Hearers of Sermons have proved wavering and unconstant in their judgments for want of a timely and through Catechizing so likewise upon the same ground they have been very erroneous and Opiniative For this want of a plain Institution in the Principles of Truth hath left them destitute of a proper Test whereby they might be able to explore and try what is preacht and to separate the pretious from the vile Through the want whereof they as greedily imbibe a false as true Doctrine and are ready to change their Opinions according to the impression which the affectionate noise of the last Sermon has made upon their Senses Nor are they happier in their reading Holy Scriptures than in hearing of them thus preacht The Un-catechized run upon the same Rock in both For albeit the Divine Word is in it self the pure Fountain of all saving Truths yet persons not trained up in a competent apprehension of Catechistical Principles make it a sink of pernicious Errors sucking Contention from the Breasts of Peace turning the sincere Milk of Gods Word into the Poyson of Asps and perverting the Scripture to their own destruction while they make the Oracles of God not to speak their own but such a Sense and Language as may best adjust their Designs and Interests And as no malice proves more implacable than that which ariseth out of the Ashes of an Apostate love So no Errors are more dangerous than those which proceed from a wrong interpreting and application of the Word of Truth And as those whose fancy has been playing with sounds think every thing they hear is tunable to their fancy So those whose minds are once infected with evil Opinions think every Text speaks according to the Opinions wherewith they are infected And it is an Hypothesis will meet with few Adversaries That Men who are prejudiced and prepossessed with Errors in Religion cannot be reduced but by getting them therein rightly principled which was never yet attempted but by solid and perspicuous Catechizing it being by this that Men prove in Religion like the House in the Gospel founded upon a Rock which by no force of storms and winds could be subverted And therefore if this ground-work be not surely laid all superstructures in Religion lie upon the loose Sand and are easily washt away by the insinuating suggestions of false Teachers And what is yet further to be considered we see the rest of the Building sink with the Foundation if that be shaken all will go to ruine And Christians not well grounded in the Elements of Truth and Holiness will quickly be perswaded to give themselves up to any wild Opinion or loose Practice and turn Schismatick or Traytor to the great hazard and confusion both of Church and State But if it be objected that Catechizing is a Plaister too narrow for our Sore because it cannot reach those whose Age or some other Circumstance excludes them the number of those for whom this sort of Instruction is appointed notwithstanding they have no less need thereof than others To this it will be enough to return the succeeding considerations viz. 1. That the Church obviated this Scruple when in the last Edition of the Liturgy she appointed the Catechism to be learned of every person And in her Fifty ninth Canon enjoyn'd the Clergy to instruct all the ignorant Persons of their Parishes in the publick Catechism And that those who bear the heavy load of many years might not decline this way of Institution they may see it founded in the Apostolical practice which was to Catechize the adult as before was observed 2. To be duly instructed in the Principles of Christianity is a duty incumbent upon all who by the Knowledg and Practice thereof hope to be eternally saved And therefore if the Aged be therein ignorant they have more reason to blush at their ignorance than to be thus instructed and with diligence and humility to wait at this Gate of Knowledge rather than with scorn to disdain it 3. If the Elder sort have either not been taught at all or have forgot the chief Heads and Catechetical Fundamentals of Christianity they now meet with a fair occasion boâ—h to learn and call them to mind For by beiâ—g present and attentive in hearing the Younger Catechized the Ancient and all may be brought to know what they do not understand to remember what they have forgot and to be inform'd in what they have erred So that at the same time Catechising will instruct the Ignorant remember the Forgetful and inform the Erroneous and therefore administer a Physick proper and sutable to our several Maladies which cannot be pretended to by those other Methods that have hitherto been so eagerly pursued CHAP. XIII The Benefits of Catechizing 1. In respect of the Civil State 2. The Clergy 3. The People The Mischiefs of private Schools Objections against the constant practice of Catechizing removed BUt besides what has been discoursed there are other good Effects of Catechising which at least may be as so many motives to enforce its practice And in the first place Catechising is in an eminent manner conducive to the Peace and Welfare of the State because it takes care that the Younger sort who are the hopes of a Nation be duly educated in those Principles on whose practice the safety and happiness of a State depends For to sowe in the pure minds of Youth the Seeds of Vertue and Truth before the Tares of Vice and Error and the Weeds of the World have canker'd and spoiled the Soil is by the consent of all wise men a point of incomparable force and moment for the well ordering and Government of all kind of Societies and for making Common-wealths ever flourishing and happy For by the means of Catechising the Younger sort will be planted and grow up in a due Conformity and Obedience to the Laws in being which is undeniably a proper expedient to uphold States in the Terms wherein they are and to free them from the danger of being so easily obvious to alteration and change For the Opinions of what nature soever wherewith we are first season'd are of double force to any second Perswasion and Usages And this makes the Spanish Nation early and careful in Catechising their Children by which Method ever since its use they have not suffer'd the least disturbance and alteration in Church or State That serious people having largely experienced the Truth of their own saying No es menos importante el ser de la Doctrina que el de la Naturaleza And in confirmation of this remark it were easie to load the Margin with a numerous Quotation and the Line with a tedious recital of many excellent Passages out of Plato Aristotle Socrates Seneca Tacitus Agell and almost all the learned Heathen Plutarch's Education of Children doth abridge them all But we need not go sharpen our Tools with the Philistines seeing an Israelite can do it better For Solomon is plain That the way to
Homilies Rubricks and Canons For how meanly soever some may think hereof yet if they were once thoroughly considered in their circumstances we shall find that such a pâ—udent and affectionate care is taken therein that both our Opinions and Lives may be duly informed and regulated as in no Church of a particulaâ— Denomination can be parallel'd So that it cannot but be admired how any of this Church should be eitheâ— Vicious or Erroneous considering thaâ— there is nothing wanting on the Churches part that may keep our Actions Vertuous and Sentiments Orthodox But as in matters of the Civil State many Evils arise from a neglect or remiss execution of those Laws which are appointed to prevent and suppress them So in the Church a lack of seeing her Institutions duly observed when there wanted no circumstances to exact it may claim a large share in her present Disorders For the letting of Discipline be too loose emboldened not a few to break it However leaving the mischiefs that accrue from this and the unhandsom and cold Celebration of the Divine-Service the neglect of guiding Sermons by the Articles the almost utter disusage of the Homilies the lame observance of the Rubricks and slight execution of the Canons of the Church leaving I say these for the Animadversion of others I shall only take notice that the omission or lazy and lukewarm use of Catechising ought to be blamed for much of that Visciousness and Error which is so sadly visible both in Conversation and Judgment And I am deeply ingaged in this Perswasion that till publick Catechising fall under a diligent constant and unanimous Practice there is but little likelihood of ever seeing that Union and Holiness Peace and Truth flourish in this Church for which she was once so famous Now that those to whom the great charge of Souls is consigned may be awaken'd to a little more vigour and diligence in Catechising and that they would shake off that Supineness which in this case they cannot retain but to the aggravation of their own Guilt and the encrease of the Churches Misery And that every Station of Men moved with the Sense of Duty and Emolument may contribute to the raising up of the faln Practice of Catechising is the Design and Aim of the ensuing Discourse wherein no Method at all was projected but every thing spoken to as â—t â—â—eely offered it self And as for Ends the Searcher of Hearts knows there was none other purposed in the Publication hereof but Gods Glory and the Edification of his Church CHAP. I. Of Catechising It s Name Vse Secular and Religious AND the first thing that comes to be spoken of concerning Catechising is its Name And â—the rather â—â—use to begin here because that the true notice of the Name will help us â—o that of the thing Now that there â—s a peculiar Force and Significancy in Words and that we cannot thereof be safely ignorant is but too evident by those many Errours that have in all Ages risen from meer Verbal Mistakes And therefore if we could once be so â—appy as to find out the true Imporâ—ance of Words and to hit upon such an agreement between them and things â—s not to cloud in Speech what is clear in Nature but plainly to express things as they are in themselves that then â—â—e great cause of Error in all sorts of Learning would be removed For it is an Observation that will not quickly be â—ntiquated That the confounding those â—hings in Language which in their Nature are distinct and the expressing of different Matters by the same or Words of near affinity and likeness hath in all Sciences been a fruitful Mother of Erroneous Apprehensions And this is also plain in the Affairs of Religion in which not only a perverse mistake in old Words but a liberty of introducing new has ever proved fatal and destructive For out of new words New Opinions insensibly creep into the Church and with Age grow too strong for her Discipline which being foreseen by the Holy Nicene Fathers it moved them to decree against the use of such Words in matters of Faith as were not easily to be deduced from or directly found in Sacred Scripture And upon the same account Tertullian would not have our Ears accustom'd to New words Socrat. lib. 1. c. 6. Advers Haeret. Cap. 16. And for the like reason St. Basil could not be induced to forego one Iota in the old Form when he was sollicited by the Arians A cautiousness which we may conceive was wisely made use of by those Reverend Persons through whose means by Gods Blessing we enjoy our Religion in its present Reformation For we find that they had an especial care not to innovate in Words or Forms when they could with due security retain the old And â—o instance in what has nearest affinity with our present Subject we see that they have stiled that Breviary of Religion which they compiled or rather collected out of the best and most ancient Models of that kind by the name of Catechism Which in its general notice signifies a familiar and easie Method of instilling the rudiments of any Art Science or Faculty Which being done by a frequent repetition of the same thing Catechising is derived from a Word importing the reciprocation of the Voice after the manner of an Eccho And in this Sense it is often to be met with in Secular Authors from whom it was adopted into Religion and there retains the same Notion and Office For by Catechising the Church hath always taught the Fundaments and chief Principles of Religion vivâ voce And those that were thus taught the Greek Writers usually call Catechumens and the Latine Hearers which might as well respect the manner of their Instruction as their Fellowship and Communion with the Church in which they went no further than to be admitted to hear the Principles of Christian Faith made plain unto them And to Catechising thus understood there will be no inconvenience to affirm that St. Paul alluded Rom. 10.17 the Ear being as properly the Door of Religion as of any other Science That Catechising was a way of Instruction not to be restrain'd to those Catechumens so frequently mentioned in Church History and the Ancient Canons but that all Believers did therein Communicate will be made good in another Place of this Discourse But if it be doubted whether this be the native meaning of Catechising it then follows that we have recourse unto the occasion whence it arose For if Words are notes of that which the Speaker conceiveth and Conceptions are Signs representing that which is spoken of it is necessary that he who would rightly understand Words should have recourse unto the things whence they come Now the Church which is Gods School hath ever used Catechising as a Term of Art and we are therefore to understand it with restraint to such matters as the Church is accustomed thereby to instruct Following herein the Rule of Thomas that
Opinions by which the Devil withstands the Power of Truth and restore Christians to their just and full liberty of captivating their Understandings to Scripture only and as Rivers whose Passage is not interrupted run all to the Ocean so it may well be hoped by Gods Blessing that Universal Liberty thus moderated may quickly reduce us to Truth and Unity These thoughts of Peace may come from the God of Peace to whose Blessing I recommend them And that this may not be looked upon for some singularity in my own Perswasion I have transcribed the Words out of Mr. Chillingworth and he out of another and enclosed them in a Parenthesis But taking no delight to travel further in search of those Distempers which I am unable to remedy the only comfort is that they cannot be looked upon as the Issues of our Religion nor any way be charg'd upon the Principles we profess And therefore we must seek elsewhere to lay the Imputation and I shall go no further than to what I mentioned in the Introduction even the Omission or Luke-warm use of Catechising And here in the First place it cannot be denyed how that the generality of the People of this Kingdom have for many Years at least during the time of our Intestine Wars either been destitute of all Catechising or have been Catechised only in such Principles as were good for nothing but to establish the Elder in a cursed Schism and Rebellion and to infect the Younger with the same Contagion The sad effects whereof are still visible in the unpeaceable Tenets of some and in the want of a due understanding of Religion in most In respect of which we have need to be taught again which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God being become such as have need of Milk and not of strong Meat The greatest part of the common People being so far unable to reap any benefit from the handling of abstruser Mysteries in Eloquent and Elaborate Discourses which is so studiously pursued by our Junior and Florid Theologues that they want instruction in the plainest parts of Catechistical Doctrines For notwithstanding that we boast much of our Knowledge of Christ and that our Proficiency is so great in Religion that we conceive our selves wiser than our Teachers yet if the Tree may be judged by its Fruits we shall be found shamefully ignorant of what we assume to know and to have little of that Wisdom which descends from above which Christ came to teach and infuse and which is Pure Peaceable Gentle easie to be entreated merciful without Hypocrisie and Wavering In the Second place we cannot but with deep Resentments observe that since the time God turned again our Captivity and restored this Church to the free use of his Ordinances Catechising has met but with cold Entertainment even from those by whom it ought to have been most lovingly caressed For in most places it has been looked upon rather as a Foreigner than a Native of the Church and as Fruits of their Mouth never in Season but for a few Days in Lent And even then too the Church-Catechism is generally taught without any such explanation as is needful in respect of those slender Capacities to whose instruction it is chiefly devoted And if in the Third place we consider who those are which on the one hand hinder the progress and settlement of Unity Peace and Concord in this Church by an undutiful froward resisting of her Laws Or who they are that on the other hand Apostatize and utterly forsake her Communion it will be found upon due examination that we have laid the ground of the Disobedience of the one and of the defection of the other in a want of a timely and diligent Catechising And as for the First sort namely the disobedient and refractory who are now known by the very candid Name of Dissenters they cannot pretend to a more plausible excuse of their Undutifulness than that they were never duâ—y Catechised to the contrary For granting them to be Persons not totally forsaken of all Ingenuity and right Reason we cannot imagine that they should so foully violate their bounden Duties both to God and Man had they ever been fully taught or did clearly retain any thing but an imperfect and prejudicate knowledge of those Duties as they are plainly set down in the Church-Catechism And as for the Latter sort to wit those who have Apostatized and faln from ours to the Roman Perswasion they have been so far from having their first Tinctures and Foundation in Religion according to our publick Catechism that they might say thereof as those in Acts 19.2 did of the Holy Ghost But we must limit this Observation chiefly to those who had the unhappiness to be born in this Church when she was under the Cross and wore the Marks of her great Master And as for those who had been instructed in our Church Catechism yet before they left us they had so far unlearnt it as that they had retain'd of that System of our Religion such loose rambling and incoherent Notions as if it were wholly Enthusiastick or had been compiled by Persons deeply Hypochondriacal And for closure of this Paragraph I shall only add That none could ever be met with who for Ends truly Spiritual and Religious did ever abandon this for the Roman Church who had been throughly grounded in her Catechism And there will want no Reasons to â—upport this Assertion if it be duly conâ—idered how the very Frame and Conâ—exture of the Catechism doth obviate and oppose all the main Errors of Poâ—ery as they relate either to Faith or Practice to Prayer or Doctrine And First he that has been duly Caâ—echised in the Apostles Creed will not only be armed against a spurious Explication of the Old Articles of our Faith but also against a needless addiâ—ion of New ones For he will find that the first Twelve contain such a perfect Summary of all saving Truths simply necessary to be believed that those Articles added thereunto by the Council of Trent ought to be rejected upon the account of being Superfluous And â—t the same time he will find ground enough to explode that Implicite Faith so much relyed upon in the Romish Church who considers the necessity of a personal Belief as it is clearly required in the â—irst Word of the Creed which in Laâ—ine gives name to the whole And in the next place as to those Errors of Popery that concern our Practice they will be certainly discovered and refuted by a right understanding of the Decalogue which by all is granted to be a clear and perspicuous Rule of what we are to do both toward God and our Neighbour And a Man that is well grounded in the Doctrine of the First Commandment knows that he must reserve all Divine Honour Trust Devotion to God alone and that he may bestow no part thereof upon the Creature and therefore cannot but avoid and abhor those Romish Doctors