occasion requireth.

200. A CATECHISM,

That is to say,

An Instruction to be learned of every person, before he be brought
to be confirmed by the Bishop.

201. The Curate of every Parish shall diligently upon Sundays and
Holy-days, after the second Lesson at Evening Prayer, openly in
the Church instruct and examine so many Children of his Parish
sent unto him, as he shall think convenient, in some part of this
Catechism.

The time of Catechising was fixed by the 59th Canon of 1603, and
by the Prayer-Book up to 1662, to be "before Evening Prayer." In
1662, this was changed to "after the Second Lesson." It must be
remembered that in 1662 the Evening Prayer was said or sung in
the afternoon only.

While the edifying effect of public Catechising is very great, it
must be admitted that the introduction of Sunday-schools into the
Church system, together with the change in the hours of Divine
Service, have undoubtedly altered the conditions which rendered
it necessary to provide so definite an order as this.

202. And all Fathers, Mothers, Masters, and Dames, shall cause
their Children, Servants, and Apprentices, (which have not learned
their Catechism,) to come to the Church at the time appointed,
and obediently to hear and be ordered by the Curate, until such
time as they have learned all that is here appointed for them to
learn.

203. So soon as Children are come to a competent age, and can
say, in their Mother Tongue, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and
the Ten Commandments; and also can answer to the other Questions
of this short Catechism; they shall be brought to the Bishop. And
every one shall have a Godfather, or a Godmother, as a Witness of
their Confirmation.

The qualification for Confirmation, given in the rubric at the end
of the Office for Public Baptism, seems to be here restricted by
the addition of the words 'so soon as children are come to a
competent age.' On the principle that the wider interpretation
of the requisites for spiritual privileges should prevail over
the narrower, this rubric should be so interpreted as not to
conflict with the other. In this view, the competency here intended
does not consist in having arrived at a definite age, but in
understanding what they are able to repeat with their lips. It
should be observed that the word 'child' used in the rubric
indicates, in the language of the Canon Law, an age between seven
and fourteen.

204. And whensoever the Bishop shall giv