explain them. He did not hang to the outward shell nor did he seek to apply in his expositions an extensive human knowledge; but he came to the right foundation and the true and real purpose of the Spirit of God, whether he had before him the legal or the evangelical Word, and knew a clear and impressive way to give the true meaning and will of God in the respective passages, especially concerning the universal sinful and deep ruin of mankind, the grace and merciful love of God, Christ the kernel of all the holy Scriptures, righteousness by faith, the active and working character of faith, as also other points of life and doctrine, which he did not do the least in the historical parts of the Scriptures. Such gifts Luther received from God because he was chosen as the agent of the Reformation, and they were by all means necessary to that end. For by means of the Scriptures the light penetrated the darkness covering the world, and revealed the abominations of the papacy. Hence he translated the Scriptures into German from the original texts. He placed the Bible in the hands of the people. Then in his sermons, academic lectures and everywhere he diligently explained in many excellent expositions the divine Books, where he showed how one is to understand the Word of God and apply it fruitfully to his edification. These expository and exegetical writings of the sainted Luther are written with a talent especially adapted for the work, and they have also at all times brought special blessings, although we deny not that some are to be preferred to others. And among Luther's very best writings all agree, and rightly so, is his Commentary on Genesis, a short historical account of which I will now give. Luther began this work at Wittenberg in his lectures to the university students in 1536, and ended it after ten years of labor, Nov. 17, 1545, only a few months before his death. So John Mathesius reports in his "Sermons on the Life of Luther," and then adds, Luther because of worry left Wittenberg for a time to visit the Prince of Anhalt, at Merseburg, and wrote, "Upon his return home, he finished his Genesis, Nov. 17, 1545, on which he had labored ten years." Ludwig von Seckendorf's "History of Lutheranism" is the authority that he began this work in 1536, while in the margin of the Latin edition is printed that he entered upon the exposition of the twenty-second chapter, Oct. 27, 1539.