The author of these sermons, Dr. Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther, was "the most commanding figure in the Lutheran Church of America during the nineteenth century." Born October 25, 1811, at Langenchursdorf, Saxony, Germany, at eighteen he took up the study of theology at the University of Leipzig. Rationalism held sway in the Lutheran State churches as well as at the university. Being forced to leave the university for one semester, he employed his time by diligently studying Luther's writings in his father's library. He perfected his thorough familiarity with the works of the Reformer by employing a second period of illness in Perry County, Mo., in the same manner. He graduated in 1833, became a private tutor, and was ordained to the ministry in 1837. Walther's firm Biblical stand met with such opposition and persecution on the part of his congregation and church hierarchy that he resigned his pastorate, joined the Saxon emigrants, and settled in Perry County, Missouri.
Walther took a leading part in organizing a confessional Lutheran synod, and at the formation of The Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, he was elected its first president. He occupied the presidency for a total of 17 years. He was elected professor of theology of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1850, a position he occupied until his death on May 7, 1887. He also took a leading part in establishing the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America, of which he became its first president. Though he was a lover of peace, he did not refuse to take a leading part in the controversies of his day.
For many years he was the pastor of Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Louis. He established Der Lutheraner, Lehre und Wehre, and a Bible society, all of which eventually led to the establishment of Concordia Publishing House. His writings were so numerous that they were sufficient to make a full-size "five-foot bookshelf."