signifying it to be His will and pleasure, 
 that His disciples, in all their solemn assemblies, 
 should use such prayers as they know beforehand, 
 and have agreed together to have them presented 
 unto God in His name, Who hath here promised 
 that such public prayers shall be heard, but not 
 that any other shall be so: 4 — neither can any be 
 truly said to be ''■gathered together in" Christ's 
 " name," except it be in conformity to the govern- 
 ment which, and in subordination to the 3Iinisters 
 whom, He hath appointed.? 
 
 1 1 Pet. iL 21. 
 
 2 1 John ii. 6. See our obligation to follow the example 
 of the Apostles also asserted in 1 Cor. iv. 16, xi. 1, Phil. iii. 
 16, 17, 2Thess. iii. 6, 7. 
 
 3 Matt, xviii. 19, 20. 4 See 1 Chron. xv. 13. 
 
 Q. Can we then break through or abolish the 
 forms of prayer established in the Church, with- 
 out committing sin ? 
 
 » See Beveridge, Serm. 121. Lond. 1720. 
 p See Perceval's able work on the Apostolical Succession, 
 p. 17. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 ill 
 
 A. No : for as we find St. Paul severely cen- 
 suring those who were desirous of introducing 
 innovations into the then established forms of 
 congregational prayer; 1 and the ancient general 
 Councils of the Church ordaining, (in accordance 
 with our Saviour's designs, whether implied by His 
 conduct, or expressed in His precepts,) "that the 
 same Liturgy, or Form of Prayer, should be always 
 used, both at the ninth hour and in the evening ;"9 
 it cannot be supposed that they are free from 
 guilt 2 who would presume to attempt innovations 
 on that most excellent form of Prayer which is 
 now established in the Church. 3 And since its 
 establishment has been ratified by ecclesiastical 
 authority, 1 ' they who separate themselves, and set 
 up another form of worship, are schismatics, and, 
 consecpiently, are guilty of a grievous sin, which 
 no toleration granted by the civil magistrate can 
 authorize or justify. 
 
 1 1 Cor. xiv. 26, 2 Thess. iii. 6. 
 
 • Rom. xvi. 17, 20. 3 1 Cor. xiv. 15. 
 
 i Cone. Laod can. xviii. 
 
 r Page 46. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OF THE HOLY SACRAMENTS. 
 
 Q. How many Sacraments are there in the 
 Church ? 
 
 A. Two only, which are generally necessary to 
 salvation. 1 
 
 1 1 Cor. x. 1-4. 
 
 Q. Why do you say there are two only ? 
 
 A. Because the sect of the Romanists falsely 
 pretend there are more than two. 
 
 Q. What are these two real Sacraments called ? 
 
 A. " Baptism" is one, 1 and the " Supper of the 
 Lord" is the other. 2 
 
 1 Eph. iv. 5. - 1 Cor. xi. 20. 
 
 Q. How do we know that these two are real 
 Sacraments ? 
 
 A. Because they were ordained to be so by 
 Jesus Christ Himself. 
 
 Q. On what occasions did He institute them ? 
 
 A. After His resurrection, and just before His 
 ascension to heaven, He commissioned His Mi- 
 
THE CHUnCH CATECHISM. 
 
 113 
 
 nisters to " go and disciple all nations, baptizing 
 them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the Holy Ghost." 1 And on the night 
 before His crucifixion, He administered the Sa- 
 crament of His blessed Body and Blood to His 
 assembled Apostles, 2 leaving a solemn command 
 to the successive Ministers of His Church to con- 
 tinue to " do this in remembrance of Him," even 
 unto the end of the world. 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 19. 2 Luke xxii. 14-20. 
 
 Q. For what are these two Sacraments neces- 
 sary ? 
 
 A. Since it is by the former of them that the 
 breath of spiritual life is first breathed into the 
 soul, and by the latter that this vital principle, 
 when so inspired, must be sustained, the Holy 
 Sacraments are necessary to salvation, i.e. neces- 
 sary for us to receive, in order that our souls may 
 go to heaven. 
 
 Q. What do you mean by saying that they are 
 generally necessary to salvation? 
 
 A. I mean that, where they may be had, they 
 are universally necessary; 1 i.e. necessary for the 
 eternal salvation of every person, under the Gos- 
 pel-dispensation, who is capable of receiving them. 
 For as, when a general order is given to an army, 
 it is always with the intention that it shall be uni- 
 versally obeyed, and that no individual member of 
 l 2 
 
114 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 the same shall be permitted to disregard it with 
 impunity; so every neglect of the Christian Sa- 
 craments doth in like manner subject the offender 
 to all the penalties inflicted on wilful disobe- 
 dience, and imminently endanger the salvation of 
 his soul. 
 
 ' 2 Sam. xvii. 11, Jer. xlviii. 38. 
 
 Q. Prove from Holy Scripture that the Sacra- 
 ment of Baptism is universally necessary to sal- 
 vation. 
 
 A. Our Saviour Himself hath declared, that 
 " he that believeth and is baptized 1 shall be 
 saved," a or put into a state of salvation, "and he 
 that believeth not shall be damned." And again, 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be 
 born of water and of the Spirit," (i. e. unless lie 
 be baptized,) " he cannot enter into the kingdom 
 of God." 2 
 
 1 Mark xvi. 16. 5 John iii. 5. 
 
 Q. Prove from Holy Scripture that the recep- 
 tion of the Lord's Supper is universally necessary 
 to salvation. 
 
 A. " Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of 
 
 " This declaration is not to the effect that faith is indis- 
 pensable to Baptism, but that faith without Baptism does 
 not give a title to salvation. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 115 
 
 man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you. 
 Whoso eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, 
 hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the 
 last day." 1 
 
 1 John vi. 53, 54. 
 
 Q. To what body have these Holy Sacraments 
 been confined? 
 
 A. Jesus Christ has given them as a legacy to 
 the Church for ever ; 1 and has promised His bless- 
 ing on their administration by His duly appointed 
 Ministers 2 unto the end of the world. 3 
 
 1 Comp. Matt. xvi. 18, 19, Is. Levi. 10-13, John xiv. 27, 
 Rom. v. 1, 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13, x. 16, 17, Col. iii. 15. 
 
 2 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20, Luke xxii. 19. 
 
 3 Jer. xxxiii. 17, 18, 2 Cor. iii. 11. 
 
 Q. Then what may be learnt from hence as to 
 the benefit of, and necessity for, the existence and 
 presence of the Church ? 
 
 A. Since the Sacraments have been confined 
 by God to the Church alone, we should of course 
 be deprived of them, if the sacred institution, with 
 which they are inseparably connected, were by 
 the judgment of God removed from amongst us. 
 And the reception of them being (as we have 
 seen) essential to the salvation of our souls; it 
 follows, that the existence and presence of the 
 Church, by whom they are dispensed, is as ne- 
 cessary for our everlasting salvation, and in the 
 same degree, as the Holy Sacraments themselves. 
 
116 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 Wherefore, it is no wonder that the Fathers so 
 frequently assert, that whosoever would be a 
 member of the Church triumphant in heaven, 
 must first be a member of the Church here mili- 
 tant on earth. 5 
 
 Q. What are the marks by which the true 
 Sacraments may be distinguished from all others 
 which are pretended to be so ? 
 
 A. There are several things necessary to con- 
 stitute a Sacrament: for there must be, first, 
 "an outward and visible sign," 1 which denotes, 
 secondly, "an inward and spiritual grace given 
 unto us;" 2 i.e. some favour freely bestowed on us 
 from heaven, by which the state of our souls is 
 made better. 
 
 Thirdly; in order to entitle any ceremony to 
 the name of a Sacrament, a further requisite is, 
 that it be " ordained by Christ Himself;" 3 and, 
 fourthly, that it be appointed by Him not only as 
 a sign of grace, but as a "means" also, " whereby 
 we receive the same ;" 4 i.e. as the channel through 
 which He vouchsafes to convey to our souls the 
 spiritual blessings which He hath obtained for us. 5 
 None, but our blessed Lord, could appoint such 
 means ; and which of His Ordinances should be 
 
 b Cypr. Ep. 62, ad Pompon. ; Ep. 73, ad Jubajan. S. 
 Anibros. in Ps. xl. Augustin. Ep. ad Dona, post Coll. de 
 Symb. ad Catech. lib. iv. cap. 10. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 117 
 
 such, and which not, none but Himself could de- 
 termine. From His word, therefore, we are to 
 learn it ; and then, as we hope to attain the end, 
 we must use the means. But, fifthly, it is essen- 
 tial to the constitution of a Sacrament, that it be 
 not only a sign or representation of some heavenly 
 favour, and a means by which it is conferred, but 
 also that it be " a pledge to assure us" 6 that we 
 do, thus, really receive it. These outward actions, 
 so far as they are performed by God's Minister, 
 in pursuance of His appointment, are an earnest, 
 or pledge, on His part, that as surely as our bo- 
 dies are washed by water, and nourished by bread 
 broken and wine poured forth and received, so 
 surely are our souls purified from sin by Baptism, 
 and strengthened in all goodness by partaking of 
 that mercy, which the wounding of the Body of 
 Christ, and the shedding of His Blood, hath ob- 
 tained for us. 
 
 1 Matt. xxvi. 26-29, Acts x. 47. 
 
 2 1 Cor. x. 16, Tit. iii. 5. 
 
 3 Matt, xxviii. 19, Luke xxii. 19, 20. 
 
 4 John iii. 5, vi. 53, 54. 
 
 5 Ps. lxviii. 18, Acts ii. 33. 
 
 6 Luke xxii. 19, 20, John vi. 54-58, 2 Cor. i. 22, v. 5. 
 
 Q. Of how many parts does each Sacrament 
 consist ? 
 
 A. There are two parts in each Sacrament; 1 
 
1 18 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 viz. first, the outward visible sign ; and, secondly, 
 the inward spiritual grace. 
 
 1 2 Cor. i. 22, Eph. i. 13, 14. 
 
 Q. What is essential to the due administratis 
 of the Sacrament of Baptism? 
 
 A. First; that it be administered by one of the 
 duly authorized Ministers of the Church; for since 
 these Ministers alone were entrusted by Christ with 
 those mighty keys of His kingdom in heaven, 1 of 
 which this Sacrament is evidently the chief, 2 it is 
 manifest that these keys must remain in their sole 
 possession; and, moreover, it is plain that no per- 
 son can be admitted through a closed door, ex- 
 cept by one who has received a key wherewith to 
 open it. 3 
 
 Secondly ; it is essential that water be the sub- 
 stance, or outward visible sign, 4 being that which 
 was ordained by Christ Himself: 5 for He, who is 
 our life,'' went down into the icaters of Baptism, 7 
 and we who descend thither find the effects of life. 
 This is that " living" (or life-giving) " tvater," of 
 which whoso drinks needs not drink of it again: 8 
 for " it shall be in him a well of water springing 
 up to life eternal." 
 
 Thirdly ; it is essential that there be pronounced, 
 over the person to be baptized, the words which 
 Christ Himself ordained, viz.: I baptize thee " in 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 119 
 
 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost." 9 This was, by the first Apostles and 
 ancient Bishops, considered so indispensably ne- 
 cessary, that, in their judgment, the omission of 
 any one of these words rendered the Baptism null 
 and void. 
 
 1 Matt. xvi. 18, 19, John xx. 21-23. 
 
 2 Comp. John xiv. 6, Rom. vi. 3, Gal. Hi. 27. 
 
 3 Comp. John xxi. 16, Acts xx. 28, 1 Pet. v. 1, 2. 
 
 4 Comp. 1 Pet. iii. 20, Gen. vii. 17. 
 
 5 John iii. 5, Acts viii. 36, 38. 
 
 6 Col. iii. 3. 7 Matt. iii. 13, 16. 
 
 8 John iv. 10, 11, 14, Is. xliv. 3, 4. 
 
 9 Matt, xxviii. 19. 
 
 Q. Why is the sign of the cross made upon the 
 forehead of persons baptized ? 
 
 A. Since in the forehead nothing is more plain 
 to be seen than the fear of contumely and dis- 
 grace ; and since the most solemn profession we 
 can ever make of obeying Christ, and of suffering 
 reproaches for His sake, is that which is made in 
 Baptism; therefore the Church, in her wisdom, 
 which is by no means to be despised, hath ap- 
 pointed His mark to be set on the forehead of all 
 persons baptized in His name, both as a present 
 token and future memorial, that thenceforth they 
 are not to " be ashamed to confess the faith of 
 Christ crucified, but manfully to fight under His 
 banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and 
 
120 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 to continue Christ's faithful soldiers and servants 
 unto their lives' end." Wherefore, although we 
 observe not this ceremony as an ordinance of 
 God, but of man ; yet since it was used in the 
 first and purest age of Christianity, and esta- 
 blished by that authority which Christ hath left 
 to His Church in matters indifferent, it is, both in 
 respect of that consideration, and also of its profit- 
 able use and spiritual signification, requisite to be 
 observed, so long as the like authority sees no just 
 and reasonable cause to alter it. c 
 
 Q. Is the efficacy of the Sacraments affected 
 by the unworthiness of those who dispense them ? 
 
 A. By no means; for since the Ministers of the 
 Gospel do not dispense their own but Christ's Sa- 
 craments, they are received, not so much from the 
 Ministers, as from Christ by their hands. 1 Hence 
 their virtue and efficacy, since it depends on Christ 
 alone, cannot be interfered with by the internal 
 qualifications or evil dispositions of the persons by 
 whom they are administered ; for otherwise no one 
 could tell whether he had in truth received the 
 Lord's Supper, or whether he had been really 
 baptized, or no. 
 
 1 1 Cor. iii. 5, 6. 
 Q. Is the unworthiness of any Minister a good 
 excuse for staying away from Church ? 
 
 « Chiefly from Hooker. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 121 
 
 A. No : the unworthiness of Ministers (and 
 " who is sufficient for these things ?" ') can justify 
 no person for his neglect of the public worship of 
 God. For as our Saviour commanded attention 
 to the precepts delivered by the Scribes and Pha- 
 risees, 2 in like manner are all Christians bound to 
 observe whatsoever is delivered by their Ministers 
 out of the word of God, and to consider every 
 Ordinance as valid which is administered by their 
 hands ; even if in their characters, and in the dis- 
 agreement between their lives and doctrine, they 
 resemble the persons above referred to. 
 
 1 2 Cor. ii. 16. 2 Matt, xxiii. 2, 3. 
 
 Q. What is the inward grace imparted to those 
 who rightly receive this holy Sacrament of Bap- 
 tism ? 
 
 A. By the indubitable blessing of Christ upon 
 the operations of His Minister, 1 the water becomes 
 a sacramental representation of His most precious 
 Blood, 2 which, on its outward application to the 
 body, doth inwardly wash the soul from all its 
 guilt ; for then " clean water is sprinkled upon us, 
 and we are clean," 3 " having our hearts sprinkled 
 from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed 
 with pure water." 4 Every sin which is past being 
 thus blotted out, we are then justified? or ac- 
 counted righteous, in the sight of God ; and we 
 become new creatures by the operation of the 
 
 M 
 
122 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 Holy Ghost; 6 for we are thus taken out of the 
 state of guilt into which we were born, 7 and are 
 grafted into the Church of Christ, wherein alone 
 the means of recover)- and pardon for future sins 
 are graciously extended to all the adopted, though 
 disobedient sons of God, that " with hearty re- 
 pentance and true faith turn unto Him." 8 
 
 1 Matt. xvi. 19, xxviii. 20, John xx. 23. 
 
 2 Heb. ix. 22, 1 John v. 6, 8. 
 
 3 Ezek. xxxvi. 25, Is. i. 16. * Heb. x. 22, Is. UL 1. 
 
 5 1 Cor. vi. 11, Eph. v. 25, 26, Tit. iii. 5, 7, Heb. x. 22, 
 23, 29, Rom. viii 30, 33, 34; comp. Gal. iii. 27, Rom. 
 viii. 10. 
 
 6 Tit. iii. 5. 7 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. 
 8 Is. i. 2, Jer. iii. 13, 14. 
 
 Q. In whom are faith and repentance previously 
 required ? 
 
 A. In all but infants. 
 
 Q. Why are they required in all adults ? 
 
 A. Since it is declared, that no unclean thing 
 shall enter into the kingdom of God, 1 therefore he 
 who is polluted by sin is excluded therefrom as 
 long as the consequent stain remains in his soul. 
 This, however, cannot be removed while there 
 lingers in the heart an affection for that which has 
 occasioned it. Therefore repentance, whereby we 
 express our sorrow for past transgressions,- with a 
 hearty desire for pardon, and sincere resolution to 
 offend no more, is a necessary qualification for the 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 123 
 
 admission of all actual sinners into this blessed 
 state. But repentance, although in such cases 
 necessarily preceding, can by no means procure 
 the pardon desired. Again, since there is no at- 
 tainment of life but through the only-begotten 
 Son of God, 3 nor by Him otherwise than being 
 such as the Creed Apostolic describeth, 4 it fol- 
 lows that the articles thereof are principles neces- 
 sary for all men to subscribe unto, whom by Bap- 
 tism the Church receives into Christ's peculiar 
 famity. The precious promises of pardon and of 
 eternal life to those who have entered in at " the 
 strait gate," 5 are, through faith, unfeignedly be- 
 lieved ; and we are thus led to seek for the appli- 
 cation to our souls of " the blood of Jesus which 
 cleanseth from all sin." 6 But faith is in itself no 
 more effectual than repentance to procure the sal- 
 vation of the soul. Without faith the pardon of 
 sin in Baptism would not be sought, because we 
 should not then believe that Baptism would effect 
 our cure ; but by this means it is that we are led 
 with our burdens of guilt to the gate of life, where 
 stands the Minister of Christ, with a key to admit 
 all penitent believers, 7 by baptizing them in His 
 name for the remission of their sins ; 8 and when 
 the load is thus removed, and grace infused for 
 further support, the pardoned sinner is then, but 
 not till then, sent on his heavenward course re- 
 joicing. 
 
124 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 1 Rev. xxi.27. 
 3 John x. 9, xiv. 6. 
 5 Matt, vil 13, 14. 
 '• Matt. vii. 7, 8. 
 
 2 2 Cor. vii. 10. 
 
 1 Jude 3,1 Tim. L 18-20. 
 
 6 1 John i. 7. 
 
 Q. Why are infants baptized without these qua- 
 lifications ? 
 
 A. As well for the reason given in the Cate- 
 chism as for many others, d of which it may be 
 sufficient to mention only one : viz. that as no act 
 whatever can entitle a man to the grace of pardon 
 from God, 1 so when God bestows this grace, it is 
 so entirely His own work, 2 that all which the re- 
 cipient can do is merely to offer no hinderance to 
 its effectual operation. 3 Hence repentance and 
 faith, which are the acts of man, are not essential 
 to the sacramental grace of Baptism, except where 
 they are required to remove those obstacles which 
 actual sin has raised up in certain individuals, as 
 an impediment to the free operation of God's grace 
 upon their souls. But since children are " born 
 in sin," 4 they have as much need of pardon as all 
 other men ; though, as they have committed no ac- 
 tual sin, there is in them alone no self-constructed 
 
 A See St. Cyprian. Ep. ad Fidum ; TertulL lib. de AnimS, 
 c. 39 and 42 ; Origen. lib. v. ad Rom. c 6. "It were better 
 that they should be consigned and sanctified without their 
 own knowledge, than to die without being sanctified." — 
 Greg. Naz. Orat. 40. in S. Bapt. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 125 
 
 barrier to obstruct the admission of the purifying 
 grace of God ; 5 and therefore they have no need of 
 repentance to remove this barrier. And we no where 
 find that faith is more necessary to Baptism than re- 
 pentance ; but on the contrary, whereas there are 
 instances recorded in which repentance was not 
 specifically required, 6 so also there are others in 
 which there was no explicit stipulation with re- 
 spect to faith. 7 Wherefore it follows, that if the 
 former may be dispensed with (as has been proved), 
 the latter also may. But as it is not declared that 
 either of these qualifications is more necessary 
 than the other, so it is not given us to suppose 
 that both of them together are more necessary than 
 one; 8 therefore if either of them may be in certain 
 cases omitted (as is the fact), both also may under 
 similar circumstances be dispensed with ; and the 
 full spiritual benefits of the Sacrament may, not- 
 withstanding, be freely bestowed on those of whom 
 Christ hath declared, that " of such is the king- 
 dom of heaven," 9 and that except we become " as 
 little children" we " cannot enter into the king- 
 dom of heaven :" i. e. we cannot be admitted into 
 the Gospel-covenant, unless all our contrarieties 
 and impediments (with which infants are not en- 
 cumbered) be taken from us, and we be as apt as 
 little children to receive the new immissions from 
 heaven. 
 
 M 2 
 
12G 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 1 Matt. vii. 17, 18, Rom. iv. 2, 6, vii. 18, viii. 7, 8, Tit. 
 iii. 5. 
 
 - John iii. 6-8, Rom. v. 10, Eph. ii. 5, 8, 12, Tit. iii. 4, 5. 
 
 3 Acts viii. 36, x. 47. 
 
 4 Is. xlviii. 8, Ps. li. 5, Job xiv. 4, Eph. ii. 3. 
 
 5 Gal. ii. 21, James i. 17, 21. 
 
 6 Acts viii. 37. 7 Acts ii. 38. 
 
 8 Comp. Matt. iii. 13-17, 1 Pet. ii. 22, Heb. xii. 2. 
 
 9 Luke xviii. 17. 
 
 Q. What scriptural authority is there for the 
 Baptism of infants ? 
 
 A. In the Old Testament Almighty God, by 
 the mouth of His prophets, foretold to the Church, 
 that in her days of prosperity among the Gentiles 
 " they should bring her sons m arms, and her 
 daughters should be carried upon shoulders ;" 1 
 and accordingly we find, that from the Apostolic 
 times the Church hath constantly baptized the in- 
 fants of Christian parents. e Moreover this is the 
 ground on which the Apostle argues against a dis- 
 solution of the marriage-bond when contracted 
 between an infidel and a believer, even in case of 
 obstinate unbelief : for, says he, " the unbelieving 
 
 e " The Church hath received tradition* from the Apos- 
 tles to give Baptism to children." — Origex. lib. v. ad Rom. 
 c. 6. " But baptize your infants, and bring them up in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord." — Clementis Con- 
 stitut. 
 
 • See 2 Thess. ii. 15, iii. 6, 1 Cor. xi. 2. 
 
THE CHUKCH CATECHISM. 
 
 1'2 7 
 
 husband is sanctified," or rather, " has been sanc- 
 tified by the wife ;" 2 i. e. it has often come to pass 
 that an unbelieving husband has been converted, 
 and so brought to Baptism by his wife ; and " an 
 unbelieving wife has," in the same sense, " been 
 sanctified by her husband." As a proof of which 
 he observes in conclusion : " Else would your 
 children be unclean, but now they are holy ;" L e. 
 if it were not so, or the wickedness and infidelity 
 of the unbelieving party did usually prevail, the 
 children of such would generally remain unbap- 
 tized, and so unclean ; but, by the grace of God, 
 we commonly see a contrary effect, for they are 
 generally baptized, and so become sanctified or 
 holy. 
 
 1 Is. xlix. 22, lx.4, lxri. 12, 13; comp. Gen. xvii. 12, 13, 
 Deut. xxix. 10-12, Col. ii 11, 12. 
 
 2 1 Cor. vii. 12-14. 
 
 Q. What is the consequence of children dying 
 unbaptized ? 
 
 A. We may hope for the best when our neglect 
 was not the hinderance ; because when God hath 
 wholly taken the matter into His own hand, we 
 may be sure that it cannot miscarry ; and though 
 we know nothing of the children, we know much 
 of His goodness. But when God hath given op- 
 portunity for the administration of this Sacrament, 
 we may well fear lest He for our neglect will re- 
 quire their souls at our hands ; 1 and the saying be 
 
128 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 applied to our children, which St. Ambrose used 
 in a similar case : " This soul might have gone to 
 God, if it had been purified and washed. " f We 
 know God is good — infinitely good; 2 but it is 
 not at all good to tempt His goodness : 8 and it is 
 tempted by those who leave the usual way, pre- 
 tending it is not made for them, and who yet hope 
 to arrive at their journey's end, or expect to meet 
 their children in heaven, when they themselves 
 shut that door against them, which, for aught they 
 know, is the only one that stands open. Where- 
 fore if we are influenced in forming our judgment 
 on this subject by a conviction of the heavy per- 
 sonal responsibilities attached thereto, or by the 
 consideration that it is a practice which has been 
 sanctioned by the Church from the age of the first 
 Apostles to the present time ; and also that it is 
 one clearly recognized (as has been proved) in 
 the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testa- 
 ment ; we cannot but conclude that, on every ac- 
 count, " the Baptism of young children is in any 
 wise to be retained in the Church, as most agree- 
 able with the institution of Christ.''^ 
 
 1 Jer. ii. 34. - Ps. lxxxvi. 5, cxix. 68, Matt. six. 17. 
 
 3 Is. vii. 12, Matt. iv. 7, xxii. 18, Acts v. 9. 
 
 Q. Why is the other Sacrament called the 
 Lord's Supper? 
 
 ' Lib. ii. cap. 11. de Abrah. Patriarch. t Art. xxvii. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 129 
 
 A. Because it was instituted by our Lord at 
 supper, 1 and because it was designed to succeed 
 into the place of the Paschal Supper of the Jews. 2 
 
 1 Mattxxvi. 19-30, Mark xiv. 16-25, 1 Cor. xi. 23-25. 
 
 '- Matt. xxvi. 17-19. 
 
 Q. Why was this Sacrament ordained ? 
 
 A. That the grateful remembrance of the death 
 of Christ might be continually kept alive in the 
 hearts of His people and that they might be led 
 constantly to reflect upon the everlasting blessings 
 conferred on a guilty world 2 by the sacrifice of 
 Himself once offered on the cross; 3 — the benefits 
 of which are spiritually conveyed to all His faith- 
 ful believers, 4 when engaged in the due celebra- 
 tion of this commemorative Sacrament. 
 
 1 Luke xxii. 19, 1 Cor. xi. 26. 
 
 2 Rom. iv. 25, v. 20, viii. 32, 2 Cor. v. 21, Col. i. 21, 22. 
 
 3 Heb. ix. 12, 24, 28, x. 10, 1 Pet. ii. 21, 24, iii. 18. 
 
 4 Comp. Luke xxii. 19, Johnxv. 13, 14, 1 Cor. x. 16, John 
 vi. 54, 56, 1 Cor.xii. 13. 
 
 Q. Why are bread and wine used in the cele- 
 bration of this holy Sacrament ? 
 
 A. Because these elements constitute that out- 
 ward visible sign 1 which Christ ordained as the 
 channel through which His grace might flow to 
 the souls of His people, when, in celebrating this 
 holy Sacrament, they eat of the one and drink of 
 the other at His table. For it is recorded, " that 
 the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was 
 
130 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 betrayed took bread; and when He had given 
 thanks, He brake it, and said, ' Take, eat : this is 
 My body, which is broken for you : this do in re- 
 membrance of Me.' 2 After the same manner also 
 He took the cup, 3 when He had supped, saying, 
 ' This cup is the New Testament in My blood : 
 this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance 
 of Me.' " 
 
 1 Matt xxvi. 26-29. » 1 Cor. xi. 23-25. 
 
 3 See Mark xiv. 25. 
 
 Q. What then do these elements represent ? 
 
 A. The bread is, in its sacramental significa- 
 tion, the Body, and the wine the Blood of Christ : l 
 " insomuch that to such as rightly" (i. e. from 
 the proper hands, and with proper qualifications), 
 " worthily, and with faith, 2 receive the same, the 
 bread which we break is a partaking of the Body 
 of Christ, and likewise the cup of blessing is a 
 partaking of the Blood of Christ." h Wherefore 
 the pious communicant doth so really and truly 
 partake, after a spiritual manner, of His most 
 blessed Body and Blood, that he thereby becomes 
 one with Christ and Christ with him 3 — a " mem- 
 ber of His flesh and of His bones." 4 
 
 1 1 Cor. x. 16, 21. 2 Comp. John vi. 35, 47, 53. 
 3 John vi. 56. * Eph. v. 20. 
 
 h Art. xxviii. 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 131 
 
 Q. What are some of the benefits accruing to 
 our souls from this spiritual union with Christ? 
 
 A. By worthily receiving this holy Sacrament, 
 we may be assured that it will prove to our souls 
 what the Tree of Life would have been unto Adam 
 and Eve in Paradise ; J and that as they, had they 
 continued obedient, would have been in no danger 
 of temporal death ; even so we, while we faithfully 
 feed on this bread and wine, now (by Christ's pro- 
 mised blessing 2 on the consecration of His Mi- 
 nister) endued with a life-giving Spirit, and while 
 we live as we ought to do, are in no danger of 
 death eternal : 3 since these are pledges to assure 
 us, that as certainly as bread and wine do nourish 
 our bodies, so do these visible elements seal to 
 our souls all the spiritual benefits which, by His 
 sacrifice and death, our Saviour Jesus Christ hath 
 purchased for us. 
 
 1 Gen. iii. 22, John vi. 48, 54. 
 
 2 Matt, xxviii. 20, 1 Cor. x. 16. 3 John v. 24, vi. 53-58. 
 Q. Why do we receive these elements on our 
 
 knees ? 
 
 A. Both "for a signification of our humble 
 and grateful acknowledgment of the benefits of 
 Christ therein given to all worthy receivers ; and " 
 also " for the avoiding of such profanation and 
 disorder in the holy Communion as might other- 
 wise ensue." But no adoration is hereby " in- 
 tended either unto the sacramental bread and 
 
132 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 wine, there bodily received, or unto any corporal 
 presence of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood," 
 which are now " in heaven, and not here," neither 
 can " be, at one time, in more places than one." h 
 
 Q. What are the consequences of receiving this 
 holy Sacrament unworthily ? 
 
 A. " As the benefit is great, if with a true pe- 
 nitent heart and lively faith we receive this holy 
 Sacrament, so is the danger great, if we receive 
 the same unworthily. For then we are guilty of 
 the Body and Blood of Christ our Saviour; 1 we 
 eat and drink our own damnation, not considering 
 the Lord's Body; 2 we kindle God's wrath against 
 us; 3 we provoke Him to plague us with divers 
 diseases and sundry kinds of death," 4 for "pre- 
 suming to eat and drink the sign or sacrament of 
 so great a thing." 5 
 
 1 1 Cor. xi. 27. 2 1 Cor xi. 29, 1 John L 6, 7. 
 
 3 Prov. xv. 8. 4 1 Cor. xi. 30. 
 
 5 1 Cor. xi. 20. 
 
 Q. What is the consequence of absenting our- 
 selves from the holy Communion ? 
 
 A. Though the danger of partaking unworthily 
 is so fearful, yet we have no reason to suppose it 
 to be greater than that which would be incurred 
 by a refusal to partake at all. For, by this con- 
 
 h See the declaration at the end of " The Order for the 
 Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion." 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 133 
 
 duct, we should be involved in the sin of " deny- 
 ing theLord that bought us," 1 — of bringing an evil 
 report upon an Ordinance of Christ, as if it were 
 not worth observing, — and of living in a state in 
 which all our prayers would be rejected by God. 2 
 We should thus provoke Him every day to with- 
 draw His grace more and more, 3 and to leave us 
 to our own ungodly ways, till we had filled up the 
 measure of our iniquities, 4 and prepared for our- 
 selves a sentence not to be heard without trem- 
 bling : " I tell you, that none of those men which 
 were bidden shall taste of my Supper" 5 in heaven. 
 And if the righteous shall " scarcely be saved, 
 where shall the ungodly sinner appear," 6 who 
 cares not, in this his day, to " neglect so great 
 salvation I" 7 
 
 1 Luke xii. 9, Matt. x. 33. 2 Is. i. 2, 4, 14, 15, lix. 2. 
 
 3 Prov. xx. 2, Gen. vi. 3, Eph. iv. 30. 
 
 4 Ezek. xvi. 43. 5 Luke xiv. 24. 
 6 1 Pet. iv. 18. 1 Heb. ii. 3. 
 
 Q. Who are to be debarred from receiving this 
 holy Sacrament? 
 
 A. Besides persons that are openly excommu- 
 nicated and cut off from the Body of Christ,' are, 
 first, all scandalous offenders, who, if they offer 
 themselves at the Communion, are to be repelled ;J 
 
 ! Art. xxxii. 
 
 ' " Let no Judas, no lover of money, be present at this 
 
134 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 and, secondly, all schismatics (or persons who, by 
 separation, excommunicate themselves}) to whom 
 no " Minister, when he celebrateth the Commu- 
 nion, is wittingly to administer the same, under 
 pain of suspension." k Thirdly, it is provided that 
 none are to be admitted to the holy Communion 
 until such time as they be confirmed, or be ready, 
 (i.e. of competent age,) and desirous, and duly 
 qualified to be confirmed. 1 And, fourthly, all 
 
 Table : he that is not Christ's disciple, let him depart from 
 it. Let no inhuman, no cruel person, no uncompassionate 
 man, or unchaste, come hither. I speak this to you that 
 administer, as well as to those that partake ; for it is ne- 
 cessary I speak these things unto you, that you may take 
 great care, and use your utmost diligence to distribute these 
 offerings aright. For no small punishment hangeth over 
 your heads, if, knowing any man to be wicked, you suffer 
 him to be partaker of this Table ; for his blood shall be re- 
 quired at your hands. — Wherefore, if he be a General, or a 
 Provincial Governor, or the Emperor himself, that cometh 
 unworthily, forbid him, and keep him off : thy power is 
 greater than his. If any such get to the Table, reject him 
 without fear. If thou darest not remove him, tell it me ; I 
 will not suffer it ; I will yield my life rather than the Lord's 
 Body to any unworthy person ; and suffer my own blood to 
 be shed, before I will grant that sacred Blood to any but to 
 him that is worthy." — Chrysost. Horn lxxxiii. in Matt, 
 xxvi. — See also the second part of the Homily " On the right 
 use of the Church." 
 k Can. xxvii. 
 
 1 Rubric at the end of " The Order of Confirmation." 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 1 35 
 
 strangers from other parishes, the Minister is, by 
 the Canons, required " to forbid, and to remit 
 such home to their own Parish-churches and Mi- 
 nisters, there to receive the Communion with the 
 rest of their neighbours." 111 
 
 1 Jude 19. 
 
 Q. How are we to qualify ourselves to become 
 meet partakers of this holy Sacrament ? 
 
 A. We must examine ourselves, according to 
 the precept of St. Paul, who declares, " Let a 
 man examine himself, and so let him eat of that 
 bread and drink of that cup." 1 
 
 1 1 Cor. xi. 28, Lam. iii. 40. 
 
 Q. What is the first point as to which we must 
 examine ourselves? 
 
 A. Whether we do truly and earnestly repent us 
 of our past transgressions acknowledging and be- 
 wailing beforeGod " our manifold sins and wicked- 
 ness, 2 which we from time to time most grievously 
 have committed by thought, 3 word, 4 and deed, 5 
 against" His "Divine Majesty, provoking most 
 justly" His "wrath and indignation against us;" 6 
 remembering, at the same time, that the only con- 
 dition on which this demonstration of sorrow will 
 be accepted by God, is, that we stedfastly resolve 
 
 m Can. xxvii. 
 
13 G 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 to forsake all sin and wickedness for the future, 
 and to glorify Him by a holy Christian life. 7 
 
 1 Ps. xxvi. 6, xxxviii. 18, 2 Cor. vii. 9, 10. 
 
 2 Jer. xxxi. 18-20, Prov. xxviii. 13. 
 
 3 Matt. xv. 19. 4 James iii. 6. 
 
 5 Jude 14, 15. 6 Dan. ix. 7-21. 
 
 ? Is. lv. 7, Ezek. xviii. 30, 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. 
 
 Q. What is the next subject appointed for our 
 self-examination ? 
 
 A. Whether we have a " lively faith in God's 
 mercies through Christ;" 1 i.e. whether we do 
 stedfastly believe, that, if we truly repent us of 
 our sins, God will not only most certainly forgive 
 them ; but, as an earnest of it, that He does here, 
 in this very Sacrament, ratify and seal anew His 
 covenant with us, — restoring to us the spiritual pri- 
 vileges, which, by sin, we have lost since our Bap- 
 tism, — and making us partakers of the benefit of 
 that redemption w hich our blessed Saviour hath 
 purchased for us by the sacrifice of His own most 
 precious Body and Blood. 
 
 1 Heb. x. 22, 23. 
 
 Q. How are we to determine the sincerity of 
 our faith ? 
 
 A. The Scriptural rule of judging, is not by the 
 positirettess, but by the liveliness, of our faith ; l i.e. 
 by the fruits of a Christian life which it produces ; 
 for " faith without works is dead." 2 If we cannot 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 107 
 
 shew the evidence of these, the highest confidence 
 will do us no good ; but, if we can, we need have 
 no apprehensive doubts as to our spiritual condi- 
 tion : and we cannot take a more likely method 
 either to perfect our repentance or to strengthen 
 our faith, than by receiving this Sacrament fre- 
 quently. 
 
 1 James ii. 14. - James ii. 17. 
 
 Q. What is the next aiticle for self-examina- 
 tion? 
 
 A. Whether this lively faith be accompanied by 
 a "thankful remembrance of the death of Christ;" 1 
 for, if we believe that He died to save us, surely 
 we must be thankful for it ; but true thankfulness 
 produces love, and " this is the love of God, that 
 we keep His commandments." 2 Hence we are 
 furnished with a rule by which to judge of the 
 reality of our thankfulness. 
 
 1 1 Cor. xvi 22, Eph. vi. 24. 2 1 John v. 3. 
 
 Q. What is the last subject for our self-exami- 
 nation ? 
 
 A. Whether we are "in charity with all men." 1 
 And on this point we should examine ourselves 
 according to the standard which has been left us 
 by St. Paul, who declares that neither the peevish, 
 nor the unkind, nor the envious, nor the ambi- 
 tious, nor the self-conceited, nor the insolent and 
 haughty, nor he who is easily provoked, nor the 
 H 2 
 
138 
 
 AN EXPOSITION* OF 
 
 evil-surmiser, nor he who delights in scandal, nor 
 the spreader of evil reports, nor he who rashly 
 believes them, are any of them charitable; 2 and 
 that, consequently, whatever degree of religion 
 may be pretended to by any of these, it can profit 
 them nothing. Wherefore, in order to acquire 
 this necessary qualification, (which is, in reality, 
 less frequently possessed than most persons are 
 willing to allow,) we must fervently pray that it 
 may please Almighty God to " send His Holy 
 Ghost, 3 and to pour into our hearts that most ex- 
 cellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and 
 of all virtues;" 4 lest, living " without this," we be 
 "at the last counted dead before Him." 5 
 
 When we have, according to the best of our 
 ability, honestly and conscientiously performed the 
 foregoing preparatory exercises, and feel within 
 ourselves that we do truly repent us for our sins 
 past ; that we have a lively faith in Christ our Sa- 
 viour; that we are really striving to amend our 
 lives ; and that we are in perfect charity with all 
 men ; then we may hope to be meet partakers 
 of these holy mysteries, 6 and are invited by the 
 gentle voice of our tender Mother' — the Church 
 — to " draw near with faith, and take this holy Sa- 
 crament to" our " comfort," 6 " meekly kneeling on 
 our knees." And, oh ! that it may be unto me 
 according to my faith ! That it may please God 
 to have mercy upon me ; to pardon and deliver me 
 
THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 
 
 130 
 
 from all my sins; 9 to confirm and strengthen me 
 in all goodness ; 10 and to bring me to everlasting 
 life," through Jesus Christ our Lord ! Amen ! 
 
 1 Matt. v. 23, 24, Gal. vi. 10. 2 1 Cor. xiii. 1-7. 
 
 3 2 Tim. i. 7, Rom. xv. 5, Gal. v. 22, 1 Cor. xii. 31, Eph. 
 iv. 3. 4 Col. iii. 14. 
 
 5 1 John iii. 14, James ii. 2G, 1 Tim. v. G. 
 
 6 Ps. xxvi. 6. ' Gal. iv. 26-31. 
 8 Heb. x. 22, John vi. 54, 47. 9 2 Sam. xii. 13. 
 
 Num. vi. 22-26. 11 Acts xx. 32. 
 
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