1 / TiiH Outward and Visiblh Sign. A NEW AND ATTRACTIVE METHOD UF TEACHING KEI.I' 'US TRUTHS, ANI> KSPECIy\I,I,V Al'I'I.lEI) TO THE lEA'HINi; OK Cfec Cljurtl) Catechism. A MANUAL FOR THE USE OF SVNIIAV SCHOOL TF.ACll ERS. MKMIiF.RS OF A OlASCED CLASSES IS SVS DAY SCHOOLS, COSF'.RMATION CLASSES, .'.NO FOR HOME STCnV. The Rey. D. J. Cahwell, B. D., Ph. B., Ok thf. Diocf.sk ok H(iron. "BuiliUni:^ tip ymrseh/es on your viosl holy faith,''— Si, JuuK, 20. ♦♦► gnintforb. QTannbn : The Caswem. PtTni.isiiiNr, Co, 1 891. 0/7& E and nin Ottawa -^SJr-rr^e'Vj^'^^s^ ^^.ilT"^*; i«rr tj;^ ois^^ Printed by LONDON rUINTINd & UTHO. ('OMl'ANY, r^iNiK'N, Ontario, '^o ^^v €ht liAbt Bcbcrcntr mxntt S. galtiimn, §.§., Sovb |iisbo|j of Duron, As a sincere tribute to his remarkable power of word picfcurmg an.dthe use of illustrations, so as to present the gospel in its simplicity. beauty, and attractiveness, with His Lordship's kind permission, these pages are dedicated by TTT FHE AUTHOIJ. # COISTTEKTTS. I. Introductory. — Objects Aimed At, - . . . II. Catechising. — Difficulties.- Criticisms, III. Memory Helps. — Better Methods, - - . . IV. Attractiveness. — Teaching by Emblems, V. Symbols. — Sign Language. — Defmitions, VI. Symbolic Numbers, VII. Divisions of the Catechism, - - - . . VIll. The Baptisrtial Covenant, - - - . . IX. The Apostles' Creed, X. The Te i ('ommandments, .... XI. The L(M'J's Prayer, - XII. The Sacraments, -...-. XIII. The System Enlarged. — Memorizing the Order of Holy Scripture,* - XIV. Church Architecture — Lessons to be Learned from It, Pace. 5 8 12 IS 38 42 44 47 5° 57 62 66 ILLXJSXK.JP5.XI01SCS. Plate K (I << l( t< 2. 3- 4- 5- 6. 7- 8. 9- 10. 1 1. 12. " V3- '• 14- Chart I. " II. '• HI, - IV. " V. " VI. I'A(;k.. Star, Cross, l.'Uc, - - • - - - 114 Ship, Etc, - 16 Fish and Inscription, - - - - - 18 IHS., XP., Monograms, Etc., - - - -20 Unity, -----•-■ 28 Com[)etence, -•--.-- 30 Completeness, - - - - ■ ■ -32 Development of 'Hirccs, - - - - 33 The World Number. - - - - - - 35 Humanity, - - ■ - - - - 38 Perfection, • • - - - - 40 Various Forms of Crosses, - - - 65 Church Windows, ...... ^j Plan of an Ideal Christian Church Building, 68 Tlil' OUTWAKI) AX!) VISIHLH SIGX, © ./ Nj:\r .!X/) ATrRAcri\-E method of teachi.w; die CIWKCH CA lEXIIlSM. CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTORY.- OBJECTS AIMED AT. HE writer gave a very brief addresss upon the ■.•se of Signs and Symbols as helps to the memory in learning the Church Catechism, before a Convention of Church Workers, held at Paris. Ontario, in May, 1889, under the auspices of the Rural Deanery of the County of Brant. The method there presented was considered so novel and so attractive, that I was urged by those present to put it in such a form' that it might be made useful to my fellow Sunday School teachers. My purpose on that occasion was only to show my own method of teaching by the use of illustrations, so that other teachers, if they saw it to be of any advantage, might take it up for themselves. I was requested, however, to get out the diagrams there sliown in the form of Charts, for the use of Sunday Schools generally, and to write an explanation of the method. in doing this it was necessary to make many improvements upon the drawings, and to add others, so as to show the whole system of teaching by illustrations, as it had been used by myself for years. I have sijice been called upon to address similar conventions of S, S. teachers at Petrolia, Brantford, Hamilton, Woodstock, Toronto, etc., at which, in some instances, resolutions were passed asking for the publication, or letters have more recently come into my hands from many earnest S. S. workers, requesting that the diagrams used by me might soon be made available for general use. One writer says " the charts will be helpful in general church catechising.'' He says, " As a help to restoring catechising in the Church — a restoration devoutly to be wished — they will be invalu- able." Again he says, "Your diagrams ought to be given to the Church. No one who has seen them can doubt that their intelligent use will revolutionize our S. S. teaching." Urged by such requests, I have prepared the following pages, and I sincerely trust that the method of teaching herein set forth may be found to be an attractive and useful one in illustrating many subjects which ought to be explained in our Sunday Schools, 6 Tmk OirrwAKit and Vi.sih[,e Sign. and especially that it may serve to make the Church Catechism, which we all regard as a most valuable compendium of Christian instruction, to be also an attractive subject of study ; in fact, that the Cluirch Catechism may be, wluit the Church designed that it should be, the centre around which all other religious knowledge may revolve. The i)ropcr course in imparting any instruction in a lesson is to bear in mind three points, which have been tersely described thus : " The be^innini:; should arrest the attention ; the middle should inform the mind ; and the end should affect the heart!' Children, as most of us know from experience, are naturally volatile^ and it is very difficult to fix their attention upon a given subject. But they are also curious, and '• curiosity is the mother of attention." They want to know about anything which is new and takes their fancy in the form of an object lesson or picture. Excite the curiosity, therefore, and you gain their attention. Now you have gained this, the wise teacher will seek to give information, and gratify curiosity. Knowledge, when rightly communicated, creates an appetite for more. Observation, memory, imagination and judgment must be called into action, and with reasonable care and proper variety you may lay the foundation for the third step, that of affecting the heart. Truth implanted in the understanding must be applied to the feelings. The moral nature must be awakened by earnest and tender appeals. Young hearts are most responsive, when addressed by an earnest and faithful teacher. I have more faith myself in the success of the Sunday School teacher in winning young hearts ro Christ than in the sermons addressed to congregations of adults, too many of whom are gospel-hardened. In order to become successful teachers, our sympathies must go out towards children. We must try to recall our own child likings, and take the line of thought th?* v/ill win a child's attention. The best: teachers are those who, along with a knowledge of the subject, have what may be called pictorial power. They must be able to describe scenes and incidents so that they will appear real. Imagination is very active in a child's mind, and every teacher should know how to address this faculty. The Bible writers use this methcd very frequently, and our Blessed Master condescended to our weakness by addressing men's imagination first, and through that their understanding. How much more interesting the words, "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people," than would Le any other words to convey tlie same ideas. When the prophet Nathan went to king David, he did not say, " You have committed a great sin, and I am come to The Outward and Visiiile Sjon. • 7 reprove you ; " but he began a narrative : "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor, etc." Tiie king was so indignant when he hi ird of the great wrong, that he exclaimed : " The man that hath done this thing shall surely die ;" and then the prophet brought home his guilt to him, saying, " Thou art the man." The most effective lessons which enter the heart are not those which take the form of tasks to be learned, or are set forth to be committed to memory, or urged upon us in the shape of dr.'.ies ; but. as in our Lord's teaching by parables, are wrap])ed up in stories, metaphors and other figures of speech. We all know by experience that these have often secured our attention, and left us with the most lasting impressions that we have ever received in our lifetime. It is often said there is "no royal road to learning," and this might be used as vn objection to the method here proposed ; but, if we follow the pictorial methods of the Great Master, we are at least following in the road pointed out by the Prince of teachers, of whom it was said : " Never man spake I'ke this man." Here, if anywhere, is the royal road.. 8 Thk Uu'iWAki, ANii Visusr.K Sk^n. CHAI'IKR II. CATECHISING. DIFFICULTIES. ^'^HERK is no ])ari: of the work undertaken by Sunday School V^ teachers which is so unattractive as that of teaching the Catechism. In the Bible Lesson there is sufficient of personal history, or of special interest attached to persons and places, to keep up the attention of th.e learners. We all know what valual^le aids in our work we find in tlie use )f maps and pictures. Blackboard draw- ings have been used to draw attention to particular words or texts that serve to draw out special lessons. It was by th',: use of these in Hible Lessons that the writer had his attention cal'ed to the method here suggested. I long had wished that the Catechism, which taught the most essential doc- trines of the Christian Faith, could by means of blackboard illustrations be made aUractive. Frequently I have heard teachers remark that the (Jatechism is dry and imattractive. My own work necessitated some device to draw attention to the subject other than the little Catechisms them- selves. It appeared to me that Catechisms by the hundred were distributed in Sunday Schools and lost. As for any real .instruction, everything depended on the parents at home, in fact, if they d d not drill their children in the old familiar language, almost no advance could be made by the S. S. teacher in this subject. My ov/n experience is, as I found on comparison, that of S. S. teachers everywhere. Some teachers say that in their youth the subject was knocked into them, and they felt that they could sympathize with Young America ; for it appears the youth of this continent are becoming more and more precocious on the study of religious subjects. I found, too, that when young people are preparing for Con- firmation they force themselves to learn the words of the Catechism, at least sufficiently to pass somewhat creditably before their companions. But in a large number of cases I have had many confess that they forgot all they had learned almost as soon as their Confirmation was past. Many of the devices, therefore, which I have worked into my system of teaching, as here described, grew up in preparing classes for Confirmation. I used to ask my young friends to take their pencils, and write certain combinations of letters which would help the memory and bring out the principal words ; and then upon these, thus easily remembered, we would The Ou. \rd ant* \'isnu,F, Sion. 9 proceed to enlarge until the subject, instead of being a task, gradually jj;rew' to possess intense interest. I rever, therefore, had any dilticulty in having a large atterdance at my Confirmation Classes The secret was that there was work to be done, and life was put into the work. I have before me a treatise on S. S. teaching from the pen of G, H. Fitch, A. M., in which I find some thoughts on catechising, and from which I make a iaw extracts, chiefly because they will serve to show how many have found catechising dry and unin- terescitig. He says: " [n Catechisms certain questions are given, and particular answers are ajipended. These answers are generally learnt by heart, and a child is not said to kno^v his Cateciiism unless lie can rej'eat every word without a mistake. Now, the only really valuable end to be aimed at in a Catechism is, that a certain subject should be understood.'' " The only catechetical instruction which i? worth anything, is that in which teachers and children exchange ideas in their own words : when the question arises spontaneously, and the answer is a perfectly natural one, and thus affords the true measure of the learner's knowledge. But that is not catechising when teacher and schc lar sit down with a book betv.'een them, and repeat alternately the words which it puts into their mouths, when both are puppets alike, the wires being pulled, and the rnacliinery managed by the unknown author of the book." " r.ook back a little. Does any one of us remember anything out of his Catechism ? Have we not the most dreary recollections of that troublesome and tedious exercise, when the teacher and child were talking and moving, so to speak, in fetters, and neither mind was actually in communication with the other ? Why is this ? I believe it is because the merely verbal memory was required to receive what it had no business to take. There being nothing of any special value in the mere phrases of the book, the mind was yet striving rigidly and inflexibly to retain them." vSuch is the severe criticism which this writer has put on our usual method of catechetical teaching, and, I think, rightly so. The method recommended herein, however, will not be charged thus, but will help to remove the stigma from our catechetical teaching, and will be found the very thing wanted to bring out the ideas, and give the teacher an opportunity of pointing out the spiritual meaning behind the language itself. It is ideal teaching — the communicating of ideas, not words, — which I am aiming at. The same writer mentioned above has a most severe criticism upon the answer to the fourth question in the Church Catechism, beginning, " Yes, verily ; and by God's help, so I will" He says : lo The Outward and Visible Sign. " What possible purpose can be served by the verbatim recollection of such a passage as this ? It is a mere fragment, which, even if a child carries about with him in his memory to his dying day, will remain utterly without signiikance to him. . Yet there are good peo])le who attach importance to the learning of these words by heart, and who go on Sunday after Sunday conscientiou.5ly laboring to teach them." After reading the above reflections I am not sorry that I have dwelt upon this very question, and so developed it that I think many of my readers will find it the most interesting part of the Catechism. The illustrative method brings out the ideas, in contrast with the use of mere words. You may make a child remember a thing by dint of constant repetition. You may, however, weary him and yourself by using the same monotony of words Sunday after Sunday. Constant repetitions of the mere words of the Catechism may, perhaps, wear the meaning out of them, and all the freshness and interest they ever had will disappear. A Rector of a parish in Hampshire tells the story of an over- grown lad who came up for confirmation, and when asked how many Sacraments there are, was quite unable to tell. When, however, the very words of the Catechism were used, " How many Sacraments hath Christ ordained in His Church ? " he vv6nt off at once in the language of the book, — " Two only, as generally necessary to salvation : that is to say, liaptism and the Supper of of the Lord." He could then repeat the words, but when asked the same question in different language was unable to give any answer. It was found that he could give no reply except in the precise words. His teacher had been content to teach mechanically, and the boy had been a mere machine. What are we to do in order to avoid this f Awaken an interest in the subject. The more interest you can get, the less drudgery of repetition will be recjuired. Every illustration you can use, every charm with which you can invest the subject, every appeal to the imagination, the judgment, the heart, will take away the drudgery. Your teaching becomes ennobled and beautified, and you will enjoy it and awaken the minds of the learners. Without this the repetition of mere tasks will be the dullest occupation in the world. There are some things, it is true, which ought to be learned by rote, — for example, texts of Scripture and verses of Hymns, because in these instances no other words would so well express the ideas, and it is invaluable to have the mind stored with them, especially with the very words of Holy Scripture. Here the verbal The Outward and Visible Sign. II memory is necessary. But is this necessary in regard to the Catechism? We think that nothing is to be gained by it. The best things in our memories are not those which are held by set words and phrases, but rather those in which our thoughts and judgments are associated, — in other words, those which we clearly understand, and which we could put into our own language. Besides this, it is ten times easier to learn words by heart when they are understood. So I propose that in the Catechism we give thoughts first, and then the book words afterwards, rather than the words first and the thoughts afterwards. 1 think this is a sound principle. It is much better that a child should learn to spell the words in a sentence, as they occur, understanding their use and connection, than to spell long columns of words, without any interest and nothing for the mind to hold on by. The laws of mind will assert themselves, and mental associations will be formed. This association of ideas in the mind will help us to store up truths for life. Let us take advantage of these things in our teaching. 12 The Outward and Visible Sign. CHAPTER in. MEMORY HELPS. LAYING THE FOUNDATION. TXkRBEKT spencer tells us, in his "Philosophy of Style," that ' the reason why one set of words is to be preferred to another in any sentence is, that the order of words which is most pleasing is so because it economizes attention. There is not so great mental energy required to grasp a thought which is j^resented in such language as brings up a picture before the mind, as when one is otherwise expressed. This is why figurative language is so charm- ing. This is why poetry is so easily remembered. The mental strain is not so great when the words which are used assist the mind to anticipate the coming ideas. This is Ahy one speaker is so much easier to follow than another. The dry, dull, unattractive speaker gives you a heavy task in following him from point to point, until the mind wearies in the effort ; but the speaker who uses figure* and illustrations by a single word arouses your intellect to attention, pictures flash upon the mind, and you can almost anticipate the coming thoughts before they are clothed in language. Attention is economized, therefore, and this method must always be preferable to any other. In these days of active Sunday School work, teachers are look- ing for assistance to the various leaflets and helps of every kind, which serve to make their occupation pleasing to tliemselves, as well as instructive to the young peoi)le under their care. It is well to take advantage of any hints we may obtain anywhere which might tend in this direction. Some months ago I was visiting a Sunday School, in which I observed a teacher who was engaged in teaching a class of boys, and from his method I learned a lesson which I thought might be useful for others to know. He first took up the little Calvary Catechism and asked the questions down one or two pages, and this part of his work being accomplished satis- factorily, he said, " Now, boys, let us turn to our Bibles, and find the th chapter ot ." And I observed that he took them tr) a passage which was exactly suitable to illustrate the subject of the Catechism just gone over. That is, the teacher was making the little Calvary Catechism his leaflet, on which he based the Bible lesson for the day. And I thought that this might be an ex- cellent method for many of our Sunday School teachers to adopt. The Church Catechism may thus be made the ground-work for Sunday School lessons, if we choose so to employ it, and a good The Outward and Visible Sign. tj course, well studied and thoroughly enforced by a faithful teacher, will go far to build up the young on our " most holy faith." This would be a sure foundation, so that our young people would under- stand the sermons which they hear We may be sure that the reason why so many go astray is th: t they have not been properly instructed in the first principles of the Christian religion. Words have not been properly defined, or they have been used in a different sense from that in which the Church uses them, and hence we are often misunderstood in our religious teaching. This is the work of the Sunday School teacher. He is a theological professor on a small scale, and he cannot too often explain the words of greatest importance, which stand for the chief doctrines of the Faith. He must remember that the religious teaching which he is impart- ing will probAbly be the only religious instruction many of the young people before him will ever obtain. He must therefore make his groundwork sure, and prepare them for intelligently understanding the sermons which they may hear, by seeing that they are well instructed in the first principles of the Faith, as set forth in the Apostles' Creeds the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Command- ments^ and " all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul's health." To assist the memory how to treasure up this knowledge, is the chief object of the method here revealed. I shall show how many other matters, of considerable importance to Christians, naturally connect themselves with this subject. These will be touched upon again in the closing chapters, but at first I wish to apply myself to the gathering of illustrations, which I desire to use as we proceed, and finally apply to the Church Catechism itself Fig. 1, Fife. 2, a cr n Fig. 3.. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. F'G- 6- PLATE 1. The Outward and VrsiBi.E Sion. 15 CHAPTER IV. ATTRACTIVENESS. TEACHING BY EMBLEMS. /^HK particular method wiiich I propose to b'j used by Sunday ^-^ School teachers, in order to make the Church Catechism at- tractive, and to bring out the chief doctrines of the faith so as to make them impressive and never to-be-forgotten, is by means of object and pictorial teaching. That it n>ay be said that ihis is no new method, I am well aware, but I am not aware that, heretofore, it has ever been ap])Iied to the teaching of the Church Catechism, and yet 1 am sure it will be found a method of very great advantage. Take a group of children into one of our beautiful churches to-day. and their quick eyes will detect emblems and designs in the ornamentation of the building concerning which they are ever ready to ask the question ; " What mean ye by these signs ? " To make little of these things, and to say that they are simply old emblems which architects have copied from their predecessors, that they once had a meaning, but the enlightenment of the nineteenth century makes them no longer of any significance, except as orna- ments to our Churcli buildings, would, I think, be folly. The wise Sunday School teacher will rather take them and use them in his work, and tell soiiething of their origin and history. If we go back to the early Christians, we find they constantly used emblems and symbols to stand for important truths ; and in an age when reading and writing were almost unknown, we can see how valuable these must have been in keeping the truths which they represented alive in their own minds, and for the jiurpose of transmitting them to others. The Star (Plate i). the Cross, the Anchor, the Heart the Cro7ttn,\\\Q Palm Leaf, the Ship (Plate 2), (which was the emblem of the Ark of Christ's Church), all these were very significant among the early Christians, and we do not wonder that they so frequently used them in the ornamentation of their places of public worship, and cut them ir the stones which marked the last resting-places of those who had fiillen asleep in the faith of Jesus (!hrist. Bowing the head at the sacred name oi Jesus in the Cceed may be regarded a matter of small importance to many Christians in this nineteenth century, but it was very significant in those early days, when to refuse to do so was to deny the faith. The Knights of the Crusades drew forth their swords and held them aloft to heaven at le name oi Jesus in the Creed, as much as to say, that not only d they believe this great truth, but that, if necessary, they were ready to defend it with their lives as " His faithful soldiers and servants." Fig. 7. Fig. 8. Fig. 10. Rg. 9. Fig. 11. PLATE 2. The Ouiw'ard and Vrsiiii.E Sk.n. 17 We propose to use these e'.nblems for our purpose, and assign to each the meaning which has been generally attached to them by the early Christians and by church architects in all the Christian centuries. We shall try to find the natural meanings of the various symbols. We propose that each of them shall help in tin- task. before us of learning and teaching Christian doctrine, and we shall find how they will help us to arrange these important ideas in the very best order, and like maps in the study of geography, they will fix them in our minds as long as life lasts. Just as you arrange your books on sliclves, so that even in the dark you C(nild find your favorites ; just as people arrange their rooms so that the various pieces of furniture are assigned to their proper places, and the pictures and bric-a-brac so ordered as to be most effective in the pleasant harmony of the whole, and that each article may be readily found when wanted ; so also we propose tliat each symbol which we use shall stand in its proper place in our minds, shall l)e recalled at will, and shall be found when wanted the very thing re(]uired to make the Christian doctrines stand out in perfect beauty and present a pleasing harmony. Let the Star (Plate i) be the emblem of light, the first created thing, and indicate that all ligh' or wisdom or knowledge, whether of religion or of science, conies from God. The Circle (Plate 2) is the emblem of eternity, without beginning and without end, or if you please, the emblem of God Himself, with the idea of His eternity of existence. The Siiii^le Eye (See plate 5), the all-seeing eye, has been used for ages to mean God in His omniscience, and reminds us of the text, "Thou God seest me." The Triangle (Plate 2), equal sided and with its equal angles, is an emblem of the Holy Trinity. The Cross is the emblem of faith, the Anchor^ of hope, and the Heart, of charity : and so we have the three Christian graces often set forth emblematically, — faith, hope and charity. The Crown and Fahn Leaf have both been used as emb.em" of victory, and in the early centuries were commonly cut into li.e tombs of those who had gained the victory through Christ. The Agnus Dei (Plate 2), the Lamb of God, pictured by an innocent lamb, sometimes bearing a banner, is the emblem of ' Christ our Passover, sacrificed for us ; " and the Dove, either hovering or flying downwards, is the emblem of the Holy Ghost, who in this form descended upon our Lord at His baptism at the Jordan. The Shield will remind us how " the Lord our God is a sun and shield," — a protection to His people in every time of trouble and danger. And the Ship is the emblem of the Church — a favorite symbol among the early Christians, suggesting the thought of our ixeii iTiaovS Xpiards Qto\) Jesus Christ, Of God Son, Saviour. TrMl'OKF.ADKIANIlMl'iiKITOKlSMA X K1VSA1)0LI-;SCI-:\SI)VXMIIJT\VI1)V1 SATISVlXrritVMVITAMrROClK) N CVMSAXGVlNliCONSVN'SITlXPACE TANI)l".MyVir.VIT PLATE 3. The OuTWARn and Visiiii.f Sign. 19 being out on a tossing sea in this evil world, in ilangi r from storms and tempests, and safe only in the Ark of Christ's Church. What could be more suggestive than the hxmp sui)portod on the Holy Hible. He^e we have an eiul>lem speaking of the //t,'/// of the individual Christian life, which draws its knowledge from the Word of Cod and sliiua brightly in this dark world, whilst it is secretly fed from on high by the oil oi the Holy Chost. So should i)urning zeal and knowledge l)e ever found together, and so will the darkness be disjjelled. We pass a church with a wc ithercock u[)on its spire, :ind immediately some on*- is --eady with the remark that the people who worship there must Ik vc^y :hangeable, and turn about " with every wind of doctrine.'' But when we see a fish upon a church si)ire, that means a very different thing. Our thoughts go back to the early days of Christianity, when the fish was like a secret sign l)y which Christians knew one another in the days of i)er-;ecution. In truth it was to them a sacred sign, for it told them of their faith in the Holy Son of God. In the Creek language they had an interesting acrostic written on the name of the Greek word for fish, viz., 'IXOY^L. Each letter was the beginning of a word in the acrostic, reading thus, — l»/.Tor€o comi lonly seen. Their origin is thus seen to be harmless, and indeed so very mterestmg as to be readily understood b}' young peop'f when thus explained to thom, and I am sure onr Sunday School teachers will take pleasure in imparting useful instruction of this kind. 1 have taken special pains on the page devoted to this subject (Plate 4) to put down almost every form in whirh these letters are found, and have tried to show their origin. The three letters IHS are in Greek called Iota, Eta and Si,^ffia. What looks to us like an H is really the long E of ihe Greek language. The I is the same as J. So that the letters in English would be JES., an abbreviation of JESUS. The Sigma it will be seen appears in different forms, and has iinally taken the Latin form or the terminal S of the smaller Greek letters. The X P are called in Greek C/ii and J^/w, and are equivalent to Ch and R. and not what they seem to us in English. They are the first two letters, it will be seen, of the name Christos or Christ in the Greek. I have also drawn the Alpha and Omega (the capitals and the small letters), in order to show their Greek form, as they appear in Christian monograms, symbols and ornamentation. Alpha is the first and Omega is the last of tlie letters in the Greek alphabet. These could hardly fail to be used by the early Christians, since in Rev,, I,, 8, they are applied to our Lord, teaching us that He is the First and the Last, the Great Eternal Saviour who is the all-in-all of the Christian Faith. I have also added a very interesting copy of an inscription (See bottom of Plate 3), found in one of the Christian Catacombs beneath the city of Rome, placed there when Rome was pagan, and the Christians were compelled to worship in secret, and buried their loved ones in secret places, that they might write their Christian 99 TmK OinWAkl* AND V'lSIIlLK SiCJN. words of faith upon their tombs. On the copy of the stone which I liave given will be found p.m illustration of the uses to whii.h the sacrcvi monograms and symbols were put. 1 have cho^;en this especially because an abbreviation of the name Chnsto (meaning for Christ) is seen at the end of the third line, ("HO, with the dash over the letters, the sign of the abbreviation. I give here the translation of the latin words, — ''In the time of Adrian, the Kmperor. Marius, a young military otTicer, who had lived long tMiough, then vielded up his life for('lirist with his blood. In ] eace at length he rested " And the monogram at one side and the palm leaf at the other appears to say : ''He gairied the victory through Christ." 1 need hardly say how interesting this will be to yoimg Christians, how beautiful the Symbols, and how closely it appears to bring us in touch with those early ('hristians Who knew and loved our Lord, and lived and died trusting in His HIessed Name. THK (^UIWVKI) ANF) ViSIIU.K SU'.N. aj ClIAPTf.R V SYMBOLS. SIGN LANGUAGE. DEFINITIONS. ij^IlK importance of Symlxjl tcuciiing can liardly be denied for V^ a njoment. Sign iunguage must be recognized as the earliest method of communication, dating at least from the confusion of tongues at Habel. How otherwise could men understand one another, until certain words were agreed upon for certain objects, actions and cpialiiies spoken of in their conversation ? ]}ut it will be found much more ancient than that. In the Garden of I'.den. tlie '• Tree of Life" and the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Kvil," show that (iod spoke to men by Symbols. After the Great Deluge God pointed out the rainbow in the sky as the Symbol of His promise. When our Blessed Lord was here on earth He was celebrated in His teaching for His Ui^e of parables. These were symbolic in a special degree, and very attractive in drawing attention to the subject matter of His discourses. What could rouse attention as did His life-like pictures ! — " Beheld a sower went forth to sow," — " The Kingdom of Heaven is as a man travelling into a far country," etc. The Bible is full of Symbols. The use of figures is recognized everywhere in its language. The metaphors, similes and other figures of speech in the Bible add greatly to its attractiveness. In the erection of the Tabernacle in the wilderness Moses was directed to use Symbols and emblems in its ornamentation. This need hardly be dwelt upon. So in the Christian Church the same method has been recognized. The beautiful on aments used in our Church decorations are only the following out of these ancient ideas. This I have already touched upon in a former chapter, and will show more fully elsewhere. I am only anxious here to have it noted that the method I propose to use has been identified with true religion in every age. Symbolic teaching is God's own method. It was our Lord's way of teaching. It is the Bible way, and it is also the Church's way. We shall do well if wc can intelligently follow such methods. The various secret societies, following the example of the Knights Templars, have made great use of Symbols. The Free- masons, it is generally acknowledged, have a wonderful system of teaching their principles based on symbolis^n. And there is no doubt that the various societies which have adopted this method 24 Ihe Outward and Visible Sign. (which has been derived from Christian sources and received by Christians from Hebrew and Patriarchal ages) find that it is well adapted for conveying the i)rinciples which they teach, as well as being a very attractive method of doing. so. How much of disputation might have been avoided, and how much of Christian harmony secured, if we could but use our words with definite meanings. For example, are we not day by day hearing the word " Catholic''' used out of its proper sense, and yet it passes without correction ? If we as Christian teachers resolve to make it a point to use the word to mean universal or general, its original meaning, and never allow the word to be applied to that body which is pleased to recognize the Bishop of Rome as its head, then we shall be following a safe rule. Let us speak of them as Roman Catholics if we will. This is their legal title. But Catholic never, since that is an *' epithet which was given to the Christian Church in general" (see Webster's Unabridged Diction- ary), and it is playing into the hands of Romanists to give up the title to them, whilst at the same time we are declaring constantly in our religious services, " I believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints," thus declaring ourselves Catholics; in other words we are declaring that we hold the faith which has come down from those days when there were no separations from the one body of Christ, Let this then be our definition. They are properly Catholics who hold the faith of the early Christians pure and unde- filed, without modern corruptions or additions, as set forth in the creeds or Symbols of the faith called the Apostles', the Nicene, and that of St. Athanasius. The Christian Church is called a Universal or Catholic Church, because in regard to doctrine it holds guod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus, — what has always been believed, what has been everywnere believed, what has been be- lieved by all. This is an old definition, and a good one. What different ideas exist as to the use of the word Protestant. This word was tised first in Germany in 1529 to denote those who protested against the errors of Romanism. In history it has been thus used, and in modern Acts of Parliament. But there are many who refuse to be classified by such a name, because it is descriptive of nothing. It is merely a negative term. Besides, it puts us only in a class along with Mormons, Salvationists and all modern sects, no matter how recent or heterodox, so long as; they agree in not being Romanists. Many years back the word Protestant meant a member of the Church of England. From this use of the word arose the difficulties in settling the Clergy Reserve question in Canada, as many know. The Outward and Visille Sign. 25 In my own experience I met with an incident which rather startled me in regard to the use of this word. Some years ago when visiting an old man, an Irishman, and a member of the Church of England, in his sickness, I was reading and talking with him on religious subjects, and together with his family and others present we joined in prayers in behalf of the sick man. One of the number, a stranger to me, left the room soon after the prayers, and I took occasion to ask his name, as I did not know him to be a resident of the neighborhood. The name given was so Celtic that I was led to enquire further, •' Is he a Protestant ?" using that word because I thought it would be best understood. What was my sur])rise to hear the old man reply, " A Protestant, no. Sure, he's no Protestant. He's a Presbyterian 1 " Then 1 recalled the fact that the old man came from a part of Ireland where strict distir)c- tions were made in such matters, and belonged to a former generation. , The word " Church" is one which is greatly misunderstood and misa])plied. Some prefer to use it in the sense of the preface to the Ordinal, and some use it only of an invisible body of believers. There are those who prefer other words for the body of the faithful. But, at least, this may be regarded as very expressive. Its origin is from kvihukos (made up from Ki'puk, Lord, and otKov, a house) in the Greek language. Hence we have Kirk and Cluirch. That is, the Society which acknowledges Christ as its Head is the House of the Lord. It is but another way of claiming to be of God's Family or Household, and is a very appropriate description of the faithful Body of Christians who regard their King and Head to be the Lord Jesus Christ, " of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named ''. We can see how necessary it is that some definition be agreed upon. Many controversies are carried on with strongly opposing language — the odium theologicum — which would be brought to a speedy conclusion, if the parties could be induced to sit down calmly and write out their definitions of terms. It would be found in many cases that they used their words in totally different senses, and of course could never know when they were defeated in argument, and indeed were wasting precious time, until first they agreed upon their definitions. Such words as Church, Christian, conversion, regeneration, salvation, saved, and many others are used by well-meaning people in totally different senses in these modern days. It is not my pro- vince to enter further upon this subject. It belongs rather to those who are laboring to bring about Christian reunion — a consummation 26 The Outward anv Visible Sign. devoutly to be wished. I mention these things here simply because 1 ])ropose to use certain signs and emblems, and shall have to ask my readers to take them in their natural and undoubted sense. These meanings or definitions will have to be agreed upon or assumed before we can advance. The use of symbols will assist us in laying down definiiipns to help us in the further progress of our study of Christian doctrines. Symbols enter so universally into human life that we can hardly fail to be constantly reminded of their use. Every letter of the aljjhabet is a symbol of a <;ertain sound in spoken language, and this must be consented to generally, or no headway can be made in any more advanced learning. Euclid's elements must ever be a closed book, unless we agree regarding his definitions^ since on these all his reasoning is based. But if we con.sent to the first principles, and they may be ever so abstruse, yet we agree that certain statements, axioms, definitions are correct and satisfactory, then on these we may reason out the more difficult problems. Sometimes v' m an idea is symbolized by a well-known sign, there are those who will not willingly give up the sign because of the thing signified. How often we have seen the little golden circle worn by the wife upon her finger looked upon with affection because of the mystical union represented in matrimony, and of the covenant then made, " whereof the ring given and received is a token and pledge "? The old tattered flag on the battle-field is surely a worthless thing, and m^^ht well be abandoned like any other rag. But that flag is the token of our country's honor, and, therefore, the battle thickens about the standard, and there the soldiers fight most fiercely, willing to sacrifice life itself in defence of their country's flag, rather than let it fall into the hands of the enemy. Thus may wc understand the Spirit of the Martyrs, who would yield nothing in the days of persecution, and to them every symbol of the Christian faith was precious. Thus may we understand the spirit of God's ancient chosen people who were zealous in preserving every jot and tittle of Holy Scripture. Thus may we understand how in every age and every land a spirit cf devotion to home and country jealously defends every outward token of that country's honor. Carlyle has said " of man's whole terrestrial pos.sessions and attainments, unspeakably the noblest are his symbols, divine and divine-seeming, under which he marches and fights with victorious assurance in this life-battle."' Again, he says, " Such virtue was in belief, in these words well spoken — / believe. Well might men The Outward and Visible Sign. 27 prize their credo, and raise stateliest temples for it and reverend hierarchies, and give it the tithe of their substance : it was worth living for and dying for.'' So let the Christian then recognize the various symbols which have been used for ages in architectural decorations, as bringing us in touch with our fellow Christians in the early centuries who knew and valued them ; and let us see further how they may still be of ;:reat value to all true Christians. UNITY. AM THE None Other Gods But ME. liX., AA., O. •m w ,{^ — >, i One LORD, One Faith, One Baptism. Eph., IV., 5. "THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE IN ME." PLATE 5. Thf: Outward and Visihle Sign. aQ CHAPTER VI. SYMBOLIC NUMBERS. IN order to assist in the development of this ineihf)J of teacl.ing Christian truths, 1 wish next to notice that numbers hav a meaning and significance in the Holy Scriptures which no Foible reader ca:i fail to ol)serve. I propose, therefore, to take advantage of this in order to help in the memorizing of important Christian ideas. The following list of symbolic numbers will be found interest- ing One stands for Unity, Deut vi., 4 ; Eph. iv., 5 : (Jen. ii., 24. Two " Competence, Ex. xxxiv., 29 ; Dent. xvii.. 6. Three " Completeness, 2 Cor. viii., 14; i John v.. 8. Four " Wor/i/, Creation, Jsa. xi. . 12 ; ]''.zek. xxxvii., 9. Five " Humanity, St. Matt xxv., 5. Six *' Labor, Ex. xx., 9. Seven " Perfection, Rev. i., 20, i v., 5. Eight " N'ewness, Gen. xxi., 4 ; Phil, iii, , 5. Nine " Lim tation. Bounds, St. Luke xvii., 17. Ten " Responsibility, f^x. xxxiv., 23 ; St. l^ukt; xi.\,, 13. Eleven " Danger, Acts i., lU. Twelve " Organization, Rev. xxi., 12 : St. Mark iii., 14. In the following pages we propose to take advantage of these numbers to assist the memory. We shall use them only so far as required for our present purpose, but any of our readers who wish to pursue the subject will find, as wo have done, that these numbers may be applied in the same way to an unlimited extent ; and, indeed, the multiples of these will be found also to have their meanings, such ^^i forty, fifty, one hundred, one thousand, etc. Under the diagram headed Unity (Plate 5) I have placed the symbols of the all-seeing eye, the circle, and the single column. Each of these teach the idea oi oneness or unity. For four thousand years God was pleased, among the Patriarchs and the Hebrews, to emphasize the idea of the oneness of His Being — that there is but One God. This was essential in an age of heathenism, with its many deities. It was not till Our Lord was here on earth that the doctrine of the Trinity, the Three persons in the Unity of the Godhead, was clearly revealed. The texts given on the diagram state strongly the idea of Oneness, and the concluding text reminds us how our Lord, by identifying Himself with men and seeking by COMPETENCE. Obs.— Mail's Double Nature, SPIRITUAL -MATERIAL Man's Double Duty, TO GOD-TO MAN. iiilii'*, ll'l, ''' ' Mv < i: I ' III' ■■ ^^%.r' m^ ''mil :i;: TWO WITNESSES, MOSES, The Kingdom, THE CHURCH. ELIJAH, The Word, THE BIBLE. RECONCILIATION IN CHRIST. PLATE 6. 'I'lIK DlTWAKD AM> VlSll'.l.E Sif.N'. U His Atonini; Sacrifice to reconcile (lod and man, was seeking also to reconcile man to nuin, to bring about the imiversal Brotherhood. The only lasting unity will be our Brotherhood in Clirist. This is that for which He prayed •• That they all may be one in Me." Ought not this to l)t' a strong incentive to lead Christians tf) x ;k to bring about the Oneness of the Mody of (Jurist ? I'o be willing to sacrifice miu:h in order to hasten the day when we all mav bt "ue in Christ, and everything removed that hinders from '• godly imion and concord ' ? Under the diagram headed Competence (I'late 6) the words written will suggest muci; that 1 need here only mentiim in passing. Competence, or suHiciency. reminds us that Cod has given us suflicieiit to suit all our wants, and that '• man doth not live by bread alone". Here we are reminded of our double nature and our double duty. The two tables of the law show that our duty is pointed out to us with sufficiency of clearness. I'hese are like the two witnesses spoken of in Holy Scripture — the Law and the Prophets — witnesses which in both the former dispensations stood side by side. So in the last days before our Lord shall come again, we are promised two witnesses, Moses and Elijah. Even now we have two witnesses in the world, the Kingdom and the ITori/. or, in other words, the Church and the JUhU\ both witnessing to the same glorious truths, so that men are left without excuse. Here in this evil world we find God and man at variance, because the human will is at cross purposes with the divine will, and here again the blessed Gospel truth comes out, as in the figure, telling us that Christ has come to seek and to save the lost, to bring the hmnan will into agreement with the divine, to open up '• the new and living way " for man's redemption. In Christ shall God and man be reconciled. On the diagram with the word Completeness at the top (Plate 7) I have arranged several symbols illustrating the number Thret as it has been used in church ornamentation. The three primary colors, red, yellow and blue, are, as we know, those from which all other colors are made. The absence of all color is black, and a j^roper combination of all colors makes white. These three are the originals from which, by various blendings, the seven colors of the rainbow are formed. But the red, yel/ow and blue are the primary colors. They are good illustrations of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, and there is no doubt that it is from this idea that colors have come to be used in ch.irch ornamentation. The equilateral and equiangular triangle is a good symbol of the Holy Trinity. The trefoil has taken a very prominent place in COMPLETENESS. THREE PRIMARY COLORS. THE HOLY TRINITY. Vi -l> TRIA Ji'NCTA IN UNO. PLATE 7. DEVELOPMENT OF THREES. High Priest, Passover, Priests, Levites. OUR LORD, Apostles, The Seventy. Apostles, Presbyter-Bishops, Deacons. Bishops, Priests, Deacons. Knight, Esquire, Page. H R Ben Torah, Circumcision Holy Communion. Confirmation, Baptism. Supreme, Grand, Subordinate. U Master Mason, Fellow Craft, Apprentice. SEE ALSO MILITARY ORDERS. PLATE 8. 34 IHK Of 1 WARD AND VlSIHLE SlUN. church architecture, and stands very strikingly in the Ijcautiful tracery of cluirch windows. The Hi) which we ()l)serve worked into church carjjets and burnt into the (|uarries of church windows is another emblem of the Holy I'rinity. The lily is a trifolium in botany, having its three sepals, three petals, etc., and whether in the stiff, formal, conventional shape which it has taken in architecture, or in the more graceful form of the fieur-de-lis, was used, ages before Mariolatory was thought of, as a very beautiful emblem of the Trinity. It has as naturally suggested itself for such a purpose as did the shamrock of Ireland to the mind of St. Patrick. A remarkable thing about the use of the mmiber three is that it was used in all the measurements of the Tabernacle and Temple when .TWAR(» AND V'^ISIISI.E SiC.N. 37 contains many alius, ons which can only he understood in the hght of later deveIo])nients in the history of the Christian Church, as thea^cs roll along, and proph'.'cy is being fulfilled. No teacher should fail to know and explain the meaning of the " quatrefoil," which has l)een Used for hundreds of years to stand for the four evangelists, St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John, and has been used so freely in church arcliiterture. '('here is a remarkable passage in Ezek. i., lo, where four living creraures are mentioned, a lion, a man, an ox, and an ca^.:;le. They are ag.iin described in Rev. iv., 7, and in the Ki)istle for Trinity Sunday. It is said that these were the emblems painted on the four standards of the Israelites, which are mentioned in the second chapter of Num- bers. There must be some important significance in their frequent use. Among the early Christians they were regarded as typical of the four Gospel writers ; and upon a careful study it will be found that the writers of the Gospels have striven to set forth respectively, St. Matthew the Royalty, St. Mark the Humanity, St. Luke the Priesthood, and St. John the Divinity of the Christ. These are typified by the four living creatures. Some confusion appears to have arisen among the fathers in regard to which of the living creatures should be assigned to St. Matthew, and which to St. Mark. St. Augustine has them in the order indicated above, and St. Jerome in the reverse order. Christian Art has fixed the error (as we regard it) of St. Jerome in the Great Cathedral of Venice and in the " Lion of St, Mark " which has been adopted as the crest of the Venetian Senate. In the Rev. Canon Luckock's book on the " Footprints of the Son of Man as Traced by St. Mark ", this symbolism of the early Christians is referred to, and there occurs the following beautiful passage in reference to the four evangelists and their symbols : " While then in St. Matthew we bow the knee with the eastern kings before Him who was born ' Kin^ of the Jews '; while we read the charter of our salvation in the pages of St. Luke \ while we soar with St. John on his eagle wings into the very highest heaven, and realize the Pre-existence of the Word, it is to St. Mark more especially that we turn for the life of Him who was ' touched with a feeling of our infirmities ', who, as the Perfect Man, has left us an example that we should follow His steps." Some of the fatliers regarded these four living creatures as prophetical of the Evangelists, but at least they may be regarded as typical or emblematical. I'he " Lion of the Tribe of Judah " signifies royalty or sovereignty ; the Man, our Lord's perfect humanity; the Ox, the sacrificial victim, is the emblem of the Atoning Sacrifice made by the Great High HUMANITY. FIVE RACES: Caucasian, Mongolian, Malayan, Ethiopian, Am. Indian. FIVE SENSES : Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting, Feeling. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. \ MOSAIC. Genesis, HISTORIC. METRIC. PROPHETIC. Isaiah, NEW TEST, Joshua, JOD, Gospes, Eioilns, Inili. & Rntli, Psalms, Jer. & Lam,, Acts. Leyit ens, Samnel, Pro?., Ezek., St. Panl's, Niimtiers, Kings &Ctiron. Eccles., Daniel, Catholic Eps., Denteronomy. Ezra, NeL, Est. Song alM., Minor Prophets Revelation. (Captivity Hooks). PLATE 10. The Outwakd and Visihle Sign. 39 Priest ; and the Eagie, the bird which soars higher than any other creature, is the emblem of Divine Life, speaking as in a figure of His Heavenly origin. On the Diagram headed Humanity {V\^.iQ 10) will be found several illustrations used to symbolize this idea. The pyramid with its broad base and four sides shows a five-sided figure, solid, firmly settled on its base, as if it belonged to this earth, but with its point directing men to a higher life. It is, therefore, a good emblem of humanity taken from among human erections. The cinquefoil or five-leaved window is a very familiar figure in church architecture, wheth'M- in the form of the Rose vvindow or worked into the tracery of the more elaborate windows. I have also introduced the common five-petaled tlower, which, like the buttercup, is one of the most plentiful in nature. It would almost appear that the idea of the five-leaved window or ornament in architecture was taken from the figure of this well-known flower. Thaty?z'roclaiming Him as " the Light of the World ". The various seasons of the Church's year only serve to give us an ojjportunity of preaching Christ to men. in different lights, in various phases, but it is Christ and Christ only, as the h'ght of men, all the year round. Seven is the well-known symbol of Perfection. 0\\ the Diagram around the figure of the seven-branched candlestick I have placed a number of remarkable sevens used in nature and in Holy Scripture. The seven days of the week at once reminds us of a division of time as nearly natural as possible, being the fourth p^Tt of a lunar month. The Seven Spirits of God will remind us o( a great number of sevens used in Revelation with the apparent idea of a complete or perfect number. The Seven Beatitudes are of genera! application. Following these are two others for special circumstances, but the seven beatititudes are so general as to make up the perfect number. So also of the Gifts of Grace spoken of in the Contir- mation Prayer, it is remarkable that there should be seven, corresponding to the Seven Spirits of God. The Seven Parables of St. Matt. xiii. have been mentioned by many writers as a complete prophetic history of the kingdom of heaven on earth from the first sowing of the seed to the final gathering in of the harvest of results. These correspond so closely to the epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia, in Revelation, second and third chapters, that they form a very interesting study. They are a perfectly inspired foreshadowing of the history of the Church of Christ from its inception down to the end of the Christian dispensation. 42 Tnv. Outward and Visihle Sign. I do not propose to follow further the subject of Syn-jbolic numbers, although the ground over which it would lead me would, I think, be very attractive. The use of e/[i^/it, nine, ten, eleven --jccKCi twelve as symbols, is sliown by the texts written after each of them in the list of symbolic numbers given, and some of my readers may choose to pursue the subject here only suggested. I have sufficiently developed the idea for my present purpose, and I want now to apply what we have learned to the great work before us of making the Church Catechism and its teaching a very charming and enjoyable study. Chaht I. The Outward and Visible Sign CHARTS OF THE CHURCH CATECHISM. s THE OUTWARD AND c Visible P SIGN". X BYTHt REV. D. J. CASWELL. B.D.,PH.B. The Outward and Visikle Sign, 43 CHAPIKR VII. THE SIGN SYSTEM APPLIED DIVISIONS OF THE CATECHISM. SUCH a Sign System of teaciiing the doctrines of the Christian faith, as I have ])ropose(l, will be found very jileasing. For examy)le, as I have already mentioned, a star suggests the idea of li^lit. The morning star tells of the coming day, and the evening star tells of a day of light beyond the western hills. What better emblem then could the early Christians have adopted to represent Him who is " the Lig'.U of the World", " the Bright and the Morning Star'" .'* And since the Star of Bethlehem was that which called the attention of the Magi to the fact of the birth of the Great Messiah, what more appropriate symbol can there be for the Christmas season ? Let us api)ly this sign language to the sul)ject of teaching the Church C!atechism. The five points of Christian doctrine, as therein taught, may be marked out as in Chart I. On each of the points of y\\^ five pointed star is placed a letter, which immediately calls to mind tlie fact that the Catechism is naturally divided into five parts under the heads of the Baptismal Vow or Covenant, the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer and the Sacraments. On the Charts, which have been prepared, these five jiarts are represented in a series of diagrams emb'ematically upon five separate sheets. These, when explained, will be found full of suggestions to the teacher, and will make the subject extremely attractive to the learners. You will observe that the five parts of the Catechism appear to suggest that here the church has given us a short and complete system of religious knowledge within the range of human under- standing. Five is the symbol of humanity. You can see how quickly this will be comprehended by children, and how it at once arranges the whole subject in their minds, and will never be forgotten. There are only twenty-five questions in the Church Catechism, and they are divided as follows : — L The Baptismal Covenant, 4 questions, B. n. The Apostles' Creed, 2 " C. HL The Ten Commandments, 5 " X. IV. The Lord's Prayer, 2 '♦ P. V. The Sacraments, 12 " S. 44 Thk Outward ant) Visiiu.k Sign. I have used single letters, the most suitable ones, I think, to suggest these five points of t'hiistiaii doctrine, '["his circle of knowledge, which I have presented in a figure upon Chart I., is that wliioh the (,'hurch desires her cliildren to become acrpiainted with before they are presented for Confirmation. It is presumed that they should have also much Scriptural and historical informa- tion, but the Church Catechism is the systematic theology which all of the children of the church should know thoroughly as the grounilwork for underst".,iding otlier more advanced learning. Here these jioints of (Minsiian doctrine are arranged upon the Star of ikthlehenu the five pointed Star; and it is suggested that all our light or wisdom with regard to religit)us knowledge comes to us from Christ who is the "Light of the World'', and that all our teaching is to ])oint men to Christ. Here is something that will take the attention of young people, and a hiithful teacher can make a great deal more of the idea than space will i)erniit me to suggest. But at last let us never fail to " bear witness of tiie Lit;/it'\ to make Christ die centre of all our teaching, and to show that the Church from the beginning to the end of her teaching holds up Christ before men as the One who done can lighten " every man that cometh into the world ". And then we have His promise : " And J, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." °i»2.K m CHART OVENANT «mi^*»ii»nei-*r.-« 'I'HK OulWAklt AM) VisniLE SHiN. 45 C MA ITER VIII. THE BAPTISMAL COVENANT. y^AKINC) up the Second Chart the reader will see twelve 1 iters Vv of the al|)iiabet set forth upon the diauram. which at First sight may ajjpear to have no particular significance. Let the teacher put the Chart l)efnre his class, and a k the first (juestioii in the C'-iiurch Catecliism : •' Wliat is your name ?" and point out the letter N in the upper corner of the triangle. While attention is fixed ui)on it, the teacher has an opportunity of speaking about names generally, and their im[)ortance in this world — family names and Christian names — and of showing the greater importance of the name given at our Haptism, because it is given on one's admission to the ])rivileges of the Christian Church. The answer given in the Catechism, vi/., " N. or M.." has (jften been pu/./ling. The explanation is that the .M has, by an error of the scribes or printers, come to take.the place of N N — the two N's standing for the />/ura/. That is, the answer means Name or Xaines, because many persons have two or more Christian names. The second question brings up the ipubject of Holy Baptism, noted on the Chart by a large B, inside the triau}^le, whicli reminds us of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, for we are baptized " into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost ". An ojjportunity is now given of explaining the whole sul>ject of Sponsorship — of showing what is meant by God- fathers and Godmothers, that is, those i)ersons who were so ^rooii (God being but another form of }:,ooil) as to present us for Christian Baptism, and who as our Sponsors answered in our behalf when we were imable to speak for ourselves, and so secured for us God's blessing We should show how such sponsorship is being continually entered into by parents or guardians in behalf of their children or wards in the business world every day. The S within the B upon the Chart is for Sponsors. The answer to the second question also states what are the benefits of Holy Baptism. These are indicated by M. C. I. inside the large B ; and I have never failed, where I have tried it, to find young people interested in the important truths that iri Holy Baptism we are made members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. Let the teacher dwell upon each poiiit as much as he thinks his class will be able to understand; and for illustrations upon these topics I know no other help so 46 Thk Outwark and Visible Skin. valuable as the Rev. J. Cluiiy Macpherson's Lessons on the Church ('atechism. Let tlie teacher show, if he choose, a picture of the human figure, (iet the class to find texts which show that our Lord Jesus Christ is the IJead o^ the Church, and that we are the members. Such texts are i. ('or. xii., 12,27, ^^P'^- v-> 23, 30,81. John XV., 1-6. P'roin these we learn the imi)ortance of the position in whicl) Baptism jilacfis us. Hence we may claim to be children (C) of God, and say the i)rayer our Lord hath taught us, "Our Father," etc. Then, too, as children we are heirs, inheritors (I) of the kingdom of heaven, and have a right to the privileges and l)lessings of the kingdom on earth, and in due time will enter upon our *' inheritance among the saints in light ", if we do not, like jjrodigals, forfeit our inheritance. The third question brings out the three great cardinal principles of Christian doctrine, on the Chart indicated by R. F. O. First we have R, renunciation, or, as I prefer to call it, Re/>entance, this being the great truth preached by St. John Baptist, and also by our Lord Himself, when, e number we are reminded that we are responsible beings, and that every man must one day give an account of himself to God ' according to tiiat he hath done, whether it l)e good or bad ". The long answers to the questions which follow in the Catechism, giving practical examples of our duty to God and to our neighbor, have been a very heavy task to most young people. These, however, may be made miore interesting by writing the clauses under their proper heads, as is done upon the Chart. T-his will be found in the second table to change slightly the order of some of the clauses. But, if our object be to get the -Jeas fixed and impressed upon the minds of learners, this, i am sure, will be accomplished by the method which I suggest mure readily than l)y merely memorizing and repeating parrot /as/iion, as \t so often heard among our S. S. scholars and candidates for Confirmation. ffl-jjnr THE LORD'S PRAYER D He will be merciful F thetltwIUpleeeeHIn Thk Outward and Visihi.e Sign. 5^ u CHAITKR XI. THE LORD'S PRAYER. OOKINd for a plan of setting fortli in the same way the several parts of the Lord's Prayer, I found that two kinds oi petitions are generally recognized by writers upon this subject. Three of these can hardly be properly called petitions, but are rather words of adoration or worship addressed to our Heavenly Father. The remaining four speak of our dependence upon God for our earthly wants. This, again, carries out the idea of the symbolic numbers in Holy .Scripture, where three always suggests Completeness or what belongs to God, andyi^wr symbolizes the things which belong to this world. And 'lere we ha 'e a very important truth taught us by this arrangement of the Prayer — that God's Holy Name is first to be praised, and our hearts should go out in worship and adoration towards Him first, before we begin to think of our own special requirements. This is the order of the service in our Liturgy, where praise goes before prayer, the singing of Psalms and C'anticles (interspersed with lessons of Scripture in order to incite our gratitude), and then, after the reciting of the Apostles' Creed, we join in prayers for ourselves and others. This is the order suggested in the third question of the Catechism, thankfuhicss and prayer. And, indeed, it is but the carrying out of our Blessed Lord's exhortation, " .Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His right- eousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.'' Putting down the letter F for the words " Our Father whicii art in heaven,'' the invocation in this prayer, there it stood alone testifying that we have all one common Father. Putting N, K, W for the three clauses which refer to God's Name, Kingdom and IVi/i, I also wrote down B, F, L and D for Bread, Forgiveness, Leading, that is Heavenly Guidance, and Deliverance from Evil, or the Evil One, as the Revised Version of the New Testament has it. I was rather surprised to find that these letters would naturally order themselves into the form of a cross. In this form, therefore J have placed them on Chart V. Thus we are reminded that there can be no real prayer without faith, of which the cross is the emblem. " Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He that Cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." We call to mind the fact that all our prayers are based on the great work of Redemption 5 J The Ouiwaki. anh Visibi.k Sign. completed to r us on the C"ro«s ot' ('alvary, and also that our Ulessed Lord hns sai'l, as an encitement lo our faith, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name^ Me will give it you." The doxology, which is sometimes :„Jcd and somi'times omitted, but which is not essential to the prayer, gave me the hint of the three steps beneath the Cross as a basis, and the whole figure becomes a familiar one. On these steps I have put the letters K. P (1 for the words " For Thine is the Kingdom, the J*07c>er, and the Glory, for ever and ever. Amen." Looking at the Chart before me, I was n-iich impressed with the fact that in the prayer, thus standing in its complete symbolic form, the Church or A'i//j^'t/om of God is mentioned twice, taking the most prominent i)lace, as if esj^ecially important. In the cross bar the K, standing for "Thy Kingdom come ", is especially striking. And why not ? This kmgdom is the " Blessed company of all faithful l)eople ", God's peculiar care in the world, l)iit not 0/ the world. This is the organization by which God is reaching men, which is not only piaying but laboring to bring about that happy day when God's Name shall be reverenced and His " Will be done on earth, as it is in heaven '". That God's great and glorious kingdom may really rule over men, and the world be regained to its rightful owner, is what all true disciples of Jesus Christ labor and pray for. The thought came naturally to me that here in His visible kingdom, or church, we have the body of acknowledged citizens who are striving for the advancement of His Kingdom on earth. 'J'his is the " Church of the Living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth ", and is " built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone ". Taking up my pencil I put A. A. for Apos.'es on the top step, P. P. for Prophets on the second step, and J. C. for our Lord Jesus Christ on the lowest step, His Sacred Name being the foundation of all our prayers. " For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." i Cor. iii., 11. It will be observed that I have enclosed the K which stands in the central point of the Cross by the figure of a pyrainJd. I have had the thought in my own mind for many years that the figure of a pyramid is the only outward and visible sign that will satisfy mauj passages of Holy Scripture which have reference 10 the Church. Look at I Peter ii., 4-7 ; " To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious (i. e., Christ), ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by The Outward and Visiiile Sign. 55 Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chiff corner stone, elect, precious ; and he tiiat believcth on Him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe He is precious ; but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed the same is made the head of the corner." See also Psalm cxviii., 22 : "The stone which the builders refused is become ihe headstone of the corner." What building, 1 may ask, other than a pyramid can be said to have a head corner stone t The head corner stone cannot be at the base, for there there are other corner stones against which no marked distinction can be made. There are several other passages of Holy Scripture with which the above are closely allied. The Head Corner Stone is evidently intended as a figure of Our Lord Himself. This will be seen more clearly a little further on. The Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ appears to be represented by the complete figure of the Pyramid as far as it can be expressed by a visible sign, and of this (!hrist is the /lead Corner Stone. The Church is laid here on earth upon a good, broad, solid foundation. It has come to stay, so to speak. The builders are seeking to fnd living stones among men to carry on the construction, until that day when He shall " accomplish the number of His elect and hasten His Kingdom ", and then shall He " come again in His glorious majesty ", and the Head Corner Stone of this mighty pile, erected to the glory of God, shall be ])ut on "with shoutings, crying grace, grace unto it". See Zech. iv., 7. All these lessons and many more will the faithful teacher find in this beautiful and comprehensive prayer. The chief points of the answer to the question following, viz : " What desirest thou of God in this prayer ?" may be arranged under the respective heads as indicated by the letters, and this will be found an interesting work for the more advanced classes in our Sunday Schools. For example, as will be seen upon the Chart, the answer to thi" question will be found to fall naturally under the letters which stand tor ilie chief words. The letter F suggests the words " I desire my Lord God our Heavenly Father", and it will be seen that the words " worship ", " serve " and " obey ", are placed respectively over the letters N, K and W ; and they teach that we should worship His Name, serve in His Kingdom, and obey His Will. Over the B are written the words " And I pray unto God ", which will at once suggest the four petitions which we offer for our own earthly wants ; the B reminding us of " all things that be needful both for our souls and bodies"; the F reminds us of the words "that He will he merciful stfjftismwffi!*-*?'"' 56 The Outward and Visible Sign, unto us and forgive us our sins "; the L, that He may be our Leader to guide us in all life's journey, and that He may " save and defend us in all dangers, ghostly and bodily "; and the D will suggest " that He will keep us (i. e., detiver us) from all sin and wickedness, and from our ghostly enemy, and frmn everlasting death." Thus arranged under their proper heads these hints will not only make the answers to be more clearly remembered, but the teacher has the greater advantage ni aravving out and impressing the lessons upon the minds of the young learners. The Sacraments How many What meanest How many parts . . . - - [Obs. Use of signs - - - (Number) - CHART VI, BxS, ./ books cf Holy Scripture, so as to be able readily to find them in a moment. An effort of memory is required to do this, and I propose here to give some suggestions how to helj) the memory. In olden days, everybody, they tell us, even every child could recite the order of the Books of the Old and New Testaments, as they could the alphabet. If that be true, it is all changed now, and in our S. Schools, and in our day schools, the results of the want of daily religious training are cropping out. In a Christian Endeavor meeting in an eastern city, it was painful to see several of the members looking for the Hook of Micah in the New Testament. A young puljjit orator, not a thousand miles from Boston, was joining in a Union meeting, and was expected to read a portion of Scripture. Asking his brother minister where he should read, a certain passage in Daniel was suggested as one very suitable to the occasion. The young man turned over the leaves of the Bible vigorously, but in vain, and just as the choir was bringing its selection to a close, he turned in despair to his companion, and said, "Where is Daniel, anyway?" At the foot of the page headed Humanity, among the illustia- tions (Plate lo), 1 have shown how the whole of the books of the Old and New Testaments may be arranged in five divisions ; and by grouping those which belong to the same date or subject, they will be found to consist o^ five times five portions. This makes a very con- venient and systematic classification, and in this way they may be intelligently committed to memory. Another method which came to my attention some years ago, at a S. S. Convention, is very ingenious, and has its a'lvantages. Put down the figures for the Old Testament and the New in separate lines, thus : — 5. 12, 5, 5, 12^39 Books. 5, 14, 8 =2^ Total .... 66 TfIE OlTWAkI) AM) ViSIRLK SiGN. C^ The explanation is this :— 5 Books of Moses, I 2 Historical Books, 5 Metrical Books, 5 Books of Greater Projihets, 12 r.esser Prophets, 5 New Test. Historical Books, 14 Epistles of St. Paul, 8 Other Books. When learned in this way the effort of memory is not very great to recite them all. By a curious looking problem, very easy to remember, you can tell in a moment how many chapters are in the Old and New Testaments, 39 I 27 I 9 29 Put down the figures 39 and 27, the number of books in each, side by side, as above. Put i under each of the extreme figures, and subtract. The result is 29 and 26. Njw put 9, the highest of the digits, in front of the one, and o, thi lowest digit, at the right of the other, and at once you see — 929 chapters' in the Old Testament. 260 " " New " This is very curious ; not very valuable perhaps, but it is one of those things which take with children as well as with those of larger growth. Please notice, also, that 3 times 9 make 27, so that if you have the two figures to begin with you may proceed to develop all the others. In fact, any schoolboy will at once see that it is the raising of three to its second and third power, 3X3==9, 3 X9=27. Here is another development of threes, as in Chapter VI.; and you have all the Books of the Old and New Testaments fully ordered in your mind. Of the books of the Old Testament the most difficult to remember, in proper order, are those of the twelve books of the Minor Prophets. I have used the following curious device for many years, and have recommended it to others, who have told me that they have found it very useful. Write down the first two letters in the names of the books, like syllables, in the form of three catch- words, thus : — • Ho-Jo-Am. Ob-Jo-Mi-Na. Ha-Ze- Ha-Ze-Ma. 64 Thk Ouiwakd and Visihi.k Sk;n. Now yoLi may pronounce these catcli-wonls, and iluy are not difficult to remetn!)er and recall at your pleasure or need. You will find that they give you the order of the t>velve hooks of the Minor l'r()i)lH'ts. Where two syllahles resemble one another as (o and Ha, the difticiilty is removed when you remember that tliese are arranged a'phabetically, as in the dictionary, thu;: Jo/.'l comes before |o//ah, and Ihi/'akkuk before Hai^'gai. With regard to the syllabU /c which occurs twice, for English scholars they stand in reverse order, /e/haniah before Zerhariah. This is explained by the fact thai the books are ordered according to the Greek alphabet, not the English, and as (ph) stands before v (ch) in Greek, so Ze()ph has the precedence of /e{x)ch. 'J'iie Books of the Old Ti'stament in our Bibles are not in the order of those of the Hcl)rew Hible, but in the order of the Greek translation, called the Sf/^ttia^^inJy made about 13. C. 272. In the New Testament the l)Ooks may be remembered in their proper order without much ditliculty, and soon learned by practice in turning to find passages. But it will save some annoy..nce to know that the four sttialler Epistles of St. Paul, those to the Gala- tians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, which give most difficulty to the memory, are arranged in the order of the vowels in the first syllables of each, thus, a, e, i, o, — Gai., Eph., Phil.^ Col. I have given the above in the hope that they may. be found heli)ful to teachers and others, as 1 know they have been to many who have tried them. Even an ingenious method of helping the memory may surely be applied to the remembering of that which is so valuable and so practical as the above. If a form is necessary, we may as well use one which is tried and recommended. ^^"2 ^.s PT,ATK ^2. 66 The Oi tward ano Visihlk Sign. CHAPTER XIV. CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM IT. It has been suggested that in an additional chapter it would Ijc *■ well to give the various forms into which the cross has been shaped in Church ornamentation and architecture. (Plate 12.) 1 think it wise to familiarize the minds of young peoi)le with these, in t)rder not only to remove or prevent any idea of superstition in connection with them, but also to show that, as the minds of Christians in past ages have dwelt upon the figure of the cross, on which our Blessed Lord was slain, their imaginations have shaped it into almost every beautiful form. Some of these were originally peculiar to different localities, such as the Maltese cross and the the cross of lona., and some are named after different persons, as for example St. Andrew's cross, which is represented as being in the form of the letter X, because history tells us that St. Andrew was crucified on a cross of this particular shape. St. Andrew's cross appears on the British Union Jack, along with that of St. George and St. Patrick ; these three crosses being the national emblems of England, Scotland and Ireland respectively, and, since 1707, have, in the form of the Union Jack, been the national fla^.; of Great Britain (Chamber's Encyclopaedia). Seepage 65, on which I have shown many beautiful forms of crosses. The architects of churches in early days very ingeniously worked the various symbols into the church buildings which they erected. The cross was the ideal of the plan, and the various emblems, spoken of in chapters IV. and VI. preceding, stood very strikingly in the beautiful tracery of the windows or the mouldings and carvings of the ornamentation. Even the common lancet window had its meaning, and bore its silent testimony to the Three in One. On a diagram (see Plate 13) I have .~hown how in three equal spaces, joining the boundaries of the spaces above, as in the cut, two arch:s are formed, "and the middle space becomes the lancet shape, from which the form of the window is taken. The two outer spaces are unseen or imaginary, and the lancet window stands as a testimony to their existence though invisible. That is, the window is a figure or emblem of " Christ manifest in the flesh ;" the other Persons of the Holy Trinity, never visible to human eyes, are not represented. It was the Christ who revealed the doctrine of the Trinity in all its fullness. t ^ r \( V / ^y M PLATE 13. tF= ^ <^ ri-'. K^ c c q <;s ?" r< (,' ^-^^^^^^ m^ T— -^ 1 ■^^f ■, -I* -. ,dliui.„w I B ..■..:-.xU,..-^' :■ PLATE 14. 'I'nK Outward and Vishu-k Sk-n. 6y " No man hath seen (iod at any time ; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He liath declared Him " "'But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me." St. John i., i8, xv. 26. The lancet window, tlierefore, speaks to us in a language of its own. .Again, we have often seen the window vvith the single mullion, tiiat is so divided as to form apparently a double window ; what does that teach ? It evidently is a testimony to the double nature of the Christ, Divine aid Human. It is still the lancet window, but divided by the mullion not only for beauty's sake but also silently to give this emblematic testimony. Then the triple windf)ws, which are so beautiful in their won- derful tracery, are seen everywhere. They evidently speak of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and with the many combinations of threes, or with other numbers, may be found very full of testimony to various Christian doctrines. The designers of these evidently intended to i)reach to men the doctrines of our holy religion with unvarying faithfulness. Like our beautiful liturgy, though the preacher for the day may set forth his own views of things in chaiiging human thought, it always speaks the same thing ; and so do the ancient beautiful churches. The Rose or Wheel window, so commonly seen, speaks of the great "Sun of Righteousness" who has rise 1 upon the world with he."'ing in His wings, bringing light and immortality t.-) light. On a diagram I have given a plan of an ideal V.\\x\~>'(\\vci Church building. (See Plate 14.) My object has been to show how the architects of early days worked their ideas into the magnificent structures which have stood for ages, in England and on the conti- nent of Europe, to testify for the faith of Christ. A voice conies forth from every side as we stand in one of these venerable structures. Those ancient masons probably worked better than they knew, as did the builders of the pyramids ; and it is for us in modern days to learn the lesson spoke'i from those venerable piles. Look at the plait of almost any ancient cathedral, as in the ideal plan which I have given, and there is the cross laid in the solid earth from east to west. Along the north and south sides, there are, at least in the perfect building, eleven windows, standing for the eleven foithful Apostles, the place of the twelfth (tae traitor, Judas) being covered by the porch upon the north side — the dark north. The Chancel is the place of the Head, /. (?., of Christ Himself, whilst the transepts and body of the Church arc the proper places of the members, where the body of the neople worship. 70 'i'lll', OUlVVAkU AND VlSllil.K SiGN. From the Holy Table, the place of the Head, are dispensed the richest bless'ngs in the Holy Communion to His waitmy people. There on the left of the Cl.ancel is the Prayerdesk, because the ancients rightly judged that tiu prayers should come from the heart, and the heart in the human body is u|)on the left side. So upon the north side, the right of the Cliuncel, stands the pulpit, because the ancients, not understanding human physiology correctly, supposed that the voice had its strength from the right side ; anji indeed they were not sf) far astray, since physiology leaches us ttiat the right lung is larger than its matj. Any one can now see at a glance why the Choir occu|)ies the central portion of the Chancel, if chest and lungs are rightly placed, to be used in singing God's praises. J fear that some will think that these are fanciful ideas, but whatever they may be called, they have so worked themselves into the glass, the brick, the stone and the marble of the ancient Church buildings, that, with reasonable exiilanations, they give an answer to the why and the wherefore of our children, and prepare the Christian teacher Ui be ready always to give a reason to those of entjuiring minds, who ask, " Wliat mean ye by these Symbols ?" It may be well, in passing, to speak of the origin of the words Cha'icel and Nave, as applied to different parts of our churches. The word Chu.^^cl is taken from the Latin word cancelli, wooden railings, because it was railed off from the body of the church for a special i)urpose. Tlie word Na7)c originated in the idea of the Church building being like a sJiip. Some think it is from the Greek word i'u«»s-, uaos, meaning a tcmp/c. But, I rather think, it is from the Greek word I'^.T's-, nans, a ship (from whicli indeed we have nausea, seasickness). The (ireek word woald in Roman letters become nai's (u and v being originally the same letters), and this into navis, which is the I^atin word for ship, from which we have our English word navc,X\-\c word describing the whole building, but applied to its larJjer part. It is presumed by this figure that Christians are being transported in the safe vessel of the Church of Christ (of which each church building is a figure) over the " waves of this troublesome world, that finally they may come to the land of everlasting life." 1 have spoken of the meaning attached to the window? -^n the north and south sides of the church by the ancient builders, and now, before concluding, I ought to s[)eak of the large East lVindo7v over the Holy Table. There it stands to represent for us the Christ, the Light of the World, the light of whose blessed Gospel beams U]Jon us from the great " Sun of Righteousness." From Him Thf, Outward and Vi.siiti,^ Sign. 71 conies all our lij^^hl and the knowledge of heavenly grace, and the East Window stands to testify to this great truth. And what shall wc say regarding tin; IKs/ IVt/n/cmi, wliich in ancient and in many modern churches is larger and more imi)f)sing than any other? The ancient builders understood it to stand for .S7. y^au/, the great Apostle of the (jentiles. I'roni this, iiowever, I ])refer to enlarge the idea, and call it the Missionary window. It is sure)/ designed to teacli us that when we, as (-liristians, have cceiv'jd the light and knowledge which comes to us from Christ, we must not think of keeping it to ourselves, 'i'liat great, broad West Window appears to speak to us in the language of the marching orders of the Church, as given us in our Lord's great commission, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."