THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
himself to Mainz. There he became a doctor of theology; he then returned to Louvain, where he lectured on the Epistles of Paul with great success. He openly taught the doctrine of justification by faith, without, however, ranging himself on the side of the Reformers. Still, his opponents roused themselves against him, and he would have been carried to Brussels and condemned as a heretic if it had not been for the opposition of the citizens and students. He withdrew to Aduard, where he remained three years (1540-42 or 43). While there he visited Hermann of Wied (q.v.) archbishop of Cologne; he also had relations with Melanchthon, and with Johannes a Lasco, who persuaded him to leave Aduard, which meant for him openly to espouse the Reformation. On Melanchthon's advice he went to Wittenberg (June, 1543), where he met Luther; and he became an especial friend of Melanchthon and Paul Eber. Hardenberg was summoned by the archbishop of Cologne to aid in carrying out the Reformation (Feb. or Mar., 1544), with whom he attended the Diet of Speyer. The plan of Reformation, devised by Butzer and Melanchthon, and assented to by the archbishop, was warmly approved by Hardenberg, even in the interpretation of the Lord's Supper, which did not meet the approval of Luther. Hardenberg became very useful to the archbishop, who retained him in service until the archbishopric again became Roman Catholic by the archbishop's resignation (Jan. 25, 1547). Hardenberg was then for a short time pastor at Einbeck, afterward military chaplain to Count Christopher of Oldenburg; in the performance of his duties he distinguished himself at the battle of Drakenberg (May, 1547), and, although wounded, took part in the entry of the victorious army into Bremen.
At Bremen the count appointed him cathedral
preacher despite the protests of the Roman Catholic
archbishop. Hardenberg retained this
Views position till 1561, and these fourteen
on the years were the most fruitful period of
Lord's his life. His only official duties were
Supper, to preach twice a week and to conduct a course of lectures in Latin. At first Jacob Propst and Johann Timann (q.v.), the most noted preachers of the time in Bremen, seemed fully in accord with him; whether they knew nothing of his un-Lutheran views of the Lord's Supper, or whether they were willing to ignore them for the sake of peace, can not be decided. This peace did not last long, for in 1547 the differences concerning the doctrine of the Lord's Supper were discussed, but were smoothed over on the occasion of the first declaration of Hardenberg regarding the Lord's Supper (Jan., 1548), in which he says that Christ is in truth given and received in the Eucharist, in all his entirety both as God and man; that bread and wine are visible, sacred signs which present and impart to us the body and blood of the Lord; whosoever partakes in faith of the sacrament really partakes of the substance of the body and blood of Christ. Melanchthon approved of this, Johannes a Lasco did not.
When the controversies on the subject broke out again outside of Bremen, and especially the one
between Westphal and Calvin, the colleagues of
Hardenberg began to question more closely his
attitude toward the doctrines of
Contro- Luther; Lasco also inquired into the
versy with difference between him and his col- Timann. leagues; so it came about that, although Hardenberg still tried to maintain peace, the strife, at first hidden, came to an open rupture. Affairs in East Friesland also brought matters to a crisis; there Lasco had to leave Emden, partly on account of his relations with Hardenberg. Timann saw in these controversies a danger for the Bremen church and so he published a tract proving that the opinions of all orthodox leaders of the church coincided with Luther's. Hardenberg, against whom the tract was directed, took offense chiefly at the doctrine of the ubiquity of the body of Christ. Timann was desirous that all the ministers at Bremen should sign his tract, and, when Hardenberg and two others refused, began to preach against them (Lent, 1556). The senate tried to allay the controversy by a conference (Easter, 1556). Then Hardenberg asserted that shortly before his death Luther had said to Melanchthon that the doctrine of the Lord's Supper had been too much discussed, and that he did not agree with Melanchthon's suggestion of publishing a pamphlet to assuage the controversy; however, he urged Melanchthon to do something about it after his death. This had been told Hardenberg by Melanchthon in Wittenberg (July, 1554). It is not to be doubted that Hardenberg so understood the declaration of Melanchthon, but he was mistaken; Luther cannot have given such advice to Melanchthon.
The strife was not ended by the conference; the
council sent to Wittenberg for an opinion, also to
the ministers in Brunswick, Magde-
Opinion of burg, Hamburg, Ltineburg, and Wittenberg; Lubeck. The opinion from Wittenberg
Expulsion was not opposed to Hardenberg's, but
of Harden- it warned against mingling irrelevant berg. subjects with the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, and urged agreement with the form cum pane sumitur corpus; the answers of the ministers in the cities approved the creed of the preachers of Bremen, and warned against the sacramentarians. So the council decided fully to remove Hardenberg in order to obtain peace in the church. However, nothing decisive was done at that time. Later, Heshusius, who succeeded Timann at Bremen, advised an open debate, which was scheduled to take place on May 20, 1560. Hardenberg was forbidden to take part, and the archbishop referred the matter to the diet opened at Brunswick (Feb. 3, 1561). The diet decreed that Hardenberg should leave Bremen within fourteen days, which he did. He lived until 1565 in the monastery of Rastede, near Oldenburg, busied with literary labors; he was elected pastor at Sengwarden (1565), and afterward served at Emden, where he continued to find success as a preacher.
Carl Bertheau.
Bibliography: In Bindseil's ed. of the CR is some correspondence between Melanchthon and Hardenberg; consult the index, x. 369, 449, and note, also, A. L. Hermin-