The fntrodi fort: Chap. r. 2. They were to confer and talkwith them about theLaw in the houfe, mor- Deut.5.8. ning and evening, and when they walked with them abroad. 3. They were to binde the Commandments for fignes upon their hands, add 9: as frontiers before their eyes, that their Children might continually take notice of them. 4. Laftly, for the fame intent and pitrpofe, they were commanded to write themupon the gates and ports of their houfes. . 7. The raCtifcof this (after the Law made)we may fee in David,who in the rfal34.1t, Text before quoted, faith, Come ye Children; hearken unto me, and I will teach you, &c. and more particularly towards his Son Solomon, as he profeffeth rov 4.3,x. hitnfelf. I was my Fathers Son (faith he) tender, and only beloved in the fight of my mother, and he taught, or catechized me. Andthis he did net only as he was Pater-familial, the father of a family, but asa Catechift, in publike before the people. And thou Solomon, my Son, know thou the God ofthy fa- ther, and ferve him with a perfe h heart. Nor did Solamän difcontinue this pra- ì Chro.:S9I Rife, for he iniîruEted h 5 Son Rehoboamat large, as may be feen iti his firft fe- ven Chapters of the Proverbs. So was young King 7ehoafh inftruded by fehoi. áAeg,ta.a- da the High He ft: 8. Under the Captivityand after (becaufe there are no Examples in writing extant intheScriptures, but that Apocryphal of Sufanna; of whom itisfaid,Su1 n ; that the Was infrrueted by her Parents in the Law of Mofer) we muff repair . to the records of 3ofephifa, who affirms that there were never lefs among the L.t.4'61 Jews, than four hundredhoufes of Catechizing, where the Law and the Tat- mud were expounded. And it is recorded; that there was an Aft madeat le- i-mJafem, that Children fhould be fet toCatechizing at the age of thirteen years; .. whereunto Saint Paul feemeth to have relation, ioev Foo YO, catechiedout Ito1.:.5 S of the Law. 9. Under the Gofpel there is an exprefs Precept orCommandment to Parents, Eph.6.4 not only to enter their children, 'a'' ..*gqa, , s+.ra, but to bringthem up in nurture and admonition: And it was St. Pauli praâife, as you may fee by paffage to the Corinrbianm, bs inr,v;q..rlt i..,, that I may catechize others. I Cor.i4ì d ; i We finde three eminent perlons noted tonain Scripture that werecatecbume- ni, catechized. The fir(t was Theopbilur, of whom Saint Lake tettifieth ; it feemeth good Luke to me (faithhe) to write to thee in order, that thou mighteft know the cer tainty of thole things, eci m, kowia5 e, concerning which thou wert catechizedor inftruded. The fecond was Ápellos, of whom al fo Saint Luke gives this commendation,; Aet that he was mighty in the Scriptures, and o; m, &á oaz.¡won & :da'i waveir,this man was catechized, or inftruded in the way of theLord - The thirdwas Timothy, of whom Saint Paul Certifies; that he had known the n T al " t ' Scriptures from a Childe. And in oneplace mention is nude berth df theCate Vb" .s. chit att_ì Catechized. Ea, nvehol i ur,kïfur.riâ.¢annX:nt, &C. After the Apoftles times ;the firft Catechift of any fame was the Evangelift Markin Alexandria, after himPanama, than Clemens, Örigen, Cyril of ?ern- Pleas, Gregory Nyjfen, Athanafni, Fulgrnri:a, Saint Auguftïne and others. And that there were catechumen in the Church in all Ages; may appear 'by the Can. noes of divers Counfels. l-egefippue (converted from Jndaifm toChriftianity) in his Ecclefiallical:fto- ry reporta, that this work of Catechizing wroughtfo great effeft;that there was noknown Commonwealth inhabited in that part of the world; but within forty years after our. Saviours paffion, heathenifh Superftitition was (haken in it by Catechizing, So that Malian the Apoftata, the greaten enemy thatever Chrifti- áns had, found no fpeedier way to root dut Chriftian Religion, than by fuppref- 1og Chriflian Schools and places of Catechizing:& if he had not been asa Clout{ that loon paffeth away, it might have been feared, that in a (hort time he had o- ver(hadowed true Religions ,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=