res: "The Small
Lutheran Catechism can be read and spoken throughout with a praying
heart; in short, it can be prayed. This can be said of no other
catechism. It contains the most definitive doctrine, resisting every
perversion, and still it is not polemical--it exhales the purest air of
peace. In it is expressed the manliest and most developed knowledge, and
yet it admits of the most blissful contemplation the soul may wish for.
It is a confession of the Church, and of all, the best known, the most
universal, in which God's children most frequently meet in conscious
faith, and still this universal confession speaks in a most pleasing
personal tone. Warm, hearty, childlike, yet it is so manly, so
courageous, so free the individual confessor speaks here. Of all the
confessions comprised in the Concordia of 1580, this is the most
youthful, the clearest, and the most penetrating note in the harmonious
chime, and, withal, as rounded and finished as any. One may say that in
it the firmest objectiveness appears in the garb of the most pleasing
subjectiveness."

Schmauk writes: "The Small Catechism is the real epitome of Lutheranism
in the simplest, the most practical, the most modern and living, and, at
the same time, the most radical form. It steers clear of all obscure
historical allusions; it contains no condemnatory articles, it is based
on the shortest and the oldest of the ecumenical symbols. It is not a
work for theologians, but for every Lutheran; and it is not nearly as
large as the Augsburg Confession." (_Conf. Prin.,_ 696.)

McGiffert says: "In 1529 appeared his [Luther's] Large and Small
Catechisms, the latter containing a most beautiful summary of Christian
faith and duty, wholly devoid of polemics of every kind, and so simple
and concise as to be easily understood and memorized by every child. It
has formed the basis of the religious education of German youth ever
since. Though preceded by other catechisms from the pen of this and that
colleague or disciple, it speedily displaced them all, not simply
because of its authorship, but because of its superlative merit, and has
alone maintained itself in general use. The versatility of the Reformer
in adapting himself with such success to the needs of the young and
immature is no less than extraordinary. Such a little book as this it is
that reveals most clearly the genius of the man." (_Life of Luther,_
316.)

O. Albrecht writes: "Reverently adhering to the church