on, is the goal of all catechetical
instruction. For this reason he added to the ancient chief parts those
of Baptism, Confession, and the Lord's Supper.

Accordingly, both Catechisms, though in various respects, are intended
for all: people, youth, parents, preachers, and teachers. It is not
correct to say that Luther wrote his Large Catechism only for scholars,
and the other only for the unlearned. He desired to instruct all, and,
at the same time, enable parents and pastors to teach. According to
Luther, it is the duty of every Christian to learn constantly, in order
also to be able to teach others in turn. If any one, said he, really no
longer needed the Catechism for himself, he should study it nevertheless
for the sake of the ignorant. Nor did Luther exempt himself from such
study. In the Long Preface to the Large Catechism we read: "But for
myself I say this: I am also a doctor and preacher, yea, as learned and
experienced as all those may be who have such presumption and security;
yet I do as a child who is being taught the Catechism, and every
morning, and whenever I have time, I read and say, word for word the Ten
Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Psalms, etc. And I must
still read and study daily, and yet I cannot master it as I wish, but
must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and am glad so to
remain." (569, 7.)

April 18, 1530, Luther repeated this in a sermon as follows: "Whoever is
able to read, let him, in the morning, take a psalm or some other
chapter in the Bible and study it for a while. For that is what I do.
When I rise in the morning, I pray the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the
Lord's Prayer, and also a psalm with the children. I do so because I
wish to remain familiar with it, and not have it overgrown with mildew,
so that I know it." (W. 32, 65.) In a sermon of November 27, of the same
year, Luther warns: "Beware lest you become presumptuous, as though,
because you have heard it often, you knew enough of the Catechism. For
this knowledge ever desires us to be its students. We shall never finish
learning it, since it does not consist in speech, but in life. ... For I
also, D. M., doctor and preacher, am compelled day by day to pray and to
recite the words of the Decalog, the Symbol, and the Lord's Prayer as
children are wont to do. Hence you need not be ashamed; for much fruit
will result." (209.)

103. Particular Purpose of Large Catechism.

In his sermons of 1529 Luth