Grace and peace from God the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, our Lord and Savior!
Friendly dear reader! After I indicated in the previous two parts of the sermons of D. Martin Luther, namely, in the summer postilion and of the feasts or holidays, and put off to let the winter part go out with other sermons also with the time: so I have accomplished the same with great diligence, as much as God has given me grace, and now herewith, praise God, and directed it, for no other reason than that we fear that after D. Luther's time there will be people who will interpret his books according to their desire and will of courage. Luther's times, people will come who will interpret his books according to their desire and will, tear, tear and press, only divine truth and the Gospel of Christ, which he has presented to the mad blind world (should it also burst over it, become furious and nonsensical) righteously, loudly and purely, to suppress and falsify. For may the godless boys, both the papists and the enthusiasts, so brazenly falsify his writings, because he is still alive, and may they insult the Gospel, which God revealed through him in these last dangerous times for the salvation of many souls, seductively, rebelliously, murderously, and interpret it in many different ways: what will happen after his death? May the rebellious Müntzerian peasant spirit call him a hypocrite now that he has to be afraid of Luther, as the one who confirms the authority's splendor and power: what will this evil, seductive, bloodthirsty spirit do when Luther is no longer around? It is to be feared, and with me, as with the least and most incomprehensible, it is quite certain that he will do no good, as we, unfortunately, have seen in the past few years and experienced with our insurmountable damage; nor is there any end to it. But God, who is more powerful,
*) Cf. Walch XI Forewords 37 f. D. Red.
May the Lord defend this raving devil and graciously accommodate his nobility.
Accordingly, I am moved to take such work upon myself all the more gladly and willingly: so that we and those after us may have these and other books of D. Martin Luther pure and righteous, to make ourselves certain thereby, and to convince our adversaries, the godless enthusiasts and papists, and also the rebellious spirit powerfully with them. Moreover, I have taken this trouble most of all to serve the poor village pastors, who are otherwise poorly provided and preserved in God's knowledge and with books of the Holy Scriptures, as well as the house fathers and simple folk who seldom come to preach, who could read such sermons on holidays, word for word, from the books to their people, households and children; and for this reason also have all the sayings printed so clearly and completely that they can read them without any hindrances for and for themselves. Also, the sums of Mr. Johann Bugenhagen of Pomerania have been added to each Gospel, so that the content of the Gospel may be understood in a few words. Comforting hope, I will have done a good service and pleasure to many pious Christians in this. For I do not ask anything about the others, for whom this is a mockery and foolishness: the world can do nothing but mock what is God's and despise what they do not like. So we do not ask much about their mockery, because the world remains the world, even if we are scared to death about it. Faith is not for everyone. So we will not make every mother's wicked child pious. Let everyone be guided by this. May God grant us His grace to despise the world's judgment and discretion and to cling to His holy gospel, amen.
Stephanus Rodt.