SECTION VI.. 2I1 twelve years old, and concerning a youth of fourteen or fifteen. Now would it not be of admirable advantage if we had different catechisms for children and youth, and lessons of religion more or less easy, in proportion to their different ages ?- Is it not a most desirable thing to have shorter and longer summaries of .christianitydrawn up in various forms, answerable to the tender . capacities of children, and the continual growth of their under- standings i Did not the reverend assembly of divines at West- minster mean the same thing when besides their confession of faith, they agreed upon a larger catechism for grown persons, and a shorter catechism for those who are younger or more igno- rant ? It is plain They had such sort of sentiments as these, and something of this kind in view by setting forth two catechisms, a longer and a shorter. -Now if there were a series of such successive catechisms drawn up in a shorter and easier form than that of the assembly, and the truths expressed in a more condescending manner, it would be of unspeakable advantage toward the instilling the early knowledge of religion into mankind, even from theirvery infancy. Then parents would not be under an unhappy necessity of teach- ing children the greatest and deepest things of chrlstianity in their infant age, before they can possibly know the meaning of them. Then children need not have such a long train of theolo- gical phrases and bard sentences imposed on their memories, while by reason of their infancy they understand very little more. of them than a parrot, and talk then over almost by mechanism. SECT. VI. Of composing anyother Catechisms besides that of the Assemblyof Divines. Objection. But why should you pretend to write one or more catechisms after that admirable form of sound words ap- pointed by those great men in the assembly of divines at Westminster ? Answer I. The plainest and most obvious reasons for corn. posing shorter and easier catechisms for young children are be- cause that of the assembly of divines contains one hundred and seven questions and answers, and is therefore much too heavy a task for their memory : Some of these answers also are formed into too long connected sentences for the minds of children to ' comprehend or to remember: And there is much of the sense, as well as the style and language of it, too hard for children to understand*. These reasons are' so evident to all men, that * Mr. Thomas Lye, one of those worthy men who have written an expla- nation of the Assembly's Catechism. confesses there are hard and difficult words and phrases in it His wordsare these, " Try the child's ability to express his knowledge of the meaning of every hard and difficult word or phrase in the pteceding answer because to repeat words and not to understand the truths con- tained in them is but to act theparrot, and profits very little. o 2
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