More St. Barthlomew Massacre

Oh you didn't really think that the slaughter of Huguenots in France was over did you.  Death was everywhere.  In the country side, in the cities, everywhere.  Refugees reported that instruments of death had been erected in every town and village in France. 

September 17th saw the beginning of the massacre in Rouen.  The killing was done in Paris and some other places, but it was not yet done throughout the country.  Rouen had sought to protect the Huguenots because of a kindly governor.  But commands from the king came for him to depart Rouen and try to calm the countryside of Normandy.  When he left, the massacre began.  Many Protestants had been arrested or turned themselves in for protection in the prisons.  All the prisons in the city were now full and other Huguenots stayed in the Parliament house.  Those were killed first, then the prisons slaughtered and any who were left in town ridden down and killed or forced to convert.  About 3,000 converted to Romanism before the end of the year.  Many had fled prior to the 17th as the houses of the rich were simply looted because they had left.  Many crossed the channel to Britain.  Thus the majority of the killed were poor or middle class.  After the massacre complete the dead were stripped naked and their clothes given to the needy of the town.  Numbers differ widely on how many died, but what is known is that over 16,000 Huguenots lived in Rouen before the slaughter and only 3,000 remained after it. 

St. Bartholomew's Day August 28

August 28, 1572 found the killing spread to Caen.  Very little could be found about the slaughter here other than the date it began, and one account claiming Monsieur de Matignon had kept it from being too general a massacre.  Although this also would have about the time Montsoreau would have arrived in Angers from Saumur.  Here Montsoreau began with De La Riviera, a former Huguenot pastor in Paris now residing in Angers.  Montsoreau kissed De La Riviera’s wife, who led him into the garden to see her husband.  Montsoreau informed De La Riviera that he had been sent by the king to kill him, pulled out a pistol, and shot the pastor dead.  Although some accounts of the killing in Angers include the idea that many Huguenots escaped death here because of a man named Puigaillard.  Puigaillard was a man who loved money and took large bribes to not kill the Huguenots, and was bought off by those who could afford it.  Those who could not died. 

One of the interesting things about the Massacre is how many pastors actually got away.  De La Riviera is more of an exception than the rule.  Only two of the five pastors in Paris were killed, and Coligny's chaplain got away.  La Rochelle after the massacre had 50 pastors within its gates.  All but two or three had sought refuge as they fled the general massacre as it spread from city to town to village all through France.  

St. Bartholomew's Massacre August 27th

This day August 27, 1572 saw the massacre spreads to Orleans and Borges.  It began with Chapeaux, a royal councilor and Protestant in Orleans, receiving La Court, a Romanist and soon to be leader of the massacre, in his home and feeding him a meal.  After the meal La Court informed Chapeaux of the massacre in Paris, took his money purse and killed him.  It then began in earnest the next morning and went for four days.  The murders here went about their killing singing the psalms to mock the Huguenots as they used the psalms in their worship.  One Huguenot fencing teacher managed to kill a few attackers, but the massacre was mostly by surprise and found little resistance.  The killing in Orleans was particularly brutal and had a rather high death toll.  It was afterward boasted that 1200 men, 150 women, and many children were slain by the Orleans mob in the four days and then dumped into the river.

In Paris the murders and hysteria began to abate.  It is this day that people begin to try and flee.  Peter Merlin, the chaplain of Admiral Coligny, got up from his hiding place and began to flee.  He had been sustained for three day by a chicken laying an egg in front of him in the barn he hid every morning.  The future Duke of Sully, who was only 12, was removed from the closet where he had been hidden by a priest for three days.  He was smuggled out of town and eventually grew to be an adviser to King Henry IV.  Still, it was not over in Paris, and as we have seen only just beginning in many other cities. Some say the Royal Family finally left the Louvre, but others say they had not yet felt safe enough to venture outside and would not until the 31st.

It is actually these events that bring forth massacre into the English language.  Before it was simply a French word for butcher block, but because of what happens here it becomes known for mass killing, and is used from this time on in English in that way.

You might want to listen to quick discussion about the massacre with some noted historians.  Thanks to Dr. Clark for posting it. 

St. Bartholomew August 26

On the 26th of August, 1572 the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre spread to Troyes and La Charite.  I could not find a description of the massacre in La Charite, but in Troyes the news arrived and the killing did not start immediately.  The gates were closed, however, so that no one could get away.  By the 30th the Huguenots were all arrested and put into jail, but few were slain.  Then Pierre Belin arrived in Troyes.  Berlin had participated in the slaughter in Paris and was now sent to Troyes.  When he discovered the people had not slaughtered the Huguenots, he demanded the killing begin in the name of the King.  The local bishop confirmed Belin’s statements.  The local hangman did refuse to start the killing claiming he only killed those who had been found guilty after trial, but others were less concerned with such things and the prisons were emptied by death.  The bodies then plundered and laid out on the streets.  A parade was held the next day so that all could march past and examine the dead Huguenots and learn the price of “heresy”. 

The story also includes a letter to Montsoreau, an agent of the government, from Henry the Duke of Anjou, the King’s brother.  Montsoreau was tasked with killing all the Huguenots in Saumur and then after he finished there to go to Angers both of which fell under the rule of Anjou.  This man began his work giving the orders in Saumur on the 26th.  We can assume he was in Angers within a day or two to carry the massacre to that city as well. 

In Paris the killing continued as more people died.  One old man who had been thrown into the river to drown was able to swim to the far side.  He made his way to a cousin’s house where his wife was hiding. She refused to let him in, and eventually the man was found and killed this time.  Such was the fear during this time.  This is also the day Peter Ramus, the philosopher and Huguenot.  Accounts of his death differ.  Some say they found him in his study of the college because he had come out of hiding on the third day.  Then many still refused to kill him, but finally the third party did.  Others say he was was found in a cellar at the college hiding by his philosophical rival Jacques Chaarpentier, an Aristotelian Catholic.  He took a large sum of money from Ramus and then killed him anyway and threw him from an upper window at the college and the students then ripped his body apart.  It was the third day of rampaging killing in Paris. 

St. Bartholomew's Massacre the next day

Today on August 25, 1572 the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre spread to Meaux.  It arrived in Meaux  with a mid afternoon note from Catherine, who was Countess of Meaux.  The gates were seized in the evening and the Huguenots arrested while at supper with many being killed.  Those that lives in the Grand Marche section of Meaux were able to escape since it was across the river.  The men found only women left in the Grand Marche, but managed to kill 25 of them immediately and many others later died from the beatings they received.  The next morning they plundered the houses, killed all the people in the prisons.  There were so many they had to take a break for supper before finishing up.  They then chased those from the Grand Marche area who escaped to surrounding villages down and tried their best to exterminate all the Huguenots in the area. 

Of course in Paris the slaughter continued.  People were carried to bridges to be dropped off and drowned.  More men died such as Pierre de la Place.  He was a well known jurist and author.  He had survived the first day because he paid off the men who broke down his door with 1000 crowns.  However, La Place and his wife could not find anyone willing to take them in.  They were turned away by at least three different houses.  The next day, the 25th, he and his eldest son were killed.  Men came with orders to take them to the palace.  The wife wept, but to no avail.  His eldest son tried to put on the white cross to show loyalty to Rome, but La Place rebuked his son saying they were being called to carry the true cross now.  His son removed the cross, the two went out to go to the place where they were executed immediately.  Just one story out of thousands in the killing that took place in Paris. 

The killing was not just an accidental overflow of excitement.  it was not a Paris mob getting out of hand while the Duke of Guise simply tried to get even on Admiral Coligny.  This was a premeditated campaign of extinction of those who believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And so today it spread from one city to the next by order of the Queen Mother. 

A day to remember freedom of worship

The 24^th of August is St. Bartholomew’s Day and in 1572 it was the day of a massacre known as St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.  But in reality it was the start of a season of massacres.  The Massacre begin in Paris when Duke Henry of Guise took his men to kill French Protestant Admiral Gaspard Coligny.  They got most of his men and family as well.  His son-in-law was shot off the roof trying to get away for example. 

The killing lasted 4 days and actually a while week as one Huguenot was killed seven days after it began when he snuck into a parade the king was taking to try and show calm had returned to the city.  The man was recognized and killed right there by the crowd.  The King was less than pleased, but such was the atmosphere. 

What we don’t realize is that the killing often went on longer.  It spread to places like Orleans, Caen, Toulouse, and throughout the rest of France.  Rouen for example actually had their massacre on over a month later, and some killing was still going on in the first week of October.  In many places Huguenots had sought safety in the jails as the authorities had refused to allow the killing, but he eventually they just gave way and allowed it.  The jails were emptied and the Protestants slaughtered. 

All of this happened because the Huguenots were Protestant.  They would not bow the knee to the Pope, nor would they bow the knee to the Mass.  They worshipped differently and demanded the right to do so.  In return, the King tried to wipe them all out.

So today thank God for the freedom of worship (assuming you are reading this from a place that has such freedom) and say a prayer for those places and believers who do not have that freedom.  There are many who still worship in fear that such a massacre will happen to them. 

Conscience a Foundational Point of the Reformation

When you think of the major doctrines of the Reformation many things may come to mind.  Justification by faith alone, Regulative Principle of worship, the authority of the Scriptures, these are probably the ones that pop to mind.  I want to suggest that there is another doctrine that was very important to the Reformation was the conscience of man.  It is related to the authority of Scripture, but protecting the right of conscience for the believer was fundamental for the Reformation.  Sadly today the Reformed/Presbyterian church has lost sight of this and often speaks of submission or misapplies “mutual submission” in such a way that destroys the conscience.  I would like to take a few posts to discuss this idea of conscience.  Let me start showing that it is a major point of the Protestant Reformation.

Think back to the first major act in the Swiss Reformation: the Affair of Sausages.  The Affair of Sausages began because many of those who heard and followed Zwingli and his teaching broke the Lenten fast and they sold and ate sausages.  The ultimate justification for breaking this rule of the church was that the church had no right to bind the conscience of any man where Scripture is silent.  Think also about how the monastic vows were tossed out everywhere the Reformation went because it was a binding of the conscience in a place where Scripture did not speak nor bind.  Many of the Earlier Confessions stated it plainly.

The Tetrapolitan Confession of 1530, signed by the reformed churches of four different cities and written by Wolfgang Capito and Martin Bucer, devotes chapter 8 to rejecting the idea that the church had the right to bind men’s consciences: “When, therefore, we saw very evidently that the chief men in the Church beyond the authority of Scripture assumed this authority so to enjoin fasts as to bind men’s consciences, we allowed consciences to be freed from these snares, but by the Scriptures, and especially Paul’s writings, which with singular earnestness remove these rudiments of the world from the necks of Christians.” 

The First Basel Confession written in 1531 by John Oecolampadius and perfected after his death by his successors and was adopted in 1534 includes an article on conscience.  Article 11 simply states, “We confess that no one ought to command in any manner that which Christ has not commanded; also, therefore, no one ought to prohibit that which he has not forbidden.”

The Belgic Confession of Guy DeBres too can be seen to include a mention of the evils of binding a man’s conscience without the word of God.  In Article 29 in the marks of the false church it states, “As for the false church, it ascribes more power and authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God, and will not submit itself to the yoke of Christ.”  The Belgic is condemning churches that require submission to manmade rules and such a usurpation of authority from Christ is a sign of a false church. -- They were shortly afterward removed of their jobs and sent packing from the city.  It is clear from the historical evidence that the reformers stressed the idea that only the Word of God could bind a man’s conscience.  They would not bend their consciences simply for the sake of a job or safety.  Instead they held fast to the idea that God alone could command the conscience.

 

These early confessions held the power of the church was restricted by the Scriptures.  And the church could not bind a man’s conscience, instead only the Word of God could do such things.  If the church went beyond the Bible, then a man’s conscience did not need to submit.  And more than that if the church attempted to bind a man’s conscience, the church was in the wrong.  A church that put more power in its own ordinances that are from outside of the word of God is a church that has missed an important point of the Reformation.  It has missed the authority and headship of Jesus Christ, and it is dangerously usurping a power that does not belong to it.

Hopefully this is enough of a historical proof for now.  Next I would like to go to the Bible and see if these confession agree with the Word.

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre: Providence and its Sudden Switches

Sometimes we forget just how quickly things can change.  God has his plans, and we do not always know them.  And they can occasionally be brutal.  

One of those sudden shifts that changed the world occurred on August 24, 1572.  In the early morning hours, the church bells rang as a signal for the Romanists to start slaughtering the Reformed believers, the Huguenots.  Thousands died.  

Let's rewind for a minute and consider the situation.  The Huguenots were in Paris because of the royal wedding between Henry of Navarre, a fellow Huguenot, and Margaret Valois, a daughter of the King.  This was to be the union between the Romanist faction, as represented by the royal family, and the Huguenots, as Henry was in line for the throne.  Violence had broken out several times before.  There was the Massacre at Vassy (1562) which led to a war and ended with more of a cease-fire than actual peace.  A second war broke out in 1567, and a third in 1568.  The third war ended in 1570 with very favorable terms for the Huguenots.  Even though many sections of the country still had great hostility toward them (and occasionally murdered them), hope was probably on the rise.  In 1571, the great Synod of La Rochelle met, Coligny's daughter was married, and the Huguenots were given high ranking places at court again.  They seemed to have the ear of the King for the first time in a very long time.  Now, the Protestant King of Navarre, Henry, who was already Prince of the Blood for when the Valois line died out, was taking a Valois to be his wife.  Not everyone was happy about a mixed religious marriage, but it was clearly an attempt to knit together the fragile kingdom so peace could finally reign.  

Then the toll of a bell in the early morning hours signaled the beginning of a genocide that lasted for days.  Widespread, methodical murder lasted for three days, and Romanists were still hunting down Huguenots seven days later.  A drastic, unexpected, and quick turn of Providence.

Yet God always has His purposes, even in death.  Whether it is Job or the protestants at the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, we know that God is bringing himself glory.  We can see that such persecution helped enrich the surrounding countries a great deal by infusing them with devout Christians, even the new world saw the arrival of Huguenots (there is still a Huguenot church in Charleston, SC).  Perhaps the difference between the true religion and the false was made more plain.  Who knows all that God accomplished on that fateful day.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose" Romans 8:28

Princeton - 200 years later

In case anyone missed it, Princeton Seminary was founded in 1812 - or 200 years ago. Expect a lot of stuff coming up all year about Princeton. And there are lots of things to praise about Princeton. A century of excellence and a legacy of fighting the good fight for orthodoxy. If you want to join in on some celebrating and learning, check out Greenville Theological Seminary's Conference dedicated to Princeton. Blogs are in on the action as well. Expect more remembrances all year long. Even the Young Restless and Reformed Gang at the Gospel Coalition is in on it all year. And so you should expect more rebuttals about that too.

But the question remains, did Princeton get it right? Is it the model we should be following? I expect to get yelled at, but let me venture the answer. No. They didn't. Everyone always points out that no seminary was orthodox longer than Princeton. Most are lucky to make it 50 years, much less 100. And its direct descendant Westminster has made it quite some time as well (with less success). But the fact remains. Princeton went bad. In fact most seminaries go bad. That is just a fact that cannot really be denied. Whether they are church supported like Calvin Seminary or more independent like Knox. They go bad.

Let me just remind everyone that Andover Theological Seminary and Princeton Seminary are two of the first in the nation. Before that people learned in the homes of pastors. Or they stayed extra at Yale or a place like that reading theology before going to take an exam. Princeton was a fundamental shift in how theological education was done. It became modeled after school. Education was done by the professional scholar not the everyday pastor. This is, I believe, Princeton's fundamental flaw. Every seminary today is based on this model mostly because of Princeton (in the Reformed World at least).

Princeton turned out great scholars, and they battled liberalism in print more than anyone else. The Princeton Review was influential and the world renown of the scholars is nothing to sneeze at. But did they win the battle in the pews? Hard to say, but maybe not. Take a look at their most famous students.
Charles Hodge - never pastored a church but went on to a great career training pastors.
Joseph Addison Alexander - never pastored a church, but taught at Princeton.
B.B. Warfield - was a stated supply at a couple of place, but spent the majority of his life as a professor.
Geerhardus Vos - never pastored a church but was the founder of modern Biblical theology at Princeton.
Casper Wistar Hodge Jr. - never pastored a church and was ordained after he became a professor at Princeton.
J. Gresham Machen - never pastored a church, but did serve in the Great War for which he was ordained. Professor most of his life.
Robert Dick Wilson - never pastored and was a professor that went to Westminster
O.T. Allis - never pastored a church, and was a professor that went to Westminster.

Now many professors did pastor. AA Hodge pastored, as did J.A. Alexander, and his brother J.W. Alexander (who actually quit being a professor to go back to pastoring). But with all of these great professors who did not ever serve in the pulpit, one has to wonder how good were they at applying their truths to the daily ministry? Lest you think I am making this up here is a quote from David Calhoun's wonderful history of Princeton:
"Practical theology was Princeton's weakest area. It was difficult to find the scholar-pastor-preacher combination to fill the need, and there was apparently some reluctance on the part of the faculty to develop this department fully, fearing that it would detract from the more academic work." Vol. 2 pg. 216
The students actually complained in 1909, but the faculty viewed that as a just plain lack of intellectual prowess in the students. However, I think that the end shows that perhaps the faculty misunderstood the fundamental nature of preaching and pastoral work.

Now a student studying with a pastor would not get the access to so many brilliant minds in one place. But he does get a heavy does of pastoral reality, a good handle on the practical nature of theology, preaching, and church shepherding. The question becomes is it better for the church as a whole if many get a rigorous academic training for the ministry to become scholar-pastors, or if an entire army is equipped to be preaching-pastors. I at least think the answer to that is up in the air, and that as we celebrate Princeton we be willing to throw out their model altogether.

Happy Birthday Belgic Confession

Today, November 1, is the 450th Birthday of the Belgic Confession. This is the day recognized as the day Guido De Bres threw copies of the Belgic Confession over the walls of Doornik in the night while he was fleeing for his life. This is important to remember as you read the Belgic Confession. It is De Bres's defense about why he is Reformed. It is his letter to the rulers who were pushing the Spanish Inquisition as to what they were persecuting.

But the Confession is also a call to all who were still in the Roman Catholic Church. Especially Article 29 about the True and False Church. It is a call that persecution is no reason to remain in a church that denies the gospel. Yes, life would have been easier for De Bres if he had just sat in a pew and not believed the bread was turned into the Body of Christ, but it would have been a sin. Read his call to people in the Roman Church:

As for the false Church, it ascribes more power and authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God, and will not submit itself to the yoke of Christ. Neither does it administer the sacraments as appointed by Christ in His Word, but adds to and takes from them, as it thinks proper; it relies more upon men than upon Christ; and persecutes those who live holily according to the Word of God and rebuke it for its errors, covetousness, and idolatry.

These two Churches are easily known and distinguished from each other.

The two churches are easily known. There was no excuse. All godly men knew the Inquisition was wrong. De Bres just made it plain for all the world to see in the Belgic.

Of course in 1567, Guido De Bres was caught and died for his faith. The Belgic Confession is his testament.

Not the Bartholomew's Day Massacre, but another

I didn't post anything about the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre this year, but I thought I would post other massacre's of protestants by Romanists. Perhaps they were inspired by the French, after all the Pope struck a medal for that event.

This is the Magdeburg Massacre or sometimes called the Sack of Magdeburg. This was during the 30 Years' War. Magdeburg was a primarily Protestant city and the Count Tilly brought his army against it and laid siege. The city bravely held out for 7 months, but this was during the part of the war where Protestant resistance was almost non-existent. The Danish had for the most part been handled and it was before Gustavous brought in Sweeden. So no relief ever came for the Protestants of Magdeburg.

The trouble was not the siege, but what happened after. The city of Magdeburg was either 24,000 or 25,000 depending on where you read the stats. The Romanists went through the city and looted it. After it had been thoroughly looted the army wiped out everyone else. Now some of the city was already burning from the attack, but the Romanist then went about destroying what was left. Women, children, men, it did not matter. They killed them all. 20,000 people were killed leaving only 4 or 5,000 people. The city was in ruins and the surrounding area had been pillaged during the siege. The people of Magdeburg continued to die long after the troops left. Apparently it dipped as low as 450 people. It took the Roman army 14 days to haul all the bodies into the river.

Some say that this massacre helped bring Gustavus into the war, but that probably is a bit of an over reach on how religious Gustavus really was. Still, the massacre was immense and today barely makes the history books.

Basel the Mother Church of the Reformation

I know that the movement is underway to celebrate the Reformation’s 500th birthday in 2017. This is of course dated from Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses on the door at Wittenburg. The problem is I do not believe that is a good starting point for the Reformation. It is an easy one because it is a day that everyone can point to and say this day it started. But the Reformation was really already under way. It is impossible to point to a spot and say here it began, nor a time and say it started at this minute. But, if I had to give it a shot, I would say Basel 1505-06. Let us look at why.

In Basel in 1505 there were many future reformers. Leo Juda was graduating and about to take his first call in Alsace as a priest. Juda would end up in Zurich as a Reformer. It was probably at this time that he met Ulrich Zwingli who was also in Basel. Zwingli was teaching at a prepatory school in Basel. Yes, Zwingli was suspected of heresy at this time for refusing to condemn some writings that disavowed the use of images and indulgences and even the sign of the cross. Such things show Zwingli already leaning toward the Reformation though it had not yet begun. Also teaching in Basel at that time was Thomas Wittenbach. Wittenbach was teaching Protestant principles like Justification by faith alone. Wittenbach would later break from the church at Rome and become a Reformer. Leo Juda and Zwingli both sat in on his classes and credit him a great deal for his teaching evangelical doctrine.

1515 saw the hiring of Erasmus, which shows that Basel University and thus the town counsel were still fostering a spirit against the Roman church at least. The Cathedral called Wolfgang Capito to Basel, where he served for 4 years. Capito began correspondence with Zwingli during this time as well as Luther. Casper Hedio appears to have been in Basel as well. Both men probably leaned toward the Reformation already at this time. John Oecolampadius also first arrived in Basel in 1515. He would leave before his final return as the leading reformer of the city, but he was there during this time working closely with Erasmus. When Oswald Myconius arrived is a little unsure. He was student at Basel at some point, but he began to teach there in 1514. Myconius would become a gifted educator and great Reformer too. The Spirit of Basel was surely one of Reformation.

The town did not officially accept the Reformation until 1529, although it was inevitable in 1528. Still, the town showed the way for the Reformation in many ways. In 1522, Oecolampadius was back and openly preaching the Protestant Gospel. In 1522, Wilhelm Reublin was kicked out of his pastorate at St. Alban for being Reformed, but another church in town St. Theodore took him showing their acceptance of the Reformation. Marcus Bertschi also held evangelical beliefs and pastored St. Leonhard in town by 1523. In 1524 the town did excommunicate Jacob Immeli for getting married. That is a priest getting married before almost any of the other Reformers with the exception of Martin Bucer. Yes, Immeli was married before Martin Luther. He would be rehired after the Reformation took hold for good.

It should be noted that Basel then had a hand in the Reformation of Bern (Wyttenbach), Zurich (Zwingli and Juda), and Strassborg (Capito and Hedio). Other lesser known men were influential in St. Gall and its Reformation. And we have not even begun to talk of the printing industry in Basel and the effect it had. Basel in a very real sense is the mother church of the Reformation because of its far reaching effects. People networked and learned the true gospel of Jesus Christ while in Basel. It was here that the Reformation was born.

The argument Against Exclusive Psalmody (or only singing the Inspired Words of Scripture)

I just wanted to take a minute to defend the practice of singing hymns during worship. This will be done in three sections. First, the Historical Argument. Second, the Biblical Argument. Third, the Nature of Words argument (I am sure there is a better title to this argument, I just don’t know it).

I do want to take a minute to speak about the historical argument. It is often argued that all of the Reformed Churches were originally exclusive psalmists and that is how they understood the Bible and the Regulative Principle of Worship. This is simply untrue. It is true that Calvin, the Huguenots of France, the Scots, the Directory of Public Worship and even Elector Frederick III of the Palatinate desired exclusive psalmody. However there are at least two other earlier Reformed strands that are often ignored.

One strand is the Swiss Strand, which is probably extinct today. If you ever wonder why Zwingli is not referenced in this debate it is because Zwingli and the churches of Zurich did not sing at all. That is right: no congregational singing. That was the way of Zurich. Zwingli did not sing. Bullinger did not sing. Not even during the next head of the church, Simon Gaulther, son-in-law of Zwingli, did they sing. Nor did Bern under the leadership of Berthold Haller. Bern did not sing at all. In fact, Calvin himself seemed to favor this tradition. He was unsure if the people should sing, but he came to the conclusion to sing psalms as it was the safest thing just in case singing was not allowed at all.

The other tradition is the German Reformed tradition. This tradition does not spring from Geneva or Calvin, but from Constance and Strassborg. Constance, a German city reformed by Ambrose Blarer and Johannes Zwick, produced a hymn book that did have psalms, but also had uninspired hymns. It seems it was used during worship, especially on feast days. It contained some of Luther’s hymns. It also contained many hymns written by the Zwick and Blarer brothers. It also even had a hymn by Leo Juda, right hand man in Zurich. Since Zwick and Blarer had a hand in other cities like Augsburg one can assume that this hymnbook was used in more places than just Constance. The earliest copy we have is dated 1540, but it is also clearly a revision. We know they were singing hymns by at least 1533 in Constance.

Constance ended up changing the practice in Strassborg as well. The 1537 Strassborg Psalter included many hymns. Mostly by the Blarer’s and Johannes Zwick. Thus, Strassborg was not an exclusive psalmist city. In fact, it switched away from exclusive psalmnody. The Germans continued with their hymn singing even after the Augsburg Interim put an end to Reformed Services in much of Germany. Heidelberg and the Palatinate started out singing only psalms under Frederick III, but under his son Lewis, they sang hymns. This practice remained as they sang hymns during communion services from that point on. The Palatinate was not the only German church to sing hymns during communion services. So to did the church in Bremen.

Better yet, Brandenburg, which went reformed in about 1613 always sang hymns. The churches in the county of Mark also sang hymns. Mark was part of the Synod of Cleve, Julich, and Mark. Since Mark sang hymns it is fairly clear that the Synod was not against hymns. Thus, the tradition of singing hymns in the Reformed Churches in Germany is well grounded. So, it is completely wrong to suggest that the Reformed tradition sang only psalms. Such a comment is to equate Calvin and those who followed him with the entire Reformed tradition. There are at least two other traditions, which actually predate Calvin’s influence, and one of them is the singing of hymns during worship.

Forgotten Reformer: Oswald Myconius

Forgotten Refomer: Oswald Myconius

Okay, so I am not yet done with this series. I have time for (at least) one more. This one is Oswald Myconius. Born in 1488 as Oswald Geisshussler in Lucerne Switzerland. He was a good student and during his studies in Rothwyl he met Berthold Haller. Oswald went to Basle in 1514 to be a teacher. It was probably Erasums who called him Oswald Myconius, which he then took to himself. Many scholars changed their names during this time. Making their name Greek apparently is some sort of status symbol or something. He became a teacher in the city and there he made the acquaintance of Ulrich Zwingli. It is with Zwingli that Myconius becomes life long friends. Myconius married while in Basle as well. During this stay in Basle, Myconius also became friends with Oecolampadius and Wolfgang Capito. Yet, Myconius would not stay in Basle forever. He went to take a teaching position in Zurich in 1516. There is some evidence to show that Myconius was already teaching some Reformational truths during his time in Zurich including claiming that the pope was not to be followed if he contradicted the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus, Myconius is in Zurich before Zwingli and laying some ground work for the Reformation there. Although it is to be remembered he is only the head teacher at the Cathedral School, and not yet a pastor. But in 1518, it is Myconius who convinces the Cathedral chapter to extend the call to Ulrich Zwingli to be the pastor. Together Zwingli and Myconius begin to spread Reformational truth to the people of Zurich. Yet, the partnership was only to be for a year as Myconius then went back to Lucerne with hopes of spreading the Reformation to Lucerne. He was often attacked and was ultimately unsuccessful in Lucerne. But in 1522, Myconius took a position as pastor of Einsleden, where Zwingli had preached from 1516-1518 and Leo Juda from 1518-1522. Thus, there he stood in a line of Reformational preachers, and did not have to endure the attacks upon the gospel and the false slanders of his character. He did not stay long as by the end of 1523 he is in Zurich teaching the school there again. He returns to the pulpit in 1531 upon the death of John Oecolampadius as the head pastor of Basle. It is there that he aids in the editing and publication of the First Confession of Basle. He stays there laboring until his death in 1552.

Myconius was an early convert to the Reformation and worked for it everywhere he went. He was not able to reform Lucerne, but he was the school teacher there. He did aid in the reformation of Zurich. In fact, he played a large role in getting the people to call Zwingli to the pulpit and then returning again in 1523 as the battle reached its climax. He filled an important slot upon the death of John Oecolampadius as the head pastor of Basle. In doing so he helped keep Switzerland on track in the Reformation despite losing Zwingli and Oecolampadius in one year. His election to the post in Basle shows how highly regarded he was by his contemporaries as Basle usually promoted from within, but they went out of the city to get Myconius. With the publication of the First Confession of Basle, he helped usher in the age of Confessions, and he helped in the formation of the First Helvetic Confession, which united all of Reformed Switzerland in 1536. Myconius along with Grynaeus were responsible for the Latin publication of the confession.

Myconius was Zwinglian in his view of the Supper. A view he defended from all detractors. But he was not a robot merely regurgitating the views of his friend Zwingli. Myconius held that Christ really did descend into hell, a view not commonly held by many reformers, and Myconius was eager to find common ground with the Lutherans. Much more so than the rest of the Swiss Reformers. But Myconius was never able to find that common ground. Nevertheless, he did not stop trying.

Oswald was also apparently a little bit of a hot head. Once he came home in Zurich to find that his house had been ransacked and his wife and child were very shaken by the experience. Oswald tracked the man, who was a Swiss mercenary soldier, and confronted him in the street. This of course ended badly for Oswald, who would recover from his injuries. In Basle he would also yell back at people who occasionally heckled him from the congregation. I guess times were a little different back then.

Myconius is forgotten because of his largely secondary role in the Reformation, never being the one who actually reformed any town (although neither did Calvin). Still, Myconius was a member of that original cabal or Swiss reformers. For that reason alone we ought to remember Oswald Myconius, an original reformer.

Forgotten Reformers: The City of Basel

The 500th Anniversary of Calvin’s birth is almost over, but since it is not yet, I will continue on with the Forgotten Reformer path. But today I would just like to do something a little different. Calvin and Geneva are exalted, and they should be remembered fondly. However, other cities had just as much influence if not more. So today I would like to discuss the forgotten city of Basel.

Basel in my opinion ought to be remembered as a major center and birthplace of the Reformation. Let me just go through some of the things that happened in Basel and their influence over the Reformed Reformation.

Basel before the Reformation had such Romanist teachers as Wessel, Wittenbach, and Erasmus who helped foster a spirit of reform at the University of Basel. Wittenbach even taught the truth about salvation of Jesus Christ. Look at a list of the people that came to Basel. Ulrich Zwingli was there in 1496 for a year, but he returned again in 1502 until 1506. Also there during that time frame, were Leo Juda, future Reformer in Zurich, and Wolfgang Capito, future Reformer of Strassborg. The trio met and became good friends, and would continue to communicate for the rest of their lives. Casper Hedio was there as well receiving a doctorate in 1520. Oswald Myconius was educated at Basel, and was teaching there in 1514. Myconius left for Zurich before being recalled to replace Oecolampadius after his death in 1531.
John Oecolampadius was there in 1515 preaching in the Cathedral, and helping Erasmus with his Greek NT. He did briefly leave to join a monastery, but was back by 1522 to stay. Konrad Pelikan was there as a member and priest of the Fransiscan Order in Basel from at least 1519 to 1526.

Basel was a large printing center that was printing the works of Luther by 1518. It was Basel that published the Greek NT of Erasmus in 1516. They would of course be publishing works from the Swiss Reformers as well. These were able to be distributed in both Switzerland and Germany thanks to Basel’s unique local and history (it had only been a part of Switzerland for a few decades prior to the Reformation). Of course it would be in Basel that Calvin printed his first edition of the Institutes of Christian Religion. Not only was the printing business pushing the reformation, but so too was the famous painter, Hans Hlbein the Younger, who worked in Basel until 1526. It was in Basel he became Reformed. His brother Ambosius also lived in Basel.

Basel also gave respite to the fleeing Calvin in 1536 and before that the young Guillermo Farel after he was chased out of France. Some English Protestants would end up in Basel during the reign of Bloody Mary as well. Basel was a safe haven for Reformers.

Basel also helped kick off the Confessional movement in the Reformed Churches when in 1534 they put out the First Confession of Basel, which Oecolampadius had written before his death. This led to the First Helvetic Confession in 1536 that united all of Reformed Switzerland. The leaders of Basel at the time, Myconius and Simon Grynaeus, were contributers, and the confession was drawn up and printed in Basel.

Basel also stayed true to the Reformation (despite a brief period of Lutheranizing), and sent two delegates to Dort: Sebastian Beck and Wolfgang Meyer.

Thus, if we look at Basel we see a place where the Reformers all got their first taste of the Reformation. Where they were able to interconnect and "network" if you will. Zwingli, Oecolampadius, Capito, Hedio, Juda, Myconius, all got to know one another at Basel. Then they spread out and Reformed Switzerland and South Germany. It was a leading city of the Reformation in many ways, and it is so often forgotten today. If we had but a few Basel’s in America today, the Reformation would again turn into a fire that could consume an entire continent. Let us not forget the great work of the Reformation in Basel.

Forgotten Reformer: Leo Juda

Leo Juda is another of the forgotten Reformers, although he was also one of the first. If he is remembered at all it is the Robin to Zwingli's Batman. But contemporary views of Juda put him as a first class scholar and a beloved individual.

Leo was born in 1482 to a priest in Alsace, which makes Leo sort of a living embodiment for why a Reformation was needed. He went to Basel to study, first medicine, and then theology. It was here in Basel that Leo probably became converted to the Reformation. He studied under Wittembach, who did teach justification by faith alone. It was during his time of listening to Wittembach that Juda became good friends with Zwingli. This was probably around 1505. Juda graduated and left to be a priest in Alsace in the church of St. Pilt. Juda would replace Zwingli at Einseideln in 1518. This shows that he was clearly reformed by this time. He served there for four years. Juda left to take a job in Zurich and Oswald Myconius replaced Juda at Einseideln (making Einseideln an early training ground for Reformed ministers).

Juda took a church in Zurich and quickly helped Zwingli purge out the Roman Catholic elements in the city. It was Juda who took on a traveling Romanist friar who was teaching salvation by works. The uproar resulting from that helped tip the city permanently toward the Reformation. Juda was one of the main teachers at the Prophezei school opened in Zurich in 1525. Thus, Juda had a great impact on the students of the next generation of the Reformation.

Juda was also the driving force behind the Zurich Bible. Juda was skilled in the languages and while it is impossible to tell how much of the translation was done by Juda, most seem to think he did the lion's share of the work. He would also go on to make a Latin Translation of the Old Testament. Juda understood that the word of God is what changes people's lives, and that needed to be able to read it. Thus, the Zurich Bible put the Word of God in the popular language of the day in order that all would have the opportunity to hear and understand.

Juda appears as a name in many of the debates of the day. Juda took part in the Zurich debates and several others although he seldom gets credit for being a leading Reformer. What is most remarkable is how loved Juda was by all. He is stated to be the "most loved" of all Zwingli's friends. Despite his diminutive size (he must have been rather short), his heart appears to have been large. He was not a front man, a spokesman, or one destined for long term fame. But Juda did the behind the scenes pastoral work that made the Reformation so successful in Switzerland. We too often get caught up in thinking the Reformation was a large scale intellectual movement, but it was a pastoral movement as well. Juda trained young men at the Prophezei school, put the word of God in the hands of the people, pastored churches, and loved with a forgiving heart. In these ways the Reformation grew. May we remember Leo Juda for his work as a Reformer.

Forgotten Reformers: Italian Reformers

Now I hope that we all took time to remember John Calvin on his 500th birthday. But it is time to return to remembering those other reformers who are so often overlooked. The Italian Reformers as a whole come to mind. The reformation in Italy was unsuccessful because of the local power of the Pope and the vicious nature of the Inquisition. Throw in constant political turmoil and wars for northern Italy between France and Spain and little of the Reformation took permanent hold. Still, the Reformation did happen in Italy, we have just forgotten them.

Some of us could probably remember Peter Martyr Vermigli who did reform a small town before being forced to flee. We might even come up with Bernard Ochino, whose renoun as a preacher affected many. But he too had to take flight. The very brightest among us might have heard the name of Juan de Valdes, a Spanish man who came to Italy in 1530 as a humanist and critic of the Roman Church. He continued such things in Italy and eventual in Rome itself. He never officially broke with Rome always hoping to Reform the church from within, but did apparently hold to Justification by faith alone. His death in 1541 was felt by most of the Reformers in Italy because they all had drawn hope and inspiration from him. But the work of Reformation was not really done by Valdes as he did not break with the church.

The Reformers we have forgotten include men like Celio Secundo Curioni. Celio was born in 1503 and became reformed while reading Melancthon and Zwingli. He was arrested for trying to led a group of men into Germany to attend their universities. Rome tried to woo him back by sending him to local universities that were under the thumb of the Romish Church. Celio responded by stealing the relics that were hauled out for parades. They were bones of some saint. Celio replaced the relics with the Bible and a note. When the parade came around the monks hauled out the relics to discover the Bible. Celio had fled and would live on the run for most of the rest of his life. The monks never forgot the insult. He continued to teach the doctrine of the Reformation as he traveled around. He was arrested again and put in chains on his legs. His feet began to swell and the captors allowed him to have one foot free at a time. He created a false leg from his surroundings, and then asked the guards to switch the legs. They did so and now he was unchained and the false leg was left behind in the chains. He would escape arrest once more when he got up to be taken in by the authorities. He forgot to put down his eating knife and the men were frightened. He then was able to flee. Eventually Celio ended up in Basle where he lived out his life in safety. He died in 1569.

Then there is Pietro Carnesecchi. Carnesecchi was the personal secretary of Pope Clement VII. But, he was ousted from that position when the next pope took over and Carnesecchi began to see the abuse of power that came with being a pope. He then also became convinced of the truth of Justification by faith. This was while he was listening to Juan de Valdes teach the Scripture. He was absolved of heresy once, probably because of his former high spot in the church allowed him powerful friends. He spent some time in France among the Reformed there before returning to Vience to teach the evangelical truth. He was summoned to Rome, but refused to go. He was excommunicated and then arrested. He was martyred by the Inquisition somewhere around October of 1567.

Aonio Paleario was also martyred for his faith. Paleario was a lawyer by trade and was able to successfully defend himself against heresy charges. But suspicision of heresy often prevented him from holding down jobs for long. Finally he was able to hold a professorship in Milan for several years. This job was secured for him with the help of Cardinal Saldeto. Yes, the same Saldeto who was rebuked in Calvin’s famous letter. It turns out Saldeto was a liberal Romanist who desired to see the reformation of the papacy and the church as a whole. He was quite helpful to many of the Reformed in Italy. His last letter to Aonio Paleario encouraged him in his work, but chided him for reading too many Germany Reformers. Paleario would finally be brought up on charges that he could not escape. He died a martyr in 1570 for believing in Justification by faith and rejecting purgatory. Paleario’s great contribution to the Reformation was a book published anonymously entitled the The Benefit of Christ’s Death. This book was printed all over Italy including 60,000 times in 6 years. It made its way to England through Caridnal Pole, who was for a time thought to be its author. Many people including Carnesecchi were put to death for being Protestant and one of their charges was that they had copies of The Benefit of Christ’s Death. Copies with notes in the margins by Edward VI have been found. The book is mostly forgotten today but had a wide impact during the late 1500’s.

It has been reprinted in a book entitled The Italian Reformer, which is a book about the life of Paleario. May these reformers be forgotten no more.

Forgotten Reformer: Simon Grynaeus

Since the Calvin 500 push is on, it seems a decent time for me to return to the task of remembering the Forgotten Reformers. Simon Grynaeus is today’s forgotten reformer.

Grynaeus seems to have come to a Reformed understanding apart from most contemporary influences. He was a biblical scholar who came to Biblical beliefs. Thus, it is hard to pinpoint his departure from the Roman church because he was not a part of a particular movement. Simon was born in German (1493) and in accordance with what a lot of Renaissance scholars, changed his last name to Grynaeus. He had already been suspected by the Dominicans of non-catholic beliefs prior to his appointment to the chair of Greek at Heidelberg in 1524. Heidelberg was still under Roman control at this point, and so Simon must still have been at least outwardly apart of the Roman church. However, his views of the Lord’s Supper rejected Transubstantiation and took a Zwinglian approach. This led him into a correspondance with John Oecolampadius in 1526. In 1529 he went to Basel to replace Erasmus, which means that by this time Grynaeus must have been fairly open about his Reformed beliefs. In 1531 he toured England with letters of introduction that helped him be received by men such as Thomas More, and he furthered his education there. He did return to Basel in time to be at the death bed of Oecolampadius.

Grynaeus was more than just an academic. He did active reforming as well helping with the Reformation in Wurttenburg in 1534 and the work in Tubingen. He was a primary editor of the First Helvetic Confession with Oswald Myconius in 1536 (the confession was primarily written by the late Oecolampadius). He represented all of Switzerland at the Worms Conference in 1540. He died the next year in an outbreak of the plague which seems to have happened often in Basel.

He also aided the church through his children. His son Samuel became a professor of law. Simon was related to the future head pastor of Basel, John Jakob Grynaeus. Simon’s descendant Simon (of 1725-1799) made a modern German translation of the Bible and worked for the Reformation.

Grynaeus was a teacher of the Reformation and did just that for most of his life. He taught in Universities where he raised up the next generation of pastors. It is to be remembered that John Calvin went to study under Simon Grynaeus in 1534 to more fully master Hebrew. It is men like this that are forgotten because he did not write much or at least not much that has survived, but his legacy is important nonetheless.

Forgotten Reformer: Pierre Viret

Pierre Viret is another forgotten Reformer, but one who did and suffered so much for the Reformation that it is almost a crime that we neglect this man. Viret was born in Orbe Switzerland in 1511. He attended university in France where he became a Protestant. He was convinced to be a minister of the gospel by Guillermo Farel. Farel convinced him to minister in the country of Lausanne. Here Viret became the Reformer of this little place, which I believe today is a part of France, but then was free. It is Viret who invited Theodore Beza to teach at the University of Lausanne. There the duo had a tremendous impact on the reformation in France as many Frenchmen came to be trained in Lausanne, and then went back to France. Viret would also help reform Geneva with Farel and Calvin, but his heart was in France. While in Geneva Viret was fed poison by a Romanist sympathizer. It did not kill him, but he did suffer problems from it for the rest of his life. Soon, Viret journeyed back to France. There he served and preached in many different congregations from Paris to Orleans. Eventually he settled down in Montpellier where the region became Reformed mainly through his preaching. In 1565, Viret was warned in an anonymous note to flee, and he did so just before the Romanist army took over his area. Viret then served for a short time in Navarre where he had taken refuge. He would not be able to avoid capture forever, and he was taken in by the Romanists with 11 other ministers. Seven of those ministers were executed, but so many Romanists came forward to speak of the love and kindness showed by Viret that the magistrate let him live. He continued preaching for the Reformation, but in 1571 he died as his body finally gave out.

Viret may well have been the most popular preacher in all of the Reformation. He Reformed Lausanne, and had a major role in Reforming Vaud and Geneva. He also of course played a very important role in France even being elected President of the National Synod of the French Reformed Church. Thousands followed his preaching. Riots broke out sometimes as people tried to disrupt his preaching. He was poisoned. He lost two wives and multiple kids to the plague, but nothing shattered his devotion to the cause of Christ. He preached it everywhere he went. Viret is sometimes associated with Calvin since they worked together in Geneva, but Viret was not someone Calvin trained. Viret in fact had a Zwinglian view of the Lord’s Supper, and was more beloved than Calvin in Geneva. I read somewhere (but I cannot find it now) that Viret was paid more than Calvin despite Calvin being the head pastor in Geneva. Viret is truly an example of someone on the front lines of the Reformation. He felt the call to be a missionary preacher, and that is what he did his entire life. Let us not forget the work of this brave man, nor his legacy of undaunted courage for Christ.

Forgotten Reformer: Jan Laski

I just returned from the RCUS Synod where we heard Rev. Eric Kayayan give a few talks about Calvin in honor of the 500th anniversary of his birth. He did a good job talking about Calvin’s life and how that contributed to his life and work. However, it reminded me of my year long task to speak more of the forgotten reformers. Calvin was a great reformer, but he was primarily a ‘man of letters’ as they were called back then. He did preach the gospel without a doubt, and he organized Geneva, but his main influence is through his written work. He was not a foot solider of the reformation. Again, I have nothing against Calvin, I just think some of the other guys need to get more publicity.

One of those men is Jan Laski. Laski was a polish man borin in 1499. Laski was a Romanist priest, who converted to the Reformed faith. When that happened is not easy to tell, but it was clearly before 1542. It probably happened while he was in Basel. He went there in 1523 where he met Erasmus, Oecolampadius, and Zwingli. He became a pastor in Emden in 1542 clearly at this point preaching the Reformation and the doctrines of grace. He became the first superintendent of the Reformed Church in East Friesland in 1545. Persecution from the Holy Roman Empire and some Lutherans would chase him from Emden to England, where he pastored at the famous Stranger’s Church in London. This church had enormous influence on the Puritan movement as this church was outside of the rules of the Church of England. Laski supported Hooper in his refusal to wear the Vestiments. Bloody Mary would take the English throne and Laski was on the move again. He went to Brandenburg for a time, but would return to try and help reform his homeland of Poland. Laski was considered a heretic and was wanted for heresy, but he traveled back to Poland anyway. It was in Poland in 1560 that he died.

Laski’s influence cannot be overstated. Laski was a follower of Zwingli’s view of the supper, not Calvin’s view. Laski is a major influence in Puritanism, one that is often overlooked today. Just as a way of proof that Laski was more influential than Calvin with the faction that would become known as Puritans is the incident at Wesel. Wesel was a German town that had an exile church during the reign of Mary. The church had both French and English members. Many of the English wished to follow the Church of England, and the Church of England told the Wesel church that if they simply accepted a couple of the vestments they would be allowed to worship unmolested. The church wrote to both Laski and Calvin for advice. Calvin advised that they keep the vestments since they were indifferent theologically (for Calvin at least), and then the church would not split. Laski advised the church to reject the vestments and suffer the consequences. The church took Laski’s advice and all non-conformist, including the French, were kicked out of the church. Laski had great influence.

Laski helped form the ideas of church government that still impact the Presbyterian church today, namely that elders and ministers are the same except that ministers are able to preach and give the sacraments. Laski influenced the Heidelberg Catechism with some of his own early catechisms. Laski helped introduce the Reformation in Emden, England, Netherlands, and Poland at least. His contemporaries held him in high regard. Jerome Zanchy, Italian Reformer who taught at Heidelberg, held that Laski’s name should always be mentioned in the same breath with Calvin, Luther, and Zwingli.

The Rev. Eric Kayayan spoke beautifully about Calvin, and rightly so. He spoke of the great influence of Calvin, and again, rightly so. Rev. Kayayan mentioned all the people to whom Calvin wrote letters, such as the people in England, the exile churches, and even King Sigismund of Poland. It hit me then that Calvin was able to write to these people because of the labors of others, such as Laski. Would Calvin have been able to write to Sigismund if Laski had not done such good work? Would Calvin have had any influence in England if it had not been for Bucer, Vermigli, and Laski? Probably not. That is why Jan Laski needs to be remembered. He is a man who was a true foot soldier of the Reformation.