Page:Thirty-five years of Luther research.djvu/35

Rh up until 1517, when he posted his ninety-five theses. It was of no small value, when Buchwald discovered various printed matter that had belonged to Luther in the library of the "Ratschule" at Zwickau, and which often contained comments written by Luther himself. Such comments were written on the margin of writings of Augustine, 1503, the Sententiæ of Petrus Lombardus, 1510-1511, the sermons of Tauler, possibly 1516, the works of Anselm of Canterbury, and Tritheim (born 1462, died 1516), 1513-1516. Since 1893 these comments may be found in the ninth volume of the Weimar Luther edition (pp. 2-114). It was of greatest importance that Kawerau, by means of the Dresden Manuscript found by Franz Schnorr v. Carolsfeld, and too literally rendered in Seidemann's publication of 1876, and by means of the Wolfenbuettel manuscript, which Walch had already copied and published in an altogether deficient German translation, created a very trustworthy text of Luther's lectures in the monastery, 1513-1516, on the Psalms, "Dictata super Psalterium" (see third and fourth volumes of the Weimar edition).

The same importance, however, cannot be attached to a copy of Luther's lecture on the Book of Judges from the year 1516, which Buchwald found in Zwickau; although among other things this copy contains some excellent directions for the basis and aim of the truly evangelical sermon. Thus we read, for example: "Holy Scriptures alone are the criterion according to which everything must be weighed and evaluated whether it is right or wrong," or "Sinners can only be directed to Christ, for from sin we can only be freed by Christ;" or, "Pray to God incessantly, that we may have sanctified teachers who know the way of truth and who can preach