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Friday, May 22, 2015

Walther's Epistel Postille—scanned German original (not in Google Books)

Amerikanisch-lutherische
Epistel Postille

by C.F.W. Walther
[2020-04-15: added link to later post publishing full text; 2017-01-24: updated with link to new Archive.org copy]
      To followup my recent posting of Walther's book of sermons Year of Grace, I mentioned that there were 2 remaining sermon books yet to be widely published in English: (1) Epistel Postille (or Standard Epistles) and (2) Licht des Lebens, or Light of Life.  (There is of course a 3rd book of sermons with no English translation listed in my original post that listed Walther's works: Predigtentwürfe und nicht ganz ausgeführte Predigten und Casualreden, or Sermon Notes and Not Completely Delivered Sermons and Casual Speeches.)
      But I was surprised to notice that, although all other sermon books of Walther are in Google Books, his 2nd most important sermon book is not available online anywhere — not in Google Books, HathiTrust, or Archive.org (see below).  So to rectify this shortcoming, I want to provide a download for a scanned copy of the complete German original.
Download complete high-resolution (400dpi) scanned copy
file: Walther-Epistel Postille_000-496.PDF (68MB)
==>>>  here  <<<==  (68MB); (Archive.org HERE) [2020-04-15: Full text >> HERE <<]
The original book is quite large weighing almost 4-1/2 pounds.  On the title page is a picture of the open Bible with the sword of the Spirit lying on it.  And what does the page read that it is open to... what is the verse written on it?  In Luther's Bibel, it says:
Römer 3.28 – So halten wir es nun, daß der Mensch gerecht werde ohne des Gesetzes Werke, allein durch den Glauben. | Google Translation: So we conclude that a man is justified without works of the law, by faith alone.
In the King James Version it is rendered:
Romans 3:28 — Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Perhaps this will stimulate some interest in re-publishing the English translation by Pastor Donald E. Heck of this work very soon!  But the wise reader would do well to purchase a copy now of Heck's typewritten version by calling CTS-FW Bookstore... they last quoted about $41 to have it copied and bound.  Note well: that gets you both Parts 1 and 2 together, not just half the original volume, as CPH has re-published Walther's Gospel Sermons in 2 volumes.  That is quite a good value.
     Now to finish this post, I want to present just one of Heck's translations – Walther's Pentecost sermon dedicated to this coming Sunday, May 24, 2015. Page headers are retained:

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