History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume III Part 26

said he, "that men's hearts have been strengthened by Divine grace, we must put an end to the scandals that pollute the kingdom of the Lord, and dare something in the name of Jesus." He required that men should communicate in both kinds (the bread and wine); that everything should be retrenched from the ceremony of the eucharist that tended to make it a sacrifice;[370] that Christians should never a.s.semble together without having the Gospel preached;[371] that believers, or at least the priests and scholars, should meet every morning at five or six o'clock to read the Old Testament; and at a corresponding hour in the evening to read the New Testament; that every Sunday, the whole Church should a.s.semble in the morning and afternoon, and that the great object of their wors.h.i.+p should be to sound abroad the Word of G.o.d.[372]

[370] Weise christliche Messe zu halten. L. Opp. (L.) xxii. 232.

[371] Die christliche Gemeine nimmer soll zusammen kommen, es werde denn daselbst Gottes Wort geprediget. Ibid. 226.

[372] Da.s.s das Wort im Schw.a.n.ge gehe. Ibid. 227.

[Sidenote: THE CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS.]

The church of All Saints at Wittemberg especially excited Luther's indignation. Seckendorf informs us that 9901 ma.s.ses were there celebrated yearly, and 35,570 pounds of wax annually burnt. Luther called it "a sacrilegious Tophet." "There are only three or four lazy-bellies," said he, "who still wors.h.i.+p this shameful mammon, and if I had not restrained the people, this house of All Saints, or rather of all devils, would have made such a noise in the world as has never before been heard."

The struggle began around this church. It resembled those ancient sanctuaries of paganism in Egypt, Gaul, and Germany, which were destined to fall that Christianity might be established.

Luther, desiring that the ma.s.s should be abolished in this cathedral, addressed a pet.i.tion to the chapter to this effect on the 1st of March 1523, and a second on the 11th of July.[373] The canons having pleaded the elector's orders, Luther replied, "What is the prince's order to us in this case? He is a secular prince; the sword, and not the preaching of the Gospel, belongs to him."[374] Here Luther clearly marks the distinction between the State and the Church. "There is but one sacrifice that taketh away sins," said he again, "Christ, who offered himself up once for all; and in this we are partakers, not by works or by sacrifices, but solely by faith in the Word of G.o.d."

[373] L. Epp. ii. pp. 308, 354.

[374] Welchem gebuhrt das Schwerd, nicht das Predigtamt zu versorgen.

L. Opp. xviii. p. 497.

The elector, who felt his end drawing near, was opposed to new reforms.

But fresh entreaties were added to those of Luther. "It is time to act," said Jonas, provost of the cathedral, to the elector. "A manifestation of the Gospel, so striking as that which we now have, does not ordinarily last longer than a sunbeam. Let us make haste then."[375]

[375] Corp. Ref. i. 636.

[Sidenote: ABOLITION OF THE Ma.s.s.]

As the letter of Jonas did not change the elector's views, Luther lost all patience; he thought the moment had come for striking a decisive blow, and addressed a threatening letter to the chapter: "I entreat you amicably, and urge you seriously, to put an end to all this sectarian wors.h.i.+p. If you refuse, you will receive (with G.o.d's help) the reward that you have deserved. I mention this for your guidance, and require a positive and immediate answer,--yes or no,--before Sunday next, that I may know what I have to do. May G.o.d give you grace to follow his light.

"Thursday, 8th December 1524.

"MARTIN LUTHER, "_Preacher at Wittemberg_."[376]

[376] L. Epp. ii. 565.

At the same time the rector, two burgomasters, and ten councillors, waited on the dean, and entreated him in the name of the university, the council, and the towns.h.i.+p of Wittemberg, "to abolish the great and horrible impiety committed in the ma.s.s against the majesty of G.o.d."

The chapter was forced to give way; they declared that, being enlightened by the holy Word of G.o.d,[377] they acknowledged the abuses that had been pointed out, and published a new order of church-service, which began to be observed on Christmas-day 1524.

[377] Durch das Licht des heiligen gottlichen Wortes......L. Opp.

xviii. 502.

Thus fell the ma.s.s in this renowned sanctuary, where it had so long resisted the reiterated attacks of the reformers. The Elector Frederick, suffering from the gout, and rapidly drawing near his end, could not, in spite of all his exertions, prevent this great victory of the Reformation. He saw in it a manifestation of the Divine will, and gave way. The fall of the Romish observances in the church of All Saints hastened their abolition in a great number of churches throughout Christendom; everywhere the same resistance was offered,--everywhere there was the same triumph. In vain did the priests, and even the princes in many places, try to interpose obstacles; they could not succeed.

It was not the public wors.h.i.+p alone that the Reformation was ordained to change. The school was early placed beside the Church; and these two great inst.i.tutions, so powerful to regenerate the nations, were equally reanimated by it. It was by a close alliance with learning that the Reformation entered into the world; in the hour of its triumph, it did not forget its ally.

[Sidenote: LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION.]

Christianity is not a simple development of Judaism. Unlike the papacy, it does not aim at confining man again in the close swaddling bands of outward ordinances and human doctrines. Christianity is a new creation; it lays hold of the inner man, and transforms him in the inmost principles of his human nature, so that man no longer requires other men to impose rules upon him; but, aided by G.o.d, he can of himself and by himself distinguish what is true, and do what is right.[378]

[378] Hebrews viii. 11.

To lead mankind to that ripe age which Christ has purchased for them, and to free them from that tutelage in which Rome had held them so long, the Reformation had to develop the whole man; and while regenerating his heart and his will by the Word of G.o.d, to enlighten his understanding by the study of profane and sacred learning.

Luther saw this; he felt that, to strengthen the Reformation, it was requisite to work on the young, to improve the schools, and to propagate throughout Christendom the knowledge necessary for a profound study of the Holy Scriptures. This, accordingly, was one of the objects of his life. He saw it in particular at the period which we have reached, and wrote to the councillors of all the cities of Germany, calling upon them to found christian schools. "Dear sirs,"

said he, "we annually expend so much money on arquebuses, roads, and dikes, why should we not spend a little to give one or two schoolmasters to our poor children? G.o.d stands at the door and knocks; blessed are we if we open to him! Now the Word of G.o.d abounds. O my dear Germans, buy, buy, while the market is open before your houses.

The Word of G.o.d and his grace are like a shower that falls and pa.s.ses away. It was among the Jews; but it pa.s.sed away, and now they have it no longer. Paul carried it into Greece; but in that country also it has pa.s.sed away, and the Turk reigns there now. It came to Rome and the Latin empire; but there also it has pa.s.sed away, and Rome now has the pope.[379] O Germans, do not expect to have this Word for ever.

The contempt that is shown to it will drive it away. For this reason, let him who desires to possess it lay hold of it and keep it!

[379] Aber hin ist hin (_but lost is lost_); sie haben nun den Pabst.

L. Opp. W. x. 535.

[Sidenote: TRUE WEALTH OF A STATE--LANGUAGES.]

"Busy yourselves with the children," continues Luther, still addressing the magistrates; "for many parents are like ostriches; they are hardened towards their little ones, and, satisfied with having laid the egg, they care nothing for it afterwards. The prosperity of a city does not consist merely in heaping up great treasures, in building strong walls, in erecting splendid mansions, in possessing glittering arms. If madmen fall upon it, its ruin will only be the greater. The true wealth of a city, its safety, and its strength, is to have many learned, serious, worthy, well educated citizens. And whom must we blame, because there are so few at present, except you magistrates, who have allowed our youth to grow up like trees in a forest?"

Luther particularly insisted on the necessity of studying literature and languages: "What use is there, it may be asked, in learning Latin, Greek, and Hebrew? We can read the Bible very well in German. Without languages," replies he, "we could not have received the Gospel......Languages are the scabbard that contains the sword of the Spirit;[380] they are the casket that guards the jewels; they are the vessel that holds the wine; and, as the Gospel says, they are the baskets in which the loaves and fishes are kept to feed the mult.i.tude.

If we neglect the languages, we shall not only eventually lose the Gospel, but be unable to speak or write in Latin or in German. No sooner did men cease to cultivate them than Christendom declined, even until it fell under the power of the pope. But now that languages are again honoured, they shed such light that all the world is astonished, and every one is forced to acknowledge that our Gospel is almost as pure as that of the apostles themselves. In former times the holy Fathers were frequently mistaken, because they were ignorant of languages; and in our days there are some who, like the Waldenses, do not think the languages to be of any use; but although their doctrine be good, they have often erred in the real meaning of the sacred text; they are without arms against error, and I fear very much that their faith will not remain pure.[381] If the languages had not made me positive as to the meaning of the Word, I might have been a pious monk, and quietly preached the truth in the obscurity of a cloister; but I should have left the pope, the sophists, and their anti-christian empire still unshaken."[382]

[380] Die Sprachen sind die Scheide, darinnen dies Messer des Geistes stecket. L. Opp. W. x. 535.

[381] Es sey oder werde nicht lauter bleiben. L. Opp. W. x. 535.

[382] Ich hatte wohl auch konnen fromm seyn und in der Stille recht predigen. Ibid.

[Sidenote: LEARNING EXTENDED TO THE LAITY.]

Luther did not concern himself about the education of the clergy only; it was his desire that knowledge should not be confined to the Church; he proposed extending it to the laity, who hitherto had been deprived of it. He called for the establishment of libraries, which should comprise not only editions and commentaries of the schoolmen and of the fathers of the Church, but also the works of orators and poets, even were they heathens, as well as writings devoted to the fine arts, law, medicine, and history. "These productions," said he, "serve to make known the works and the wonders of G.o.d."

This effort on the part of Luther is one of the most important produced by the Reformation. He emanc.i.p.ated learning from the hands of the priests, who had monopolized it like those of Egypt in times of old, and put it within the reach of all. From this impulse given by the Reformation have proceeded the greatest developments of modern times. Those laymen, whether men of letters or scholars, who now revile the Reformation, forget that they themselves are its offspring, and that, without it, they would still be, like ignorant children, under the rod of the clergy. The Reformation perceived the close tie that connected all the sciences; it saw that, as all knowledge is derived from G.o.d, it leads man back to G.o.d. It desired that all men should learn, and that they should learn everything. "Those who despise profane literature," said Melancthon, "hold theology in no greater estimation. Their contempt is a mere pretext, with which they seek to conceal their idleness."[383]

[383] Hunc t.i.tulum ignaviae suae praetextunt. Corp. Ref. i. 613.

[Sidenote: PROTESTANTISM AND THE ARTS.]

The Reformation was not satisfied with merely giving a strong impulse to letters; it gave also a fresh impulse to the arts. Protestantism has often been reproached as their enemy, and many Protestants willingly accept this reproach. We will not inquire whether the Reformation ought to glory in it or not; we shall be content to observe that impartial history does not confirm the fact on which this accusation is founded. Let Roman-catholicism pride itself in being more favourable to the arts than Protestantism; be it so: paganism was still more favourable, and Protestantism places its glory elsewhere.

There are some religions in which the esthetic tendencies of man hold a more important place than his moral nature. Christianity is distinct from these religions, inasmuch as the moral element is its essence.

The christian sentiment is manifested not by the productions of the fine arts, but by the works of a christian life. Every sect that should abandon this moral tendency of Christianity, would by that very circ.u.mstance forfeit its claims to the name of christian. Rome has not entirely abandoned it, but Protestantism cherishes this essential characteristic with much greater purity. It places its glory in diving into all that concerns the moral being, in judging of religious actions, not by their external beauty and the manner in which they strike the imagination, but according to their internal worth, and the connexion they have with the conscience; so that if the papacy is above all an esthetical religion, as a celebrated writer has proved it to be,[384] Protestantism is above all a moral religion.

[384] Chateaubriand, Genie du Christianisme.

[Sidenote: MUSIC AND POETRY.]

And yet, although the Reformation at first addressed man as a moral being, it addressed the whole man. We have just seen how it spoke to his understanding and what it did for literature; it also spoke to his sensibility, to his imagination, and contributed to the development of the arts. The Church was no longer composed exclusively of monks and priests; it was the a.s.sembly of the faithful. All were to take part in its public wors.h.i.+p; and the chanting of the clergy was to be succeeded by the singing of the people. Accordingly Luther, in translating the Psalms, thought of adapting them to congregational singing. Thus a taste for music was spread among the nation.

"Next to theology," said Luther, "I give the first place and the highest honour to music.[385] A schoolmaster should know how to sing,"

said he at another time, "or else I will not so much as look at him."

[385] Ich gebe nach der Theologie, der Musica den nahesten Loc.u.m und hochste Ehre. L. Opp. W. xxii. p. 2253.