All these writings, which are enumerated so far; go the first main piece of our
Catechism. A similar collection has been made with those in which such matters have been treated by Luther, which belong to the other main piece, Von dem apostolischen Glaubensbekenntniss. They are either general or particular. Of those dealing with faith in general, there are two, one of which is: "Interpretation of the Christian Faith," which is a sermon he gave in Schmalkalden in 1537. For since the Protestant estates had gathered there and he was also present, along with other theologians, because of the Schmalkaldic Articles and their signature, he preached three sermons, two on the Gospel on Sunday Invocavit, and one in the house of the rentmaster, in which he explained the Christian faith briefly, but emphatically, and said at the end: "God grant His Holy Spirit, that we may believe it and die as perfect Christians: this help you and me Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen." This sermon was first published in the Eislebische Theile (Thl. II, p. 370) and subsequently from the same in the Altenburgische (Thl. VI, p. 1117) and Leipzigische (Thl. XXII, p. 113). Of the sermons that Luther held in Schmalkalden in 1537, Christian Münden can be found in the "Historischer Vorbericht zu den Schmalkaldischen Artikeln", § VI.
[The Erlangen edition has reproduced this sermon according to the Eislebische Sammlung, vol. 23, 239-251. ed.]
The other writing here is "The Three Symbols", which Luther translated into German and published with the title: "Die drei Symbola oder Bekenntnisse des Glaubens Christi, in der Kirchen einträchtig gebraucht. Martin Luther", at Wittenberg in 1536 and again in 1538 in quarto. The three Symbola themselves, which he summarizes here, are the Apostolic, Athanasian and the one attributed to Ambrose and Augustine, or the hymn "HErr GOtt, dich loben wir". They precede and are followed by a rather extensive elaboration, in which Luther primarily treats the article of Christ and shows how necessary it is and how Satan can destroy it in many ways, also in
He tried to corrupt the papacy, so that he sometimes contested the divinity, sometimes the humanity of Christ, sometimes what he had done. Finally, he added the Nicene Symbolum. In the preface, he states, among other things, the reason why he had this writing printed, and reports that it was done to the end, so that he thereby once again testifies that he holds with the right Christian, and not with the false and glorious church. This writing has not only been specially printed, as I have already noted, but has also been incorporated into the German and Latin collections. It is found in the Jena (Thl. VI, p. 572), Wittenberg (Thl. VI, p. 122), Altenburg (Thl. VI, p. 1255) and Leipzig (Thl. XXII, p. 102), in the Latin Wittenberg parts (tom. VII, p. 138). What Seckendorf noted of this writing is in his "Histor. Lutheranis- mi," lib. III, § 68, p. 198. In the case of the imprint found in this part, one has previously made a comparison with the first edition cited.
[The Erlanger Ausgabe, Vol. 23, 251-281, cites four editions, three from the year 1538, one with the year 1536. It is questionable, however, whether 1538 should be read instead of 1538. D. Red.]
§ XXXIX.
The special writings belonging to the other main part of the Catechism, which are found together here, concern certain doctrines of faith according to the order of the three main articles. With regard to the first, here are some sermons that Luther preached on the feast of Michaelmas about the angels.
The first one was delivered by him in 1531 in Wittenberg on Matth. 18, I-12. and was published in the same year under the title: "Eine Predigt von den Engel. Mart. Luther" printed there in quarto. One finds this edition in von der Hardt's "Autograph. Luth.", tom. II, p. 165, noted. It is found in the collections of his writings, as, in the Jenaische (Thl. V, p. 340), Wittenbergische (Thl. IV, p. 532), Altenburgische (Thl. V, p. 592) and Leipzigische (Thl. XII, p. 533).
[Luther later added marginal notes to this sermon in his hand copy, which Joh. Just von Einem published in 1729 in a special booklet under the title: "Uebrig gebliebene Bröcklein oder Anmerkungen Dr. M. Luther's; welche er etlichen seiner ersten gedruckten Predigten selbst beigeschrieben. In this new edition, we have also added these marginal notes by Luther to this sermon and inserted them in smaller type at the relevant sections. In his preface, the aforementioned v. Einem says of these marginal notes by Luther: "I consider this rarity by Luther's hand to be worthy; for in this book, the same man has supplemented with all kinds of glosses that which he thought to have been omitted in the sermons that he had previously printed. At the same time, one can see from these marginalia that Luther had the fine habit of always prefixing certain sayings to his meditation, and also to add them to the material that he wanted to present. D. Red.]
The three following "Sermons on the Good and Evil Angels" were also delivered by him in Wittenberg on Michaelmas in 1533; however, they were not printed until 1593. In this year they came to light under the following inscription: "Three Christian, comforting sermons, well founded in the Word of God, on good and evil angels, preached by the venerable and highly learned Martin Luther at Wittenberg on the feast of Michaelmas in 1533. Also indicated on this very title was how they had never been printed before, but had only been communicated in writing to a few kind-hearted Christians, but had now been published from an unsuspected copy by a special lover of Luther's writings. Under such circumstances, they first came into the Altenburg Collection (Thl. VIII, p. 980), and from there into the Leipzig Collection (Thl. XII, p. 539). The first of these sermons Luther held on the evening before St. Michael's Day and the other two on St. Michael's Day before and in the afternoon, which is also a sample of the special diligence that the blessed man showed in preaching.
To these three sermons here is another "Sermon on the Feast of the Holy Angels".
which was preached by Luther in Wittenberg in 1544 and printed there in that year with the title: "Eine Predigt über die Epistel, so man liestet von den heiligen Engel, Apoc. 12. Martin Luther" was printed in quarto. This first edition is published both in von der Hardt's ,,Autogr. Lutheri tom. I, p. 455, as well as in Olearius' Verzeichniß der ,,Autographa Lutheri^, p. 43. The sermon itself is found in the Jenaische Theilen (Thl. VIII, p. 303), in the Wittenbergische (Thl. IV, p. 537), in the Altenburgische (Thl. VIII, p. 356), and in the Leipzigische (Thl. XII, p. 525). [The same sermon also exists in another reading, as it seems to have been written down by a listener, which was published by the Erlangen edition for the first time after a Wolfenbüttel manuscript. We bring here also this reading after the Erlangen edition mentioned]. Such five sermons on the angels, which have now been touched upon, were previously overlooked in the printing done in this part according to their first editions.
[Cf. Ed. 1st ed. 17, 177-238. 2nd ed. 18, 62-78. 19, 55-86. 20b, 193-211. 212-217.]
§ XI,.
As far as the second article of the Christian faith in our Catechism is concerned, one has here the following writings of Luther together:
1) "A Sermon on the Second Article of the Christian Faith of Jesus Christ. These are several sermons which Luther preached at Torgau on Easter in the castle in the presence of the Elector in 1533, and which are especially well known and remarkable because of the doctrine of Christ's descent into hell which he presented in them.
[At first Luther held the opinion that Christ's soul had gone to hell in order to suffer the pains of hell for us, while his body had lain in the grave. However, he later abandoned this opinion and preached already on Easter Eve 1532: "Therefore hold to your childlike faith, which reads thus: I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord.
of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; that is, I believe in the whole man, that he is truly God and truly man, body and soul, undivided, descended into hell and broke hell. The whole person, that is, Jesus Christ, true Son of God and true man, born of Mary, did it. This God and man in One Person went to hell, but did not remain in it. . ." "That this article only remains firm, that our Lord Jesus Christ went down to hell, broke hell, overcame the devil, and redeemed those who were captives of the devil." In this sermon from Torgau, which he preached a year later and which has attained symbolic renown, Luther also teaches the same doctrine, that Christ, while lying in the grave, had at the same time gone down to hell, overcome the devil and hell, and destroyed them. In all three passages, Luther expressly emphasizes that the manner in which this occurred and in which the descent into hell actually consisted is not clear, indeed, incomprehensible to our understanding and can only be grasped by a crude image. D. Red.]
Such a lecture of Luther about the infernal journey of Christ was approved in the Concordia formula (both in the Epitome and in the Solida declaratio, art. IX, p. 865 and 1088 according to Reineccius' edition) and explicitly referred to the Torgau sermon. After this had happened, however, one remained generally in our church with it, whether one did not explain oneself in the same way because of certain circumstances. Luther's opinion of Christ's descent into hell is also presented from this sermon: Daniel Cramer in "Exegema de descensu Christi ad inferos," part. Π, cap. 4, quaest. 1, p. 261; Joh. Meisner in "Tract. de descensu Christi ad inferos", p. 63, and Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf in ,,Historia Lutheranismi", lib. IU, § 24, p. 64; not to mention the others. In the very year that Luther preached these sermons at Torgau, 1533, they were printed for the first time at Wittenberg. See von der Hardt's ,,Autographa Lutheri", tom. I, p. 294; tom. II, p. 179, and Olearius' catalogue of the "Autographa
They are found in the German collections of his writings: in the Jenaische (Thl. VI, p. 66), Wittenbergische (Thl. IV, p. 311), Altenburgische (Thl. VI, p. 63), Leipzigische (Thl. XXII, p. 118) and are now also included in this present part, after they were previously overlooked after the first edition.
[Cf. Erl. ed. 1st ed. 20, 127-179. 2nd ed. 19, 1-55.]
2) Now follows a "Theological Disputation, that in Christ the divine and human nature are united in such a way that Christ is only one person, as well as about the commonality of the mutual peculiar characteristics", which was taken from the Wittenberg Latin parts (tom. I, p. 414) and translated into German by Diaconus Rambach, in this edition, however, it has been reproduced by a new translation.
[Cf. Erl. ed. opp. lat. var. arg. IV, 461-466.]
3) "A Sermon on the Kingdom of Christ on Mich. 5,1.", in which mainly is shown what kind of king Christ is and how it is with his kingdom. It was preached by Luther in 1532 and published together with another sermon under the title: "How the Law and the Gospel are to be distinguished quite thoroughly, Dr. Mart. Luther's sermon. Item, was Christus und sein Königreich sei, aus dem Propheten Micha 5. gepredigt", zu Wittenberg in eben derselben Jahr in Quartiert gedruckt worden, welches ist die Edition, deren man sich bei dem gegenwärtigen Abdruck bedient hat. It is this edition in von der Hardt's ,,Autogr. Luth.", tom. III, p. 215, and Olearius' Verzeichniß der "Autographa Luth.", p. 34.
The sermon "vom Reiche Christi" is found in the Jenaische Theilen (Thl. V, p. 525), in the Wittenbergische (Thl. IV, p. 512), in the Altenburgische (Thl. V, p. 952) and in the Leipzigische (Thl. XII, p. 157). In this Leipzig edition, it has been noted at the same time how the first edition of such sermon differs from the print that is found in the other and previously published collections of Luther's writings.
The first edition of 1532 has only a few additions, which are included for the sake of difference.
However, the text that Walch brings agrees with that of the Jena edition, while it deviates from that of the first printings and the Wittenberg edition. Therefore, for the sake of completeness and comparison, we have added the text as it is found in the first printings. Cf. Erl. 1st ed. 19, 41-52. 2nd ed. 18, 169-189. D. RedJ
4) "Theological disputation on the question of whether the theological proposition: the Word became flesh, is true in philosophy," which Luther denies and says that this is absolutely impossible according to philosophy, and even more so, it is inconsistent. He recalls this especially against the Sorbonne, which made the rather shameful declaration that what is true in theology is also true in philosophy, and calls it a mother of all errors and heresies, on which occasion he insists with much emphasis on the imprisonment of reason in matters of faith. This writing was brought here from the Wittenberg Latin collection of Luther's writings (tom. I, p. 413), after Diaconus Rambach translated it into German, whose translation, however, has been replaced here by a new one.
[Cf. Erl. ed. opp. lat. var. arg. IV, 458-461.]
5) Finally, two sermons "vom -Leiden Christi" are added, which both belong to the year 1518 and were also brought into the German language by Rambach. They are both taken from Dr. Löscher's "Vollständige Reformation-Acten" Vol. II, p. 587 and p. 591, who first had them printed there in Latin from an old manuscript.
[However, these two sermons are also found here in a new translation; at the same time, various distorting inaccuracies in the original text, as Löscher brought it in his Reformation Acts and it has been transferred to the Erlangen edition, have been corrected. Cf. Erl. Opp. lat. var. arg. I, 214-226. ed.]
§ XLI.
For the explanation of the third article and the teachings contained therein, various writings are also collected in this part, namely the following:
1) "Sermon of Sin against the Holy Spirit on the Gospel, Matth. 12, 31. 32."in which Luther shows that one can sin against the Holy Spirit in two ways: First, when one sins because he has not yet recognized the truth, and because in such a state he does not consider the evil he does to be sin, it cannot be forgiven, and the example of Paul before his conversion belongs to this; then, when one knows and has recognized the truth, but nevertheless resists the Holy Spirit, blaspheming him and his word; [this is actually the sin against the Holy Spirit of which Christ speaks]. The sermon was delivered in 1529, and printed in Wittenberg under the title: "Von der Sünde wider den Heiligen Geist, ein Sermon Martin Luther's." (On the sin against the Holy Spirit, a sermon by Martin Luther). In the same year, and in 1534, a new edition was obtained and the "Sermon of Christ's Brothers and Sisters" was added. See pon der Hardt's ,,Autographa Luth.", tom. I, p. 257, tom. II, p. 183, and Olearius' Verzeichnis der ,,Autographa Luth.", p. 30. This sermon is also added to the collections of Luther's writings. It is in the Jena (Thl. IV, p. 473), Wittenberg (Thl. IV, p. 543), Altenburg (Thl. IV, p. 541) and Leipzig (Thl. XIV, p. 670) collections. It is also included in most editions of the Kirchenpostille. Now it has been incorporated into this volume after the first edition.
[Cf. Erl. ed. 23, 70-84.]
2) A "Sermon on the Spiritual Understanding of the Law," which Luther delivered on the third Sunday of Advent 1516 and
3) a "Sermon on the Gospel" preached by him on the second Sunday of Advent in 1516, both translated from Latin into German by Diaconus Rambach and printed here for the first time in this language.
[These two sermons are not found in the older collections. Latin brought
They are first the Erlangen edition (Opp. lat. var. arg. I, 151-153 and 147-149) after Löscher's "Vollständige Reformationsacten" (Vol. I, pp. 765 f. and 761-763). Since the translations by Rambach contain inaccuracies and gaps, they have been given here in a new, more literal translation].
4) "Sermon on Repentance," which was first available only in Latin. [Here Luther treats repentance according to the three parts: Repentance, Confession, and Atonement, as they are accepted by the papists, and shows the errors contained in the individual parts. True repentance as the hatred of sin, as the papists explain and represent it, is the actual inner repentance and therefore cannot possibly flow from the contemplation of the propriety of sin, which is only a sham and hypocritical repentance, but love for righteousness must already exist beforehand, from which alone hatred of sin then follows of its own accord, but love never follows from hatred. He then moves on to the false teachings of the papists concerning confession and warns against relying on being absolved for the sake of one's repentance; absolution is based in faith on the word of God. In regard to satisfaction, he refers to his Sermon on Indulgences]. Joh. Gottfr. Zeidler translated it into German and placed it in the Hallische Theil, p. 129, from which part this sermon was reprinted in the Leipzigische Sammlung (Thl. XVII, p. 157). He places it in the year 1518, but Löscher thinks that it was delivered in 1517 and, as far as is known, was also printed. But when Dr. Löscher, Vol. II, p. 586, of his "Vollständige ReformationActen" writes that Zeidler places this sermon in the year 1519, he has not placed this year, but rather 1518. In von der Hardt's ,,Autographa Luth.", tom. I, p. 172 and Olearius' Verzeichnis der "Autographa Luth.", p. 2 and 3, one has under the year 1518 a sermon "Von der Buße" in Latin under the title: Sermo de poenitentia F. Martini Lutheri, Augusti- niani, Wittenbergensis", and various editions of the same are noted, which is probably this sermon on repentance.
[This sermon was published in Latin in many separate editions, of which the Erl. Ausg. lists four from the year 1518 and three from the year 1519; thereupon it passed into the Basel collections of some of Luther's Latin writings from the year 1519 and 1520, from where it was then included in the Jenaischen (Thl. I, p. 13) and in the Wittenbergischen Theile (Thl. I, p. 59). In Löscher's "Vollständige Reformation-Acten" it appeared in the first volume, p. 567 ff, and finally the Erlanger Ausg. (Opp. lat. var. arg. I, p. 331-340) again after the original edition of 1518, after which also the present new translation is made.
D. Red.]
5) "Sermon on the Sacrament of Penance," which is dated 1518 and is to be distinguished from the one immediately preceding it. Luther addressed the letter to Princess Margaretha, née von Ritberg, Duchess of Brunswick and Lüneburg, and in it he thought that he had been moved to issue several sermons under her name, namely on the holy, reverend and comforting Sacrament of Penance, Baptism and Holy Corpus Christi. However, he did not indicate the time when he wrote this dedication; but one has an edition from the year 1518 in quarto, which is probably the first one, and some others, which were published the following year 1519 in Wittenberg and Leipzig. Information about such editions can be found in von der Hardt's "Autographa Luth. I, p. 87, and Olearius' Verzeichniß der "Autographa Luth.", p. 2 and 3. Such a sermon is also found in the Wittenbergische (Thl. VII, p. 2), Jenaische (Thl. I, p. 64), Altenburgische (Thl. I, p. 71) and Leipzigische (Thl. XVII, p. 161) parts. In the printing, which is in this volume, the touched edition of 1518 was used.
^Cf. Erl. Ed. 1st ed. 20, 179-183. 2nd ed. 16, 33-48.]