many answers and so many proof-texts that must be committed to memory.
And when all this is well gotten and recited by rote, the teacher is
satisfied, the pupil is praised, imagines that he has gotten all the
good out of that book, and is glad he is done with it!

Now we would not for a moment depreciate the memorizing of the
Catechism. It is of the most vital importance, and cannot be too
strongly urged. What we object to--and we cannot object too
strenuously--is the idea that head knowledge is enough! There must of
course be head knowledge. The memory should store up all the precious
pearls of God's truth that are found in the Catechism. The mind must
grasp these truths and understand their meaning and their relation to
one another. But if it stops here, it is not yet a knowledge that
maketh wise unto salvation. In spiritual matters the enlightening or
instructing of the intellect is not the end aimed at, but only a means
to an end. The end aimed at must always be the renewal of the heart.
The heart must be reached through the understanding. To know
_about_ Christ is not life eternal. I must know about Him before
I can know Him. But I might know all about Him, be perfectly clear as
to His person and His work, and stop there, without ever knowing Him
as heart only can know heart, as _my_ personal Saviour and loving
friend, _my_ Lord and _my_ God.

Here, we fear, many ministers make a sad mistake. They are too
easily satisfied with a mere outward knowledge of the truth. They
forget that even if it were possible to "_understand all mystery and
all knowledge_"--intellectually--and not have charity, _i.e._, deep,
fervent, glowing _love_ to God in Christ, springing from a truly
penitent and believing heart, it would profit nothing. The true aim
and end of all catechetical instruction in the Sunday-school, in the