His express language, in reference to the catechetical
instruction of the young and ignorant was, "It is not merely enough that
they should be taught and counselled, but care must be taken that, in
the answers returned, every sentence must be evidently understood." But
like so many other lessons of the great Reformer, this was not
remembered by his successors; and in course of time all that the youth
and laboring classes could boast in favor of their doctrinal training
was a smattering of contemporary controversy. There were sermons and
expository lectures intended for children; but they were often at
unseasonable hours, and of such insufferable dryness as to tax the mind
and patience of maturity. A certain author, in a catalogue of this class
of literature, enumerates _fifteen hundred and ninety catechetical
sermons for the young that were directed solely against the Calvinists_!
No one is better able to inform us, however, of the low state of
religious training than he who labored most for its improvement.
Spener's language, though written in reference to the melancholy
prostration which his own eyes beheld, applies equally well to the very
time of which we speak:
"If one were to say that catechizing and the Christian instruction of
youth is one of the principal, most important, and most necessary of our
duties, and not of less value than preaching, would he not be
contradicted or even laughed at by many uninstructed preachers, or by
others ignorant of their duty, who seek only their own honor; as if such
care were too small and contemptible for an office instituted for more
important employment? Yet such is but the real truth.
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