In 1520 the Kurze Form came from the press.[11] It consists of three separately composed expositions of the three chief subjects of catechetical instruction in the Middle Ages. The expositions of the Commandments and the Lord's Prayer are reproductions of the Kurze Auslegung der zehn Gebote and the Kurze Form das Paternoster zu verstehen und zu beten. The treatment of the Apostles' Creed is new, as is also the Introduction, in which Luther sets forth the relation of the three parts to one another in the unity of the Christian life.

The work is not scientific and theological, but popular and religious. Its purpose is primarily devotional, not pedagogical. The mediaeval root out of which it grew is not to be denied. The catalogue of transgressions and fulfilments attached to the explanation of the decalogue shows that it is intended to be a manual for penitents, but the spirit in which the Creed and the Lord's Prayer are explained is not mediaeval, and the manner in which the explanations of the decalogue are simplified and rid of the excrescences of the XV Century hand-books shows the new evangelical conception of confession to which Luther had attained. The division of the Creed into three articles instead of the traditional twelve marks an epoch in the development of catechetical instruction. The little book contains passages of rare beauty, clouded at times, we fear, by the new language into which it has here been put, and seldom has the Wesen des Christentums been more simply and tellingly set forth than in the treatment of the Creed.

In 1522 Luther republished the Kurze Form with a few slight changes and a number of additions under the title Betbuchlein. The Betbuchlein ran through many editions, and grew in the end to a book of rather large proportions, a complete manual of devotion.

In its original form and as the chief content of the Betbuchlein, the Kurze Form exercised a profound influence upon the manuals of Christian doctrine that appeared in ever-increasing number after 1522.[12] Its influence extended to England, where Marshall's Goodly Primer (1534 and 35) offered to English readers a translation of the Betbuchlein, in which, however, no acknowledgments were made to the original author.[13]

The Kurze Form is found in Weimar Ed., VII, 194 ff.; Erl. Ed., XXII, 3 ff.; Clemen Ed., II, 38 ff.; Walch Ed., X, 182 ff.; St. Louis Ed., X, 149 ff.

LITERATURE

F. Cohrs, Die evang. Katechismusversuche vor L.'s Enchiridion (especially I, 1 ff. and IV, 229 ff.), Arts. Katechismen L.'s and Katechismusunterricht in Realencyk., X, 130 ff., and XXIII, 743 ff., and Introd. to Betbuchlein in Weimar Ed., X; O. Albrecht, Vorbemerkungen zu den beiden Katechismen von 1529, in Weimar Ed., XXX', 426 ff. (Further literature cited by all the above.) See also Gecken, Bilderkatechismus d. XV Jh. and von Zezschwitz, System d. Katechetik (especially II, i).

CHARLES M. JACOBS.

LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY,

Mount Airy, Philadelphia

FOOTNOTES

[1] Cohrs, Evang. Katechismusversuche, I, 4.

[2] von Zezschwitz, Katechetik, II, 176, 265 ff.

[3] Weimar Ed., X', 475.

[4] Weimar Ed., IX, 122 ff. The same series was republished by Luther himself, ibid., IV, 74 ff.

[5] Weimar Ed., I, 248 ff.

[6] Weimar Ed., VI, 9 ff.

[7] Weimar Ed., VI, 20 ff.

[8] Vol. I, pp. 187 ff.

[9] Vol. I, pp. 81-101.

[10] Weimar Ed., II, 47 ff.

[11] On the exact date, see Weimar Ed., VII, 195; Clemen, II, 38.

[12] See Cohrs, IV, 326 ff.

[13] For this information I am indebted to the Rev. J. F. Bornhold, of Mount Holly, N. J. The act was discovered almost simultaneously by Pro. M. Reu, of Dubuque, Iowa.

A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, THE CREED, AND THE LORD'S PRAYER

1520

PREFACE

The ordinary Christian, who cannot read the Scriptures, is required to learn and know the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer; and this has not come to pass without God's special ordering. For these three contain fully and completely everything that is in the Scriptures, everything that ever should be preached, and everything that a Christian needs to know, all put so briefly and so plainly that no one can make complaint or excuse, saying that what he needs or his salvation is too long or too hard to remember.

Three things a man needs to know in order to be saved. First, he must know what he ought to do and what he ought not to do. Second, when he finds that by his own strength he can neither do the things he ought, nor leave undone the things he ought not to do, he must know where to seek and find and get the strength he needs. Third, he must know how to seek and find and get this strength.

When a man is ill, he needs to know first what his illness is,--what he can do and what he cannot do. Then he needs to know where to find the remedy that will restore his health and help him to do and leave undone the things he ought. Third, he must ask for this remedy, and seek it, and get it or have it brought to him. In like manner, the Commandments teach a man to know his illness, so that he feels and sees what he can do and what he cannot do, what he can and what he cannot leave undone, and thus knows himself to be a sinner and a wicked man. After that the Creed shows him and teaches him where he may find the remedy,--the grace which helps him to become a good man and to keep the Commandments; it shows him God, and the mercy which He has revealed and offered in Christ. In the third place, the Lord's Prayer teaches him how to ask or this grace, get it, and take it to himself, to wit, by habitual, humble, comforting prayer; then grace is given, and by the fulfillment of God's commandments he is saved.

These are the three chief things in all the Scriptures. Therefore we begin at the beginning, with the Commandments, which are the first thing, and learn to recognise our sin and wickedness, that is, our spiritual illness, which prevents us from doing the things we ought to do and leaving undone the things we ought not to do.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

[Sidenote: The First Table]

The First Table of Moses--the Table of the Right Hand--contains the first three Commandments, In these man is taught his duty toward God, what things he is in duty bound to do, and what to leave undone.

[Sidenote: The First Commandment]

The First Commandment teaches how man shall treat God inwardly, in the heart, that is, how he ought always to remember Him and think of Him and esteem Him. To Him, as to a Father and good Friend, man is to look at all times or all good things, in all trust and faith and love, with fear; he is not to offend Him, but trust Him as a child its father. For nature teaches us that there is one God, Who gives all good and helps against all evil, as even the heathen show us by their worshiping of idols. This commandment is,

Thou shalt have no other gods.

[Sidenote: The Second Commandment]

The Second Commandment teaches how man shall act toward God outwardly, in words, before other men, or even inwardly before his own self; that is, he shall honor God's Name. For no one can show God either to himself or to others in His divine nature, but only in His names. This commandment is,

Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.

[Sidenote: The Third Commandment]

The Third Commandment teaches how man shall act toward God outwardly in deeds, that is, in the worship of God. It is,

Thou shalt hallow the holy day.[1]

These three commandments, then, teach how man is to act toward God in thoughts, words and deeds,--that is, in all his life.

[Sidenote: The Second Table]

The Second Table of Moses--the Table of the Left Hand--contains the other seven Commandments. In these man is taught what he is in duty bound to do and not to do to other men, that is, to his neighbor,

[Sidenote: The Fourth Commandment]

The first of them teaches how one is to conduct oneself toward all the authorities who are God's representatives. Therefore, it has its place before the rest, and immediately after the first three, which concern God Himself. Such authorities are father and mother, spiritual and temporal lords, etc. It is,

Honor thy father and thy mother.

The second teaches how one is to conduct oneself toward one's neighbor in matters that concern his person,--not to do him injury, but to benefit and help him when he is in need. It is,

Thou shalt not kill.

[Sidenote: The Sixth Commandment]

The third teaches how one is to conduct oneself toward the best possession one's neighbor has next to his person,--that is, toward his wife, his child, his friend. He is to put no shame upon them, but to preserve their honor, so far as he is able. It is,

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

[Sidenote: The Seventh Commandment]

The fourth teaches how one is to conduct oneself toward one's neighbor's temporal possessions,--not to take them from him or hinder him in their use, but to aid him in increasing them. It is,

Thou shalt not steal.

[Sidenote: The Eighth Commandment]

The fifth teaches how one is to conduct oneself toward one's neighbor's worldly honor and good name,--not to impair them, but to increase and guard and protect them. It is,

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

So, then, it is forbidden to harm one's neighbor in any of his possessions, and it is commanded to advance his interests. If we consider the natural law,[2] we find how just and right all these commandments are; for there is no act here commanded, toward God or one's neighbor, that each of us would not wish to have done toward himself, if he were God, or in God's place or his neighbor's.

[Sidenote: The Ninth and Tenth Commandments]

The last two Commandments teach how wicked human nature is, and how pure we should be from all the desires of the flesh and desires for this world's goods; but that means struggle and labor as long as we live here below. They are,

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

A BRIEF CONCLUSION TO THE TEN COMANDMENTS