ons.

Luther not only stirred up others to bring the Catechism back into use,
but himself put his powerful shoulder to the wheel. From the very
beginning he was, time and again, occupied with reading the text of the
Catechism to the people, and then explaining it in sermons. From the end
of June, 1516, to Easter, 1517, he preached on the Ten Commandments and
the Lord's Prayer. (W. 1, 394; 2, 74; 9, 122.) In 1518 the explanation
of the Ten Commandments appeared in print: "_Decem Praecepta
Wittenbergensi Praedicata Populo._ The Ten Commandments Preached to the
People of Wittenberg." (1, 398. 521.) Oecolampadius praised the work,
saying that Luther had here "taken the veil from the face of Moses."
Sebastian Muenster said: Luther explains the Ten Commandments "in such a
spiritual, Christian, and Evangelical way, that its like cannot be
found, though many teachers have written on the subject." (1, 394.)
Agricola published Luther's sermons on the Lord's Prayer at the
beginning of 1518 with some additions of his own, which fact induced
Luther to publish them himself. April 5, 1519, his _Explanation of the
Lord's Prayer in German_ appeared in print. It was intended for the
plain people, "not for the learned." (2, 81 to 130.) July 2, 1519, the
Humanist Beatus Rhenanus wrote to Zwingli that he would like to see this
explanation of the Lord's Prayer offered for sale throughout all
Switzerland, in all cities, markets, villages, and houses. Mathesius
reports: "At Venice Doctor Martin's Lord's Prayer was translated into
Italian, his name being omitted. And when the man saw it from whom the
permission to print it was obtained, he exclaimed: Blessed are the hands
that wrote this, blessed the eyes that see it, and blessed will be the
hearts that believe this book and cry to God in such a manner." (W. 2,
75.) This work passed through many editions. In 1520 it appeared in
Latin and Bohemian, and as late as 1844 in English. March 13, 1519,
Luther wrote to Spalatin: "I am not able to turn the Lord's Prayer
[Explanation of the Lord's Prayer in German of 1518] into Latin, being
busy with so many works. Every day at evening I pronounce the
commandments and the Lord's Prayer for the children and the unlearned,
then I preach." (Enders 1, 449.) Thus Luther preached the Catechism,
and at the same time was engaged in publishing it.

The _Brief Instruction How to Confess,_ printed 1519, was also
essentially an explanation of the Ten Commandments. I