Produced by Michael McDermott, from scans obtained from
the Internet Archive
PHILADELPHIAA. J. HOLMAN COMPANY1915
Copyright, 1915, by A. J. HOLMAN COMPANY
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
LUTHER'S PREFACES (C. M. Jacobs)
DISPUTATION ON INDULGENCES (1517)
Introduction (C. H. Jacobs)
Translation (C. M, Jacobs)
TREATISE ON BAPTISM (1519)
Introduction (H. E. Jacobs)
Translation (C. M. Jacobs)
DISCUSSION OF CONFESSION (1520)
Introduction (H. E. Jacobs)
Translation (C. M. Jacobs)
THE FOURTEEN OF CONSOLATION (1520)
Introduction (A. T. W. Steinhaeuser)
Translation (A. T. W. Steinhaeuser)
TREATISE ON GOOD WORKS (1520)
Introduction (A. T. W. Steinhaeuser)
Translation (A. T. W. Steinhaeuser)
TREATISE ON THE NEW TESTAMENT (1520)
Introduction (J. L. Neve)
Translation (J. J. Schindel)
THE PAPACY AT ROME (1520)
Introduction (T. E. Schmauk)
Translation (A. Steimle)
INDEX (W. A. Lambert)
No historical study of current issues—politics or social scienceor theology—can far proceed without bringing the student face toface with the principles asserted by the Reformation of theSixteenth Century and its great leader, Martin Luther. He has hadmany critics and many champions, but neither his critics nor hischampions feel that the last word concerning him has been spoken,for scarcely a year passes that does not witness the publicationof a new biography.
Had Luther been nothing more than a man of his own time and hisown nation the task of estimating him would long since have beencompleted. A few exhaustive treatises would have answered alldemands. But the Catalogue of the British Museum, published in1894, contains over two hundred folio pages, averaging aboutthirty-five titles to the page, of books and pamphlets writteneither by or about him, that have been gathered into this singlecollection, in a land foreign to the sphere of his labors, andthis list has been greatly augmented since 1894. Above all otherhistorical characters that have appeared since the first years ofChristianity, he is a man of the present day no less than of theday in which he lived.
But Luther can be properly known and estimated only when he isallowed to speak for himself. He should be seen not through theeyes of others, but through our own. In order to judge the manwe must know all sides of the man, and read the heaviest as wellas the lightest of his works, the more scientific and theologicalas well as the more practical and popular, his informal lettersas well as his formal treatises. We must take account of the timeof each writing and the circumstances under which it wascomposed, of the adversaries against whom he was contending, andof the progress which he made in his opinions as time went on.The great fund of primary sources which the historical methods ofthe last generation have made available should also be laid undercontribution to shed light upon his statements and his attitudetoward the various questions involved in his life-struggles.
As long as a writer can be read only in the language or languagesin which he wrote, this necessary closer contact with hispersonality can be enjoyed only by a very limited circle ofadvanced scholars. But many of these will be grateful for atranslation into their vernacular for more rapid reading, fromwhich they ma