To All, Pastors and Laymen, who appreciate the true place of Luther'sWritings in the Evangelization of Europe, and are interested in theEvangelization of the world, this volume of Easter and PentecostEpistle Sermons of the English Luther is gratefully and prayerfullydedicated.
The Evangelization of the World is being accomplished more rapidlythan we think. Three mighty movements are constantly atwork—Reformation, Heathen Missions and Emigration or Colonization. Bythe Reformation Europe was evangelized; by Heathen Missions Asia andAfrica are being evangelized and by Emigration or Colonization Northand South America and Australia have been to a large extentevangelized. In "Lutherans In All Lands," published in 1893, and inthe introduction to the volume on St. Peter's Epistles of the EnglishLuther, we emphasized the relation of the Evangelical-Lutheran churchand of Luther's writings to the evangelization of the world throughthese three movements. In view of the recent marvelous growth ininterest in Heathen Missions and the false ideas about Luther'srelation to this theme, the following may be in place here in thisvolume of Easter and Pentecost sermons:
The Christian religion being preëminently missionary the Reformationof the Christian Church would necessarily be missionary. Protestantmissions began with Protestantism.
Herzog's Encyclopedia says: "Luther himself already seizes everyopportunity offered by a text of the Divine Word in order to remindbelievers of the distress of the Heathen and Turks and earnestly urgesthem to pray in their behalf, and to send out missionaries to them. Inaccord with him all the prominent theologians and preachers of hisday, and of the succeeding period inculcated the missionary duty ofthe Church. Many also of the Evangelical princes cherished the workwith Christian love and zeal."
Luther's interest in the work of true evangelization is seen in thename he designedly chose for the church of his followers. He did notcall it Protestant nor Lutheran, but conscientiously insisted upon itbeing called the Evangelical, or in plain Anglo-Saxon, the Gospelchurch, the Evangelizing church. Because of Luther's emphasis on theword evangelical there are properly speaking no Lutheran, but onlyEvangelical-Lutheran churches. He is the evangelist of Protestantismin the true sense.
Of the library of 110 volumes of which Luther is the author, 85 ofthem treat of the Bible and expound its pure evangelical teachings incommentaries, sermons and catechetical writings. He popularized theword evangelical. With his tongue and pen he labored incessantly forthe evangelization of Europe. That Europe is evangeliz