on, is
divided into two parts:--I. The doctrines we are to believe (1)
concerning the nature of God, (2) concerning the decrees of God and
their execution--(a) in creation and providence, (b) in the covenant of
works, (c) in the covenant of grace; II. The duties we are to perform
(1) in regard to the moral law, (2) in regard to the gospel--(a) inward
duties, i.e. faith and repentance, (b) outward duties as to the Word,
the sacraments and prayer. It has 107 questions and answers, while that
of the Anglican Church has but 24, grouping as it does the ten
commandments and also the petitions of the Lord's Prayer, instead of
dealing with them singly. Though the Shorter Catechism, closely
associated as this has been from the first with Scottish public
elementary education, has had very great influence in forming and
training the character of Presbyterians in Scotland, America and the
British colonies, it is, like most other catechisms drawn up by dogmatic
theologians, more admirable as an epitome of a particular body of
divinity than as an instruction for the young and the unlearned. Its use
is now generally preceded by something more adapted to the child-mind,
and this is true also in other communions and in the case of other
catechisms.

(b) _Roman Catholic_.--There was no universal catechism published by the
Latin Church before the council of Trent, but several provincial
councils, e.g. in Germany and Scotland (where Archbishop Hamilton's
catechism appeared in 1552 and was ordered to be read in church by the
parish priest), moved in self-defence along the lines already adopted by
the reformers. The council of Trent in 1563 resolved on an authoritative
work which was finally carried through by two small papal commissions,
and issued in 1566 by Pius V. (Eng. trans, by Donovan, Dublin, 1829).
Being uncatechetical in form and addressed to the clergy rather than to
the people, it missed its intention, and was superseded by others of
less exalted origin, especially by those of the Jesuit Peter Canisius,
whose _Summa Doctrinae et Institutionis Christianae_ (1554) and its
shorter form (1556) were already in the field. The catechisms of
Bellarmine (1603) and Bossuet (1687) had considerable vogue, and a
summary of the former known as _Schema de Parvo_ was sanctioned by the
Vatican council of 1870. But the Roman Catholic Church as a whole has
never had any one official catechism, each bishop being allowed to
settle the matter for his