The Catechism OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND Explained and Illustrated. BY A COUNTRY CLERGYMAN. "Great care must be taken in the instruction of youth: the bare saying the Catechism by rote is a small matter,—it is necessary to make them understand the weight of every word in it.” BURNETT.-PASTORAL CARE. IPSWICH: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HUNT AND SON, WERTHEIM AND MACINTOSH, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. M.DCCC.XLIX. Preface. A REASON may justly be asked for the appearance of a new publication of the "Church Catechism Explained and Illustrated." Has it not been explained and illustrated already?-The Writer is fully aware that it has been; and, as he readily admits, by those much more competent than himself. But he is not aware of the existence of any compilation combining the advantages of explanation and illustration. And in aiming at an union of these separate advantages, he trusts it will be felt by others, as he is himself assured by experience, that however imperfectly he may have succeeded, he has not undertaken a superfluous office. He fervently prays the attempt may be made instrumental in the hands of God's Holy Spirit of rendering effectual the Church's "form of sound words" to the religious information and improvement of her young members. He would only further observe that while he has studied simplicity, so as to meet the wants of the humblest in our village schools, he has made it his special object to adapt his plan to the enlightened and educated youth of our middle and higher classes. There are those who may fancy it is unnecessary to instruct the young of those classes in the elementary truths of the Gospel, or to caution young ladies and gentlemen against lying and slandering, "picking and stealing," and such other vulgar vices, which young ladies and gentlemen ought to be above. But the Author is convinced this is a great mistake; as may perhaps be proved by the following little incident: A young gentleman had, with much art and deceit, pilfered some fruit; and when reproved by his Tutor, he was asked "If he did not recollect what his Catechism taught him concerning the sin of picking and stealing?" The child had been brought up by dissenting guardians, and he answered with tears and much concern, that he "had never heard about picking and stealing, for he had never learned the Catechism." A Roman Catholic child, who was present, exclaimed with evident surprise, "What! never heard of the sin of picking and stealing? Never learned your Catechism? ...I think this rebuke from a Roman Catholic youth should convince protestant parents that they would do well to teach their children the Catechism, and instruct them early, whatever their station in life be, in their duty to their neighbour as well as to God, in the admirably simple and pointed words of our Church. THE CATECHISM OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND EXPLAINED AND ILLUSTRATED. Q. What do you understand by the Church Catechism? A. An instruction in the truths of the Christian religion, as taught by the Church of England. Q. What is your name ?-A. N. or M. Q. Who gave you this name?-A. My Godfathers and Godmothers in my baptism; wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. Q. Why is the name given you at your baptism called your Christian name? A. Because it was given me at my Christening, when I was baptized in the name of Christ, and became a Christian by profession. "Baptizing is well called Christening; for baptism is such a covenant between God and man, as makes the receiver of it a visible Christian."-Baxter: Poor Man's Family Book. Q. Have we any examples in Scripture of names being given at a religious ordinance like baptism? |