P. M. Scott’s The Harmony of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (1903) and the Catechism of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) both belong to the same classical Anglican tradition of instruction. The ancient and catholic one year lectionary is a foundational formulary of the Book of Common Prayer. The 3 year lectionary is a post Vatican II Roman innovation. Scott’s devotional exposition of the one-year lectionary (on the 1662 English BCP propers. The American 28’ has a couple of lesson swaps and substitutions mostly in Epiphany), demonstrates the “continuous teaching of the Church” as the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for each Sunday and feast form a unified, progressive course in Christian doctrine and life. The 1928 BCP Catechism (the classic short form printed therein, not the later 1979 “Outline of the Faith”) is a concise question-and-answer summary designed for confirmation preparation, covering Baptismal vows, the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments (with duties to God and neighbor), the necessity of grace, the Lord’s Prayer, and the two Sacraments (Baptism and the Supper of the Lord).
Though one is seasonal and narrative while the other is systematic and catechetical, their doctrines are harmoneous in substance and purpose: to lead the soul from recognition of sin, through faith in Christ’s redeeming work, to a life of grace-enabled holiness within the Church. Scott’s year-long cycle unfolds the very same truths the Catechism summarizes, making the liturgical calendar a living school that applies and reinforces the Catechism’s teaching Sunday by Sunday.
Below is a comparison organized by the Catechism’s major sections, with emphasis on the striking parallels in instruction.
1. Baptismal Vows and the Call to Renounce Sin, Believe, and Obey
The 1928 Catechism begins with the promises made in Baptism: renounce “the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh”; believe the Christian Faith; and keep God’s commandments “all the days of my life.” It immediately acknowledges human inability: “thou art not able to do these things of thyself… without his special grace.”
Parallel in Scott: This is the exact framework of Advent and Pre-Lent/Lent. Advent’s four Sundays teach preparation—stirring the will to “put on the armour of light,” guided by Scripture, the Church’s ministry, and Christ Himself—directly echoing the vow to renounce darkness and prepare for Christ’s coming. Pre-Lent (Septuagesima–Quinquagesima) builds the virtues of discipline, humility, and love needed for obedience. Lent then confronts sin head-on: Ash Wednesday calls to repentance; the Sundays detail temptations by the devil (1st), flesh (2nd), and world (3rd); mid-Lent offers refreshment by grace; and Passiontide/Palm Sunday leads to the Cross. Scott shows the Church guiding the soul precisely as the Catechism requires: renounce, believe, obey—enabled only by grace.
2. The Apostles’ Creed: Trinitarian Faith in Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification
The Catechism rehearses the Creed and explains it simply:
• God the Father who “hath made me, and all the world”;
• God the Son who “hath redeemed me, and all mankind” (incarnation, passion, resurrection, ascension, judgment);
• God the Holy Ghost who “sanctifieth me, and all the people of God” (Church, forgiveness, resurrection, everlasting life).
Parallel in Scott: The entire Church Year is structured around these three articles, making the Creed experiential. Christmas and Epiphany reveal the Son—His deity (“the Word made flesh”), incarnation, and manifestations to the world and soul (Cana, leper, storm, Transfiguration). Lent and Good Friday expound the Son’s redemptive suffering and atonement. Eastertide proclaims the resurrection and new life in union with the risen Christ. Pentecost (Whitsunday) and the Sunday after Ascension send the Holy Ghost to empower the Church’s mission. Trinity Sunday crowns the vision of the Triune God, while the long Trinity season unfolds sanctification—the Spirit’s work forming holy character. Scott repeatedly shows how the propers “harmonize” to teach the Creed’s doctrines progressively: revelation of the Son → victory of the Cross → power of the Resurrection and Spirit → ongoing sanctification. The Catechism states the faith; Scott shows the Church teaching it year after year.
3. The Ten Commandments and Duties to God and Neighbor
The Catechism lists the Commandments and summarizes their teaching as duty toward God (believe, fear, love, worship, trust, serve) and duty toward neighbor (love as self, justice, truth, temperance, chastity, diligence in one’s calling). It stresses that these cannot be kept without grace.
Moral instruction is the dominant note of the Trinity season (and Pre-Lent). Pre-Lent builds the foundation: discipline (Septuagesima), humility (Sexagesima), and love (Quinquagesima). The first half of Trinitytide teaches motives for holy living—love of God, grace, mercy, peace, then duty as slaves, sons, stewards. The second half forms character: inward graces (love, purity, singleness of heart, patience, humility) and outward graces (renewal, cheerfulness, peace, perseverance in daily duty). Scott explicitly links these to the Epistle and Gospel texts that echo the Commandments (e.g., love fulfilling the law). The Catechism’s ethical summary becomes Scott’s practical, week-by-week school of holiness, always grounded in the grace the Collects repeatedly implore.
4. The Lord’s Prayer and the Necessity of Grace
The Catechism teaches the Lord’s Prayer as the daily cry for grace: worship, obedience, daily bread (soul and body), forgiveness, deliverance from temptation and evil—all “of his mercy and goodness, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Parallel in Scott: Every Collect is itself a prayer shaped by this spirit. Scott highlights how the Collects continually beseech the very graces the Lord’s Prayer seeks—prevenient grace in Advent, strengthening grace in Lent, enabling grace in Eastertide, sanctifying grace throughout Trinitytide. The progression of the year demonstrates the Catechism’s point: human inability is met by God’s abundant supply, received through prayer and the means of grace.
5. The Two Sacraments as “Generally Necessary to Salvation”
The Catechism defines a Sacrament as “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace,” then details:
• Baptism: water and the Trinitarian Name; new birth, grafting into the Church, forgiveness of sin, adoption as children of God.
• Holy Communion: bread and wine; spiritual feeding on Christ’s Body and Blood, remembrance of His sacrifice, pledge of redemption.
Parallel in Scott: The Sacraments are woven throughout the year as the Church’s appointed means. Advent’s Third Sunday presents the Church and its ministry (including sacraments) as helps for preparation. Lent and Easter emphasize new life and union with Christ (Baptismal grace renewed; Eucharistic feeding on the risen Lord). The feeding of the five thousand (4th Lent) and the post-resurrection appearances underscore sacramental communion. Scott’s harmony shows the propers constantly pointing believers to these “pledges” of grace, exactly as the Catechism describes them—outward signs effecting the inward realities of redemption and sanctification.
Conclusion: One Faith, Two Complementary Forms of Instruction
Where the 1928 Catechism condenses the faith into a memorable Q-and-A outline for personal memorization and confirmation, Scott’s Harmony expands the same doctrines into a living, annual curriculum. The Catechism asks, “What dost thou believe? What is thy duty? How art thou saved?”; Scott answers by showing how the Church teaches these truths week by week through Scripture and prayer, leading the soul step-by-step from preparation to perfection. Both insist that doctrine is not abstract but practical: renunciation of sin, faith in the Triune God, obedience empowered by grace, and growth in love and holiness within the Catholic Church.
In Scott’s own vision (and the 1928 BCP’s), the Christian Year is the Catechism dramatized and applied—an “instructive summation” that brings the same ancient truths to life from Advent to Advent. Together they form a harmonious whole: the Catechism for foundational knowledge, Scott’s Harmony for devotional depth and lifelong formation. This is the genius of classical Anglican instruction—systematic yet seasonal, doctrinal yet devotional, all centered on “Jesus Christ our Saviour” and “his special grace.”
Here is a list of Scriptures referred to (explicitly cited, quoted, or directly alluded to) in the Catechism of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (U.S. edition). The 1928 Catechism is concise and does not include extensive marginal proof-texts like some Reformed catechisms. Instead, it primarily references foundational passages through direct quotation or clear paraphrase.*
Explicitly Cited or Quoted Scriptures
Exodus 20:1–17 (The Ten Commandments) The Catechism states: “The same which God spake in the twentieth Chapter of Exodus,” and then quotes the full Decalogue (with traditional Anglican numbering and wording, including the prologue about deliverance from Egypt).
Major Alluded or Paraphrased Scriptures
These form the core content of the Catechism’s answers:
Apostles’ Creed (drawn from various New Testament passages, though not cited verse-by-verse):
God the Father as “Maker of heaven and earth” → Genesis 1–2 (Creation).
“Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary” → Matthew 1:18–25 and Luke 1:26–38.
“Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried… rose again the third day” → Matthew 27–28, Mark 15–16, Luke 23–24, John 19–20, and 1 Corinthians 15.
“Ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty” → Mark 16:19, Acts 1:9–11, Hebrews 1:3, Psalm 110:1.
“From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead” → Acts 10:42, 2 Timothy 4:1, 1 Peter 4:5.
“The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body; And the Life everlasting” → Ephesians 4:4–6, Hebrews 12:22–24, 1 John 1:7–9, 1 Corinthians 15, John 5:28–29, Revelation 21–22.
Duty towards God (“love him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength”) → Deuteronomy 6:5 and Mark 12:30 (the Great Commandment, combining Deuteronomy and the Shema).
Duty towards Neighbour (“love him as myself, and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me”) → Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 7:12 (the Golden Rule); also echoes the Second Great Commandment in Mark 12:31.
The Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father, who art in heaven…”) → Matthew 6:9–13 (primary source; a shorter form appears in Luke 11:2–4).
Sacraments (“Two only, as generally necessary to salvation” — Baptism and the Supper of the Lord) →
Baptism: Matthew 28:19 (“In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”).
Lord’s Supper: Matthew 26:26–28, Mark 14:22–24, Luke 22:19–20, and 1 Corinthians 11:23–26.
Grace and inability to keep the Commandments without God’s help → Alludes to passages such as John 15:5 (“without me ye can do nothing”) and general New Testament teaching on grace (e.g., Ephesians 2:8–10, Romans 7–8), though not directly quoted.
Additional Notes
The Catechism also references the Sacraments as “ordained by Christ himself,” pointing to the institution narratives in the Gospels and 1 Corinthians 11.
No other specific chapter-and-verse citations appear beyond Exodus 20 for the Ten Commandments.
The overall framework draws heavily from the New Testament (especially the Gospels and Pauline epistles) for its summary of Christian faith, but these are presented as the received teaching of the Church rather than verse-by-verse proofs.
*The 1928 Catechism is intentionally brief and catechetical (designed for memorization before Confirmation), so it assumes familiarity with the Bible rather than providing an exhaustive list of proof texts. For comparison, the longer “Offices of Instruction” that sometimes accompany it in 1928 editions expand on these themes but still do not add many new verse citations.