LARGER CATECHISMS.
The need of a fuller Catechism for a more advanced age was felt in the Church of England. Such a one was prepared by Poynet, Bishop of Winchester, and published, together with the Forty-two Articles, in Latin and English, in 1553, [1267] apparently with the approval of Cranmer and the Convocation. [1268] On the basis of this, Dean Nowell, of St. Paul's, prepared another in 1562, which was amended, but not formally approved by Convocation (Nov. 11, 1562), and published (1570) in several forms--larger, middle, and smaller. The smaller differs but slightly from that in the Prayer-Book. [1269]
Besides these English productions, the Catechisms of OEcolampadius, Leo Judæ, and especially those of Calvin and Bullinger were extensively used, even in the Universities, during the reign of Elizabeth. [1270]
[1262] The earliest known copy, belonging to the latter part of the 14th century, has been published by Maskel in Monumenta ritualia Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ, Vol. II. It contains Matins and Hours of our Lady; Evensong and Compline; the seven Penitential Psalms; the Psalmi graduales (Psa. CXX.-CXXXIV.); the Litany; Placebo (Vespers); Dirge (the office for the departed); the Psalms of Commendation; Pater noster; Ave Maria; Creed; Ten Commandments; the seven deadly sins. See Procter, p. 15.
[1263] It contained, besides the contents of the older Primers, the Salutation of the Angel, the Passion of our Lord, and several prayers. See Procter, p. 15, and Barton, Three Primers, pp. 437 sqq.
[1264] So Hardwick (Hist. of the Reform. p. 194) and other Episcopal writers. This matter needs further investigation. The very existence of a Catechism of Jonas is doubted by Langemack and Mönckeberg, who have written with authority on Luther's Catechism. But it is a fact that Luther, before be prepared his own Catechisms (1529), charged with this task his colleagues and friends Justus Jonas and Agricola of Eisleben (who afterwards became the leader of Antinomian views in opposition to Luther), for he wrote to Hausmann, Feb. 2, 1525: 'Jonæ et Eislebio mandatas est catechismus puerorum parandus' (De Wette, Vol. II. p. 621). This is probably the Catechism which appeared in the same year in a Latin translation anonymously under the title 'Quo pacto statim a primis annis, pueri debeant in Christianismo institui. Libellus perutilis.' At the close: 'Impressum Wittembergæ per Georgium Rhaw. An. 1525.' The original German edition has not been traced, but Dr. Schneider has discovered a copy of an improved German edition, under the title 'Ein Buchlein fur die kinder gebessert und gemehret. Der Leyen Biblia. Wittemberg, 1528,' and has reproduced it in the appendix to his critical edition of Luther's Small Catechism, 1853. He leaves it, however, uncertain whether it was composed by Jonas. Comp. his Introduction, pp. xx sqq. It consists of a brief exposition of the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Sacrament of Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, with an addition on Confession; and so far it anticipates the order of Luther's Catechism. This must be the basis of Cranmer's Catechism; but as the Parker Soc. edition of his works gives only his dedicatory Preface to King Edward (Vol. II. p. 418), I can not verify the identity. It seems strange that Cranmer did not translate rather the far more perfect Catechism of Luther. The reason was, no doubt, his personal acquaintance with the author's son, Justus Jonas, jun., who was recommended to him by Melanchthon, was very kindly treated by him, and seems to have been the chief medium of his communication with the German Lutherans. See Strype's Memoir of Cranmer, Vol. II. p. 581; Laurence, p. 17; and Cranmer's Works, Vol. II. p. 425.
[1265] Dr. Reynolds said at that Conference: 'The Catechism in the Common Prayer-Book is too brief, and that of Mr. Nowell (late Dean of St. Paul's) too long for novices to learn by heart. I request, therefore, that one uniform Catechism may be made, and none other generally received.' To this King James replied: 'I think the doctor's request very reasonable, yet so that the Catechism may be made in the fewest and plainest affirmative terms that may be,--not like the many ignorant Catechisms in Scotland, set out by every one who was the son of a good man.'--Fuller's Church History of Britain, Vol. V. p. 284.
[1266] Dr. Shields, in his edition of the Book of Common Prayer as amended by the Savoy Conference (Phila. 1867), has inserted the Shorter Westminster Catechism in the place of the Anglican Catechism. But it does not harmonize with the genius of the Prayer-Book.
[1267] Both editions are reprinted by the Parker Society in Liturgies, etc., of Edward VI.
[1268] 'Catechismus brevis Christianæ disciplinæ summam continens:' 'A short Catechism, or plain instruction, containing the sum of Christian learning, set forth by the King's Majesty's authority, for all schoolmasters to teach.' The authority of this Catechism was afterwards disputed. See Hardwick, Hist. of the Articles, p. 109.
[1269] The larger Catechism appeared first in Latin under the title 'Catechismus, sive prima institutio disciplinaque pietatis Christianæ, latine explicata. Reprinted in Bishop Randolph's Enchirid. Theolog. See Churton's Life of Nowell, pp. 183 sq., and Lathbury, History of Convoc. pp. 167 sq.
[1270] Procter says (p. 400): 'Even in 1578, when the exclusive use of Nowell's Catechism had been enjoined in the canons of 1571, those of Calvin, Bullinger, and others were still ordered by statute to be used in the University of Oxford.'