Some treasures are best left untouched. There is something eerily beautiful about images of the Titanic buried deep below the Atlantic Ocean. From antiquity, coins, vessels, and other treasures occasionally come to the surface to taunt us with questions concerning what else is hidden and astonish us with the beauty of that which has laid unmolested for centuries. In many ways the Westminster Larger Catechism is the buried treasure of global presbyterianism: it is the chest of coin or the precious vessel that laid relatively untouched and unsought for nearly half a millennia.

The Larger Catechism was ratified in Edinburgh, Scotland, on February 7, 1649, with the intention that it, along with the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Shorter Catechism, would be “produced as it is” and “recorded, published, and practiced.” In the four centuries since these documents defined the faith and practice of presbyterianism, the Larger Catechism remains our hidden treasure. Due to the overwhelming popularity of the Shorter Catechism, cherished by confessing adults and pressed into our children’s memories—along with the magnum opus of Protestant scholastic theology, the Westminster Confession of Faith—the Larger Catechism never gained the attention of the other two documents.

The Shorter Catechism, loved for its succinct yet precise and child-appropriate definitions, and the Confession of Faith, pored over and debated for its high orthodoxy and means-of-grace-centered worship, stand as the bicentric symbols of presby­terianism. For many, the Larger Catechism, a bridge between these two documents, fell to the wayside as a seemingly unnecessary third document.

Consider the abundance of commentaries and support material that have been written over the years for the Confession of Faith and the Shorter Catechism. Support material for the Larger Catechism is largely limited to Thomas Ridgeley’s A Body of Divinity: Wherein the Doctrines of the Christian Religion Are Explained and Defended (1731) and Johannes G. Vos’s Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary (2002). The Larger Catechism has been, at the very least, treated by presbyterianism as an unnecessary document among our presbyterian symbols.

As American presbyterianism picked away at the Confession of Faith and concurrently replaced the Shorter Catechism with other preferred pedagogical methods, the Larger Catechism lay hidden as an untouched and unused treasure that was both orthodox in theology and experiential in application.

The Larger Catechism is pure milk, as well as the meat, of the Word. It has been overwhelmingly underappreciated.

The Creation of the Larger Catechism

The history of the Larger Catechism began with a civil war. In the midst of civil unrest and divided loyalties, the English Parliament called for help from Scotland, and, in 1643, representatives from each nation signed the Solemn League and Covenant. The covenant was intended to unify the three kingdoms through “uniformity in religion, Confession of Faith, Form of Church-Government, Directory for Worship, and Catechizing.” The Scots would gladly offer their help in ending England’s unrest as long as hope remained for presbyterianism to be established in the realm.

Author and former pastor Wayne Spear said, “[Scotland’s] willingness to come to the assistance of Parliament, meant that Scottish views would receive a sympathetic hearing in the debates of the Assembly” (Wayne Spear, Covenanted Uniformity in Religion, 2013, p. 31).

In the year following the signing of the Solemn League and Covenant, Westminster assemblymen formed a four-person committee to write the new catechism.

This committee, with one exception, was replaced in 1647. This was due, in part, to a new idea: The assembly began to desire two catechisms: “A brief form for children and the uninstructed, and a larger work for those more advanced in the faith” (John Bower, The Larger Catechism: A Critical Text and Introduction, 2010, p. 7).

Several committee members worked on the Larger Catechism over the next year, occasionally with members being added or replaced. According to Bower, “the membership swelled to no fewer than 11 members.” Many other hands aided in the production of the Larger Catechism.

The committee members completed the Catechism on July 2, 1648, and submitted it for approval to the House of Lords. However, not all great work is recognized.

Parliament, essentially, tabled the approval of the Larger Catechism. The English Church did not have the blessing of Parliament in regard to the Larger Catechism and would not be able to incorporate it as a part of her symbols. This was Aug. 23, 1648. It would be another several months (Feb. 1649) before the Larger Catechism would become part of the approved practice of the Church of Scotland. Presbyterianism moves slowly.

Nathan Eshelman | pastor, Los Angeles, Calif., RPC