ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



some choice places of Scripture for that purpose, or insisting on some ordinary 

 catechism,' °* and this seems to have been a usual plan.™ During the Com- 

 monwealth catechizing seems to have been disused," and articles of 1662 

 inquired whether regular instruction was given to the young before evening 

 prayer, and whether the afternoon sermons had, according to the king's 

 instructions, been turned into catechizing by way of questions and answers/^ 

 How greatly the exercise was neglected may be seen from the return made 

 for parishes in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon in 1717^''; some attempt 

 was generally made to gather together the children during Lent, but again 

 and again it is recorded that the parishioners are backward in sending their 

 children and servants. Much the same report was made in 1763.'^* Here 

 and there, as the century progressed, catechizing was regarded seriously. 

 John Jones of Shephall laid down ' catechizing on Sundays and Holy Days ' as 

 one of the most important ' duties of a parish priest ' ; he divided his cate- 

 chumens into classes, the younger to be instructed in the Church catechism 

 only, the older in a separate class, to be supplied with commentaries.'^ He 

 was prepared to give separate instruction to ' the more sober and serious who 

 are not yet communicants.' '* Porteus was the first Bishop of London to see 

 the importance of Sunday schools, which he persistently advocated." 



The articles of 1571 contained inquiries whether any had been admitted 

 to the holy communion ' that cannot say by heart the Ten Commaundements, 

 the Articles of the faith, and the Lordes Prayer in English,' " and knowledge 

 of the catechism would thus seem to have been accepted in place of con- 

 firmation. In 1662 the churchwardens were asked if their minister prepared 

 the children and presented them to be confirmed," and in 1706 the Bishop 

 of Lincoln required candidates to be ' of Age and Ability not only to say, 

 but to understand their catechism ' and to be duly prepared.'" The returns 

 of 1 71 7 show that the sacrament was much neglected at this time ; thus at 

 Shenley many were unconfirmed, and at Caddington ' very few ' had been 

 presented to the bishop.*^ In 1770 the Bishop of Lincoln issued an order 

 for a general confirmation, the centres for Hertfordshire being apparently 

 St. Albans, Bishop's Stortford and Stevenage.'^ The second half of the 1 9th 

 century saw confirmation take its place among the most important functions 

 of episcopal work, and in 19 12 no less than 160 centres were appointed for 

 the diocese of St. Albans.'^ 



65 Rec. of the Old Archd. of St. Albans, 115. 



™ Ibid. 113-16, cf. 148 ; Calamy, Nonconformists' Mem. (1802), ii, 309. 



" Gauden, A Sermon preached . . . at the Funeral of . . . Dr. Brownrig, 159. 



'^ Articles to be enquired of within the Archd. of Middlesex, 1662. 



'5 ' Speculum Dioecesis ' (Alnwick Tower, Line.) ; Bp. Gibson's Visit. (Lincoln Diocese), 1717-47 (Lib. 

 of D. and C. of St. Paul's). '* Guildhall MS. 48 1 . 



""• Jones MS. (Dr. Williams's Lib.), A 39. At Shephall in 1767 he had a class of eleven, five of whom 

 were boys (ibid. B 16). '^ Ibid. A 39. 



^' Porteus, Letter to the Clergy of the Diocese of London, 1788, p. 20 ; Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese 0} 

 London, 1790, pp. 15-16. A Sunday school was promoted at St. Albans in the winter of 1785 with a view 

 to establishing ' an early habit among the lower class of attending church ' {Cat. Engl. Church Hist. Exhibition, 

 [St. Albans, 1905], 112). A Sunday school was instituted at Hoddesdon in July 1 791. The children were 

 to appear in the schoolrooms at 8 a.m. in summer and at 9 a.m. in winter ; at both seasons afternoon school 

 began at 2.30 (Tregelles, Hoadesdon, 420). 



™ Articles to be enquired of ... in the Visitation of the Dioces of London, 1571. 



" Articles to be enquired of within the Archd. of Middlesex, 1662. ^ Bp. of Lincoln's Charge, 1706. 



" Bp. Gibson's Visit. (Line. Dioc), 1717-47 (Lib. of D. and C. of St. Paul's). 



" Jones MS. (Dr. Williams's Lib.) , B 1 6. Jones presented three candidates. ^3 s^_ Albans Dioc. Cal. 1 9 1 2. 



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