Luther did not publish these sermons himself. He elaborated the principles here uttered in the treatise, published a few weeks later, The Reception of both Kinds in the Sacrament[16]. A fragment, covering the thoughts of sermons 1 to 4, and formerly described as a pastoral letter to the Wittenberg congregation, is now held to be a piece of written preparation by Luther for these sermons[17].
The notes of a hearer of these sermons furnished the basis for the printed editions. The Wednesday sermon (No. 4—On the Images) was published separately at Augsburg and other places; the eight sermons were published in Augsburg and Mainz. Seven editions of the former and six of the latter are known.
Johann Aurifaber, the publisher of Luther's Table-talk, also edited and published these sermons at Eisleben in 1564. His free amplification of the older text, in an attempt to modernize it, is not an improvement. His considerable additions to Luther's Scripture citations are from Luther's own translation of a later date. Yet for two centuries this edition remained the standard. The Walch Edition was the first again to pay attention to the original text, however placing the Aurifaber text first. (Walch Ed., XX.) The Erlangen Edition (XXYHI) observes the same order. O. von Gerlach, Luthers Werke, Auswahl seiner Hauptschriten (Berlin, 1841), gives only the older text (V); Buchwald, in the Berlin Edition (I), gives only the Aurifaber text. The Weimar Edition (Xc) places the old text on the upper half of the page, with the Aurifaber recension immediately below. The translation which follows is based on the older text as found in the Weimar Edition, with which the other editions have been compared.
For further discussion, see, in addition to the literature mentioned, the biographies of Luther and the Church Histories. Also
Barge's articles in the Realencyklopädie, X, 73 ff. and XXIII, 738 ff.; also Kolde's, IV, 639 ff. and XIII, 556 ff.
Barge, Frühprotestantisches Gemeindechristentum in Wittenberg und
Orlamiinde, Leipzig, 1909.
Cristiani, Du Luthéranisme au Protestantisme, Paris, 1911.
Boehmer, Luther im Lichte der neueren Forschung, third ed., Leipzig, 1914.
Vedder, The Reformation in Germany. New York, 1914.