Dr Martin Luthers Church Postil

Author : Martin Luther
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781330541838
Total Pages : 182 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (418 download)

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Download or read book Dr. Martin Luther's Church-Postil (Classic Reprint) written by Martin Luther and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther's Church-Postil Dr. Martin Luther's Church-Postil, comprising Sermons on the Gospels and Epistles for the different Sundays and Festivals in the year, is, in the language of Dr. Plochmar, in his preface to the Church-Postil, designated by Luther himself as the best work he ever produced. Its origin is found in the great want of sermons for the common reader. In the beginning of the Reformation, this want was deeply felt by Luther and his friends. Except the Sermons of Taular and Geiler of Keiserberg, there were no sermons extant, in print. For the most part; the Epistles and Gospels were simply read in the churches, the greater number of the clergy of that clay being scarcely capable of explaining them to the people. For the purpose of supplying this want, and of placing in the hands of the ministers themselves a model for the proper explanation of those Biblical pericopes or lessons, Luther resolved upon the publication of his Church-Postil. A further inducement was held out by Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, who encouraged Luther in this work, partly for the purpose of building up the pure Christian Church, and partly for the purpose of drawing this precious man away from the unhappy controversies, in which his pen had been engaged during the first years of the Reformation. The Postil was commenced in the Latin language, and the Sermons on the four Sundays in Advent appeared in 1521, in Wittemburg. The German work was commenced at Wartburg, whither, on his return from Worms, at the instance of the Elector of Saxony, Luther was conducted under profound secrecy. These sermons performed an important part in the great work of the Reformation. For, while the confessional and doctrinal writings enlightened the understandings of the people, those sermons reached and penetrated their hearts, inciting and exhorting them to action. The Christian Book of Concord, or Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Luther on the Sacraments, and other works of a doctrinal character, published in the English language, have exerted a wholesome and salutary influence in the Church, especially in regard to her doctrinal stand-point. A work, emanating from the illustrious Reformer, more Practical and Pastoral in its design, adapted to the popular reader, in the English language, will at this time, we make no doubt, be of incalculable value and interest to the Church. Dr. Luther's Sermons on the Epistles, contained in the Church-Postil, are, in our view, pre-eminently if work of this character. The want of an orthodox, practical work, sanctioned by the great Reformer, is as deeply felt, perhaps, at this period, under the present aspect of the Church, as it was in the days of the Reformation. St. Paul, - Rom. 12, 7, 8, - says Dr. Luther, divides the office of the minister into two parts, doctrine and admonition. Both these should be urged. Both are necessary in the successful up-building of the Church. The wants of the Church have been supplied to a greater or less extent, in regard to the former, by the publication of those doctrinal works, in the English language; and perhaps, her wants in reference to the latter, will be partially met by the appearance of these Sermons in an English dress. We presume, therefore, that every zealous member of the Church, every Protestant, will hail with pleasure these venerable productions of the Reformation, in the English, especially at this time, when a healthful re-action is taking place in the Church, when her tendency is towards her authorized works, and a deeper interest is felt in them. The Sermons on the Epistles naturally and properly succeed the publication of those works, which are more didactic in their nature, and which have been so extensively circulated. They seem to be demanded by the necessity of the times, rather than those on the Gospels.