According to Luther's _German Worship,_ pastors were to preach the
Catechism on Mondays and Tuesdays. To insure the desired results
(memorizing and understanding the text), the children should be
questioned, especially at home by the parents. Exemplifying such
catechization, Luther writes: "For so shall they be asked: 'What do you
pray?' Answer: 'The Lord's Prayer,' What do you mean by saying: 'Our
Father who art in heaven?' Answer: 'That God is not an earthly, but a
heavenly Father, who would make us rich and blessed in heaven,' 'What
does "Hallowed be Thy name" mean?' Answer: 'That we should honor God's
name and not use it in vain, lest it be profaned,' 'How, then, is it
profaned and desecrated?' Answer: 'When we who are regarded as His
children lead wicked lives, teach and believe what is wrong,' And so
forth, what God's kingdom means; how it comes; what God's will is, what
daily bread, etc. Likewise also of the Creed: 'What do you believe?'
Answer: 'I believe in God the Father,' etc. Thereupon part for part, as
leisure permits, one or two at a time. Thus: 'What does it mean to
believe in God the Father Almighty?' Answer: 'It means that the heart
trusts Him entirely, and confidently looks to Him for all grace, favor,
help, and comfort, here and hereafter,' 'What does it mean to believe
in Jesus Christ, His Son?' Answer: 'It means that the heart believes we
should all be lost eternally if Christ had not died for us,' etc. In
like manner one must also question on the Ten Commandments, what the
first, the second, the third and other commandments mean. Such questions
you may take from our Prayer-Booklet, where the three parts are briefly
explained, or you may formulate others yourself, until they comprehend
with their hearts the entire sum of Christian knowledge in two parts, as
in two sacks, which are faith and love. Let faith's sack have two
pockets; into the one pocket put the part according to which we believe
that we are altogether corrupted by Adam's sin, are sinners and
condemned, Rom. 5, 12 and Ps. 51, 7. Into the other pocket put the part
telling us that by Jesus Christ we have all been redeemed from such
corrupt, sinful, condemned condition, Rom. 5, 18 and John 3, 16. Let
love's sack also have two pockets. Into the one put this part, that we
should serve, and do good to, every one, even as Christ did unto us,
Rom. 13. Into the other put the part that we should gladly suffer and
endure all manner of evil." (19, 76.)
In like manner passages of Scripture were also to be made the child's
property, as it were; for it was not Luther's idea that instruction
should cease at the lowest indispensably necessary goal (the
understanding of the text of the chief parts). In his _German Order of
Worship_ he goes on to say: "When the child begins to comprehend this
[the text of the Catechism], accustom it to carry home passages of
Scripture from the sermons and to recite them to the parents at the
table, at meal-time, as it was formerly customary to recite Latin, and
thereupon to store the passages into the sacks and pockets, as one puts
_pfennige,_ and _groschen,_ or _gulden_ into his pocket. Let the sack of
faith be, as it were, the gulden sack. Into the first pocket let this
passage be put, Rom. 5: 'By one man's disobedience many were made
sinners': and Ps. 51: 'Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did
my mother conceive me,' Those are two Rheinish gulden in the pocket. The
other pocket is for the Hungarian gulden, such as this passage, Rom. 5:
'Christ was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our
justification:' again, John 1: 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world,' That would be two good Hungarian gulden in
the pocket. Let love's sack be the silver sack. Into the first pocket
belong the passages of well-doing, such as Gal. 5: 'By love serve one
another'; Matt. 25: 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least
of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.' That would be two silver
groschen in the pocket. Into the other pocket this passage belongs,
Matt. 5: 'Blessed are ye when men shall persecute you for My sake;' Heb.
12: 'For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth: He scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth.' Those are two Schreckenbergers [a coin made of silver
mined from Schreckenberg] in the pocket." (19, 77f.)
Believing that understanding, not mere mechanical memorizing, of the
Catechism is of paramount import, Luther insisted that the instruction
must be popular throughout. Preachers and fathers are urged to come down
to the level of the children and to prattle with them, in order to bring
the Christian fundamentals home even to the weakest and simplest. In his
_German Mass_ Luther concludes the chapter on instruction as follows:
"And let no one consider himself too wise and despise such child's play.
When Christ desired to train men He had to become a man. If we are to
train children, we also must become children with them. Would to God
that such child's play were carried on well; then we should in a short
time see a great wealth of Christian people, and souls growing rich in
the Scriptures and the knowledge of God until they themselves would give
more heed to these pockets as _locos communes_ and comprehend in them
the entire Scriptures; otherwise they come daily to hear the preaching
and leave again as they came. For they believe that the object is merely
to spend the time in hearing, no one intending to learn or retain
anything. Thus many a man will hear preaching for three, four years and
still not learn enough to be able to give account of his faith in one
particular, as I indeed experience every day. Enough has been written in
books. True, but not all of it has been impressed on the hearts." (19,
78.)