The Catechism

The following Catechism is that of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer with one addition (see endnotes), rendered into contemporary English.

THE CATECHISM

Instruction in Christian faith and conduct for those who are to be confirmed and for those who are to answer for themselves in baptism.

THE COVENANT OF BAPTISM

This section is for those who were baptized as infants. [1]

Question
What is your name?
Answer
My name is.....

Question
Who gave you this name?
Answer
My parents and godparents, at my baptism in which I was
made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the
kingdom of heaven.

Question

What did your parents and godparents do for you at your
baptism?
Answer
They promised and vowed three things in my name: first, that I would renounce the devil and all his works, the empty display and false values of the world, and all the sinful desires of the flesh. Secondly, that I should believe all the articles of the Christian faith as set out in the Apostles’ Creed. And thirdly, that I would obey God's holy will and commandments and walk in them all the days of my life.

Question
Do you think yourself bound to believe and do as they have promised for you?
Answer
Yes, certainly; and by God’s help I will. And I heartily thank God our heavenly Father that he has called me to this state of salvation through Jesus Christ our Savior. And I pray to God to give me his grace, that I may continue in this state to the end of my life.

THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

Catechist
Recite the articles of your belief, the Apostles’ Creed
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 Spirit,
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 is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Question
What do you chiefly learn from these articles of your belief?
Answer
First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who has made me and all the world. Secondly, in God the Son, who has redeemed me and all mankind; Thirdly, in God the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies me and all the elect people of God.

THE COMMANDMENTS

Question
You said, that your parents and godparents did promise for you, that you should keep God’s commandments. Tell me how many are there?
Answer
Ten.

Question
What are they?
Answer
Those which God spoke in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, saying:
all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage;
1. You shall have none other gods but me.
2. You shall not make for yourself 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: you shall not bow down to them, nor worship them. For I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3. You shall not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his Name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. On it you shall do no work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, or his female, or his ox, or his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

Question
What do you chiefly learn from these commandments?
Answer
I learn two things: my duty towards God and my duty towards my neighbor.

Question
What is your 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 pray to him, to honor his holy name and his word; and to serve
him truly throughout my life.

Question
What is your duty to your neighbor?
Answer
My duty to my neighbor is: to love him as myself, and to do to others as I wish they would do to me; to love, honor and care for my parents; to honor and obey all that are put in authority over me; to submit to my teachers and spiritual pastors; to be respectful and courteous to all; to
hurt no one by word or deed; to be true and just in all my dealings; to bear no malice or hatred in my heart; to keep my hands from pilfering 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
things that belong to other people; but to learn to work honestly for my own living and to do my duty in that state of life to which it shall please God to call me.

PRAYER

Catechist
You know that you are not able to do these things in your own strength, nor to walk in the commandments of God, and serve him, without his special grace, which must learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer. Let me hear therefore if you can say the Lord's Prayer.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, now and for ever. Amen.

or

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. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory; for ever and ever. Amen.

Question
What do you desire 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 to me, and to all people, that we may worship him, serve him and obey him, as we ought to do. And I pray God that he will send us all that we need both for our souls and bodies; and that he will be merciful to us and forgive us our sins; and that it please him to save and defend us in all dangers, spiritual and bodily; and that he will keep us from all sin andwickedness, 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.

THE SACRAMENTS

Question
How many sacraments has Christ ordained in his Church?
Answer
Two only, as generally necessary to salvation; that is to say baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which is also known as the Holy Communion.

Question
What do you mean by this word ‘sacrament’?
Answer
I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, given to us, ordained by Christ himself, as a means by which we receive that grace and a pledge to assure us of it.

Question
How many parts are there to 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; in which the person is baptized ‘in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit’.

Question
What is the inward and spiritual grace?
Answer
A death to sin, and new birth to righteousness; for, being born with a sinful nature, and being the children of wrath, we are by this new birth made the children of grace.

Question
What is required of persons to be baptized?
Answer
Repentance, by which they forsake sin, and faith, by which they firmly believe the promises of God made to them in that sacrament, and through which, when they believe, they are accounted righteous before God solely on account of the merits of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Question
Why then are infants baptized, when by reason of their age they can
neither repent nor believe?
Answer:
Because they promise to repent and believe by their parents and godparents, whose promise, when they are old enough to do so, they themselves are bound to keep.

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 we receive by it.

Question
What is the outward part or sign of the Lord's Supper?
Answer
Bread and wine, which the Lord has commanded to be received.

Question
What is the inward part, or thing signified?
Answer
The body and blood of Christ, which are truly and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.

Question
In what manner are the body and blood of Christ taken and received in the Lord’s Supper?
Answer
Only in a heavenly and spiritual manner; and the means by which they are taken and received is faith. [2]

Question
What are the benefits of which we are partakers by this?
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
They must examine themselves to see whether they truly repent of their sins, and that they firmly intend to lead a new life. They must have a living faith in God's mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his death; and they must be in charity with all people.

Endnotes:
[1] The two explanatory rubrics and the section headings are taken from the Catechism of An Australian Prayer Book (1978).
[2]This question and answer are the only addition to the Catechism of The Book of Common Prayer of 1662. They were adapted from a question and answer added to the Catechism in the 1926 Irish Prayer Book. The answer to the question is taken from Article XXVIII of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1562.