Product Review

"During Bugenhagen's absence Luther preached a long while for him, regularly, on the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew, beginning Nov. 9, 1530. These sermons were then published, first in 1532, at Wittenberg, under Joseph Klug, in quarto; in 1533 at Marburg, in octavo; and in 1539, again in Wittenberg, in quarto, under Johann Weiss. In 1533 they were also translated into Latin by Vincent Obsopoeus."
In this Irmischer edition these sermons are thrown into the form of a running commentary, and as such they are now presented to the English reading public by the Lutheran Publication Society.
When requested by a committee of this Board to translate this work, I called attention to the peculiar roughness and even fierceness of Luther's way of expressing himself and of denouncing the minions of the papacy. But the committee judged it best that Luther should be allowed to speak for himself, presuming that intelligent English readers will make due allowance for the style of speech common in that day, and for the peculiarly aggravating circumstances under which that noble man of God was called to labor. An admirable vindication of these "Asperities" appeared in the ninth volume of our excellent Quarterly Review, in 1881; it is from the pen of Rev. Dr. Morris, one of Luther's most enthusiastic admirers.
Charles A. Hay.
Gettysburg, Feb. 11, 1892.