Concerning the majesty of Christ the _Dresden Consensus_ declares that after the resurrection and ascension the human nature of Christ "was adorned with higher gifts than all angels and men." In His ascension, the _Consensus_ continues, Christ "pa.s.sed through the visible heavens and occupied the heavenly dwelling, where He in glory and splendor retains the essence, property, form, and shape of His true body, and from there He, at the last day, will come again unto Judgment in great splendor, visibly."
In a similar vague, ambiguous, and misleading manner Christ"s sitting at the right hand of G.o.d is spoken of. Omitting the oral eating and drinking and the eating and drinking of the wicked, the _Consensus_ states concerning the Lord"s Supper that "in this Sacrament Christ gives us with the bread and wine His true body sacrificed for us on the cross, and His true blood shed for us, and thereby testifies that He receives us, makes us members of His body, washes us with His blood, presents forgiveness of sins, and wishes truly to dwell and to be efficacious in us." (Tschackert, 546.) The opponents of the Wittenbergers are branded as unruly men, who, seeking neither truth nor peace, excite offensive disputations concerning the real presence in the Lord"s Supper as well as with regard to other articles. Their doctrine of the real communication ("_realis seu physica communicatio_") is characterized as a corruption of the article of the two natures in Christ and as a revamping of the heresies of the Marcionites, Valentinians, Manicheans, Samosatenes, Sabellians, Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians, and Monothelites. (Gieseler 3, 2, 264f.)
213. Apparently Victorious.
All the Crypto-Calvinistic publications of the Wittenberg and Leipzig Philippists were duly unmasked by the Lutherans outside of Electoral Saxony, especially in Northern Germany. Their various opinions were published at Jena, 1572, under the t.i.tle: "_Unanimous Confession (Einh.e.l.liges Bekenntnis) of Many Highly Learned Theologians and Prominent Churches_ 1. concerning the New Catechism of the New Wittenbergers, and 2. concerning their _New Foundation (Grundfeste)_, also 3. concerning their _New Confession (Consensus Dresdensis)_, thereupon adopted." However, all this and the repeated warnings that came from every quarter outside of his own territories, from Lutheran princes as well as theologians, do not seem to have made the least impression on Elector August. Yet he evidently was, and always intended to be a sincere, devoted, true-hearted, and singleminded Lutheran. When, for example, in 1572 Beza, at the instance of the Wittenberg Philippists, dedicated his book against Selneccer to Elector August, the latter advised him not to trouble him any further with such writings, as he would never allow any other doctrine in his territory than that of the _Augsburg Confession_.
However, blind and credulous as he was, and filled with prejudice and suspicion against Flacius and the Jena theologians generally, whom he, being the brother of the usurper Maurice, instinctively feared as possibly also political enemies, Elector August was easily duped and completely hypnotized, as it were, by the men surrounding him, who led him to believe that they, too, were in entire agreement with Luther and merely opposed the trouble-breeding Flacians, whom they never tired of denouncing as zealots, fanatics, bigots, wranglers, barkers, alarmists, etc. While in reality they rejected the doctrine that the true body and blood of Christ is truly and essentially present in the Holy Supper, these Crypto-Calvinists pretended (and Elector August believed them) that they merely objected to a _local_ presence and to a Capernaitic eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ in the Holy Supper.
And while in reality they clearly repudiated Luther"s teaching, according to which the divine attributes (omnipotence, omnipresence, etc.) are communicated to the human nature of Christ, they caused the Elector to believe that they merely opposed a delusion of the "Ubiquitists," who, they said, taught that the body of Christ was _locally extended_ over the entire universe. This cra.s.s localism, they maintained, was the teaching of their opponents, while they themselves faithfully adhered to the teachings of Luther and Philip, and, in general, were opposed only to the exaggerations and excrescences advocated by the bigoted Flacians. (Walther, 43.)
Such was the manner in which the Elector allowed himself to be duped by the Philippists who surrounded him,--men who gradually developed the art of dissimulation to premeditated deceit, falsehood, and perjury. Even the Reformed theologian Simon Stenius, a student at Wittenberg during the Crypto-Calvinistic period, charges the Wittenbergers with dishonesty and systematic dissimulation. The same accusation was raised 1561 by the jurist Justus Jonas in his letters to Duke Albrecht of Prussia.
(Gieseler 3, 2, 249.) And evidently believing that Elector August could be fooled all the time, they became increasingly bold in their theological publications, and in their intrigues as well.
To all practical purposes the University of Wittenberg was already Calvinized. Calvinistic books appeared and were popular. Even the work of a Jesuit against the book of Jacob Andreae on the Majesty of the Person of Christ was published at Wittenberg. The same was done with a treatise of Beza, although, in order to deceive the public, the t.i.tle-page gave Geneva as the place of publication. Hans Lufft, the Wittenberg printer, later declared that during this time he did not know how to dispose of the books of Luther which he still had in stock, but that, if he had printed twenty or thirty times as many Calvinistic books, he would have sold all of them very rapidly.
Even Providence seemed to bless and favor the plans of the plotters. For when on March 3, 1573, Duke John William, the patron and protector of the faithful Lutherans, died, Elector August became the guardian of his two sons. And fanaticized by his advisers, the Elector, immediately upon taking hold of the government in Ducal Saxony, banished Wigand, Hesshusius, Caspar Melissander [born 1540; 1571 professor of theology in Jena; 1578 superintendent in Altenburg; died 1591] Rosinus [born 1520; 1559 superintendent in Weimar 1574 superintendent in Regensburg; died 1586], Gernhard, court-preacher in Weimar, and more than 100 preachers and teachers of Ducal Saxony. The reason for this cruel procedure was their refusal to adopt the _Corpus Philippic.u.m_, and because they declined to promise silence with respect to the Philippists.
214. "Exegesis Perspicua."
In 1573, the Calvinization of Electoral and Ducal Saxony was, apparently, an accomplished fact. But the very next year marked the ignominious downfall and the unmasking of the dishonest Philippists. For in this year appeared the infamous _Exegesis_, which finally opened the eyes of Elector August. Its complete t.i.tle ran: "_Exegesis Perspicua et ferme Integra Controversiae de Sacra Coena_--Perspicuous and Almost Complete Explanation of the Controversy Concerning the Holy Supper." The contents and make-up of the book as well as the secret methods adopted for its circulation clearly revealed that its purpose was to deal a final blow to Lutheranism in order to banish it forever from Saxony.
Neither the author, nor the publisher, nor the place and date of publication were anywhere indicated in the book. The paper bore Geneva mark and the lettering was French. The _prima facie_ impression was that it came from abroad.
Before long, however, it was established that the _Exegesis_ had been published in Leipzig by the printer Voegelin, who at first also claimed its authorship. But when the impossibility of this was shown, Voegelin, in a public hearing, stated that Joachim Curaeus of Silesia, a physician who had left Saxony and died 1573, was the author of the book. Valentin Loescher, however, relates (_Historia Motuum_ 3, 195) that probably Pezel and the son-in-law of Melanchthon, Peucer, had a hand in it; that the Crypto-Calvinist Esram Ruedinger [born 1523, son-in-law of Camerarius, professor of physics in Wittenberg, died 1591] was its real author; that it was printed at Leipzig in order to keep the real originators of it hidden, and that, for the same purpose, the Silesian Candidate of Medicine Curaeus had taken the responsibility of its authorship upon himself. (Tschackert, 547.)
Self-evidently, the Wittenberg theologians disclaimed any knowledge of, or any connection with, the origin of the _Exegesis_. However, they were everywhere believed to share its radical teachings, and known to have spread it among the students of the university, and suspected also of having before this resorted to tactics similar to those employed in the _Exegesis_. As early as 1561, for example, rhymes had secretly been circulated in Wittenberg, the burden of which was that faith alone effects the presence of Christ in the Lord"s Supper, and that the mouth receives nothing but natural bread. One of these ran as follows: "Allein der Glaub" an Jesum Christ Schafft, da.s.s er gegenwaertig ist, Und speist uns mit sei"m Fleisch und Blut Und sich mit uns einigen tut. Der Mund empfaeht natuerlich Brot, Die Seel" aber speist selber Gott." (Walther, 46.) Of course, the purpose of such dodgers was to prepare the way for Calvinism. And on the very face of it, the _Exegesis Perspicua_ was intended to serve similar secret propaganda.
The chief difference between the preceding publications of the Philippists and the _Exegesis_ was that here they came out in clear and unmistakable language. The sacramental union, the oral eating and drinking (_manducatio oralis_), and the eating and drinking of the wicked, which before were pa.s.sed by in silence, are dealt with extensively and repudiated. The _Exegesis_ teaches: The body of Christ is inclosed in heaven; in the Holy Supper it is present only according to its efficacy, there is no union of the body of Christ with the bread and wine; hence, there neither is nor can be such a thing as oral eating and drinking or eating and drinking of unbelievers. The "ubiquity," as the _Exegesis_ terms the omnipresence of Christ"s human nature, is condemned as Eutychian heresy. The _Exegesis_ declared: "In the use of the bread and wine the believers by faith become true and living members of the body of Christ, who is present and efficacious through these symbols, as through a ministry inflaming and renewing our hearts by His Holy Spirit. The unbelieving, however, do not become partakers, or _koinonoi_, but because of their contempt are guilty of the body of Christ." (Seeberg, _Grundriss_ 146.)
After fulsome praise of the Reformed, whose doctrine, the _Exegesis_ says, is in agreement with the symbols of the ancient Church, and who as to martyrdom surpa.s.s the Lutherans, and after a corresponding depreciation of Luther, who in the heat of the controversy was said frequently to have gone too far, the _Exegesis_ recommends that the wisest thing would be to follow the men whom G.o.d had placed at the side of Luther, and who had spoken more correctly than Luther. Following Melanchthon, all might unite in the neutral formula, "The bread is the communion of the body of Christ," avoiding all further definition regarding the ubiquity [the omnipresence of Christ"s human nature] and the eating of the true body of Christ, until a synod had definitely decided these matters. (Tschackert, 547.)
All purified churches (all churches in Germany, Switzerland, etc., purified from Roman errors), the _Exegesis_ urges, "ought to be in accord with one another; and this pious concord should not be disturbed on account of this difference [regarding the Holy Supper]. Let us be united in Christ and discontinue those dangerous teachings concerning the ubiquity, the eating of the true body on the part of the wicked, and similar things. The teachers should agree on a formula which could not create offense. They should employ the modes of speech found in the writings of Melanchthon. It is best to suppress public disputations, and when contentious men create strife and disquiet among the people, the proper thing to do, as Philip advised [in his opinion to the Elector of the Palatinate], is to depose such persons of either party, and to fill their places with more modest men. The teachers must promote unity, and recommend the churches and teachers of the opposite party." (Walther, 51.) Such was the teaching and the theological att.i.tude of the _Exegesis_. It advocated a union of the Lutherans and the Reformed based on indifferentism, and a surrender in all important doctrinal points to Calvinism, the Lutherans merely retaining their name. This unionistic att.i.tude of the _Exegesis_ has been generally, also in America, termed Melanchthonianism.
215. Plotters Unmasked.
The plain and unmistakable language of the _Exegesis_ cleared the atmosphere, and everywhere dispelled all doubts as to the real nature of the theological trend at Wittenberg and Leipzig. Now it was plain to everybody beyond the shadow of a doubt that Electoral Saxony was indeed infested with decided Calvinists. And before long also the web of deceit and falsehood which they had spun around the Elector was torn into shreds. The appearance of the _Exegesis_ resulted in a cry of indignation throughout Lutheran Germany against the Wittenberg and Leipzig Philippists. Yet, in 1574, only few books appeared against the doc.u.ment, which, indeed, was not in need of a special refutation. Wigand published _a.n.a.lysis of the New Exegesis_, and Hesshusius: _a.s.sertion (a.s.sertio) of the True Doctrine Concerning the Supper, against the Calvinian Exegesis_. At the same time Elector August was again urged by Lutheran princes notably the King of Denmark and Duke Ludwig of Wuerttemberg, also by private persons, to proceed against the Calvinists in his country and not to spare them any longer. (Gieseler 3, 2, 267.) The aged Count of Henneberg made it a point to see the Elector personally in this matter. But there was little need for further admonitions, for the _Exegesis_ had opened the Elector"s eyes. And soon after its publication discoveries were made which filled August with deep humiliation and burning indignation at the base deception practised on him by the very men whom he had trusted implicitly and placed in most important positions. By lying and deceit the Philippists had for a long period succeeded in holding the confidence of Elector August; but now the time for their complete and inglorious unmasking had arrived.
Shortly after the _Exegesis_ had appeared, Peucer wrote a letter to the Crypto-Calvinist Christian Schuetze, then court-preacher in Dresden [who studied at Leipzig; became superintendent at Chemnitz in 1550, court-preacher of Elector August in 1554; when he was buried, boys threw a black hen over his coffin, crying, "Here flies the Calvinistic devil;"
Joecher, _Lexicon_ 4, 372], which he had addressed to the wife of the court-preacher in order to avoid suspicion. By mistake the letter was delivered to the wife of the court-preacher Lysthenius [born 1532; studied in Wittenberg; became court-preacher of Elector August in 1572 and later on his confessor; opposed Crypto-Calvinism; was dismissed 1590 by Chancellor Crell; 1591 restored to his position in Dresden, died 1596]. After opening the letter and finding it to be written in Latin, she gave it to her husband, who, in turn, delivered it to the Elector.
In it Peucer requested Schuetze dexterously to slip into the hands of Anna, the wife of the Elector, a Calvinistic prayer-book which he had sent with the letter. Peucer added: "If first we have Mother Anna on our side, there will be no difficulty in winning His Lordship [her husband]
too."
Additional implicating material was discovered when Augustus now confiscated the correspondence of Peucer, Schuetze, Stoessel, and Cracow. The letters found revealed the consummate perfidy, dishonesty, cunning, and treachery of the men who had been the trusted advisers of the Elector, who had enjoyed his implicit confidence, and who by their falsehoods had caused him to persecute hundreds of innocent and faithful Lutheran ministers. The fact was clearly established that these Philippists had been systematically plotting to Calvinize Saxony. The very arguments with which Luther"s doctrine of the Lord"s Supper and the Person of Christ might best be refuted were enumerated in these letters.
However, when asked by the Elector whether they were Calvinists, these self-convicted deceivers are said to have answered that "they would not see the face of G.o.d in eternity if in any point they were addicted to the doctrines of the Sacramentarians or deviated in the least from Dr.
Luther"s teaching." (Walther, 56.) The leaders of the conspiracy were incarcerated. Cracow died in prison, 1575; Stoessel, 1576. It was as late as 1586 that Peucer regained his liberty, Schuetze in 1589.
216. Lutheranism Restored.
In all the churches of Saxony thanksgiving services were held to praise G.o.d for the final triumph of genuine Lutheranism. A memorial coin celebrating the victory over the Crypto-Calvinists, bearing the date 1574, was struck at Torgau. The obverse exhibits Elector August handing a book to Elector John George of Brandenburg. The inscription above reads: "_Conserva Apud Nos Verb.u.m Tuum, Domine_. Preserve Thy Word among Us, O Lord." Below, the inscription runs: "_Augustus, Dei Gratia Dux Saxionae et Elector_. Augustus, by the Grace of G.o.d Duke of Saxony and Elector." The reverse represents Torgau and its surroundings, with Wittenberg in the distance. The Elector, clad in his armor, is standing on a rock bearing the inscription: "_Schloss Hartenfels_" (castle at Torgau). In his right hand he is holding a sword, in his left a balance, whose falling scale, in which the Child Jesus is sitting, bears the inscription: "_Die Allmacht_, Omnipotence." The lighter and rising pan, in which four Wittenberg Crypto-Calvinists are vainly exerting themselves to the utmost in pulling on the chains of their pan in order to increase its weight, and on the beam of which also the devil is sitting, is inscribed: "_Die Vernunft_, Reason." Above, G.o.d appears, saying to the Elector, "Joshua 1, 5. 6: _Confide, Non Derelinquam Te_.
Trust, I will not forsake thee." Below we read: "_Apud Deum Non Est Impossibile Verb.u.m Ullum_, Lucae 1. _Conserva Apud Nos Verb.u.m Tuum, Domine_. 1574. Nothing is impossible with G.o.d, Luke 1. Preserve Thy Word among us, Lord. 1574."
The obverse of a smaller medal, also of 1574 shows the bust of Elector August with the inscription: "_Augustus, Dei Gratia Dux Saxoniae Et Elector_." The reverse exhibits a ship in troubled waters with the crucified Christ in her expanded sails, and the Elector in his armor and with the sword on his shoulder, standing at the foot of the mast. In the roaring ocean are enemies, shooting with arrows and striking with swords, making an a.s.sault upon the ship. The fearlessness of the Elector is expressed in the inscription: "_Te Gubernatore_, Thou [Christ] being the pilot." Among the jubilee medals of 1617 there is one which evidently, too, celebrates the victory over Zwinglianism and Calvinism.
Its obverse exhibits Frederick in his electoral garb pointing with two fingers of his right hand to the name Jehovah at the head of the medal.
At his left Luther is standing with a burning light in his right hand and pointing with the forefinger of his left hand to a book lying on a table and bearing the t.i.tle: "_Biblia Sacra: V[erb.u.m] D[ei] M[anet] I[n]
Ae[ternum]_." The reverse represents the Elector standing on a rock inscribed: "_Schloss Hartenfels_, Castle Hartenfels." In his right hand he is holding the sword and in his left a balance. Under the falling scale, containing the Child Jesus, we read: "_Die Allmacht_, Omnipotence," and under the rising pan, in which the serpent is lying: "_Die Vernunft_, Reason." The marginal inscription runs. "_Iosua 1: Confide. Non Derelinquam Te_. Joshua 1: Trust. I will not forsake thee."
(Ch. Junker, _Ehrengedaechtnis Dr. M. Luthers_, 353. 383.)
Self-evidently, Elector August immediately took measures also to reestablish in his territories Luther"s doctrine of the Lord"s Supper.
The beginning was made by introducing a confession prepared by reliable superintendents and discussed, adopted, and subscribed at the Diet of Torgau, September, 1574, and published simultaneously in German and Latin. Its German t.i.tle ran: "_Brief Confession (Kurz Bekenntnis) and Articles Concerning the Holy Supper of the Body and Blood of Christ_, from which may clearly be seen what heretofore has been publicly taught, believed, and confessed concerning it in both universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg, and elsewhere in all churches and schools of the Elector of Saxony, also what has been rebuked and is still rebuked as Sacramentarian error and enthusiasm." The Torgau Confession, therefore, does not reject the _Corpus Doctrinae Misnic.u.m_ of 1560 nor even the _Consensus Dresdensis_ of 1571, and pretends that Melanchthon was in doctrinal agreement with Luther, and that only a few Crypto-Calvinists had of late been discovered in the Electorate. This pretense was the chief reason why the Confession did not escape criticism. In 1575 Wigand published: "Whether the New Wittenbergers had hitherto always taught harmoniously and agreeably with the Old, and whether Luther"s and Philip"s writings were throughout in entire harmony and agreement."
As for its doctrine, however, the Torgau Confession plainly upholds the Lutheran teaching. Article VII contends that in the distribution of the Lord"s Supper the body and blood of Christ "are truly received also by the unworthy." Article VIII maintains the "oral eating and drinking, _oris manducatio_." Calvin, Beza, Bullinger, Peter Martyr and the Heidelberg theologians are rejected, and their names expressly mentioned. On the other hand, the "ubiquity [local extension] of the flesh of Christ" is disavowed and a discussion of the mode and possibility of the presence of the body and blood of Christ is declined as something inscrutable. The Latin pa.s.sage reads: "_Ac ne carnis quidem ubiquitatem, aut quidquam, quod vel veritatem corporis Christi tollat, vel ulli fidei articulo repugnet, propter praesentiam in Coena fingimus aut probamus. Denique de modo et possibilitate praesentiae corporis et sanguinis Domini plane nihil disputamus. Nam omnia haec imperscrutabilia statuimus_." (Gieseler 3, 2, 268.)
Caspar Cruciger, Jr., Henry Moeller, Christopher Pezel, and Frederick Widebram, who refused to subscribe the _Brief Confession_, were first arrested, then, after subscribing with a qualification, released, but finally (1574) banished. Widebram and Pezel removed to Na.s.sau, Moeller to Hamburg, and Cruciger to Hesse. At Leipzig, Andrew Freyhub, who appealing to the _Consensus Dresdensis_, taught that Christ was exalted according to both natures, that divine properties were not communicated to His humanity, and that His body was inclosed in a certain place in heaven was deposed in 1576.
Thus ended the Crypto-Calvinistic drama in Electoral Saxony. Henceforth such men as Andreae, Chemnitz, and Selneccer were the trusted advisers of August, who now became the enthusiastic, devoted, and self-sacrificing leader of the larger movement for settling all of the controversies distracting the Lutheran Church, which finally resulted in the adoption of the _Formula of Concord_.
217. Visitation Articles.
Elector August, the stanch defender of genuine Lutheranism, died 1586.
Under his successor, Christian I, and Chancellor Nicholas Crell, Crypto-Calvinism once more raised its head in Electoral Saxony. But it was for a short period only, for Christian I died September 25, 1591, and during the regency of Duke Frederick William, who acted as guardian of Christian II, Lutheranism was reestablished. In order effectually and permanently to suppress the Crypto-Calvinistic intrigues, the Duke, in February of 1592, ordered a general visitation of all the churches in the entire Electorate. For this purpose Aegidius Hunnius [born 1550; 1576 professor in Marburg and later superintendent and professor in Wittenberg; attended colloquy at Regensburg 1601; wrote numerous books, particularly against Papists and Calvinists, died 1603], Martin Mirus [born 1532, died 1593], George Mylius [born 1544; 1584 expelled from Augsburg because he was opposed to the Gregorian almanac, since 1585 professor in Wittenberg and Jena, died 1607], Wolfgang Mamphrasius [born 1557; superintendent in Wurtzen; died 1616], and others, who were to conduct the visitation, composed the so-called _Visitation Articles_ which were printed in 1593. The complete t.i.tle of these articles runs: "_Visitation Articles in the Entire Electorate of Saxony_, together with the Negative and Contrary Doctrines of the Calvinists and the Form of Subscription, as Presented to be Signed by Both Parties."
As a result of the visitation, the Crypto-Calvinistic professors in Wittenberg and Leipzig were exiled. John Salmuth [born 1575; court-preacher in Dresden since 1584; died 1592] and Prierius, also a minister in Dresden, were imprisoned. As a b.l.o.o.d.y finale of the Crypto-Calvinistic drama enacted in Electoral Saxony, Chancellor Crell was beheaded, October 9, 1601, after an imprisonment of ten years. Crell was punished, according to his epitaph, as "an enemy of peace and a disturber of the public quiet--_hostis pacis et quietis publicae turbator_," or, as Hutter remarks in his _Concordia Concors_, "not on account of his religion, but on account of his manifold perfidy--_non ob religionem, sed ob perfidiam multiplicem_." (448. 1258.) For a long period (till 1836) all teachers and ministers in Electoral Saxony were required to subscribe also to the Visitation Articles as a doctrinal norm. Self-evidently they are not an integral part of the _Book of Concord_.
XIX. Controversy on Christ"s Descent into h.e.l.l.
218. Luther"s Doctrine.
While according to medieval theologians the descent into h.e.l.l was regarded as an act by which Christ, with His soul only, entered the abode of the dead; and while according to Calvin and the Reformed generally the descent into h.e.l.l is but a figurative expression for the sufferings of Christ, particularly of His soul, on the cross, Luther, especially in a sermon delivered 1533 at Torgau, taught in accordance with the Scriptures that Christ the G.o.d-man, body and soul, descended into h.e.l.l as Victor over Satan and his host. With special reference to Ps. 16, 10 and Acts 2, 24. 27, Luther explained: After His burial the whole person of Christ, the G.o.d-man, descended into h.e.l.l, conquered the devil, and destroyed the power of h.e.l.l and Satan. The mode and manner, however, in which this was done can no more be comprehended by human reason than His sitting at the right hand of the Father, and must therefore not be investigated, but believed and accepted in simple faith. It is sufficient if we retain the consolation that neither h.e.l.l nor devil are any longer able to harm us. Accordingly, Luther did not regard the descent into h.e.l.l as an act belonging to the state of humiliation, by which He paid the penalty for our sins, but as an act of exaltation, in which Christ, as it were, plucked for us the fruits of His sufferings which were finished when He died upon the cross.
Luther"s sermon at Torgau graphically describes the descent as a triumphant march of our victorious Savior into the stronghold of the dismayed infernal hosts. From it we quote the following: "Before Christ arose and ascended into heaven, and while yet lying in the grave, He also descended into h.e.l.l in order to deliver also us from it, who were to be held in it as prisoners.... However I shall not discuss this article in a profound and subtle manner, as to how it was done or what it means to "descend into h.e.l.l," but adhere to the simplest meaning conveyed by these words, as we must represent it to children and uneducated people." "Therefore whoever would not go wrong or stumble had best adhere to the words and understand them in a simple way as well as he can. Accordingly, it is customary to represent Christ in paintings on walls, as He descends, appears before h.e.l.l, clad in a priestly robe and with a banner in His hand, with which He beats the devil and puts him to flight, takes h.e.l.l by storm, and rescues those that are His. Thus it was also acted the night before Easter as a play for children. And I am well pleased with the fact that it is painted, played, sung and said in this manner for the benefit of simple people. We, too, should let it go at that, and not trouble ourselves with profound and subtle thoughts as to how it may have happened, since it surely did not occur bodily inasmuch as He remained in the grave three days."
Luther continues: "However since we cannot but conceive thoughts and images of what is presented to us in words, and unable to think of or understand anything without such images, it is appropriate and right that we view it literally, just as it is painted, that He descends with the banner, shattering and destroying the gates of h.e.l.l; and we should put aside thoughts that are too deep and incomprehensible for us." "But we ought ... simply to fix and fasten our hearts and thoughts on the words of the Creed, which says: "I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d, dead, buried, and descended into h.e.l.l," that is, in the entire person, G.o.d and man, with body and soul, undivided, "born of the Virgin, suffered, died, and buried"; _in like manner I must not divide it here either, but believe and say that the same Christ, G.o.d and man in one person, descended into h.e.l.l_ but did not remain in it; as Ps. 16, 10 says of Him: "Thou wilt not leave My soul in h.e.l.l nor suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." By the word "soul," He, in accordance with the language of the Scripture, does not mean, as we do, a being separated from the body, but the entire man, the Holy One of G.o.d, as He here calls Himself. But how it may have occurred that the man lies there in the grave, and yet descends into h.e.l.l--that, indeed, we shall and must leave unexplained and uncomprehended; for it certainly did not take place in a bodily and tangible manner although we can only paint and conceive it in a coa.r.s.e and bodily way and speak of it in pictures." "Such, therefore is the plainest manner to speak of this article, that we may adhere to the words and cling to this main point, that for us, through Christ, h.e.l.l has been torn to pieces and the devil"s kingdom and power utterly destroyed, for which purpose He died, was buried, and descended,--so that it should no longer harm or overwhelm us, as He Himself says, Matt.
16, 18...." (CONC. TRIGL., 1050)
219. Aepinus in Hamburg.
The two outstanding features of Luther"s sermon are that Christ descended into h.e.l.l body and soul, and that He descended as a triumphant Victor, and not in order to complete His suffering and the work of atonement. The denial of these two points, in particular, caused a new controversy, which however, was of brief duration only, and practically confined to the city of Hamburg, hence also called the Hamburg Church Controversy, _der Hamburger Kirchenstreit_. Its author was John Aepinus [Huck or Hoeck; born 1499; studied under Luther; persecuted in Brandenburg and banished; rector in Stralsund; 1532 pastor and later superintendent in Hamburg; wrote 1547 against the Interim; sided with Flacius against the Philippists; published books in Latin and Low German; dealt with Christ"s descent to h.e.l.l especially in his _Commentary on Psalm 16_, of 1544, and in his _Explanation of Psalm 68_, of 1553; died May 13, 1553].
Aepinus taught that Christ"s descent is a part of His suffering and atonement. While the body was lying in the grave, His soul descended into h.e.l.l in order to suffer the qualms and pangs required to satisfy the wrath of G.o.d, complete the work of redemption, and render a plenary satisfaction, _satisfactio plenaria_. The descent is the last stage of Christ"s humiliation and suffering, His triumph first beginning with the resurrection. Though we know His sufferings in h.e.l.l to have been most sad and bitter, yet we are unable to say and define what they were in particular, or to describe them concretely, because Scripture is silent on this question.
But while Aepinus originally held that the soul of Christ suffered in h.e.l.l the punishment of eternal death, he later on distinguished between the first and the second death (eternal d.a.m.nation) a.s.serting the suffering Christ endured in h.e.l.l to have been a part of the punishment of the first death, and that He did not suffer the _cruciatus AETERNI tartarei ignis_.--Such were the views advocated, developed, and variously modified by Aepinus in his theological lectures and publications. From the Latin "_Consummatum est_, It is finished," the teaching that Christ finished His suffering and the work of atonement by His death on the cross was stigmatized by Aepinus as "_error consummaticus_," and its advocates as "Consummatists," while these, in turn, dubbed Aepinus and his adherents "Infernalists." (Frank 3,440.)
Among the statements of Aepinus are the following: "I believe that h.e.l.l is a place prepared by divine justice to punish the devils and wicked men according to the quality of their sins." (437.) "On account of our redemption Christ descended to h.e.l.l, just as He suffered and died for us." (437.) "Theologians who either deny that the soul of Christ descended into h.e.l.l, or say that Christ was present in h.e.l.l only in effect and power, and not by His presence, deprive the Church of faith in the sufficient, complete, and perfect satisfaction and redemption of Christ and leave to Satan the right over pious souls after their separation from the body. For by denying that Christ sustained and bore those punishments of death and h.e.l.l which the souls were obliged to bear after their separation from the body, they a.s.sert that complete satisfaction has not been made for them." (439.) "I believe that the descent of the soul of Christ to h.e.l.l is a part of the Pa.s.sion of Christ, _i.e._, of the struggles, dangers, anguish, pains, and punishments which He took upon Himself and bore in our behalf; for, in the Scriptures, to descend to h.e.l.l signifies to be involved in the highest struggles, pain, and distress. I believe that the descent of Christ to h.e.l.l is a part of His obedience foretold by the prophets and imposed on Him because of our sins." (440.) "I believe that the descent of Christ pertains to His humiliation, not to His glorification and triumph." (441.) "The descent to h.e.l.l was by G.o.d"s judgment laid upon Christ as the last degree of His humiliation and exinanition and as the extreme part of His obedience and satisfaction." (441.) "Peter clearly teaches, Acts 2, that the soul of Christ felt the pangs of h.e.l.l and death while His body was resting in the sepulcher." (441.) "What Christ experienced when He descended into h.e.l.l is known to Himself, not to us; may we acknowledge and accept with grateful minds that He descended into h.e.l.l for us. But let us not inquire what it was that He experienced for us in His descent, for we may piously remain ignorant of matters which G.o.d did not reveal to His Church, and which He does not demand that she know." (444.)
220. Opposed by His Colleagues.
The views of Aepinus, first presented in lectures delivered 1544 before the ministers of Hamburg, called forth dissent and opposition on the part of his colleagues. Before long, however (1549), the controversy began to a.s.sume a virulent character. While the conduct of Aepinus was always marked by dignity, moderation, and mildness, his opponents Tileman Epping, John Gartz, and Caspar Hackrott, ventilated and a.s.sailed his teaching in their pulpits.
The chief argument against Aepinus was that his doctrine conflicted with, and invalidated, the words of Christ, "It is finished," "To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." Aepinus rejoined that the word "to-day" is an ambiguous term, denoting both the immediate presence and the indefinite near future (_pro praesenti et imminente tempore indefinito_). (414.) However, it was not in every respect Luther"s position which was occupied by some of the opponents of Aepinus. Gratz is reported to have taught that the article concerning the descent of Christ was not necessary to salvation that _descendere_ (descend) was identical with _sepeliri_ (to be buried), that the descent to h.e.l.l referred to the anguish and temptation of Christ during His life; that Christ immediately after His death entered paradise together with the malefactor, that the work of atonement and satisfaction was completed with His death. (446.)