Contents of the same.
Since this tenth part contains Luther's catechetical writings, the present preface first gives information about Luther's two catechisms, and lists what belongs to their history, § I-XVIII.
After that, those catechetical writings that serve to explain the Catechism, which follow one another according to the order of the six main sections. Those dealing with the first main section are again divided according to the ten commandments and include, among other things, what Luther wrote about the difference between the spiritual and secular regiment, about the improvement of the Christian state, about the dispute whether one should judge according to Mosaic or imperial laws, about rebellion, about obedience to the secular authorities, about the establishment of good schools, about the soldiery, about resistance against the emperor, § XIX-XXVII.
Similarly, what he set up of the marital status, especially of certain marriage cases, as, from the marriage with the deceased wife sister, from the Digamie of Landgrave Philip of Hesse etc., of which all and at the same time also of the Trau-Büchlein detailed information has been given, § XXVIII-XXXV.
The same was done with the writings concerning the other commandments, such as usury, the purchase of interest, and the order of a common box, § XXXVI-XXXVII.
The writings in regard to the other main section are either general or special, in which, among other things, the sermons are dealt with in which Luther presented the doctrine of the infernal journey of Christ, § XXXVII to § XLIII.
These are followed by the writings that have been collected for the third main section, which have also been gone through one after the other, and in particular a report is given on the hymnals published during Luther's lifetime, on his comfort writings, prayers, and on the instruction of the visitators, § XLIII to § LXVI.
By indicating hereupon which writings are to be found here to the fourth main part, one has particularly mentioned what has proceeded because of the baptismal booklet, § LXVII to § XXXI.
In the same way, those writings have been touched which are counted to the fifth and sixth main part, § LXXII to § LXXVIII.
§ I.
Since this tenth part of Luther's complete books contains his catechetical writings, the two catechisms, the smaller and the larger, which the blessed man wrote, are the first to be found among them. The occasion for this was the church visitation, which was carried out by order of the Elector of Saxony, John, in his lands in the year 1527.
and continued in the following year. The electoral order for this was dated in Torgau on the Sunday of Trinity in 1527. It is found in Professor Kapp's "Nachlese einiger zur Erläuterung der Reformation-Geschichte nützlicher Urkunden," Thl. I. p. 173; and of the instruction given at that time, Herr von Seckendorf gives in "Historia Lutheranismi", libr. II, § 36, p. 100, post.
Apart from this, however, one can look up Joachim Camerarius in "Vita Melancthonis" p. 110, Christian Schlegel in "Vita Spalatini", p. 103, Joh. Müller in the "Sächsische Annalen" under the year 1528, along with others who have described the history of the Reformation.
Among those who were chosen for this work, namely for the Chur and partly Meissen district, was also Luther and was taken in such a way that Justus Jonas and Johann Pomeranus or Bugenhagen were to assist him and take his place in case one or the other obstacle should arise with him. According to the instruction received for this purpose, it was to be examined, among other things, how the teachers as well as the listeners were doing with regard to the teaching and knowledge of the evangelical truths and with regard to life and conduct, and whether the great blessing of God, which he had shown to the country through the light of the gospel, had been recognized with humble and due thanks. This investigation, taken over from Luther, now gave him the opportunity to write a catechism. For he found everything in such a miserable condition as he had not suspected. Not only among the common man, but also among the pastors and teachers, a great blindness and ignorance in regard to faith and salvation was apparent, as he himself left the following testimony: "To put this catechism or Christian doctrine into such a small, simple, simple form, I was forced and urged by the miserable, miserable hardship, which I recently experienced, since I was also a visitator. Help, dear God, how many a pity I have seen that the common man knows nothing at all about Christian doctrine, especially in the villages, and unfortunately many pastors are almost, unskilled and unfit to teach; and yet all should be called Christians, be baptized and enjoy the holy sacraments, know neither the Lord's Prayer nor the faith or ten commandments, live there like dear cattle and unreasonable swine, and now the gospel has come, yet have learned finely to abuse all freedom masterfully. O you bishops! what do you want
But do you not answer Christ more and more that you have let the people go so shamefully and have never for a moment proved your ministry? This testimony is in the preface of the Little Catechism. I can also add what he wrote to Georg Spalatin in 1529: "Miserrima est ubique facies ecclesiarum. Rusticis nihil discentibus, nihil scientibus, nihil orantibus, nihil agentibus, nisi quod libertate abutuntur, non confitentes, non communicantes, ac si religione in totum liberi facti sint: sic enim sua papistica neglexerunt, nostra contemnunt, ut horrendum sit, episcoporum papisticorum administrationem considerare." (I.e.: The church presents an exceedingly miserable picture everywhere. The peasants learn nothing, know nothing, pray nothing, do nothing but abuse freedom by no longer going to confession and communion, just as if they had become free of all religion: thus they have thrown away their papist religion, but also spurn ours, so that it is quite frightening to contemplate the misrule of the papal bishops). - This letter can be found in the "Supplementum epistolurum Lutheri", p. 80, edited by D. Buddeus.
§ II.
The spiritual misery of so many people, which Luther perceived during this visitation, was very close to his heart and he considered it his duty, according to the measure of grace that the Lord would grant him, to contribute everything by which the eternal salvation of the poor souls could be promoted. To this end, he made the twofold catechism. It is generally thought that the smaller one was first published in January 1529, and the larger one in October of the same year. Among others, Johann Benedict Carpzov writes in "Isagoge in libros ecclesiarum Lutheranarum symbolicos" (Introduction to the Symbolic Books of the Lutheran Churches), p. 944: "Mense Januario anni 1529 minorem catechismum conscripsit, cui mense Octobri ejusdem anni subjunxit majorem" (i.e.: In the month of January of the year 1529 he wrote the minor catechism, to which he added in the month of
October of the same year), which Adam Rechenberg in "Appendice tripartita", p. 25, Heinr. Pipping in the "Historisch-theologische Einleitung zu den symbolischen Schriften", Cap. 7, § 16, p. 110, and others agree with.
Others turn the matter around and say that both catechisms were published in 1529, but the larger one sooner than the smaller one, and this is to be concluded from the following circumstances. Johann Mathesius writes (in the VI sermon of the history of Dr. Martin Luther, p. 57): "After the experience gave by such interrogation and in Christian confession that few pastors knew of the Catechism, and many laymen could not pray right, let alone that they should have understood the six pieces of the children's doctrine, Doctor let his great Catechism go out, and explained and summarized the children's doctrine of the ten commandments, faith, Our Father, baptism, absolution and the Lord's Supper in a fine manner." He then added that so that the catechists and catechism students could finely retain, understand, and repeat such teaching, Luther had summarized the children's doctrine briefly and roundly and also had the small catechism go out in fragments, which is an important testimony. For as Mathesius quite clearly and expressly remembers the large Catechism first and reports that Luther then also published the small one, he is to be especially believed in this, since he was a good friend of Luther and could have preached about his life only thirty-six years after the publication of the Catechisms, thus having the best and surest news about the matter. It is added that Luther himself, in the preface to the small Catechism, remembers the large one and says: "Third, when you have now taught them such a short Catechism, then take the large Catechism before you and also give them richer and further understanding," which is expressed in the Latin copy thus: "Postquam hanc brevem catechismi expositionem absolvisti, tum illam longiorem tractationem ingredieris, ut plenius omnia auditores intelligant." From this the Lord Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf (in "Historia Lutheranismi," libr. II, § 51, p. 145) makes.
the conclusion that the larger Catechism came to light earlier than the smaller one. And one also wants to prove this because the larger one was already brought into Latin in July 1529 by Vincentius Obsopöus, Rector of the school at Ansbach, which was the same Latin translation that was subsequently added to the symbolic books of our church in 1580. This has especially the Mr. Joh. Melchior Krafft in the "Emendandis et Corrigendis quibusdam in historia versionis germanicae bibliorum Martini Lutheri Io. Friderici Mayeri", § XIV, p. 33. Because of these circumstances, others now depart from the opinion that the smaller Catechism was published before the larger one, and hold that the larger one came to light first and the smaller one after it. One can find Mr. D. Christ. Heinr. Zeibich's "Weimarische Catechismus-Historie," p. 98, Georg Heinr. Götze's "Commentar, de miraculis catechismi," p. 17, and Joh. Franz Buddeus' "Isagoge ad theologiam," libr. II, cap. I, § 12, p. 372.
§ III.
Some believe that the reasons now touched upon would not be such that the matter could be determined and the publication of the larger Catechism before the smaller one could be assumed as something certain; rather, it would remain uncertain and doubtful. Nor would it matter much whether the actual time was known so precisely or not. For what is brought from Mathesius is therefore not a certain and infallible testimony, because it could be that he only wanted to indicate that Luther had produced the larger one for the better understanding of the children's doctrine, but also the smaller one to help the memory of the simple, without looking at the time and order when it came out. That Luther, in the preface of the smaller Catechism, thought of a larger one, could be proof, if only it is correct that this preface was printed at the same time as the first edition of the smaller Catechism. It could also be that Luther, when he wrote this preface, already had
The author of this book, Dr. Gregorius Langemack, in his "Historia catechetica", part of the "Historia catechetica", recalls that he had the larger catechism in his hands at that time and referred to it in advance, because it should have followed soon and been published. Such recollections are made by Dr. Gregorius Langemack in "Historia catechetica", part. II, p. 102, and says that it is certain that the small Catechism was not yet printed in January and the large one not only in October; however, it remains doubtful at what time they actually came out, primarily because Luther already began to produce the small one at the beginning of the year 1529. He claims this because in a letter of January 15, 1529, Luther had included these words: "Modo in parando Catechismo pro rudibus paganis versor" (i.e.: "At present I am busy with the small one").At present I am busy writing a catechism for the ignorant peasants), so that he would undoubtedly understand the small one, and two months later he wrote to Nicolaus Hausmann: "Non est absolutus catechismus; sed brevi absolvetur" (i.e.: The catechism is not yet finished, but will soon be finished).
But these reminiscences do not seem to have much to do with each other. Mathesius speaks of the matter in such a way that he quite clearly distinguishes the two catechisms from each other, and reports that the larger one would have come out sooner than the smaller one, by saying: "The doctor let his large catechism go out" and then adds: "He also let the small catechism go out in fragments"; which he then tells in such a way that one can see that he wanted to indicate such an order, according to which the larger one was followed by the smaller one. If one thinks that Luther, in the preface to the smaller Catechism, was thinking of the larger one, not insofar as it had already come to light, but as a writing that he was busy with at that time and that he wanted to publish soon, then this is a conjecture that contains something possible, but nothing probable. In the meantime, I myself am of the opinion that it is not completely certain, but rather very probable, that Luther had the larger Catechism made and printed before the smaller one. The certainty is
not there. Among the reasons given, there are some doubts that oppose the complete conviction; however, together they make up a strong probability, especially since it is correct that the preface was added to the first edition of the Small Catechism. One can not only conclude this to some extent from its nature and arrangement, but also finds it in the editions that came out in 1529. Finally, there is not so much in the matter itself. The larger one may have been printed earlier or later than the smaller one, so we consider it a great blessing of God that we have both.
[Recently, it is almost universally assumed that the Great Catechism was written and published first. This is strongly supported by the remark in the (small) preface of the first edition of the Great Catechism that "this Catechism is to be an instruction for children and the simple". According to this, the relevant passages in the letters are also: Non est absolutus, sed brevi absolvetur, "It is not yet finished, but will soon be" (March 3, 1529, de Wette III, 426) and: Modo in parando catecheismo pro rudibus paganis versor, "Now I am engaged in producing a catechism for the brute peasants" (Jan. 15, 1529, de W. Ill, 417) to refer to the great Catechism. Luther originally had in mind only the writing of a Catechism, precisely for the children, simple-minded, ignorant, and when this work had become too long under his hand, he had the idea to have a shorter form follow. Probably the large Catechism appeared under the title "German Catechism" first in April 1529, the small one in July or August of the same year. Cf. v. Zezschwitz, Catechetics, II, 323. 324. Köstlin, Martin Luther, 11,51.52. D. Red.]
§ IV.
As far as the smaller Catechism in particular is concerned, three pieces had previously been counted as part of the Catechism, the Ten Commandments, the Faith, and the Lord's Prayer, which had been included in the
In the middle ages and before the Reformation, the three catechisms were in use in the papacy and were still preserved in the great darkness and blindness, as can be seen not only from the catechetical writings produced at that time and the resolutions made in the church meetings, but also from various testimonies of Luther. In the short "Preface to the Great Catechism" he writes: "We leave it for the common crowd with the three pieces that have remained from time immemorial in Christianity, until one practices well in them," and there he means the three pieces of the Catechism mentioned. In the "Exhortation to the entire clergy, assembled at the Diet of Augsburg," which is found in the fifth Altenburg part, p. 201, he calls them the entire Catechism, and since in 1520 he published the "Short Form to Consider the Ten Commandments and the Faith and to Pray the Lord's Prayer," as I will show in what follows, he said in the preface that it was not without special providence of God that one had decreed that the Ten Commandments, the Faith and the Lord's Prayer be observed, faith, and the Lord's Prayer, because "in these three things all that is written in the Scriptures, and may always be preached, and all that a Christian needs to know, is thoroughly and superfluously comprehended, and is written with such brevity and ease that no one can complain or excuse himself that it is too much or too difficult to keep what is necessary for his salvation. For three things are necessary for a man to know that he may be saved: First, that he should know what he ought to do and what he ought not to do; secondly, if he should see that he cannot do or leave it by his own strength, that he should know where to take, seek, and find, that he may do and leave the same; thirdly, that he should know how to seek and have it."
§ V.
These three pieces: Of the Law, of Faith, and of the Lord's Prayer, which had hitherto been the basis, Luther put them in another form, adding to them two of Baptism and of the Holy Communion.
He also added the first part to the second part and wrote the small catechism in such a way as we really have it. It consists of five main pieces, as he himself counts them and says in the large Catechism: "Thus one would have five pieces of the whole Christian doctrine everywhere, which one should always practice and demand and interrogate from word to word. This is not contradicted by the fact that Joh. Mathesius, as can be seen from his "Sechster Predigt von der Historie Herrn D. Mart. Luther's", p. 57, he meant six main pieces of the Catechism. For since Luther, before the treatise on Holy Communion, gave an instruction on confession, how to instruct the simple, Mathesius made this a special main section and thus counted them together as six; whereas Luther himself did not do this and did not consider this instruction to be a main section of its own. Subsequently, a change was made to it and it was made into a special main section: "On Confession and the Office or Authority of the Keys," which is generally the fifth in the order, but is also sometimes called the sixth. Polycarpus Leyser, in the "Catechismus Lutheri latino-germanicus", p. 3, seems to attribute it to Luther himself, writing that Luther added the "Doctrine of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" to the five usual main pieces, although it is possible and also believable that he thereby understood nothing other than the previously mentioned teaching: "How to teach the simple to confess", which Luther prepared and included in the chapter on Holy Communion. This much is certain, that such a main piece, as we have it now, did not come from Luther. For it is found neither in the oldest editions of his Catechism, nor in the parts of his printed writings, nor in the collection of our symbolic books, in which both of Luther's Catechisms are otherwise known to be found, and from this it is quite clear that Luther cannot be considered the author. Who he actually is, there is no agreement. Some leave it at that, that they say, the addition "Of the power of the keys" came to the time of our ancestors, when the Calvinists
The Church of St. John the Baptist endeavored to abolish confession and absolution, as Dr. Johann Benedict Carpzov writes in his "Isagoge ad libr. eccl. Luth. symb. "p. 95: "Factum est hoc augmentum sine dubio patrum nostrorum tempore, ubi Calvinistae confessionem et absolutionem ex ecclesiis ejicere omni studio conati fuerant" (i.e.: This addition was undoubtedly made at the time of our fathers, when the Calvinists were striving with all their might to abolish confession and absolution from the church).
However, this is not sufficient. For what is assumed here concerns only the cause, and it may be that the Calvinists gave the opportunity for this. Now, however, the main question is: Who made the addition "Of the power of the keys"? In Caspar Fiedler's "Enlightened Catechism Preacher," p. 67, it is stated that the older Fischer, who went to table with Luther in 1559, added the feast questions and considered confession, which Luther placed before the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, to be a special main section of the Catechism; but this is also not sufficient, nor does it concern the matter itself. If one assumes, however, that Dr. Caspar Melissander, who was superintendent in Altenburg, may be the author or may have contributed something, then nothing can be cited in which such an assumption could only have some basis. In the preface of the aforementioned "Catechism Preacher," the question is raised: Who made the fifth main section and especially the interpretation: "I believe what the called servants" etc. and said: "Presumably, Dr. Caspar Melissander, Superintendent in Altenburg, may have made them; for so they stand in Craselii Altenburgischen, Sittig's Merseburgischen and now also in the Dresdnischen Catechismus. One can read Joh. Martin Schamel's "Vindiciae catecheticae", p. 122.
It is more believable that Dr. Johann Knipstrow*) published this catechetical piece in 1554.
*He was born on May 1, 1497, and since God brought him to the knowledge of the evangelical truth, he was among the first to bring forth the pure doctrine of the Gospel in Pomerania and to oppose Pabstism. In Stralsund he was
which can be concluded from several circumstances. In the year 1554, namely July 11, a spiritual meeting was held in Greifswalde because of a dispute about the doctrine of the infernal journey of Christ, and Knipstrow presented the explanation of the office of the keys, with the intention that they should be used in the schools with the children and in the churches with the congregation, which was also accepted. The existing acts of the aforementioned synod, which Dr. Jakob Heinrich Balthasar has communicated, bear witness to this. They can be found in the previously mentioned "First Collection of Writings Belonging to the Pomeranian Church History", p. 89. One reads in the same the following: "Ninth, it is agreed that the sixth piece of the Catechism, Of Confession and Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, as it is written in the Catechismo and now propounded and accepted in the Synodus, shall be presented and explained to the congregation and children," From this, then, it cannot be concluded without all reason, that at that time Knipstrow had made a certain arrangement of Luther's Catechism and had put the fifth main section "On Confession and the Power of the Keys" into the form we have now, presented it to the Synod and received their consent that it should be taught in this way in the future. This is made even more probable by the fact that the Greifswald Ministry, in a preface to Joh. Sleker's, former pastor at S. Nicolai in Stralsund, "Explanation of the Catechism", writes: "In it, the Catechism is set in unaltered form, as the man of God Luther had it in the five pieces and the first General Superintendent in pre-Pomerania, Dr. Johann Knipstrow, in the sixth piece, along with the house tablet, from the
He was the first pre-Pomeranian general superintendent and professor of theology at Greifswalde, which offices he administered with great care and fidelity until God called him away from this life. A detailed account of him and his writings can be found in D. Balthasar's "Andere Sammlung einiger zur Pommerischen Kirchen-Historie gehörigen Schriften", p. 317 f.; Dr. Mayer's "Historiae synodorum Gryphiswaldensium", published in 1703, also contains a biography of him.
The author of this book is the one who has literally written and rightfully interpreted the Holy Scriptures. However, since what I have now stated together only constitutes a probability that is not the strongest, but nevertheless has an advantage over other conjectures that have become known about this matter, it is not yet certain that Knipstrow made the addition "From the office of the keys". It will also be difficult to reach a historical certainty in this.
sNow we have gained more certainty about this point. The main section "Vom Amt der Schlüssel" (On the Office of the Keys) is first found in the Nuremberg "Kinderpredigten" (Children's Sermons) of 1533, which appeared as an appendix to the Brandenburg Agende and probably originated with Brenz. And so Brenz's Catechism, in the form in which it was incorporated into the Church Order of 1535, also contains a sixth main section, "Of the Keys. Therefore, in all probability, Brenz is the author of this main section and Knipstrow only the redactor of it in the Pomeranian Catechism. Cf. v. Zezschwitz, Catechetics, II, 327. 328. D. Redactor).
§ VI.
In his small Catechism, Luther made an appendix to the main pieces, which consists of the "Morning and Evening Blessing," the "Table Prayer," and the "House Table," to which the "Wedding Booklet" and the "Baptismal Booklet" were added in the German copy; In the Latin, however, they have been omitted, as I will show in the following and deal in more detail with these two writings, which have been separated from the Catechism in the present tenth part and placed in their proper place. That such additions, and among them especially the "Haus-Tafel", are of Luther's origin, is proven by the oldest editions, which are available of the small Catechism, therefore, if in the previously mentioned testimony of the Greifswald Ministry or of Dr. Rango it is thought that Knipstrow added the "Haus-Tafel", then this has probably no reason, one must assume and understand it in such a way, that Knipstrow was one of Luther's authors.
and changed the other in it. The "Fragstücke für die, so zum Sacrament gehen wollen" (Questions for those who want to go to the Sacrament), which are also in the small catechism, some also want to attach to Luther, and in this case Dr. Gregor Langemack refers in "Historia catechetica", part. II, p. 109, that he had seen it printed in octavo in Lauingen in 1584, and that Luther had been expressly named on the title as the author of it; thus it seems that he first put it together for the benefit of the church in Kemberg. For the inscription reads: "Etliche christliche Fragstücke mit ihren Antworten für die, so zu dem Sacrament gehen wollen, auf das einfältigste der Kirche Christi zu Kemberg erstlich zugestellt durch D. Martin Luther." Whether this alone is sufficient proof, I leave to one side. This much is certain, that one does not find it in the first and oldest editions of the small Catechism. I have also not yet perceived that they would have been especially printed under Luther's name during his lifetime, and therefore believe that those who deny them to Luther have at least a greater probability for themselves than those who attribute them to him. In addition to the ordinary preface that precedes the small Catechism, there is another one that is somewhat shorter than it. Since Johann Aurifaber included it in the "Eislebische Theilen" (II, p. 13), he reported that it was not in the Wittenberg and Jenische collections and that it had been sent to him by Mag. Joachim, pastor at Helber, in the county of Mansfeld, after the first Eislebische Theil had already been completed. From this Eislebische collection of Luther's writings, it was subsequently brought into the Altenburgische (IV, p. 465) and Leipzigische (XXII, p. 44) under the title: "Preface by D. Martin Luther to the booklet: Enchiridion christlicher Unterweisungen, nützlich und gut für alle Christen, wie man sie zu GOttes Wort und Dienst führen möge". Dr. Daniel Heinrich Arnoldt of Königsberg also had it printed at the beginning of his new edition of Luther's large Catechism, together with the actual preface of the small Catechism, but also in an annotation
p. 29 reminds us that it is a part of the "Tractate of the German Mass". This is not a special preface made by Luther to the Catechism, but only a piece that is taken from his booklet "Von der Deutschen Messe", and therefore it has been omitted in the printing of the small Catechism in this part.