It was almost two months after the first table-series had appeared
before the second was published. This delay is accounted for by Luther's
illness and his being burdened with other work, especially with his book
against the Turk. March 3 he wrote to Hausmann: "By reason of Satan's
afflictions I am almost constantly compelled to be a sick well man (_als
Gesunder krank zu sein_), hence I am much hindered in writing and other
work." (Enders, 7, 61.) However, in the same letter Luther informed his
impatiently waiting friend: "The Catechism is not completed, my dear
Hausmann, but it will be completed shortly." Enders remarks that this
refers to the Large Catechism. However, it harmonizes best with Luther's
usage and with the facts if the words are understood as referring to
both Catechisms. "Shortly," Luther had written, and on March 16 Roerer,
according to his letter of this date, forwarded "the tables of
Confession, the German Litany, the tables of the Sacrament of Baptism
and of the blood of Christ." Roerer calls them a novelty, _recens
excussa,_ recently printed, from which it appears that the _tabulae
catechismum Lutheri brevissime simul et crasse complectentes,_ to which
he referred on January 20, did not contain the Sacraments. Thus, then,
the five chief parts, Decalog, Creed, Lord's Prayer, Baptism, and Lord's
Supper were completed by March 16, 1529. Buchwald and Cohrs surmise, but
without further ground for their assumption, that the table with the
Benedicite and the Gratias was issued together with the first series in
January. At the latest, however, the prayers appeared with the second
series. For March 7, 1529, Levin Metzsch wrote to Roth, evidently
referring to Luther's tables: "I am herewith also sending to you the
Benedicite and the Gratias, also the Morning and Evening Prayers,
together with the Vice of Drunkenness." (W. 30, 1, 432.) The exact time
when Luther composed the Table of Duties is not known. And the first
evidence we have of the Small Catechism's appearing in book form is
Roerer's letter of May 16, 1529, saying that he is sending two copies of
the Small Catechism, the price of which, together with other books, is
two groschen. (432.) The necessary data are lacking to determine how
long Luther's manuscript was ready before it was printed, and before the
printed copies were distributed.
As to the large Catechism, it was not completed when the second table
series appeared in March. In a letter, the date of which must probably
be fixed about the end of March, Roerer says: "The Turk is not yet
entirely struck off; neither the Catechism." April 23, however, the
Large Catechism was on the market, for on this day Roerer wrote: "I am
sending three copies of the Catechism." It was the Large Catechism; for
the price of each copy was two groschen, whereas on May 16, 1529, Roerer
had sent two copies of the Small Catechism and other books for two
groschen. (432.) The Large Catechism probably had appeared several weeks
before April 23. Albrecht: "Even if all [of Luther's] sermons from Palm
Sunday to Maundy Thursday, 1529, are considered preliminary works,
according to which the last paragraphs of the Large Catechism were
elaborated, we can assume that its appearance in the beginning or the
first half of April, 1529, was possible. To be sure, the printing must
then have been advanced so far before Holy Week that the rest could be
finished speedily on the basis of the manuscript delivered immediately
after the sermons of Monday and Maundy Thursday had been preached.["]
This theory fits in with the facts that John Lonicer of Marburg had
already completed his Latin translation on May 15, 1529 (although,
according to the title-page, it first appeared in September), and that
Roerer in a letter of April 23 merely mentions the Large Catechism in
passing, without designating it as an important novelty. Stephen Roth,
the recipient of the letter, spent some time at Wittenberg during April,
and probably purchased his first copy there; so Roerer refers to copies
which were ordered subsequently. (482.)
While thus the Small Catechism in chart form was completed and published
before the Large Catechism, the former succeeded the latter in book
form. However, though completed after the Small Catechism, it can be
shown that the beginning and perhaps even part of the printing of the
Large Catechism dates back to 1528, thus preceding in this respect even
the Charts of January 9. If the short Preface to the Large Catechism, as
well as the exhortation at the beginning: "Let the young people also
come to the preaching, that they hear it explained and learn to
understand it," etc., had been written after the 9th of January, Luther
would probably have mentioned the Tables, just as he refers to the Large
Catechism in the Preface to the Small Catechism, which was written about
the end of April or the beginning of May. (535, 17.) Since, however,
Luther makes no such indication, these paragraphs of the Large Catechism
were, no doubt, composed before January, 1529. (575, 1; 579, 26.) The
same inference may be drawn from the fact that, in the explanation of
the First Commandment, the wording of the conclusion of the Ten
Commandments shows a number of variations from its wording in the Small
Catechism, whereas its wording at the close of the explanation of the
commandments is in conformity with it. (588, 30; 672, 320.)