This twenty-third volume contains the main index to Luther's complete writings. Although special indexes have already been added to a number of volumes, namely to the interpretation of the first book of Moses in the first and second volumes, to the catechetical writings in the tenth volume, and to the two postils in the eleventh to thirteenth volumes, we have nevertheless deemed it appropriate to include the contents of these volumes in this main index as well, although the appearance of this present volume has been delayed not a little by the significantly increased work this has entailed.
The compiler of this register must confess with praise and thanks that he has had rich spiritual blessings in Jesus Christ from his work, and now also wishes the same blessing of God to all who make use of this register. For it contains a brief epitome of the delicious interpretations that the chosen instrument of God, Doctor Martin Luther, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, to the praise and glory of God's grace and mercy, has left us on the holy book of the Bible. In order to give an indication of how the register can be used salutary, we let follow here some sayings of Luther about death, which are taken from this register: "There is nothing that could frighten us wretched people more terribly than the terror of the
death with which we were all punished in the first Adam." "In the death and resurrection of Christ is proclaimed to us the greatest consolation that could ever be announced to the human race." "Death is so conquered by the death of Christ that it is compelled to contribute more powerfully to life than anything else." "There is no more pleasant message than that death is not only conquered, but also transformed into a helper and servant to a better life." Can there be a more beautiful consolation against death? - We will show with some examples how useful the register of sayings can be. Whoever looks up the saying Rom. 1, 23, Vol. 4, 362, will find that "the glory of God" is to be understood from the "glory of God", that is, the right faith and worship. - The saying Isa. 42, 8. is interpreted in Vol. 4, 353 as follows: "I will not give my glory to anyone else" 2c., namely, all goods are allotted by God even to his enemies, but he reserves the glory for himself alone, because any goods that one receives or seeks are not to be attributed to anyone but the one God, by which it is preached that he alone is good and true God. - To the prayer of Asariah v. 40, vol. 4, 376, Luther gives this explanation: "They that trust in thee shall not be put to shame." "Those who firmly believe in God without signs are of no consequence.
Without this faith, no works, no signs, no miracles can be certain. -Ps. 116, 11: "I said in my trembling, All men are liars," Luther interprets Vol. 4, 463 thus: Not from any gifts of God, but in God Himself, the Giver, one should trust, hope in Him, cling to Him. The "trembling" was the tribulation in which man is taught how vain and deceitful all men are who do not hope in God alone. - Let us conclude this subject with the delicious interpretation of Matth. 5, 6. vol. 4, 476: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." "In this life we do not grasp righteousness, but only strive after it, always seeking it, always desiring to become righteous, always asking that the will of our Father in heaven be done, always that His name may be hallowed. And just by this we are nevertheless counted righteous by God." - A quite excellent picture of the pope and his church can be obtained by the citations given under the keywords: papists, antichrist, end-christ, pope, papal, papist, papacy, primacy, Rome, Roman 2c. In contrast to this, we find many wonderful sayings about the right worship, from which we want to emphasize only one. Vol. 4, 1873, we read: "Only in the service of God is it pleasing to God that one should trust in His mercy." You, my dear reader, might like to attach such a little prayer to this and similar sayings according to Luther's instructions. My dear heavenly Father, graciously grant that I may become such a person who, in dangers, believes in
Believing in thy help, in death life, in want riches, in sins righteousness, for thy mercy, or for Christ's sake, that thou mayest have pleasure in me also.
The old edition of Walch has two register volumes, the twenty-third and the twenty-fourth volume; in the former the main content register, in the latter a comparative register of all editions of Luther's works published until then; However, after careful consideration and consultation, the editors of our edition have decided to leave it at the one register volume in this twenty-third volume and to refrain from reprinting the comparative register in a twenty-fourth volume, as an unnecessary burden on our edition. For this register consists of page after page of numbers, which, from two to two columns, provide evidence of where the writings found in the Hallische Theile (that is, in Walch's old edition) are found in the Latin Wittenberg and the Latin Jena editions, likewise in the German Wittenberg and the German Jena, in the Eisleben edition, in the so-called Hallische Theile, in the Altenburg and the Leipzig editions; how the page numbers in the volumes of the different editions of the Wittenberg and the Jena parts relate to each other, and the like. Such an index is understandably of no value to the ordinary reader; it can only be of use to a few scholars who are so fortunate as to possess the old, rare editions. For these few, however, to have this register reprinted,
does not seem to us to be the task of our popular edition. Accordingly, our edition receives its conclusion with this twenty-third volume.
In addition to the main index of contents, this volume also contains a rich register of sayings, i.e., the proof of where the interpretations of entire biblical books or parts of them, as well as many individual sayings, can be found. After these two registers were completed, the editor looked up and corrected every single passage, so that any futile looking up and searching is excluded. The time required for this work amounts to nearly two thousand hours.
Finally, corrections and additions to all volumes of our edition follow. The "Register, wherein the explanation of the Greek and Hebrew words and phrases, so in these 22 volumes occur, is contained," which Walch added to the twenty-third volume, we have omitted as useless, although we had also collected the corresponding material. On the other hand, at the end of this volume, we have added the means by which anyone can correctly resolve the dates found in Luther's works or check the accuracy of the resolutions given, namely an Easter table from 1514 to 1546 and an alphabetical index of the dates found in Luther's writings.
The names of the saints used in the designation.
It was not necessary to add a comparative index of our edition and the Erlangen edition to this volume. If the citation is taken from Walch or from our edition, the location of the citation in the Erlangen edition can be seen from the page headers of our edition; if, on the other hand, the citation is taken from the Erlangen edition, it is indicated there in the introduction to the respective text from which the citation is taken, where this text can be found in Walch, thus also in our edition. - In the Tischreden (Vol. 22 of our edition), however, there is no proof in the heads of the pages where the corresponding passage is found in the Erlangen edition, but the chapters and paragraphs according to which citations are to be made are the same in both editions. However, the chapters and paragraphs according to which citations are to be made are the same in both editions, so here, too, further proof is superfluous.
Now all that remains is for us not to forget Almighty God, but to praise and thank Him for His great and manifold mercy, which He has shown us in the difficult work of publishing all of Luther's works in the German language. And at the same time we want to ask the dear Lord that he may give his blessing for the course of this work, that it will not only be bought, but also diligently used, so that the pure Lutheran doctrine will be preserved and strengthened, and also spread far and wide for the attainment of salvation for many, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Savior, Amen.
A. F. Hoppe.
St. Louis, Mo. during Easter week, 1910.