| Preface of Dr. Martin
raments, etc., but choose one form to which he adheres, and whichhe inculcates all the time,
Luther.
Martin Luther to All Faithful and Godly Pastors and Preachers: Grace, Mercy, and Peace in Jesus Christ, our Lord. . The deplorable, miserable condition which I discovered lately when I, too, was a visitor, has forced and urged me to prepare [publish] this Catechism,
or Christian
doctrine, in this
small, plain, simple form. Mercy! Good God! what manifold misery I beheld! The common people, especially in the villages, have no knowledge whatever of Christian doctrine, and, alas! many pastors are altogether incapable and incompetent to teach [so much so, that one is ashamed to speak of it].
year after year. ever, beeause
teaching]
and]
Yet they
cannot
[even]
Never-
[do not underrecite
either
the
Lord’s Prayer, or the Creed, or the Ten Com-
mandments; they live like dumb brutes and irrational hogs; and yet, now that the Gospel has come, they have nicely learned to abuse all liberty like experts. -O ye bishops! [to whom this charge has Dean committed by God,] what will ye ever answer to Christ for having so shamefully neglected the people and never for a moment discharged your office? [You are the persons to whom alone this ruin of the Christian religion is due. You have permitted men to err so shamefully; yours is the guilt; for you have ever done anything rather than what your office required you to do.] May all misfortune flee you!
[I do not wish at this place
to invoke evil on your heads.]
You command
the Sacrament in one form [but is not this the highest ungodliness coupled with the greatest impudence that you are insisting on the administration of the Sacrament in one form only, and on your traditions] and insist on your human laws, and yet at the same time you do, not care in the least [while you are utterly without seruple and concern] whether the people know the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, or any part of the ord of God. Woe, woe, unto you forever! Therefore I entreat [and adjure] you all for God's
sake,
my
dear
sirs and
brethren,
who are pastors or preachers, to devote yourselves heartily to your office, to have pity on the people. who are.entrusted to you, and to help us inculcate the Catechism upon the people, and especially upon the young, And let those of you, who cannot do better [If any : of |you
are. so, unskilled
that you
have
abso- :; .
lutely no knowledge of these matters, let them not
be
ashamed
to]
take
these
tables
and
forms ‘and impress them, word for word, on the people} as follows:-— ^:
- In: the first place; let the öfter: above
am be’careful to avoid many kinds of or various texts and forms of the Ten Command: ments, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Sac-
young
and simple
is lost.
Also our blessed fathers understood this well; for they all used the same form of the
have been baptized and receive the [common] stand
that]
people must be taught by uniform, settled texts and forms, otherwise they easily become confused when the teacher to-day teaches them thus, and in à year some other way, as if he wished to make improvements, and thus all effort and labor [whieh has been expended in
theless, all maintain that they are Christians, holy Sacraments.
For [I give this advice, how-
I know
