CATECHISM 



CATECHUMENS 



the teaching of the catechism in the church on 

 Sundays and holidays after the second lesson at 

 Evening Prayer ; and the 59th canon contains a 

 like injunction, imposing penalties on the clergy 

 who neglect this. The custom of catechising in 

 the church had fallen into almost universal disuse, 

 but in many parishes it has been revived with 

 excellent results. 



The Larger and Shorter Catechisms, which, with 

 the Westminster Confession of Faith, constitute 

 the standards or symbolical books of the Presby- 

 terian churches throughout the British empire and 

 the United States of America, were compiled by 

 the Assembly of Divines at Westminster ( q. v. ) : 

 the Shorter Catechism 'to be a directory for 

 catechising such as are of weaker capacity ; ' the 

 Larger, ' for catechising such as have made some 

 proficiency in the knowledge of the Christian 

 religion.' The Larger Catechism was presented to 

 the English House of Commons on 22d October 

 1647; the Shorter on the 25th November 1647 

 and both, with proofs added, on or before the 

 14th April 1648 ; and in July 1648 both received 

 the sanction of the General Assembly of the 

 Church of Scotland the General Assembly, in 

 the act approving of the Larger Catechism, de- 

 claring it to be 'a rich treasure for increasing 

 knowledge among the people of God,' and that 

 ' they bless the Lord that so excellent a catechism 

 has been prepared.' The Shorter Catechism has, 

 however, oeen far more generally used for the 

 purpose of instruction than the Larger, which has 

 been generally felt to be too minute in its state- 

 ments, and too burdensome to the memory to be 

 employed as a catechism. Even the Shorter Cate- 

 chism is regarded by many, who substantially 

 adhere to its doctrine, as carrying the statement 

 of dogmatic theology beyond what is proper for 

 elementary instruction, whilst it has been long 

 felt to be unsuitable for the very young and the 

 very ignorant, and its use is now almost always 

 preceded by that of catechisms more adapted to 

 their capacity. Its influence, however, has been 

 very great in forming the religious opinions, and 

 in exercising and training the intellectual faculties, 

 wherever Presbyterianism has prevailed ; for it has 

 been, and still is, in almost universal use among 

 Presbyterians speaking the English language, and 

 to a considerable extent among Independents or 

 Congregationalists both in Britain and America. 

 In Holland also, a translation of it has been much 

 used. It is very generally regarded, by those 

 whose doctrinal views are in accordance with it, 

 as an admirable compend of Christian doctrine and 

 duty. 'The older I grow,' said Carry le 'and I 

 now stand upon the brink of eternity the more 

 comes back to me the first sentence in the cate- 

 chism which I learned when a child, and the fuller 

 and deeper its meaning becomes: "What is the 

 chief end of man ? To glorify God, and to enjoy 

 Him for ever. " ' Catechisms without number had 

 been issued by Puritan divines in England between 

 1600 and 1645. A large proportion of the members 

 of the Westminster Assembly had previously pub- 

 lished catechisms of their own. The authorship of 

 the Assembly's Catechisms has been the subject 

 of much debate, or at least the authorship of the 

 first drafts of them ; it being admitted tnat they 

 were prepared with great care by committees of 

 the Assembly. Probably their authorship is to be 

 ascribed entirely to these committees ; and, like 

 the Westminster Confession of Faith, they are thus 

 the result of the joint labours of many. 



See Ehrenf euchter, Geschichte des Katechismus ( 1857 ) ; 

 Niemeyer, Collectio Confessionum (1840) ; Schaff's History 

 of the Creeds of Christendom ( 3 vols. New York, 1876 ; 

 Lond. 1877 ) ; and Prof. Mitchell's Catechisms of the Second 

 Reformation ( 1887 ). 



Ca'tecllll, a substance employed in tanning 

 and dyeing and medicinally as an astringent. The 

 catechu of commerce is obtained chiefly from two 

 East Indian trees (Acacia Catechu and A. Suma). 

 The former is common in most parts of India, and 

 also in tropical East Africa, and the latter grows in 

 Southern India, Bengal, and Gujerat. Catechu is 

 known in India by the name kdt or /cut. Cutch is 

 another form of one or other of these names, and 

 is a common commercial name. The trees are cut 

 down when they are about a foot in diameter, 

 and according to some accounts only the heart- 

 wood is used, but other reports say that the 

 whole of the woody part of the trunk is utilised. 

 The catechu is obtained by cutting it into small 

 chips, and boiling it in water, straining the 

 liquid from time to time, and adding fresh sup- 

 plies of chips, till the extract is of sufficient con- 

 sistence to be poured into clay moulds; or when 

 of the thickness of tar, it is allowed to harden for 

 two days, so that it will not run, and is formed into 

 balls about the size of oranges, which are placed on 

 husks of rice or on leaves, and appear in commerce 

 enveloped in them. Catechu is of a dark-brown 

 colour, hard and brittle, and when broken has a 

 shining surface. It possesses an astringent taste, 

 but no odour. It is a very permanent colour, and 

 is employed in the dyeing of blacks, browns, fawns, 

 drabs, &c. Ordinary commercial catechu or cutch 

 is composed of catechu-tannic acid, which is soluble 

 in cold water, and catechin or catechuic acid, which 

 is nearly insoluble in cold but soluble in boiling 

 water. The latter can be separated in the state 

 of minute, acicular, colourless crystals. It is often 

 adulterated with earthy substances, but its ready 

 solubility in water and alcohol should at once show 

 the presence of such by leaving them behind in an 

 insoluble state. Areca or Palm Catechu, sometimes 

 called Ceylon Catechu, differs wholly from the 

 above. It is got from the ripe nuts of the Betel 

 palm, which yield, by boiling, a black, very 

 astringent extract, resembling true catechu, but 

 of inferior quality. This substance is rarely 

 exported from India (see ARECA, BETEL). Gambir 

 (q.v.) may be regarded as a kind of catechu. Terra 

 Japonica, or Japan Earth, is an old name for 

 catechu, not quite disused, given in mistake as to 

 its nature and origin. About 6000 tons of catechu 

 or cutch are annually imported into Great Britain 

 from India. 



Cateellll'menS (Gr. katechoumenoi, persons 

 undergoing a course of instruction ; see CATECHISM ), 

 the appellation given, in the early Christian church, 

 to those converted Jews and heathens who had not 

 yet received baptism, but were undergoing a course 

 of training and instruction preparatory to it. They 

 had a place assigned them in tne congregation, but 

 were not permitted to be present at the dispensa- 

 tion of the Lord's Supper, which from the end of the 

 2d century was regarded as a sacred mystery. The 

 name Catechumens first occurs as the designation 

 of a separate body in the time of Tertullian, and 

 their distribution into different classes or grades 

 according to their proficiency, is first referred to 

 by Origen. The most famous catechetical school 

 of the early church was that of Alexandria, which 

 had Pantsenus, Clement, Origen, Dionysius and 

 others among its teachers. The only extant speci- 

 mens of the ancient catechetical teaching (which 

 was not necessarily by question and answer) are 

 twenty-three lectures by Cyril of Jerusalem (348), 

 and Augustine's De catechizandis Rudibus. The 

 term Catechumens was afterwards employed to 

 designate young members of the Christian church 

 who were receiving instruction to prepare them 

 for confirmation or for the Lord's Supper, and it 

 is still often used in this sense. See DISCIPLINA 

 ARCANI. 



