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

CHAPTER XXII. THE ORDERS FOR CONFIRMATION, MARRIAGE, VISITATION OF THE SICK, BURIAL.

Rome’s Exaltation of Confirmation to a Sacrament, explained. Chemnitz on Confirmation. Examinations in Lutheran and English Orders. Catechisms of the two Orders. The Anglican Collect derived from the Cologne and Cassel Orders. The Act of Confirmation and its Words. The Marriage Ceremony. The old English Orders. Amendments and Additions from the Lutheran Orders. The “Visitation of Sick” and “Burial” as likewise modified. Dr. Cardwell’s Testimony.

Confirmation, although now universally practiced in the Lutheran Church, and highly esteemed as a most valuable ecclesiastical rite, for a long time fell into disrepute, in the reaction from the Romish overestimate of its importance, and the errors and superstitions connected with it. Rome, without any Scriptural authority, urged its necessity, and raised it, to the place of a Sacrament; made the chrism an essential, if not the most important part; and so exalted it, as to disparage the efficacy of Baptism. How thoroughly Rome undermines the value of Baptism, both by her doctrine of Penance and of Confirmation, is not generally understood. Baptism, with her, is the sacrament for the beginning of the Christian life; but its influence is evanescent, and other sacraments bring comfort to the more mature Christian. The great end of its teaching to those who have been baptized, is not, therefore, daily to return to God’s covenant in baptism; but to seek new ordinances in which a new covenant is made. As Chemnitz has stated, the error was “that in Baptism, the Holy Spirit is given solely for regeneration, but that, for [[@Page:266]]other necessary gifts, he is not given in Baptism, but only in Confirmation.”²⁸⁶

The disuse of Confirmation, therefore, speedily followed, when there was an embarrassment in retaining it without continuing in the minds of the people the false estimate. Nevertheless, it did not become entirely obsolete throughout the Sixteenth Century. The writer above mentioned, the greatest theologian of the Lutheran Church, in his “Refutation of the Council of Trent,” presents the Lutheran view of Confirmation, as follows: “ Our writers have frequently shown, that, with the useless, superstitions and unscriptural traditions removed, the rite of Confirmation may be used after a godly manner, and in harmony with Scripture, so that they who have been baptized in infancy (for such is now the state of the Church), when they have attained to years of discretion, may diligently be instructed in a fixed and simple catechism of Church doctrine. And when they seem to have attained the elements in a moderate degree, they are afterwards presented to the bishop and the Church; and there the child, baptized in infancy, is first admonished, in a brief and simple exhortation, concerning his baptism, viz., how, why and into what he was baptized, what the Holy Trinity conferred and sealed upon him in Holy Baptism, viz., the covenant of peace, and the compact of grace; how renunciation of Satan, profession of faith and promise of obedience were there made. 2. The child makes a public profession of its own before the entire Church. 3. He is asked concerning the chief topics of Christian doctrine, and answers to each; or if he do not understand, is more correctly instructed. 4. He is admonished, and, by this profession, proclaims that he dissents from all heathen, fanatical and profane opinions. 5. An earnest exhortation is added from the Word of God, to persevere in the covenant of Baptism, and in that doctrine and faith, and by advancing to be gradually confirmed. 6. Public prayer is made for these children that God would deign to govern, preserve and confirm them in this profession. [[@Page:267]]To which prayer, the laying on of hands may, without superstition, be added. Nor is the prayer vain; for it is based on the promises concerning the gift of perseverance and the grace of Confirmation. Such rite of Confirmation would confer great profit for the edification of the young and the entire Church.”

Although this was published nearly thirty years after I. Edward, it shows the estimate of Confirmation which thus far had obtained. Even Confirmation by a bishop or superintendent is here allowed, although, in the same connection, the error of the Council of Trent, is shown, in anathematizing all other than episcopal Confirmation; for if any priest, or, even in case of necessity a layman, may baptize, while only a bishop may confirm, Confirmation, the human rite, is elevated above Baptism, the divine ordinance.

The order for Confirmation, of the English book, agrees with the preceding Lutheran Orders, in requiring a knowledge of the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments. No one, in either communion, was to be admitted without an examination concerning these parts of the Catechism. See Luther’s vigorous language, in the beginning of his Preface to the Small Catechism. So Brandenburg -Nürnberg: “Those who neither can, nor will learn the Ten Commandments, Creed and Lord’s Prayer, shall not be admitted to the sacrament.” Hence the most diligent examination is uniformly required before the first communion. The Private Confession, then prevalent in the Lutheran Church gave pastors the opportunity for such examination, and hence rendered the desire for such public rite as that of Confirmation less urgent. Afterwards there came a time when Private Confession had fallen into disuse; and then, the need of some such ceremony as Confirmation, on the eve of the first admission to communion, asserted itself, and brought about its restoration. Nevertheless, as the above extract from Chemnitz indicates, the public examination was by no means unusual, provision being made for it especially in such Orders as furnish the Common Prayer so much material, as the Cassel Order of 1539, [[@Page:268]]and the much quoted Reformation of Cologne. “Before all the congregation” (Cassel, Cologne), “public in the church before the people” (Ott-Heinrich, 1543) is the very language of those old Orders.

I. Edward places the examination in charge of the bishop. Cologne says that “this work would be especially appropriate to the bishops, if the dioceses were not so large,” and assigns it to a “Visitator,” the pastor, however, asking the questions. Mark-Brandenburg (1540), notwithstanding its Romanizing reputation, says: “Since, thank God, the population in our lands is great, and the bishops few, so that there will be too many for them to hear and instruct each one, they may commit this to their pastors. Nevertheless we think it well, that whenever Confirmation by the pastors occur, some one of those learned be with them to see that the pastors attend to it properly, and do not reintroduce former abuses or carelessness;” and the Reformation of Cologne: “It is not the prerogative of bishops, so that no one else may administer it, as baptism which is more, is administered by ordinary ministers, yea, in case of necessity, by any Christian.” It is assigned to bishops only “that they may learn to know their hearers and especially the young people.” It would not be difficult to reconstruct the first three rubrics of the first English book from the Cologne Order, and the final one is thoroughly Lutheran in doctrine, although we cannot trace its origin. The Catechism which follows “to be learned of every child, before he be brought to be confirmed of the bishops,” we treat of in a separate chapter. It is sufficient here to say, that Cologne is again followed by the introduction of the Catechism in this place, as well as in its subject matter. Of the two Collects in the first English Order, the first was the second prayer in connection with the unction at Adult Baptism in the ante-reformation Orders; and the second, “Almighty, everlasting God,” is conceded by most English authorities to be from the Cologne Order. The prayer from the Eighth Century of Egbert, bishop of York, which Palmer gives as its source, has only the faintest [[@Page:269]]resemblance. It is found also in the Cassel Order of 1539, and, thence, has been traced by Höfling²⁸⁷ to Bucer. In various revisions, it is generally found in the Lutheran formularies, and “can with difficulty be supplanted by any other, since it is excellent.”²⁸⁸ The act of Confirmation in I. Edward, was according to that of the ancient form: “I sign thee with the sign of the holy cross,” etc., and was replaced in II. Edward (1552) by the prayer said by the bishop while his hands rested upon the one confirmed: “Defend, O Lord, this child with thy heavenly grace, that he may continue thine forever and daily increase in thy Holy Spirit, more and more, until he come unto thy everlasting kingdom.” This also comes from the Cassel and Cologne Orders: “Receive the Holy Ghost, as thy protection and defence against all evil, and thy strength and aid unto all good, from the gracious hand of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.”

The Marriage ceremony in the English Book, is to a large extent from the old English, with very important additions introduced from the Lutheran Orders. The opening address, which has been left unchanged in succeeding revisions in England, has been much condensed in the American edition. In the Sarum Order, the address read:

“Brethren, we are gathered together in the sight of God, and his angels, and all the saints, in the face of the Church, to join together two persons,—to wit, this man and this woman, that, whatsover they have done aforetime henceforth they may be one body, yet two souls, in the faith and law of God, [“to knyt these two bodyes togyder.” York Use] to the end they may together attain eternal life.”

This was condensed into an introduction:

“Dearly beloved friends, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of his congregation to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony.”

The resemblance to the Introduction of the Reformation of Cologne fully justified the retention of the old formula. It ran: [[@Page:270]]

Ye appear before God our Heavenly Father, and Christ Jesus, our Lord, and his Church,” etc.

What follows is chiefly a condensation of the long address in Schwab-Hall of 1543, no precedent for it being found in the older English Orders. It follows the order and uses the very language of this liturgy of Brentz.

English Prayer Book (1549): “Which is an honorable estate instituted of God in Paradise,²⁸⁹ in the time of man’s innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church;²⁹⁰ which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought in Cana of Galilee,²⁹¹ and is commended of St. Paul to be honorable among all men; and therefore is not to be enterprised or taken in hand unadvisedly, lightly or wantonly,²⁹² to satisfy men’s carnal lusts and appetites,²⁹³ like brute beasts that have no understanding, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly and in the fear of God.²⁹⁴ One cause was the procreation of children, to [[@Page:271]]be brought up in the fear of and nurture of the Lord, and praise of God.²⁹⁵ Secondly, it was ordained for a remedy against sin, and to avoid fornication, that such persons as be married might live chastely in matrimony,²⁹⁶ and keep themselves undefiled members of Christ’s body.²⁹⁷ Thirdly, for the mutual society, help and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity.”²⁹⁸

The Exhortation that, “if any can show just cause, why they may not, lawfully, be joined together, let him now speak,” is partly according to the older English Orders, but the words: “Or else hereafter forever hold his peace,” come from Osiander’s Orders of 1526, followed by Brand-Numb. (1533), Mark-Brandenburg (1540), Ott-Heinrich (1543), Cologne (1543), etc.: “If any one hath aught to say thereon, let him speak in time, or afterward be silent, and refrain from interposing any hindrance.” In the Lutheran Orders, however, this declaration is made in connection with the publication of the banns. The questions addressed bride and groom, follow the York and Sarum Orders, the earlier Lutheran forms being much briefer, although, in this, the later Orders of the Sixteenth Century more nearly approach the English. The Lutheran custom generally provided for the use of the ring, but without any words concerning the ring, on the part of those being married. Osiander (1526) [[@Page:272]]followed by Brandenburg-Nürnberg, etc., prescribes that first the groom shall say after the minister: “I, N., take thee N. to my wedded wife, and plight thee my troth,” and then the bride also, in the same way, plights her troth to her wedded husband.

We are compelled here to dispel an illusion which has misled some of the English writers on the Prayer Book. Palmer²⁹⁹ says: “The succeeding rites in which the priest, with a certain formulary, joins their right hands together, and afterwards pronounces the marriage to be complete, are perhaps peculiar to the Church of England.” Blunt: “This is a noble peculiarity of the English rite, though probably derived originally from Archbishop Hermann’s Consultation.” The hint thus given, however, at once destroys the idea of peculiarity. The sentence “What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder,” is found in every Lutheran Order which we have examined, from Osiander’s of 1526, on: “Was Gott zusammen gefüget hat, sol Kein Mensch scheiden.”³⁰⁰ Nor have we to search long for the declaration, unknown to the old Orders.

Luther’s Traubüchletn, 1529.	English Book.
Weil dann Hans N. und Greta N. einander zur Ehe begehre, auch die Ehe Einander versprochen, und solches hie öffentlich fur Gott und seinen Gemein bekennet, darauf die hande und Trauringe einander gegeben haben, so spreche ich sie ehelich zusammen, im Namen Gottes des Vaters, und des Sohnes, und des Heiligen Geistes. Amen.	Forasmuch as N. and N. have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same here before God and this company; and thereto have given and pledged their troth either to other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving gold and silver, and by joining of hands. I pronounce that they be man and wife together; In the Name of the Father, etc.

In accordance with Osiander’s Order, and the Lutheran Orders in general, following it, Psalm 128 was designated as the first to be sung. Cologne give Ps. 127 first, and then Ps. 128.

The English Service closes with a long Address to “All ye which be married, or which intend to take the holy estate of [[@Page:273]]marriage upon you,” which is only an elaboration of the portion of the Address in Luther’s Order, beginning: “Since ye both now are given in marriage, in God’s name, hear first the command of God touching this estate,” etc.

In the Order for “Visitation of the Sick,” the most important feature derived from a Lutheran source is the “Exhortation.” The ancient Exhortation from the old Orders quoted by Palmer, Blunt, Procter, etc., has little more resemblance to that of the English book, than that it is an exhortation to a sick person. The compilers of the English book adopted that in the Reformation of Cologne, originally found in the Saxon Order of 1539, condensing and very freely rendering it, rather following the thought than the words. The two exhortations begin:

Saxon, 1539.	English, 1549.
Dear friend: Since our Lord Jesus Christ hath visited you with bodily sickness, in order that you may take to heart God’s will, know: First, that such bodily sickness come to us from God for no other causes, etc.	Dearly beloved: Know this, that Almighty God is the Lord over life and death… Wherefore whatsoever your sickness is, know you certainly that it is God’s visitation. And for what cause soever this sickness is sent unto you, etc.

The Order for the “Burial of the Dead,” has been much changed in the English book, since I. Edward VI. Prior to the same period, the Lutheran Orders also have a relatively less complete development. The essential features however are the same. They retain from the old Orders: “I am the resurrection and the life,” “In the midst of life, we are in death,” “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord,” and the lesson 1 Cor. 15: 20 sqq. The first Collect: “Almighty God, we give thee hearty thanks,” which Palmer declares to be of modern origin we find in the Reformation of Cologne. The concluding Collect for the forgiveness and peace of the departed is not found in any Lutheran authorities examined, as it retains Romish error. The first Collect, now found in the Anglican Order, was in I. Edward VI., in the “Celebration of the Holy Communion when there is a burial of the dead.” It occurs in the burial service of Lower Saxony (1585), as “O Herr Jesu Christe, der du bist der [[@Page:274]]Anferstehung u. das Leben” from which it would be interesting to trace it to its source.

Such was in general the First Book of Edward VI. Dr. Cardwell is right in saying: “The new Liturgy was greatly indebted, wherever it deviated from the ancient breviaries, to the progress made upon the continent in religious worship.” After alluding to its indebtedness to the Reformation of Cologne, he adds: “In the Occasional Offices, it is clear on examination that they were indebted to the labors of Melanchthon and Bucer, and through them to the older Liturgy of Nürnberg, which those reformers were instructed to follow.”³⁰¹ [[@Page:275]]