Jesus loves me, Jesus knows me,
All that's good and fair He shows me,
Tends me every day the same,
Even calls me by my name,"

and such other cheerful and healthy hymns as breathe the spirit
of the Church of the Reformation.

This we believe to be the object of our Sunday-schools, as far as
the baptized children of Christian parents are concerned. They are to
be _helps_, to keep the children true to their baptismal
covenant, and to enable them to grow strong and stronger against sin
and in holiness. Jesus did not tell Peter to _convert_, but
_feed_ His lambs.

From these considerations we see how important it is for Lutheran
Sunday-schools to have teachers who "_know of the doctrine, whether
it be true_;" who are "_rooted and grounded in the faith_;"
who are "_ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh
them a reason of the hope that is in them_;" who are "_apt to
teach_."

A teacher who does not understand and appreciate the Lutheran
doctrine of baptism is out of place in a Lutheran Sunday-school. It is
certainly not desirable to have the child instructed at home that it
was given to Christ in baptism, received and owned by Him and belongs
to Him, and then have the Sunday-school teacher teach it that until it
experiences some remarkable change, which the teacher cannot at all
explain, it belongs not to Christ, but to the unconverted world. The
teaching of the pulpit, the catechetical class, the home and the
Sunday-school, ought certainly to be in perfect harmony--especially so
on the vital point of the personal relation of the child to the
Saviour and His salvation. To have clashing and contradictory
instruction is a sure way to sow the seeds of doubt and skepticism.

We must have sound instruction and influence in the
Sunday-school, and to this end we must have sound and clear helps and
equipments for teacher and pupil. The worship of the school, the
singing, the opening and closing exercises, must all be in harmony
with this great fundamental idea of feeding those who are already
Christ's lambs.




CHAPTER VIII.

THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL--ITS RELATION TO THOSE IN COVENANT
RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST, AND ALSO
TO THE UNBAPTIZED AND WANDERING.

We are still speaking of the dealing of the Sunday-school with
the baptized children of Christian parents. We have seen how important
it is that the Sunday-school work in harmony with the pastor and the
parent. We have seen that, to this end, it is especially important
that the instruction of the teacher be in harmony with the doctrine of
our Church on baptismal Grace, and the keeping of the baptismal
covenant.

Here, however, we meet with a practical difficulty. Too many of
our teachers are not clear themselves on this subject. Their own early
instruction may have been imperfect. Their whole environment has been
unfavorable to rooting and grounding them in this faith, once
delivered to the saints. This old-fashioned faith, as we have seen,
has become unpopular with the masses even of professing Christians.
The whole current of the religionism of the day is against it. In many
localities and circles, to profess this faith is to invite ridicule
and opposition. The Lutheran Church in this matter, as in others, is
behind the age, because the age is away ahead of Christ and the
Apostles, the Church Fathers and Reformers.

What wonder then that in many places, our members, on whom we
must depend for teachers, have unconsciously drifted away from the old
landmarks, and are altogether at sea as to God's means and methods of
Grace, especially with the children?

It is, therefore, a matter of the gravest importance that our
Church place in the hands of her willing but inexperienced teachers
such plain, practical and full helps and equipments as will enable
them to be safe and successful instructors in our Sunday-schools. Our
good teachers are always willing to learn. They need to be and want to
be first taught. They need clear, sound exposition, illustration and
application of every lesson for themselves, before they can
successfully teach others. They need to be shown in every lesson, how
the divine Word everywhere sets forth the precious doctrines of our
Church. They need to be shown over and over again, how these doctrines
are to be impressed and applied to the heart, conscience, and life of
the pupil; and how the truth is to be so instilled that it may, by
means of every lesson, awaken and deepen a sense of sinfulness, and
repentance therefor, and beget and increase faith and love for the
dear Saviour. Every lesson that does not make sin more hateful and
Christ more precious, is in so far, a failure.

From what we have learned in the last chapter, a Lutheran
Sunday-school cannot safely use the literature, whether lesson leaves,
lesson helps, or hymns, of others. And this simply because their
sentiment is not only at variance with, but openly hostile to our
faith. It is therefore even more important for our Church than for any
other, to furnish all the necessary equipments for good, sound, live
Sunday-schools. Our equipments ought to aim to become more and more
superior to all others. The Church should strive to constantly improve
them until they become so desirable and attractive that no Lutheran
school would think of exchanging them for any others.

We hope to see the day when our Church will lead in all these
practical enterprises, even as she has led and still leads in the
sphere of sound doctrine. But we digress.

In these two chapters on Sunday-school work, we have thus far
spoken only of the relation of the school, to the baptized children of
Christian parents. A Sunday-school has, however, by no means fulfilled
its mission by looking only after those who are already lambs of the
flock. A Sunday-school, like a congregation, to be true to itself and
its divine Master, must be a missionary institution. In every
community there are lambs who have never been in the flock of the Good
Shepherd, or have already wandered astray. There are children who have
never been either baptized, or instructed in heavenly things at home.
Or, if baptized, they have been permitted to grow up afterwards as
wild as heathen children. Yes, even in the homes of members of our
Church, there are children, whether baptized or not, who are thus
growing up utterly neglected. If baptized, they don't even know it.
Much less do they know the significance of their baptism.

It is the mission of the Sunday-school to gather in these
destitute ones, from the street, and from their Christless homes. The
Sunday-school must become a spiritual home for them. The earnest
teacher can and ought to find out who of his pupils belong to this
class, and apply to such the needed instruction and exhortation. In
_their_ case it is truly the object of the Sunday-school to lead them
to Jesus, to labor for their conversion, to Christianize them. This,
as a matter of course, also applies to those, even from Christian
homes, who were baptized, and perhaps also, to some extent, instructed
in divine things, but who have gone astray, and thus fallen from their
baptismal covenant. All such, who are not at present in covenant
relationship with Christ, who are turned away from Christ, must be
turned back, _i.e._, converted.

Now this difficult work, this great change, can be accomplished
only through the power of God's Word. "_The law of the Lord is
perfect, converting the soul._" "_The Gospel of Christ is the power of
God unto salvation._" The words of Christ, "_they are spirit and
they are life_." If sinners, whether young or old, are to be
reclaimed for Christ, it must be through that Word which "_is
quick_"--_i.e._, full of life--"_and powerful and sharper
than any two-edged sword_."

Let the Sunday-school teacher depend on nothing else than this
Word of God. It is always accompanied by the Spirit of God. It is the
living seed of the new life. Let it be used prayerfully. Let it be
taught carefully. Let it be taught clearly. Let it be impressed and
applied to heart, and conscience, and life. Drive it home personally
and individually to the impenitent pupil. See him by himself, visit
him in his home, teach him in his class. Cease not your prayers and
your efforts till the Word so lodge and fasten itself in the mind and
conscience that it makes him realize his own sinfulness and need of a
Saviour, and also that Saviour's readiness to save. This is God's way
of salvation. This is the Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church. The
Sunday-school teacher who follows this way will win souls. The
impenitent sinners of his class will be brought to repentance toward
God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ: or in one word, they will be
converted; whilst those who are already Christ's will _grow in Grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ_.




CHAPTER IX.

CATECHISATION.

We have spoken of the importance and benefits of home training
and instruction. We endeavored to show that Christian parents are
under the most solemn obligation to instruct their children in the
truth of God's Word. We also endeavored to show that, in order to give
their children a clear understanding of the saving truths of the
Bible, they could do no better than to diligently teach them Luther's
Small Catechism; that this was really Luther's idea and purpose when
he wrote that excellent little religious manual; that the first
catechetical class ought indeed to be in the family, with father and
mother as teachers;--that this home class ought to be carried on so
long and so persistently, that in it the children would become
perfectly familiar with the contents of the book; so familiar indeed,
that they would know all the parts that Luther wrote perfectly by
heart. Luther's Small Cathechism, _i.e._, the parts that Luther wrote
himself, is really quite a small book. By giving only a little time
and attention to it each week, the parents could easily, in a few
years, have all their children know it as perfectly as they know their
multiplication table. And such ought to be the case.

After these beginnings have thus been made, and while the home
instruction is still going on, the work of the Sunday-school teacher
comes in as a help to the home class. In every Sunday-school class
there ought to be, with each lesson, some instruction in the
Catechism. To this end each teacher, in a Lutheran Sunday-school,
ought to be familiarly at home in this most important text-book. The
teacher should endeavor so to teach these lessons, that the pupil
would learn to love and appreciate the Catechism more and more. Thus,
the school ought to be a helper to the home. And thus, home and school
together, working in harmony for the same end, would prepare the
children for the pastor's catechetical class.

If this good old-fashioned custom were kept up in all our
households and schools, then would the pastor's catechetical class be
more of a pleasure and a profit to himself and his catechumens. It
would then be the pastor's part, as it should be, to review the
contents with his class, and thus to find how well the preparatory
work had been done. Then could he devote his time and energy to what
is really the pastor's part of the work, viz., to explain and set
forth clearly the meaning of the Catechism, and show how it all
applies to the heart and life of every one.

It is not at all the pastor's place, and it should never be
expected of him, to act the school-master, to see to and oversee the
memorizing of the answers. It is his office to expound and apply the
truth, to make the doctrines clear to the minds of the learners, and
to show how they are all related to the individual life.

But, alas, how little is this understood or practiced! How many
parents, who call themselves Christians, and Lutherans, seem to think
that they have nothing to do in this whole matter! They seem to think
that if they send their children once a week, for a few months, to the
pastor's class, they have done their whole duty. They do not so much
as help and encourage the children to learn the lessons that the
pastor assigns. And thus does this part of the pastor's work, which
ought to be among the most delightful of all his duties, become
wearisome to the flesh and vexatious to the spirit. Scarcely anywhere
else in all his duties does a pastor feel so helpless and hopeless and
discouraged, as when standing week after week before a class of young
people who have such poor instructors at home.

Christian parents, if you desire your sons and your daughters to
become steadfast and useful members of the Church of Christ, see to it
that you do your part in their religious instruction. Insist on it,
and even use your parental authority, if necessary, that your children
learn the Catechism and regularly attend the pastor's instructions.

We believe that the trouble in this matter lies largely in the
fact that catechisation has become unpopular in our fast age. It is
looked upon as a mark of old-fogyism, if not as an evidence of the
absence of "spiritual religion!" The new measures and methods of
modern revivals are more acceptable to the fickle multitude. They seem
to point out a shorter route and quicker time to heaven. As a boy once
said to the writer: "I don't want to belong to your church, because I
would have to study the Catechism all winter, and down at the other
church I can 'get through' in one night." That boy expressed about as
clearly and tersely as could well be done, the popular sentiment of
the day.

Yielding to this popular sentiment, many churches, that once
adhered strictly and firmly to the catechetical method, having either
dropped it entirely or are gradually giving it up. And in order to
clothe their spiritual cowardliness and laziness in a pious garb, they
say: "The Bible is enough for us." "We don't need any man-made
Catechisms." "It is all wrong anyhow to place a human book on a level
with or above the Bible." "We and our children want our religion from
the Spirit of God, and not from a Church Catechism," etc., etc.

Do such people know what they are talking about, or do they
sometimes use these pious phrases to quiet a guilty conscience? Do
they know what a Catechism is?

Look at it for a moment. What is the nature and object of
Luther's Small Catechism? Is it in the nature of a substitute for the
Bible? Does it purpose to set aside the Bible? We can scarcely muster
patience enough to write such questions. No! No!

Any child that can read this little book knows better. The
plainest reader cannot fail to see that it is intended as a
_help_ to understand the Bible. Its purpose clearly is to awaken
and develop in the reader or learner a more intelligent appreciation
and love for the Bible. It contains nothing but Bible truths. Its
design is simply this: To summarize and systematize the most important
truths and doctrines of the divine Word. To so arrange and group them
that even a child may learn what the Bible teaches as to creation,
sin, salvation, and the means whereby it may be attained.

We have the assurance, also--and we believe that history and
observation will bear out the statement--that those who appreciate and
have studied a sound scriptural Catechism most thoroughly, appreciate,
understand, love and live their Bibles most.

Of the contents, arrangement and intrinsic value of Luther's
Small Catechism, we will speak in the next chapter.




CHAPTER X.

CONTENTS, ARRANGEMENT AND EXCELLENCE OF
LUTHER'S SMALL CATECHISM.

We have spoken of Luther's Small Catechism as a help with which
to lay hold of and understand the most important truths of the Bible.
These fundamental truths are taken from the Scriptures, and are so
grouped, arranged and explained that the learner can easily grasp and
understand them. That some of the truths contained in the Bible are of
greater importance than others will scarcely be denied.

It is certainly more important that the child should know and
understand the Ten Commandments, than that it should be familiar with
all the details of the ceremonial law. Certainly better to be familiar
with the Apostles' Creed, than to know all about the building of the
Temple. Better be able to repeat and understand the Lord's Prayer,
than to have a clear knowledge of the elaborate ritual of the Temple
service. Better understand the meaning of Christ's two Sacraments than
to be able to tell all about the great feasts of the Jews.

If any one can know all these other matters also, so much the
better. The Catechism will certainly be a help instead of a hindrance
to this end. But if all cannot be learned--at least not at once--let
the most important be taught first. And for this we have a Catechism.

Look at its contents. It is divided into five parts. Each
division treats of a separate subject. The first contains the Ten
Commandments, with a brief yet full explanation of each Commandment.
The second part has the three articles of the Apostles' Creed, with a
clear and most beautiful explanation of each one. The third is the
Lord's Prayer, its introduction, the seven petitions, and the
conclusion; with a terse, though comprehensive explanation of each
sentence. The fourth and fifth parts treat similarly of the two
sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Here then we have, in a brief space, the most important teachings
of the whole Bible systematically arranged and clearly explained. Of
these contents and their arrangement, Luther himself says:

"This Catechism is truly the Bible of the laity (or common
people), wherein is contained the entire doctrine necessary to be
known by every Christian for salvation. Here we have first the Ten
Commandments of God, the doctrine of doctrines, by which the will of
God is known, what God would have us to do and what is wanting in us.

"Secondly: The Apostles' Creed, the history of histories, or the
highest history, wherein are delivered to us the wonderful works of
God from the beginning, how we and all creatures are created by God,
how all are redeemed by the Son of God, how we are also received and
sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and collected together to a people of
God, and have the remission of sins and everlasting salvation.

"Thirdly: The Lord's Prayer, the prayer of prayers, the highest
prayer which the highest Master taught, wherein are included all
temporal and spiritual blessings, and the strongest comforts in all
temptations and troubles, and in the hour of death.

"Fourthly: The blessed Sacraments, the ceremonies of ceremonies,
which God himself has instituted and ordained, and therein assured us
of his Grace."

John Arndt, in a sermon on the Catechism, says: "The Catechism is
a brief instruction in the Christian religion, and includes in itself
the doctrine of the Law of God, Christian Faith, the Lord's Prayer,
the institutions of Holy Baptism and of the Lord's Supper, which five
parts are an epitome and kernel of the entire Holy Scriptures, for
which reason it is called a 'Little Bible.'"

Dr. Seiss, in his Ecclesia Lutherana, says: "It is the completest
summary of the contents of the Bible ever given in the same number of
words. It gave to the reviving Church a text-book for the presentation
of the truth as it is in Jesus to the school, lecture-room and
pulpit."

The sainted Dr. Krauth says: "The Catechism is a thread through
the labyrinth of divine wonders. Persons often get confused, but if
they will hold on to this Catechism it will lead them through without
being lost. It is often called the 'Little Bible' and 'the Bible of
the laity' because it presents the plain and simple doctrines of the
Holy Book in its own words. Pearls strung are easily carried, unstrung
they are easily lost. The Catechism is a string of Bible Pearls. The
order of arrangement is the historical--the Law, Faith, Prayer,
Sacrament of Baptism, and all crowned with the Lord's Supper--just as
God worked them out and fixed them in history."

Thus we might go on quoting page after page of words of
admiration and praise, from the greatest minds in our and other
Churches, of the contents and arrangement of this little book. Neither
can we charge these writers with extravagance in their utterances. For
the more we examine and study the pages of this little book, the more
we are convinced that it is unique and most admirable in its matter
and plan.

Let each one look for a moment at himself, and then from himself
into this little book.

I come into this world ignorant, yet full of presentiments and
questions. I learn my first vague lesson about myself and God. I
naturally ask: For what purpose has God put me here? What does He wish
me to do? The Catechism answers: To do His will, to keep His
commandments. Here they are, and this is what they mean. I study them,
and the more I study them, the more am I convinced that I never did
and never can perfectly keep this law.

I ask again: What shall I do? My Catechism tells me I must have
faith. I must believe. But what shall I believe? Answer: This summary
of truth called the Apostles' Creed. It tells me of my Creator--His
work and providence, and His gift of a Redeemer. It tells me of that
Redeemer and His redemption; of the gift of the Spirit, and His
application of redemption. It not only tells me what to believe, but
in the very telling it offers me help to believe.

But I am still weak and more or less perplexed. Whither shall I
go for more strength and Grace? My Catechism furnishes the answer: Go
to the great Triune God. Ask Him in prayer. Here is a model. It will
teach you how to pray.

I learn what it is to pray. But again I ask: How do I know that
God will hear my prayer? Is He interested in me personally? Has He any
other means besides His written Word to assure me of His love and to
give me, in answer to my prayers, more strength to believe Him and
love Him?

My Catechism points me to my baptism. It teaches me what it
means, and how that in it I have God's own pledge that He is my
Father, and that I am His child. Here then is a fountain to which I
can return again and again when weak and perplexed.

Further, my Catechism teaches me concerning my Saviour's last
legacy of love before His death for me, His Holy Supper. In it He
holds out to me and gives to me, personally and individually, Himself
and all His heavenly Grace.

Thus does this little Catechism meet me in my perplexity, take me
by the hand, and lead me through the labyrinth of the wonders of
Grace. Thus does it tell me what I am, what I need, and where and how
to get what I need. It takes me to the wells of salvation. It draws
from them living water. It holds it to my parched lips. It gathers the
precious manna of the Word, and feeds me when I am faint and weary.

Such is Luther's Small Catechism. Is it any wonder that we love
it? Is it any wonder that we count the study of it a part of the Way
of Salvation in the Lutheran Church?

We have something yet to say on the manner of teaching it and the
results of faithful teaching and learning.




CHAPTER XI.

MANNER AND OBJECT OF TEACHING LUTHER'S CATECHISM

We have spoken of the importance of catechisation. We have seen
that Luther's Small Catechism is indeed a priceless Bible manual. It
sets before us, in matchless order, God's plan of salvation. It is so
full and yet so brief, so doctrinal and yet so warm and hearty. "The
only Catechism," says Dr. Loehe, "that can be prayed." "It may be
bought for sixpence," says Dr. Jonas, "but six thousand worlds could
not pay for it."

No wonder that no book outside of the Bible has been translated
into so many languages, or circulated so widely. Thirty-seven years
after its publication one hundred thousand copies were in circulation.
The first book translated into any of the dialects of the American
Indian, it was from its pages that the red man read his first lessons
concerning the true God, and his own relations to that God. At the
present day it is taught in ten different languages in our own land.

And yet how sadly neglected and abused, even by those who bear
its author's name! It is neglected, if not entirely ignored, in
countless Lutheran homes and Sunday-schools. It is even neglected by
many so-called Lutheran pastors. They set at naught the testimony of
nearly four centuries. They set their own opinions above the testimony
of the wisest, as well as the most deeply spiritual and consecrated
witnesses of their own Church. They prefer the baseless, shallow,
short-cut methods of this superficial age. Some of them have even
joined in the cry of the fanatic, and called all catechisation in the
Church dead formalism! Fortunately, their number is growing rapidly
less, and many, who were for a while carried away with the tide of new
measures, are asking for and returning to the good and tried old ways.

Not only is this Catechism neglected, but it is and has been much
abused. Abused, not only by its enemies, who have said hard things
against it, but it has been and still is abused, like all good things,
by its professed friends. And doubtless it is the abuse by its friends
that is largely responsible for the neglect and contempt into which it
has sometimes fallen. Thus in the family, it is still too often taught
as a mere task. The home teacher often has no higher aim than that the
children should learn it by rote--learn to rattle it off like the
multiplication table, or the rules of grammar.

Worse than this, it has often been used as an instrument of
punishment. A child has done something wrong. It is angrily told that
for this it must learn a page or two of the Catechism! The task is
sullenly learned and sullenly recited; and the Catechism is hated
worse than the sin committed. Then too, it is slurred over in the
Sunday-schools, without an earnest word of explanation or application.
The learner does not realize that it is meant to change the heart and
influence the life.

This same sad mistake is also made by many pastors in the
catechetical class. Strange as it may seem, this mistake is most
commonly made by those very pastors who profess to be the warmest
friends of and the most zealous insisters on the catechisation of
every lamb in the flock. Thus we find not a few pastors who catechise
their classes after the schoolmaster fashion. They go through the
exercise in a perfunctory, formal manner. They insist on the letter of
the text, and are satisfied if their pupils know the lessons well by
rote! To urge on the dull and lazy pupil they will scold and rage, and
even use the rod! The Catechism becomes a sort of text-book. The
pupils get out of it a certain amount of head knowledge. There are so
many answers and so many proof-texts that must be committed to memory.
And when all this is well gotten and recited by rote, the teacher is
satisfied, the pupil is praised, imagines that he has gotten all the
good out of that book, and is glad he is done with it!

Now we would not for a moment depreciate the memorizing of the
Catechism. It is of the most vital importance, and cannot be too
strongly urged. What we object to--and we cannot object too
strenuously--is the idea that head knowledge is enough! There must of
course be head knowledge. The memory should store up all the precious
pearls of God's truth that are found in the Catechism. The mind must
grasp these truths and understand their meaning and their relation to
one another. But if it stops here, it is not yet a knowledge that
maketh wise unto salvation. In spiritual matters the enlightening or
instructing of the intellect is not the end aimed at, but only a means
to an end. The end aimed at must always be the renewal of the heart.
The heart must be reached through the understanding. To know
_about_ Christ is not life eternal. I must know about Him before
I can know Him. But I might know all about Him, be perfectly clear as
to His person and His work, and stop there, without ever knowing Him
as heart only can know heart, as _my_ personal Saviour and loving
friend, _my_ Lord and _my_ God.

Here, we fear, many ministers make a sad mistake. They are too
easily satisfied with a mere outward knowledge of the truth. They
forget that even if it were possible to "_understand all mystery and
all knowledge_"--intellectually--and not have charity, _i.e._, deep,
fervent, glowing _love_ to God in Christ, springing from a truly
penitent and believing heart, it would profit nothing. The true aim
and end of all catechetical instruction in the Sunday-school, in the
family, and especially in the pastor's class, should ever be a
penitent, believing and loving heart in each catechumen.

We have, in a former chapter, shown the duty of the Sunday-school
teacher in this matter. The pastor should likewise use all diligence
to find out in whom, among his catechumens, the germs of the divine
life, implanted in baptism, have been kept alive, and in whom they are
dormant. Where the divine life, given in holy baptism has been
fostered and cherished--where there has been an uninterrupted
enjoyment of baptismal Grace, more or less clear and conscious--there
it is the pastor's privilege to give clearer views of truth and Grace,
to lead into a more intelligent and hearty fellowship with the
Redeemer, to deepen penitence and strengthen faith through the
quickening truth of God's word.

Where, on the other hand, the seeds of baptismal Grace have been
neglected, where the germs of the new life lie dormant or asleep, or
where there never has been any implanting of Grace through Word or
Sacrament--in short, where there are no pulsations, no manifestations
of the new life, there the pastor has a different duty. He must
endeavor to so bring the acquired truth to bear on the conscience and
heart, as to awaken and bring about a sense of sin, a genuine sorrow
therefor, a hatred thereof, a longing for deliverance, a turning to
Christ and a laying hold on Him as the only help and hope.

Thus the one great aim and object of the conscientious pastor,
with each impenitent catechumen, is to awaken and bring about genuine,
heartfelt penitence and a true, trusting, clinging faith. In one word,
he must labor for that catechumen's conversion. Only those of whom
there is evidence that they are in a converged state should be
admitted to confirmation.

By this we do not mean, as some do, that each one must be able to
tell when, and where, and how he was converted. We mean simply this:
That each one must have in his heart true penitence, _i.e._,
sorrow for and hatred of sin, and true faith, _i.e._, a
confiding, trustful embracing of Christ as the only Saviour.

Whether these elements of the new life have been constantly and
uninterruptedly developed from Baptism, or whether they have been
awakened gradually by the Word, is not material. The only important
question is: Are the elements of the new life now there--even though
as yet feeble and very imperfect--or, is the person now turned away
from sin to a Saviour? If so, we consider that person in a converted
state.

And this much, we believe, should be demanded of each catechumen
before he is admitted to the rite of confirmation. And it is largely
because this has not been demanded as the only true and satisfactory
result of catechisation, that this important branch of the Church's
activity has so largely fallen into disrepute. It is doubtless because
of carelessness on this point that so many fall back after
confirmation to the world, the flesh and the devil. They did not hold
fast to their crown because they had no crown.

Where the Catechism is properly learned, understood and applied,
the intellect is used as the gateway to the heart. Where the result of
an enlightened mind is a changed heart, there are intelligent
believers. They know what it means to be a Christian. They have an
earnest desire for closer fellowship with Him who has loved them and
washed them from their sins in His own blood. There is good hope that
such will be faithful unto death.




CHAPTER XII.

CONFIRMATION.

In our studies concerning the methods of Grace, or the
application of the Salvation purchased by Christ, to the sinful race
of Adam's children, we necessarily had to begin with the new-born
child. We noted the first known operations of Grace at the baptismal
font. We traced the infant through the holy influences received at a
Christian mother's knee, and in the nurture of a Christian home. We
followed up through the lessons and influences of the Church's
nursery, the Sunday-school, and from thence into the pastor's
catechetical class. We have learned that these are the different
successive steps in the Way of Salvation. This is God's way in the
sanctuary. It begins at the baptismal font, where the child is
received as a member of the Church of Christ; it leads through the
Church in the house, and through it keeps up a living connection with
the Church in the sanctuary. It is making disciples in accordance with
Christ's plain directions, viz, "_baptizing_ them, and _teaching_ them."

We have also admitted all along that there may be some who will
go through with this whole process and yet not be disciples of Christ
at the end. They wilfully resist the operations of divine Grace, and
cast away the pearl. This class we leave, for the present. We will
consider them further on.

We speak now of those who have been made disciples; who have not
resisted the gracious influences of the Spirit of God, working through
the sacramental and written Word. Their minds are enlightened; they
know something of sin and Grace and the bestowal and reception of
Grace; they have an intelligent understanding of the plan of salvation
revealed in the Word of God. But this is not all.

Their hearts also have been drawn ever nearer and closer to their
dear Saviour; they believe in and love the Lord Jesus Christ; they are
_ready to give an answer to every man that asks of them a reason of
the hope that is in them_. In the ardor and fervor of their young
hearts' devotion they can repeat these beautiful words of their
catechism and say: "I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of
the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary,
is _my_ Lord; who has redeemed _me_, a lost and condemned creature,
secured and delivered _me_ from all sin, from death, and from the
power of the devil ... in order that I might be His, live under Him in
His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and
blessedness."

Further, they can joyfully say: "I believe that I cannot by my
own reason and strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to
Him. But the Holy Ghost has called _me_ through the Gospel,
enlightened _me_ by His gifts, sanctified and preserved _me_
in the true faith," etc.

But this happy faith of their hearts has never been publicly
professed before men. And yet the word of God demands not only faith
in the heart, but also confession by the lips. Rom. x. 9-10: "_If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation._" Jesus also says,
Matt. x. 32: "_Whosoever, therefore, shall confess Me before men,
him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven._"

And should any one be ashamed of this public profession and
refuse to make it, Jesus clearly tells such an one that of him He also
will be ashamed in the judgment day. The Bible nowhere recognizes a
secret discipleship. There are no promises to him who does not
confess.

If our catechumens would therefore still follow God's Way of
Salvation he must now also take this step, and publicly confess Jesus
as his Lord and Redeemer and himself as His disciple. And for this
there is no time so appropriate as when he desires to be numbered
among the communicants of the congregation and participate with them
in the celebration of the Lord's Supper.

For this also our Church has made fitting arrangement. It is done
at, or is rather a part of, the impressive ceremony of confirmation.
Who has not witnessed this beautiful and touching rite? And what could
be more interesting or impressive than to see a company of young
hearts encircling the altar of Christ, confessing their faith, and
bowing the knee to their Saviour amid the prayers and benedictions of
the Church? This is confirmation.

The catechumen has been examined by the pastor as to his fitness
for this important step. The pastor has found that he possesses an
intelligent understanding of the doctrines taught in the Catechism,
and that the experience of his heart bears witness to their truth and
power. On this account he is adjudged as fit and well prepared to be
admitted to the holy communion. He now comes of his own accord--not
because he is old enough, or knows enough, or because father, mother,
or pastor wants him to--before the altar of Christ. There, in the
presence of the assembled congregation and the all-seeing God, his
lips confess the faith of his heart, the faith into which he was
baptized as a child: He now voluntarily takes upon himself the vows
and promises that parents or sponsors took for him at baptism. He
receives an earnest admonition from his pastor to hold fast that which
he has and be faithful unto death. The whole congregation, together
with the pastor, lift their hearts in earnest intercessory prayer to
God for His continuous blessing and protection on the young confessor;
and, the catechumen kneeling at the altar, the pastor directs the
intercessions of the Church to each kneeling one in turn, by laying
his hands on him and offering up for him a fervent petition in