June 07, 2012

“Junker Jorg” and Martin Luther at Wartburg Castle

As a Lutheran, I like the “tidbits,” the bits and pieces of church history that are most interesting. Many of these concern Martin Luther and the exploits he was forced to undergo, many of which I am sure he would have rather avoided. One of these anecdotes involves the Edict of Worms, which declared Luther a heretic and basically gave anyone the right to kill him --- no questions asked, no punishment meted out. But Luther’s friends and his powerful benefactor Frederick III of Saxony could not bear for such a precocious mind to be silenced unjustly. Long story short: They kidnapped him while he was on his way home, making it look all official, of course, and spirited him away to a hole-in-the-wall castle perched on what must have seemed like the edge of nowhere to Luther. It was called Wartburg.

This venerable old German citadel, considered by some to be the epitome of German castle architecture, was already well over four centuries old when “Junker Jorg,” a quaint bearded fellow who seemed surprisingly out-of-place, began taking up residence there. Perhaps local folks thought this new George fellow was a bit out-of-touch with reality. The junker (German for “knight”) was Martin Luther. Yet while one might be tempted to think that having Luther out of the way for an indeterminate amount of time must have been a great blow to the Protestant Reformation, it ended up being quite beneficial. Sometime in 1521 or 1522, when Luther was thirty-eight, he painstakingly recopied the New Testament, but this time it was not written Greek. It was translated into German.

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . .’ “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith . . .” For the first time in history, Germans --- common folk, those who lived by the sweat of their brow and practiced the Christian faith the best they knew, could actually read the New Testament in their mother tongue. I cannot imagine how awe-inspiring that must have been. I do know that, two hundred years later, when my German immigrant ancestors crossed the Atlantic to settle in America, they carried a strong and unshakable faith with them. And their beloved Bibles were their most prized possession.

It was here at Wartburg Castle that Martin Luther also wrote some of his most Protestant works, such as On Confession, Whether the Pope has the Power to Require It. This writing stated that “every Christian is a confessor” and reaffirmed the Lutheran position that we as Protestant Christians may go directly to God with our sins and be forgiven by His grace. If Martin Luther was lonely for actual human company, he was certainly not bored at Wartburg, for between translating the New Testament and writing responses to the current events of which he received news, he certainly had his hands full.

So what do the “Wartburg days” mean to Protestants? The idea of the New Testament in the common language of his own people meant that the New Testament in other languages was sure to follow. We can be sure, knowing Luther’s penchant for thoroughness and personal accountability, that he painstakingly copied each word. Did he have the knowledge of how his actions at Wartburg would affect the world? Did he understand the first coals he was breathing into the Reformation would resonate in Christendom forever? Did he sense that so many future Protestant Christians would read his translations and those that followed? It is doubtful he could have seen so far ahead, but then again, Luther had a gift for insight.

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved

June 06, 2012

My interest in the French Huguenots, who were Calvinists, had spawned a great interest in their English Puritan brethren. I had not realized until recently that Puritans and Huguenots were very similar in their values, morals, ideals, and even manner of dress, but I think that the Huguenot spirit took on a much different angle due to their differing experiences regarding persecution. 

The Puritans, who were never persecuted on a grand scale, turned their attention to matters of sin and thus became overwhelmed by the spiritual warfare that they felt held their colonies firmly in its grip. They became known for their eloquent writings detailing the need of man for God and the necessity of disavowing sin. The Huguenots, persecuted for centuries, were concerned more with staying alive and surviving wars, massacres, and raids, thus their façade was one of long-suffering, courage under fire, and steadfast faith, not so much of holding a government capacity as the Puritans did.

The Puritans looked up to the French Calvinists as their brothers in affliction and admired the Huguenots’ history of courage and persecution, touting the French Protestants’ ‘martyr church’ as an example of a Christian body that had suffered everything possible to suffer and had remained true to Christ and His gospel. Thus, having taken this interest in the Puritans, I wanted to include a poem written by a man of that persuasion.

"Joy and Peace in Believing" by John Newton

Sometimes a light surprises
The Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord who rises
With healing in his wings:

When comforts are declining,
He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining,
To cheer it after rain.

In holy contemplation,
We sweetly then pursue
The theme of God's salvation,
And find it ever new:

Set free from present sorrow,
We cheerfully can say,
E'en let th' unknown to-morrow
Bring with it what it may.

It can bring with it nothing
But he will bear us through;
Who gives the lilies clothing,
Will clothe his people too:

Beneath the spreading heavens,
No creature but is fed;
And he who feeds the ravens,
Will give his children bread.

Though vine nor fig-tree neither
Their wonted fruit shall bear,
Though all the field should wither,
Nor flocks nor herds be there:

Yet God the same abiding,
His praise shall tune my voice;
For while in him confiding,
I cannot but rejoice.

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved
 

June 05, 2012

The Protestant Prisoners of Rouen

 

 

The French city of Rouen saw more than its fair share of Reformation-era bloodshed. It was the scene of an infamous siege during the first War of Religion in 1562, yet its streets would become even more tarnished than that. For when the hot winds blew ten years later in August 1572, they brought the scent of blood and the misguided fervor of religious zealotry.

 

The St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre had been raging in Paris and in other regions for days. One never knew which city would be next. Like a wildfire, like the flames that had been previously used to burn Protestant believers and would be used again, the hatred for Huguenots leapt from city to city. The Huguenots of Rouen knew what awaited them. Tales of savagery were already spreading. They knew of the St. Bartholomew’s and how men, women, and children were awakened at midnight and slaughtered simply for their faith. The Protestant inhabitants of Rouen must have been afflicted with numb dread and terror as they contemplated the possibility of their city being one of those afflicted. Yet it was inevitable.

 

Some authority figures did not wish for a city full of blood, a charnel-house such as venerable old Paris had already become. Whether they truly wished to incarcerate the Huguenots or had kinder motives, they devised a plan to keep Rouen’s Protestants out of harm’s way, at the very least avoiding a massacre of such a grand scale. So they imprisoned the Huguenots in all the prisons available, attempting to incarcerate them and keep them hidden from the public’s view until the bloodlust had passed. It did not work.

 

How must have those people felt? Trapped in damp and dreary conditions not because of any crimes committed, but because of their peers’ probably well-meaning but ultimately futile attempts to keep them from the assassins’ daggers? What were accommodations like? Did they keep the faith by reading Scripture to one another and praying for deliverance? Did they sit --- and one must think they certainly did --- and hope, hour after hour, that all of Rouen would rally around them and refuse to allow a bloodbath such as the St. Bartholomew’s Eve had been?

 

Imprisonment did not last long. On the 17th of September, 1572, the mob came, breaking through the gate, smashing windows, kicking in doors. What must have gone through the minds of those inside? Did they hear the angry mob approaching? Were they afraid? Did they have their minds on Christ, His mercy, and the Scriptural references to suffering in Jesus’ name? Without doubt.

 

Every prison was assaulted without mercy. Every Protestant discovered inside these places was slaughtered outright. It is doubtful any questions were asked. This bloody ‘act first, think later’ exploded throughout Rouen until the 20th of September. Evil walked the earth in those days, as it often did during the Wars of Religion and during the shaky first decades of the Reformation era.

 

So Rouen’s Protestants, having been imprisoned so they might live to see another day, were blindly slaughtered by those who cared nothing for their names, lives, and identities.  As the assassins of Rouen continued to ride the coattails of Paris and her butchery, the “prisoners” of Rouen joined the ranks of so many martyrs who were ripped so violently from the world in those dark days.

 

Let us remember them always. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." -- Hebrew 12:1.

 

 

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved

June 04, 2012

Jeanne d’Albret, Queen of Navarre

Huguenot Woman, Mover and Shaker of the 16^th Century

Who was she? The Queen of Navarre. (Navarre was an autonomous French kingdom which existed separate of any other entities). Jeanne was born in 1528 to King Henri II de Navarre and Queen Marguerite de Angouleme. Her second marriage, to Antoine de Bourbon, proved not to be the love match she had anticipated, as just a few years after her adoption of the Protestant faith, he had her and their son Henri imprisoned for an indefinite amount of time. 

After her husband’s death she became an indomitable ruler in her own right, proud of her faith, unafraid of her detractors, and firm in her convictions despite the many challenges she faced. She was a lion of a queen, much like the storied Queen Elizabeth I of England who ruled at the same time. A contemporary described her as having a “mind powerful enough to guide the highest affairs.” That was saying a lot, considering that political struggles, religious affairs, and business troubles were mostly guided by men in the 16^th century.

What did her faith mean to her and to her subjects? At this time in history (she lived from 1528 – 1572) it was extremely important for the often-beleaguered and much-hated Protestants to have strong Protestant entities that held sway in French politics. Jeanne d’Albret was one of those people. After 1560 she became an unabashed Calvinist and made absolutely certain that her subjects followed her doctrines. 

Jeanne was one of the most fiercely proactive Protestant women of the era. She hired translators to make Scripture and other writings available to the kingdom of Navarre, she established Calvinism as the official faith of the realm, and she lobbied tirelessly for equality in the Catholic world. Jeanne reportedly stated, “We have come to the determination to die, all of us rather than abandon our God and our Reformed religion which we cannot maintain unless allowed to worship publically any more than a human body can live without food or drink.”  

Jeanne d'Albret, mother of Henri de Navarre

How did she look and act? A contemporary described Jeanne d’Albret as “small of stature” and said she had light eyes. Portraits show her as having a quiet-featured face with what might be described as a “French nose,” wearing an austere high-necked dress livened by pearls. Unfortunately, friends and foes also said Jeanne had a tendency to speak sharply, to disregard others who did not agree with her opinion, and to utilize derision and haughtiness in speech and manner.

What were the pros and cons of Jeanne d’Albret’s persona? Admirably, Jeanne d’Albret was a very strong woman in a time when such women were stifled, hidden, or had neither the means nor the leeway to speak out for themselves. She never backed down from her faith and followed each dictate piously, becoming a heroine of the Reformation. Sadly, she could also be intolerant, decreeing destruction and desecration for Catholic places of worship and forbidding non-Protestant worship.

How did she die? In Jeanne’s time, speculation ran wild. The more conservative politiques (those who wished peace for France and believed religious wars could do nothing but harm) and many Catholics believed it was a problem with her lungs, while many Huguenots swore she had been poisoned by Queen Catherine de’ Medici (who apparently had sent Jeanne a gift just before the Queen of Navarre’s death. The Huguenots suspected poison.

Jeanne d’Albret was not perfect, yet she tried her best to keep the laws of God and to follow the pureness of Scripture. She was a faithful and resolute “mover and shaker” in a time of great religious and political chaos when the French Protestants desperately needed powerful leaders to give them a voice. She was a faithful Christian who trusted that Christ’s atonement would wash her clean of any mistakes she had made in life. 

Her less-than-perfect record with her enemies does not serve to demean her but only to prove that she was a human being like everyone else. She made missteps. There were rough edges that were likely wrought by the hardships of life. And God loved her so deeply, so mercifully, because she loved Him. Jeanne d’Albret will forever be remembered as one of the most important women of the Reformation era.

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved

June 03, 2012

What’s In A Name?

How we refer to various Reformation-era Protestant groups today might not be the way they would have referred to themselves. For example, the word “Huguenot” (the true meaning of which remains hidden from us seeking historians and students of religion) originated as an insult. French Protestants of the 16^th and 17^th centuries used the term “Réformés" or “Reformed,” to refer to themselves. It is unlikely they would have used “Huguenot” much at all.

Martin Luther never intended for his fellow believers to be called “Lutherans.” He believed this detracted from the glory of God and from the importance of the Lutheran doctrine, which showcased Scripture alone. In Germany, known appropriately as the Reformation’s birthplace (not to slight countries such as England where the birth-pangs began) Lutherans were called Evangelical (“Evangelische” in German) but different names were likely used. 

Anabaptists, whose name meant “rebaptizers” and who were despised by both Catholics and Proptestants of the 16^th and 17^th centuries due to their “radical” ideas, never used the term “Anabaptist.” That was for their enemies to use. They utilized the term “brethren” or simply “Christian.” Anglicans, adherents to the Church of England, often dropped all pretenses throughout the Reformed era and were known simply as “Protestants.” Words such as “Episcopal” would not come about until a later date.

Here is something interesting: All Protestants of the 16^th century, no matter if they were Lutherans, Reformed, etc, were known as “Lutherans” by their detractors. In the opposition’s eyes there was no reason to make these vital distinctions. (I always found it rather offensive when I read of Fort Caroline in the New World, how the Spaniards would consistently refer to the Calvinist Huguenots as “Lutherans,” and, being a descendant of Lutheran and Reformed families, I wanted to correct them!) 

Words such as “heretic” were flung at early Protestants with alarming ferocity. “Schismatic” and “dissenter” were more popular terms used for men and women of groups such as the Huguenots. Sadly, there was one word that came to represent all of these groups at various times in early Reformation history: “Martyr.” That time came for the first Lutherans around the 1520s. It came for the Anglicans when Queen Mary, known as Bloody Mary, came to the throne in England. It came for the Anabaptists throughout the 16^th and 17^th centuries, and for the Huguenots for almost their entire existence save for a few persecution-free decades, from about 1535 to 1787 when the Treaty of Versailles ended persecution.

"Martyr" is a name that brings an odd combination of pride, sadness, and courage.

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved

June 02, 2012

Lately I have taken a great amount of interest in the French Wars of Religion, and I found an amazing poem by Thomas Babbington Macaulay entitled "Ivry." It well captures the sweeping intrigue of this all-important battle and reminds us here in the 21st century how important this victory was for the survival of the Protestant cause. Though the wording is old-fashioned and a bit difficult to understand at times, it is well worth the effort.


"IVRY" --- Thomas Babbington Macaulay

NOW glory to the Lord of hosts, from whom all glories are!
And glory to our sovereign liege, King Henry of Navarre!
Now let there be the merry sound of music and of dance,
Through thy corn-fields green, and sunny vines, O pleasant land of France!
And thou, Rochelle, our own Rochelle, proud city of the waters,
Again let rapture light the eyes of all thy mourning daughters.
As thou went constant in our ills, be joyous in our joy;
For cold and stiff and still are they who wrought thy walls annoy.
Hurrah! hurrah! a single field hath turn’d the chance of war!
Hurrah! hurrah! for Ivry, and Henry of Navarre.

Oh! how our hearts were beating, when, at the dawn of day,
We saw the army of the League drawn out in long array;
With all its priest-led citizens, and all its rebel peers,
And Appenzel’s stout infantry, and Egmont’s Flemish spears.
There rode the brood of false Lorraine, the curses of our land;
And dark Mayenne was in the midst, a truncheon in his hand;
And, as we look’d on them, we thought of Seine’s empurpled flood,
And good Coligni’s hoary hair all dabbled with his blood;
And we cried unto the living God, who rules the fate of war,
To fight for His own holy name, and Henry of Navarre.

The king is come to marshal us, in all his armor drest;
And he has bound a snow-white plume upon his gallant crest.
He look’d upon his people, and a tear was in his eye;
He look’d upon the traitors, and his glance was stern and high.
Right graciously he smil’d on us, as roll’d from wing to wing.
Down all our line, a deafening shout: God save our lord the king!
“And if my standard-bearer fall, as fall full well he may,
For never I saw promise yet of such a bloody fray,
Press where ye see my white plume shine amidst the ranks of war,
And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre.”

Hurrah! the foes are moving. Hark to the mingled din,
Of fife, and steed, and trump, and drum, and roaring culverin.
The fiery duke is pricking fast across Saint André’s plain,
With all the hireling chivalry of Guelders and Almayne.
Now by the lips of those ye love, fair gentlemen of France,
Charge for the golden lilies—upon them with the lance!
A thousand spurs are striking deep, a thousand spears in rest,
A thousand knights are pressing close behind the snow-white crest;
And in they burst, and on they rush’d, while, like a guiding star,
Amidst the thickest carnage blaz’d the helmet of Navarre.

Now, God be prais’d, the day is ours: Mayenne hath turn’d his rein;
D’Aumale hath cried for quarter; the Flemish count is slain.
Their ranks are breaking like thin clouds before a Biscay gale;
The field is heap’d with bleeding steeds, and flags, and cloven mail.
And then we thought on vengeance, and, all along our van,
Remember Saint Bartholomew! was pass’d from man to man.
But out spake gentle Henry—“No French-man is my foe:
Down, down with every foreigner, but let your brethren go:”
Oh! was there ever such a knight, in friendship or in war,
As our sovereign lord, King Henry, the soldier of Navarre?

Right well fought all the Frenchmen who fought for France to-day;
And many a lordly banner God gave them for a prey.
But we of the religion have borne us best in fight;
And the good lord of Rosny hath ta’en the cornet white—
Our own true Maximilian the cornet white hath ta’en,
The cornet white with crosses black, the flag of false Lorraine.
Up with it high; unfurl it wide;—that all the host may know
How God hath humbled the proud house which wrought His Church such woe.
Then on the ground, while trumpets sound their loudest point of war,
Fling the red shreds, a footcloth meet for Henry of Navarre.

Ho! maidens of Vienna; ho! matrons of Lucerne—
Weep, weep, and rend your hair for those who never shall return.
Ho! Philip, send, for charity, thy Mexican pistoles,
That Antwerp monks may sing a mass for thy poor spearmen’s souls.
Ho! gallant nobles of the League, look that your arms be bright;
Ho! burghers of St. Genevieve, keep watch and ward to-night;
For our God hath crush’d the tyrant, our God hath rais’d the slave,
And mock’d the counsel of the wise, and the valor of the brave.
Then glory to His holy name, from whom all glories are;
And glory to our sovereign lord, King Henry of Navarre!

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved

June 01, 2012

Two Indispensable Online Bible Sites

Many of us have trouble keeping our attention on things for any period of time, even on the most important of activities: reading the Bible. Yet I have found two great Scripture-reading sites that provide a valuable jump-start. The first, Blue Letter Bible, is terrific not only because of the many different Bible versions you can choose but also because of the little details . . . if a particular verse has a hymn associated with it, or has commentary, or has the option of comparing with other languages, etc, icons at the side of the page say so. 

For instance, if you click on the music note button beside the verse Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” a list of corresponding songs can be found: In this case, “By Grace I’m Saved,” “A Message Sweet Is Borne To Me,” and “Not What My Hands Have Done.” Not all verses have hymns. The icons represent “Treasury of Scripture Knowledge,” “Concordance and Hebrew/Greek Lexicon,” “List Audio, Study Tools, and Commentaries,” “Images and/or Maps,” “Versions/Translations,” and “Dictionary Aids.” Each verse will have some of these but not all. 

The second website is Bible Gateway. This is very handy because Bible Gateway will send reminders of which verses to read each day. For convenience, the Scripture readings are located directly in the mailbox if you do not want to open a new page. Bible Gateway also has a number of newsletters available. I personally receive “Faithful Through the Ages,” one which details various men and women throughout Christian history who made a difference. 

I am very glad to have found both these sites. I began reading the Bible every day in September and have been able to keep up with the prescribed verses every day thanks to them. Bible Gateway’s contribution is usually four verses a day (three from the Old Testament and one from the New) but there are sometimes three a day. The format on both sites is easy to read. Whether one chooses Bible Gateway or Blue Letter Bible is a matter of aesthetic preference, I think, and if one enjoys concordances and corresponding hymns. 

(c) 2012 Joyously Saved