# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1900_S6 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) The Lutheran Pioneer. (For the LUTHERAN PIONEER.) Our Small Catechism. “Yord, grant that we e’er pure retain The catechismal doctrine plain, As Luther taught the heavenly truth In simple words to tender youth.” Thus we prayerfully sing in one of our dear | old hymns. ! | very imperfect and dim knowledge of the holy | will of his Creator. Therefore God decided to | repeat His holy will to man, and this He did | from Mount Sinai in the Holy Ten Command- }ments. The account of the giving of the Holy | Ten Commandments is found ‘in the 19th and 20th chapters of Exodus. In reading these chapters, you will, how- In these words we ask the Lord} ever, soon notice that Luther does not give to help us by His grace that we may always| all the Commandments in the exact words of retain the pure and plain doctrine of His Word | the Bible; and it will be but natural for you as taught by Luther in simple words in his so- called Small Catechism. Next to putting the Bible into the hands of the people, Luther did no more blessed work than the writ- ing of the Small Catechism. In this book Luther gives us the sum and substance of the whole Bible in the most simple words; so simple that they can be understood even by chil- dren. It contains nothing but the heavenly truth of the Bible and has no other purpose than the Bible has; namely, to show us the way to eternal life. There is not a single word in the whole Small Catechism that is not ‘based upon God’s own Word. And though it is so comprehensive and deep that the wisest doctors can still learn from it, it is, nevertheless, so simple that children of six and seven years can learn from it how to be saved. It teaches us the Law of God in all its severity and pruclaims to us the blessed Gospel in all its sweet- ness. In short, we may truly call our Small Catechism a Small Bible. Luther divides his Small Catechism into six Chief Parts: 1. The Holy Ten Commandments; 2. The Creed ; 8. The Lord’s Prayer; 4. The Sacra- - ment of Holy Baptism; 5. The Office of the Keys and Confession; 6. The Sacrament of the Altar. These six Chief Parts are followed by several prayers to be spoken in the morning and evening, before and after meals; by a Table of Duties, comprising pas- sages of Holy Scripture wherein the various estates are taught their duties; and, finally, by a number of questions and answers drawn up for those who intend to go to the Lord’s Supper. Tne Hory ‘Ten Commanpaenrs. The First Chief Part of our Catechism treats of the Holy Ten Commandments. In these Ten Commandments God reveals His holy will _ to men, telling them how they shall be and what they shall do and not do. They are, therefore, a brief summary of the Law. _ When God created Adam and Eve, He wrote 5 Bis holy will in their hearts, so that they had @ perfect knowledge of all that God required ofthem. But by the fall of our first parents s handwriting became almost wholly effaced id yery blurred, so that man retained but a to ask, why not? An examination of the Bible- text will soon give you one reason. You will, namely, find that the Commandments “Suffer little children to come unto me,”’ as given in the Bible contain certain things which were meant only-for the Jews. The other reason is that Luther desired to give the Commandments in the least possible words, and therefore he omitted those words which God added merely by way of explanation. Let me give you only two examples. Exod. 20, 2 we read: ‘‘which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.’’ Now, we see at once that these words refer only to the Jews. Exod. 20,4.5 the Lord says: ‘‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any- thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.’” These words are only an explanation of the words in verse 8: “Thou shalt haye no other gods before me.” As we read on, we come to passages which enjoin certain duties upon the Jews from which we Christians are absolved in express words of Holy Scripture. For upon the same occasion that God gave the Ten Command- ments which are binding upon all men for all time. He also gave the Jews certain laws con- cerning religious ceremonies, sacrifices, and holidays, as well as political laws for their government as His chosen people, which have no binding force upon us. In distinction from the Ten Commandments, or the Moral Law, these latter are called the Ceremonial and Political Laws. After God had spoken the Ten Commandments, He wrote them down on two tables of stone. Following this division, we also speak of Two Tables, placing the first three Commandments on the First Table and the other seven on the Second Table. For while Love is the sum of each and all the Com- mandments, yet there is a difference between the first three and the other seven Commandments. The three Commandments of the First Table, namely, treat of the love we owe God, whereas the seven Commandments of the Second Table treat of the love we owe our neighbor. Christ, our Lord, gives the Sum of the two Tables with these words: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God’ with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matt. 22, 3739.) Love to God shall fill our heart, soul, and mind, and be " the source of all thoughts, words, and deeds; and our neighbor, our fellow- -man, be he friend or enemy, acquaint- ance or stranger, rich or poor, we are to love as we love ourselves and do unto him as we would have him do unto us. F. J. L. —_—— - o~