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.