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 7 
 
 CATECHISING ; 
 
 AN 
 
 ESSENTIAL PART OF THE EVENING SERVICE 
 
 ON 
 
 SUNDAYS AND HOLYDAYS. 
 
 SI Sermon, 
 
 PREACHED AT WARE, ON MONDAY, JUNE 12tH, 1843, AT THE 
 
 VISITATION OF THE VENEE.VBLE THE AUCHDEACON 
 
 OF MIDDLESEX, 
 
 AVD PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE ARCHDEACON 
 AND CLERGY ASSEMBLED. 
 
 BY THE REV. GEORGE MOODY, M.A. 
 
 RECTOR OF GILSTON. 
 
 LONDON: 
 RIVINGTONS; DARTON AND CLARK. 
 
 Price 6d. each, or os. a Dozen.
 
 Most of the authorities quoted in this Sermon may be found, 
 with references, in a valuable "Series of Documents and 
 Authorities on the duty, advantage, and necessity of 
 Public Catechising in the Church." By the Rev. JOHN 
 LEY, M.A. (Bums.) 
 
 LON'DON: 
 H. W. MAtltm, 19, CURSITOR STRBET, CHAKCERT LANE.
 
 CATECHISING ; 
 
 ETC. 
 
 In the Church I had rather speak five words with my under- 
 standing, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten 
 thousand words in an unknown tongue. — I Cor. ch. xiv. v. 19. 
 
 There is a cheerfulness about the formularies of 
 the Church, that serves at times, rather, to make 
 one melancholy. They are all so full of hope — 
 of confidence — nay, of assurance. We may well 
 be almost afraid to take the words upon our lips ; 
 for instance, to say to Almighty God, that " we 
 most heartily thank him for assuring us, that we 
 are very members incorporate in the mystical 
 body of his Son, which is the blessed company of 
 all faithful people, and also heirs through hope of 
 his everlasting kingdom." 
 
 And this is the more striking in the occasional 
 offices in which we speak of others, and that too, 
 indi%'idually. In the case of every child brought 
 to the holy font we exhort the congregation " not 
 to doubt, but earnestly believe, that our blessed 
 Redeemer will favourably receive this present in- 
 fant, that he will embrace him with the arms of 
 his mercy, that he will give unto him the blessing 
 of eternal life, and make him partaker of his ever- 
 lasting kingdom." Every such child we teach.
 
 so soon as he is able to learn, to call himself ^^ a 
 member of Christ, a child of God, and an inhe- 
 ritor of the kingdom of heaven/' In the case of 
 all young persons brought to confirmation, the 
 Bishop, after thanking God for having regenerated 
 them, and given them the forgiveness of their 
 sins, lays his hand upon the head of every one of 
 them severally. Every sick member, after making, 
 when requisite, a special confession of his sins, if 
 he humbly and heartily desire it, shall be absolved 
 by the priest of all his sins. At the burial of the 
 dead, we always " give God hearty thanks for that 
 it hath pleased him to dehver this our brother out 
 of the miseries of this sinful world ;" and we pray, 
 " that when we shall depart this life, we may rest 
 in Christ, as our hope is, this our brother doth." — 
 Always hope, always confidence. 
 
 Now in all this we are told, and I believe truly, 
 that there is a certain amount of assumption. 
 The Church assumes the sincerity of every wor- 
 shipper ; as indeed must be done, or no two per- 
 sons could pray together. But, let it be observed, 
 she never assumes any thing, except in connexion 
 with the use of certain means. Her cheerfulness 
 is merely the confidence of good results from the 
 use of appointed means ; — the cheerfulness of 
 holy faith, that when man is faithful to his duties 
 God will be faithful to his promises. The means 
 neglected, this confidence is no longer faith, but 
 presumption. Now, as regards others, charity 
 requires that we should assume too, — that they 
 are, and are doing, what they profess to be and to 

 
 be doing. As to ourselves, however, it must be, 
 not assumption, but reality ; and least of all, my 
 reverend brethren, should there be any assump- 
 tion with respect to us. 
 
 No wonder, too, that I have little comfort in 
 using our mother's words of hope, if I am neglecting 
 the simple tneans which those words assume me 
 to have employed. I may think that Abana and 
 Pharpar are better than all the waters of Jordan ; 
 I may be doing great things in my own way, but 
 I ought not to be surprised if I miss the com- 
 fort and the blessing laid in the way of those who 
 walk on steadily in the path of duty and obedi- 
 ence. It is of importance, then, whatever else we 
 may do or leave undone, that we omit no part, 
 however small, of the means prescribed by the 
 Church, or rather assumed to have been employed 
 in the case of every individual, of whose state 
 here and prospects hereafter, we are made to speak 
 with such confidence. To the humble and obe- 
 dient it is most encouraging to find that there is a 
 provision made, (and the more minute the detail 
 the more satisfactory), for the training of every 
 such member of Christ's body from earliest in- 
 fancy — from the cradle to the dying bed. 
 
 To keep, however, this discourse within due 
 bounds, we will limit ourselves to the years pre- 
 vious to confirmation, and, as is not unbefitting 
 the occasion on which we are assembled, chiefly, 
 though by no means exclusively, to the duty of 
 the clergy. 
 
 And here the preacher may be allowed in pass- 
 A 3
 
 ing to express his delight, that he is about to speak 
 entirely upon points of practice, and, for the most 
 part, in the words of the Church. At the same 
 time, that he may not be thought to attach undue 
 importance to his subject, — namely, the duty of 
 bringing each individual parishioner from his ear- 
 liest days into immediate contact with his spiritual 
 teacher and guide, — even should he dwell upon it 
 as the very ground-work of our Church system, 
 he is glad at the outset to fortify himself with the 
 words of the present Primate of all England. — 
 " The allegiance you owe to the Church,^^ says his 
 Grace, in a charge delivered when Bishop of this 
 diocese, '^ obliges you, in every particular of your 
 professional conduct, to look to her for direction. 
 . . . . Her wisdom indeed might of itself command 
 our attention, though her authority were less. In 
 her Canons, which are a body of laws for the gene- 
 ral regulation of her discipline, we find many di- 
 rections of the greatest importance, which ought 
 to be familiar to the parish priest. Her liturgical 
 formularies not only supply a collection of prayers, 
 instructions, and offices adapted to all the solem- 
 nities of religious worship, to the exigencies of 
 every age and every condition, to the uses of every 
 day, to all the contingencies of life ; but virtually 
 establish a system of parochial discipline, con- 
 ceived on an accurate notion of the relation be- 
 tween the pastor and his flock, designed to connect 
 them by a regular intercourse, and to direct the 
 conduct of both parties in the performance of 
 their respective duties. As the ground-work of
 
 this plan, it is her peculiar object to bring the pa- 
 rishioner from his earliest days into immediate con- 
 tact with his spiritual teacher and guide. In the 
 tenour of the rubrics annexed to the catechism, 
 and the offices of baptism and confirmation, com- 
 pared with the several canons relating to the same 
 points, we have connected indications of this de- 
 sign. Whether we look to the dedication of the 
 infant to God by the ministry of the priest, to 
 the promise of faith and obedience, which is made 
 in his presence by the sponsors, or to the exhorta- 
 tion which designates their duties, and specifies 
 the instruction to be given to the child, — we dis- 
 cern the pervading intention of placing the rising 
 generation in the view of the minister, of giving 
 them in the tenderest infancy the advantage of his 
 paternal protection, and sending them to the 
 Church to be publicly instructed by him in faith 
 and morals, till he is so well satisfied with their 
 proficiency as to recommend them for confirma- 
 tion to the Bishop/' 
 
 My task then is an easy one, and our duty a 
 plain one. God Almighty grant, that eviiy child 
 committed to our care may henceforth enjoy the 
 full benefit of the Church's provision for it ! That 
 there may be no mere assumption as to our employ- 
 ment of the means of bringing about the as- 
 sumed result ! 
 
 It is then expressly provided, that on the first 
 or second Sunday next after the birth of a child, 
 or other holyday falling between, the child, unless 
 upon great cause and necessity, shall be brought
 
 8 
 
 publicly to the holy font, which is then to be filled 
 with pure water ; and immediately after the last 
 lesson at morning or evening prayer, be publicly 
 baptized. It is assumed that the infant has the 
 advantage of the prayers of the congregation. 
 Let us at least afford the opportunity, and ad- 
 monish and exhort to the performance of the duty. 
 Let all due honour be paid to Christ's holy sacra- 
 ment of regeneration. 
 
 It is provided, too, that the child shall have 
 three sponsors, each and all of whom shall be 
 communicants. But, it may be objected, com- 
 municants cannot be procured in sufficient num- 
 ber. And no wonder, if, by any omission or prac- 
 tices on our part, the people have been generally 
 allow'cd to attach comparatively little importance 
 to the holy sacrament of Christ^s body and blood. 
 The Church assumes that the people have been 
 not only taught, but in a variety of ways led to 
 feel, that this sacrament, as well as the other, is 
 necessary to salvation. She assumes, indeed, that 
 on every Sunday and holy day the grand object for 
 which w^e assemble together in God^s house is to 
 break bread ; that, on every such day, as far as I 
 can understand her rubrics, which are meant to 
 be plain directions, if only there be a convenient 
 number to communicate with the priest, there 
 takes place a celebration of the Lord's supper; 
 that it is the constant endeavour of the minister to 
 bring every individual in his parish, above the age 
 of sixteen, to the holy table, thrice a year at the 
 least. At all events she assumes, that all is said
 
 and done that is appointed at the communion, 
 without change or omission ; the effect of "which 
 would doubtless be to remind every individual 
 present, that she regards this sacrament as a ne- 
 cessary duty — necessary indeed to salvation. 
 
 But even, as things are, might not more be 
 done than is done in the way of advising with the 
 parents as to the choice of sponsors? Is there 
 not too much distinction of rank kept up in these 
 matters ? Why should not a rich communicant 
 stand occasionally for the child of a poor depen- 
 dant or neighbour. A standing admonition, as is 
 done in some parishes, might be given to the spon- 
 sors in the shape of a book or card. It is assumed, 
 indeed, that all parents and sponsors are from time 
 to time publicly admonished of their duties; namely, 
 whenever a child is brought to holy baptism ; and 
 that each child has a godfather or godmother as a 
 witness of his confirmation. 
 
 As soon as the child is able to learn, there is 
 provision made that he shall be taught, what a 
 solemn vow, promise, and profession, he has made 
 by his sponsors. A catechism is provided, that is 
 to say, an instruction to be learned of every per- 
 son before he be brought to be confirmed by the 
 bishop. With whom the responsibility rests of see- 
 ing that this instruction is given and understood 
 and learned, or rather of giving it, is plain enough 
 from the Rubrics. Let us read them : — 
 
 " The Curate of every parish shall diligently 
 upon Sunday sand Holy days, after the Second Lesson 
 at Evening Prayer, openly in the Church instruct
 
 10 
 
 and examine so many children of his parish sent 
 unto him, as he shall think convenient, in some part 
 of this catechism. 
 
 " And all Fathers, Mothers, Masters, and 
 Dames, shall cause their Children, Servants, and 
 Apprentices (who have not learned their cate- 
 chism), to come to the Church at the time appointed, 
 and diligently to hear and be ordered by the Curate, 
 until such time as they have learned all that is 
 here appointed for them to learn.''' 
 
 The Church then assumes, that every baptized 
 child is duly catechised by the clergyman of the 
 parish. To impress, brethren, upon your mind 
 and my own, the duty and importance of cate- 
 chising, is the main object of this discourse. 
 
 And first, as in duty bound, let us appeal to 
 God's holy book. The word and the practice are 
 alike scriptural. The stress laid upon it by the 
 great Apostle of the Gentiles is manifest from 
 the text. Much as he valued spiritual gifts, and 
 though he could thank God that he spoke with 
 tongues more than all those whom he was ad- 
 dressing, " Yet in the Church," he says, " I had 
 rather speak five w^ords with my understanding, 
 that I might catechise others (iva kol aWovc, kuti}- 
 yrriaoj) than ten thousand words in an unknown 
 tongue." The exact method of this catechetical 
 instruction it is not for one of small research like 
 myself to offer to explain. It is evident, how- 
 ever, that it was simple oral instruction, and rather 
 in the form of teaching than of preaching. St. 
 Cyril, indeed, expressly states, that St. Paul
 
 11 
 
 preached the Gospel from Jerusalem to Illyria, 
 and taught at Rome by catechising. And if we 
 may appeal to Clement of Alexandria for the pre- 
 cise meaning of the term, it signifies '' the know- 
 ledge of religion first delivered to the ignorant 
 by the catechist, and then by them repeated over 
 and over again ; the catechist being said to in- 
 struct by making the elements of Christian doc- 
 trine resound {KaTrjyrEiv) in the ears of his stu- 
 dents, and the catechumen being said to be 
 taught by repeating the words addressed to him 
 and by answering questions." Thus when The- 
 ophilus, of whom St. Luke testifies, is said to 
 have been instructed in Christianity, the original 
 word is " catechised." When Apollos, of whom 
 we read the high commendation, that he was 
 mighty in the Scriptures, is said to have been '^' in 
 structed in the way of the Lord" — again, the word 
 is " catechised." In the Epistle to the Galatians 
 mention is made of the two parties together, 
 "Let him that is catechised in the word, commu-' 
 nicate unto him that catechises in all good things." 
 " It was principally by catechising," says He- 
 gesippus in his Ecclesiastical History, " that the 
 religion of Jesus was in a few years spread over 
 the known world," so that Julian the Apostate, 
 the greatest enemy that Christians ever had, found 
 no speedier way to root out the Christian religion 
 than by suppressing places of catechising. Cle- 
 mens Alexandrinus, Heraclas, and Origen were 
 catechists, and the latter was so eminently suc- 
 cessful in proceeding upon the golden rule, " line
 
 12 
 
 upon line, and precept upon precept/' that he not 
 only achieved conversions among the more igno- 
 rant and uninformed, but among accomplished 
 scholars. — "And when/' says bishop Andrews, 
 " catechising was left off in the Church, it soon 
 became darkened and overspread with ignorance. 
 The Papists acknowledge" he continues, " that all 
 the advantage which the Protestants have gotten 
 of them hath come by this exercise ; and, it is to 
 be feared, that if ever they get ground of us, it 
 will be by their more exact and frequent cate- 
 chising than ours.'' 
 
 It was indeed a frequent boast of our Re- 
 formers, that they had restored the old way of 
 giving instruction ; and grievously did good bishop 
 Ridley, at the beginning of Queen Mary's reign, 
 lament this loss of the catechism. — "O devilish 
 malice, and most spitefully injurious to the salva- 
 tion of mankind purchased by Jesus Christ ! In- 
 deed Satan could not long suffer that so great 
 light should be spread abroad in the world. He 
 saw well enough, that nothing was able to over- 
 throw his kingdom so much as if children, being 
 godly instructed in rehgion, should learn to know 
 Christ while they are young. Now, therefore, he 
 roareth, — now he rageth." The Council of Trent 
 bear strong though reluctant testimony to the 
 point, in saying, "The age is sadly sensible what 
 mischief they (the Protestants) have done the 
 Church of Rome, not only by their tongues, but 
 especially by their writings, called catechisms." 
 And when there began to be a falling off among
 
 13 
 
 ourselves wc find Archbishop Whitgift issuing a 
 letter upon the subject, in which he says, "This 
 mischief might well be redressed, if that which 
 in this behalf has been wisely and godly provided 
 were as carefully called on and executed, namely, 
 by catechising and instructing in churches youth 
 of both sexes, on the sabbath days and holydays 
 in afternoons, and that before their parents and 
 others of the several parishes, who thereby may 
 
 take comfort and instruction also I am very 
 
 sorry," he proceeds, " to hear that my brethren, 
 the bishops of my province of Canterbury, do so 
 generally begin to neglect to call for and exact 
 the catechising of children in the Church by the 
 minister, and of parents to send thither their 
 children and to come thither themselves. I am, 
 therefore, in conscience urged very earnestly, and 
 in the fear of God, to require your lordship and 
 others my brethren the bishops, according to 
 your pastoral care and for the duty which you owe 
 to God and his Church, both in your visitations 
 from time to time, and by your archdeacons 
 and other ecclesiastical officers to give straight 
 
 charge especially unto ministers, to expound 
 
 and to examine the children in that little cate- 
 chism which is allowed by authority/' 
 
 In the next generation we find King James 
 the First, in a letter to Archbishop Abbot con- 
 cerning preachers, enjoining, "That no parson, 
 vicar, or lecturer, shall preach any sermon here- 
 after upon Sundays and holydays in the afternoon 
 in any cathedral or parish church throughout this
 
 14 
 
 kingdom, but upon some part of the catechism, 
 or some text taken out of the creed, ten command- 
 ments, or the Lord^s prayer, (funeral sermons 
 only excepted) ; and that those preachers be most 
 encouraged and approved of, who spend the after- 
 noon's exercise in the examining of children in 
 their catechism, and in the expounding of the se- 
 veral points and heads thereof, which is the most 
 ancient and laudable custom of teaching in the 
 Church of England." 
 
 As troublesome times came on, we have the 
 heads of the Church insisting with increased ear- 
 nestness upon the same point ; e.g. King Charles 
 the First, of blessed memory, in his instructions 
 to Archbishop Laud, requiring " that in all pa- 
 rishes the afternoon sermons be turned into cate- 
 chising by questions and answers, where and when- 
 soever there is not some great cause apparent to 
 break this ancient and laudable order/' 
 
 And when matters came to the worst, in the 
 overthrow both of Church and State, we find 
 John Evelyn entering in his diary, " On Sunday 
 afternoon I frequently stayed at home to catechise 
 and instruct my family, those exercises universally 
 ceasing in the parish churches ; so as people had 
 no principles, and grew very ignorant of even the 
 common points of Christianity, all devotion being 
 now placed in hearing sermons and discourses of 
 speculative and notional things." 
 
 The extent of the mischief, however, is per- 
 haps best shewn in the royal directions after the 
 restoration, addressed to Archbishop Juxon res-
 
 15 
 
 pecting preachers : — " That for the more edifying 
 of the people in faith and godUness^ (the afore- 
 said abuses laid aside), all ministers and preachers, 
 in their several respective cures, shall not only 
 diligently apply themselves to catechise the younger 
 sort, according as in the book of Common Prayer 
 is appointed, but also shall, in their ordinary ser- 
 mon insist chiefly upon catechetical doctrines, 
 (wherein are contained all the necessary and un- 
 doubted verities of Christian religion), declaring 
 withal unto their congregations, what influences 
 such doctrines ought to have in their lives and 
 conversations ; and stirring them up effectually, 
 as well by their examples as their doctrines, to the 
 practice of such religious and moral duties as are 
 the proper results of the said doctrines — as self- 
 denial, contempt of the world, humility, patience, 
 meekness, temperance, justice, mercy, obedience, 
 and the like ! and to a detestation and shunning 
 of sin, especially such sins as are ripe among us, 
 and common to the age we live in ; — such are 
 those usually styled the seven deadly ones : in 
 short, all kinds of debauchery, sensuality, rebel- 
 lion, profaneness, atheism, and the like. And 
 because these licentious times have corrupted 
 religion even in the very roots and foundations, 
 that, w here there is an afternoon's exercise, it be 
 especially spent cither in explaining some part of 
 the Church catechism, or in preaching upon some 
 such text of Scripture as will properly and natu- 
 rally lead to the handling of something contained 
 in it, or may conduce to the exposition of the
 
 16 
 
 liturgy and prayers of the Church ; the only cause 
 they grew into contempt among the people being 
 this, that they were not understood/^ So strongly 
 indeed was the subject felt a few years afterwards, 
 that in a letter of Archbishop Selden^s, concerning 
 the increase of sects, addressed to his suffragans, 
 he requires them by themselves and officers to 
 reinforce the execution of such laws and constitu- 
 tions as enjoin the use and exercise of the said 
 catechism. And it appears from the Common's 
 Journal, that in the same month the Attorney- 
 general was desired to prepare a bill, " enjoining 
 all persons possessed of ecclesiastical preferment, 
 under penalty, to catechise and instruct the youth 
 every Sunday in the afternoon, in the Church 
 catechism, and to explain the same, and expound 
 thereupon to the congregation/' 
 
 If time would permit, it would be an interest- 
 ing and not unprofitable exercise to continue the 
 series down to the present age. The whole, how- 
 ever, may be summed up in the few but emphatic 
 words of Bishop Jebb : — " It is observable, that in 
 exact proportion as catechising has been practised, 
 the public morals have been seen to flourish or 
 
 decline And it is not too much to say, that 
 
 next to an established liturgy, and beyond all pre- 
 scribed confessions of faith, the single ordinance 
 of catechetical instruction has been the great stay 
 and support throughout Christendom of orthodox 
 unwavering Catholicity.'' 
 
 But what could show the importance attached 
 by our own Church to this practice more strongly
 
 17 
 
 than the simple fact, that in her 59th canon, she 
 pronounces her severest penalty against the ne- 
 glect of it : — " If any minister neglect his duty 
 herein, viz., in catechising in Church on every 
 Sunday and holyday, let him be sharply reproved 
 
 upon the first complaint If, after submitting 
 
 himself, he shall willingly offend therein again, 
 
 let him be suspended; if so, the third time 
 
 then excommunicated, and so remain until he re- 
 form." 
 
 The following points, then, may, I trust, be 
 considered as established : — 
 
 That it is an essential part of our Church 
 system that every baptized child, rich or poor, 
 gentle or simple, shall be instructed in the faith 
 and duty of a Christian, and that in the cate- 
 chetical method. " Ye shall call upon him to 
 hear sermons, but chiefly ye shall provide that 
 he learn. ... all those things which a Christian 
 ought to know and believe to his souPs health." 
 And in all the subsequent offices of the Church, 
 (e. g., confirmation,) this is assumed to have been 
 done ; not in a hurried, perfunctory manner, but 
 regularly and systematically, as forming indeed, 
 along with holy baptism, the ground-work of all 
 that follows. 
 
 That by catechising is meant, not a mere par- 
 rot-like repetition of a form of words, but a course 
 of oral instruction in the form of question and 
 answer — " by asking questions and correcting the 
 answers."
 
 18 
 
 At the same time the shorter catechism is to 
 be the text-book and the model. " The country- 
 parson/^ says the saintly Herbert, "useth and 
 preferreth the ordinary church catechism, partly 
 for obedience to authority, partly for uniformity 
 sake, that the same common truths may be every- 
 where professed, especially since many remove 
 from parish to parish, who, like Christian soldiers, 
 are to give the word, and to satisfy the congre- 
 gation, by their catholic answers/' 
 
 It is to be the text-book for both teachers and 
 scholars, not only as keeping within certain bounds, 
 but also as ensuring a complete body of divinity 
 as far as it reaches ; fixed limits, but still a wide 
 range. It may be said of it, indeed, as Gregory 
 the Great said of Holy Scripture, "There are 
 places in it where a man may wade, and others 
 where an elephant must swim.'' 
 
 It is also intended as a model — a model of 
 living instruction, as distinguished from a mere 
 form of words. Herein consists its peculiar ex- 
 cellence. It takes a child as a living being, with 
 hopes and fears, with likings and dislikings, with 
 wants and desires. It speaks, not to the head, but 
 to the heart, or rather to the child — the living 
 individual child. It has to do less with light than 
 with life. This peculiarity, which of course is in 
 strict keeping with all the rest of our scheme, 
 and marks it at once as an integral part thereof, 
 will be seen at a glance by comparing it with 
 other formularies of the kind, e. g. with the As- 
 sembly's Catechism, which is excellent in its way.
 
 19 
 
 But how great the difference 1 The one a hard, 
 dry, formal thing ; the other all life and love. 
 The one asks, " What are the decrees of God ?" 
 "AVhat is justification?" "What is adoption?" 
 The other takes the child by the hand as a fellow- 
 member in Christ, and asks, " Dost thou not think 
 that thou are bound to believe and to do, as thy 
 godfathers and godmothers promised for thee at 
 thy baptism, when, as thou hast just been saying, 
 such great things were done for thee ?" And oh ! 
 what a living answer is elicited ! 
 
 Our holy mother does not at once (as we some- 
 times hear the catechism marred and spoiled), 
 bid the child say the Lord^s Prayer ; but having 
 led him to understand and realize his baptis- 
 mal privileges and engagements, addresses him 
 pointedly and individually, — " My good child, 
 know this, that thou art not able to do these things 
 of thvself, nor to walk in the commandments of 
 God, and to serve him, without his special grace, 
 which thou must learn at all times to call for by 
 diligent prayer ; let me hear, therefore, if thou 
 canst say the Lord's Prayer?" And then, not. 
 What is the meaning of this ? but, " What desir- 
 est thou of God in this prayer?" 
 
 But, while the catechism is both the text-book 
 and a model, it is evidently intended that continual 
 reference should be made to the Liturgy and all 
 the offices of the Church. In this way her dis- 
 tinctive features, the authority and constitution of 
 her ministry, the nature and value of her sacra- 
 ments, the admirable arrangement of the Chris-
 
 20 
 
 tian year, the order of her daily and other ser- 
 vices, her solemn ceremonies, the pleasures of the 
 temple, the beauty of her buildings, the sweetness 
 of her songs, the decency of her ministrations, — 
 may be made familiar to the children, and engag- 
 ing to their hearts. The relation of the parts may 
 be shewn, and the agreement of the whole/^ * 
 
 It is provided, too, that this instruction shall 
 be given by the minister himself. Lay helpers, 
 brethren, are invaluable ; but we find no warrant 
 for lay proxies. There is ample employment for 
 all the helpers we can muster. The Sunday- 
 school teacher or the schoolmaster will not be 
 superseded ; but their hearts will be encouraged, 
 and their hands strengthened tenfold, when the 
 curate of every parish himself instructs and exa- 
 mines on each Lord^s day a certain portion of their 
 scholars. When at our first ordination, my reverend 
 brethren, the Bishop admonished us, that it ap- 
 pertaineth to our office to instruct the youth in 
 the catechism, and put to us the pointed ques- 
 tion. Will you do this gladly and willingly ? our 
 answer was, '' I will do so, by the help of God." 
 The minister is the authorized teacher. If the 
 work is done by another (though in many cases, 
 if not done by the clergyman, it is altogether left 
 undone) ; but even if done by another, a principal 
 object is frustrated. Here I am glad to be able 
 to quote the words of our own Diocesan : — 
 
 " The general disuse, " he says, " into which 
 
 * Abridged from "The Church's Care for Little Children." 
 A Charge by the Right Rev. the Bishop of New Jersey.
 
 21 
 
 this practice has fallen, I consider as calamitous 
 to the interests of piety in the highest degree, not 
 only by removing one of the strongest incitements 
 to the parents to teach, and to the children to 
 learn, the doctrines and laws of their Christian 
 profession ; but still more by its frustrating the 
 purpose which it was the principal object of the 
 ordinances to attain. If, at the age when the 
 mind is susceptible of the strongest impressions, 
 the young are regularly brought into personal in- 
 tercourse with their minister, and accustomed to 
 receive their instruction from his lips, they will 
 naturally imbibe a respect for his person, and a 
 reverence to the sacred character of his office, 
 which will prove the strongest of barriers against 
 immorality and vice, as well as dissent and infi- 
 delity. They will regard with deep veneration the 
 truths which they have received upon his au- 
 thority, and will feel, what reasoning can hardly 
 make clear to the ignorant, the danger, no less of 
 guilt than of error, in deserting the appointed 
 guide of their youth for intrusive and unknown 
 teachers." 
 
 Again, it is expressly ordered, that this in- 
 struction be given in the Church. I am one of 
 the last men to decry the school-room ; but the 
 appointed place for this portion of ministerial in- 
 struction is the Church. I am not unaware, that 
 at present the great battle of the Church is to be 
 fought in the school-room; but still, it is the 
 highest glory of the school to be a nursery for the 
 Church. Much preparatory work, e. g., the study
 
 22 
 
 of history and other matters^ and especially of 
 language, ought to be done in the former place ; 
 but when the curate instructs and examines in the 
 fundamentals of religion as a part of his ministerial 
 office, let it be done in God^s own house. Great, 
 indeed, will be the gain in the way of reverence, 
 which, after all, is at least as important as know- 
 ledge. 
 
 Again, it is ordered to be done " openly in the 
 Church,'^ — in the service — ^^ after the second les- 
 son at evening prayer." To do it before the ser- 
 vice or after the service is to depreciate it, and to 
 put its light under a bushel, when it should be set 
 up in the candlestick, and give light to all that 
 are in the house. The Church assumes, that it is 
 not done in a corner. 
 
 Another point of importance is, that it be done 
 diligently upon Sundays and holydays — regularly 
 and systematically, as an integral part of the even- 
 ing service : — Not merely as an occasional thing, 
 — in Lent, or summer, or previous to a confirma- 
 tion. Surely we have all had experience enough 
 of the difficulties of preparing young persons for 
 that apostolic ordinance, to be feehngly persuaded 
 that there is a want somewhere. And what better 
 remedy can there be than the revival of the scheme 
 of catechising on every Sunday and holiday, as 
 by the Church prescribed, and assumed to be prac- 
 tised. Besides, it is a well known prudential 
 maxim, that what may be done at any time, is in 
 great danger of being altogether left undone. 
 
 Once more, brethren, and upon this, I believe.
 
 23 
 
 hinges the success of the whole scheme, — catechis- 
 ing should take the place of a second sermon. 
 Evident, ho\yever, as is the mind of the Church 
 upon this point, I should scarcely have been so 
 bold as to advance it, had I not the full authority 
 of our own diocesan, in his primary charge. His 
 words are : — " In most country parishes, a cate- 
 chetical examination of young persons, inter- 
 spersed with judicious illustrations and remarks, 
 will be of greater benefit to the congregation than 
 a second sermon." 
 
 It is far from my wish to depreciate the ordi- 
 nance of preaching ; but catechising is preaching. 
 Of the three kinds of preaching, viz., catechising, 
 expounding, and preaching, commonly so called, 
 that is, a set discourse or sermon, the last is of 
 the least importance, and the first is of the great- 
 est. But why should there be any rivalry ? The 
 Church would have the two advance " pari passu." 
 She regards the sermon as an integral, though by 
 no means the chief part, of the communion-service 
 on Sundays and holydays. And whenever there is 
 a sermon in the morning, it is her will that there 
 should be catechising in the evening. There would 
 indeed be no rivalry, but like two mirrors, ar- 
 ranged for the purpose, each would reflect light 
 upon the other; not but that the sermon would 
 be the greater gainer of the two. 
 
 " Let us preach," says Archbishop Usher, 
 " never so many sermons unto the people, our 
 labour is but lost so long as the foundation is un- 
 laid, and the first principles untaught, upon which
 
 24 
 
 all other doctrine must be builded Consider^ 
 
 that the laying the foundation skilfully, as it is the 
 matter of greatest importance in the whole build- 
 ing, so it is the very master-piece of the wisest 
 builder. ^ According to the grace of God which 
 is given unto me/ saith the great Apostle, I have 
 laid the foundation/^ 
 
 As to the children themselves, no one, I sup- 
 pose, will deny the superior value of catechising 
 to a second sermon. And only call to mind how 
 large a proportion of the flock the lambs are. And 
 shall we, to gratify the sheep, neglect the lambs ? 
 The good shepherd gathers them in his arms. 
 And ai'e we not as expressly commanded to feed 
 them as the sheep ? Nay, rather in the first place, 
 — " Feed my lambs'^ 
 
 But to meet at once the only two objections of 
 moment that have ever reached my ears. 
 
 One is, that it would be less profitable to the 
 adult portion of the congregation. No : nor 
 would it be, if well managed, less popular. To 
 every one, young or old, that '^ occupieth the 
 room of the unlearned,^^ it would be instructive ; 
 to all it would be a pleasing and useful variety. 
 How many of our people have all the ignorance 
 of children without their teachableness. Our ser- 
 mons are above their heads. A continuous con- 
 nected discourse is lost upon them. They require 
 " line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little 
 there a little." Divine knowledge must be instilled 
 into them drop by drop. Happy would it be if we 
 could catechise them. The next best plan for ar-
 
 25 
 
 resting their attention and communicating some 
 little knowledge to them, is to question children 
 in their presence. Think you, that a mother will 
 not listen to catch her child's reply, and mentally 
 answer, or try to answer, each question herself? 
 The very exercise is itself a variety. And let us 
 never forget, that though the words of the cate- 
 chism are for children to repeat, they are meant 
 for men and women to put in practice. Nor let 
 it be said, there must needs be a great sameness. 
 Far from it : we are obliged to use great variety 
 of illustration to make the matter plain to children; 
 and, after all, there is a variety and fulness of doc- 
 trine even in the catechism itself, though it has 
 only to do with fundamentals, which a man might 
 preach a thousand sermons without exhausting. 
 As catechising makes sure work with the atten- 
 tion and understanding of the catechumen, so it 
 makes close work with the doctrine of the cate- 
 chiser. He must find some meaning for such 
 terms as. The Holy Catholic Church, The Com- 
 munion of Saints. That the sacraments are gene- 
 rally necessary to salvation, must mean some- 
 thing. The Holy Communion must be more than 
 a mere commemoration of Christ's death, when he 
 comes to define a sacrament, that it is a " means 
 whereby we receive inward spiritual grace, and a 
 pledge to assure us thereof." The morning ser- 
 mon will be a gainer every way by the afternoon 
 catechising. There will be more precision and 
 simplicity in the preacher^ and more distinctness 
 of apprehension in the hearers.
 
 26 
 
 The other objection is, that the times are 
 altered, and what might suit in former days will 
 not suit in the nineteenth century. Let me an- 
 swer in the words of the venerable Archdeacon 
 Bayley, "Do the times then no longer require 
 catechising? Far other is the case. Much of 
 that ignorant impatience of discipline — that ever 
 learning, and never being able to come to the 
 knowledge of the truth — that heartless indiffer- 
 ence, which usurps the name of liberality — and 
 that licentiousness of self-will which marks the 
 latter annals, — much of all this, as well as of 
 viciousness of life, and error in religion, is owing 
 to ungroundedness in points of catechism.^^ 
 
 Dear brethren, greater comfort we could not 
 have, or greater praise, than that recorded of Eliot, 
 the Apostolic Missionary among the Indians, 
 who was indefatigable in this exercise, that "he 
 left a well principled people behind him.^^ 
 
 And now having already trespassed too long 
 upon your time, let me only, in conclusion, en- 
 treat your immediate attention to this one point : 
 What chance is there — what possibility is there 
 — of uniformity now, (and without uniformity 
 where are we ?) but in the way of simple con- 
 formity with the rubric ? Of course this is ap- 
 plicable to the whole system of the Church. But 
 it is more particularly my province to day, in 
 connection with our immediate subject, to exhort 
 you to begin at the beginning, with the training 
 of the young. There is a satisfaction in simple
 
 27 
 
 obedience, that nothing else can supply or take 
 away. If in these days we can serve God with a 
 quiet mind, happy are we. For this, there is no- 
 thing like an express command, especially if ac- 
 companied with an express promise. Then, let 
 others dispute or wrangle as they may, we will keep 
 ourselves quiet, and seek to train up our children 
 in the way in which they should go, trusting 
 that when they are older they shall not depart 
 from it. There may be a constant demand upon 
 us for holy faith, and steady perseverance, and 
 lowly minds, and great industry. But, on the 
 other hand, we shall be sure that we are in the 
 right way. We shall be working on the Church's 
 own plan, according to our bounden duty, " to 
 bring all such as are or shall be committed to our 
 charge, unto that agreement in the faith and 
 knowledge of God, and to that ripeness and per- 
 fectness of age in Christ, that thiere be no place 
 left among them, either for eiTor in religion, or 
 for viciousness in life.'' At all events we will not 
 miss the seed time. 
 
 n. W. MARTIN, 19, CUR8IT0R STRSKT, CHANCER? LASE.
 
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