Excerpt from Catechisations on Luther's Small Catechism

One of the weaknesses of our Sunday-school teaching has hitherto been that it made too little use of this Layman's Bible. Luther placed over each one of the chief parts the words: As the head of the family should teach them in all simplicity to his house hold. If the head of the average family is expected to teach the catechism it is certainly not asking too much of the average Sunday school teacher to teach it. What more important things can we teach children than the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the Sacraments?

Let us not overlook the importance of memory work. Memory is about the first mental faculty that begins to develop in the child, and it should be given first attention. Teach the infant classes the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer. Then go on to the Creed. After this let the primary classes memorize a few of the simpler proof passages under the Ten Commandments and the Creed. Our Book Concern is publishing these passages in card form, selected according to the age and ability of the scholar. Let the intermediate classes go on and memorize Luther's explanation of the Command ments, the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. Then go on in the more advanced classes with the Sacraments. Thus in a few years the whole text of the Catechism and all the principal proof passages will have been committed to memory.

But we believe more can be done to teach the Catechism in the Sunday-school than mere memory work. The Pastor should catechise the whole school on some portion of the Catechism every Sunday. And teachers 'of more advanced classes can very profitably make use of the Catechism as a text book. This volume of catechisations has been prepared as an aid to teachers in this work. It presupposes scholars of the age of about thirteen or fourteen years who have studied Bible History and memorized the text of the Catechism and its chief proof passages. It is intended as an illustration of hdw to teach the Catechism in the Sunday-school. Each scholar should have a copy of the Catechism published by our, Ohio Synod, to which the numbers in parentheses refer, and also a Bible for ready reference. The looking up of proof passages is of the greatest importance. Our children should get better acquainted with their Bibles and a little practice will enable them to turn to any passage at a moment's notice.

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