A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

In 1530, the Lutherans or Protestants drew up a Confession of Faith, which they presented to the Diet of Augsburg. (See Augsburg, Confession of.)

The year after, the Protestant princes made the famous league of Smalcalde, which obliged the emperor to grant the Lutherans a toleration, till the differences in religion were settled by a council, which he engaged himself to call in six months.

The Lutheran party gaining strength every day, and having refused the bull for convening a council at Mantua, the emperor summoned a general diet at Ratisbon, where a scheme of religion for reconciling the two parties was examined: but, after they had examined and disputed for a month together, the divines could agree upon no more than five or six articles, concerning justification, free-will, original sin, baptism, good works, and episcopacy; for, when they came to other points, and especially the eucharist, the Lutherans would by no means yield to the other party. The diet ended with a decree of the emperor, strictly forbidding the Lutherans to tamper with any person to make them quit their old religion, and at the same time suspending all the edicts published against them.

Martin Luther lived to see the opening of the famous Council of Trent, for accommodating the differences in religion; which put him upon acting with more vigour and warmth against the Church of Rome, as foreseeing that his opinions would be condemned there. In short, he left no stone unturned to engage the Protestant princes to act against the council; which measures he continued to pursue until his death, which happened in February, 1546.

Maurice, the Elector of Saxony, having taken the field against the emperor, and concluded a peace with him at Passaw, in 1552, it was stipulated that the exercise of Lutheranism, as stated by the Confession of Augsburg, should be tolerated all over the empire; which toleration was to last for ever, in case the differences in religion could not be accommodated within six months. And thus Lutheranism was perfectly settled in Germany.

The Lutherans are generally divided into the moderate and the rigid. The moderate Lutherans are those who submitted to the Interim, published by the emperor Charles V. Melancthon was the head of this party. (See Interim.)

The rigid Lutherans are those who would not endure any alteration in any of Luther’s opinions. The head of this party was Matthias Flacius, famous for writing the Centuries of Magdeburg, in which he had three other Lutheran ministers for his assistants.

To these are added another division, called Luthero-Zwinglians, because they held some of Luther’s tenets and some of Zwinglius, yielding something to each side, to prevent the ill consequence of disunion in the Reformation.

The Lutherans retain the use of the altar for the celebration of the holy communion, some of the ancient vestments, and the mitre and pastoral staff for their bishops, at least in Sweden. They likewise make use of lighted tapers in their churches, of incense, and a crucifix on the altar, of the sign of the cross, and of images, &c. Several of their doctors acknowledge that such materials add a lustre and majesty to Divine worship, and fix at the same time the attention of the people.

The Lutherans retain the observance of several solemn festivals after their reformation. They keep three solemn days of festivity at Christmas. In some Lutheran countries, the people go to church on the night of the nativity of our blessed Saviour with lighted candles or wax tapers in their hands; and the faithful, who meet in the church, spend the whole night there in singing and saying their prayers by the light of them. Sometimes they burn such a large quantity of incense, that the smoke of it ascends like a whirlwind, and their devotees may properly enough be said to be wrapped up in it. It is customary, likewise, in Germany, to give entertainments at such times to friends and relations, and to send presents to each other, especially to the young people, whom they amuse with very idle and romantic stories, telling them that our blessed Saviour descends from heaven on the night of his nativity, and brings with him all kinds of playthings.