CHAPTER II.

THE CATECHISM.


The object of catechetical instruction is to fit us for communicant
membership in the Church. Those who were baptized in infancy are members
of the Church; but they are not admitted to the Lord's Supper, and hence
do not become communicant members, until they have been instructed and
confirmed.

Luther's Small Catechism is our text-book for catechetical instruction.
It is not only the best book for this purpose, but is one of the
Confessions of our Church, and should become our personal confession of
faith, it is called Luther's _Small_ Catechism, because Luther wrote a
larger one also.

THE AUTHOR of our catechism was Dr. Martin Luther (b. 1483, d. 1546),
the great Reformer, through whom God effected the Reformation of the
Church, in the sixteenth century. He began the Reformation with his
Ninety-five Theses against the sale of indulgences, contended against
the many errors and abuses that had crept into the Church, and preached
and taught the pure truth of the Gospel, until his death. (Ninety-five
Theses, 1517; Translation of the Bible into German, 1522-34; Larger and
Smaller Catechisms, 1529; Augsburg Confession adopted 1530.)