584 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1530.
His leading ideas are these. Every thing which has been deformed must be reformed by the Word of God. This is the only rule of faith and practice. All true Christians are priests, and form the church. They have the power of selfgovernment, and the right and duty to exercise discipline, according to Matt. 18:15-18, and to exclude persons who give offense by immorality or false doctrine. The bishops (i.e., pastors) are elected and supported by the congregation, and are aided by deacons who attend to the temporalities. The general government resides in a synod, which should meet annually, and consist of the pastors and lay representatives of all the parishes. The executive body between the meetings of synod is a commission of thirteen persons. Three visitors, to be appointed first by the prince, and afterwards by the synod, should visit the churches once a year, examine, ordain, and install candidates. Papists and heretics are not to be tolerated, and should be sent out of the land. A school for training of ministers is to be established in Marburg.
It is a matter of dispute, whether Lambert originated these views, or derived them from the Franciscan, or Waldensian, or Zwinglian, or Lutheran suggestions. The last is most probable. It is certain that Luther in his earlier writings (1523) expressed similar views on church government and the ministry. They are legitimately developed from his doctrine of the general priesthood of believers.!
On the basis of these principles a church constitution was prepared in three days by a synodical commission, no doubt chiefly by Lambert himself. It is a combination of Congre-
him as a ‘‘ runaway monk,”’ and denied the legal competency of the synod. Lambert in turn called him a champion of Antichrist and a blasphemer, and exclaimed, “ Expellatur ex provincia !’’? which Ferber misunderstood, ‘‘ Occidatur bestia 1) He confessed afterwards that he lost his temper. Hassencamp, Fr. Lambert, p. 39 sq., and Hencke, l. c. I. 103 sq.
1 See above, pp. 518 and 538. Ritschl and Mejer assert that Lambert borrowed his church ideal from his own order of the Minorites.
§ 98. THE REFORMATION IN HESSE. 585
gationalism and Presbyterianism. Its leading features are congregational self-government, synodical supervision, and strict discipline. The directions for worship are based on Luther’s “ Deutsche Messe,” 1526.1
The constitution, with the exception of a few minor features, remained a dead letter. The Landgrave was rather pleased with it, but Luther, whom he consulted, advised postponement; he did not object to its principles, but thought that the times and the people were not ripe for it, and that laws in advance of public opinion rarely succeed.?__ Luther learned a bitter lesson from the Peasants’ War and from the visitation of the churches in Saxony. Lambert himself, in his letters, complained of the prevailing corruptions and the abuse of evangelical liberty.2 A good reason both for the necessity and difficulty of discipline, which should have begun with the prince. But self-government must be
1 The Latin original of the constitution is lost, but two copies are extant from which the printed editions of Schminke, Richter, and Credner are derived. Janssen (III. 54) calls it, not quite accurately, “ ein vollstdndig ausgebildetes, rein demokratisches Presbyterialsystem.”’
2 Letter to the Landgrave, Monday after Epiphany, 1527 (in the Erl. ed., vol. LVI. 170 sq.). He was reluctant to give an answer, from fear that nonapproval might be construed as proceeding from Wittenberg jealousy of any rivalry. He does not mention Lambert, but cautions against rash proceedings. ‘‘ Firschreiben und Nachthun ist weit von einander”’ (theory and practice are wide apart). Kostlin (II. 50) says: ‘‘Gegen die Principien des Entwurfs an sich wandte Luther nichts ein. Der Grund, weshalb er ihn ablehnte, war das Bediirfniss allmadhlicher Entwicklung im Gegensatz zur plétzlichen gesetzlichen Durchfiihrung umfassender Ideen, fiir welche die Gegenwart nicht vorbereitet sei.”’
8 See his letter to Myconius in Hassencamp, Lamb. v. A., p. 50 sq., and Déllinger, Die Reform. II. 18 sq. The latter quotes the Latin (from Strieder, Hessische Gelehrtengesch. VII. 386): ‘‘ Dolens et gemens vivo, quod paucissimos videam recte uti evangelii libertate, et quod caritas ferme nulla sit, sed plena sint omnia obtrectationibus mendaciis, maledicentia, invidia.’? In a letter to Bucer, Lambert says, ‘‘ Horreo mores populi hujus ita ut putem me frustra in eis laborare.’? Herminjard (II. 242) adds in a note an extract from the letter of a student of Ziirich, Rudolph Walther, who wrote to Bullinger from Marburg, June 17, 1540 (the year of the bigamy of the Landgrave): “« Mores [huius regionis] omnium corruptissimi. Nullum in hac Germanie parte inter Papistas et Evangelice doctrine professores discrimen cernas, si morum et vite censuram instituas,”