[8] Carl von Miltitz was educated at Cologne, was prebendary at Mainz, Trier and Meissen, and later went to Rome, where he acted as agent for Frederick, Elector of Saxony, and Duke George the Bearded. "After the endeavours of Cardinal Cajetan to silence Luther had failed, Miltitz appeared to be the person most suited to bring the negotiations to a successful ending." (_Catholic Encyclopedia_, X, 318, where, however, the statement that Miltitz was educated at Mainz, Trier and Meissen is evidently a slip.) It seems that Miltitz returned to Rome for a time, but in 1522 again came to Germany, where he was drowned in the Main, November 20, 1529. See Flathe, Art. _Miltitz, in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie_, 21, 759 f. [9] The German reads: "Thus I always did what was required of me, and neglected nothing which it was my duty to do." [10] This was the usual title of the pope, with which the bull of excommunication opened: _Leo Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei_. [11] See above, pp. 298, 300, and compare the letters of Miltitz to the elector Frederick in Smith, _Luther's Correspondence_, I, pp. 367 f. [12] Here the German is more accurate: "Every Christian man." [13] German: _Wie man sein brauchen und niessen soll_, "how we are to benefit by and enjoy what He is for us." [14] German: _der heubt gerechtigkteit._ [15] Possibly a reminiscence of the _Leviathan serpentem tortuosum_ in Isa. 27:1. Cf. _Erl. Ed._, xxiv, 73; xxvii, 323 f; xviii, 91. Lemme translates _Teuelswahn_. [16] German: _die fasten und gepett etiichen heyligen so derlich gethan_. A BRIEF EXPLANATION (EINE KURZE FORM) OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, THE CREED, AND THE LORD'S PRAYER 1520 INTRODUCTION The work here presented bears the German title, _Eine kurze Form der zehn Gebote, eine kurze Form des Glaubens, eine kurze Form des Vaterunsers_. It is the most important of Luther's catechetical works prior to the Catechisms of 1529, and deserves the name that has been given it, "the first evangelical catechism."[1] To be sure, the name "catechism" was not applied to the _Kurze Form_ at the time. In mediaeval usage "catechism" was the name for oral instruction in the elements of Christian truth. This instruction had been based from time immemorial upon the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. The decalogue held a minor place and was overshadowed by the commandments of the church. During the later Middle Ages the influence of the sacrament of penance gave it a higher position. It gradually became a subject of "catechetical" instruction, but only alongside of the other standards for the classification of sins.[2] It was the work of Luther so to expound the Ten Commandments as to give them a permanent place of their own in Christian instruction, side by side with the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.