led me to
determine on its publication.

[Footnote 1: Another copy of this same edition of Luther on Peter,
belonging to a clergyman's library which was sold at auction in this
city, four or five years since, brought an almost fabulous price.]

Luther's Commentary on the Galatians, excellent as it is, is too
voluminous and expensive to be very extensively circulated, while the
phraseology of the early translation, which has not been modified,
prevents its proper appreciation by modern readers. And yet any one
that would truly know the man, and the secret of his power, must
study these in his writings. The Commentary on the Epistles of Peter
and Jude, presented in a literal but more modern style to the English
reader, is not liable to these objections; and yet, in the variety of
its themes, the clearness of its exposition, the stinging force of
its rebukes, the simplicity and directness of its language, it is
scarcely surpassed by any of Luther's other writings. On the great
subject of justification by faith alone, he is here, as in his
Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, full and emphatic. The
relation of faith to works is clearly and carefully defined, while
the subjects presented in the text afford full opportunity for
discussing the great questions that concern the relative duties of
civil and social life. The volume thus becomes at once a manual of
doctrine and of duty. On the foundation of faith is reared the
superstructure of a Christian life. Luther is seen to have fully
apprehended the force of all the objections that could be urged
against his teachings, and with convincing ability he vindicates them
from every charge. Throughout the volume we have ever before us the
earnest, devout spirit of the Reformer, for the most part unfolding
in the simplest manner the great doctrines of the Gospel, but
occasionally indulging in volcanic outbursts of indignation against
the hierarchical corruptions of his day, and pouring out upon them
the lava-tides of withering rebuke.

It may seem strange that this work of Luther's has never before been
translated. But, unlike his Commentary on the Epistle to the
Galatians, which he himself translated into Latin, that it might have
a wider circulation among the learned of Europe, this was published
by him only in the German language, which was little known in
England, and hence it was deprived of that notoriety which would have
drawn special attention to it, as well as o