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THE

CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.

MARCH, 1823.

Religious Communications.

LECTURES ON THE SHORTER CATE

CHISM OF THE WESTMINSTER AS

SEMBLY OF DIVINES-ADDRESSED
TO YOUTH.*

LECTURE I.

Fries and Brethren. It is with pecul pleasure that I meet you on this occasion. I meet you to enter on a service intended for the benefit of the young-a service which I have always considered as one of the most important, and which I have certainly found one of the most delightful, among all the duties of the ministerial vocation.

The discussions on which we are entering will be freely open to those of every age, who may choose to attend them. But it will be distinctly kept in mind, that they are specially intended for youth, and will be addressed to them alone. It is my earnest wish that the young may consider themselves as the parties to whom I directly speak-speak with a view to explain, defend and inculcate those great doctrines of our holy religion with which they are

The editor of this work is now engaged in delivering a course of lectures, of which the following is the first. It is published, not as a pledge or an intimation that the whole course is to follow, but because it is believed that a publication on the subject here discussed the propriety and utility of Confessions and Catechisms

may be peculiarly seasonable. What part,

or whether any part, of the subsequent series shall appear in the Christian Advocate, is not yet determined.

VOL. I.-Ch. Adv.

supposed to have already some acquaintance, and on a practical regard to which the salvation of their souls depends. There is, moreover, a certain method of treatment and style of address, which are proper when subjects are discussed for the special benefit of the young, which would not be equally proper, if those of more advanced age were included with them in the views of the speaker. These lectures are not to be profound and abstruse theological disquisitions. It is, indeed, an important part of their design to enable every attentive hearer to judge of the soundness and scriptural evidence of the doctrines of our catechism, so as to be able to give a reason for his Christian faith and hope. But the lectures require to be of a popular character-in manner affectionate and tender-the manner which should characterize all religious addresses to the young-and directed, throughout, to a practical application of the truth illustrated.

It cannot be unknown to the most of you, my young friends, that objections have been made and strenuously urged, against the propriety of the whole proceeding on which we are now entering. It is proper for my own justification, therefore, to show that these objections are unfounded; and proper to endeavour to remove them from your minds, if they have an existence there; or if they have not, to enable you to answer them satisfactorily, when you N

meet with them, as you probably will, in reading or conversation. The remainder of this lecture, then, shall be employed in stating and obviating the objections to which I have alluded; in giving you a very brief account of the origin of our Shorter Catechism; and with a few remarks of a practical import.

There are, I think, three objections to such a system of instruction as that which I propose to give, and wish you to receive. The objections, indeed, involve each other, but we will consider them separately.

Christians, Jews, or Mahometans. In all these respects, parents and children are linked together, by the appointment of the Creator; and quarrel with the appointment as we may, we can neither deny it, nor change it. The proper use to be made of the unquestionable fact, I shall hereafter notice. I thus state and dilate upon it a little, because it is, on several accounts, important to be observed and remembered; as well as because it is closely connected with the proper answer to the objection before us. It shows incontrovertibly, that parents must, in all respects, have much to do with forming the minds of their children. Man, indeed, as all the moral writers on this subject observe, is evidently intended by his Maker, to owe the development and improvement of all his powers, to instruction and imitation; and not, like the brutes, to instinct. Brutes reach the perfection of their natures, chiefly from instinctive propensities; and hence, many of them would really be far superior to man without instructionif, indeed, without instruction, man could even reach the age of maturity. And shall the human mind be, at first, almost wholly indebted to parental instruction, for information on every other subject, and be left entirely without it on the most im

The first is, that the human mind ought not to be preoccupied and biassed, by being taught the principles of any religious creed or system, whatsoever; but be left perfectly free and unprejudiced, that it may, at a proper time, impartially judge and adopt for itself, those religious tenets which shall appear most rational, and free from error. It is my wish to state the objection in all its strength, and so stated it may seem specious. But, to my apprehension, it is so far from being solid and conclusive, that I must say, I think no objection was ever more fallacious and unfounded than this. It seems to me that it is made in direct opposition to some of the plainest laws and indications of our nature. Nothing can be more evident than that it is the appointment of the Creator-portant of all subjects-the subject with which it is equally useless and impious to contend-that the condition of children, especially in early life, shall be almost identified with that of their parents. The previous condition of parents decides whether children shall be born with a sickly, or with a healthful constitution; with, or without, a tendency to hereditary disease; whether the natural disposition shall be benignant, or irascible; whether they shall exist in savage, or in civilized society; whether they shall be bond or free; whether they shall be rich or poor; whether they shall be instructed or remain in ignorance; whether they shall be brought up in virtue, or in vice; whether they shall be Pagans,

of religion-the knowledge of God and of the duty due to him-Knowledge, too, which we originally receive, in a great measure, from express revelation; and which therefore can never be possessed unless it be communicated? Shall nothing be said to children on this subject? Judge for yourselves, if any thing can be more preposterous? And if you begin to teach, how much will you teach, and where will you stop? Will you not be willing to teach all that you know? Ought you not to do so? Can you often, or easily avoid it-unless you refuse to answer the inquiries which children make?

Consider likewise what would be

the effect, in the matter of prejudice, of refusing to teach children the principles and duties of religion. Would they, if in this matter left to themselves, really grow up without any prepossessions, in regard to this momentous subject? By no means They would, on the contrary-and facts prove it-either contract a total indifference or contempt for all religion, or else acquire the most false and pernicious notions-fortified, it is probable, by the strongest prejudices: For I think we are generally more attached to opinions which we have elaborated for ourselves, than to those which we recollect that we received from others; especially if our minds have been puffed up with the belief that, on a given subject, we are fully competent to be our own teachers, and that to be so is to be spirited and magnanimous.

On the whole, the objection rests on an assumption which is entirely and manifestly false-the assumption that the human mind can best guide itself, in acquiring religious knowledge and principles; and that it will be less prejudiced and more likely to judge correctly, if left without instruction, than if instruction be imparted. The objection we consider is, moreover, diametrically opposed to the inspired precept of the wisest of men-"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." In like manner, it contravenes what St. Paul mentions, with decisive approbation, as the method of Timothy's education-that "from a child he had known the holy scriptures" But especially, let not what the apostle adds be forgotten-that these scriptures "are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus." Blessed be God, we have some unequivocal examples of the most amiable prac"tical piety, in children at a very early age at an age at which those who advocate this objection, would think it too early for children to think of religion at all. And can Christian parents, who know the

worth of the soul, see their children live to this age, or know that they may die before they reach it, and yet not give them any just notions of God, and the way of salvation through a Redeemer? The thought is intolerable. It ought not to be endured for a moment.

Doubtless, parents and other teachers should, as far and as fast as children can understand the reason of what they teach, give a reason for all they teach-The present course of lectures is delivered with this very design. Doubtless, also, youth ought to reason for themselves, with suitable modesty and diffidence: and to this, my young friends, I earnestly invite you, in your attendance on all that I deliver. Hear what is said with candour and attention; ask of the Father of lights to guide and counsel you; and acting thus, judge for yourselves-remembering always that, at last, you must answer for yourselves.

But from what has been said on this objection, it certainly does follow, that parents have a high and awful responsibility, in regard to the religious instruction and education of their children. As children must derive their religious knowledge and sentiments from their parents, or if not instructed, acquire bad and perhaps ruinous sentiments, how careful and how anxious should parents be, that they neither neglect to teach their offspring, nor teach them any thing that is not true and useful. Every Christian parent should keep constantly in mind, that the eternal welfare of his children, as well as their present happiness, may depend on the religious and moral instruction which they receive in their early years-never forgetting, that exam. ple teaches even more powerfully than precept; and that without example all precepts will probably be of little avail.

Children and youth, also, should recollect that they have cause for the liveliest gratitude to the God of providence, for giving them their existence in a Christian country, and

granting them the privilege and benefit of a Christian education-an early instruction in the doctrines of divine revelation. This is the use, to which I have alluded, that they ought to make of the fact, that the destinies of children are closely connected with those of their parents. Guard, my young friends, against cavilling at the divine appointment in this respect-guard against perplexing your minds with deep and subtle questions on this subject: for they lead to nothing but doubt, and scepticism, and perhaps to atheism at last. One thing is clear-yours is a happy lot, which calls for gratitude and improvement. Leave to God, who you know can do no wrong, the order of his own government; the disposal of his own creatures, and of all that concerns them. For yourselves, be thankful to him, that you have been born of Christian parents, who have early taught you the knowledge of your Maker and Redeemer. Count it among your richest blessings, that, from the very dawn of reason, your minds received information in regard to the things that belong to your everlasting peace; and that your pious parents or friends, have been constantly endeavouring, by their counsels, their prayers, and their example, to form you to piety, and to lead you to heaven. While your sympathies are awakened for the heathen and the uninstructed, fail not to recollect that your responsibility is infinitely greater than theirs; and that if you perish, amidst all the light and religious advantages which you enjoy, your perdition will be inconceivably more dreadful than that which you deprecate for them. Towards those who have not had a birth so propitious, and privileges so distinguished as yours, cultivate by all means, the compassion and benevolence which the gospel enjoins. This comprises your duty to them. Join heartily and actively, in all plans and endeavours to instruct the ignorant, to reclaim the vicious, and to send

the gospel to those who have not yet heard the name of a Saviour.

The second objection which I propose to notice, is-that in teaching and learning a catechism, and by making the answers in that catechism the text of lectures, we substitute a human composition for the holy scriptures-nay, that we even set the words of men above the word of God. This objection, like the former, rests, we are confident, entirely on a false assumption. And if those who urge the objection do not know that the assumption is false-as we would fain believe they do not-they must, at least, be chargeable with great ignorance. They could not read even the second answer of the catechism on which I am to lecture, without seeing that a fundamental point which we are to maintain is, that nothing has any authority in religion but the revealed will of God-"That the word of God, contained in the scriptures. of the Old and New Testament, is the ONLY RULE to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him." It would be strange indeed, if in the very act of teaching that the scriptures are the ONLY rule of faith and practice, we should set up another, and a superior rule, in their place. No, my young friends, it is no doctrine of our church, nor of any member of it ever known to me, that its Confession of Faith and Catechisms are superior to the Bible, or that they make any addition to it, or that they are any thing without it. On the contrary, not only in the answer I have recited, but in various other places, they teach and inculcate that the scriptures alone are to be considered as authoritative, in all that relates to religion, and in all that is binding on conscience. No men that ever lived, were more strenuous advocates for these sentiments, than those who formed our standards. Hence they took care to have that done, which has not been done by some other Christian communionsI mean, that the scripture proofs

should be added-point by pointto every clause of their Confession and Catechisms; that it might be seen that the whole rested, as they believed, on the word of God; and to enable every reader to see and judge for himself, whether the doctrines they laid down were not supported by a clear scriptural warrant. And I take this opportunity to say to you distinctly, that you ought, by all means, to compare all that you will hear from me, carefully and candidly, with the word of God. I shall endeavour to give you plain scripture proof for the doctrines I teach. But judge of my quotations from the scripture yourselves. If they do not amount to proof, let what I say, as grounded on them, stand for nothing-But if they amount to proof, then remember, that the doctrine is not mine, but that of our common Lord and Master, which none of us can reject but at our peril. It would be perfectly practicable for me to take plain passages of scripture, as texts for all that .I propose to say; and then to give the answer in the Catechism, as the expression of the doctrinal truth of those texts, and proceed to discourse upon it accordingly. This is a method which has been, I think, adopted by some, and has been matter of deliberation with myself. But on the whole, it seems to me a method by far the most natural, brief, and easy, to state the doctrine or proposition, in the first place, and then to allege the proofs from scripture, for the several parts of it in detail. This is certainly not a method inconsistent with fair and conclusive reasoning. It is a method precisely similar to this, which is pursued in all mathematical demonstrations. It is also the very method adopted in our courts of justice; where the advocate first states what he expects to prove, then brings forward and examines his evidence, and afterwards reasons to show that the evidence adduced has established his position. In a word, when it is admitted on all hands, as in the case before

us, that the doctrine and the scriptural proof must go together, it would seem to be a very cavilling spirit, which makes it matter of offence, or objection, that the proof is not stated before the doctrine, rather than the doctrine before the proof.

The framers of our Catechism unquestionably had texts of scripture directly in view, in every answer that they formed; and from a careful consideration of those texts they formed the answer-exactly as a preacher now raises a doctrine from the text which he reads. We only take the reverse order, and first repeat the doctrine, and then support it by the texts. But the truth is, that those who contend with us here rely chiefly on a

Third objection, which is, that no creed or catechism ought to be formed, or taught, or explained, but what consists of the very words of scripture. This it is supposed is strong ground, which those who take believe they can maintain against all opposition. We think otherwise-and very willingly assign our reasons for believing it right, that every Christian denomination should have a formula of faith, expressed, generally, in different words from those of the sacred text. For this we assign, as our first reason, that our practice is very favoura ble, if not essential, to harmony, order and peace, among those who endeavour to walk together in Christian fellowship; and that it does, in fact, no more than secure-as far as it can be secured-the right, which every Christian possesses, to know whether his brother holds what he esteems the fundamental truths of Christianity; and, of course, whether there can be real communion, or fellowship, between them or not.

Every sect that bears the Christian name professes to take the scriptures as the rule of faith, and to derive its religious tenets from them. And could a community, formed out of all these sects, walk together in Christian fellowship and church order? The thing, as I apprehend, is absolutely impossible; because in in

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