The History of the Heidelberg Catechism (3)

In the first editions of the catechism, the questions were not numbered and divided into Lord's Days, and the Scripture proofs in the margin were cited only by chapter. In subsequent editions an appendix was added, which contained the following: 1) “Table of Family Duties,” with the heading, “Scripture passages, from which every one may learn the duties appropriate to his station in life”; 2) Morning, evening and table prayers; 3) Prayers for the Lord's Day and forms for Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and marriage, taken from the Directory of Worship; 4) “Questions which were to be asked the youth when for the first time they presented themselves at the Lord's Table” (namely, 60, 61, 68, 69, 71, 75-79, 81, 82). Concerning the Scripture passages, which were afterwards printed underneath the text of the questions, it was said in a prefatory note: “The Scripture proofs by which the faith of the children is confirmed are such only as have been selected with great pains, and have been added to each question and answer.” In the first editions, one of the proofs from the Apocrypha had crept in, which soon disappeared.

Question 80, concerning the Roman mass, has a history of its own. Three editions of the catechism appeared in the first year of its publication (1563). In the first, the question did not appear. In the second, which soon followed, the question occupied its present place, closing with the following statement: “So the mass at bottom is nothing else than an idolatrous denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings of Jesus Christ.” The statement immediately follows the words, “offered by the priests.” The following note appears on the last page of the book: “To the Christian reader. Omissions in the first edition are now supplied at the command of his grace, the elector, 1563.” In a letter to Calvin, dated April 3, 1563, Olevianus writes:

“I send you, most worthy father, a copy of the Latin edition of the catechism. In the first German edition, a copy which was sent to Schringer [no doubt a native of the Palatinate who was now sojourning in Geneva], the question concerning the difference between the Lord's Supper and the Popish mass was omitted. At my suggestion, the Prince directed that in the second German and Latin editions it should be inserted. I trust it may be of service to our German people.”

In the third edition, the closing statement of the question received its present form (after the words, “offered by the priests”), “and further, that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and, therefore, is to be worshipped in them; so that the mass at bottom is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.” In this form, Question 80 was incorporated in the Palatinate Directory of Worship and is a part of the catechism as a confession of faith. The elector was n o doubt incited to such sharp polemics by the decisions and anathemas of the Romish Council of Trent, which in the meantime had been published and brought to his notice.

At the same time that the second German edition was published, a Latin translation of the catechism appeared, prepared by the minister Joshua Lagus and the schoolmaster Lambert Pithopoeus, for the use of the higher schools. It was used also for a long time as a compendium, in connection with the lectures on dogmatics in the Reformed universities. Ursinus himself gave a series of lectures on it in the Latin language, out of which grew his larger catechetical work, Explicationes catecheticae, explanations of the catechism. This work appeared for the first time in the collected writings of Ursinus in 1584. In 1598, a special edition was issued by Pareus, which was enlarged from manuscripts left by Ursinus.

In the Lower Palatinate (of the Rhine), the new book of instruction was received with joy everywhere. In the Upper Palatinate, however, notwithstanding the fact that the book was printed several times at Amberg, its introduction was stubbornly resisted, at the instigation of the Lutheran ministers, who were supported in this matter by the governor, the crown prince Louis. The elector was not willing to coerce them, and in person, as well as through his best ministers, he sought repeatedly, though in vain, to win over the people of Amberg. It was the same Upper Palatinate that only a generation later allowed itself to be turned by the Jesuits to Catholicism.

No sooner was the Heidelberg Catechism published than it was fiercely assailed by Frederick's Lutheran fellow-princes, who were his neighbors, and in other respects, his closest friends. His own son-in-law, Duke John Frederick of Saxony, often attacked it in a most unbecoming manner; so also the most celebrated Lutheran theologians in the empire. Against the former, the elector himself led the defense; the latter he handed over to Ursinus after he had had Bullinger, of Zurich, prepare for him a written defense against them. This suggested to his adversaries the suspicion that the latter was also the author of the catechism.

Frederick sent the following reply, dated September 14, 1563, to the princes who opposed him:

“My beloved, believe me in all kindness that I do not doubt that your remonstrance against the catechism was prompted by good and friendly motives, and the best of intentions. In this sense it is understood and received. And you may be assured, my beloved, that I am heartily thankful to everyone, even the least, from whom I learn anything out of God's Word, and that might at the same time promote my own salvation and that of my subjects, which I have more at heart than even their temporal prosperiry. I clearly recognize that all of us, as long as we live, are not lords, but only disciples in the school of Christ; also that we are human and liable to err, and, therefore, stand in constant need of instruction and edifïcation. On the other hand, I have at the same time learned so much, both from the divine Word and through long experience (God Almighty having awakened me since my entrance upon my electoral reign by numerous adversities, as well as by restless spirits, selfish and ambitious theologians, all of which nevertheless have proved to be fatherly visitations, and have been for my good), not to allow myself to be carried by every wind of heretical doctrine, nor to be diverted from the truth which I have accepted and confessed, but my immovable foundation and firm ground has always been, and still remains upon this: 'This is My beloved Son: hear Him.' To this as a pure and infallible Standard I would cheerfully conform my whole life and the government entrusted to me by the grace of God; in this I would persevere, at the same time avoiding and removing everything possible that is contrary to it, and yet fulfilling my duties as they meet me.... And likewise it has frequently happened since the beginning of the world, and even to the present time, that those who have been Christ-like in character and earnest in the discharge of the duties of religion, and have openly confessed the same, have been slandered and persecuted more than others. And I am not the first one that has fallen into such evil repute, for many others have suffered, more recent examples of which may readily be recalled, and yet the truth has always stood firm…. And my catechism is not based upon the doctrines of men, but only and alone upon the Word of God, as is clearly proved by the marginal references to Scripture. And since the scriptural foundations upon which my catechism is built remain firm and unshaken, I cannot see that such a catechism contains false or pernicious doctrine on account of which it should be condemned, unless one is prepared at the same time to reject and condemn the Word of God itself.”

to be continued

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