Foreword

This small book, originally conceived as a sermon, was designed to instruct children and those with little formal education. For this reason, it has been called a "Catechism" since ancient times, a Greek word meaning a method of teaching suited to children. Its contents represent the bare minimum of what every Christian needs to know. Anyone who doesn't have this knowledge cannot rightly be counted among Christians or admitted to the sacraments, just as a craftsman who doesn't know the basic rules and customs of his trade is turned away as unqualified. For this reason, young people should be thoroughly taught each section of the Catechism and consistently trained to put it into practice.

It is equally the duty of every father to question his children and household servants at least once a week, asking what they know and what they have learned. When they don't know it, he should firmly require them to learn it. I can still remember a time when grown adults, well advanced in years, were completely ignorant of these things, and honestly, that time hasn't fully passed even now. People like this still turn up every day, yet they claim the rights of godparents and take the Lord's Supper, freely exercising every privilege of the Christian life, even though it's obvious that those who receive communion should be better instructed and hold a more mature understanding of Christian teaching than children and beginners. Still, for ordinary people, we would be satisfied if they simply learned the three parts that the Christian church has received as an inheritance from earlier generations, even though these were rarely taught or practiced correctly, until everyone who bears the name of Christian, young and old alike, is thoroughly grounded and at home in them.