StL8c: Papist writings now accessible; priorities for lay vs. advanced readers

      This concludes from Part 8b (Table of Contents in Part 1) in a series on the St. Louis Edition (StL) of Luther's complete writings in English. —  Fuerbringer points out another reason for including the papist documents – that it helps to understand the Roman anti-christianity “from its own words.” That has been what I have tried to do in this blog in my polemical writings. — Then our essayist offers helpful advice for his readers, and me. 

(From Der Lutheraner, vol. 55 p. 218-219 (No. 15, Nov. 28,  1899)[EN] (all underlining follows Fuerbringer's emphasis):

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[Review by L. Fuerbringer; concluded from Part 8b]

Documents belonging to the

history of the Reformation. A. Against the Papists.

From the years 1517 to 1524.

Thus, too, the reading of the papist writings contained in the present volume, [Page 219] which would otherwise be accessible only to a few, will serve to make out the abominable Roman antichristianity in its true form from its own words. If, for example, one reads only the papal bulls and letters of indulgence presented here in print, then one understands how Luther could on one occasion write in holy anger and zeal of the great Antichrist, the Roman pope: “O, what a depth of his wickedness, his avarice and his robbery! How innumerable are his thefts and immeasurable his robberies! For who has known the shrine of his heart? Or who has given anything to the church before that he has not robbed afterwards? For from him, through him and in him are all the evils of the church. To him be horror and shame for all eternity. Amen.” (XIV, 427)

In the foregoing it is already indicated that this new volume contains not so much Luther's own writings as it does, above all, the most valuable and interesting pieces of records and documents on the history of the Reformation, partly in the language and spelling of the time. To prevent all misunderstandings, we want to have this said again and explicitly. Our lay readers should, of course, first and foremost read Luther's own writings. We recall here only [ref. Part 1 table]

• the magnificent catechetical writings (Volume X), which so deeply affect the daily life of the Christian, 

• the excellent, unique Church Postil (Volumes XI and XII), 

• the pithy House Postil (Volume XIII), Luther's mighty and spiritually powerful interpretations of Scripture, such as the First Book of Moses (Volumes I and II), 

• the Epistle to the Galatians (Volume IX), 

• the Sermon on the Mount and the Gospel of John (Volumes VII and VIII), 

and so on. Whoever does not have one of these volumes should first reach for it and get to know the greatest teacher since the time of the apostles from his writings. But whoever already has several of the volumes mentioned, should also reach for the newly published one, in order to take a close look at the great time with its struggles and victories. And above all, our pastors and teachers should familiarize themselves with the contents of this important volume as well, in order to learn to understand the Reformation period and the Reformation work better and better. And therefore we have written the detailed advertisement of this part, for the best appearance and excellent decoration we again all have reason to be heartily grateful. L. F. [Ludwig Fürbringer]

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      It is sad for me how the LC-MS shows its glaring weakness by its acceptance of individual Popes, even praising some of them by some of its pastors.  They have been deceived.  Listen to Luther, not today's LC-MS which is going the way of the German church that was doing the same thing at Walther's time.

      Fuerbringer may not be as impassioned as Walther, Pieper, and A. L. Graebner, but he is helpful to readers who may be puzzled on which volumes to purchase and in what order. It was helpful to me as I researched which reviews and which volumes to highlight on this blog. May his advice be helpful to this blog's readers as they choose what to read from Luther. In the next Part 9a…

StL8b: History—rich content; so many gruesome papist writings

      This continues from Part 8a (Table of Contents in Part 1) in a series on the St. Louis Edition (StL) of Luther's complete writings in English. — We pickup the final listing of the content, then Fuerbringer addresses a point that may strike some readers – the inclusion of so many papist writings. His defense of this is helpful. 

(From Der Lutheraner, vol. 55 p. 218-219 (No. 15, Nov. 28,  1899)[EN] (all underlining follows Fuerbringer's emphasis)::

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[Review by L. Fuerbringer; continued from Part 8a]

Documents belonging to the

history of the Reformation. A. Against the Papists.

From the years 1517 to 1524.

The important letters of Luther included in these chapters, 130 in number, are printed together in an appendix and, if possible, provided with the exact dates. In general, the venerable editor of the volume has taken great pains to determine the time of the documents contained therein, which is of great value for the entire history of the early years of the Reformation. Thus, it is a manifold and rich content that is presented to the reader in this large volume, a content whose knowledge is indispensable to those who want to get to know the history of the Reformation of the years 1517-1524 in detail. For this purpose, the present volume is hereby warmly and urgently recommended.

Some readers, however, who acquire this volume and look at and study it more closely, might be disconcerted by the fact that it also contains so many gruesome papist writings. What is the purpose of these, if they are otherwise necessary for a complete historical account, in an edition of Luther's works? Here we should note what Prof. Hoppe states in his preface, namely, that Luther himself repeatedly had the most wretched works of his papist adversaries printed right in the early years. The truth is quite clearly recognized in contrast to error. “Through the opposition of the papist darkness, the light of the Gospel, which Luther has put back on the lampstand for us, the great grace of God granted to us in the same, only comes forth in full splendor and encourages us to praise and glory for God's bestowal of grace upon us.” So it is rightly said on page V. And when Luther in 1538 once again published a Papist pamphlet, he introduced this with the following words: “Our people would, in my opinion and advice, truly do very well if they took care that this and similar books were preserved for the descendants, in order to perceive and hand down to memory the incredible and innumerable cunning of Satan, which reigns in the Roman court, the den of sin and ruin.” “Therefore, if this and similar books (as I have said) are preserved and brought down to posterity, it will be useful and salutary, not only for Germany, but also for the whole world, against this exceedingly shameful mountain of Roman Babel, which corrupts all the world.” (St. Louis Edition XIV, 422 f., 426) 

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      It is sad for me how the LC-MS shows is glaring weakness by its acceptance of individual Popes, even praising some of them by some of its pastors.  They have been deceived.  Listen to Luther (i.e. Back To Luther), not today's LC-MS. — In Part 8c the conclusion to Fuerbringer's review…

StL8a: Fuerbringer on Vol. 15, Reformation History (Der Lutheraner 1899)

      This continues from Part 7b (Table of Contents in Part 1) in a series on the St. Louis Edition (StL) of Luther's complete writings in English. — This new 3-part sub-series #8 presents Prof. Ludwig Fuerbringer's announcement and review of the St. Louis Edition Volume 15, the first of 4 volumes presenting Reformation history.  These books are important to me to give a more complete history than that of the CPH American Edition which sometimes inserts distorted unscriptural interpretations and opinions, and leaves out many writings of the opposing Papists (and Reformed). 

(From Der Lutheraner, vol. 55 p. 218-219 (No. 15, Nov. 28,  1899)[EN] (all underlining follows Fuerbringer's emphasis)::

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Dr. Martin Luther's

Complete Writings,

Fifteenth volume.

Reformation Writings.

First part. The Documents belonging to the

history of the Reformation. A. Against the Papists.

From the years 1517 to 1524.

Published anew by order of the Ministry of the German Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other states. St. Louis, Mo. Concordia Publishing House. 1899.

L pages (preface and index) and 2647 columns (text). Price: $5.00 bound in sheepskin.

The careful and tireless editor, Prof. A. F. Hoppe, dated the Foreword to the present volume of our large and beautiful Luther edition at the last Reformation festival. And the whole volume now appears a few weeks after this year's celebration of the Reformation Feast, just in time to hopefully be placed on the Christmas table of many a reader of this paper, many a faithful Lutheran, as a welcome gift. Hardly any other part of the collected works of Luther leads so vividly into the history of that great period of the Reformation years as the newly published one. Step by step, the unique events of the years 1517 to 1524 are presented to us in the relevant documents. 

1. The first chapter shows, in 104 longer or shorter documents, the horrible evil and terrible destruction in the Roman Church, especially Tetzel's indulgences, which gave rise to Luther's 95 Theses and thus to the beginning of the Reformation work. 

2. The second chapter describes in 59 documents the beginning of the Reformation, Luther's opposition to indulgences and the papal countermeasures up to the Imperial Diet in Augsburg in 1518. 

3. The third chapter presents the history of this Diet in 84 numbers, especially the well-known disputations between Luther and the papal delegate Cajetan. 

4. The fourth chapter brings in 103 documents of the equally known negotiations of Luther with the second papal delegate Carl von Miltitz. 

5. Particularly detailed is the fifth chapter, which presents the complete history of the famous Leipzig disputation between the papal Dr. Eck on the one hand and Dr. Luther and Dr. Carlstadt on the other hand in 77 different documents on no less than 576 columns. 

6. No less interesting is the sixth chapter, which contains the entire history of the ban imposed on Luther by the Pope and its consequences in 90 documents. 

7. The seventh chapter then leads into the time of the famous Diet of Worms in 1521, when Luther, because he did not want to recant, was put under imperial ban and led by his Elector on his way home from Worms to Wartburg Castle for protection (102 documents). 

8. This is followed in the eighth chapter by an account of what happened during Luther's stay in his Patmos at the Wartburg, namely in Wittenberg, and how Luther was prompted by Carlstadt's iconoclasm to leave his safe haven and return to Wittenberg (91 documents). 

9. Finally, the ninth chapter reports on the two imperial congresses at Nuremberg in 1522 and 1524 and their consequences (49 numbers). 

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Fuerbringer's listing was helpful to me for a short overview of the major events from the earlier period of Luther's Reformation. — You won't meet with comments by questionable historians in the St. Louis Edition. — In Part 8b…

StL7b: Luther's Galatians exceeds fathers; Justification of poor sinner; Bookmarks

      This concludes from Part 7a (Table of Contents in Part 1) in a series on the St. Louis Edition (StL) of Luther's complete writings in English. — In this concluding installment of sub-series #7, Prof. Graebner launches one of the most powerful, brief introductions of Luther's Galatians commentary ever written.  I took time to reformat the text to highlight its power. 

(From Der Lutheraner, vol. 49 p. 188 (No. 11, Nov. 21, 1893)[EN] (bolding, reformatting are mine):

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[review by Prof. A. L. Graebner; concluded from Part 7a]

Ninth volume. Interpretation of the New Testament. Conclusion. 

Luther's larger interpretation of the Epistle to the Galatians and the other exegetical writings.

The noblest pearl among Luther's writings mentioned here is, and remains, the great exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians, which fills 773 columns in this edition. Since the last of the blessed Apostles [Paul], who wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, laid down his pen, no writing has come to light on the face of the earth and come down to our time which, with the same volume, would have as precious a content as this interpretation of Paul's letter to the Galatians. 

• Athanasius, the greatest theologian of Christian antiquity, 

• Augustine, 

• Ambrose, 

• Chrysostom, 

• Jerome, who lived and worked before the night of Papism fell, 

• Chemnitz, 

• Gerhard 

and all their highly gifted contemporaries in the great choir of orthodox theologians of the Lutheran Church have no worthy equal to this book to show in all their writings, and even among Luther's writings there is none of the same scope that shone with the same brilliance as 

this precious jewel of 

solid, 

heartwarming, 

God-graced 

exposition of Scripture; for nowhere again has Luther, this great preacher of righteousness, 

so richly and extensively, 

so deeply and highly, 

so brightly and clearly, 

so intimately and warmly and sweetly, 

so movingly and ravishingly and overwhelmingly 

dealt with 

the great, glorious chief doctrine 

of Scripture and the Christian faith 

of the justification of the poor sinner 

by grace 

for Christ's sake 

through faith, 

as in this exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians. This is mainly to be explained by the fact that, apart from the Epistle to the Romans, no other book of Holy Scripture introduces so deeply into the understanding of this doctrine and lets it shine so brightly and clearly as does the Epistle to the Galatians, and that we do not have an interpretation of the Epistle to the Romans by Paul's great disciple [Luther] in the context, but that Luther also set down in this explanation of the Epistle to the Galatians what he drew from the deep, full well of the Epistle to the Romans. Blessed, therefore, is the man who, under the Holy Spirit's grace, may 

read this book with devotion, 

grasp its contents with faith, 

feel its sweetness of consolation; 

he will have reason and cause to count the hours he has spent reading this writing among the most blessed hours of his life.

That our Doctor Luther is also a great scriptural scholar and Doctor by God's grace in the other scriptural expositions contained in this volume, even though they do not all bring the riches of doctrine and knowledge to the reader's heart to the same extent and with the same fullness, is believed by everyone who has gone to school with Luther. God grant that many may enjoy and bless this book, so that God may please and bless those who will gratefully use it. The same would certainly also be a welcome Christmas gift from a dear hand to many pious Christians.     A. G. [A. L. Gräbner]

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      Where should one start reading Luther from the St. Louis Edition in English?  Should it not be his Galatians commentary?  Aren't we all in the prison of sin that adheres to us, and so we are like John Bunyan who would agree with Luther, that "it is of great benefit that this doctrine of faith be constantly read and heard." — This series continues in Part 8a. — The following are the initial bookmarks I have set in the Archive.org viewer as I study Luther's Galatians anew:

Foreword ● Explanation & What the Epistle is About ● Chap. 1 ● 2 ● 3 ● 4 ● 5 ● 6

StL7a: A. L. Graebner reviews StL vol. 9, Luther's Galatians

      This continues from Part 6c (Table of Contents in Part 1) in a series on the St. Louis Edition (StL) of Luther's complete writings in English. — This begins a sub-series (#7) on Prof. A. L. Graebner's 1893 promotional announcement of the new volume 9 from publisher Concordia.  I was concerned that Graebner's writing would not reflect the greatness of Walther's promotions, but I was joyfully surprised, even if the writing was shorter than most of Walther's.

(From Der Lutheraner, vol. 49 p. 188 (No. 11, Nov. 21, 1893) [EN]:

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A new volume of Luther's works.

Dr. Martin Luther's Complete Writings. Ninth volume. Interpretation of the New Testament. Conclusion. Luther's larger interpretation of the Epistle to the Galatians and the other exegetical writings. Newly published by order of the Ministry of the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, etc., St. Louis, Concordia Publishing House. 1893. price $3.75.

  

Among all the volumes hitherto published of the new edition, organized at great expense by our Synod, of the writings of the greatest writer since the time of the apostles, there is none, except the two first volumes containing Luther's exposition of the first book of Moses, which to the same extent as this one, which has just been completed in print, deserves to be in constant use, be it in the study room of the preacher, be it in all Christian houses, to be read, reread, read again, studied diligently and persistently, to be locked in the heart with joy as a priceless treasure. For this volume contains, first of all, and in an excellent translation that more closely follows Luther's Latin words and has been prepared for this edition, Luther's precious larger exposition of Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, then Luther's sermon on Eph. 6:10-17, Luther's interpretations of individual parts of the first letter to Timothy, his interpretation of the passage of Tit. 2, 13, his interpretation of the first epistle of St. Peter in the first and second editions of the first epistle to the Galatians, and Luther's interpretation of the first epistle to the Galatians. Petri in the first and second editions, together with five sermons on parts of this letter, his interpretations of the second epistle of Peter, his interpretations of the first letter of St. John and individual parts of it, his interpretation of the epistle of St. Jude, as well as finally “interpretations of many beautiful sayings of holy scripture, which Luther wrote to some in their Bibles”, and “short notes, which Luther wrote with his own hand in his copy of the New Testament”.

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In the concluding Part 7b, Prof. Graebner provides a stirring description of Luther's Galatians commentary that rivals the writings of Walther.

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      Of course Prof. Graebner could not comment on Prof. Jaroslav Pelikan's 1963 CPH American Edition, volumes 26 and 27, "Lectures on Galatians".  It is supremely ironic that Pelikan should be the editor and translator of this magisterial work of Luther, yet then not only leave the LC-MS, but also the Lutheran Church for Greek Orthodoxy, a church which tragically errs on the Doctrine of Justification, the theme of Luther's writing. Now it is my pleasure to present the translation of the St. Louis Edition of the same work of Luther so that one does not have to meet with Pelikan on this, but can read Luther from those who believed that what Luther taught was Scriptural. I will now read Old Missouri's faithful translation from the original Latin, now translated into English. What then of Pelikan's CPH translation?… it is only for reference.

      CPH may be commended for including in their blurb on Vol. 26 the testimony of the English author John Bunyan: "In Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners John Bunyan (1628-88), who was languishing in jail, spoke of 

'the God, in whose hands are all days and ways, did cast into my hand, one day, a book of Martin Luther; it was his comment on the Galatians…this, methinks, I must let fall before all men, I do prefer this book of Martin Luther upon the Galatians, excepting the Holy Bible, before all books that ever I have seen, as most fit for a wounded conscience.'"

     What follows the break below is an embedded Archive viewer of the St. Louis Edition, vol. 9, starting at Luther's Foreword. The next Part 7b will provide bookmarks for the major divisions.

StL6c: Conversion not by own moral improvement, but by grace; best, most reliable edition

      This concludes from Part 6b (Table of Contents in Part 1) in a series on the St. Louis Edition (StL) of Luther's complete writings in English. — In this last installment of sub-series #6, Walther distinguishes Luther's writings from others that either begin to or blatantly mix our works with God's grace in the matter of our salvation. Then comes his trustworthy judgment of the St. Louis Edition.

(From Der Lutheraner, vol. 38 p. 81-82 (No. 11, June 1, 1882)[EN] (all underlining and bolding follows Walther's emphasis):

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Eleventh volume.

Church-Postils. Gospel Part.

[review by C. F. W. Walther; concluded from Part 6b]

 

O dear Lutherans, rejoice then that the precious book, Luther's Church Postils, is presented to you again, and indeed in the most beautiful form and according to the original printings in the pure original text! In this book Luther, in the time of his first love, laid down his true divine teachings, which were opened to him by the Holy Spirit in the hot struggles of his own soul, so deeply, so richly, so ardently, as in no other of his incomparable writings. Whoever has Luther's House Postils already has a priceless treasure, but whoever wants to dig deeper in order to recognize the gold of the thoughts of the all-merciful God that lie hidden in the depths of Scripture and to build his soul on it, has here a treasure trove the like of which cannot be found anywhere else. It is true that Luther's Church Postils demands such readers, who do not find dark spirits in them, who seek only glittering, splendid words, and who do not, in their blindness, regard moral improvement by their own efforts as the true conversion to God, but rather such who have hearts hungering and thirsting for righteousness by grace: but such will not only have their hunger and thirst quenched at this richly laid table, but they will also be made spiritually drunk and given a foretaste of eternal life. 

By the way, this new edition has been prepared with an admirable diligence as well as with exceptional expertise. The entire Lutheran Church is indebted to Professor Stöckhardt in particular, but also to his assistants, for their painstaking and skillful work. Thus we have the best and most reliable edition of this jewel of our Lutheran Church that has ever existed. A new preface of 19 columns gives an exact account of the principles that have been followed in this new edition. Our “Luth. Concordia-Verlag” [Concordia Publishing House] has also done everything to make the work, which is far above all our praise, also worthy of praise and to give it as cheaply as possible. This volume exceeds in size both the first and the second part. It comprises LXXIII (73) and 2429 columns or 1251 pages in large quarto; and yet the copy is sold in good marbled leather binding with gold spine title for the price of $4.75. This is an almost unprecedentedly low price. Whoever can still spare so much, should not hesitate for a moment to purchase the golden book; all the more so, as no one is obligated to purchase the other volumes, if he buys this one part. W. [Walther]

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In the next sub-series we present Prof. A. L. Graebner's short but powerful remarks on the new volume 9, the volume that contains Luther's famous commentary on the Galatians, beginning in Part 7a.

175th, 75th Missouri Synod anniversaries—New & Old

      While working on the issues of Der Lutheraner since Walther's passing up to 1934,  I ran across the extensive celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Old Missouri Synod in 1922, 100 years ago. It occurred to me, as I looked at the calendar that this year, 2022, was the 175th anniversary. So I figured there may be some mention of this on the LCMS website, and indeed there was, with photos and a page for historical reading resources. This blog post will focus on a difference between the images, after 100 years, used to portray the early history. Today the LCMS has 2 banner images: 

(1) on the 'Doctrine" page,

(2) and on their '175 years' page.

 

 

Notice that I have circled the faces of Wilhelm Loehe and C. F. W. Walther.

     One hundred years ago, in the May 2, 1922 issue of Der Lutheraner (vol. 78, no. 9), these were the images that the editors inserted into the essay by Dr. Franz Pieper for the occasion. On page 150 (left) , they inserted a single image, a magnificent photo of Walther in his later years. On page 153, they inserted 3 pictures with a caption reading (translated): 

"Pastors in Germany who have rendered great service to our Synod, especially by training and sending pastors." 

One will notice that 100 years ago, although Loehe was certainly acknowledged for his role in supplying men for the Missouri Synod, the editors' decision to have a much larger image of the German Pastor Friedrich Brunn showed that they considered Brunn's contribution, after Loehe was exposed for his Romanizing tendencies, was at least as important, if not more so, as Loehe's contribution for the Old Missouri Synod.  — In an upcoming blog I will present a translation of Franz Pieper's full essay in 1922 [2024-04-01: added link], which did not mention any names – not even Walther's.  Why? Because he wanted the Synod to focus on what God had done for them.