RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Homberg: Synod Home Missions
to whether it was at least provisionally in legal operation, is decided negatively by the instructions to the visitatores at Pentecost, 1527, wherein with express reference to the Homberg Constitution it is declared that no other rule shall be valid than the Word of God, and that no other scheme of regulations shall be expected.
Luther's verdict was justified in fact, and the landgrave acted wisely in heeding the same. True enough, the constitution embodies 5. Excel- many excellent ideas, nor does it by lences and any means deserve the reproach of Defects radicalism. In confining church disof the cipline to notorious and flagrant sins, Church without intruding upon the province Order. of faith, it betokens great moderation in comparison with other church enactments of the Reformation, while by transfer of ecclesiastical jurisdiction to a synod it pointed out a new course for the organization of Evangelical congregations which became legally recognized as time advanced. It was none the less encumbered with grave drawbacks. The most serious objection is the one emphasized by Luther, to the effect that the constitution was not suited to the actual situation of affairs in Hesse, but that it outlined theoretically a finished constitution for a church as yet to be founded. Along with this formal and structural blunder, the fundamental design of the Reformatio to establish the entire Church on the basis of elect congregations was at fault, since it amounted to the renouncing of a popular Church, and issued in the creation of conventicles. By the privileged status conceded to the civil ruler and the nobility, which they enjoyed without, as full members of the congregation, the responsibilities appointed for others, the constitution provided a check on its own principles, but at the same time demonstrated its impracticability.
The church order being no original product, the question arises, where are its prototypes and sources to be sought? The assumption of a 6. Its dependent connection between it and Models Luther has been made, and an Upper and German origin is affirmed; the " spir- Sources. itualism " of the Franciscans has been adduced; likewise Waldensian influence, and certain Wyclifian and Bohemian influences; the tendency of Gallican Christianity has been discovered, with its emphasis on ecclesiastical discipline; and some have referred to the general consciousness of the Reformation, and to the tract by Eberlin of Gilnzberg, Die fiinfzehn Bundesgenossen (see Eberlin, Johann). Amid all these hypotheses, which, in turn, occur in a more or less combined form, one fact appears plainly, viz., that the Reformatio was derived not merely from one quarter. In any case, the decisive instigation emanated from Luther and from his tract Deutsche Messe und Ordnung des Goitesdienstes. That Luther's influence, however, was not the only one at work upon the Reformatio is patent from manifold particulars of the church order (e.g., the committee of thirteen, which has been found analogous to local arrangements at Metz, Strasburg, and among the Bohemian Brethren). Just what these influences
were is the more perplexing since even in the matter of Luther's statements in the Deutsche Messe the question arises, to what extent here also the counsel of alien (Anabaptist?) elements is demonstrable. Any systematic analysis of the sources of the Reformatio will have to reckon with the facts that it can neither be regarded as the landgrave's work nor as the exclusive work of Lambert, seeing he was attended by colaborers; that the proof of a relative dependency is not yet established; that in those days of great ferment many Biblical ideas, medieval adjuncts and theories were commingled and were still operative in such a way that it was impossible to undertake to separate them distinctly.
Carl Mirbt.
Bibliography: Sources are: Epist. Francisci Lamberti Avenionensis ad Colonienses, Feb. 16, 1627, ed. E. C. Draud, Giessen, 1730; the Acta synodi were never published: W. Lauze, in Zeitschrift des Vereins fur hessische Geschichte, vol. 1, supplement 2, pp. 123-139, Cassel, 1849; the Kirchenordnung, not preserved in the original, was first published from an old MS. by F. C. Schminke in Monimenta Hassiaca, ii. 588-656, ib. 1748, and a second copy was edited by K. A. Credner, in Philipp des Grossmiithigen Hessische Kirchenreformationsordnung, Giessen, 1852, cf. Kohler, in ZHT, xxxvii (1867), 217 sqq. Consult: C. von Rommel, Geschichte von Hessen, 3 vols., Cassel, 1827; F. W Hassencamp, Hessische Kirchengeschichte seit dem Zeitalter der Reformation, 2 vols., Frankfort, 1864; H. Heppe, Kirchengeschichte beider Hessen, Marburg, 1876; T. Brieger, Die angebliche Marburger Kirchenordnung, in ZKG, iv (1881), 549 sqq.; K. Rieker, Die rechtliche Slellung der evangelischen Kirche Deutschlands in ihrer geschichllichen Entwicklung, pp. 75 sqq., Leipsic. 1893; J. Friedrich, Luther und die Kirchenverfassung der Reformatio ecclesiarum Hessice, Darmstadt, 1894 (improvement of Credner's edition); idem, Entstehung der Reformatio ecclesiarum Hessice, Giessen, 1905; W Kohler, Hessische. Kirchenverfassung im Zeitalter der Reformation, Giessen, 1894; A. Laval, Le Synode de Homberg, Paris, 1894; G. Conrad, Die Reformalionsordnung fur die Gemeinden Hessens von 1626, Halle, 1897.