Religious Freedom.
[by J. C. W. Lindemann]
Through negotiations in Witzenhausen, Allendorf, and Eschwege, to which the nobility and the pastors of the Werra region were summoned, and which the Landgrave personally conducted, it came about that he almost universally asserted his will. There were also enough people who abandoned the truth in order to save the bread sack. Thus, for example, a large meadow belonged to the salary of the pastor of Oetmannshausen. When he was summoned before the landgrave, his wife called out to him: "Man, believe what is to be believed, and think of the large meadow.” This he then also saved.
Only nine pastors at the Werra resisted the soul-dangerous impositions of their sovereign. They were all deposed, and now (1608) Moritz also proceeded to the forcible introduction of his "Improvements" in Schmalkalden, where he personally decreed. The bailiff Hermann von Wersabe was deposed, because he did not meet the prince's intentions decisively enough. The chancellor Siegfried Clotz, on the other hand, soon had all the pictures removed from the churches by force. At Pentecost the prince, together with his wife, children and court, received communion according to the Reformed custom in the former Lutheran castle church, but without finding many followers. Immediately thereafter, he issued an order to his landlord, the pastors and mayors of Schmalkalden, in which, as he said in his error and presumption, "for the sake of conscience as well as for the sake of his princely office," he instructed them to strive for uniformity in doctrine and ceremonies, therefore to introduce the "Improvement Points," — to discontinue the presentation of a cross at corpses, — to remove all "superstitious idols and images," be they carved, carved or painted in stone, in churches, on church walls and other places, — to teach the Ten Commandments, as they were written in the Cassel Synod, in churches and schools, and to see to it that in time the Lord's Supper with the ceremony of breaking bread is introduced, and to set a good example to the citizenry.
Such means were used to make the Lutheran congregations of Hesse Reformed!
The Diaconus Niclas Merkel warned in his sermons against these innovations and exhorted the people to remain faithful to the Lutheran doctrine. He was called to account, suspended from his office, later transported to Cassel and imprisoned for a year in the so-called light chamber. [See below "Read more" for the balance; Part 11 is next.]
Pastor M. Sebastian Herrnschwager, on the other hand, was more inclined to go along with the Prince's plans. On St. Andrew's Day, he preached a sermon in the city church in the presence of the commissioners, in order to give his word to the "Improvement Points”. When he said: "that His Princely Grace had delegated" the councilors to carry out these points, that the images should be abolished, and that the ceremony of breaking bread should begin on the next Advent Sunday", the congregation rushed out of the church, accompanied by loud cries from the women. Arrests, inquiries, and condemnations now followed, until it was thought that the people had grown weary. On December 11, the town church, "cleansed of images," was reopened and the "breaking of bread" was now practiced during the Lord's Supper. At Christmas, although three officials and three members of the magistrate's office set a "good" (?) example, only fifty people communed. Only gradually did more apostate Lutherans attend the Reformed Lord's Supper.
In the following year, when Maurice was again present in Schmalkalden, and at the same time had communicated with the Elector of Brandenburg in the parish church, he delivered a speech in the castle before a number of distinguished citizens, concerning the doctrine of the preachers employed by him. Among other things, he said, "It is abominable to hear that a mortal mouth, which shall once become dust and earth, shall eat and drink the body and blood of Christ bodily." — At the Diet of Tyrsa he said, "He was not of the Lutheran opinion, but of their religion and confession, and would know how to protect those who did not follow him." [Page 25] Nevertheless, he remained unbending in his intolerance. In 1614 he wrote in his own hand under a letter to the mayor and council of the city of Schmalkalden: "Our Schmalkalden let God and his word be a good work after all, but still follow a path like the others in their stubbornness." He could not have better praised the faithfulness of those citizens. Whoever did not want to submit to the tyrannical commandments of the prince at that time had to be called "stiff-necked."
In the rural parishes of the Schmalkalden lands the same severity was applied. Every pastor who did not want to accept the "Improvement Points" was dismissed from his position. In all schools a modified catechism was introduced as the general state catechism, which had to be strictly adhered to. Teachers who did not do this were also dismissed.
No one was admitted to public office who was not prepared to accept the "Improvement Points”. When once the mayor and council of the city of Schmalkalden complained about his officials that they did not want to approve the election of a new council member, Maurice wrote to them: that it was his earnest will and command that only such people would be taken into the council and to offices "who accepted the Christian Improvement Points and publicly use the Lord's Supper according to it, to others as a good example, or commit and assure themselves to use it".
Protected by such a deluded sovereign, the like-minded pastor M. Seb. Herrnschwäger went even further. He did not allow any bride and groom to be married who had not taken communion in the Reformed manner. He had the altar, which stood in the choir area of the church, removed and the baptismal font placed in its place. He had it publicly announced in the town hall that every Sunday after the vesper sermon 25 citizens had to come forward in the church with the Reformed catechism for an examination on the same. He appointed new church elders, prohibited the performance of a crucifix on corpses and the ringing of the prayer bell during the Lord's Prayer after the sermon.
- - - - - - - - - - - - Continued in Part 11 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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