Martin Luthers Large Catechism | Page 6

the rules and customs of his trade is
expelled and considered incapable. Therefore we must have the young
learn the parts which belong to the Catechism or instruction for
children well and fluently and diligently exercise themselves in them
and keep them occupied with them.
Therefore it is the duty of every father of a family to question and
examine his children and servants at least once a week and to ascertain
what they know of it, or are learning and, if they do not know it, to
keep them faithfully at it. For I well remember the time, indeed, even
now it is a daily occurrence that one finds rude, old persons who knew
nothing and still know nothing of these things, and who, nevertheless,
go to Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and use everything belonging to
Christians, notwithstanding that those who come to the Lord's Supper
ought to know more and have a fuller understanding of all Christian
doctrine than children and new scholars. However, for the common
people we are satisfied with the three parts, which have remained in
Christendom from of old, though little of it has been taught and treated
correctly until both young and old who are called and wish to be
Christians, are well trained in them and familiar with them. These are
the following:
First.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain [for the
Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain].
3. Thou shalt sanctify the holy-day. [Remember the Sabbath-day to
keep it holy.]
4. Thou shalt honor thy father and mother [that thou mayest live long
upon the earth].
5. Thou shalt not kill.
6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7. Thou shalt not steal.
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor
his maidservant, nor his cattle [ox, nor his ass], nor anything that is his.
Secondly.
THE CHIEF ARTICLES OF OUR FAITH.
1. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
2. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by
the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hell; the third day
He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come
to judge the quick and the dead.
3. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy Christian Church, the
communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the
body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Thirdly.
THE PRAYER, OR "OUR FATHER," WHICH CHRIST TAUGHT
Our Father who art in heaven.
1. Hallowed be Thy name.
2. Thy kingdom come.
3. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
4. Give us this day our daily bread.
5. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us.
6. And lead us not into temptation.
7. But deliver us from evil. [For Thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory, forever and ever.] Amen.
These are the most necessary parts which one should first learn to
repeat word for word and which our children should be accustomed to
recite daily when they arise in the morning when they sit down to their
meals, and when they retire at night; and until they repeat them, they
should be given neither food nor drink. Likewise every head of a
household is obliged to do the same with respect to his domestics,
ma-servants and maid-servants and not to keep them in his house if
they do not know these things and are unwilling to learn them. For a
person who is so rude and unruly as to be unwilling to learn these
things is not to be tolerated, for in these three parts everything that we
have in the Scriptures is comprehended in short, pain, and simple terms.

For the holy Fathers or apostles (whoever they were) have thus
embraced in a summary the doctrine, life, wisdom, and art of Christians,
of which they speak and treat, and with which they are occupied. Now,
when these three arts are apprehended, it behooves a person also to
know what to say concerning our Sacraments, which Christ Himself
instituted, Baptism and the holy body and blood of Christ, namely, the
text which Matthew [28, 19 ff.] and Mark [16, 15 f.] record at the close
of their Gospels when Christ said farewell to His disciples and sent
them forth.
OF BAPTISM.