§ 159. ORTHODOXY AND ITS BATTLES.[465]
The Formula of Concord commended itself to the hearts and
intelligences of Lutherans, and secured a hundred years’ supremacy of
orthodoxy, notwithstanding two Christological controversies. Gradually,
however, a new dogmatic scholasticism arose, which had the defects
as well as the excellences of the mediæval system. The orthodoxy of
this school deteriorated, on the one hand, into violent polemic on
confessional differences, and, on the other, into undue depreciation
of outward forms in favour of a spiritual life and personal piety.
These tendencies are represented by the Syncretist and Pietist
controversies.
§ 159.1. =Christological Controversies.=
1. =The Cryptist and Kenotist Controversy= between the
Giessen and Tübingen theologians, in A.D. 1619, about
Christ’s state of humiliation, led to the publication of
many violent treatises down to A.D. 1626. The Kenotists
of Giessen, with Mentzer and Feuerborn at their head,
assigned the humiliation only to the human nature, and
explained it as an actual κένωσις, _i.e._ a complete but
voluntary resigning of the omnipresence and omnipotence
immanent in His divinity (κτῆσις, but not χρῆσις),
yet so that He could have them at His command at any
moment, _e.g._ in His miracles. The Cryptists of Tübingen,
with Luc. Osiander and Thumm at their head, ascribed
humiliation to both natures, and taught that all the
while Christ, even _secundum carnem_, was omnipresent
and ruled both in heaven and earth, but in a hidden
way; the humiliation is no κένωσις, but only a κρύψις.
After repeated unsuccessful attempts to bring about
a reconciliation, John George, Elector of Saxony, in
A.D. 1623, accepted the Kenotic doctrine. But the two
parties still continued their strife.[466]
2. =The Lütkemann Controversy= on the humanity of Christ in
death was of far less importance. Lütkemann, a professor
of philosophy at Rostock, affirmed that in death, because
the unity of soul and body was broken, Christ was not true
man, and that to deny this was to destroy the reality and
the saving power of his death. He held that the incarnation
of Christ lasted through death, because the divine nature
was connected, not only with the soul, but also with the
body. Lütkemann was obliged to quit Rostock, but got an
honourable call to Brunswick as superintendent and court
preacher, and there died in A.D. 1655. Later Lutherans
treated the controversy as a useless logomachy.
§ 159.2. =The Syncretist Controversy.=--Since the Hofmann
controversy (§ 141, 15) the University of Helmstadt had shown
a decided humanistic tendency, and gave even greater freedom in
the treatment of doctrines than the Formula of Concord, which
it declined to adopt. To this school belonged =George Calixt=,
and from A.D. 1614 for forty years he laboured in promoting
its interests. He was a man of wide culture and experience,
who had obtained a thorough knowledge of church history, and
acquaintance with the most distinguished theologians of all
churches, during his extensive foreign travels, and therewith
a geniality and breadth of view not by any means common in
those days. He did not indeed desire any formal union between
the different churches, but rather a mutual recognition,
love, and tolerance. For this purpose he set, as a secondary
principle of Christian theology, besides Scripture, as the
primary principle, the consensus of the first five centuries
as the common basis of all churches, and sought to represent
later ecclesiastical differences as unessential or of less
consequence. This was denounced by strict Lutherans as
Syncretism and Cryptocatholicism. In A.D. 1639 the Hanoverian
preacher Buscher charged him with being a secret Papist. After
the Thorn Conference of A.D. 1645, a violent controversy arose,
which divided Lutherans into two camps. On the one side were
the universities of Helmstadt and Königsberg; on the other
hand, the theologians of the electorate of Saxony, Hülsemann
of Leipzig, Waller of Dresden, and Abr. Calov, who died
professor in Wittenberg in A.D. 1686. Calov wrote twenty-six
controversial treatises on this subject. Jena vainly sought to
mediate between the parties. In the _Theologorum Sax. Consensus
repetitus Fidei vera Lutheranæ_ of A.D. 1655, for which the
Wittenberg divines failed to secure symbolical authority, the
following sentiments were branded as Syncretist errors: That
in the Apostles’ Creed everything is taught that is necessary
to salvation; that the Catholic and Reformed systems retain
hold of fundamental truths; that original sin is of a merely
privative nature; that God _indirecte, improprie, et per
accidens_ is the cause of sin; that the doctrine of the Trinity
was first clearly revealed in the New Testament, etc. Calixt
died A.D. 1656 in the midst of most violent controversies. His
son Ulrich continued these, but had neither the ability nor
moderation of his father. Even the peaceably disposed Conference
of Cassel of A.D. 1661 (§ 154, 4) only poured oil on the flames.
The strife lost itself at last in actions for damages between
the younger Calixt and his bitter opponent Strauch of Wittenberg.
Wearied of these fruitless discussions, theologians now turned
their attention to the rising movement of Pietism.[467]
§ 159.3. =The Pietist Controversy in its First
Stage.=--=Philip Jacob Spener= born in Alsace in A.D. 1635,
was in his thirty-first year, on account of his spirituality,
distinguished gifts, and singularly wide scholarship, made
president of a clerical seminary at Frankfort-on-Main. In
A.D. 1686 he became chief court preacher at Dresden, and
provost of Berlin in A.D. 1691, when, on account of his intense
earnestness in pastoral work, he had been expelled from Dresden.
He died in Berlin in A.D. 1705. His year’s attendance at Geneva
after the completion of his curriculum at Strassburg had an
important influence on his whole future career. He there learned
to value discipline for securing purity of life as well as of
doctrine, and was also powerfully impressed by the practical
lectures of Labadie (§ 163, 7) and the reading of the “Practice
of Piety” and other ascetical writings of the English Puritans
(§ 162, 3). Though strongly attached to the Lutheran church,
he believed that in the restoration of evangelical doctrine
by the Wittenberg Reformation, “not by any means had all been
accomplished that needed to be done,” and that Lutheranism in
the form of the orthodoxy of the age had lost the living power
of the reformers, and was in danger of burying its talent in
dead and barren service of the letter. There was therefore a
pressing need of a new and wider reformation. In the Lutheran
church, as the depository of sound doctrine, he recognised
the fittest field for the development of a genuinely Christian
life; but he heartily appreciated any true spiritual movement
in whatsoever church it arose. He went back from scholastic
dogmatics to Holy Scripture as the living source of saving
knowledge, substituted for the external orthodox theology the
theology of the heart, demanded evidence of this in a pious
Christian walk: these were the means by which he sought to
promote his reformation. A whole series of Lutheran theologians
of the seventeenth century (§ 159) had indeed contributed to
this same end by their devotional works, hymns, and sermons.
What was new in Spener was the conviction of the insufficiency
of the hitherto used means and the undue prominence given to
doctrine, and his consequent effort vigorously made to raise
the tone of the Christian life. In his childlike, pious humility
he regarded himself as by no means called to carry out this work,
but felt it his duty to insist upon the necessity of it, and
indicate the means that should be used to realize it. This he
did in his work of A.D. 1675, “_Pia Desideria_.” As it was his
aim to recommend biblical practical Christianity to the heart
of the individual Christian, he revived the almost forgotten
doctrine “Of Spiritual Priesthood” in a separate treatise.
In A.D. 1670 he began to have meetings in his own house for
encouraging Christian piety in the community, which soon
were imitated in other places. Spener’s influence on the
Lutheran church became greater and wider through his position
at Dresden. Stirred up by his spirit, three young graduates of
Leipzig. A. H. Francke, Paul Anton, and J. K. Schade, formed
in A.D. 1686 a private _Collegia Philobiblica_ for practical
exposition of Scripture and the delivery of public exegetical
lectures at the university in the German language. But the
Leipzig theological faculty, with J. B. Carpzov II. at its
head, charged them with despising the public ordinances as
well as theological science, and with favouring the views
of separatists. The _Collegia Philobiblica_ was suppressed,
and the three friends obliged to leave Leipzig in A.D. 1690.
This marked the beginning of the Pietist controversies.
Soon afterwards Spener was expelled from Dresden; but in
his new position at Berlin he secured great influence in the
appointments to the theological faculty of the new university
founded at Halle by the peace-loving elector Frederick III.
of Brandenburg, in opposition to the contentious universities
of Wittenberg and Leipzig. Francke, Anton, and Breithaupt
were made professors of theology. Halle now won the position
which Wittenberg and Geneva had held during the Reformation
period, and the Pietist controversy thus entered upon
a second, more general, and more critical epoch of its
history.[468]--Continuation, § 166, 1.
§ 159.4. =Theological Literature= (§ 142, 6).--The “_Philologia
Sacra_” of =Sol. Glassius= of Jena, published in A.D. 1623,
has ranked as a classical work for almost two centuries. From
A.D. 1620 till the end of the century, a lively controversy was
carried on about the Greek style of the New Testament, in which
Lutherans, and especially the Reformed, took part. The purists
maintained that the New Testament idiom was pure and classical,
thinking that its inspiration would otherwise be endangered.
The first historico-critical introduction to the Scriptures was
the “_Officina Biblica_” of Walther in A.D. 1636. =Pfeiffer= of
Leipzig gained distinction in biblical criticism and hermeneutics
by his “_Critica Sacra_” of A.D. 1680 and “_Hermeneutica_”
of A.D. 1684. Exegesis now made progress, notwithstanding its
dependence on traditional interpretations of doctrinal proof
passages and its mechanical theory of inspiration. The most
distinguished exegetes were =Erasmus Schmidt= of Wittenberg,
who died in A.D. 1637: he wrote a Latin translation of New
Testament with admirable notes, and a very useful concordance
of the Greek New Testament, under the title Ταμεῖον, which
has been revised and improved by Bruder; =Seb. Schmidt= of
Strassburg, who wrote commentaries on several Old Testament
books and on the Pauline epistles; and =Abr. Calov= of
Wittenberg, who died in A.D. 1686, in his 74th year, whose
“_Biblia Illustrata_,” in four vols., is a work of amazing
research and learning, but composed wholly in the interests
of dogmatics.--Little was done in the department of church
history. Calixt awakened a new enthusiasm for historical
studies, and =Gottfried Arnold= (§ 159, 2), pietist, chiliast,
and theosophist, bitterly opposed to every form of orthodoxy,
and finding true Christianity only in sects, separatists,
and heretics, set the whole theological world astir by his
“_Unparteiische Kirchen- und Ketzer-historie_,” in A.D. 1699
(§ 5, 3).
§ 159.5. The orthodox school applied itself most diligently to
dogmatics in a strictly scholastic form. =Hutter= of Wittenberg,
who died in A.D. 1616, wrote “_Loci communes theologici_” and
“_Compendium Loc. Theol._” =John Gerhard= of Jena, who died
in A.D. 1637, published in A.D. 1610 his “_Loc. Theologici_”
in nine folio vols., the standard of Lutheran orthodoxy. =J.
Andr. Quenstedt= of Wittenberg, who died A.D. 1688, exhibited
the best and worst of Lutheran scholasticism in his “_Theol.
didactico-polemica_.” The most important dogmatist of the
Calixtine school was Conrad Horneius. Calixt himself is known
as a dogmatist only by his lectures; but to him we owe the
generally adopted distinction between morals and dogmatics
as set forth in his “_Epitome theol. Moralis_.”--Polemics
were carried on vigorously. =Hoë von Hoënegg= of Dresden
(§ 154, 3, 4) and =Hutter= of Wittenberg were bitter opponents
of Calvinism and Romanism. Hutter was styled by his friends
_Malleus Calvinistorum_ and _Redonatus Lutherus_. The ablest
and most dignified polemic against Romanism was that of =John
Gerhard= in his “_Confessio Catholica_.” =Nich. Hunnius=, son
of Ægid. Hunnius, and Hutter’s successor at Wittenberg, from
A.D. 1623 superintendent at Lübeck, distinguished himself as an
able controversialist against the papacy by his “_Demonstratio
Ministerii Lutherani Divini atque Legitimi_.” Against the
Socinians he wrote his “_Examen Errorum Photinianorum_,”
and against the fanatics a “Chr. Examination of the new
Paracelsist and Weigelian Theology.” His principal work is
his “_Διάσκεψις de Fundamentali Dissensu Doctrinæ Luth. et
Calvin_.” His “_Epitome Credendorum_” went through nineteen
editions. The most incessant controversialist was =Abr. Calov=,
who wrote against Syncretists, Papists, Socinians, Arminians,
etc.--Continuation, § 167, 4.
§ 160. THE RELIGIOUS LIFE.
The attachment of the Lutheran church of this age to pure doctrine led
to a one-sided over-estimation of it, often ending in dead orthodoxy.
But a succession of able and learned theologians, who recognised the
importance of heart theology as well as sound doctrine, corrected this
evil tendency by Scripture study, preaching, and faithful pastoral work.
A noble and moderate mysticism, which was thoroughly orthodox in its
beliefs, and opposing orthodoxy only where that had become external and
mechanical, had many influential representatives throughout the whole
country, especially during the first half of it. But also separatists,
mystics, and theosophists made their appearance, who were decidedly
hostile to the church. Sacred song flourished afresh amid the troubles
of the Thirty Years’ War; but gradually lost its sublime objective
church character, which was poorly compensated by a more flowing
versification, polished language, and elegant form. A corresponding
advance was also made in church music.
§ 160.1. =Mysticism and Asceticism.=--At the head of the orthodox
mystics stands =John Arndt=. His “True Christianity” and his
“_Paradiesgärtlein_” are the most widely read Lutheran devotional
books, but called forth the bitter hostility of those devoted
to the maintenance of a barren orthodoxy. He died in A.D. 1621,
as general superintendent at Celle. He had been expelled
from Anhalt because he would not condemn exorcism as godless
superstition, and was afterwards in Brunswick publicly charged
by his colleague Denecke and other Lutheran zealots with
Papacy, Calvinism, Osiandrianism, Flacianism, Schwenckfeldism,
Paracelsism, Alchemism, etc. As men of a similar spirit,
anticipators of the school of Spener, may be named =John Gerhard=
of Jena, with his “_Meditationes Sacræ_” and “_Schola pietatis_,”
and =Christian Scriver=, whose “Gotthold’s Emblems” is well known
to English readers. =Rahtmann= of Danzig maintained that the
word of God in Scripture has not in itself the power to enlighten
and convert men except through the gracious influence of God’s
Spirit. He was supported, after a long delay, in A.D. 1626 by
the University of Rostock, but opposed by Königsberg, Jena,
and Wittenberg. In A.D. 1628, the Elector of Saxony obtained
the opinion of the most famous theologians of his realm against
Rahtmann; but his death, which soon followed, brought the
controversy to a close.--The Württemberg theologian, =John
Valentine Andreä=, grandson of one of the authors of the
Formula of Concord, was a man of striking originality, famous
for his satires on the corruptions of the age. His “Order of
Rosicrucians,” published at Cassel in A.D. 1614, ridiculed the
absurdities of astrology and alchemy in the form of a satirical
romance. His influence on the church of his times was great and
wholesome, so that even Spener exclaimed: “Had I the power to
call any one from the dead for the good of the church, it would
be J. V. Andreä.” His later devotional work was almost completely
forgotten until attention was called to it by Herder.[469]
§ 160.2. =Mysticism and Theosophy.=--A mystico-theosophical
tendency, partly in outward connexion with the church, partly
without and in open opposition to it, was fostered by the
alchemist writings of Agrippa and Paracelsus, the theosophical
works of Weigel (§ 146, 2) and by the profound revelations of
the inspired shoemaker of Görlitz, =Jacob Boehme=, _philosophus
teutonicus_, the most talented of all the theosophists. In a
remarkable degree he combined a genius for speculation with the
most unfeigned piety that held firmly by the old Lutheran faith.
Even when an itinerant tradesman, he felt himself for a period
of seven days in calm repose, surrounded by the divine light. But
he dates his profound theosophical enlightenment from a moment in
A.D. 1594, when as a young journeyman and married, thrown into an
ecstasy, he obtained a knowledge of the divine mysteries down to
the ultimate principles of all things and their inmost quality.
His theosophy, too, like that of the ancient gnostics, springs
out of the question about the origin of evil. He solves it by
assuming an emanation of all things from God, in whom fire and
light, bitter and sweet qualities, are thoroughly tempered and
perfectly combined, while in the creature derived by emanation
from him they are in disharmony, but are reconciled and reduced
to godlike harmony through regeneration in Christ. Though opposed
by Calov, he was befriended by the Dresden consistory. Boehme
died in A.D. 1624, in retirement at Görlitz, in the arms of his
family.[470]--In close connexion with Boehmists, separatists, and
Pietists, yet differing from them all, =Gottfried Arnold= abused
orthodoxy and canonized the heretics of all ages. In A.D. 1700 he
wrote “The Mystery of the Divine Sophia.” When Adam, originally
man and woman, fell, his female nature, the heavenly Sophia,
was taken from him, and in his place a woman of flesh was made
for him out of a rib; in order again to restore the paradisiacal
perfection Christ brought again the male part into a virgin’s
womb, so that the new creature, the regenerate, stands before God
as a “male-virgin;” but carnal love destroys again the connexion
thus secured with the heavenly Sophia. But the very next year he
reached a turning-point in his life. He not only married, but in
consequence accepted several appointments in the Lutheran church,
without, however, signing the Formula of Concord, and applied his
literary skill to the production of devotional tracts.
§ 160.3. =Sacred Song= (§ 142, 3).--The first epoch of the
development of sacred song in this century corresponds to the
period of the Thirty Years’ War, A.D. 1618-1648. The Psalms of
David were the model and pattern of the sacred poets, and the
profoundest songs of the cross and consolation bear the evident
impress of the times, and so individual feeling comes more into
prominence. The influence of Opitz was also felt in the church
song, in the greater attention given to correctness and purity
of language and to the careful construction of verse and rhyme.
Instead of the rugged terseness and vigour of earlier days, we
now find often diffuse and overflowing utterances of the heart.
=John Hermann= of Glogau, who died in A.D. 1647, composed
400 songs, embracing these: “Alas! dear Lord, what evil hast
Thou done?” “O Christ, our true and only Light;” “Ere yet the
dawn hath filled the skies;” “O God, thou faithful God.” =Paul
Flemming=, a physician in Holstein, who died in A.D. 1640, wrote
on his journey to Persia, “Where’er I go, whate’er my task.”
=Matthew Meyffart=, professor and pastor at Erfurt, who died in
A.D. 1642, wrote “Jerusalem, thou city fair and high.” =Martin
Rinkart=, pastor at Eilenburg in Saxony, who died A.D. 1648,
wrote, “Now thank we all our God.” =Appelles von Löwenstern=,
who died A.D. 1648, composed, “When anguished and perplexed,
with many a sigh and tear.” =Joshua Stegmann=, superintendent
in Rinteln, who died A.D. 1632, wrote, “Abide among us with thy
grace.” =Joshua Wegelin=, pastor in Augsburg and Pressburg, wrote,
“Since Christ is gone to heaven, his home.” =Justus Gesenius=,
superintendent in Hanover, who died in A.D. 1673, wrote, “When
sorrow and remorse.” =Tob. Clausnitzer=, pastor in the Palatinate,
who died A.D. 1648, wrote, “Blessed Jesus, at thy word.” The
poets named mostly belong to the first Silesian school gathered
round Opitz. A more independent position, though not uninfluenced
by Opitz, is taken up by =John Rist=, who died in A.D. 1667. He
composed 658 sacred songs, of which many are remarkable for their
vigour, solemnity, and elevation; _e.g._ “Arise, the kingdom is
at hand;” “Sink not yet, my soul, to slumber;” “O living Bread
from heaven;” “Praise and thanks to Thee be sung.” At the head
of the Königsberg school of the same age stood =Simon Dach=,
professor of poetry at Königsberg, who died in A.D. 1659. He
composed 150 spiritual songs, among which the best known are,
“O how blessed, faithful souls, are ye!” “Wouldest thou inherit
life with Christ on high?” The most distinguished members of this
school are: =Henry Alberti=, organist at Königsberg, author of
“God who madest earth and heaven;” and =George Weissel=, pastor
in Königsberg, who died in A.D. 1655, author of “Lift up your
heads, ye mighty gates.”
§ 160.4. From the middle of the seventeenth century sacred song
became more subjective, and so tended to fall into a diversity
of groups. No longer does the church sing through its poets, but
the poets give direct expression to their individual feelings.
Confessional songs are less frequent, and their place is taken
by hymns of edification with reference to various conditions of
life; songs of death, the cross and consolation, and hymns for
the family become more numerous. With objectivity special features
of the church song disappear in the hymns of the period; but some
of its essential characteristics remain, especially the popular
form and contents, the freshness, liveliness, and simplicity of
diction, the truths of personal experience, the fulness of faith,
etc. We distinguish three groups:
1. =The Transition Group=, passing from objectivity to
subjectivity. Its greatest masters, indeed after Luther
the greatest sacred poet of the evangelical church, is
undoubtedly =Paul Gerhardt=, who died A.D. 1676, the
faith witness of the Lutheran faith under the wars and in
persecution (§ 154, 4). In him we find the new subjective
tendency in its noblest form; but there is also present
the old objective style, giving immediate expression to
the consciousness of the church, adhering tenaciously to
the confession, and a grand popular ring that reminds us
of the fulness and power of Luther. His 131 songs, if not
all church songs in the narrower sense, are almost all
genuine poems: _e.g._ “All my heart this night rejoices;”
“Cometh sunshine after rain;” “Go forth, my heart, and
seek delight;” “Be thou content: be still before;” “O world,
behold upon the tree;” “Now all the woods are sleeping;” and
“Ah, wounded head, must thou?” based on Bernard’s _Salve,
caput cruentatum_. To this school also belongs =George
Neumark=, librarian at Weimar, who died in A.D. 1681, author
of “Leave God to order all thy ways.” Also =John Franck=,
burgomaster at Guben in Lusatia, who died A.D. 1677, next
to Gerhardt the greatest poet of his age. His 110 songs are
less popular and hearty, but more melodious than Gerhardt’s;
_e.g._ “Redeemer of the nations, come;” “Ye heavens, oh
haste your dews to shed;” “Deck thyself, my soul, with
gladness.” =George Albinus=, pastor at Naumburg, died
A.D. 1679, wrote: “Not in anger smite us, Lord;” “World,
farewell! Of thee I’m tired.”
2. The =next stage= of the sacred song took the Canticles
instead of the Psalter as its model. The spiritual marriage
of the soul is its main theme. Feeling and fancy are
predominant, and often degenerate into sentimentality and
trifling. It obtained a new impulse from the addition of
a mystical element. =Angelus Silesius= (§ 156, 4) was the
most distinguished representative of this school, and while
Protestant he composed several beautiful songs; _e.g._
“O Love, who formedst me to wear;” “Thou holiest Love, whom
most I love;” “Loving Shepherd, kind and true.” =Christian
Knorr v. Rosenroth=, who died at Sulzbach A.D. 1689, wrote
“Dayspring of eternity.” =Ludämilie Elizabeth=, Countess
of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, who died in A.D. 1672, wrote
215 “Songs of Jesus.” =Caspar Neumann=, professor and pastor
at Breslau, died A.D. 1715, wrote, “Lord, on earth I dwell
in pain.”
3. =Those of Spener’s Time and Spirit=, men who longed for
the regeneration of the church by practical Christianity.
Their hymns are for the most part characterized by healthy
piety and deep godliness. Spener’s own poems are of slight
importance. =J. Jac. Schütz=, Spener’s friend, a lawyer in
Frankfort, who died A.D. 1690, composed only one, but that
a very beautiful hymn: “All praise and thanks to God most
high.” =Samuel Rodigast=, rector in Berlin, died A.D. 1708,
wrote, “Whate’er my God ordains is right.” =Laurentius
Laurentii=, musical director at Bremen, died A.D. 1722,
wrote, “Is my heart athirst to know?” “O thou essential
Word.”--=Gottfried Arnold=, died A.D. 1714, wrote, “Thou
who breakest every chain;” “How blest to all thy followers,
Lord, the road!”-- In Denmark, where previously translations
of German hymns were used, =Thomas Kingo=, from A.D. 1677
Bishop of Fünen, died A.D. 1703, was the much-honoured
founder of Danish national hymnology.[471]--Continuation,
§ 167, 6.
§ 160.5. =Sacred Music= (§ 142, 5).--The church music in the
beginning of the seventeenth century was affected by the Italian
school, just as church song was by the influence of Opitz. The
greatest master during the transition stage was =John Crüger=,
precentor in the church of St. Nicholas in Berlin, died A.D. 1662.
He was to the chorale what Gerhardt was to the church song.
We have seventy-one new melodies of his, admirably adapted to
Gerhardt’s, Hunnius’s, Franck’s, Dach’s, and Rinkart’s songs, and
used in the church till the present time. With the second half
of the century we enter on a new period, in which expression and
musical declamation perish. Choir singing now, to a great extent,
supersedes congregational singing. =Henry Schütz=, organist
to the Elector of Saxony, died A.D. 1672, is the great master
of this Italian sacred concert style. He introduced musical
compositions on passages selected from the Psalms, Canticles, and
prophets, in his “_Symphoniæ Sacræ_” of A.D. 1629. After a short
time a radical reform was made by =John Rosenmüller=, organist
of Wolfenbüttel, died A.D. 1686. A reaction against the exclusive
adoption of the Italian style was made by =Andr. Hammerschmidt=,
organist at Zittau, died A.D. 1675, one of the noblest and most
pious of German musicians. By working up the old church melodies
in the modern style, he brought the old hymns again into favour,
and set hymns of contemporary poets to bright airs suited to
modern standards of taste. The accomplished musician =Rud.
Ahle=, organist and burgomaster at Mühlhausen, died A.D. 1673,
introduced his own beautiful airs into the church music for
Sundays and festivals. His sacred airs are distinguished for
youthful freshness and power, penetrated by a holy earnestness,
and quite free from that secularity and frivolousness which soon
became unpleasantly conspicuous in such music.--Continuation,
§ 167, 7.
§ 160.6. =The Christian Life of the People.=--The rich
development of sacred poetry proves the wonderful fulness and
spirituality of the religious life of this age, notwithstanding
the many chilling separatistic controversies that prevailed
during the terrible upheaval of the Thirty Years’ War. The
abundance of devotional literature of permanent worth witnesses
to the diligence and piety of the Lutheran pastors. Ernest the
Pious of Saxe-Gotha, who died A.D. 1675, stands forth as the
ideal of a Christian prince. For the Christian instruction of his
people he issued, in the midst of the confusion and horrors of
the war, the famous Weimar or Ernestine exposition of the Bible,
upon which John Gerhard wrought diligently, along with other
distinguished Jena theologians. It appeared first in A.D. 1641,
and by A.D. 1768 had gone through fourteen large editions.
A like service was done for South Germany by the “Württemberg
Summaries,” composed by three Württemberg theologians at the
request of Duke Eberhard III., a concise, practical exposition
of all the books of Scripture, which for a century and a half
formed the basis of the weekly services (_Bibelstunden_) at
Württemberg.--Continuation, § 167, 8.
§ 160.7. =Missions.=--In the Lutheran church, missionary
enterprise had rather fallen behind (§ 142, 8). Gustavus Adolphus
of Sweden carried on the Lapp mission with new zeal, and Denmark,
too, gave ready assistance. A Norwegian pastor, Thomas Westen,
deserves special mention as the apostle of the mission. A German,
Peter Heyling of Lübeck, went on his own account as a missionary
to Abyssinia in A.D. 1635, while several of his friends at the
same time went to other eastern lands. Of these others no trace
whatever has been found. An Abyssinian abbot who came to Europe
brought news of Heyling. At first he was hindered by the
machinations of the Jesuits; but when these were expelled, he
found favour at court, became minister to the king, and married
one of the royal family. What finally came of him and his work
is unknown. Toward the end of the century two great men, the
philosopher Leibnitz and the founder of the Halle Orphanage,
A. H. Francke, warmly espoused the cause of foreign missions.
The ambitious and pretentious schemes of the philosopher ended in
nothing, but Francke made his orphanages, training colleges and
centres from which the German Lutheran missions to the heathens
were vigorously organized and successfully wrought.--Continuation,
§ 167, 9.