REFORMATION AT BRUNSWICK.
Brunswick followed next. The Reformation was introduced into this town chiefly by means of Luther's hymns, which were sung alike in private houses and in the streets. Incumbents of benefices were in the habit of paying young ecclesiastics to preach in their stead. These deacons, usually called 'hireling priests' (Heuer-pfaffen), generally embraced evangelical doctrines, and induced their flocks to do so too. Sometimes one of them would strike up, instead of the hymn to the Virgin Mary, one of these new German hymns, and all the congregation would sing it with him. The clergy endeavored to maintain the Scholastic doctrine; but if the people heard from the lips of their old pastors false quotations from the Holy Scriptures, voices were raised in all directions to correct them. The ecclesiastics in office then summoned to their aid Doctor Sprengel, a preacher highly esteemed in those parts. But at the close of his sermon, a townsman rose and said: 'Priest, thou liest.' He then struck up the hymn of Luther beginning—
O Gott vom Himmel sieh darin—
and the whole congregation sang it heartily with him. The old pastors applied to the Council to rid them of these troublesome deacons; but the people, on the other hand, demanded to be rid of their useless pastors.
The Council, after some hesitation, was at length overcome by the evangelical movement, and passed a decree (March 13, 1528) that the pure Word of God alone should be preached at Brunswick. 'Christ grant that his glory may increase!'[486] said Luther when he heard the news. At the same time the Council begged the Elector of Saxony to send Pomeranus, who, accordingly, on May 12, proceeded to Brunswick, to the great joy of all the people. So admirably did he execute the task of organization that the Brunswickers entreated the Elector to allow him to remain with them a year longer. But Luther assured the prince, September 18, 1528, that the doctor could not possibly be longer spared. 'Wittenberg,' he added, 'is at this time of more importance than three Brunswicks!'[487] This was a moderate assertion; Luther might have said more. For the church of Brunswick Pomeranus drew up ordinances on schools, preaching, the church festivals, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and discipline. Sin was to be punished, but not the sinner. He prepared similar constitutions for various great towns in North Germany. The mendicant monks now left Brunswick, and the Reformation was established.
HAMBURG AND LUBECK.
The assistance of Luther and Melanchthon was soon after sought by a more important town. The Gospel had made its way into Hamburg; but the priests and especially the Dominican Renssburg opposed it with all their might. The citizens required of the Council (April 21, 1528) that the preachers should be examined according to the Holy Scriptures, and that all those who were found not to be in agreement with them should be dismissed. Next day, a conference between the two parties was held, in the presence of the senate and a commission of the townsmen. But Renssburg spoke in Latin, in order that the laity might not understand him. As the Roman Catholics put forward exclusively the authority of the Church, five of their number were banished from the town; and some of the most influential of the townsmen felt it necessary to escort them, lest the populace should do them any injury. Pomeranus was at this time called to Hamburg, to organize the evangelical church; and when the Council further applied for an extension of the time of his sojourn, Luther on this occasion supported their request. Hamburg was for him undoubtedly a place of greater importance than Brunswick. But the town made very large demands. On May 12, 1529, Luther wrote to the Elector: 'The Hamburgers would fain have Pomeranus stay with them forever.'[488] Now, new students were daily arriving at Wittenberg, and the faculty could not dispense with the services of Pomeranus. Luther therefore entreated the Elector to recall him, and declared himself willing to persuade the Council and the University to do the same. For Hamburg also Pomeranus drew up an ecclesiastical ordinance.
At Lübeck a powerful and compact party, composed of the clergy, the Council, the nobles, and the principal men of business, resisted the Reformation, the doctrines of which were steadily gaining ground among the townsmen. A psalm in German having been sung by the domestic servants in some house, the whole family was punished, and Luther's sermons were burnt in the market-place in 1528. Two evangelical ministers, Wilhelmi and Wahlhof, were expelled. A certain priest, John Rode, preached that Christ had redeemed only the fathers of the Old Testament, and that all who were born after him must obtain their salvation by their own merits. People used to go about singing to him,—
Celui qui doit nous mener au bercail, Nous fait, hélas! tous tomber dans la fosse.