(Continued from p. 305.)
ACCORDING to the instructions of Parliament the Catechism was issued with the cumbrous title: “The Grounds and Principles of Religion Contained in a Shorter Catechism, etc.” Fortunately the public curtailed the long title, and with a fine sense of the fitness of things gave the name to the Catechism which it retains to this day. On the 25th September, 1648, Parliament ordered the Shorter Catechism to be printed and published under the care of the Clerks of the Assembly. A copy of this issue is in the Library of Edinburgh University, and was the only copy Mr Carruthers saw in all the libraries he had consulted.
It has been pointed out that the key to the method followed by the Committee in the preparation of the Catechisms is to be found in the motion of Mr Vines adopted by the Assembly on 14th January, 1646-7, that the Committee, in preparing drafts of two Catechisms, should have an eye to the Confession of Faith, and to the manner of the Catechism already begun (Carruthers’ “Shorter Catechism,” p. 33.)
A careful study of the Confession and Catechisms will reveal that the Divines kept a constant eye on the Confession. The chapter on Good Works (xvi.) is omitted in the Catechisms, though references to the doctrine are to be found. There are no references to the following chapters in the Catechisms: Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience (xx.); Of Lawful Oaths and Vows (xxii.); Of the Civil Magistrate (xxiii.); Of Marriage and Divorce (xxiv.); Of the Communion of Saints (xxvi.); Of Church Censures (xxx.); Of Synods and Councils (xxxi.)
The Shorter Catechism follows the order of the Larger Catechism except that Faith and Repentance are dealt with in the Shorter Catechism in the second division: “What duty God requires of man.” While in the Larger Catechism the subjects are dealt with under the first division: “What man is to believe concerning God.” Mr Carruthers in noting this difference says in doing so that the Shorter Catechism gives Faith and Repentance their more logical place. This does not do justice to the Divines, as it implies that the order adopted by them in the Larger Catechism was less logical than that adopted in the Shorter. The explanation of the difference is to be found in the fact which has been recognised by many of the great Puritan Divines and by their distinguished successors in Scotland that Faith and Repentance are looked at from a two-fold standpoint. Both are gifts from God, and the Larger Catechism stresses this point, while the Shorter Catechism emphasises the fact that there is a duty required of man to believe and repent. This is clearly brought out in the Larger Catechism’s answer to “What is justifying faith?”—”Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the Gospel, but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and His righteousness, therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation.” The Shorter Catechism on the other hand in its Answer to “What is faith in Jesus Christ?” answers: “Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation, as He is offered to us in the Gospel.” In the Larger Catechism faith is viewed more in connection with justification, which is an act of God’s free grace, and the manner in which this faith is wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit is the point stressed by the Larger Catechism, while in the Shorter it is the believer’s duty that is stressed—”Whereby we receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation,” though, of course, the Divines are careful to conserve the truth that this faith in Christ is “a saving grace.” The Westminster doctrine therefore repudiates what is commonly called “duty-faith,” but on the other hand, while stressing the fact that faith is the gift of God, it also, in accordance with Scripture teaching, stresses the fact that it is man’s duty to believe and repent, and though he has no power to do so, yet he is under obligation to believe and repent as truly as he is bound to love God, though in his present state he cannot and will never do so unless the Almighty Spirit of God work in him.
We have now finished our short historical sketch of one of the most famous Catechisms ever compiled. Many attempts have been made in the land of its adoption—Scotland—to supplant it by substitutes, but all these efforts have hitherto failed, and though it is not taught in Scotland as it used to be, still in many homes and in our schools it is instilling into the minds of the young the great scriptural truths it so admirably summarises. This series of articles may fitly conclude with a quotation from Mr Carruthers, to whom we are indebted for much of the information conveyed to our readers. “Nowhere else,” says Mr Carruthers, “can be found so plain and simple, yet so complete, a statement of Scripture doctrine as it was understood by Augustine and Calvin, by Knox and Usher, and by Chalmers and Hodge, as in this Shorter Catechism. This has been recognised on every hand. The Baptists early adopted it, modifying the statement as to paedo-baptism to suit their creed. Charles Spurgeon prepared, some years ago, such an edition. Even John Wesley, altering its statements as to the decrees of God, sin, and election, printed it for the use of his followers. In earlier days it was commonly used by the Congregationalists, and has not, we believe, fallen entirely into disuse among them” (The Shorter Catechism, p. 37).