"On Preaching" from the Confessions (#4)

"When you preach to intelligent and educated people, you are at liberty to exhibit your learning and to discuss these topics [the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments] from different angles and in such a variety of ways as you may be capable of. But when you are teaching the young, adhere to a fixed and unchanging form and method. Begin by teaching them the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, etc., following the text word for word so that the young may repeat these things after you and retain them in their memory."

(Tappert, The Book of Concord. Fortress Press: Philadelphia, 1959, p.339; Preface to the Small Catechism: 9-10.)