The second charge, that Luther attached no special importance to the
understanding of what was memorized, is still more unfounded. The fact
is that everywhere he was satisfied with nothing less than correct
understanding. Luther was a man of thought, not of mere sacred formulas
and words. To him instruction did not mean mere mechanical memorizing,
but conscious, personal, enduring, and applicable spiritual
appropriation. Says he: "However, it is not enough for them to
comprehend and recite these parts according to the words only, but the
young people should also be made to attend the preaching, especially
during the time which is devoted to the Catechism, that they may hear it
explained, and may learn to understand what every part contains, so as
to be able to recite it as they have heard it, and, when asked, may give
a correct answer, so that the preaching may not be without profit and
fruit." (579, 26.) In the Preface to the Small Catechism, Luther
instructs the preachers: "After they [the children] have well learned
the text then teach them the sense also, so that they know what it
means." (535, 14.) Correct understanding was everything to Luther.
Sermons in the churches and catechizations at home were all to serve
this purpose.
In the same interest, _viz._, to enrich the brief text of the Catechism
and, as it were, quicken it with concrete perceptions, Luther urged the
use of Bible-stories as illustrations. For the same reason he added
pictures to both of his Catechisms. His _Prayer-Booklet_ contained as
its most important part the text and explanation of the Catechism and,
in addition, the passional booklet, a sort of Bible History. To this
Luther remarks: "I considered it wise to add the ancient passional
booklet [augmented by Luther] to the Prayer-Booklet, chiefly for the
sake of the children and the unlearned, who are more apt to remember the
divine histories if pictures and parables are added, than by mere words
and teaching, as St. Mark testifies, that for the sake of the simple
Christ, too, preached to them only in parables." (W. 10, 2, 458.)
Indeed, Luther left no stone unturned to have his instruction
understood. On words and formulas, merely memorized, but not
appropriated intellectually, he placed but little value.
Memorizing, too, was regarded by Luther not as an end in itself, but as
a means to an end. It was to serve the explanation and understanding.
And its importance in this respect was realized by Luther much more
clearly than by his modern critics. For when the text is safely
embedded, as it were, in the memory, its explanation is facilitated, and
the process of mental assimilation may proceed all the more readily. In
this point, too, the strictures of modern pedagogs on Luther's Catechism
are therefore unwarranted. Where Luther's instructions are followed, the
memory is not overtaxed, and the understanding not neglected.
The instruction advocated by Luther differed fundamentally from the
mechanical methods of the Middle Ages. He insisted on a thorough mental
elaboration, by means of sermons, explanations, questions and answers,
of the material memorized, in order to elevate it to the plane of
knowledge. With Luther we meet the questions: "What does this mean? What
does this signify? Where is this written? What does it profit?" He
engages the intellect. The _Table of Christian Life_ of the Middle Ages,
which "all good Christians are in duty bound to have in their houses,
for themselves, their children, and household," is regarded by Cohrs as
a sort of forerunner of Luther's Small Catechism. "At the same time,
however," Cohrs adds, "it clearly shows the difference between the
demands made by the Church of the Middle Ages and the requirements of
the Evangelical Church; yonder, numerous parts without any word of
explanation, sacred formulas, which many prayed without an inkling of
the meaning; here, the five chief parts, in which the emphasis is put on
'What does this mean?'" (Herzog, _R._ 10, 138.)
It was due to the neglect of Christian teaching that Christendom had
fallen into decay. Force on the part of the popes and priests and blind
submission on the part of the people had supplanted instruction and
conviction from the Word of God. Hence the cure of the Church, first of
all, called for an instructor in Christian fundamentals. And just such a
catechist Luther was, who made it his business to teach and convince the
people from the Bible. Indeed, in his entire work as a Reformer, Luther
consistently appealed to the intellect, as was strikingly demonstrated
in the turmoil which Carlstadt brought about at Wittenberg. Instruction
was the secret, was the method, of Luther's Reformation. In the Preface
to the Small Catechism he says that one cannot and must not force any
one to believe nor drive any one to partake of the Sacrament by laws,
lest it be turned into poison, that is to say, lest the very object of
the Gospel, which is spontaneous action flowing from conviction, be
defeated. (539, 24; 535, 13.)