s does it tell me what I am, what I need, and where and how
to get what I need. It takes me to the wells of salvation. It draws
from them living water. It holds it to my parched lips. It gathers the
precious manna of the Word, and feeds me when I am faint and weary.

Such is Luther's Small Catechism. Is it any wonder that we love
it? Is it any wonder that we count the study of it a part of the Way
of Salvation in the Lutheran Church?

We have something yet to say on the manner of teaching it and the
results of faithful teaching and learning.

CHAPTER XI.

MANNER AND OBJECT OF TEACHING LUTHER'S CATECHISM

We have spoken of the importance of catechisation. We have seen
that Luther's Small Catechism is indeed a priceless Bible manual. It
sets before us, in matchless order, God's plan of salvation. It is so
full and yet so brief, so doctrinal and yet so warm and hearty. "The
only Catechism," says Dr. Loehe, "that can be prayed." "It may be
bought for sixpence," says Dr. Jonas, "but six thousand worlds could
not pay for it."

No wonder that no book outside of the Bible has been translated
into so many languages, or circulated so widely. Thirty-seven years
after its publication one hundred thousand copies were in circulation.
The first book translated into any of the dialects of the American
Indian, it was from its pages that the red man read his first lessons
concerning the true God, and his own relations to that God. At the
present day it is taught in ten different languages in our own land.

And yet how sadly neglected and abused, even by those who bear
its author's name! It is neglected, if not entirely ignored, in
countless Lutheran homes and Sunday-schools. It is even neglected by
many so-called Lutheran pastors. They set at naught the testimony of
nearly four centuries. They set their own opinions above the testimony
of the wisest, as well as the most deeply spiritual and consecrated
witnesses of their own Church. They prefer the baseless, shallow,
short-cut methods of this superficial age. Some of them have even
joined in the cry of the fanatic, and called all catechisation in the
Church dead formalism! Fortunately, their number is growing rapidly
less, and many, who were for a while carried away with the tide of new
measures, are asking for and returning to the good and tried old ways.

Not only is this Catechism neglected, but it is