THAT IS TO SAY,
AN INSTRUCTION, TO BE LEARNED BY EVERY PERSON BEFORE HE BE BROUGHT TO BE CONFIRMED BY THE BISHOP.
Question.
WHAT is your
Name?
Answer. N. or M.
Question. Who gave you this
Name?
Answer. My Sponsors in Baptism;
wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom
of heaven.
Question. What did your Sponsors then
for you?
Answer. They did promise and vow three
things in my name. First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps
and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh. Secondly, that I
should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith. And Thirdly, that I should keep
God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.
Question. Dost thou not think that
thou art bound to believe, and to do, as they have promised for thee?
Answer. Yes, verily; and by God's help
so I will. And I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that he hath called me to this state
of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace,
that I may continue in the same unto my life's end.
Catechist. Rehearse the Articles of
thy Belief.
Answer.
I BELIEVE in God the
Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; Who
was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary; Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell, The third day he rose from the
dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy
Catholic Church; The communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resur-rection of
the body; And the Life everlasting. Amen.
Question. What dost thou chiefly learn
in these Articles of Belief?
Answer. First, I learn to believe in
God the Father, who hath made me, and all the world. Secondly, in God
the Son, who hath redeemed me, and all mankind.
Thirdly, in God the Holy Ghost) who
sanctifieth me, and all the people of God.
Question. You said that your Sponsors
did promise for you, that you should keep God's Commandments. Tell me how many there
are?
Answer. Ten.
Question. Which are they?
Answer.
THE same which God
spake in the twentieth Chapter of Exodus, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
I. Thou shalt have none other gods but
me.
II. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven
image, nor likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in
the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them: for I the
Lord thy God am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto
the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and show mercy unto thousands in
them that love me and keep my commandments.
III. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord
thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in
vain.
IV. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath
day. Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is
the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work; thou and thy son
and thy daughter, thy man servant, and thy maid servant, thy cattle and the stranger that
is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that
in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and
hallowed it.
V. Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy
days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
VI. Thou shalt do no murder.
VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
VIII. Thou shalt not steal.
IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against
thy neighbour.
X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's
house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his
ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.
Question. What dost thou chiefly learn
by these Commandments?
Answer. I learn two things; my duty
towards God, and my duty towards my Neighbour.
Question. What is thy duty towards
God?
Answer. My duty towards God, is to
believe in him, to fear him, and to love him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all
my soul, and with all my strength; to worship him, to give him thanks, to put my whole
trust in him, to call upon him, to honour his holy Name and his Word, and to serve him
truly all the days of my life.
Question. What is thy duty towards thy
Neighbour?
Answer. My duty towards my Neighbour,
is to love him as myself, and to do to all men, as I would they should do unto me: To
love, honour, and succour my father and mother: To honour and obey the civil authority: To
submit myself to all my governors, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters: To order
myself lowly and reverently to all my betters: To hurt nobody by word or deed: To be true
and just in all my dealings: To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart: To keep my hands
from picking and stealing, and my tongue from evil speaking, lying, and slandering: To
keep my body in temper-ance, soberness, and chastity: Not to covet nor desire other men's
goods; but to learn and labour truly to get mine own living, and to do my duty in that
state of life unto which it shall please God to call me.
Catechist. My good Child, know this;
that thou art not able to do these things of thyself, 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.
Answer.
OUR Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be
thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who 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 are 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 both of soul and body; and that he will keep us from
all sin and wickedness, and from our spiritual 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
spirltual grace?
Answer. A death unto sin, and a new
birth unto righteous-ness: 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 steadfastly 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 command-ed to be received.
Question. What is the inward part, or
thing signified?
Answer. The Body and Blood of Christ,
which are spirit-ually 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 those
who come to the Lord's Supper?
Answer. To examine themselves, whether
they repent them truly of their former sins, steadfastly 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 Minister of every Parish shall
diligently, upon Sundays and Holy Days, or on some other convenient occasions,
openly in the Church, instruct or 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
Mtstresses, shall cause their Children, Servants, and Apprentices, who have not
learned their Catechism, to come to the Church at the time appointed, and
obediently to hear and to be ordered by the Minister, until such time as they have learned
all that is here appointed for them to learn.
¶ As soon as Children are come to a
competent age, and can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and can
answer to the other questions of this short Catechism, they shall be brought to the
Bishop.
¶ And whensoever the Bishop shall give
knowledge for Children to be brought unto him for their Confirmation, the Minister 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.
Return to the Book of Common Prayer Home Page.
Updated: 17 Oct., 1997.
Comments, corrections, etc., to: Charles Wohlers