Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/64

 52 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE the Ten Commandments, on the various kinds of sins, and on preparation for the Holy Communion. 1 Conspicuous among such works is the ' Confession Book' which Johannes Wolf, chaplain of St. Peter's, Frankfort-on-the-Main, prepared for the press in the year 1473. It begins with an admirable preface for chil- dren about to make their first confession, and then proceeds with catechetical instruction on faith, hope, and love, based on the Ten Commandments. With regard to the images of the saints it says : 'We must honour them not for themselves, but as reminders of what they represent, in the same manner as the Church does, otherwise it would be idolatry.' The chapter on the fourth commandment, which treats of the dut}^ of children to their parents after the flesh, as also to their spiritual parents, to their schoolmasters and earthly superiors, is particularly instructive. With regard to the treatment of the aged poor it says : ' They are as fathers and mothers on account of their age, and represent Jesus.' ' Have I ridiculed the poor ? Have I respected them ? Have I visited them and given them to eat and to drink ? Have I treated them rudely or made them stand at my door ? Christians should consider their superfluities as belonging to the poor. 1 See Falk On Confession Books, pp. 38-44, 99-104. See Miinzberger, iii. 33 ; Hasak, Religious Literature, fol. 214. See Knecht, Magazin fur PedagogiJc, Bihtebuch, dabey die Bezeiclmunge der heiligen Afesse. These ' Confession Books ' are of the highest importance as showing how the Church opposed superstition (called ' Diseased ' or ' Unbelief '). The work Christliche Glaube, dc, by Hasak, is invaluable as an epitome of nearly ninety different books, designed principally for the people, and written between 1470 and 1520. In Die Religiose Litteratur, p. 240, Hasak says : ' In going over the religious literature of the declining cen- tury not once can it be found asserted that man could be reconciled to God by outward works without proper inward feeling.'