The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Catechism · The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer

	The Book of Common Prayer (1928)

A
Catechism
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 N. N.
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 again 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 Resurrection of
the body: And the Life everlasting. Amen.
Question. What dost thou chiefly learn in
these Articles of thy 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 the 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; 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 temperance, 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 Com-
mandments 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 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 spiritually 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, 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 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 Mistresses, 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.
¶ So 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 it to be presented to the Bishop to be confirmed.

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