A brief instruction

in the

worship of God and discipline of the churches of the New Testament.

by way of question and answer;

with an explication and confirmation of those answers.

Prefatory Note.

The following Catechism explains the constitution and ordinances of a Christian Church, and the duties incumbent on its office-bearers and members. When it was first published, in 1667, the names of the author and of the printer were withheld, and no intimation even was given of the place in which it was printed, lest danger should be incurred by the publication of a work advocating a form of polity at variance with the ecclesiastical system which the Court was at that time striving to render, as far as possible, universal in England. Dissenting congregations were, however, springing up in different parts of the country, and for the guidance of the Independents the Catechism was particularly useful. It was so much appreciated, that in the same year in which it first appeared, a second edition, with some slight differences and emendations, was published; and hence certain discrepancies between the following version of it and the one which is given in Russell's edition of our author's works, printed from the first edition of the Catechism.

It came to be known as the "Independents' Catechism," and an angry attack was made upon it, in 1669, by Benjamin Camfield, rector of Whitby, in Derbyshire, in an octavo volume of 347 pages, entitled "A Serious Examination of the Independents' Catechism, and therein of the Chief Principles of Nonconformity to, and Separation from, the Church of England." The Catechism, in the estimation of the rector, was "the sink of all nonconforming and separating principles;" and he takes Owen to task for inconsistency in holding the Scriptures to be a sufficient rule of faith and duty. An attack conducted in this spirit only bespeaks the influence which this Catechism was beginning to exert in diffusing the principles and consolidating the interests of the denomination to which its author belonged. It was the occasion of another attack upon Owen, in the shape of a frivolous and bitter pamphlet with the title, "A Letter to a Friend concerning some of Dr Owen's Principles and Practices," etc., 1670. A copy of the Catechism had been sent by the "Friend" to the anonymous author of the pamphlet, who forthwith assailed Owen in a strain of pointless invective. The first charge against him is, that when vice-chancellor at Oxford, he had discountenanced some invidious distinctions in the dress of the members of the university, — "those habits and formalities by which persons of distinct qualities and degrees were distinguished in that school of learning." It was an offence, too, that "when he was brought into Westminster Hall for his witness against Mr Dutton, he refused to kiss the book, and professed it to be against his conscience to swear with any other ceremony than with eyes and hands lifted up to heaven." The pamphlet closes with "An Independent Catechism," in which the views of our author are caricatured in a style that is intended to be witty.

Certain principles laid down in Owen's Catechism, in regard to the ruling elder for example, are thought to bear some traces of affinity with Presbyterianism. Encouraged especially by the doctrine taught in it, that the elders, not the body of the church, are the primary subjects of office-power, Baxter wrote to Owen a long document of "theses," as the basis of a union between Independents and Presbyterians. The reply of the latter will be found in the Appendix to his "Life," vol. i. p cxix. "I am still a well-wisher to these mathematics," was his remark, when he finally returned the theses to their author; and "this," says Baxter, "was the issue of my third attempt for union with the Independents." There might be ground for supposing that, on terms suggested by the Catechism, a coalition might be effected between the two denominations; and Owen himself, in a subsequent work (see p. 433 of this volume), indicated circumstances in which they could not have been in separation from each other without blame. Superior, however, in practical sagacity to his correspondent, he might see difficulties where Baxter saw none, or might feel that a formula of abstract theses was a waste of ingenuity, so long as the mutual confidence was lacking, which alone could affix upon the union the seal of permanence. Too often the victim of his own ardour and acumen, Baxter was prone to believe that the difficulty of adjusting the wayward eddies of human feeling and opinion into one smooth and onward current, should yield at once to the same treatment as would suffice to work a problem or frame a syllogism. The consummation for which he sincerely panted, — the outward unity of the church under one polity, — seems as yet reserved in providence to grace distant and happier times. — Ed.

A Short Catechism with an Explication Upon the Same.

Question 1 — What doth God require of us in our dependence on him, that he may be glorified by us, and we accepted with him?

Answer — That we ^aworship him ^bin and by the ways of his own appointment. ^aMatt. iv. 10; Rev. xiv. 7; Deut. vi. 13, x. 20. ^bLev. x. 1-3; Exod. xxiv. 3; Gen. xviii. 19; Josh. xxiii. 6-8; Zech. xiv. 16.

Explication — By the worship of God inquired after, not that which is natural or moral, which is required in the first commandment, is intended. Such is our faith and confidence in him, our fear of him, our subjection of soul and conscience unto him, as the great sovereign Lord, First Cause, Last End, Judge, and Rewarder of all men; the law whereof was originally written in the heart of man, and hath been variously improved and directed by new revelations and institutions. And this worship is called natural upon a double account:--

First, Because it depends on the nature of God, a due perception and understanding whereof makes all this worship indispensably necessary: for none can know God but it is his duty to "glorify him as God," — that is, to believe in him, love him, trust him, and call upon him; which are all therefore cursed that do not, Ps. lxxix. 6; 2 Thess. i. 8.

And, secondly, Because it was in the principle of it created with the nature of man, as that which suited, directed, and enabled him to answer the law of his creation, requiring this obedience of him in his dependence on God. And this worship is invariable: but it concerneth those outward ways and means whereby God hath appointed that faith, and love, and fear of him to be exercised and expressed unto his glory. And this kind of worship, though it depend not upon the nature of God, but upon his free and arbitrary disposal, and so was of old liable unto alterations, yet God did ever strictly require in the several states and conditions that his church hath gone through in the world. And this is that which most commonly in the Scripture is called by the name of "The worship of God," as that whereby all the acceptable actings of the souls of men towards him are expressed, and the only way of owning and acknowledging him in the world, as also of entertaining a visible intercourse with him. This, therefore, he calls for, and requires indispensably of all that draw nigh to him, and that because he is "the Lord our God," Rev. xiv. 6, 7; Matt. iv. 10; Deut. x. 12, 13. For his observance hereof doth he so approve of Abraham, Gen. xviii. 19; and sets it down as an everlasting law unto all others, that in a holy observation thereof "he will be sanctified in them that come nigh him," Lev. x. 1-3. His commands, also, concerning it are multiplied in the Scripture, with the approbation of all those that attend unto them. We may not think to find acceptance with God, or to inherit the promises, if, supposing ourselves to adhere unto him in worship internal and natural, we neglect that which is external and of his free appointment: for besides that we renounce thereby our inward dependence on him also, in not observing his commands, as Adam did in transgressing an institution, we become wholly useless unto all the ends of his glory in the world; which is not the way to come to an enjoyment of him. Neither do we only express and profess our inward moral-natural worship of God hereby, by which means it becomes the principal way and instrument of faith and trust exerting themselves in our obedience, but also it is a most effectual help and assistance unto the principle of that natural worship, strengthening the habit of it, and exciting it unto all suitable actings, unto its increase and growth.

Question 2 — By what means do we come to know that God will thus be worshipped?

Answer — That God is to be worshipped, and that according to his own will and appointment, is a ^aprincipal branch of the law of our creation written in our hearts, the ^bsense whereof is renewed in the second commandment; but the ways and means of that worship depend merely on God's ^csovereign pleasure and institution. ^aRom. i. 21, ii. 14, 15; Acts xiv. 16, 17, xvii. 23-31. ^bExod. xx. 4-6. ^cJer. vii. 31; Exod. xxv. 40; Heb. iii. 1-6; John i. 18.

Explication — These two things all men saw by nature:--

First, That God, however they mistook in their apprehensions of him, would be, and was to be, worshipped with some outward solemn worship; so that although some are reported to have even cast off all knowledge and sense of a Divine Being, yet never any were heard of that came to an acknowledgment of any God, true or false, but they all consented that he was constantly and solemnly to be worshipped, and that not only by individual persons, but by societies together; that so they might own and honour him whom they took for their God. And thus far outward worship is required in the first commandment, — namely, that the inward be exercised and expressed. When we take God for our God, we take him to worship him, Deut. x. 12, 13. Other thoughts, — namely, of inward worship without outward expression, at all or any time, or in any way, — are but a covert unto atheism. And, --

Secondly, This also they were led to an apprehension of by the same light whereby they are "a law unto themselves," Rom. ii. 14, that God would be worshipped in the way and by the means that he himself appointed and approved: whence none among the heathen themselves undertook to appoint ways and ceremonies of worship, but still they pretended to derive the knowledge of them from the gods themselves; of whom they reckoned that every one would be worshipped in his own way. And because, notwithstanding this pretence, being left of God and deluded of Satan, they did invent false and foolish ways of worship, not only not appointed of God, but such as were unsuited unto those inbred notions which they had of his nature and excellencies, the apostle convinces and disproves them, as men acting against the light of nature and principles of reason, Rom. i. 20, 21, they might have seen that in their idolatry they answered not their own inbred conceptions of the divine power and Godhead, so as to "glorify him as God;" and in the like manner doth he argue at large, Acts xvii. 22-31. But beyond this the inbred light of nature could not conduct any of the sons of men; this alone is contained in the first precept. That God was to be worshipped they knew, and that he was to be worshipped by ways and means of his own appointment they knew; but what those means were they knew not. These always depended on God's sovereign will and pleasure, and he made them known to whom he pleased, Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20. And although some of the ways which he doth appoint may seem to have a great compliance in them unto the light of nature, yet in his worship he accepts them not on that account, but merely on that of his own institution; and this as he hath declared his will about in the second commandment, so he hath severely forbidden the addition of our own inventions unto what he hath appointed, sending us for instruction unto Him alone whom he hath endowed with sovereign authority to reveal his will and ordain his worship, John i. 18; Matt. xvii. 5; 1 Chron. xvi. 7.

Question 3 — How, then, are these ways and means of the worship of God made known unto us?

Answer — In and by the written word only, which contains a full and perfect revelation of the will of God as to his whole worship and all the concernments of it. John v. 39; Isa. viii. 20; Luke xvi. 29; 2 Tim. iii. 15-17; 2 Pet. i. 19; Deut. iv. 2, xii. 32; Josh. i. 7; Prov. xxx. 6; Rev. xxii. 18, 19; Isa. xxix. 13, 14.

Explication — The end wherefore God granted his word unto the church was, that thereby it might be instructed in his mind and will as to what concerns the worship and obedience that he requireth of us, and which is accepted with him. This the whole Scripture itself everywhere declares and speaks out unto all that do receive it; as 2 Tim. iii. 15-17, with the residue of the testimonies above recited, do declare. It supposeth, it declareth, that of ourselves we are ignorant how God is, how he ought to be, worshipped, Isa. viii. 20. Moreover, it manifests him to be a "jealous God," exercising that holy property of his nature in an especial manner about his worship, rejecting and despising every thing that is not according to his will, that is not of his institution, Exod. xx. 4-6.

That we may know what is so, he hath made a revelation of his mind and will in his written word, — that is, the Scripture. And to the end that we might expect instruction from thence alone in his worship, and act therein accordingly, --

First, He sends us and directs us thereunto expressly for that purpose, Isa. viii. 20; Luke xvi. 29; John v. 39; and not once intimates in the least any other way or means of instruction unto that end.

Secondly, He frequently affirms that it is sufficient, able, and perfect to guide us therein, 2 Tim. iii. 15-17; 2 Pet. i. 19; Ps. xix. 7-9. And whereas he hath expressly given it unto us for that end, if there be any want or defect therein it must arise from hence, that either God would not or could not give unto us a perfect revelation of his will; neither of which can be imagined.

Thirdly, He hath commanded us to observe all whatsoever he hath appointed therein, and not to make any addition thereunto, Josh. i. 7; Deut. iv. 2, xii. 32; Prov. xxx. 6; Rev. xxii. 18, 19. And, --

Fourthly, Peculiarly interdicted us the use of any such things as are of the institution or appointment of men, Isa. xxix. 13, 14. So that from the Scriptures alone are we to learn what is accepted with God in his worship.

Question 4 — Have these ways and means been always the same from the beginning?

Answer — No; but God hath altered and changed them at sundry seasons, according to the counsel of his own will, so as he saw necessary for his own glory and the edification of his church. Gen. ii. 16, 17, xvii. 10, 11; Exod. xii. 3-24, Exod. xx.xxv. 9; Heb. i. 1, 2, ix. 10-12.

Explication — The external worship whereof we speak being, as was showed before, not natural or moral, arising necessarily from the dependence of the rational creature on God as its first cause, chiefest good, last end, and sovereign Lord, but proceeding from the mere will and pleasure of God, determining how he will be honoured and glorified in the world, was always alterable by him by whom it was appointed. And whereas, ever since the entrance of sin into the world, God had always respect unto the promise of the Lord Christ and his mediation, in whom alone he will be glorified, and faith in whom he aimed to begin and increase in all his worship, he hath suited his institutions of the means thereof to that dispensation of light and knowledge of him which he was pleased at any time to grant. Thus, immediately after the giving of the promise, he appointed sacrifices for the great means of his worship; as to glorify himself expressly by men's offering unto him of the principal good things which he had given them, so to instruct them in the faith, and confirm them in the expectation of the great sacrifice for sin that was to be offered by the promised seed, Gen. iv. 3, 4; Heb. xi. 4. These were the first instituted worship of God in the world after the entrance of sin. Hereunto he nextly added circumcision, as an express sign of the covenant, with the grace of it, which he called Abraham and his seed unto by Jesus Christ, Gen. xvii. 10, 11. And to the same general end and purpose he afterwards superadded the passover, with its attendant institutions, Exod. xii. 3-24; and then the whole law of institutions contained in ordinances, by the ministry of angels on mount Sinai, Exod. xx. So by sundry degrees he built up that fabric of his outward worship, which was suited, in his infinite wisdom, unto his own glory and the edification of his church, until the exhibition of the promised seed, or the coming of Christ in the flesh, and the accomplishment of the work of his mediation, Heb. i. 1, 2: for unto that season were those ordinances to serve, and no longer, chap. ix. 10-12, and then were they removed by the same authority whereby they were instituted and appointed, Col. ii. 14, 18-20. So that though God would never allow that men upon what pretence soever, should make any alteration in the worship appointed by him, by adding unto it anything of their own, or omitting aught that he had commanded, either in matter or manner, notwithstanding that he knew that it was to abide but for a season, but commanded all men straitly to attend to the observation of it whilst it was by him continued in force, Mal. iv. 4; yet he always reserved unto himself the sovereign power of altering, changing, or utterly abolishing it at his own pleasure: which authority he exerted in the gospel as to all the mere institutions of the Old Testament. Whilst they continued he enforced them with moral reasons, [such] as his own holiness and authority. But those reasons prove not any of those institutions to be moral, unless they ensue upon those reasons alone, and are nowhere else commanded; for being once instituted and commanded, they are to be enforced with moral considerations, taken from the nature of God and our duty in reference unto his authority. So saith he, "Thou shalt reverence my sanctuary, I am the Lord;" which no more proves that a moral duty than that enjoined upon the same foundation, Lev. xi. 44, "I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Not defiling ourselves with the touching or eating of creeping things is now no moral duty since the institution is ceased, although it be enforced by many moral considerations.

Question 5 — Is there any farther alteration to be expected in or of those institutions and ordinances of worship which are revealed and appointed in the gospel?

Answer — No; the last complete revelation of the will of God being made by the Son, who is Lord of all, his commands and institutions are to be observed inviolably unto the end of the world, without alteration, diminution, or addition. Heb. i. 1, 2, x. 25-27; Matt. xxviii. 20; 1 Cor. xi. 26; 1 Tim. vi. 14.

Explication — It was showed before that all the institutions of the Old Testament had respect unto the coming of Christ in the flesh, who was "the end of the law," Rom. x. 4; and thereupon they were subject to alteration and abolition upon a twofold account:--

1. Because that which they were appointed principally to instruct the church in, and to direct it unto the expectation of, was, upon his coming, accomplished and fulfilled; so that their end was absolutely taken away, and they could no more truly teach the mind and will of God, for they would still direct unto that which was to come, after it was past and accomplished. And this is that which the apostle Paul so variously proves and fully confirms in his Epistle to the Hebrews, especially in the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth chapters.

2. The Lord Christ, during their continuance, was to come as the Lord

over his whole house, with more full and ample authority than any of

those whom God had employed in the institution of his ordinances of old

were intrusted withal: Heb. i. 1-3, "He spake in time past by the

prophets," but now "by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all."

Chap. iii. 6, "Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we."

And, therefore, they were all to be at his disposal, to confirm or

remove, as he saw reason and occasion. And this he did, — (1.)

Virtually, in the sacrifice of himself, or the blood of his cross,

fulfilling and finishing of them all, John xix. 30; "breaking down the

middle wall of partition; abolishing in his flesh the enmity, even the

law of commandments contained in ordinances;" "blotting out the

hand-writing of ordinances," he "took it out of the way, nailing it to

his cross," Eph. ii. 14, 15; Col. ii. 14. (2.) Authoritatively, by his

Spirit in the apostles, and the doctrine of the gospel preached by

them: Acts xv. 10, 11, "Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke

upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were

able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus

Christ we shall be saved, even as they." Gal. iii. 24, 25, "Wherefore

the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be

justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer

under a schoolmaster." Chap. v. 1-4. And, (3.) Eventually or

providentially, when he caused sacrifice and offering to cease, by the

prince of the people, that came with an army making desolate, to

destroy both city and sanctuary, Dan. ix. 26, 27, according to his

prediction, Matt. xxiv. 2. But now, under the New Testament, the

worship that is appointed in the gospel is founded in and built upon

what is already past and accomplished, — namely, the death and life of

Jesus Christ, with the sacrifice and atonement for sin made thereby, 1

Cor. xi. 23-26; which can never be again performed; neither is there

any thing else to the same purpose either needful or possible, Heb. x.

26. So that there is not any ground left for any new institution of

worship, or any alteration in those that are already instituted. Nor,

Secondly, Can any one be expected to come from God with a greater and more full authority for the revelation of his mind than that wherewith his only Son was accompanied; which yet must be, if any alterations were to be made in the appointments of worship that he hath instituted in the gospel.

For no inferior nor an equal authority can abolish or alter that which is already appointed, so as to give satisfaction unto the consciences of men in obedience unto such alterations. And, therefore, because there arose not a prophet like unto Moses under the Old Testament, there could be no alteration made in his institutions, but the church was bound severely to observe them all until the coming of Christ: Mal. iv. 4, "Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments;" and that because "there arose not a prophet afterwards in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face," Deut. xxxiv. 10. And our apostle, to prove the right of Christ to alter the ordinances of the law, lays his foundation in manifesting that he was above the angels: Heb. i. 4, "Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they;" and that because the law was given by the ministry of angels, chap. ii. 2; — and so also that he was greater than Moses, chap. 3:3, 5, "For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, but Christ as a son over his own house;" because Moses was the lawgiver, and the mediator between God and man in the giving of the law. Now, if this be the sole foundation and warrant of the alteration made of Mosaical ordinances by Christ, — namely, that he was greater and exalted above all those whose ministry was used in the dispensation of the law, — unless some can be thought to be greater, and exalted in authority above the Son of God, there can be no alteration expected in the institutions of the gospel.

Question 6 — May not such an estate of faith and perfection in obedience be attained in this life, as wherein believers may be freed from all obligation unto the observation of gospel institutions?

Answer — No; for the ordinances and institutions of the gospel being inseparably annexed unto the evangelical administration of the covenant of grace, they may not be left unobserved, disused, or omitted, whilst we are to walk before God in that covenant, without contempt of the covenant itself, as also of the wisdom and authority of Jesus Christ. Heb. iii. 3-6; Rom. vi. 3-6; Luke xxii. 19, 20; 1 Cor. xi. 23-26; Heb. x. 25; Rev. ii. 5, iii. 3.