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dom come.

UR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingThy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Question. What desirest thou of God in this Prayer?

Answer. I desire my Lord God our heavenly Father, who is the giver of all goodness, to send his grace unto me, and to all people; that we may worship him, serve him, and obey him, as we ought to do. And I pray unto God, that he will send us all things that be needful both for our souls and bodies; and that he will be merciful unto us, and forgive us our sins; and that it will please him to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily; and that he will keep us from all sin and wickedness, and from our ghostly enemy, and from everlasting death. And this I trust he will do of his mercy and goodness, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore I say, Amen, So be it.

Question.

How many Sacraments hath Christ ordained in his Church?

Answer. Two only, as generally necessary to salvation, that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord.

Question. What meanest thou by this word Sacrament?

Answer. I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.

Question. How many parts are there in a Sacrament?

Answer. Two; the outward visible sign, and the inward spiritual grace. Question. What is the outward visible sign or form in Baptism?

Answer. Water; wherein the person is baptized In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Question. What is the inward and spiritual grace?

Answer. A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness: for being by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace.

Question. What is required of persons to be baptized?

Answer. Repentance, whereby they forsake sin; and Faith, whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that Sacrament. Question. Why then are Infants baptized, when by reason of their tender age they cannot perform them?

Answer. Because they promise them both by their Sureties; which promise, when they come to age, themselves are bound to perform.

Question. Why was the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ordained?

Answer. For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby.

Question. What is the outward part or sign of the Lord's Supper?

Answer. Bread and Wine, which the Lord hath commanded to be received.

Question. What is the inward part, or thing signified?

Answer. The Body and Blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.

Question. What are the benefits whereof we are partakers thereby? Answer. The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the Bread and Wine.

Question. What is required of them who come to the Lord's Supper? Answer. To examine themselves, whether they repent them truly of their former sins, stedfastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death; and be in charity with all men.

The Curate of every Parish shall diligently upon Sundays and Holy-days, after the second Lesson at Evening Prayer, openly in the Church instruct 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, (which have not learned their Catechism,) to come to the Church at the time appointed, and obediently to hear, and be ordered by the Curate, until such time as they have learned all that is here appointed for them to learn.

So soon as Children are come to a competent age, and can say, in their Mother Tongue, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments; and also can answer to the other Questions of this short Catechism; they shall be brought to the Bishop. And every one shall have a Godfather, or a Godmother, as a Witness of their Confirmation.

¶ And whensoever the Bishop shall give knowledge for Children to be brought unto him for their Confirmation, the Curate of every Parish shall either bring, or send in writing, with his hand subscribed thereunto, the names of all such persons within his Parish, as he shall think fit to be presented to the Bishop to be confirmed. And, if the Bishop approve of them, he shall confirm them in manner following.

NOTE.

THE knowledge of religion is not to be acquired without an attention proportioned to the importance of the subject. In all ages, therefore, it has been a prime duty with conscientious ministers of the Gospel to excite the people to a careful study of the principles of their faith. The primitive churches had a class of teachers employed entirely in imparting the elements of knowledge to the ignorant or inexperienced. They obtained the name of Catechists; and the candidates for baptism, whom they chiefly instructed, were called Catechumens. The celebrated Origen was made a catechist in the Church of Alexandria in the eighteenth year of his age, and consequently before he could hold the sacred office of deacon, or priest; but Chrysostom, it is said, was a catechist at Antioch when he enjoyed the rank of Presbyter. In a comparison made by an ancient writer, in which the Church is represented under the figure of a ship; the bishop is compared to the pilot, the Presbyters are spoken of as the mariners, the deacons as the chief rowers, and the catechists as the persons employed in receiving passengers into the vessel. The catechumens, or candidates for baptism, were admitted to the advantages of Christian instruction, with a solemnity which proved to them the value of the privilege. Their probation continued in ordinary circumstances for two years; and as they were commonly persons of mature age, it is easy to perceive how large a portion of religious knowledge they must have enjoyed before they were admitted into the Church of Christ, or made partakers of its ordinances. The general profession of Christianity, and the consequent prevalence of infant baptism, led to the gradual discontinuance of this careful and direct method of instruction; but few circumstances have conduced more to the injury of religious feeling than its having been taken for granted by the Church and its members, that the system of strict catechizing might be safely dispensed with. Such a provision, seemingly, was made by the founders of the Reformation for the general instruction of the people, that if the Church of this and other countries had continued to act according to their spirit, the

people would not have been left so long in a state of dangerous ignorance. Our own Catechism is among the shortest devised, but it abounds in the instruction most necessary to a person anxious to know the principles of Scripture truth. It was not compiled merely for the use of children, nor is it intended to supply the place of a more explanatory instruction, which it was expected every minister would give his people, drawing his topics from the Catechism itself, and dilating on its questions and answers till the whole of its several heads became familar to his hearers. In the primitive times the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer, were all that the catechumens were obliged to commit to memory. These also formed the substance of our own Catechism at the commencement of the Reformation. In the reign of James I. the part concerning the Sacraments was added by Bishop Overal at the request of the king and the other prelates. The Rubrics at the end of the Catechism teach both ministers and people their duty in respect to the instruction of the ignorant. Different circumstances may necessarily occasion some variety as to the times of public catechizing. But it is plain, not only from these Rubrics, but from the 59th Canon, that our Church requires its frequent repetition, and considers it as an essential part of its institutions. Such vast benefits have been found to result from a diligent attention to this mode of instruction, that every faithful and consistent Christian must earnestly desire to see the time arrive when it shall again be practised with all the earnestness and wisdom which its importance demands. No churchman ought to be ignorant that it is expressly enjoined in the Canon mentioned above, that the clergyman of every parish" shall, for half an hour or more, examine and instruct the youth and ignorant persons of his parish in the Ten Commandments, the Articles of the Belief, and in the Lord's Prayer; and shall diligently hear, instruct, and teach them the Catechism set forth in the Book of Common Prayer." To this it is added, " And all fathers, mothers, masters, and mistresses, shall cause their children, servants, and apprentices, which have not learned the Catechism, to come to the Church at the time appointed, obediently to hear, and to be ordered by the minister, until they have learned the same. And if any minister neglect his duty herein, let him be sharply reproved upon the first complaint, and true notice thereof given to the bishop, or ordinary of the place." Again, " And likewise if any of the said fathers, mothers, masters, or mistresses, children, servants, or apprentices, shall neglect their duties, as the one sort in not causing them to come, and the other in refusing to learn, as aforesaid; let them be suspended by their ordinaries, if they be not children, and if they so persist by the space of a month, then let them be excommunicated." The practice of catechising in schools is highly to be applauded and valued; but a dangerous error is committed if it be supposed to lessen the necessity of catechising in churches, whereby a greater degree of seriousness is secured, and the more advanced in age are assisted in acquiring a knowledge of the Gospel and of their duty.

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THE ORDER OF

CONFIRMATION,

OR LAYING ON OF HANDS UPON THOSE THAT ARE BAPTIZED AND COME

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Upon the day appointed, all that are to be then Confirmed, being placed, and standing in order, before the Bishop; he (or some other Minister appointed by him) shall read this Preface following.

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O the end that Confirmation may be ministered to the more edifying of such as shall receive it, the Church hath thought good to order, That none hereafter shall be Confirmed but such as can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments; and can also answer to such other Questions, as in the short Catechism are contained: which order is very convenient to be observed; to the end, that children, being now come to the years of discretion, and having learned what their Godfathers and Godmothers promised for them in Baptism, they may themselves, with their own

mouth and consent, openly before the Church, ratify and confirm the same; and also promise, that by the grace of God they will evermore endeavour themselves faithfully to observe such things, as they, by their own confession, have assented unto.

Then shall the Bishop say,

O ye here, in the presence of God, and of this congregation, renew the solemn promise and vow that was made in your name at your Baptism; ratifying and confirming the same in your own persons, and acknowledging yourselves bound to believe, and to do, all those things, which your Godfathers and Godmothers then undertook for you?

And every one shall audibly answer,
I do.

The Bishop.

OUR help is in the name of the Lord and earth.

Answer. Who hath made heaven

Bishop. Blessed be the name of the Lord;

Answer.

Henceforth, world without end.

Bishop. Lord, hear our prayers.

Answer. And let our cry come unto thee.

The Bishop. Let us pray.

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate

these thy servants by Water and the holy Ghost, and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins; Strengthen them, we beseech thee, O Lord, with the holy Ghost the Comforter, and daily increase in them thy manifold gifts of grace; the spirit of wisdom and understanding; the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength; the spirit of knowledge and true godliness; and fill them, O Lord, with the spirit of thy holy fear, now and for ever. Amen.

¶Then all of them in order kneeling before the Bishop, he shall lay his hand upon the head of every one severally, saying,

DEFF

EFEND, O Lord, this thy Child [or this thy Servant] with thy heavenly grace, that he may continue thine for ever; and daily increase in thy holy Spirit more and more, until he come unto thy everlasting kingdom. Amen.

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OUR

¶ And (all kneeling down) the Bishop shall add,

Let us pray.

Thy kingdom

UR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us

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