Walther: All Reformed sects... were first Lutheran

I spoke in an earlier blog of the confusion of CPH editors on what a "sect" actually is.  It is especially troubling when they attribute their confusion to C.F.W. Walther, since he left no doubt of what constitutes a "sect".  Here is one of his more forceful statements on this subject:

Addresses and Prayers
by C.F.W. Walther
Tr. by Joel R. Baseley

"All of the sects, which have separated from the papacy, were originally Lutheran Churches. The Swiss, the French, the Dutch, the English and the Scottish, so-called Reformed sects were all originally Lutheran, and they have Luther’s Reformation to thank for whatever good things they still retain. Their first martyrs were Lutheran martyrs and were slain, decapitated, burned, entombed alive, hanged, drowned, and assassinated by poison, and the like, by the papists as Lutherans. Indeed, these sects all claim to be more purified of papistic error than the Lutheran Church, but their alleged greater purity consists of their having rejected those doctrines which they cannot, in any way, force to harmonize with their reason." – From Addresses and Prayers, by C.F.W. Walther, page 13, translation by Pastor Joel Baseley from the German Ansprachen und Gebete, page 11.

Today the sects rarely, if ever, thank Luther's Reformation... maybe even criticize and condemn Luther?   Well then we see how much they have departed even from their own roots.

Oh, but what about those who would call themselves by the name "Lutheran", yes, even today's LC-MS?  Didn't they condemn Luther and don't they now even speak of the Bible as a "plastic text"?  Oh, now who's calling who a "sect"?