Lutheran movement in england during the reigns of henry VIII. And edward VI

CHAPTER XVII. LUTHERAN SOURCES OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.

Uniformity of Worship in the Western Church, prior to the Reformation, only relative. Influence of Reformation on present Roman Order. Groups of Liturgies. Sources of the Roman Liturgy. Confession of the Opening of the Reformation. The old English Orders. The three-fold task of the Reformers of the Service. Introduction of the Vernacular. Development of the Lutheran Service. Luther’s Reformation of the Service. Principles laid down in his Formula Missae of 1523. The old Worship, not to be abolished. Scripture-lessons, Sermons and Hymns to be in German. Luther’s German Mass of 1526. German, Latin, Greek, Hebrew may all be used in the same service, if there be those who understand them. Translation of New Testament of 1523. Hymns, mostly of 1524. Formula of Baptism, 1523. Translation of revised Mass, 1526. Bugenhagen’s order of 1524. The Nürnberg Service. Volprecht. Doeber’s Mass, 1525. Osiander’s Order of Baptism, 1529. Brandenburg-Nürnberg Order, 1533. Reformation of Cologne, 1543 (Bucer, Melanchthon, Sarcerius). Its Sources. Order of Morning Service in three typical Lutheran Liturgies. The tentative Order of Bucer in the Strassburg Agende of 1524.

If, however, those who controlled the work of the reorganization of the English Church, after many vacillations, at last failed in a full appreciation and confession of the Lutheran faith, the results of the first glow of awakening love for the Gospel in England and of years of contact and negotiation with the leaders of the Lutheran Reformation in Germany, have not been without fruit, but have left their permanent record in the great ecclesiastical documents which are the glory and pride of the English Church, and upon which its very existence depends. Turn where we may in the history or the worship of the English Church and its descendants, we meet at every step with what [[@Page:219]]they owe to that memorable time, and to the incomplete and greatly embarrassed work of the first English Lutherans. We have already traced the origin of the English Bible to German soil, and Lutheran influences. We now enter upon the examination of the influence of Lutheranism upon the worship of the English Church.

It is a great misconception to imagine that prior to the Reformation, the worship in the Western Church, was uniform. Uniformity of worship, like the subjection of the churches of the various countries to the see of Rome, was a gradual growth. The uniformity in the Romish Church of to-day, is, in large measure, the result of the Council of Trent, and even now, is not entirely absolute, as e. g. the continuance of the Mozarabic Liturgy at Toledo in Spain still attests. Liturgiologists classify the various liturgies into groups, and in the Gallican group trace a very decided oriental influence, some conjecturing that their origin was at Ephesus. The Roman Liturgy, Mss. of which as far back as the Ninth Century remain, representing or purporting to represent the Liturgy, as current under Leo I. (440-61, Sacramentarium Leonianum) Gelasius (492–96, Sacr Gelasianum) and Gregory the Great (590-604), continued to press its way, especially in accordance with the schemes of Gregory, in some places entirely supplanting other liturgies, in others adopting some of their features, and in still others only engrafting some of its own features upon liturgies which it could not supplant. Hence at the opening of the Reformation, there was much confusion. Nürnberg and Bamberg are only thirty-three miles apart; and yet the Nürnberg Missal of 1484 differs from the Bamberg Missal of 1492 in the very first Gospel lesson that is given, viz. that for the First Sunday in Advent, where Nürnberg had yielded to the prevailing practice of Rome by surrendering Matth- 21: 1 sqq. for Luke 21: 25 sqq., a change which affected the Gospel for every Sunday in Advent. The old conflict between the Gallican and the Roman Missal had not been fully decided; and, therefore, some of the discrepancies in the [[@Page:220]]services of Lutheran churches in various lands, may be traced back to discrepancies in the Ante-Reformation services which they undertook to reform.

In England also, when the Reformation opened, the various dioceses had divergent orders, as the proportion of Rome or Gallican elements was more or less decided. The chief of these are the Missals according to the use of Sarum (Salisbury), Bristol, York, etc., the former of which dating back to 1085, is the best representative of liturgies of the English type.

Upon the basis of these liturgies, therefore, the Reformers both on the Continent and in England, had alike to labor in providing for the reformation of public worship. They had a three-fold work to perform: first, to translate the service which up to this time had been exclusively Latin; secondly, to correct Romish errors by omission and amendment; thirdly, to supplement what was lacking, by reintroducing whatever was wholesome in the service of the Early Church that had fallen into disuse, and by inserting whatever changed circumstances rendered needful, in order to guard against prevalent abuses.

As long as public worship was congregational, it had been conducted in the language of the people; only when it ceased to be congregational, and became a work of the priests for the congregation, could a language unknown to the people become that of the entire service. The dominancy of the Romish, over the provincial liturgies, and the fact that all the culture of the West was Latin, explain how it supplanted all other languages.

Luther soon felt the necessity of reintroducing the vernacular. We can trace his desire for it, to a statement in his sermon of 1520 on the Mass. During his absence at the Wartburg, Carlstadt having radically changed the service, on his return he began to reform it upon conservative principles. Even then, he recognized the fact that it was impossible at one stroke, to attain everything desirable, and that the work must be gradually wrought. This is shown very clearly in his “Formula of the Mass” of 1523, where he begins by saying: “I have not [[@Page:221]]exchanged old things for new, always hesitating, both because of minds weak in faith, who could not be suddenly freed of what is old and established by custom, and with whom so recent and unusual a mode of worshipping God could not be introduced; and especially because of frivolous and fastidious spirits, who, without faith, and without mind, rush forward, and delight in novelty alone, and then grow nauseated with whatever ceases to be new; as the latter class of men give more trouble than others, in other matters, so, in holy things, they are most troublesome and intolerable, although, while ready to burst with wrath, I am compelled to endure them, unless willing to remove, the Gospel itself from the public. But since there is now hope, that the hearts of many have been illumined and strengthened by the grace of God, and the subject itself demands, that scandals be removed from the Kingdom of Christ, something must be attempted in Christ’s name. … First of all, we, therefore, profess that it has never been our intention to entirely abolish all worship of God, but only to reform that in use, which has been corrupted by the worst additions, and to demonstrate its godly use.”²⁵⁹ He asks, therefore, only that the Scripture-lessons and sermons be in German, and that after the Gradual, and the Sanctus and Agnus Dei in the Communion Service, German hymns, as far as possible, be sung. But he realizes the poverty of the German as yet in hymns; and hence he felt himself so soon constrained to provide by his own pen, for this want in public worship.

Three years later, (1526), in his German Mass he has directed that the most of the liturgical acts shall be in German, but “for the sake of the youth,” wishes part of the service still to be in Latin. For, it must not be forgotten that the pupils of the schools, where the Latin was faithfully taught, up to through the Gymnasia, were compelled to take their places in the choirs, and daily, at Matins and Vespers, to chant the Psalms, as well as to [[@Page:222]]aid in the regular Sunday services. So, too, [[the Apology says >> BookOfConcord:AP:24, 3-5]]: “We retain the Latin language, on account of those who are learning and understand Latin, and we mingle with it German hymns, in order that the people also may have something to learn, and by which faith and fear may be called forth. It has nowhere been written or represented that the act of hearing lessons, not understood, profits men, or that ceremonies profit, not because they teach or admonish, but ex opere operato, because they are thus performed or looked upon. Away with such pharisaic opinion!” But wherever a language be understood and edify, there Luther would give it a place in the service: “Were I able, and the Greek and Hebrew were as common as the Latin, and had in them as much fine music and song as the Latin has, Mass would be held, sung and read one Sunday after the other, in all four languages, German, Latin, Greek, Hebrew. I have no regard for those who are so devoted to but one language, and despise all others; for I would like to educate youth and men, who might be of service to Christ and converse with men, also in foreign lands, so that it might not be with us, as with the Waldenses and Bohemians, who have so confined their faith to their own language, that they cannot speak intelligently and clearly with any one, until he first learn their language. But the Holy Ghost did not so in the beginning. He did not wait, until the whole world came to Jerusalem and learned Hebrew, but he gave various tongues for the ministry of the Word, that the Apostles might speak wherever they went. This example I prefer following; and it is also proper that the youth be practiced in several languages; for who knows how God may use them in time?”

Accordingly he provided for the service in German, first of all by his translation of the New Testament of 1523; then, by his hymns, the first of which were composed the same year, and twenty-one of the thirty-seven which he wrote having originated in 1524; by his German forms for Baptism (Taufbüchlein) of 1523; and his translation of the revised Masss in 1526. His [[@Page:223]]colleague, Bugenhagen, was likewise active in similar work, by his Order of Service of 1524. On the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, 1525, the Mass was said for the first time in German at Wittenberg.

Nürnberg, whose intimate relations with the English Reformation, because of the connection between Osiander and Cranmer, has been already noticed, requires special consideration in this connection. Here Wolfgang Volprecht, Prior of the Augustinian cloister, (d. 1528) on Maunday Thursday 1523, administered the communion in both forms to members of his order, and on Easter, 1524, to three thousand persons. In 1525, Doeber’s Evangelical Mass was introduced. In 1529, Osiander published an Order of Baptism, partly translated from the Bamberg Order, and partly taken from Luther’s Taufbüchlein. In 1533, the very important Brandenburg-Nürnberg Agende was published, having been prepared, as we have before seen, by Osiander, with the assistance of Brentz, and having been submitted to, and received the endorsement of the Wittenberg Faculty. It is the model, after which many succeeding Lutheran liturgies were constructed, holding a place, in the first rank, for conservatism, purity of doctrine and correctness of usage. Altogether between 1523 and 1555, Augusti asserts that there were published one hundred and thirty-two Lutheran Agende and Kirchenordnungen. Their great variety is partly explained by historical and local relations, but, at the same, indicates that the Lutheran Church lays less emphasis upon external uniformity, than upon fidelity to the common Evangelical principle. These orders may be distributed into three classes: 1. Those pure in doctrine, but adhering most strictly to the received Roman forms. Of these, Mark-Brandenburg, of 1540, the Pfalz-Neuberg and the Austrian of 1571, are types. 2. Those of the Saxon Lutheran type, among which Luther’s Formula of the Mass is most prominent. Among them are the Prussian (1525), the various orders prepared by Bugenhagen, as Brunswick (1528), Hamburg (1529), Minden and Göttingen (1530), Lübeck (1531), Soest (1532), [[@Page:224]]Bremen (1534), Pomerania, (1535), the Brandenburg-Nürnberg (1533), Hanover (1536), Herzog Heinrich of Saxony (1539), Mecklenburg (1540), etc. 3. Those which mediate between the Lutheran and the Reformed type, as Bucer’s in Strassburg; the Württemberg Orders, and, to a greater or less extent, the orders of S. W. Germany in general.

Of these, there is one that exerted an especial influence above all the rest, upon the orders of the English Church, viz., the Liturgy for the Reformation of Cologne of 1543. Hermann the Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, having become a convert to the Lutheran faith, expected to reform the churches in his realm according to the Lutheran doctrine; and, at his request, a Church Constitution, with orders of Service, was drawn up by Bucer, and thoroughly revised by Melanchthon, with the aid of Sarcerius and others. It is derived chiefly from the Brandenburg-Nürnberg order of 1533, and the orders of Herzog Heinrich, of Saxony, prepared by Justus Jonas in 1536, and published, after revision by Cruciger, Myconius, etc., in 1539, and of Hesse Cassel, (Kymens) of 1539. Carefully guarding against any explicit statements of a polemical character towards both the Romanists and the Reformed, it did not meet with the favor of Luther, who demanded that beyond the positive presentation of doctrine in the service, the negative should also be unmistakably expressed, and, therefore, had not patience to read it thoroughly.

The Order of Morning Service, (Hauptgottesdienst) as given in these typical Lutheran liturgies, is as follows:

I. LUTHER’s GERMAN MASS, (1526).

1. A Spiritual Song or Psalm in German, as “I will bless the Lord at all times.” (Ps. 34).

2. Kyrie Eleison, three, not nine times.

3. A Collect, as follows:

“O God, the Protector of all that trust in Thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy,” etc.

4. The Epistle. [[@Page:225]]

5. A German Hymn: “Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist,” or some other.

6. The Gospel.

7. The Creed in German: “Wir glauben all in einem Gott.”

8. Sermon on the Gospel for the day.

9. Paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer, and Exhortation to the Communion.

10. Words of Institution.

11. Agnus Dei in German: “O Lamm Gottes unschuldig.”

12. Distribution.

13. Collect:

“Almighty God, we thank Thee that Thou has refreshed us with this salutary gift, and we beseech Thy mercy graciously to strengthen us in faith towards Thee, and in fervent love towards one another,” etc.

XIV. Benediction.

II. BRANDENBURG-NÜRNBERG, (1533.)

1 . When the priest comes to the altar, he may say the Confiteor. 2. Introit or German Hymn. 3. Kyrie. 4. Gloria in Excelsis. 5. “The Lord be with you,” etc. 6. One or more collects, according to the occasion. 7. A chapter from the Epistles of Paul, Peter or John. 8. Hallelujah, with its versicle, or a Gradual, from Holy Scripture. 9. A chapter from the Gospels, or Acts. 10. The Creed, n. Sermon. 12. Exhortation. 13. Words of Institution. 14. Sanctus. 15. Lord’s Prayer, 16. “The Peace of the Lord,” etc. 17. Distribution, accompanied by the singing of the “Agnus Dei.” 18. Prayer of thanksgiving: “Almighty and everlasting God, we heartily thank Thee,” etc.

“Almighty God, we thank Thee,” as in Luther’s German Mass. 19. Benedicamus. 20, Benediction.

“The Lord bless thee,” etc.; or, “God be merciful unto us, and bless us,” etc.; or, “God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, bless and keep us;” or “The blessing of God the [[@Page:226]]Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, be and abide with us all. Amen.”

III. SAXONY (Herzog Heinrich, 1539).

1. Introit de tempore. 2. Kyrie Eleison. 3. Gloria in Excelsis. 4. Creed (Wir glauben). 5. Sermon. 6. Salutation. 7. Sursum Corda. 8. Prefaces. 7. Sanctus. 8. Admonition with Paraphrase of Lord’s Prayer, or Lord’s Prayer unparaphrased alone. 4. Admonition with Words of Institution, or Words of Institution alone. 10. Agnus Dei, on Festivals, or if there be many communicants, 11. At close of Communion, Thanksgiving Collect:

“Almighty God,” as in Luther’s Mass, or “Ach du lieber Herre Gott.” 12. Benediction.

IV. REFORMATION OF COLOGNE, (1543).

1. Public Confession.

“I will confess my transgression, etc. Almighty and eternal God and Father, we confess and lament that we are conceived and born in sin, and are full of ignorance and unbelief of Thy divine Word; that we are ever inclined to all evil and averse to all good; that we transgress thy holy commandments without end; and that thereby we have incurred everlasting death, and our corruption ever increaseth. But we are sorry, and crave Thy grace and help. Have mercy upon us all, O most merciful God and Father, through Thy Son, and Lord Jesus Christ. Grant unto us Thy Holy Spirit, that we may learn our sins, and thoroughly lament and acknowledge our unrighteousness; and with true faith accept Thy grace and forgiveness in Christ, our Lord, Thy dear Son; so that we may die more and more unto sin, and live a new life in Thee, and may serve and please Thee, to Thy glory and the profit of Thy Church. Amen.

2. Consolation of the Gospel.

Hear the Consolation of the Gospel: John 3: 16; 1 Tim. 1:15; John 3: 35, 36; Acts 10: 43; 1 John 2: 1,2.

3. Absolution. [[@Page:227]]

Our Lord Jesus Christ hath left to his Church the great consolation in that he hath enjoined his ministers to remit sins unto all those who are sorry for their sins, and in faith and repentance desire to amend, and hath promised that unto all such, their sins shall be forgiven in Heaven. Upon this gracious command and consolation of our Lord Jesus Christ, I announce unto all those who are penitent for their sins, console themselves in our Lord Christ, and thus desire to amend their lives, the remission of all their sins, with the assurance of divine grace, and eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

4. Introit. 5. Kyrie. 6. Gloria in Excelsis. 7. “The Lord be with you.” 8. Collect. 9. Epistle. 10. Hallelujah, Gradual or Sequence, n. Gospel. 12. Exposition of Gospel (Sermon). 13. General Prayer:

“Almighty and everlasting God and Father, Thou hast commanded us through Thy dear Son and his Apostles, to come unto Thee in His name, and hast promised, that whatsoever we, when thus assembled, ask Thee in his name, Thou wilt graciously grant; we pray Thee, in the name of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, first that Thou would graciously forgive us all our sin and misdeeds which we confess unto Thee,” etc.

14. Creed, during the singing of which the offerings are gathered. 15. Warning against unworthy reception of the Lord’s Supper. 16. “The Lord be with you,” etc. 17. “Lift up your hearts,” etc. 18. “Let us give thanks,” etc. 19. “It is truly meet, right and salutary,” etc. 20. Sanctus. 21. Words of Institution. 22. Lord’s Prayer. 23. “The Peace of the Lord,” etc. 24. Distribution, during which the Agnus Dei is sung. 25. “The Lord be with you,” etc. 26. Collects, as in Brandenburg-Nürnberg. 27. Benediction, as in Brandenburg-Nürnberg.

To these, we add Bucer’s tentative, but still earlier work, in the Strassburg Mass of 1524, although published without authority. This is of especial interest, because of Bucer’s connection both with the Reformation of Cologne, and the Revision of I Edward VI. [[@Page:228]]

1. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 2. Kneeling. I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord. And Thou forgavest, etc. I, a poor sinner, confess to God Almighty, that I have grievously sinned by trangression of his commandment, that I have done much which I should have left undone, and that I have left much undone which I should have done, by unbelief and want of confidence towards God, and by lack of love toward my neighbor. For this, my guilt, whereof God knows, I grieve. Be gracious, be merciful to me, a poor sinner. Amen. 3. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, etc. This I believe. Help, Thou, mine unbelief, and save me. Amen. 4. The priest then says to the people: God be gracious, and have mercy upon us all. 5. The Introit, or a Psalm. 6. Kyrie Eleison. 7. Gloria in Excelsis. 8. Salutation. 9. Collect, or Common Prayer. 10. Epistle, 11. Hallelujah. 12. Gospel. 13. Sermon. 14. Apostles or Nicene Creed. 15. Admonition to Prayer. 16. Sursum Corda. 17. Prefaces. 18. Sanctus with Benedictus. 19. Prayer: Almighty, Merciful Father, as Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ hath promised that what we ask in His Name, etc. 19. Words of Institution. 20. How great is Thy goodness, in that Thou not only hath forgiven us our sins, without any merit of our own, but that Thou hath given us as an assurance thereof, the memorial of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the bread and wine, as Thou art wont to seal other promises by outward signs. Therefore we have now great and irrefutable assurance of Thy grace, and know that we are Thy children, Thine heirs, and coheirs with Christ, and that we may pray freely as Thine only begotten Son hath taught us, saying: Our Father, etc. 21. Lord, Deliver us from enemies, seen and unseen, from the devil, the world and our own flesh. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. 22. Agnus Dei. 23. Lord Jesus, Christ, Thou Son of the Living God, who, by thy Father’s will, and with the working of the Holy Ghost, hath, by Thy death, brought the world to life; deliver us, by this Thy [[@Page:229]]holy Body and Blood, from all our unrighteousness and wickedness, and grant that we may alway obey Thy commandments, and never be separated from Thee eternally. Amen. 24. Admonition to the profitable remembrance of Christ’s Death. 25. Distribution, with the words alone of the Evangelists or Paul. 27. Thanksgiving Hymn:

“Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet

Der uns selber hat gespeiset

Mit seinem Fleische und mit seinem Blute, et.” (Luther). [[@Page:230]]