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A Word to Parents and Teachers
给父母与教师的一段话
In November of 1647 the Shorter Catechism was presented by the Westminster Assembly to England’s House of Commons for approval.
1647 年 11 月，《小要理问答》由威斯敏斯特大会呈交英格兰下议院请求批准。
And, in July of 1648 it was also adopted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
并且在 1648 年 7 月，它也被苏格兰教会总会采纳。
It was to serve as “a directory for catechising such as are of weaker capacity”.
它是要作为“为那些能力较弱者施行要理教导的指南”。
I can remember my reaction of near amazement a number of years ago when my eyes fell upon these words which described those for whom the Shorter Catechism was designed.
我还记得多年前，当我看到这些描述《小要理问答》所为之预备之对象的话语时，我几乎感到惊讶。
After all, whether he be a child or adult, it’s a rare bird indeed who can be found who knows the Shorter Catechism “by heart” these days.
毕竟，无论是孩童还是成人，如今能找到一个把《小要理问答》“背得滚瓜烂熟”的人，实在是凤毛麟角。
Very few in our congregations—including our pastors and teachers—have successfully mastered the rudimentary, systematic instruction in Christian doctrine which was to be for those “of weaker capacity”.
在我们的会众中——包括我们的牧师和教师——极少有人真正掌握那本是为“能力较弱者”而设的基督教教义基础性、系统性的教导。
Thankfully, however, there seems to be a move afoot to begin changing this state of affairs.
然而，感谢上帝，似乎已有一股力量开始要改变这种现状。
Here and there, fathers and mothers are gathering their children to them on Sunday afternoons to memorize and review the Catechism.
在一些地方，父亲和母亲在主日下午把孩子聚集到身边，背诵并复习要理问答。
Although the numbers at present are quite small, it is encouraging and exciting to be part of a generation of Christians who are beginning to recover yet another facet of the Reformed faith.
尽管目前人数仍然很少，但能成为这一代基督徒的一分子，开始恢复改革宗信仰的又一层面，实在令人得鼓励并满怀兴奋。
But Why The “Shortest” Catechism?
但为什么要有“最简短”的要理问答呢？
As I have personally struggled to catechise my own children, it has become more than obvious to me that, when very young, they are evidently of an even “weaker capacity” than those for whom the Shorter Catechism was originally written.
当我亲自努力教导自己的孩子学习要理时，我清楚地发现，他们在年幼的时候，显然比《小要理问答》最初所写给的对象还要“能力更弱”。
Therefore, in an effort to simplify and shorten the material I wanted my little ones to memorize and yet still be faithful to at least the primary point being made by the Catechism, I began finding myself underlining portions of the answers.
因此，为了把我希望小孩子背诵的材料简化并缩短，同时仍忠于要理问答所表达的至少主要要点，我开始把答案中的部分内容划出重点。
Although at an age of three or four years it was not a major undertaking to get the complete response to the first question, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever”, that was not the case with many of the subsequent questions.
虽然在三四岁的时候，要记住第一问的完整答案——“人的首要目的就是荣耀上帝，并以祂为乐直到永远”——并不算太难，但后面许多问题却并非如此。
For example, question number two is a bit lengthy for many, if not most, two, three or four year olds:
例如，第二问对许多两岁、三岁或四岁的孩子来说，即使不是对大多数而言，都显得有些长：
Q. “What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?”
问：“上帝赐下什么准则来指引我们如何荣耀祂并以祂为乐？”
A. “The Word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.”
答：“上帝的圣言，也就是包含在旧约与新约圣经之中的，乃是唯一的准则，用以指引我们如何荣耀祂并以祂为乐。”
As I looked it over, it seemed reasonable to me to shorten it, by underlining the words, “The Word of God…is the only rule” which—at least to my mind—still kept the sense of the answer intact.
当我再三查看时，我觉得把它缩短是合理的，于是把“上帝的圣言……乃是唯一的准则”这些字划出重点，因为至少在我看来，这仍然保留了答案的完整意思。
And so, with few exceptions, I began to do this with a number of questions in the Shorter Catechism.
因此，除了极少数例外，我开始在《小要理问答》的许多问题上都这样做。
I chose to do this rather than use some other “children’s catechism” because I wanted my children to “grow into” the Shorter Catechism.
我选择这样做，而不是使用其他某种“儿童要理问答”，因为我希望我的孩子能够“逐渐进入”《小要理问答》。
This way, as the child matures, there is a question-by-question continuity with what he learned at an earlier age.
这样一来，随着孩子渐渐长大，他所学习的内容就能在每一问上与他早年所学保持连贯。
This, I think, is far more to be preferred than to make a child jettison the almost too-simple catechism of his nursery years in favor of the Shorter Catechism once he is ready for it.
我认为，这远比让孩子在预备好之后，把幼年时期几乎过于简单的要理问答丢弃不用，而改学《小要理问答》，更值得采用。
Another benefit of using this form of the Catechism is that younger children are able to “keep up” with the older ones in the family as each memorizes his own answer to the same question.
采用这种形式的要理问答还有一个益处，就是家中年幼的孩子也能够与年长的孩子“同步”，因为每个人都在背同一道问题，只是各自背自己的答案。
By the way, I don’t presume to think this method is original with me.
顺带一提，我并不自以为这种方法是我首创的。
In fact, a cursory glance over many of the questions in the Larger Catechism seems to reveal that the Shorter Catechism is an “underlined” brief version of the Larger, still keeping much of the continuity with and sense of the answers found in its bigger brother.
事实上，粗略翻阅《大要理问答》中的许多问题，似乎就能发现《小要理问答》乃是《大要理问答》一份“划重点”的简要版本，同时仍保留了与其更大篇幅版本之间的连贯性，并保留其中许多答案的意思。
Ideally, once he has mastered it, one should be able to make the transition from the Shorter to the Larger Catechism without much in the way of unnecessary, added confusion.
理想情况下，一旦他已经熟练掌握，就应当能够从《小要理问答》过渡到《大要理问答》，而不至于产生许多不必要的额外困惑。
Likewise, if you start your youngest on the “Shortest” Catechism, he will one day make the transition to the Shorter Catechism quite smoothly.
同样地，如果你让最小的孩子从“最简短”的要理问答开始，他将来过渡到《小要理问答》也会相当顺利。
After all, he’s almost there already!
毕竟，他其实已经几乎到那里了！
A Word About The Name
关于这个名称的一段话
By naming this “Westminster’s Shortest Catechism” I am not trying to fool you into thinking that this is a work of the original Westminster Assembly!
我把它命名为“威斯敏斯特最简短要理问答”，并不是想欺骗你，让你以为这是原本威斯敏斯特大会的作品！
But, without trying to be too cute, there is an intentional play on words here.
不过，我并非要故作俏皮，而是在此刻意运用了一个文字上的巧思。
What is being suggested here is that you will not only find a simplification of but also a real continuity with the original Shorter Catechism.
这里所表达的意思是，你不仅会发现它是对原《小要理问答》的简化，也会发现它与原《小要理问答》之间具有真实的连贯性。
Finally, it is my hope that parents everywhere will find this “shortest” catechism to be helpful to them as they work and struggle to instruct their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
最后，我盼望各地的父母都能发现这本“最简短”的要理问答，在他们辛劳并努力按主的教训和警戒养育儿女之时，能对他们有所帮助。
J.A. Tosti
J.A. 托斯蒂
Christmas, 1992
1992 年圣诞节期间