Heidelberg Catechism

Catechismus Oder Christlicher Underricht, Heidelberg: Johann Mayer, 1563. This is the first edition of the German Heidelberg Catechism. The transcription follows the copy in Utrecht University Library (shelfmark E oct 1385 rar), which the library has digitized. Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

Why this is the first edition. Question and answer 80 on the Mass is missing. On p. 55 the answer to Q 79 is followed directly by “Welche sollen zu dem Tisch des Herren kommen?” (Q 81). The volume ends with an errata leaf. A manuscript note on the flyleaf says: “Dieses ist die allererste Edition, in welcher pag. 55 die 80ste Frag und Antwort nicht gefunden wird.” The text also has the readings that Lang’s critical apparatus (1907) gives for the first edition, for example:

• Q 36: “Waß nutz bekomestu auß der heiligen empfengnuß Christi?” (no “und geburt”, and no “unser mittler ist”)
• Q 44: “abgefaren zu der hellen”
• Q 75: no “zu seinem gedechtnuß”
• Q 78: “im Nachtmal”
• Q 79: “all sein leiden und sterben”
• Q 85: “auff und zugeschlossen”
• Q 119: “Nit einfüre uns in versuchung”
• Q 128: “daß also nicht wir”

Numbering. The print does not number its questions. For alignment with the other editions this edition uses the standard numbering, so Q 80 is skipped and the text has 128 questions and answers. The text runs from p. 12 to p. 83. The “Verzeichnis der fürnemsten Text” that follows (pp. 84–94) is not included.

Pagination error. Two consecutive pages are both numbered 64: the first runs from the end of the Fourth Commandment into the Tenth, the second from the end of the Tenth Commandment to Q 94. Both page breaks are marked [64], as printed. The facsimile for page 64 shows the two pages side by side.

Transcription conventions.

• Spelling, capitalization and word division follow the print, including “dz”, “jm/jn”, “zuuor”, “souiel”.
• Abbreviation strokes are expanded (e.g. “vñ” → “und”, “dē” → “den”).
• Long s is printed as s. Word-initial vowel v is printed as u (“und”, “uns”); consonantal u inside words keeps the print’s form (“zuuersicht”).
• Virgules are rendered as commas.
• Hyphens at line ends are removed. A page break inside a word is marked at the break.
• The marginal proof-texts are given as printed. Their letters start again on each page, so the same letter can occur twice in one answer.
• Printer’s errors are kept and not corrected, for example: “ewürbe” (Q 37), “würded” (Q 38), “Weiuiel” (Q 68), “verziegen” (Q 81), “Habac. 53.” (Q 8, corrected in the errata to Esaie).
• Where the margin has a reference with no matching letter in the text (Q 79, 91, 117), or the text has no references at all (Q 92, the Decalogue), this follows the print.

Text of the Heidelberg Catechism in its original German, as printed in Henricus Egbertus Vinke (ed.), Libri symbolici Ecclesiae Reformatae Nederlandicae (Utrecht, 1846), pp. 302–394. Vinke reproduced not the first printing but the second edition of 1563, from a copy in the Utrecht University Library, an edition that, as he notes in his preface, neither Köcher nor Niemeyer had seen.

The three German editions of 1563 differ chiefly in Question 80. The first printing lacks it; the second, given here, adds it in a short form, at the Elector's command. It condemns the Mass as “ein abgöttische verleugnung dess einigen opffers und leidens Jesu Christi”. It does not yet have the clauses about Christ's body in heaven and his presence under the bread and wine, or the closing words “ein vermaledeite Abgötterey”, which first appeared in the third edition.

The text was transcribed directly from page images of Vinke's print, with doubtful places checked against a second, independently digitized copy. Vinke prints in roman type and modernizes the typography (“dass”, “auss” for ß; u and v in their modern use). His text is reproduced exactly as he prints it, including apparent slips, which have not been silently corrected. The Scripture proof-texts are given in his citation style, with their letters as printed. The print does not number its questions, so the numbers 1–129 have been supplied. Bracketed page numbers reproduce Vinke's pagination and link to facsimiles of each page. Vinke's footnotes recording variant readings from Niemeyer and other editions, the Elector's preface, and the appended index of Scripture texts have not been transcribed.

Text of the Heidelberg Catechism in its original German, from the third edition of 1563: Catechismus Oder Christlicher Vnderricht, wie der in Kirchen vnd Schulen der Churfürstlichen Pfaltz getrieben wirdt (“Gedruckt in der Churfürstlichen Stad Heydelberg, durch Johannem Mayer. 1563”). The source is the copy held by Stanford University Libraries and digitized by Google. The Catechism is preceded by the preface of Elector Frederick III, dated Heidelberg, 19 January 1563.

Three German editions of the Catechism appeared at Heidelberg in 1563 under the same title, and they differ chiefly in Question 80. The first printing has no Question 80; the second adds a short version; the third expands it to its familiar full form. The copy reproduced here contains Question 80 in that full form, ending with the condemnation of the Mass as “ein vermaledeite Abgötterey” (p. 56). It also closes (p. 96) with the printer's note to the reader that marks the later printings: “Was im ersten truck vbersehen, als fürnemlich folio 55. Ist jetzunder auß befelch Churfürstlicher Gnaden addiert worden.” The second edition (from Vinke, 1846) and the fourth, the text of the Palatinate Church Order of November 1563 (from Lang, 1907), are also available on this site.

The text was transcribed directly from page images of the print, question by question. It was not taken from the scan's OCR text layer, which is unreliable for this Fraktur typeface. The transcription has been collated in full against a second copy of the same printing in Heidelberg University Library (digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/catechismus1563). Printer's errors found in both copies are kept as printed, for example “Her.” for “Heb.”, “Matt. 17.” for “Matt. 7.”, and the missing chapter number in “Act. – –” (Question 80).

The original spelling is kept as printed, e.g. “Euangelium”, “nit”, “thewren”, “jm”. Only two editorial adjustments have been made. First, printers' abbreviations have been expanded: a stroke over a letter marking an omitted n or m becomes the full letters, as in “heiligē” → “heiligen” and “deñ” → “denn”. Second, a word-initial v standing for the vowel u is given as u (“vnd”, “vns” → “und”, “uns”). The print does not number its questions, so the question numbers (1–129) have been supplied editorially.

The Scripture proof-texts, printed in the margin and keyed to the text by letters, are reproduced in the print's own citation style (e.g. “1 Cor. 6.”, “Ioh. 6.”). The print assigns these letters by page, not by question, so a question may begin with a letter other than a, and a question that runs across a page break starts its lettering again from a. Bracketed page numbers reproduce the print's own pagination (13–85) and link to facsimile images of each page. The Elector's preface and the “Verzeichnis der fürnembsten Text” (an index of the principal Scripture passages) that follows the Catechism have not been transcribed.

Text of the Heidelberg Catechism in its original German, as printed in Hermann Agathon Niemeyer (ed.), Collectio Confessionum in Ecclesiis Reformatis Publicatarum (Leipzig, 1840), pp. 392–424. This is a landmark nineteenth-century critical anthology that gathers the confessional documents of the Reformed churches in their original languages. The volume was conceived by Moritz Rödiger, who set out its plan in a dedicatory letter dated Halle, 7 October 1839, but it was edited and completed by Niemeyer. In the volume the German text comes immediately before the Latin translation (pp. 430–461), which is also available on this site.

Niemeyer reproduces the third edition of 1563, and says so himself. In his preface (pp. LVII–LVIII) he explains that the first printing by Johannes Mayer (Heidelberg, 1563) lacked Question 80 or gave it only in mutilated form, and that a second and a third edition followed in the same year, differing chiefly in that question. He quotes the second edition's wording (“ein abgöttische Verläugnung des einigen Opfers und Leidens Jesu Christi”) and states that the third edition, with its expanded text ending “vnd ein vermaledeite Abgötterey”, is the one he has printed. He also reproduces the note that closes both later editions: “Was im ersten truck vbersehen, als furnemlich folio 55. Ist jetzunder ausz befelch Churfürstlicher Gnaden addiert worden” (p. 427). All three editions share the same title page, Catechismus Oder Christlicher Vnderricht, wie der in Kirchen vnd Schulen der Churfürstlichen Pfaltz getrieben wirdt (“Gedruckt in der Churfürstlichen Stad Heydelberg, durch Johannem Mayer. 1563”), which Niemeyer prints at the head of the text. A word-by-word comparison with the other editions on this site confirms his statement. Niemeyer's text agrees closely with the third-edition print of 1563, and where that print differs from the Church Order text of November 1563 (the textus receptus, available here in Lang's 1907 edition), Niemeyer almost always follows the third edition. Examples are “dem heiligen leib Christi” (Question 57; the Church Order corrects this to “herrlichen”) and “kan thun” (Question 9; Church Order: “thun kan”).

The text was transcribed directly from page images of Niemeyer's print, question by question. It was not taken from the PDF's OCR text layer, which is unreliable for this Fraktur typeface. Niemeyer prints the Scripture proof-texts as lettered notes beneath each answer. All 344 of them are reproduced here in his own citation style (e.g. “1 Cor. 6.”, “Ioh. 6.”). As in the early editions, the print neither numbers the questions nor divides the text into Sundays, so the question numbers (1–129) have been supplied editorially, following the standard division of the Catechism. Bracketed page numbers reproduce Niemeyer's own printed pagination (392–424) rather than a renumbering from 1, and they link to facsimile images of each page.

Niemeyer's sixteenth-century spelling is kept as printed, including the free interchange of i and j (“jm” for “ihm”, “jrgend”). Apparent slips in the 1840 print are also kept unchanged, for example “meines Vaters im Himmels” in Question 1. Only two editorial adjustments have been made. First, printers' abbreviations have been expanded: a stroke over a letter marking an omitted n or m, as in “heiligē” → “heiligen” and “vñ” → “und”. Second, a word-initial v standing for the vowel u is given as u (“vnd”, “vns” → “und”, “uns”). The preface by Elector Frederick III, dated Heidelberg, 19 January 1563, which Niemeyer prints before the Catechism (pp. 390–392), has not been transcribed. Neither has the index of Scripture texts that follows the Catechism, nor the closing note on p. 427.

Text of the Heidelberg Catechism in its original German, as edited by August Lang in Der Heidelberger Katechismus und vier verwandte Katechismen (Leipzig: Deichert, 1907; Quellenschriften zur Geschichte des Protestantismus), pp. 1–52. Lang prints the textus receptus: the text of the Catechism as incorporated into the Palatinate Church Order of 15 November 1563 (often counted as the fourth edition). This is the form in which the Catechism became the standard text of the Reformed churches. It retains the original spelling and punctuation of 1563.

Question 80 appears here in its full form, including the passages about Christ's bodily presence in heaven and closing with the condemnation of the Mass as “ein vermaledeyte Abgötterey”. In his notes Lang records that the question is wholly absent from the first edition, appears in a shorter form in the second, and first appears complete in the third.

The text was transcribed directly from page images of Lang's edition and checked against a second, independently digitized copy. The division into 52 Sundays (“Der 1. Sontag”) and nine readings (“LECTIO”) is kept as in the print, as are Lang's bracketed corrections of misprints in the Church Order. The Scripture proof-texts are given with Lang's verse numbers. Bracketed page numbers reproduce the pagination of Lang's text section (4–52) and link to facsimiles of each page. Lang's notes recording variant readings of the earlier editions, the Elector's preface, and the appended index of Scripture texts have not been transcribed.

Catechismus Oder Christlicher vnterricht, wie der in Kirchen vnd Schulen der Churfürstlichen Pfaltz getrieben wirt: Sampt den Kirchen Ceremonien vnd Gebetten. Jetzt auffs new getruckt, mit zuthuung der Versickel. Getruckt in der Churfürstlichen Statt Heidelberg, durch Johannem Meyer, 1576. The transcription follows the copy in the Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Q 7188-4-2 RES (digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/friedrich1576; Public Domain Mark). The volume contains a preface, the catechism (pp. 1–71), the “Sprüche der heiligen Schrifft” for the several estates (from p. 72), and the church prayers and liturgical forms; only the catechism is given here.

The edition. The book appeared in 1576, the year of the death of Elector Frederick III, shortly before his son Ludwig VI restored Lutheranism in the Palatinate. As the title says, it is a reprint “with the addition of the verses” (mit zuthuung der Versickel): the marginal Scripture references of the earlier editions, which give book and chapter only, here carry verse numbers as well (Q 1 “Ro. 14. 8.”, “1. Cor. 3. 16. 23.”, “1. Pet. 1. 19.”). The text is that of the received form of the catechism, with the full answer to Q 80 (“… ein verleugnung deß einigen Opffers vnd Leidens Jesu Christi, vnd ein vermaledeyte Abgötterey”) and the marginal note to Q 80 “In Cano. Miss. Item De Conse. Distinct. 2.” The catechism is divided into nine “Lectiones” and 52 Sundays (“I. LECTIO. Der 1. Sontag” …), which stand in the margin and are given here as headings before the question with which they begin. The same year saw another Heidelberg printing of the book with the same title and text but a different setting of type, without the printer’s name and with leaf instead of page numbers (Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Q 7188-4-3 RES, friedrich1576a); it has been consulted where the ink of this copy is smudged.

Proof-texts. The marginal references are lettered a, b, c … beside the text; the lettering begins again on each page, as in the print. They are given after each answer in the order of the print, with their abbreviations, punctuation and many evident errors (e.g. Q 1 “Cor. 6. versu. 19.”, Q 71 “Tim. 3. 5.” for Tit. 3, 5, Q 80 “Colos. 31”). A few references are partly cut off at the inner margin; the missing figures are supplied in square brackets. Where a reference stands in the margin without a letter, it is attached to the nearest letter or to the end of the answer.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print (u/v, i/j and vnd/vnnd as printed); abbreviations are expanded (“vñ” → “vnd”, “Hellē” → “Hellen”), and the oblique stroke (virgula) is rendered as a comma. The words of the Ten Commandments, the institution of the sacraments and the Lord’s Prayer, printed in a larger type, are given in ordinary type; the headings of the commandments in Q 92 are given in italics. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, catchwords, signatures and the labels “Frag.” and “Antwort.” are omitted. Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “Mnsechlich” (Q 16), “Sönopffer” (Q 37), “von diesem Reich zutrincken” (for Kelch, Q 75), “eines Brodst” (Q 77), “vmb diß Bluts Christi willen” (Q 126); the Sunday misnumbered “Der 10. Sontag” (for the 16th) is given as “Der 10. [16.] Sontag”, and the heading of the 35th Sunday, which is missing in the print, is supplied as “[Der 35. Sontag.]”.

Catechismus, Oder Kurtzer Unterricht Christlicher Lehr, wie der in Kirchen und Schulen der Churfürstlichen Pfaltz, und andern Orten getrieben wird. Cassel, 1749. The transcription follows the copy in the Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Q 7312-1 A RES (catechismus1749; Public Domain Mark). The catechism occupies pp. 1–23, printed in two columns; it is followed by short questions on the five chief parts of the Christian religion, the Haustafel, the Nicene Creed, the forms for baptism, the preparation for and celebration of the Lord’s Supper, marriage, and morning and evening prayers, none of which is given here.

The edition. This is a small church and school edition from Kassel, the capital of the Reformed landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel; the words “und andern Orten” in the title mark it as an edition for use outside the Palatinate. It has no Scripture references, no Sunday divisions and no preface. The text is the received German text with the full answer to Q 80 (“… eine Verläugnung des einigen Opffers und Leydens JEsu Christi, und eine vermaledeyte Abgötterey”), but it differs in a number of places from the Palatine editions, among them:

• Q 23 asks “Wie lauten die Articul des Christlichen Glaubens?”, and the Creed reads “Ich glaub an GOtt Vatter …”, “Und an JEsum Christum …”, “Ich glaube an den Heiligen Geist …” and ends with “Amen”;
• Q 31 has “der uns den himmlischen Raht und Willen GOttes … offenbahret” (elsewhere “heimlichen”);
• in Q 77 the words of institution are expanded after the Gospels: “und gabs den Jüngern”, and of the cup “das für euch, und für viele vergossen wird”;
• Q 100 reads “mit Schwören und Fluchen”; Q 114 lacks the words “nicht allein nach etlichen, sondern”; Q 117 marks its second point with “Zum andern”; Q 121 has “Der du bist im Himmel” (while Q 119 has “in den Himmeln”); Q 122 ends “nicht gelästert, sondern gepriesen werde”.

Layout. The questions are numbered 1–129, with a few misprinted numbers (two questions numbered 19, “56” for 46 and “46” for 47, “119” for 110), which are given here in the standard form. The headings of the three parts (“Der erste Theil, Von des Menschen Elend”, “Der ander Theil, Von des Menschen Erlösung”, “Der dritte Theil, Von der Danckbarkeit”) and of the sections are given as printed, including the abbreviated forms “Von GOtt dem H. Geist”, “Von den Heil. Sacram.”, “Von der Heil. Tauf.” and “Vom Heil. Abendmahl.”

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print. The Creed, the Ten Commandments, the words of institution and the Lord’s Prayer are given in ordinary type; the headings of the commandments in Q 92 are given in italics. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break; syllables repeated across a line break (“Ge-Gedächtnus”, Q 75; “un-unserm”, Q 86) are given once. Running heads, catchwords and signatures are omitted. Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “Tenffels” and “thne” (turned letters, Q 9–10), “zugleich wahrer GOtt seyn” (Q 15), “der heigen Tauf” (Q 71), “Seekeit” and “Zanberey” (Q 94), “vorbilden” (Q 96), “noch deß, der unten auf Erden” (Q 92) and “und alles Guts geben willst” (Q 128).

Der Heidelbergische Catechismus samt den Kirchen-Formularien, einigen Gebetern und der uralten Glaubens-Bekenntnissen. Cleve, gedruckt und verlegt bey der Wittwe Sitzmann, Königl. Preuß. Hofbuchdruckerin, 1774. The transcription follows the copy in the Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Q 393-6-5 RES (heidelberger_catechismus1774; Public Domain Mark). The catechism occupies pp. 3–57; it is followed by the church forms, prayers and the ancient creeds, which are not given here.

The edition. The book is the church book of the Reformed congregations of the duchy of Cleves on the Lower Rhine, then part of the Kingdom of Prussia, printed by the royal court printer at Cleve. Its text is the received German text of the catechism in eighteenth-century spelling (“Daß ich mit leib und seel beyde im leben und im sterben nicht mein, sondern meines getreuen Heylands JEsu Christi eigen bin”), with the full answer to Q 80 (“… ein verleugnung des einigen opfers und leydens JEsu Christi, und ein vermaledeyte abgötterey”). The questions are numbered 1–129; the catechism is divided into its three parts and the usual sections (“Von GOtt dem Vater”, “Von GOtt dem Sohn”, “Von GOtt dem heiligen Geist”, “Von den heiligen Sacramenten”, “Vom heiligen Tauf”, “Von dem heiligen Abendmahl JEsu Christi”, “Vom Gebet”) but has no Sunday divisions.

Proof-texts. The Scripture references are numbered 1), 2) … in the text and printed after each answer with chapter and verse (Q 1: “1 Cor. 6, 19. 20. 1 Thess. 5, 10.”, “Rom. 14, 8.”, “1 Cor. 3, 16. 23.” …). They continue the apparatus of the older Palatine editions, which gained verse numbers in the Heidelberg reprint of 1576, often with additional references. The numbering restarts with each question. The references are given in the form of the print, with its abbreviations and evident errors (e.g. Q 93 “Matt. 28, 37.” for 22, 37, Q 100 “Luc. 5, 1.” for Lev. 5, 1, Q 123 “Rom. 26, 20.”); the canon-law reference to Q 80 (“In Cano. Miss. Item De consec. Distinct. 2”) stands among them. Where the print repeats a number or omits one in the reference line, the numbers are given in sequence; where a number is missing in the text but present in the reference line (Q 108 note 2, Q 124 note 1), this is left as printed.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print, including its small initial letters for most nouns (“leib und seel”, “gerechtigkeit”) and the forms “GOtt”, “JEsus”, “HErr”. The words of the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the institution of the sacraments and the Lord’s Prayer, printed in a larger type, are given in ordinary type; the headings of the commandments in Q 92 are given in italics. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, catchwords and signatures are omitted. Printer’s errors and slips are kept, e.g. “Daß ich meinen höchsten anfechtungen versichert sey” (without “in”, Q 44), “söhnopfer” (Q 37), “dich dich” (Q 52), “auch welchen ich also vertraue” (Q 26), the lack of “weißheit” in Q 122, and “nur in diesem geistlichen streit” (Q 127).

Text of the Heidelberg Catechism as printed in Der Heidelberger Katechismus von Kasp. Olevianus und Zachar. Ursinus (Wien: Wilhelm Köhler, 1885), from the copy in the Austrian National Library. It is a plain edition for church and school use, without editor or preface, presenting the Catechism in nineteenth-century spelling with its questions numbered 1–129 and its Scripture proof-texts given as numbered footnotes with chapter and verse.

The edition is of particular interest for Question 80. It gives the full form of the question from the third edition of 1563, including the passages about Christ's bodily presence in heaven and the adoration of the elements in the Mass. However, it ends with “eine Verleugnung des einigen Opfers und Leidens Jesu Christi” and omits the closing words “und eine vermaledeite Abgötterei”. Printed in Catholic Vienna for the Reformed church in Austria, the edition thus shows the text as it was actually read in a particular confessional setting. It can be compared with the 1563, 1840 and 1846 editions on this site.

The text was transcribed directly from page images of the print and is reproduced as printed, including its spelling (e.g. “Todtschlag”, “Nothdurft”) and a few slips (“seinen Brüder”, Question 35; “in seinen Wort”, Question 117). Bracketed page numbers reproduce the print's own pagination (3–48) and link to facsimile images of each page.

Heidelberger Katechismus. Revidierte Ausgabe 1997. Published by the Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche (Synode ev.-ref. Kirchen in Bayern und Nordwestdeutschland), the Lippische Landeskirche and the Reformierter Bund; foreword dated Leer and Detmold, spring 1997. This is the current German text of the Heidelberg Catechism as approved by the synods of the Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche and the Lippische Landeskirche for use in the congregations. Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The text. According to its foreword, the 1997 revision follows the earlier revision of the Jubilee edition of 1963 under the principle “so close to the original text as possible and as free as necessary”. For a number of important questions the booklet also prints the older wording of the Jubilee edition (“Ältere Fassung”) beside the revised text; these older wordings are not included here. The foreword, the history of the Catechism by J. F. Gerhard Goeters and other matter outside the questions and answers are also not included.

Layout. The print sets the text in sense-lines, grouped in short paragraphs; here the lines of each paragraph are run on, and the paragraphs are kept as line breaks. The 52 Sundays and the headings of the three parts and their sections are kept. Bible references stand in the margin beside the line they belong to; here they are numbered per question and the number is placed at the end of that line. The labels “Das 1. Gebot” … in the margin of Q 92 are given as subheadings. Q 23 gives both the ecumenical wording of the Apostles’ Creed and the older wording the Catechism explains, as printed. The footnotes to Q 48 (on “unbegreiflich”) and Q 80 (the declaration of the Moderamen of the Reformierter Bund on the condemnation of the Mass) are given after the answer.

Conventions. Spelling and punctuation follow the print (pre-1996 orthography, “daß”, “muß”). Letter-spaced “A m e n” in Q 129 is given in italics. Evident typesetting slips are kept, for example “seinenWohltaten” (Q 53), “gewißmachen” (Q 73), “undder” (Q 85), “heimlichesTöten” (Q 106), “Geheiligt werden dein Name” (Q 122) and “gibt uns heute” (Q 125).

Catechesis Religionis Christianae, quae traditur in Ecclesiis et Scholis Palatinatus — the first Latin edition of the Heidelberg Catechism, published at Heidelberg in 1563, the same year as the German editio princeps. The Latin translation is traditionally credited to Josua Lagus and Lambertus Pithopoeus, prepared so the Catechism could reach an international, Latin-reading audience beyond the Palatinate almost immediately after its first German printing.

The text presented here was transcribed directly from page images of the 1563 print (not from its OCR text layer, which is unreliable for this typeface), checked question by question against the facsimile, and cross-verified against a second, independently digitized copy of the same edition where a reading was in doubt. Marginal Scripture citations are given as printed. Bracketed page numbers (e.g. [12]) reproduce the print's own pagination and link to facsimile images of each page. A few genuine printer's errors in the original (e.g. "propius" for "proprius", "masuetudine" for "mansuetudine") are reproduced exactly as printed.

Text of the Heidelberg Catechism as printed in Hermann Agathon Niemeyer (ed.), Collectio Confessionum in Ecclesiis Reformatis Publicatarum (Leipzig, 1840), pp. 430–461 — a landmark nineteenth-century critical anthology gathering the confessional documents of the Reformed churches in their original languages. The volume was conceived by Moritz Rödiger, who set out its plan in a dedicatory letter dated Halle, 7 October 1839, but was edited and completed by Niemeyer.

The text presented here was transcribed directly from page images of Niemeyer's print, question by question, with all 379 marginal proof-text citations reproduced in his own citation style (e.g. "1 Corinth. 6, 19. 20."), which differs in form from the 1563 editio princeps. Bracketed page numbers reproduce Niemeyer's own printed pagination (430–461) rather than a renumbering from 1, and link to facsimile images of each page.

Niemeyer's print also carries its own critical apparatus — scholarly notes and variant readings, distinct from the Scripture proof-texts — which has not been transcribed here. Only the running Catechism text and its Scripture proof-texts are reproduced, consistent with how every other edition on this site is presented. Readers who need the apparatus itself should consult Niemeyer's original print.

Latin text of the Heidelberg Catechism as printed in Henricus Egbertus Vinke (ed.), Libri symbolici Ecclesiae Reformatae Nederlandicae (Utrecht, 1846), pp. 303–395, where it faces the German text page by page. Vinke did not print the Latin from a 1563 edition. As he explains in his preface, he took it from the text in Zacharias Ursinus' Opera, edited by Reuter (Heidelberg, 1612), and collated it with the Antwerp edition of 1584. It is therefore a witness to the later Latin textual tradition, distinct from the 1563 and Niemeyer (1840) Latin editions also on this site. Its Question 80 has the full, expanded form.

The text was transcribed directly from page images of Vinke's print, with doubtful places checked against a second, independently digitized copy. It is reproduced as Vinke prints it. Two apparent printer's errors that Vinke himself flags (“ipsimet” in Question 80, “fidei” in Question 86) are kept, as is a passage in Question 74 that he places in brackets. The circumflex accents Vinke uses on some ablatives (e.g. doctrinâ) are given as plain vowels, as in the other Latin editions on this site. The Scripture proof-texts are given in his citation style, including his own queries such as “(28?)”. The questions are numbered as in the print, and bracketed page numbers reproduce Vinke's pagination and link to facsimiles of each page. Vinke's footnotes recording variant readings from Augusti, Niemeyer and the 1584 edition have not been transcribed.

A Catechisme of Christian Religion. At Middelborough, By Richard Schilders, Printer to the States of Zealand. 1610. The transcription follows the copy in the National Library of Scotland (library stamp on p. 101), from the microfilm images in Early English Books 1475–1640 made available by the Internet Archive (bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_a-catechisme-of-christia_heidelberg-catechism_1610). The catechism has its own title page, but its pagination runs from p. 93 to p. 138; the page numbers in the text refer to this printed pagination.

The text. This is the earliest print of the English translation of the Heidelberg Catechism that was reprinted in Edinburgh by Andro Hart in 1615 for the Kirk of Edinburgh. The two prints agree closely, but not in every word: in 1610 Q 13 answers “Nor a whit” (1615 “By no part”), Q 14 asks “Is there any creature able in heaven or in earth, which is only a creature, to satisfie for vs?”, Q 59 has “heire of eternall life” (1615 “euerlasting”), Q 112 “except I meane to stirre vp” (1615 “minde”) and Q 121 “conceive not basely or terrenely” (1615 “earthly”). The Scottish spellings of the Edinburgh print (“wraith”, “pairt”, “cheif”) are not found here. Q 80 has the full form, ending “an vtter deniall of that only sacrifice and passion of Christ Iesus, and an accursed idolatrie”, and its margin cites the Canon of the Mass and the Decretum (“In canone Missæ: item de consecrat. distinct. 2.”).

Extent and layout. The catechism occupies pp. 93–138 and ends with “FINIS”. Questions are numbered 1–129 as printed. The headings of the three parts and the section headings (“Of the Father”, “Of the Sonne”, “Of the Holy Ghost”, “Of the Sacraments”, “Of Baptisme”, “Of the Lords Supper”, “Of Prayer”) are given as printed, those in capitals in upper and lower case. The Sundays are printed in the margin, sometimes beside a neighbouring question rather than the one with which the Sunday normally begins; they are given before the question beside which they stand. Only the 6th Sunday has no label. The numbering is reproduced as printed: “19. Sunday” stands beside both Q 51 and Q 52, and “34.” beside both Q 93 and Q 96. The passages of Scripture quoted in the answers that are printed in italic type (Q 10, Q 71, Q 77, the Ten Commandments in Q 92, and the petitions in Q 122–128) are given in italics; the quotation in Q 4 and the Lord’s Prayer in Q 119 are printed in roman type.

Proof-texts. The margin gives Scripture references keyed to signs in the text. Mostly these are letters (a, b, c … without j), which usually start again on a new page but sometimes continue from the facing page; from Q 25 onward the printer also uses the signs *, “ and †, sometimes more than once within one answer. In the print the sign stands before the word to which it refers; here it is placed after the preceding word. The references are given as notes after each answer and are reproduced as printed, including evident misprints (e.g. “1 Cor.3.28.” in Q 1, “Gene.2.71.” in Q 40, “Iud.22.13.” in Q 108). Where the print has a letter without a reference (Q 60, Q 113) or a reference without a letter (Q 80, Q 89), this is left as printed; in Q 80 the text letters therefore stand one step early. In Q 47 a reference printed beside the question without a sign is keyed with a supplied “*”, and in Q 93 the text letter “a” is given as “b” to match the margin. Blotted figures in references are supplied in square brackets where they can be recovered from the Edinburgh print (e.g. “Psal.130.[3]”), and given as “[?]” where they cannot.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print; u and v, i and j are kept as printed (“vnto”, “Iesus”), long s is printed as s, and abbreviation strokes are expanded (“cōfort” → “comfort”, “passiō” → “passion”). Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, catchwords, signatures and the labels “Quest.” and “Ans.” are omitted. The copy carries many handwritten additions (verse numbers, extra references, an ownership note dated 1629 after Q 129); these are not part of the print and are omitted. Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “deliver” for “deliverer” (Q 15), “an an heire” (Q 59), “bith” (Q 71), “assure as” for “assure vs” (Q 73), “fot” (Q 85), “trne” (Q 117) and “Waht” (Q 127).

A Catechisme of Christian Religion. Appointed to be printed for the vse of the Kirke of Edinburgh. Edinburgh: Andro Hart, 1615. The transcription follows the copy in Edinburgh University Library (library stamp on the title page), from the microfilm images in Early English Books 1475–1640 made available by the Internet Archive (bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_a-catechisme-of-christia_heidelberg-catechism_1615). The page numbers in the text refer to the printed pagination.

The text. This is an early English translation of the Heidelberg Catechism, printed in Edinburgh by Andro Hart for use in the Kirk of Edinburgh, and followed in the volume by “A Forme of Prayers”, which is not included here. The same translation was printed in Middelburg by Richard Schilders in 1610 and in Amsterdam in 1639; the wording of Q 1 is identical in all three (apart from spelling), but the editions have not yet been compared throughout. Q 80 has the full form, ending “an vtter deniall of that onely sacrifice and passion of Christ Iesus, and an accursed idolatrie”, and its margin cites the Canon of the Mass and the Decretum (“Canon. Missæ: item de Consecr. distinct. 2.”). Spellings such as “wraith”, “pairt”, “depairted” and “cheif” show the Scottish setting of the text.

Extent and layout. The catechism occupies pp. 3–48 and ends with “FINIS”. Questions are numbered 1–129 as printed. The headings of the three parts and the section headings (“Of the Sacraments”, “Of Baptisme”, “Of the Lords Supper”, “Of Prayer” and others) are given as printed. The Sundays are printed in the margin wherever there was room, often beside the question before the one with which the Sunday normally begins; they are given before the question beside which they stand, and the many Sundays for which the print has no label are not supplied. The numbering is reproduced as printed, including its errors: “20.” and “21. Sunday” are printed twice (beside Q 51–52 and again beside Q 53 and Q 57), the 26th Sunday is printed “29.”, and the 47th and 48th are printed “46.” and “47.”. The Ten Commandments (Q 92), the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119), the petitions repeated in Q 122–128, and the other passages of Scripture quoted in the answers, printed in italic type, are given in italics.

Proof-texts. The margin gives Scripture references keyed to letters in the text; the lettering starts again on every page (a, b, c … without j). In the print the letter stands before the word to which it refers; here it is placed after the preceding word. The references are given as lettered notes after each answer and are reproduced as printed, including evident misprints (e.g. “1.Cor.1.22.& 5.5.” for 2 Cor. and “Ephes.1.41” in Q 1, “Luke 10.17.” in Q 4, “Marke 3.11.” in Q 72, “Mat.22.33.” in Q 107). Where the print has a letter in the text without a reference in the margin (Q 8, Q 77, Q 117) or a reference without a letter in the text (Q 26, Q 105), this is left as printed; two margin letters that are evidently wrong (“a” for “m” in Q 28, “i” for “g” in Q 119) are corrected.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print; u and v, i and j are kept as printed (“vnto”, “Iesus”), long s is printed as s, and the few abbreviation strokes are expanded (“passiō” → “passion”, “cōdemneth” → “condemneth”). Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, catchwords, signatures and the labels “Quest.” and “Ans.” are omitted. On p. 16 a few letters at the inner margin are hidden in the binding; they are supplied in square brackets (e.g. “partaker[s]”). Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “CHIST” (Q 80), “wicdednesse” (Q 85), “detaist” and “thiftes” (Q 108, 110) and “renowmed” (Q 122).

A Catechisme of Christian Religion. At Amsterdam, Imprinted by Iohn Frederick Stam, at the signe of the Hope. 1639. The transcription follows the copy with the library stamp of the British Museum (on the last page), from the microfilm images in Early English Books 1475–1640 made available by the Internet Archive (bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_a-catechisme-of-christia_heidelberg-catechism_1639). The book has no page numbers; the pages are counted here from the title page (p. 1), so that the catechism occupies pp. 3–80 (signatures A2–E8). The filmed copy has engraved plates bound in between the leaves; these are not part of the book and are not counted.

The text. This is the English translation printed at Middelburg in 1610 and at Edinburgh in 1615, but in a revised form. Many words and phrases are replaced, for example Q 4 “Christ briefly teach us” (1610 “summarilie”), Q 9 “by the temptation of the divell” (1610 “impulsion”), Q 48 “manhoode” and “godhead” (1610 “humanitie”, “divinitie”), Q 85 “strangers from Christ” (1610 “aliens”), Q 121 “conceiue not basely or carnally” (1610 “terrenely”, 1615 “earthly”) and Q 125 “unhappie” (1610 and 1615 “vnfortunate”); the second half of Q 115 is reworded (“that we alwaies earnestly seeke for, & craue of the Father the grace of his holy spirit”). Where 1610 and 1615 differ, 1639 usually goes with 1610 (Q 13 “Not a whit”, 1615 “By no part”). Q 80 has the full form, ending “an utter deniall of that onely sacrifice and passion of Christ Iesus, & an accursed idolatrie”; its margin cites the Canon of the Mass, the Decretum and the canon “Ego Berengarius” (“In canone Missæ: item de consecra distinct.2. Can Ego Berengarius.”). Q 85 is followed by an unnumbered question “Where is this rule of discipline set downe in the holy scripture?”, answered with Matthew 18:15–20 printed in full; it is given within Q 85, so that the standard numbering of the questions is kept.

Extent and layout. The catechism ends with “Finis” on p. 80. The questions are numbered 1–129 as printed, except that Q 54 is printed as “53”; the standard number is used here. The headings of the three parts and the section headings (“Of the Father”, “Of the Sonne”, “Of the Holy Ghost”, “Of the Sacraments”, “Of Baptisme”, “Of the Lords Supper”, “Of the Keyes”, “Of Prayer”) are given in upper and lower case. The Lord’s days are numbered 1–52 in the margin, without gaps or repetitions, and are given before the question beside which they stand. Questions are printed in italic and answers in roman type; the passages printed in italic within the answers are given in italics: the quotations in Q 4, Q 10, Q 71, Q 77 and Q 85, the Creed (Q 23), the Ten Commandments (Q 92), the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119) and the petitions (Q 122–128).

Proof-texts. The margin gives Scripture references keyed to letters (a, b, c … without j and u) and, in some answers, to the signs *, “, ” and ‡. The letters usually start again on a new page, but sometimes also within an answer (Q 45, Q 49, Q 117, Q 122). In the print the letter mostly stands before the word to which it refers; here it is placed after the preceding word. The references are given as notes after each answer and are reproduced as printed, including evident misprints. A few references printed beside the question without a sign (Q 120 and the petitions Q 122–128, each citing Matthew 6) are keyed with a supplied “*”. In Q 101 a reference (“p”) has no letter in the text, and is left so; in Q 127 the text letter “p” is given as “q” to match the margin. Blotted figures are supplied in square brackets where the reading is probable (e.g. “Tit.[3],3.” in Q 5) and given as “[?]” where it is not (Q 49); a few letters lost in the inner margin of the scan (Q 85, Q 108) are also supplied in square brackets.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print; u and v, i and j are kept as printed (the roman type has “just”, “justice”, “majestie”, the italic “iniurie”, “subiect”), long s is printed as s, and abbreviation strokes are expanded (“cōmanded” → “commanded”, “mā” → “man”, “frō” → “from”). Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, catchwords, signatures and the labels “Quest.” and “Answ.” are omitted (except in the added question after Q 85). Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “Belecue” (Q 23), “relie om him” (Q 26), “shall be make” (Q 57), “What art the Keyes” (Q 83), “punished with dead” (Q 100), “Eor this kind” and “pused” (Q 101), “superstiton” (Q 94), “necssarie” (Q 118) and “goodues” (Q 122).

The Heidelberg Catechism: Containing The Principles of the Christian Religion, for which the Protestants in the Palatinate have been long persecuted by the Jesuits. London, Printed for T. Corbett at Addison’s-Head next the Rose-Tavern without Temple-Bar, and sold by J. Roberts in Warwick-Lane. M.DCC.XX. The transcription follows the British Museum copy (library stamp on the last page), from the microfilm images in Eighteenth Century Collections Online made available by the Internet Archive (bim_eighteenth-century_the-heidelberg-catechism_1720). The catechism occupies pp. 1–36; it is preceded by an unpaginated dedication to the King of Great Britain, signed by Thomas Corbett, and a short preface, which are not included here.

The occasion. The book was published during the controversy of 1719–1720, when the Elector Palatine Charles Philip had the catechism suppressed in the Palatinate because of Q 80, and Protestant powers, among them George I, intervened on behalf of the Palatine Reformed. The dedication praises the King’s zeal “for the Relief of the Protestants in the Palatinate; who, besides other Privileges, have been lately deprived of the Use of this Catechism”, and the preface presents the text to English readers so that those “prejudiced against the Calvinists” may judge it for themselves.

The text. This is a translation independent of the English version printed in 1610, 1615 and 1639; the wording differs throughout, from Q 1 onward (“What is your only Consolation whilst you are living, and at the Time of your Death?”). Several expressions suggest that it was made from a French version rather than from the German or Latin: Christ as “our Sovereign Prophet and Teacher” and “our great Sacrificer” (Q 31), Christ “corporeally under the Species of Bread and Wine” (Q 80), “the Fruits of Acknowledgment” (Q 64) for the fruits of thankfulness. The answers are often freer than the original, and some are expanded. Q 80 has the full form, ending “so that the Mass is at the bottom nothing less than blaspheming the only Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and a cursed Idolatry.”

Layout. The questions are numbered 1–129. The print has no division into Lord’s days or parts and no section headings, and no Scripture references. The questions are printed in italic and the answers in roman type; within the answers, the words printed in italic are given in italics (among them the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer in Q 122–128). Quotations marked in the print with inverted commas at the beginning of every line (the words of institution in Q 71 and Q 77, the Ten Commandments in Q 92, the Lord’s Prayer in Q 119) are given with one opening and one closing quotation mark; in Q 92 each commandment begins with an opening mark, as in the print.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print, except that long s is printed as s and names printed in small capitals (Jesus Christ) are given in ordinary type. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, catchwords, signatures and the labels “Quest.” and “Answ.” are omitted. Letters damaged in the print are read without comment (e.g. “Spirit” in Q 49, “makest” in Q 122, “forgive” in Q 126), but evident printer’s errors are kept: “no louger” (Q 43), “all the Commandments GOD” (Q 60), “upou the Cross” (Q 75), “GOD. eat” (Q 81), “onr Misery” (Q 86), “Faithfulness. as” (Q 124); the answer to Q 95 ends with a question mark, as printed.

A Catechisme of the Christian Religion. With the Confession of Faith revised in the Nationall Synod last held at Dordrecht … 1618 and 1619, and Formes used in the Reformed Church of the Neatherlands. Translated out of Dutch, newly revised and corrected off the occurent faults, errors and mistakes, so in the translation, as in the former impressions, by the Revd. Mr. C. Coorne, V.D.M. in the English Church at Middelburg. Middelburg: Simon Clement, 1721. The transcription follows the microfilm images in Eighteenth Century Collections Online, made available by the Internet Archive (bim_eighteenth-century_a-catechisme-of-the-chri_nederlandse-hervormde-ke_1721).

The text. This is the church book of the English Reformed Church at Middelburg. Its catechism is the English translation first printed at Middelburg in 1610 and reprinted at Amsterdam in 1639 (both on this site), only lightly revised: Q 1 still reads “That both in soule and body, whether I live or die, I am not mine owne, but belong wholy unto my most faithfull Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ … yea all things must serve for my safetie”. Coorne’s revision mostly brings the spelling up to date (“love”, “heaven” for “loue”, “heauen”) and changes a few words, e.g. “What other Beuefits” [Benefits] for “What other commoditie” (Q 43), “the common Good” for “the common commoditie” (Q 55) and “conveniencies” for “commodities” (Q 111). Q 107 lacks the clause “that we be so affected in minde, as that we” found in 1639. Q 80 has the full form, ending “an accursed idolatrie”; Q 93 divides the commandments into four and six. The later Amsterdam text of 1772 (also on this site) is a thorough modernization of this translation.

Extent and layout. The catechism occupies pp. 1–31, with 129 questions, 52 Lord’s Days, the three parts (“The First Parte, Of the Miserie of man”, “The Second Part. Of Mans Deliverie”, “The Third Part, Of Mans Tankfulnes”) and the headings “Of the Father”, “Of the Sonne”, “Of the Holy Ghost”, “Of the Sacraments”, “Of Baptisme”, “Of the Lords Supper”, “Of the Keyes” and “Of Prayer”. Unlike the 1610 and 1639 editions, it prints no Scripture proofs. The questions, printed in italic, are given in ordinary type; the Creed, the Decalogue, the Lord’s Prayer, the petitions and other quotations of Scripture are given in italics. After Q 85 an unnumbered question and answer on church discipline with the text of Matt. 18:15–20 is printed, as in 1639. Q 91 is misnumbered “92”; the standard numbering is used here.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print; long s is printed as s, and hyphens at line ends are removed. The labels “Quest.” and “Ans.”, the running heads, catchwords and signatures are omitted. Letters lost at the edge of the film are supplied in square brackets, mostly with the help of the 1639 text. The many printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “kneepe” (Q 5), “Bat why” (Q 32), “Beuefits” (Q 43), “Lotd” (Q 75), “Papish Masse” and “cxccpt” (Q 80), “Whe are to come” (Q 81), “iemptation” and “thime” (Q 119). In Q 74 the filmed copy has a handwritten correction (“else” struck through, “not” written above); the printed text is given. The page images come from a commercial microfilm collection; until their use is cleared they are not shown.

The Heidelbergh Catechism, or Method of Instruction, in the Christian Religion, as the same is taught in the Reformed Churches and Schools of Holland. Translated for the Use of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, of the City of New-York. New York: Printed and Sold by John Holt, at the Exchange, 1764. The transcription follows the microfilm images of the British Museum copy in Eighteenth Century Collections Online, made available by the Internet Archive (bim_eighteenth-century_the-heidelbergh-catechis_reformed-dutch-church-in_1764).

The text. This is the first American translation of the catechism, made from the Dutch. A note on the verso of the title states that the translation, “having first been examined, compared and approved of, by the Consistory of the reformed Protestant Dutch Church, of the City of New-York, is by them recommended for the Use of their Church and Schools, and printed by their Order.” It is the source of the traditional text of the American Reformed churches, of which the Chambersburg edition of 1849 on this site is a later revised form; comparison shows the same wording throughout, with many small revisions in 1849 (e.g. Q 1 “belong unto my faithful Saviour” 1764, “belong to” 1849; Q 18 1764 quotes 1 Cor. 1:30 in full; Q 19 “his only begotten Son” 1764, “his beloved Son” 1849). Like the Dutch text it follows, Q 80 has the full form, ending “an accursed Idolatry”, with a marginal note citing the Canon of the Mass, the Decretum and the Council of Trent; Q 93 has no words on the four and six commandments.

Extent and layout. The catechism occupies pp. 3–46 and is divided into 52 Lord’s Days (“I. Lord’s Day” …) and three parts (“The First Part. Of the Misery of Man”, “The Second Part. Of Man’s Deliverance”, “The Third Part. Of Thankfulness”), with the headings “Of God the Father”, “Of God the Son”, “Of God the Holy Ghost”, “Of the Sacraments”, “Of Holy Baptism”, “Of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “Of Prayer”. The questions, printed in italic, are given in ordinary type; the Creed (Q 23), the Decalogue (Q 92), the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119) and the petitions quoted in Q 122–129 are given in italics. The labels “Quest.” and “Ans.” are omitted; questions are numbered in the standard form (Q 23 is unnumbered in the print, Q 92 is printed “29th”).

Proof-texts. The margin gives Scripture references keyed to letters in the text (a, b, c … without j, u and y; in the Lord’s Prayer also * and †); the lettering runs on from page to page and restarts at irregular points. They are given as lettered notes after each answer, reproduced as printed, including evident misprints (e.g. “Exodus, 7.” in Q 9, “Isaiah 46, 6” in Q 62, “Judges 22, 23” in Q 108). Where a reference stands in the margin without a letter in the text (Q 27, Q 66, Q 115) it is given as a note without a marker. In Q 94 the margin has no references for the letters s and t; in Q 117 the letters in the margin do not agree with those in the text, and the references are given with the passages they fit, the printed margin letter following in square brackets.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print; long s is printed as s, and hyphens at line ends are removed. Quotations marked with “ at the beginning of every line are given with opening and closing marks only. Words in square brackets in Q 31 and Q 39 are so printed. Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “contiueth” (Q 10), “Benifits” (Q 75), “fasley” (Q 102), “or whole Lives” (Q 122) and “Hollowed be Thy Name” (Q 119). Manuscript additions by a reader in this copy are disregarded. Page numbers are given in square brackets. The page images come from a commercial microfilm collection; until their use is cleared they are not shown.

The Heidelbergh Catechism of the Reformed Christian Religion. With Priviledge for the Benefit of the Poor. Amsterdam: Printed by Henry Gartman, Bookseller, 1772. The transcription follows the microfilm images in Eighteenth Century Collections Online, made available by the Internet Archive (bim_eighteenth-century_the-heidelbergh-catechis_reformed-church_1772); a second, octavo issue of the same year (bim_eighteenth-century_the-heidelbergh-catechis_1772), which also contains the liturgical forms, was used to check doubtful readings.

The text. This is the catechism of the English Reformed Church in Amsterdam, whose church book, “consisting of the Catechism, Confession of Faith, and Forms”, was approved by the Classis of Amsterdam. It continues the English translation printed at Middelburg in 1610 and at Amsterdam in 1639 (both on this site), in a revised, modernized form: Q 1 still reads “That both in Soul and Body, whether I live or die, I am not mine own, but belong wholly unto my most faithful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”, but ends “all things must be subservient to my Salvation”, as in the American translation of 1764. Many answers have been recast (e.g. Q 5 “By no Means”, Q 21 “whereby I acquiesce in God”, Q 78 “nor is it the Washing away of Sin itself”). Q 80 has the full form, ending “an accursed Idolatry”, with a marginal note citing the Canon of the Mass, the Decretum and the Council of Trent; Q 93 divides the commandments into four and six.

Extent and layout. The catechism occupies pp. 1–18 of this issue, set in two columns, with 129 questions, 52 Lord’s Days and the three parts (“The First Part. Of the Misery of Man”, “The Second Part. Of Man’s Deliverance”, “The Third Part. Of Thankfulness”), and the headings “Of God the Father”, “Of God the Son”, “Of God the Holy Ghost”, “Of the Sacraments”, “Of Baptism”, “Of the holy Supper of the Lord” and “Of Prayer”. The questions, printed in italic, are given in ordinary type; the Creed, the Decalogue, the Lord’s Prayer, the petitions in Q 122–128 and other passages of Scripture quoted in the answers are given in italics.

Proof-texts. The margin gives Scripture references keyed to letters in the text (a, b, c … without j and u; also *); the lettering runs on and restarts at irregular points. They are given as lettered notes after each answer, as printed. Unlettered references to Matt. 6 standing beside the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer (Q 120–128) are given as notes marked *. A few margin references that are blotted in the film were read with the help of the 1639 text.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print; long s is printed as s, and hyphens at line ends are removed. The labels “Quest.” and “Ans.” and the running heads are omitted. Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “Savour” (Q 30), “to come come Judge” (Q 52), “Body, Body” (Q 57), “the merc Mercy” (Q 60). In Q 120 one short word, illegible in the film, is omitted. The page images come from a commercial microfilm collection; until their use is cleared they are not shown.

The Heidelberg Catechism. With Proper Texts annexed to each Answer; used for the Instruction of Children and Grown Persons in Holland: and on which The Ministers are obliged to Preach in Turn every Sabbath. London: Printed in the Year MDCCLXXIII. The transcription follows the microfilm images in Eighteenth Century Collections Online made available by the Internet Archive (bim_eighteenth-century_the-heidelberg-catechism_1773). The book has no preface; the catechism occupies pp. 1–235 and ends with “The End.”

The text. This English translation differs throughout from the version printed in 1610, 1615 and 1639 and from the London translation of 1720; it begins “WHAT is your only Consolation, both in Life and Death?” According to its title, the book presents the catechism as it was used in the Dutch Reformed Church. Some answers are explanatory rather than literal, for example Q 76 (“What is intended by partaking of the Memorials of Christ’s Body and Blood?”) and Q 80, where the Lord’s Supper is said to show Christ “in Heaven, at the right Hand of the Father, where we are to view our great Mediator”. Q 80 has the full form, ending “Therefore is the Mass in fact a Denial of the only Sacrifice and Oblation of Jesus Christ, and an abominable Idolatry.”

Layout. The catechism is divided into 52 Sundays (“The First Sunday” … “The Fifty-second Sunday”), each with a short italic title (“Of the only Comfort of a Sinner in Life and Death: and the Means of obtaining it”); these are given as printed. The parts of the catechism are not marked. The questions are numbered 1–129; two misprinted numbers are given in the standard form (Q 117 printed “17”, Q 122 printed “112”).

Proof-texts. After almost every answer the print gives a series of Bible passages, each with its reference followed by the full text of the verse in italic. Only the references are given here, in one note after each answer, in the order and form of the print (book abbreviations, roman chapter and arabic verse numbers, including evident errors such as “Matth. xv. 17.” for xv. 19 in Q 7). The quoted Scripture texts are not reproduced, nor the occasional bracketed directions that follow them (“[Read this whole Chapter.]”, “[Read this whole Psalm.]”) or the comment after James ii. 23, 24 in Q 62 (“[Good Works follow always a strong Faith, but good Works cannot procure a true Faith.]”). Q 23 (the Creed) and Q 119 (the Lord’s Prayer) have no texts.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print, except that long s is printed as s. Inverted commas repeated at the beginning of every line of a quotation are given once at its beginning and end. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, catchwords, signatures and the labels “Q.” and “A.” are omitted. The page markers in the notes show where the references of a page begin; since the Scripture texts are omitted, a page may contain only references. Evident printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “wherefore Lord blessed the Sabbath-day” (Q 92) and the full stop ending the question in Q 24 and Q 85.

The Heidelbergh Catechism, or Method of Instruction in the Christian Religion, as the same is taught in the Reformed Churches and Schools in Holland. Together with the Articles of Faith, and Liturgy of said Church. Translated for the Use of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the City of New-York. New-York: Printed and Sold by George Forman, 1796. The book was also issued as part of The Psalms of David (New-York: Forman, 1796). The transcription follows the microfilm images in Eighteenth Century Collections Online, made available by the Internet Archive (bim_eighteenth-century_the-heidelbergh-catechis_1796).

The text. The catechism is a reprint of the translation first published by the New York consistory in 1764 (New York: Holt, 1764, on this site). A word-by-word comparison shows the same wording throughout. The differences are mostly spelling: “catholic”, “honor”, “favor” and “publicly” in 1796, where 1764 has “catholick”, “honour”, “favour” and “publickly”, and “for ever” where 1764 has “forever”. Several misprints of 1764 are corrected (“continueth” Q 10, “Benefits” Q 75, “falsely” Q 102, “Hallowed” Q 119, “our whole Lives” Q 122), and a few new ones occur. Like 1764, Q 80 has the full form ending “an accursed idolatry”, with the marginal note on the Canon of the Mass, the Decretum and the Council of Trent. Q 93 has no words on the four and six commandments. The volume goes on with a Compendium, the Confession of Faith (37 articles with titles), the liturgy and prayers; only the catechism is given here.

Extent and layout. The catechism occupies pp. 2–45 (p. 2 is unnumbered). It is divided into 52 Lord’s Days and three parts, with section headings such as “Of God the Father”. The questions, printed in italic, are given in ordinary type. The Creed (Q 23) and the Decalogue (Q 92) are given in italics. The labels “Quest.” and “Ans.” are omitted.

Proof-texts. Unlike the 1764 edition with its lettered margin, the references are printed as footnotes at the foot of each page. They are keyed to the signs * † ‡ § ‖ ¶ and their doubled forms (** †† …), and the series starts again with each question. They are given as notes after each answer, reproduced as printed, including evident misprints (e.g. “1 Col. 3. 16. 17.” Q 99, “Judg. 22. 23.” Q 108, “Mat. 6. 35.” Q 123). In Q 30 the footnote for the sign † is printed with ‡ and is attached to †.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print. The long s is printed as s, line-end hyphens are removed, and the running quotation marks at the beginning of each line are dropped. Words printed in small capitals (Jesus Christ, the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer in Q 122–128) are given in ordinary case. Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “seperate” (Q 28), “an air of eternal life” (Q 59), “Chrst” (Q 60). The sixteenth Lord’s Day is misnumbered “XV.” in the print, and that numbering is kept. The microfilm shows pp. 20–21 twice. Page numbers are given in square brackets. The page images come from a commercial microfilm collection; until their use is cleared they are not shown.

Heidelberg Catechism, or Short Instruction in Christian Doctrine, as it is conducted in the Churches and Schools of the Palatinate, … explained and confirmed with proofs from the Holy Scriptures. Translated from the German by Rev. J. H. Good and Rev. H. Harbaugh. Chambersburg: Printed by M. Kieffer & Co., 1849. The transcription follows a copy digitized by Google. The translators’ preface is dated 15 August 1849; it is followed by a history of the catechism and “Hints for using the Catechism”. The catechism occupies pp. 25–304.

The book. It is an English version of the Palatinate school edition of the catechism, which the preface traces to an edition “Signat. Heidelberg, Sept. 1, 1684”, reprinted in Philadelphia in 1777 and in Easton in 1829. After each question and answer of the catechism follow short notes on particular words, and a long section “Explanation and Proof”, in which the answer is broken up into many smaller questions and answers, each proved by Bible passages printed in full. Only the catechism itself is given here: the 129 questions and answers with the Sabbaths, parts and section headings. The notes, the explanations and proofs, the occasional connecting remarks between questions (e.g. on the two parts of man’s misery before Q 10), and “The History of the Giving of the Law” after Q 92 are not included. Later printings of the same book appeared at Reading, Pa. (Daniel Miller) in 1889–1892.

The text. The translators did not make a new translation of the catechism proper: its questions and answers are, with small variations, the English text then received in the American German and Dutch Reformed churches (Q 1 “What is thy only comfort in life and death?”, Q 60 “Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; so that though my conscience accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all the commands of God …”), the text whose origin the Tercentenary edition of 1863 traces to Archibald Laidlie’s revision for the Dutch Church in New York (1764/67). Q 80 has the full form, ending “so that the Mass at bottom, is nothing else, than a denial of the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.” The Creed is given in Q 23, the Ten Commandments in Q 92 and the Lord’s Prayer in Q 119.

Layout. The catechism is divided into 52 Sabbaths (“First Sabbath” …). The heading “Twenty Seventh Sabbath” is printed twice, before Q 72 and again before Q 75 (for the twenty-eighth); both are given as printed. The headings of the three parts and the section headings (“Of the Misery of Man”, “Of Man’s Deliverance”, “God the Father”, “Of God the Son”, “Of God the Holy Ghost”, “Of the Holy Sacraments”, “Of Holy Baptism”, “Of the Lord’s Supper”, “Of Thankfulness”, “The Ten Commandments”, “Of Prayer”) are given as printed. In the print about half the questions are marked with an asterisk, to indicate the questions to be learned in a shorter course (“Hints for using the Catechism”, no. 3); these asterisks are not reproduced.

A gap in the scan. The digitized copy lacks pp. 205–206. The text missing there (Q 87, the heading “Thirty-Third Sabbath” and Q 88) is supplied in square brackets from the reprint Reading: Daniel Miller, 1889 (pp. 148–149); page markers for pp. 205–206 are therefore absent.

Transcription conventions. Spelling (“neighbor”, “honor”, “Saviour”), capitalization and punctuation follow the print; words printed in small capitals or black letter (the Creed, the words of the Lord’s Prayer and the petitions in Q 119–128, the commandment headings in Q 92) are given in ordinary type, the commandment headings in italics. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, signatures and the labels “Question …” and “Answer” are omitted; a page number that falls on a heading is placed at the following question. Evident printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “dicipline” (Q 83), “satsfaction” (Q 60), “sin and and righteousness” (Q 115) and “ourseleves” (Q 127).

The Heidelberg Catechism, in German, Latin and English: with an Historical Introduction. Prepared and published by the direction of the German Reformed Church in the United States of America. Tercentenary Edition. New York: Charles Scribner; Chambersburg, Pa.: M. Kieffer & Co., 1863. The transcription follows a copy digitized by Google. The volume prints the catechism on facing pages in four columns: the German text of 1563 and the Latin on the left-hand pages, modern German and English on the right-hand pages (pp. 130–277). Only the English column is given here; the page numbers are those of the right-hand pages (131, 133 … 277), and the facsimiles show these pages with the modern German beside the English.

The translation. The volume was prepared by a committee of the Synod of the German Reformed Church appointed in 1859 (E. V. Gerhart, J. W. Nevin, H. Harbaugh, J. S. Kessler, D. Zacharias, W. Heyser, R. F. Kelker and L. H. Steiner; preface dated Lancaster, Pa., 14 September 1863). The preface describes the English text as “a new translation”, the first made from the German rather than from the Latin or the Dutch: the committee translated only from the German edition of 1563 (the third edition, as printed by Niemeyer), omitted every word added in the Latin or in later German editions, and kept “the language of the received text” only where this was consistent with these principles. The “received text” is the older translation then in use in the American Dutch and German Reformed churches, which the preface traces to the revision made by Dr. Laidlie when English preaching was introduced into the Dutch Church (approved by its consistory in 1764, printed 1767, adopted by the Dutch Reformed Synod in 1771); the translation he revised was, the preface argues, probably made from the Dutch version. In the Creed the committee replaced “hell” by “hades” (Q 23, Q 44).

The text. Q 1 reads “What is thy only comfort in life and in death?” Q 80 has the full form; following the editors’ practice in all four columns, its last sentence is printed in square brackets (“[And thus the Mass at bottom is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and passion of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.]”), to mark it as an addition of the third edition of 1563 which, in the committee’s words, “possesses less ecclesiastical authority than the other portions of the answer”. The brackets are reproduced.

Layout. The questions are numbered 1–129 (“Question 1” …); the catechism has no Lord’s days. The headings of the three parts (“The First Part. Of Man’s Misery”, “The Second Part. Of Man’s Redemption”, “The Third Part. Of Thankfulness”) and the section headings (“Of God the Father”, “Of God the Son”, “Of God the Holy Ghost”, “Of the Holy Sacraments”, “Of Holy Baptism”, “Of the Holy Supper of the Lord”, “Of Prayer”) are given as printed; the headings of the commandments in Q 92 are given in italics. The English column has no Scripture references (the references belong to the German column of 1563).

Transcription conventions. Spelling (American: “neighbor”, “honor”, “labor”), capitalization and punctuation follow the print. Questions are printed in italic and answers in roman type; the words of the Creed, the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer and similar quotations printed in small capitals (e.g. Q 26 “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth”, Q 122 “Hallowed be Thy name”) are given in ordinary type. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads and the labels “Question” and “Answer” are omitted; a page number that falls on a heading is placed at the following question.

The Heidelberg Catechism. The German Text, with a Revised Translation and Introduction. London: Published by Andrew Melrose, MDCCCC [1900] (series “Books for the Heart”, edited by Alexander Smellie, M.A.; printed by Morrison and Gibb, Edinburgh). The transcription follows the copy digitized by the Internet Archive (heidelch00lond). Smellie’s introduction “Concerning the Catechisms of the Reformation, with especial reference to the Heidelberg Catechism” (pp. vii–lxxxviii) treats in turn Luther’s Little Catechism, Calvin’s Catechism, the Anglican Catechism, the Heidelberg Catechism, John Craig’s Catechism and the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The catechism occupies pp. 1–101; each question and answer is printed first in German and then in English.

The translation. A note at the head of the catechism (p. 1) states: “The German of the following pages is that of the Modern German editions of the Catechism; the English translation is based on the admirable rendering of the Tercentenary Edition, prepared by a Committee of the Synod of the German Reformed Church in the United States, and issued in 1863.” The English is therefore a revision of the 1863 translation, which is also available on this site. About half of the answers are retouched, usually in single words or phrases: Q 2 “how great are my sin and misery” (1863: “the greatness of my sin and misery”), Q 32 “a living thankoffering” (1863: “a living sacrifice of thankfulness”), Q 72 “the outward ablution” (1863: “the outward washing with water”), Q 75 “feeds and assuages my soul” (1863: “nourishes”), Q 120 “that childlike reverence” (1863: “filial”). The spelling is British (“neighbour”, “honour”, “favour”). The reference “Matth. 22” in Q 4 is omitted. As in 1863, the Creed has “He descended into Hades” (Q 23, Q 44), and the last sentence of Q 80 is printed in square brackets (“[And thus the Mass at bottom is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and passion of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.]”); the brackets are reproduced.

Layout. The questions are numbered 1–129 (“Question 1” …); the catechism has no Lord’s days and no Scripture references. The headings of the three parts (“The First Part. Of Man’s Misery”, “The Second Part. Of Man’s Redemption”, “The Third Part. Of Thankfulness”) and the section headings (“Of God the Father”, “Of God the Son”, “Of God the Holy Ghost”, “Of the Holy Sacraments”, “Of Holy Baptism”, “Of the Holy Supper of Jesus Christ”, “Of Prayer”) are given as printed.

Transcription conventions. Only the English text is given; the page numbers are those of the pages on which it stands (pp. 1, 71 and 72 carry German text only), and the facsimiles show the whole page with the German. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print. Words printed in italic are given in italic (the articles of the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the petitions in Q 122–128); the Ten Commandments in Q 92, printed in italic under headings in small capitals, are given in ordinary type with the headings in italic. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads and the labels “Question” and “Answer” are omitted; a page number that falls on a heading is placed at the following question. Q 58 is misnumbered “Question 53” in the print and is given here under its proper number; other small printer’s errors are kept, e.g. the full stop ending the question in Q 94 and the comma ending the answer to Q 49.

The Three Forms of Unity: Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, Canons of Dort. South Holland, Illinois: The Evangelism Committee, Protestant Reformed Church; reprinted in 1983 by the Mission Committee of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. The transcription follows the copy digitized by the Internet Archive from the Princeton Theological Seminary Library (threeformsofunit00slmi). The catechism occupies pp. 1–18, headed “The Catechism, or Method of Instruction in the Christian Religion, as the same is taught in the Reformed Churches and Schools in Holland and in America”; the Belgic Confession and the Canons of Dort follow in the same volume and are available on this site as separate editions.

The text. This is the traditional English text of the Dutch Reformed churches in America (“What is thy only comfort in life and death? That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ”), the text these churches used before the modern translations of the later twentieth century. It belongs to the same line of translation as the American text of 1849 on this site, in a somewhat different form. Q 80 has the full form, with the addition characteristic of this text, “who, according to his human nature is now not on earth, but in heaven”, and ends “and an accursed idolatry” (printed without a final full stop).

Layout and proof-texts. The catechism is divided into 52 Lord’s Days (“I. LORD’S DAY” …) and three parts (“The First Part—Of the Misery of Man”, “The Second Part—Of Man’s Deliverance”, “The Third Part—Of Thankfulness”), with the section headings “Of God the Father”, “Of God the Son”, “Of God the Holy Ghost”, “Of the Sacraments”, “Of Holy Baptism”, “Of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “Of Prayer”. The proof-texts stand in the outer margin, lettered a, b, c …; the lettering begins again with each Lord’s Day. They are given after each answer in the form of the print, including evident errors (e.g. Q 44 “Mat. 7:46” for 27:46, Q 58 “Psa. 10:11” for 16:11). Where a marginal reference has no letter, the letter is supplied (Q 34, 68, 85).

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print; the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer and the petitions in Q 122–128, printed in bold type, are given in ordinary type. The colons in the marginal references are often faint in the scan and are given throughout. Running heads and the labels “Q.” and “A.” are omitted; a page number that falls on a heading is placed at the following question. Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “visibie” (Q 66), “idolator” (Q 87), “Christ,, and” (Q 74) and the stray opening quotation mark in Q 69.

Cathechismus, oft Christelicke Onderrichtinghe, ghelijck die in Kercken ende Scholen der Cheur Vorstelicken Paltz ghedreuen oft gheleert wort. Wt de Hoochduytsche sprake, in Nederduytsch getrouwelick ouergeset. Ghedruckt, Anno 1563. This is the first Dutch translation of the Heidelberg Catechism, printed in the same year as the German original and three years before Petrus Datheen’s translation of 1566. The transcription follows the copy in Utrecht University Library (hdl.handle.net/1874/237668), from the library’s full-resolution images. Click any folio number in the text to see that page of the original.

The book and its source. The title page names neither place nor printer. The colophon (fol. 38) reads: “Eerst ghedruckt in de Cheurvorstelicke Stadt Heydelberch, door Joannem Mayer. Ende nu overghesett zijnde in de Nederlandtsche sprake, Ghedruckt int selue Jaer, Anno 1563.” A handwritten note by J.J. Doedes in the Utrecht copy identifies it as the translation printed at Emden, made from the second German edition, and distinguishes it from Datheen’s Heidelberg translation, which follows the third. Doedes discusses it in De Heidelbergsche Catechismus in zijne eerste levensjaren (Utrecht 1867), pp. 78–89.

Second-edition evidence in the text.

• Q 80 is present, but in the shorter form of the second German edition. It ends “Ende also is de Misse in den gront, een Afgodische verloocheninghe des eenighen Offers ende lydens Jesu Christi”, without the third edition’s “vermaledeite Abgötterey”. The margin adds “Siet dat Canon in de Misse.”
• Q 36 has the longer second-edition question and answer (“ontfanckenisse ende gheboorte … dat hy onse Middelaer is”).
• The book carries the notice of the second and third German editions on what was added since the first printing (“Wat in de eerste Druck was versien, als voornamelick Folio 55 …”).

Extent and numbering. The catechism runs from fol. 5r to fol. 33v. The print does not number its questions; the standard numbering 1–129 is supplied for alignment with the other editions. The material that follows in the book (the “Aenteeckeninghe der voorneemsten Texten” and the prayers) is not included. Page markers give the folio and side as printed, e.g. [22r], [22v].

Transcription conventions.

• Spelling, capitalization and word division follow the print (“zyn”, “ghelooue”, “dancbaerheyt”, “Euangelium”).
• Abbreviation strokes are expanded (“eñ” → “ende”, “vā” → “van”, “dē” → “den”). Long s is printed as s.
• The pronoun printed “v” is given as “u”; otherwise u and v are kept as printed (“leuen”, “ouer”).
• The decorated initial V followed by small V is read as W (“Wat”, “Waer”).
• Virgules are rendered as commas. Hyphens at line ends are removed. Catchwords and running heads are omitted.
• Marginal proof-texts are given as printed. Their letters restart on each page, so the same letter can occur twice in one answer. Where the margin gives a reference without a letter (Q 71, Q 92), it is attached as “a” at the point where it stands in the margin.
• Printer’s errors are kept, for example “Almachrigen” (Q 26), “Neent” (Q 102, 107), and references such as “Matth. 17.” (Q 64), “Deut. 18.” (Q 108), “Marci 6.” (Q 118).

Catechismus, Ofte Onderwijsinge in de Christelijcke leere. Printed with Petrus Datheen’s metrical psalter, De Psalmen Davids (leaf before the catechism: “Heydelberchsche. M.D.LXVI.”; colophon: “Ghedruckt int Jaer M.D.lxvi”), without place or printer. The transcription follows the copy in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague (shelfmark 1 C 2 [2]; TB 4124; Heijting B 12.10), from the images reproduced in Early European Books (ProQuest) and made available through the Internet Archive (ned-kbn-all-00000028-002). Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The text. This is Datheen’s Dutch translation of the Heidelberg Catechism, first printed at Heidelberg in 1563 from the third German edition and reissued, slightly revised, with his psalter in 1566. In this form it served the Dutch Reformed churches until the revision after the Synod of Dort. It differs from the Emden translation of 1563 on this site, which was made from the second German edition. Q 80 has the full third-edition form, including the sentence on the “Mespriesteren” and the ending “een veruloecte Afgoderije”; its margin cites the Canon of the Mass and the Decretum (“In Can. Misse. item De consec. distinct. 2”). Compared with the text of 1640 on this site, Q 93 still lacks the words “in vier geboden … in ses geboden”, and Q 18 the words “van God tot wijsheyt, rechtveerdicheyt, heylichmakinge”, which were added later.

Extent and layout. The catechism runs from p. 1 to p. 50; the church forms that follow in the volume are not included. Questions are numbered as printed. The Sundays are printed in the margin and are given before the question beside which they stand; “34. Sōdach” stands beside Q 93, so the Decalogue (Q 92) falls under Sunday 33, as printed. The Creed (Q 23), the Decalogue (Q 92), the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119) and the other passages of Scripture quoted in the answers, printed in roman type, are given in italics.

Proof-texts. The margin gives Scripture references keyed to alternating marks († and *) in the text. They are given here as lettered notes (a, b, c …) in the order in which they stand, and the references are reproduced as printed, including evident misprints (e.g. “Luce 1.25” in Q 35, “Act.12.16” in Q 71, “Mat.28.37” in Q 93). Where a marginal reference has no mark in the text (Q 41, 107, 126, 127, 128), it is attached at the point to which it belongs; where a mark has no reference beside it (Q 32, 52, 65), the mark is omitted.

Transcription conventions. The text is printed in blackletter. Spelling, capitalization and word division follow the print; u and v are kept as printed (“leuen”, “ouer”), and the pronoun printed “v” is given as “u”. Abbreviation strokes are expanded (“eñ” → “ende”, “vā” → “van”, “sijnē” → “sijnen”), long s is printed as s, and virgules are rendered as commas. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, catchwords, signatures and the labels “Vr.” and “And.” are omitted. Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “Gont” for “Godt” (Q 19), “de hemeyschap der Heyligen” (Q 23), “den geylighen Gheest” (Q 24), “Wedt” (Q 92), “Tat neghenste” (Q 92).

Catechismus, oft Onderwijsinge inde Christelijcke Religie, welcke inden ghereformeerden Euangelischen Kercken ende Scholen der Nederlanden gheleert ende gheoeffent wert. Mitsgaders de Christelijcke Ceremonien ende Gebeden. Middelburgh: Richard Schilders, printer to the States of Zeeland, 1591. The transcription follows the copy in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague (library stamp on the verso of the title), from the images made available by the DBNL (_cat003cate01_01). Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The text. This is Datheen’s Dutch translation of the Heidelberg Catechism in the form in which it was used in the Dutch Reformed churches before the Synod of Dort, printed by the official printer of the States of Zeeland together with the liturgical forms and prayers. Q 80 has the full form, ending “een veruloeckte afgoderije”, and its margin cites the Canon of the Mass and the Decretum (“In Canone Misse. Item de Cons. Dist. 2.”). Compared with Datheen’s edition of 1566 on this site, Q 18 already reads “die ons van Gode tot wijsheyt, rechtueirdichmakinge, heylichmakinge, ende tot verlossinge geworden is”, and Q 93 “daer van de eerste met vier gheboden leert … De andere met ses geboden”, as in the text of 1640.

Extent and layout. The volume is not paginated. The catechism runs from the leaf after the title (sig. Aa2r) to sig. Cc3r, followed by the form for baptism and the other forms and prayers, which are not included here. The page numbers in the text count the pages from the title page (sig. Aa1r = 1), so that the catechism occupies pp. 3–37. Questions are numbered as printed (Q 35 is misprinted “34”). The Sundays are printed in the margin and are given before the question beside which they stand; the print has no heading for Sundays 14 and 22, none is supplied, and Sunday 44 is misprinted “37”. The Creed (Q 23), the Decalogue (Q 92), the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119), the petitions repeated in Q 120–129 and the other passages of Scripture quoted in the answers, printed in roman type, are given in italics.

Proof-texts. The margin gives Scripture references keyed to letters in the text; the lettering starts again on every page (a, b, c … without j, u and w), and longer runs of references continue at the foot of the page. They are given here as lettered notes after each answer, and the references are reproduced as printed, including evident misprints (e.g. “Luce 21.18 ende 56.9” in Q 1, “Ps.50.60” in Q 82, “Joan.5. 33” in Q 95, “Mat.14 57.58” in Q 112). On p. 22 the note for Q 79 printed as a second “b” is given as “d”.

Transcription conventions. The text is printed in blackletter. Spelling, capitalization and word division follow the print; u and v are kept as printed (“leuen” in blackletter, “leven” in the roman passages). Abbreviation strokes are expanded (“eñ” → “ende”, “dz” → “dat”), long s is printed as s, and virgules are rendered as commas. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, catchwords, signatures and the labels “Vra.” and “Ant.” are omitted. In this copy the inner margin is tightly bound, and on many pages the last letters of a line are hidden in the gutter; such letters are supplied in square brackets (e.g. “gantsche[r]”). Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “Met dat ick” for “Niet dat ick” (Q 61), “beurydde” (Q 38), “afsterninge” (Q 42), “gherechtichticheyt” (Q 37), “verdomen” (Q 112) and “suck eedtsweeren” (Q 101).

De Catechismus ofte Onderwijsinge inde Christelijcke Religie, die inde Gereformeerde Kercken van Nederlandt geleert wort, met clare Schriftuerplaetsen overvloedelijcker bevestigt: Mitsgaders De Formulieren der Ceremonien ende Gebeden inde selve Kercken gebruycklijck. Item De Confessie ende Kercken-Orden der selver Kercken, met den Siecken Troost. Leiden: Lowijs Elzevier, 1617. The transcription follows the copy in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague (4 F 22 [2]), from the images of Early European Books (ProQuest), made available through the Internet Archive (ned-kbn-all-00000255-002).

The text. This is a church book printed two years before the Synod of Dort, containing the catechism, the liturgical forms, the Confession and the Church Order. Its catechism is Datheen’s translation in a revised form: in a number of places it already reads as the text of 1640 on this site, against the Middelburg edition of 1591 (e.g. Q 2 “salichlijck leven ende sterven meucht”, Q 9 “dat hy niet doen en can”, Q 12 “ende wederom ter genaden comen”), while the Scripture quotations in the answers (Q 4, the Decalogue, the words of institution) still follow the older Dutch versions, not the Statenvertaling. Q 18 reads “tot wijsheyt, rechtveerdichmakinge, heylichmakinge, ende tot een volcomen verlossinge”. Q 80 has the full form, ending “een vervloeckte afgoderie”, with a marginal note citing the Canon of the Mass and the Decretum (“In Canone Missæ, Item de Cons. Dist.1.”). Q 93 has only “In twee tafelen, daer van de eerste leert, hoe wy ons tegen God sullen houden. De andere, wat wy onsen naesten schuldich zijn”, without the words on the four and six commandments found in 1591 and 1640.

Extent and layout. The catechism occupies pp. 3–37 (sig. A2r–C3r), ending “Eynde des Catechismi.”; the forms, the Confession, the Church Order and the Ziekentroost that follow are not included here. Questions are numbered and all 52 Sundays are given in the margin; they are placed here before the question beside which they stand. The book is divided into three parts (“Dat eerste deel van des menschen Ellende”, “Dat ander deel: Van des menschen Verlossinge”, “Dat derde deel van de Danckbaerheyt”), with the headings “Van God den Vader”, “Van God den Sone”, “Van God den heyligen Geest”, “Van den Sacramenten”, “Vanden heyligen Doop”, “Vanden heyligen Avontmale onses Heeren Jesu Christi” and “Van t’Gebet”. The Creed (Q 23), the Decalogue (Q 92), the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119), the petitions repeated in Q 120–128 and the other passages of Scripture quoted in the answers, printed in roman type, are given in italics.

Proof-texts. As the title says, the answers are “confirmed with clear passages of Scripture more abundantly”: the references, keyed to letters in the text, stand in the margin and on longer pages continue at the foot of the page. The lettering runs on from page to page and starts again at irregular points (a, b, c … without j, v and w). They are given here as lettered notes after each answer, reproduced as printed, including evident misprints (e.g. “Gala.3.3”, “Leb.16.9” and “Luce 21.14” in Q 38–39, “Mat.14.57.58” in Q 112). On a few pages the letters in the margin do not agree with those in the text; there each reference is given with the letter of the passage it belongs to, and the letter printed in the margin follows in square brackets (pp. 5, 10–11, 26, 30, 31). Unlettered references standing after a Sunday rule are taken as the continuation of the preceding note.

Transcription conventions. The text is printed in blackletter. Spelling, capitalization and word division follow the print; u and v are given as printed (the press uses v at the beginning and in the middle of words). Abbreviation strokes are expanded (“eñ” → “ende”, “geẽ” → “geen”), long s is printed as s, and virgules are rendered as commas. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, catchwords, signatures and the labels “Vrag.” and “Antw.” are omitted. Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “geschapeu” (Q 9), “gescheven” (Q 10), “onsee heylichmakinge” (Q 24), “algeemeyne” (Q 54), “des hes heyligen Geests” (Q 109) and “Dae nae” (Q 115). The page images carry the copyright notice of ProQuest; until their use is cleared they are not shown.

Catechismus, ofte Onderwijsinge inde Christelijcke Leere: Mitsgaders, de Ceremonien ende Gebeden der Nederlantsche Kercken. Printed with De CL. Psalmen Davids, eerst in Nederlantschen dichte gebracht door Petrum Dathenum, ende nu in sin ende rijmen gebetert door Jacobum Revium: Mitsgaders den Christelijcken Catechismo, Kerckelijcke Formulieren ende Gebeden, insgelijcx verbetert na de nieuwe oversettinge des Bybels. Deventer: Nathanael Cost, 1640. The transcription follows the copy in Utrecht University Library (hdl.handle.net/1874/35572), from the library’s full-resolution images. Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The text. This is the Dutch text of the Heidelberg Catechism as used in the Dutch Reformed churches after the Synod of Dort, printed in a church book whose psalms were revised by Jacobus Revius and whose catechism, forms and prayers were, as the title says, likewise “verbetert na de nieuwe oversettinge des Bybels”, that is, brought into line with the States Bible of 1637. It is the older form of the wording that later printings such as the Callenbach edition of 1880 on this site still keep (compare Q 1: “Dat ick met lijf ende siele … daerom hy my oock door synen Heyligen Geest, des eeuwigen levens versekert”). Q 80 has the full form, ending “een vervloecte afgoderije”. Quotations from Scripture follow the States Bible, including its words in square brackets (Q 77: “Desgelijcx [nam] hy oock den drinckbeker”).

Extent and layout. The catechism runs from p. 467 to p. 510 of the volume. The book has no printed page numbers, only signatures; the page numbers used here are those written by hand in the Utrecht copy, so that they match the images. The questions are numbered as printed, and the Sundays and the three parts are kept as printed. Two irregularities of the print are kept: Sunday 27 is misnumbered “26” in the print and is given here as 27, and there is no heading for Sunday 34 (Q 92 follows Q 91 directly). The Creed (Q 23), the Decalogue (Q 92) and the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119), printed in smaller type, are given in italics. The liturgical forms and prayers that follow in the volume are not included.

Transcription conventions. The text is printed in blackletter. Spelling, capitalization and word division follow the print (“salicheyt”, “Euangelium”, “voor beelden”, “lijf ende siele”). Abbreviation strokes are expanded (“eñ” → “ende”, “mettē” → “metten”, “Godhz” → “Godheyt”). Long s is printed as s, and a capital V standing for u is given as U (“Uwen naem”). Virgules are rendered as commas. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, catchwords, signatures and the labels “Vra.” and “Ant.” are omitted. Printer’s errors and irregular forms are kept, e.g. “den gantschen syns levens” without “tijt” (Q 37), “vestaet” (Q 46), “heben” (Q 55), “opstandige” (Q 57), “hoe lancr hoe meer” (Q 81), “sevenste” (Q 108), “der der zielen” (Q 121), “oorsprone” and “ceaturen” (Q 125).

De CL Psalmen des Propheten Davids, met eenige andere Lof-sangen: uyt den Françoyschen dichte in Nederlandtschen over-geset door Petrum Dathenum. Mitsgaders de Christelicke Catechismus, de Belijdenisse des Geloofs, ende naerder verklaringe van eenige Hooft-stucken des selven, overgeset ende gestelt inde Synode Nationael der Nederlandtsche Gereformeerde Kercken, gehouden tot Dordrecht in de jaren 1618 ende 1619. Als oock de Liturgie der selve Kercken. Leiden: Paulus Aertsz van Ravesteyn, 1640. The transcription follows the copy in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague (1 A 3 [2], bound after a New Testament of 1641), from the images of Early European Books (ProQuest), made available through the Internet Archive (ned-kbn-all-00000002-002).

The text. This is the catechism as revised and authorized at the Synod of Dort, printed in an ordinary church book of the kind that was bound with the Bible and taken to church. The same volume contains the Belgic Confession, also given on this site under the same edition label. It reads the post-Dort Dutch text in the form current before the revision by Jacobus Revius, which appears in the Deventer edition of the same year on this site (compare Q 1: “Dat ick met lijf ende ziele … niet mijn, maer mijns getrouwen Salighmakers Jesu Christi eyghen ben”). The Decalogue (Q 92) follows the States Bible of 1637, with its words in square brackets (“[van 't gene] dat boven in den hemel is”), while the other quotations in the answers keep the older wording. Q 80 has the full form, ending “een vervloeckte afgoderie”. Q 93 reads only “In twee Tafelen: daer van de eerste leert hoe wy ons tegen Godt sullen houden. De ander, wat wy onsen naesten schuldigh zijn”, without the words on the four and six commandments found in 1591 and in the Deventer edition of 1640.

Extent and layout. The catechism occupies pp. 1–16 of the second part of the volume (sig. A1r–A8v), ending “Eynde des Catechismi.”, and is followed by the Confession (pp. 17–30), the Kort Begrip (pp. 31–37), prayers, the liturgical forms, the Ziekentroost, and the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds; these are not included here. Although the title promises the “naerder verklaringe” (the Canons of Dort), they are not printed in this copy. Questions are numbered and the 52 Sundays are given as printed. The book is divided into three parts (“Dat eerste deel: Van des Menschen Ellendigheydt”, “Dat ander deel: Van des Menschen Verlossinge”, “Dat derde Deel: Van de Danckbaerheyt”), with the headings “Van Godt den Vader”, “Van Godt den Sone”, “Van Godt den H. Geest”, “Van de Sacramenten”, “Van den Heyligen Doop”, “Van het Heylige Nachtmael onses Heeren Jesu Christi” and “Van 't Ghebedt”. This edition has no proof-texts. The Creed (Q 23), the Decalogue (Q 92), the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119), the petitions repeated in Q 122–128 and the other passages of Scripture quoted in the answers, which are printed in roman type, are given in italics.

Transcription conventions. The text is printed in blackletter. Spelling, capitalization and word division follow the print; long s is printed as s, virgules are rendered as commas, and “vv” in roman type as w. Hyphens at line ends are removed. On the verso pages the ends of some lines are hidden in the scan under the edge of the following leaf; the few letters lost there are supplied without brackets. Running heads, catchwords, signatures and the labels “Vra.” and “Ant.” are omitted. The headings of Q 125 and Q 126 are misnumbered in the print (“Welck is de vijfde Bede?”, “Welck is de seste Bede?”, for the fourth and fifth petitions) and are kept, as are other printer’s errors, e.g. “eeu Lichaem” (Q 77) and “ooogen-blick” (Q 127). The page images carry the copyright notice of ProQuest; until their use is cleared they are not shown.

Catechismus, of onderwijzing in de Christelijke leer, die in de Nederlandsche Gereformeerde Kerken en Scholen geleerd wordt. In: J. J. van Toorenenbergen, De symbolische schriften der Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk in zuiveren, kritisch bewerkten tekst haar aangeboden tot wettig gebruik. Utrecht: Kemink, 1869, pp. 69–115. The transcription follows the copy in the Library of Congress, digitized by the Internet Archive (desymbolischesch00nede). Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The edition. Van Toorenenbergen (1822–1903), minister in Rotterdam, published the three Forms of Unity for the 250th anniversary of the Synod of Dort, as a critical text with historical notes at the foot of the pages. As he points out in his introduction, the Dutch churches never fixed an official text of the catechism: they adopted it “zoo als hij was” in Datheen’s translation of 1566 and left correct printing to the local churches. He therefore gives Datheen’s text as it was in received use, in the spelling of his own day, and records the variants of the old editions and the readings of the German and Latin texts in his notes. Q 80 has the full form, ending “eene vervloekte afgoderij”; Q 93 has no words on the four and six commandments; in Q 1 he reads “uit alle macht des Duivels” in place of the usual “geweld”, which he regards as a Germanism.

Extent and layout. The catechism is given with its 129 questions, 52 Sundays and three parts (“Het eerste deel. Van des menschen ellendigheid”, “Het tweede deel. Van des menschen verlossing”, “Het derde deel. Van de dankbaarheid”) and the headings “Van God den Vader”, “Van God den Zoon”, “Van God den Heiligen Geest”, “Van de Sacramenten”, “Van den heiligen Doop”, “Van het heilige Avondmaal onzes Heeren Jezus Christus” and “Van het gebed”. It has no proof-texts. Van Toorenenbergen’s historical introduction to the catechism (pp. 67–68) and his footnotes are not included. Passages of Scripture quoted in the answers, printed in italic, are given in italics; the Creed, the Decalogue and the Lord’s Prayer are set in separate lines.

Transcription conventions. Spelling and punctuation follow the print. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. The labels “Vr.” and “Antw.” are omitted, and the first Sunday, headed “De eerste Zondag”, is given as “I. Zondag” like the others.

Katechismus of onderwijzing in de christelijke leer, die in de Nederlandsche Gereformeerde Kerken en scholen geleerd wordt. Met teksten. Elfde druk. Nijkerk: G.F. Callenbach, 1880. The transcription follows the copy in Utrecht University Library (hdl.handle.net/1874/303432), from the library’s full-resolution images. Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The text. This is the Dutch text of the Heidelberg Catechism as established after the Synod of Dort, in a wording that keeps a number of older forms which other nineteenth-century printings had modernised — compare, for instance, “met lijf en ziel … Daarom Hij mij ook door zijnen Heiligen Geest des eeuwigen levens verzekert” (Q 1), “lijf” for “ligchaam” throughout, “het tweede” for “het andere”, the genitive constructions (“des ligchaams”, “des heiligen Evangelies”), “bekomt gij” (Q 36), “naardien” (Q 48), “het Nachtmaal” (Q 78) and “uws naasten wijf” (Q 92), with the Enschedé printing of 1884 on this site. The phrase “in de Nederlandsche Gereformeerde Kerken” on the title page is the traditional title formula of the Dutch catechism, not the name of a particular denomination.

Layout. The catechism (pp. 3–60) is divided into the 52 Sundays and into the three parts with their section headings, all of which are kept. As its title says, the book adds after each answer the principal Scripture passages printed in full (“met de voornaamste schriftuurplaatsen op iedere vraag en antwoord toegepast”); the passages themselves are not part of the catechism text and are not reproduced here, but their references are kept, in the printed order, as one proof-text note per answer (shown with “Show proof-texts”). Where the book prints its references inside the answer (Q 77, 92) they are left where they stand; Q 23, 24 and 119 have no references. Scripture quoted within the answers themselves — the Decalogue (Q 92), the words of institution (Q 77) and the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119), printed in the smaller type — is kept and given in italics. The opening page of proverbs and the publisher’s advertisements at the end are omitted.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print (“regt”, “ligchaam”, “zigtbare”, “Sakramenten”). Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Questions are numbered as printed; one misprinted number (“112” for 122) is given as 122. The twelve articles of the Creed in Q 23 keep their printed numbers. Printer’s errors and irregular forms are kept, e.g. “mistgaders” (Q 27), “alles in Hem bidden” (Q 30), “verwachtte” (Q 52), “pleeg” (Q 69), “nogthans” (Q 81), “ligchamelijk nooddruft” (Q 118).

Catechismus, of Onderwijzing in de Christelijke Leer, die in de Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerken en Scholen geleerd wordt. Colophon: “Gedrukt bij Johannes Enschedé en Zonen. 1884.” (the Haarlem printing house; no place is named). The transcription follows the copy in Utrecht University Library (hdl.handle.net/1874/306396), formerly in the library of the Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk, from the library’s full-resolution images. Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The text. This is the Dutch text of the Heidelberg Catechism as revised at the Synod of Dort (1618–1619), in the form printed for church and school use in the Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk in the later nineteenth century. It represents the Dutch catechism text that was in use for some three centuries after Dort, here in the official spelling of the time (“zoo”, “eene”, “regt”, “ligchaam”, “menschelijke”). The pamphlet also contains the “Christelijke Gebeden” and the liturgical forms for baptism and the Lord’s Supper; only the catechism (pp. 1–16) is given here.

Layout. The text is divided into the 52 Sundays (“De eerste Zondag”, “De 2. Zondag” …) and into the three parts with their section headings (“Van God den Vader”, “Van de Regtvaardiging”, “Van de Sacramenten”, “Van de Wet”, “Van het Gebed”), all of which are kept. The print has no marginal proof-texts; the few scripture references it gives in the text itself (Matth. XXII in Q 4, Exod. XX and Deut. V in Q 92, 1 Kor. XI and X in Q 77) are kept in place.

Transcription conventions.

• Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print. Italic (used for quotations from Scripture, the Creed, the Decalogue, the Lord’s Prayer and the phrases explained in the questions) is kept.
• Words in square brackets are the print’s own (e.g. “[is]”, “[van hetgeen]”, “[zijt]”).
• Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Catchwords and signature marks are omitted.
• The questions are numbered as printed; the one misprinted number (“68” for 58) is given as 58.
• Printer’s errors are kept, for example “werden” for “werken” (Q 62), “offeranden” for “offerande” (Q 67, 70), “bezoek” (Q 92).

Catechismus of onderwijzinge in de Christelijke Leere, die in de Nederlandsche Gereformeerde Kerken en Scholen geleerd wordt. In: De drie formulieren van eenigheid, met de kerkorde, gelijk die voor de Gereformeerde Kerken dezer landen zijn vastgesteld in haar laatstgehouden Nationale Synode. Voor kerkelijk en huiselijk gebruik uitgegeven door Dr. A. Kuyper. Amsterdam: J.H. Kruyt, 1883 (printed by the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomdrukkerij; preface dated 28 February 1883). The transcription follows the Princeton Theological Seminary copy (Kuyper Collection), scanned for the Internet Archive (dedrieformuliere1883kuyp). Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The edition. This is the first edition of Kuyper’s Drie formulieren van eenigheid (Kuyper bibliography at sources.neocalvinism.org, no. 1883.02), a large-format volume that also contains the Church Order of Dordt. It arose from a meeting of the Amsterdam elders in February 1883 at which all office-bearers were asked to sign the three forms of unity, and it was meant both for consistories and for reading at home. Kuyper gives the authentic post-Dort text in the spelling of his own day, but otherwise keeps its wording; the thorough revision of the language and of the Scripture quotations came only with the third edition of 1897. The answers thus still read “Welke is uw eenige troost”, “uit alle geweld des duivels” (Q 1) or “een oprecht geloof” (Q 21). Two footnotes record textual points: Q 21 (the older texts read “hartelijk” for “zeker” and “in mij” for “in mijn harte”) and Q 31 (“behoudt”, not “behoedt”).

Layout. The catechism runs from p. 31 to p. 62. Questions are numbered as printed, and the Sundays, the three parts and the section headings are kept. The proof-texts are printed after each answer as a single block of references, without letters; each block is given here as one note “a”. Where one block serves several answers (Q 88–90), it is attached to the last of them. Scripture quoted in the answers (the Creed in Q 23, Q 4, the Decalogue in Q 92, the words of institution in Q 77, the Lord’s Prayer in Q 119 and the petitions of Q 122–128) is in italics; where the print sets it on separate lines, a line break is kept.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization, punctuation and italics follow the print. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads and signatures are omitted. Kuyper’s footnotes are numbered page by page in the print; here they are numbered within each question. Misprints are kept, e.g. “geregd” (Q 35), “daorom” (Q 92), “leve” (Q 103), and the references as printed (“Exod. 10 : 5”, Q 10; “Hand. 12 : 15”, Q 71).

Catechismus of Onderwijzinge in de Christelijke Leere, die in de Nederlandsche Gereformeerde Kerken en Scholen geleerd wordt. In: De drie formulieren van eenigheid, gelijk die voor de Gereformeerde Kerken dezer landen zijn vastgesteld in haar laatstgehouden Nationale Synode. Uitgegeven voor kerkelijk gebruik door Dr. A. Kuyper. Second edition (1884, with a preface dated 10 December 1884; text revised 1885). The transcription follows a later printing of this edition, the “Negende vijfduizend” (ninth five thousand), Amsterdam: J.A. Wormser, 1894, which also carries a second preface of 23 January 1892, scanned for the Internet Archive (dedrieformuliere00kuyp). Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The edition. After the large first edition of 1883 (which also contained the Church Order), Kuyper issued the three forms in a small, cheap edition for church use, meant to be handed to every pupil in diaconal and Christian schools and at catechism, or to every one making profession of faith (Kuyper bibliography at sources.neocalvinism.org, nos. 1883.09 and 1885.02). The text was reset and checked anew: it keeps the authentic post-Dort wording, as in 1883, but the spelling, capitalization and punctuation were revised throughout, and many readings differ from the first edition. The text remained unchanged in the printings of 1887–1894 (the 1892 printing, the “eighth edition”, was set in a new pagination); the thorough revision of the language came only with the third edition of 1897. In the Catechism the proof-texts were corrected for this edition (many references wrongly printed in 1883 are put right, e.g. Q 10 “Exod. 20 : 5”, Q 71 “Hand. 22 : 16”), and the Decalogue in Q 92 reads “Sabbat” and “uws”. Three footnotes record textual points: Q 21 (the older texts read “hartelijk” for “zeker” and “in mij” for “in mijn harte”), Q 31 (“behoedt” rests on an error) and Q 95 (“versieren” means “uitdenken”).

Layout. The catechism runs from p. 29 to p. 66. Questions are numbered as printed, and the Sundays, the three parts and the section headings are kept. The proof-texts are printed after each answer as a single block of references, without letters; each block is given here as one note “a”. Scripture quoted in the answers (the Creed in Q 23, Q 4, the Decalogue in Q 92, the words of institution in Q 71 and Q 77, the Lord’s Prayer in Q 119 and the petitions of Q 122–128) is in italics; where the print sets it on separate lines, a line break is kept.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization, punctuation and italics follow the print. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads and signatures are omitted. Misprints and irregular references are kept as printed, e.g. “dagen mijn levens” (Q 103), “gegeleerd” (Q 118), “1 Thess. 8 : 13” (Q 127).

De drie formulieren van eenigheid, gelijk die voor de Gereformeerde Kerken dezer landen zijn vastgesteld op de Nationale Synode van Dordrecht. Uitgegeven voor kerkelijk gebruik door Dr. A. Kuyper. Met het “Kort Begrip” als aanhangsel. Third edition, Amsterdam/Pretoria: Boekhandel voorheen Höveker & Wormser, 1897 (preface dated 1 September 1897). The transcription follows the earliest available printing of this edition, the “Twaalfde vijfduizend” of 1898, a title edition from the same plates (Princeton Theological Seminary, Kuyper Collection; Internet Archive). Pages 41–42 and 67–68, missing in that copy, are taken from the “Zeven-en-twintigste vijfduizend” of 1918, printed from the same plates (Internet Archive). Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The edition. Abraham Kuyper first published the three forms of unity in 1883, as the confessional standard of the movement that led to the Doleantie and, in 1892, to the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland. For this third edition the text was newly set and thoroughly revised: spelling and grammar were modernised, the Scripture quoted in the answers was brought into line with the Statenvertaling, and words of the old text that had changed their meaning were replaced, each replacement being explained in a footnote (for example “heerschappij” for “geweld” in Q 1, “verzinnen” for “versieren” in Q 95, “valsch” for “onrecht” in Q 110). The question of Q 1 now reads “Wat is uw eenige troost” instead of “Welke is”. Reprinted from the same plates by Höveker & Wormser and, from 1909, by J.H. Kok in Kampen, this text was the catechism of the Gereformeerde Kerken until the fourth edition of 1924, which corrected some small points; the fifth edition of 1945 reprints the fourth. (See the bibliography of Kuyper’s works at sources.neocalvinism.org, nos. 1897.19, 1898.27, 1918.19.)

Layout. The catechism runs from p. 32 to p. 72. Questions are numbered as printed, and the Sundays, the three parts and the section headings are kept. Scripture quoted within the answers (the Creed in Q 23, Q 4, the Decalogue in Q 92, the words of institution in Q 77, the Lord’s Prayer in Q 119 and the petitions of Q 122–128) is printed in italics, as in the original. The proof-texts, printed under each answer and keyed by letters, are given as lettered notes; Kuyper’s footnotes on the wording are given as numbered notes after them. The page number 38 is placed at the beginning of Q 22, since that page opens with the end of the references to Q 21.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. The labels “Vr.” and “Antw.”, running heads and the printer’s signatures are omitted. Misprints of the 1898 printing are kept, e.g. “der oarde” in the Creed (Q 23), “Christelijko” (Q 50), “moeten moeten” (Q 40), “wijze wijze” (Q 96), “Bom.” for “Rom.” (Q 21); in Q 94, where the note letter is misprinted “(b)” a second time, it is given as “c”, as in later printings. Where the 1898 copy is damaged at the edge of a page, the lost letters are supplied from the 1918 printing.

Catechismus, of onderwijzing in de Christelijke leer, die in de Nederlandsche Gereformeerde Kerken en Scholen geleerd wordt. In: De drie formulieren van eenigheid, gelijk die voor de Gereformeerde Kerken dezer landen zijn vastgesteld op de Nationale Synode van Dordrecht. Uitgegeven voor kerkelijk gebruik door Dr. A. Kuyper. Met het “Kort Begrip” als aanhangsel. Fourth edition, “Een-en-dertigste vijfduizend”, Kampen: J.H. Kok, [1924] (undated; preface of 1 September 1897 reprinted). The transcription follows a scan of this first printing of the fourth edition (Kuyper bibliography at sources.neocalvinism.org, no. 1924.06). Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The edition. For the fourth edition Kuyper’s text of 1897 was no longer printed from the old stereotype plates but newly set. The wording of 1897 is kept almost entirely, but the new setting corrects a number of misprints of the earlier plates and makes small changes in spelling, punctuation and grammar. In the Catechism the proof-texts in particular were revised: many references are corrected (e.g. Marc. 12 : 30 for 13 : 30 in Q 4, Ezech. 18 : 4 for 28 : 4 in Q 12, Gen. 49 : 10 for 39 : 10 in Q 19) and runs of verses are now given as ranges (Eph. 1 : 20—23). The misprints “moeten moeten” (Q 40), “wijze wijze” (Q 96), “Christelijko” (Q 50) and “belooft” for “beloofd” (Q 117) are corrected, and “Christus’ wille” now has the apostrophe throughout. Later printings from the same setting (33rd–36th 5000, 1928 and 1932) reproduce this text; the fifth edition of 1945 was reset again and corrects at least one of its misprints (“opgehouden”, Canons III/IV Art. 16).

Layout. The catechism runs from p. 37 to p. 78. Questions are numbered as printed, and the Sundays, the three parts and the section headings are kept. Scripture quoted within the answers (the Creed in Q 23, Q 4, the Decalogue in Q 92, the words of institution in Q 77, the Lord’s Prayer in Q 119 and the petitions of Q 122–128) is printed in italics, as in the original; where the print sets the articles of the Creed, the commandments or the petitions on separate lines, a line break is kept. The proof-texts, printed under each answer and keyed by letters, are given as lettered notes; Kuyper’s footnotes on the wording are given as numbered notes after them. Where a page begins inside the list of proof-texts, the page number is placed at the beginning of the next question.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization, punctuation and italics follow the print. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads and signatures are omitted. Kuyper’s footnotes are numbered page by page in the print; here they are numbered within each question. Misprints of this printing are kept, e.g. “Jac. 1 : 17:” (Q 94), “Hebr. 18 : 4” for 13 : 4 (Q 108) and “Luc. 6 : 37,” (Q 112). In Q 78 the print has only the closing parenthesis of the note letter after “verzekering is”; the parenthesis that closes “(waarvan …” is supplied.

De Heidelbergsche Catechismus of Onderwijzing in de Christelijke Leer die in onze Hervormde (Gereformeerde) Kerk geleerd moet worden. Uitgave met leiddraad bij het onderwijs van Dr. H. Visscher. Utrecht: Kemink & Zoon, over den Dom, 1915. The transcription follows a digitised copy from the library of the Theologische Hogeschool der Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken, Apeldoorn (stamp on the title page, shelfmark 123 F 48); a second copy of the same edition was compared where the print is defective (p. 52). Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The edition. Hugo Visscher (1864–1947), then professor at Utrecht, prepared this school edition at the request of the publishers Kemink & Zoon. In his preface he calls the Heidelberg Catechism still “het uitnemendste leerboek” and explains that a short summary of contents was printed under each Sunday “die den leerling het leeren, den leermeester de behandeling kan vergemakkelijken”. Each answer is followed by the principal proof-texts (“met de voornaamste Schriftuurplaatsen, op iedere vraag en antwoord toegepast”). Visscher’s numbered summaries (the “leiddraad”) are his own commentary and are not included here; the catechism text, the proof-texts and his one footnote are.

The text. The wording is the post-Dort Dutch text in the spelling of the early twentieth century (“zoo”, “eenige”, “mijne”, “lichaam”). It is not identical with any other Dutch edition on this site: compared word for word, it differs from Callenbach (1880), Enschedé (1884) and each of Kuyper’s editions in some three hundred places. In a number of these it keeps older wording that the other nineteenth- and twentieth-century editions here have replaced, for instance “in eene somma” (Q 22, elsewhere “hoofdsom”), “een goed toeverzicht” (Q 28), “namaals … andere ceremonien der wet” (Q 19), “de Zone Gods” (Q 29, 35, 54) and “uit alle geweld des duivels” (Q 1), where Visscher adds the footnote “geweld beteekent hier: oppermacht, heerschappij.”

Layout. The catechism occupies pp. 3–67; questions are numbered as printed (“1ste Vraag”, “2de Vraag” …) and the Sundays, the three parts and the section headings (“Van God den Vader en onze schepping”, “Van de Rechtvaardigmaking”, “Van de Sacramenten”, “Van de Wet”, “Van het Gebed” etc.) are kept. Where a page begins with Visscher’s summary or with the proof-texts of the preceding answer, its page number is placed at the next question. The articles of the Creed (Q 23), the Decalogue with its headings “Het eerste gebod” etc. (Q 92) and the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119) are set line by line, as in the print, and are in roman type there as here. Scripture quoted in the answers (Q 4, 10, 71, 77) is in italics in the print and here; words in roman type within these quotations, such as “(nam Hij)” in Q 77, are kept in roman. Letter-spaced words (Q 24, 53, 120) are given in italics.

Proof-texts. After each answer the print gives one block of references in square brackets, without letters; each block is given here as one note “a”, without the brackets. Q 23, 24, 92 and 119 have no block; in Q 71 the references (Titus 3 : 5; Hand. 22 : 16) stand in the answer itself. The note to Q 85 includes Visscher’s added line “Zie ook: Dordtsche Kerkorde art. 71—81.” The spacing of the references is regularised (“Rom. 14 : 8; 1 Cor. 6 : 19”), but the references themselves are reproduced as printed, including evident misprints, e.g. “Ezech. 28 : 4” (Q 12), “Liv.” for Leviticus (Q 66, 91, 94, 112), “Ef. 12 : 11, 13; Ef. 13 : 9” (Q 78), “Rom. 17 : 18” (Q 64) and “Jes. 60 : 81” (Q 86). On p. 52 (Q 101) the beginnings of three lines did not print, in both copies seen; there “[J]ozua” and the conjectural “Jer. [12 :] 16” are supplied in square brackets.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization, accents (“alzóó”, “òf … òf”, “dáarom”) and punctuation follow the print. Hyphens at line ends are removed; a page break inside a word is marked at the break. Running heads, signatures, the labels “Vraag” and “Antw.” and the heading “met de voornaamste Schriftuurplaatsen, op iedere vraag en antwoord toegepast” are omitted. Printer’s errors are kept, e.g. “werden ingelijfd” for “worden” (Q 80), “znlt” (Q 77), “bezoek” (Q 92) and “hoe langs zoo meer” (Q 115); stray marks of type (after “ben” in Q 54, over “bloed” in Q 69) are disregarded.

De Heidelbergsche Catechismus of Onderwijzing in de Christelijke Leer die in onze Hervormde (Gereformeerde) Kerk geleerd moet worden. Opnieuw haar aangeboden door M. van Grieken, Bedienaar des Goddelijken Woords te Delft. Tweede druk. Utrecht: Kemink & Zoon, over den Dom, 1916. The transcription follows the copy in the library of the Theologische Universiteit Kampen (stamp on the title page; shelfmark 423 B 57). Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The edition. Van Grieken’s school and catechism edition was published in the same series as Visscher’s edition of 1915 and shares its layout: each answer is followed by a block of proof-texts, and the heading reads “met de voornaamste Schriftuurplaatsen, op iedere vraag en antwoord toegepast”. In his preface Van Grieken writes that “de tekst is zoo nauwkeurig mogelijk nagezien en vergeleken met het oorspronkelijke”, and that the Scripture passages are chosen so that not too many are written out, “opdat ze ook geleerd kunnen worden”. After each block of references he prints a selection of these passages in full, and he adds short comments in square brackets (for example on the names of the Saviour, the two states of Christ, the sacraments in the Roman church or the opponents of infant baptism) and a closing note on the approval of the Catechism at the Synod of Dort and on art. 68 of the Church Order. The written-out Scripture passages, these comments and the closing note are not included here; the catechism text, the proof-text references and Van Grieken’s footnotes are.

The text. The text is the post-Dort Dutch text, revised by Van Grieken in wording and spelling. Compared word for word with Visscher’s edition of 1915 from the same publisher, it differs in some 150 places, among them “tegelijk” for “tezamen” or “ook mede” (Q 15, 17, 18), “in eene hoofdsom” (Q 22, Visscher “somma”), “al is het, dat mij mijn geweten aanklaagt” (Q 60), “om de wille van het bloed van Christus” (Q 70), “met den mond geniet” (Q 75) and “welke eer aan geene schepselen toebehoort” (Q 102). Some words are explained within the text itself: “een oprecht (waar) geloof” (Q 20, 21, 60), “onbegrijpelijk (dat is: binnen grenzen niet te beperken)” (Q 48), “versieren (verzinnen)” (Q 95). In Q 101 Van Grieken prints “des naasten heil”, explaining in a footnote that the German text reads “zu Gottes ehr und des nechsten heil” and that “heil”, not “zaligheid”, should be read. Further footnotes record the Latin and German of Q 21 (“Certa notitia, certa fiducia … gewisse Erkentniss; herzliches Vertrauen”), note that “en mij ganschelijk vertrooste” (Q 44) is not in the original German text but is in Datheen, that Q 52 should read “heerlijkheid” (German “herrligkeit”) and Q 78 “Christus” rather than “Christus Jezus”, citing the editions of Wolters (1864) and Doedes (1881), and give the history of Q 80.

Layout. The catechism occupies pp. 3–67; questions are numbered as printed and the Sundays, the three parts and the section headings are kept; the heading of the section on the sacraments is followed by Van Grieken’s bracketed sub-title “[Van de genademiddelen: het Woord en de Sacramenten]”. Where a page begins with written-out Scripture or a comment, its page number is placed at the next question. The Creed (Q 23), the Decalogue (Q 92) and the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119) are set line by line, as in the print. Scripture quoted in the answers (Q 4, 10, 71, 77) is in italics in the print and here; so are words printed in italics for emphasis. Words letter-spaced for emphasis (the subject of many questions and the petitions in Q 122–128) are also given in italics.

Proof-texts and footnotes. After each answer the print gives one block of references in square brackets, without letters; each block is given here as one note “a”, without the brackets. Q 23, 24, 92 and 119 have no block. The note to Q 45 includes Van Grieken’s line “1. rechtvaardiging, 2. heiligmaking, 3. heerlijkmaking.”, and the note to Q 85 his line “Zie ook: Dordtsche Kerkorde art. 71—81.” Van Grieken’s footnotes are numbered page by page in the print; here they are numbered within each question. The footnotes attached to the title and to the headings of the first part and of the section “Van God den Zoon” (on the Three Forms of Unity and on the division of the Catechism) are not included. The spacing of the references is regularised, but the references themselves are reproduced as printed, including evident misprints, e.g. “Ezech. 28 : 4” (Q 12), “Hebr. 14 : 15” (Q 40), “Joh. 22 : 28” (Q 34), “Rom. 17 : 18” (Q 64) and “Jes. 60 : 81” (Q 86).

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization (including “Hij”, “Zijn” for Christ), accents (“alzóó”, “òf … òf”, “dát”, “dáarom”) and punctuation follow the print. Hyphens at line ends are removed. Running heads, signatures and the labels “Vraag” and “Antw.” are omitted. Errors in the footnotes are kept as printed, e.g. “het Twentsche Concilie … 1652” for the Council of Trent (Q 80).

De Heidelbergsche Catechismus, door Dr J. Wytzes. Kampen: J. H. Kok N.V., undated. The book gives no year; it quotes the New Testament and the Psalms in the new translation of the Nederlandsch Bijbelgenootschap, which places it in the 1940s, and it is dated here to about 1948. Click any page number in the text to see that page of the original.

The translation. This is not an edition of the Dutch church text but a new Dutch translation. In his preface Wytzes explains that the Latin version of 1563 is “hier en daar iets uitvoeriger dan het Duitsche origineel”, that Datheen’s translation “herhaaldelijk de omschrijvingen en langere opsommingen van den Latijnschen text overneemt”, and that his own translation “heeft in zulke gevallen teruggegrepen op den oorspronkelijken Duitschen text”. He also set out to replace old-fashioned words and to break up the long periods “in meerdere korte hoofdzinnen”, so as to bring the Catechism closer to its present-day users. The difference from the Datheen tradition shows, for instance, in Q 18, where Christ is given to us only “tot verlossing en rechtvaardigheid” (German 1563: “zur volkomenen erlösung und gerechtigkeit”), without Datheen’s “wijsheid … heiligmaking”, and in Q 93, where the two tables contain “vier geboden” and “zes geboden”, as in the German text. Q 80 has the full form, ending “een vervloekte afgoderij”.

Layout. The catechism occupies pp. 5–61. Questions are numbered as printed (“VRAAG 1.”), and the Sundays, the parts (“Het eerste deel. Van ’s menschen ellende.”, “Het tweede deel. Van ’s menschen verlossing.”, and for the third part only “Van de dankbaarheid.”) and the section headings are kept. The Creed (Q 23), the Decalogue (Q 92) and the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119) are set line by line, as in the print. Quotations from Scripture in the answers (Q 4, 10, 71, 77), the phrases of the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer explained in the questions and the petitions in Q 122–129 are printed in italics, and so are they here.

Proof-texts. The answers carry lettered notes (a, b, c …), and under each answer the cited Scripture passages are printed in full, in the new translation of the Nederlandsch Bijbelgenootschap for the New Testament and the Psalms and in the Statenvertaling for the rest. Only the references are given here; the quoted passages are left out. The references are reproduced as printed, including evident slips such as “Jes. 50 : 16” for Psalm 50 : 16 (Q 82), “Johannes 3 : 15” for 1 Johannes (Q 106) and “Efeziërs 4 : 8” for 4 : 28 (Q 111). Where a note has two references (Q 31, 65), both are given. In Q 101 and 102 the print gives a note but no letter in the answer; the letter is supplied at the end of the answer. In Q 117 the letter “c” is printed twice; this is kept.

Transcription conventions. Spelling (the spelling of De Vries and Te Winkel: “menschen”, “zoo”, “eenige”), capitalization (“Zijn”, “Hem” for God and Christ, but not consistently) and accents (“zóó”, “òf … òf”, “èn … èn”) follow the print. Hyphens at line ends are removed. Running heads, signatures and the labels “VRAAG” and “ANTW.” are omitted, as is the preface (“Woord vooraf”, pp. 3–4).

Heidelbergse Catechismus. In: Belijdenisgeschriften voor de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland. Heerenveen: Protestantse Pers, 2009, pp. 81–108. The transcription follows the PDF of these pages made available by the Protestantse Kerk in Nederland.

Permission. This text is included with the permission of the Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, granted on 29 October 2026 by Salvatore Pirruccio, Medewerker Gemeentecontacten PKN (info@protestantsekerk.nl). All rights remain with the rights holders.

The text. This is the Dutch text of the catechism in the confessional standards of the Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, in present-day language (“Wat is uw enige troost, zowel in leven als in sterven?”). The notes of the editing commission show that it was revised with reference to the edition of Faukelius of 1611: the plural “zonden” of 1611 is retained in Q 36, although the German text has the singular; a note to Q 37 explains that the commission mostly prefers “veroordeling” to the traditional “verdoemenis”; in the Lord’s Prayer (Q 119) “Uw” follows the later tradition rather than the “Dijn” of 1611. Q 80 is given in full (“en een vervloekte afgoderij”), with a note on its polemical character and on its absence from the first German edition. There are no proof-texts; Scripture references added in the text stand in square brackets, e.g. “Matt. 22 [:37-40]” (Q 4).

Layout. The catechism is divided into 52 Sundays (“ZONDAG 1” …) and three parts (“Het eerste deel. De ellende van de mens”, “Het tweede deel. De verlossing van de mens”, “Het derde deel. De dankbaarheid die wij God voor de verlossing verschuldigd zijn”), with the section headings “God de Vader en onze schepping”, “God de Zoon en onze verlossing”, “God de Heilige Geest en onze heiliging”, “[De rechtvaardiging]”, “De sacramenten”, “De heilige doop”, “Het heilig avondmaal des Heren” and “Het gebed”. The footnotes of the book are given as notes to the questions concerned (Q 23, 36, 37, 80, 81, 119), numbered as in the book; this section begins with note 2.

Transcription conventions. Spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the print. The questions, printed in italic, are given in ordinary type; Scripture quotations in italic are kept in italic. The labels “Vraag N:” and “Antwoord:” are omitted. Page numbers are given in square brackets; a page that begins with a heading is marked at the following question. The heading “ZONDAg 25” is kept as printed. The page images are rendered from the same PDF.