Religious Freedom.
[by J. C. W. Lindemann] (Cont'd from Part 11)
We also have to remember the United [or Prussian Union] king-bishops in brief.
When the hitherto Lutheran Elector Johann Sigmund of Brandenburg was Reformed in 1616, he did not force his subjects to follow him in the change of religion; but he immediately reviled the Formula of Concord, forbade attendance at the University of Wittenberg, and sought to bring the Reformed doctrine to power in his capital Berlin, wherefore the Lutheran preachers Gedicke and Willich saw themselves compelled to flee. Frederick William, the great Elector (1640 to 1688), completely abolished the obligation of the Formula of Concord, as well as exorcism, and demanded of the Lutheran preachers that they get along with the Reformed in a Christian way, that they approve of the Reformed teachings and not punish them, and on the other hand that they should literally obey all orders of the Elector in matters of faith (!!). They were to commit themselves to this in writing; whoever refused to do so was — deposed.
In 1665, for this reason, the archdeacon Reinhart and the aged provost Lilius were removed from their offices. The latter was able to make a declaration the following year, by which he submitted to the orders of the Elector; he was reinstated; but he died soon after, having suffered "heart-rending anguish of conscience" and having shown sincere repentance.
Paul Gerhardt, too, was to submit to the will of the Elector; [but] his conscience did not suffer — not even when only tacit approval was demanded of him. He left Berlin in 1668, and soon other preachers (Gigas, Fromm, Wolf, Lorentz) were shamefully expelled.
Through these events, however, the Lutheran courage to be a witness was awakened again in many cases; but this could not prevent that finally an actual "union" (unification) between Reformed and Lutherans was put into action, i.e. solicited and externally enforced by the king. A call of Frederick William III of September 27, 1817, who, in complete ignorance of the really existing great difference between Lutheran and Reformed doctrine, intended thereby to solemnly celebrate the third anniversary of the Reformation, gave this deplorable [Prussian] “Union" [or “United”] its first public recognition and state authorization. Soon other state and church governments followed Prussia's example, and also in Baden, Nassau, Rhenish Bavaria, Anhalt-Bernburg and Dessau, Waldeck, Hesse-Darmstadt, and to some extent also in Würtemberg, Electorate of Hesse and Weimar, the "Union" was introduced from above, without the "Christian people" in many cases even suspecting or knowing what was going on.
The Lutheran and Reformed Churches were henceforth to form only One Church, and the difference in doctrine was no longer to be thought of. In order to calm the people and to make them inclined to put up with such a union, they were lied to from the pulpits that the difference in doctrine was quite insignificant, — it was only Luther's well-known obstinacy that had prevented a "Union" 300 years before; such obstinacy must now be abandoned and "love" practiced. Luther's teachings were no longer to be preached, the Reformed errors were no longer to be punished. Since the devil had not been able to destroy the Lutheran Church with the "murder of the Pope and the Turks," he now tried it with cunning: Luther's teaching was to be brought from the pulpits in a good manner; then the Lutheran Church would have to die a death. — The "Union" spoken of here is nothing but an invention of the devil – the most pernicious and disgraceful thing that has been concocted in recent times in the ecclesiastical field. While the people were asleep, the devil came and sowed weeds among the wheat; but he did it with the permission of the royal bishop and — quite "in peace," so that no one would notice.
In Prussia, in 1821, the introduction of a common agenda was ordered, but for the time being it was carried out with great caution. One did not want to make the people (who were to become "unified") attentive and restless. But when in 1830 the third secular celebration of the handing over of the Augsburg Confession was approaching, it was thought that it could not be better celebrated than by the general and official introduction of the [Prussian] "Union". But this time, too, it was done as quietly as possible, so that no one would awaken from their accustomed sleep. The Union Agenda was placed on the altar and put into use, and with it the congregations had become United. Many congregations had no idea what had happened, and even today many Prussians come over to America who are very surprised when they are told that they are not Lutheran, but United.
But there were also men who did not sleep, who appeared as witnesses and opened their mouths against this “Union”, which was in itself hideous and so secretly smuggled in; they were found among preachers (e. g. J. G. Scheibel, Wärmelskirch, Kindermann, Ehlers etc.) and laymen (e. g. Huschke). Now the despotic ministry of Altenstein proceeded against them in the name of the king in the tyrannical manner. The Lutheran preachers were deprived of their office, soon thrown into prison for longer, and shorter periods, placed under police supervision, and so on. The congregations that did not want to comply were forbidden all meetings of worship, [Page 27] even private ones; the police tracked them down, if they did take place, and chased the worshippers apart; they also arrested the leaders and punished them with fines or imprisonment. The Lutherans were supposed to pay dues to the Union preachers; they refused to do so and were now — by order of high authorities — seized! In the Silesian village of Hönigern, even saber and bayonet violence was used to bring the Union Agende to the altar. To escape this heavenly tyranny, many Lutherans at that time emigrated to Australia and North America. They had to leave churches and schools, which their fathers had built and cared for, in the hands of the loving "Union" who still own them today and have neither repented of this shameful robbery nor of their apostasy from Luther's teachings.
The Lutherans who had remained behind in Prussia (the "Breslau Synod") were finally recognized by the state as a "tolerated" party by a "General Concession" of July 23, 1845, but they were only allowed to build "prayer houses" without bells and had to renounce — oh shame — all rights to church property. —
The Lutherans were treated in a similar way in other countries, e.g. Saxony, Nassau, Baden. They had to pay bitterly everywhere that they did not approve of the great Union lie, but wanted to stay with the truth.
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