Works of Martin Luther Part 34

In brief, as wealth is the test of poverty, business the test of faithfulness, honors the test of humility, easts the test of temperance, pleasures the test of chast.i.ty, so ceremonies are the test of the righteousness of faith. "Can a man," says Solomon, "take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?" [Prov. 6:27] Yet, as a man must live in the midst of wealth, business, honors, pleasures and easts, so also must he live in the midst of ceremonies, that is, in the midst of dangers. Nay, as infant boys need beyond all else to be cherished in the bosoms and by the hands of maidens to keep them from peris.h.i.+ng, and yet when they are grown up their salvation is endangered if they a.s.sociate with maidens, so the inexperienced and froward youth need to be restrained and trained by the iron bars of ceremonies, lest their unchecked ardor rush headlong into vice after vice. Yet it would be death or them to be always held in bondage to ceremonies, thinking that these justify them. They are rather to be taught that they have been so imprisoned in ceremonies, not that they should be made righteous or gain great merit by them, but that they might thus be kept from doing evil, and might be more easily instructed unto the righteousness of faith. Such instruction they would not endure if the impulsiveness of their youth were not restrained. Hence ceremonies are to be given the same place in the life of a Christian as models and plans have among builders and artisans. They are prepared not as permanent structures, but because without them nothing could be built or made. When the structure is completed they are laid aside. You see, they are not despised, rather, they are greatly sought after; but what we despise is the false estimate of them, since no one holds them to be the real and permanent structure. If any man were so egregiously foolish as to care for nothing all his life long except the most costly, careful and persistent preparation of plans and models, and never to think of the structure itself, and were satisfied with his work in producing such plans and mere aids to work, and boasted of it, would not all men pity his insanity, and estimate that with what he has wasted something great might have been built? Thus we do not despise ceremonies and works, nay, we set great store by them; but we despise the false estimate placed upon works, in order that no one may think that they are true righteousness, as those hypocrites believe who spend and lose their whole lives in zeal for works, and never reach that for the sake of which the works are to be done; as the Apostle says, "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." [2 Tim. 3:7]

For they seem to wish to build, they make their preparations, and yet they never build, Thus they remain caught in the form of G.o.dliness and do not attain unto its power [2 Tim. 3:5]. Meanwhile they are pleased with their efforts, and even dare to judge all others whom they do not see s.h.i.+ning with a like show of works. Yet with the gifts of G.o.d which they have spent and abused in vain they might, if they had been filled with faith, have accomplished great things to the salvation of themselves and of others.

[Sidenote: Men Need to be Taught of G.o.d]

But since human nature and natural reason, as it is called, are by nature superst.i.tious and ready to imagine, when laws and works are prescribed, that righteousness must be obtained through them; and further, since they are trained and confirmed in this opinion by the practice of all earthly lawgivers, it is impossible that they should of themselves escape from the slavery of works and come to a knowledge of the liberty of faith. Therefore there is need of the prayer that the Lord may give us [John 6:45] and make us _theodidacti_, that is, taught of G.o.d, and Himself, as He has promised, write His law in our hearts; otherwise there is no hope for us. For if He Himself do not teach our hearts this wisdom hidden in a mystery [1 Cor. 2:7], nature can only condemn it and judge it to be heretical, because nature is offended by it and regards it as foolishness. So we see that it happened in olden times, in the case of the Apostles and prophets, and so G.o.dless and blind popes and their flatterers do to me and to those who are like me. May G.o.d at last be merciful to them and to us, and cause His face to s.h.i.+ne upon us [Ps. 67:1 f.], that we may know His way upon earth. His salvation among all nations, G.o.d, Who is blessed forever [2 Cor. 11:31]. Amen.

FOOTNOTES

[1] See below, page 304.

[2] Sylvester Prierias. See Vol. I, p. 338.

[3] Cf. Preface to Prierias' Epitome, _Weimar Ed._, VI, 329.

[4] Virgil, _Georgics_, I, 514.

[5] Pope Eugene III, 1145-1153, for whom Bernard of Clairvaux wrote a devotional book, _De consideratione_, in which he rehea.r.s.ed the duties and the dangers of the pope. See Realencyklopadie II, 632; Kohler, Luther u. die Kirchengeschichte, 311 f. Cf. Resolutiones disput. de indulg. virtute, 1518, Clemen, 1, 113.

[6] John Maier, born in Eck an der Gunz, and generally known as John Eck; an ambitious theologian, who first attacked his professor in Freiburg, then Erasmus' Annotations to the New Testament, and next wrote against Luther's XCV Theses (see Vol. I, 10, 176, etc.). He was the opponent of Luther and Carlstadt at the Leipzig Disputation (1519), to which Luther here refers.

[7] Jacopo de Vio, born in Gaeta, Italy, in 1469, died in 1534. The name Cajetan he derived from his birthplace, the Latin name of which is Cajeta. In the Dominican Order he was known as Thomas, so that his writings are published under the t.i.tle, _Thomae de Vio Cajetani opera_. He was made cardinal-presbyter with the t.i.tle of S. Sisto in 1517, and in the following year was sent as papal legate to the Diet of Augsburg. Here he met and examined Luther, but accomplished nothing because he insisted that Luther must recant. See Kolde in Realencyklopadie 3, 632 ff.

[8] Carl von Milt.i.tz was educated at Cologne, was prebendary at Mainz, Trier and Meissen, and later went to Rome, where he acted as agent for Frederick, Elector of Saxony, and Duke George the Bearded. "After the endeavours of Cardinal Cajetan to silence Luther had failed, Milt.i.tz appeared to be the person most suited to bring the negotiations to a successful ending." (_Catholic Encyclopedia_, X, 318, where, however, the statement that Milt.i.tz was educated at Mainz, Trier and Meissen is evidently a slip.) It seems that Milt.i.tz returned to Rome for a time, but in 1522 again came to Germany, where he was drowned in the Main, November 20, 1529. See Flathe, Art. _Milt.i.tz, in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie_, 21, 759 f.

[9] The German reads: "Thus I always did what was required of me, and neglected nothing which it was my duty to do."

[10] This was the usual t.i.tle of the pope, with which the bull of excommunication opened: _Leo Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei_.

[11] See above, pp. 298, 300, and compare the letters of Milt.i.tz to the elector Frederick in Smith, _Luther's Correspondence_, I, pp. 367 f.

[12] Here the German is more accurate: "Every Christian man."

[13] German: _Wie man sein brauchen und niessen soll_, "how we are to benefit by and enjoy what He is for us."

[14] German: _der heubt gerechtigkteit._

[15] Possibly a reminiscence of the _Leviathan serpentem tortuosum_ in Isa. 27:1. Cf. _Erl. Ed._, xxiv, 73; xxvii, 323 f; xviii, 91. Lemme translates _Teuelswahn_.

[16] German: _die fasten und gepett etiichen heyligen so derlich gethan_.

A BRIEF EXPLANATION (EINE KURZE FORM) OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, THE CREED, AND THE LORD'S PRAYER

1520

INTRODUCTION

The work here presented bears the German t.i.tle, _Eine kurze Form der zehn Gebote, eine kurze Form des Glaubens, eine kurze Form des Vaterunsers_. It is the most important of Luther's catechetical works prior to the Catechisms of 1529, and deserves the name that has been given it, "the first evangelical catechism."[1]

To be sure, the name "catechism" was not applied to the _Kurze Form_ at the time. In mediaeval usage "catechism" was the name for oral instruction in the elements of Christian truth. This instruction had been based from time immemorial upon the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.

The decalogue held a minor place and was overshadowed by the commandments of the church. During the later Middle Ages the influence of the sacrament of penance gave it a higher position. It gradually became a subject of "catechetical" instruction, but only alongside of the other standards for the cla.s.sification of sins.[2] It was the work of Luther so to expound the Ten Commandments as to give them a permanent place of their own in Christian instruction, side by side with the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.

The first manuals of instruction of this kind were prepared for the use of the priests, to guide them in the questioning of penitents, but with the discovery of the art of printing popular hand-books for the use of the laity became more and more common, and with certain of these manuals Luther was familiar.[3]

From the beginning of his ministry at Wittenberg, Luther had preached from time to time upon the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. In 1518 his friend Agricola published a series of sermons on the Lord's Prayer which Luther had preached in Lent, 1517.[4] In the same year Luther published his own _Kurze Auslegung der zehn Gebote, ihrer Erfullung und Uebertretung_.[5] The year 1519 saw the publication of the _Kurze Form das Paternoster zu verstehen und zu beten_, and the _Kurze und gute Auslegung des Vaterunsers vor sich und hinter sich_.[7]

The _Treatise on Good Works_[8], which is essentially an exposition of the decalogue, was written in the early months of 1520. During the same period the mind of Luther was frequently occupied with the abuses of the confessional, as we learn from the _Confitendi Ratio_,[9] and the _Kurze Unterweisung wie man beichten soil_.[10] All the material for the first and third parts of the present work was, therefore, in hand and had appeared in print before 1520.

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 pa.s.sages 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 t.i.tle _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._, x.x.x', 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.