# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 05 04_S97
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

...during his absence, in his place, was probably done by his pious wife, for he reminds her in a letter — written from Eisleben, indeed a few days before his blessed end — of the teaching of the Catechism, which she was to practice.

He speaks of his own particular and daily practice of the Catechism in the preface to his Large Catechism, in the following words: "I too am a doctor and preacher — yes, as learned and experienced as all those may be who have such presumption and complacency that with a single reading-through they think they know everything and need nothing more — yet I do as a child does who is being taught the Catechism, and I read and recite, word for word, every morning, and whenever I have time, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, Psalms, etc. And I still have to read and study it daily, and yet I cannot get as far along in it as I would like, and must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism — and I am glad to remain one." How this practice became ever more indispensable to him, he confesses publicly in these words: "I will say of myself: I am a doctor of Holy Scripture, and yet the more I consider the childlike faith, the Lord's Prayer, Baptism, and the Sacrament, the more it delights me. I could well say, along with those jaded, self-satisfied spirits: I know the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the words of Baptism and of the Sacrament, the Psalter, etc. — but I experience daily, and must confess, that if today I have prayed the Creed, spoken the Lord's Prayer, and considered the words of Baptism and of the Sacrament, and tomorrow do not repeat the same piece by piece, then my soul grows cold and sluggish; and if I fail to say it on the third day as well, I grow still colder and more sluggish, until I come to despise it altogether." (Hauspostille, Maundy Thursday.)

If a man like Dr. Luther confesses of himself that, should he neglect the practice of the Catechism for only two days, he grows ever colder and more sluggish and comes even to despise it, what then must become of those who let one day after another — indeed whole weeks, months, and entire years — pass by without this so necessary practice? Should not what has been said so far be a wake-up call for all readers, to practice the Catechism from now on more diligently, even daily, following Dr. Luther's counsel and example? To those who resolve to do so, I would like to give a few further hints toward carrying it out.

Let a Christian accustom himself, early each day, either before or after the morning prayer, to say to himself quietly — or better still, aloud, when he is alone — at least the Ten Commandments, the three Articles of the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, at first without the explanations, slowly and with devotion.

He should at the same time consider and weigh what God wills that he do or refrain from doing according to each individual commandment, what he is to believe and confess according to each part of an article of the Creed, and what he is to hope for and ask according to each individual petition of the Lord's Prayer. While he does this, the Holy Spirit will work in him many good thoughts and impulses, to which he should give room and which he should follow, even if he should dwell with his devotion longer on one commandment, article, petition, or particular words than on others. But he should also remember throughout the day what he learned in the morning and what the Holy Spirit worked in him through it, and strive with all diligence to walk, believe, and pray accordingly. Let him make it a fixed rule and hold himself to it ever anew, in this way taking up at least the first three chief parts day by day, not omitting a single one, and practicing himself in them. Should he happen to omit this in the morning, let him make it up at once as soon as he thinks of it, or at least not put it off too long, for otherwise it is easily forgotten again. But should he let days, even weeks, pass by without this wholesome practice, let him not therefore lose heart, but begin at once and ever anew with it, for this labor too, done in the Lord, shall not be in vain. In this practice everyone will find how sluggish and reluctant his flesh and blood are — that is, how the world, with its pleasures and burdens, will often hold him back from it, and how the devil will hinder and obstruct it in every way, for he fears God's Word as he fears a glowing furnace; because of these three enemies, this Christian practice can only be continued amid constant struggle. But God also gives to such pupils of the Catechism one victory after another, and this practice will become ever dearer, more profitable, and more indispensable to them. It becomes still more profitable if one reads daily one or two pages from Dr. Luther's Large Catechism in order; it is far better to read little at a time but thoroughly than much but only superficially. Better still is it if one asks oneself, or the members of one's household, at each sentence what is being said in it, and also repeats it well. Whoever follows this manner of family devotion will soon be convinced, through his own experience, of its great benefit, and will therefore not readily exchange it for another manner.

Finally, every Christian is to be advised that when he takes up a Psalm or a chapter of the Bible — best in sequence — and, as Dr. Luther says, studies it for a while, which should happen every day if possible, he should ask himself or others to which of the first three chief parts, and specifically to which commandment, article, or petition, what he has read in the Bible belongs: whether it treats of something he can do or refrain from doing, of a good work, or of a sin — in which case it belongs to one of the Ten Commandments; further, whether what he has read treats of the exalted works and benefits of the triune God, whether it concerns specifically the creation and preservation of all creatures, or our redemption and justification, or our sanctification and preservation in true faith, and accordingly belongs to one of the three Articles of the Creed; finally, whether what he has read mentions some good thing for which we are to ask God, or some evil against which we are to call upon God, in which case it belongs to one of the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer. In this way the Catechism is brought into the Bible, and the Bible into the Catechism — the Catechism having been drawn from the Bible precisely so that it might lead us back into it.

And now, in conclusion, the final words of Dr. Luther from his preface to the Large Catechism: "Therefore I ask once more all Christians, especially pastors and preachers, that they not be too quick to consider themselves doctors, and imagine that they know everything. Much is lost from conceited and flimsy cloth; rather let them exercise themselves well in it daily and keep at it continually, and with all care and diligence guard themselves against the poisonous vermin of such complacency or self-conceited masters, but hold steadily on, both with reading, teaching, learning, thinking, and meditating, and not let up until they know and become certain that they have taught the devil to death, and have become more learned than God himself and all his saints.

If they will apply such diligence, I promise them — and they shall come to know it themselves — what fruit they will attain, and what fine people God will make of them, so that in time they themselves shall gladly confess that the longer and more they practice the Catechism, the less they know of it, and the more they still have to learn from it, and it will taste truly good to them, as to the hungry and thirsty, that which now, out of surfeit and weariness, they cannot even bear the smell of. To this end may God grant his grace. Amen."

(Submitted.)
Methodism.

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Luke 6:22–23. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

For this joy the Methodists, in No. 15 of the "Christlicher Apologet," again give us ample cause, for which we cannot thank God enough. For, for the Son of man's sake, because we hold fast to his Word, the name of our church is reviled by them, and we are counted worthy to bear the reproach of Christ. But before we report the particulars of this, it is our duty to rescue the honor of a noble and conscientious man, John Wesley, from a shameless attack by Mr. Nast. He says: "That J. Wesley, indeed, as a preacher in the Church of England — which he remained until his death — a few times spoke of baptism in the same expressions which the symbolical books of his own church, as well as of the Lutheran church,