FREE CHURCHES, EVANGELICAL, FEDERATION OF. 



305 



method of terminating the spread of Romanism 

 within and by the Anglican Church except by 

 abolishing the connection between the Church and 

 the state, thus setting the Church free for the 

 management of its own affairs, and delivering the 

 state from the burden of duties it can not ade- 

 quately discharge." The council therefore ap- 

 pealed to its members and to the evangelical 

 party in the Anglican Church "to support a 

 policy of justice and freedom, in the interest of 

 religion, sound Protestantism, good government, 

 .and the well-being of the nation." Another reso- 

 lution related to the provision of means whereby 

 nonconformists in the army and navy other than 

 Presbyterians and Wesleyan Methodists, who al- 

 ready have special services, may enjoy noncon- 

 formist ministration. A resolution was enthusi- 

 astically adopted which contemplated advising 

 all Free Church parents to withdraw their children 

 from Church of England schools where ritualistic 

 practices and sacerdotalistic teachings exist, and 

 requesting the Government " to provide proper 

 accommodation for the primary education of their 

 children until popular control is secured for all 

 state-aided schools." Other resolutions expressed 

 satisfaction at the Czar's call for a conference 

 on disarmament, and approved of the Free Church 

 celebration of the three hundredth anniversary 

 of the birth of Oliver Cromwell. Replying to a 

 criticism of the Free Church Catechism, in which 

 the speaker denied that it had the sanction of 

 the council, the Rev. Dr. Mackennal (president 

 of the council) said that the matter was one 

 that lay entirely within the initiative of the com- 

 mittee. The catechism went out on the responsi- 

 bility of the committee and the special commit- 

 tee, and the council was only asked to accept the 

 measured responsibility implied by sympathy 

 with the object, without indorsing every detail 

 of the document. 



The Free Church Catechism. The follow- 

 ing catechism, intended to cover the points of 

 religious faith on which all the Free Evangelical 

 Churches are agreed, and to be acceptable to them 

 all for common use, was published by a commit- 

 tee of the National Council of England and Wales 

 at the beginning of the year. The work of pre- 

 paring the catechism had been undertaken two 

 years previously, when the Rev. Dr. Oswald 

 Dykes, principal of the English Presbyterian Col- 

 lege, was requested to draw up a draft cate- 

 chism, to be revised by successive committees ap- 

 pointed by the council of the federation. The 

 committee of final revision consisted of 5 minis- 

 ters and members of the Congregational churches, 

 5 of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, 3 of the 

 Baptist churches, 2 of the Primitive Methodist 

 Church, 2 of the Presbyterian Church, and 1 each 

 of the Methodist New Connection, Bible Christian, 

 and United Methodist Free Churches. Every 

 question and every answer in the catechism was 

 finally adopted by the committee without a dis- 

 senting vote. It is not pretended that the docu- 

 ment carries any authority, it being designed only 

 for optional use: 



1. Question. What is the Christian religion? 

 Answer. It is the religion founded by our Lord 

 and Saviour Jesus Christ, who has brought to 

 us the full knowledge of God and of eternal life. 



2. Q. How must we think of God? A. God is 

 the one eternal Spirit, Creator, and Sustainer of 

 all things; he is Love, boundless in wisdom and 

 power, perfect in holiness and justice, in mercy 

 and truth. 



3. Q. By what name has Jesus taught us to call 

 -God? A. Our Father in heaven. 



4. Q. What do we learn from this name of 



VOL. xxxix. 20 A 



Father? A. We learn that God made us in his 

 own image, that he cares for us by his wise provi- 

 dence, and that he loves us far better than any 

 earthly parent can. 



5. Q. What does Jesus say about himself? A. 

 That he is the Son of God, whom the Father in 

 his great love sent into the world to be our 

 Saviour from sin. 



6. Q. What is sin? A. Sin is any thought or 

 feeling, word or act, which either is contrary to 

 God's holy law or falls short of what it requires. 



7. Q. Say in brief what God's law requires. A. 

 That we should love God with our whole heart, 

 and our neighbor as ourselves. 



8. Q. Are we able of ourselves to do this? A. 

 No; for, although man was made innocent at the 

 first, yet he fell into disobedience, and since then 

 no one has been able, in his own strength, to keep 

 God's law. 



9. Q. What are the consequences of sin? A. Sin 

 separates man from God, corrupts his nature, 

 exposes him to manifold pains and griefs, and, 

 unless he repents, must issue in death eternal. 



10. Q. Can we deliver ourselves from sin and 

 its consequences? A. By no means; for we are 

 unable either to cleanse our own hearts or to 

 make amends for our offenses. 



11. Q. How did the Son of God save his people 

 from their sins? A. For our salvation he came 

 down from heaven, and was incarnate by the 

 Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made 

 man, and was crucified also for us under Pon- 

 tius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and 

 the third day he rose again according to the 

 Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth 

 on the right hand of the Father. 



12. Q. What benefit have we from the Son of 

 God becoming man? A. We have a Mediator 

 between God and men; one who as God reveals 

 to us what God is; and, as perfect Man, repre- 

 sents our race before God. 



13. Q. What further benefits have we from our 

 Lord's life on earth ? A. We have in him a brother 

 man who is touched with the feeling of our in- 

 firmities, as well as perfect example of what 

 we ought to be. 



14. Q. What did he accomplish for us by his 

 death on the cross? A. By offering himself a 

 sacrifice without blemish unto God he fulfilled 

 the requirements of divine holiness, atoned for 

 all our sins, and broke the power of sin. 



15. Q. What does the resurrection of Jesus 

 teach us? A. It assures us that he has finished 

 the work of our redemption; that the dominion of 

 death is ended; and that, because he lives, we 

 shall live also. 



^6. Q. What do we learn from his ascension into 

 heaven? A. That we have in him an advocate 

 with the Father, who ever liveth to make inter- 

 cession for us. 



17. Q. What do we learn from his session at the 

 right hand of God? A. That he is exalted as our 

 Head and King, to whom has been given all au- 

 thority in heaven and on earth. 



18. Q. How does Jesus Christ still carry on his 

 work of salvation? A. By the third person in 

 the blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who was sent 

 forth at Pentecost. 



19. Q. What is the mystery of the blessed Trin- 

 ity? A. That the Father, the Son, and the Holy 

 Spirit, into whose name we are baptized, are one 

 God. 



20. Q. What must we do in order to be saved? 

 A. We must repent of our sin and believe on the 

 Lord Jesus Christ. 



21. Q. What is it to repent? A. He who truly 

 repents of his sin not only confesses it with shame 



