Soon after Easter (April 12), 1528 (Part 8)

The Instructions for the Visitors of Parish Pastors in Electoral Saxony is published and distributed. Today’s Quotation comprises the conclusion of the fifteenth section of the Instructions, concerning daily worship in the congregations.

Quotation:

[continued from the previous post] The people should also be taught about the sacrament so that they do not go to it out of habit, but that they should go to the sacrament any time God exhorts them to attend, and that this is not bound to a particular time of the year.

There are foolish people who oppose such celebrations, [1] but they shouldn’t be heeded. Such holy days have been instituted because one cannot teach people the whole of Scripture in one day. So the various parts of the doctrine are distributed so that they can learn each part in its season, just as Virgil may be taught on one day in the schools, and Cicero read on another. But a skillful preacher can show how to celebrate the festivals without superstition.

The festivals should also be observed peacefully, so that there is no quarreling about them. [2] Since it is not fitting for the singing to be the same at all festivals, it would be good if the Latin Introits, the Gloria in Excelsis Deo, the Hallelujah, the simple sequences, [3] the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei [4] were sung at the high festivals. Otherwise, on Sundays, we allow whatever practice each pastor follows in Christian ceremonies.

But it would be well if people were exhorted to receive the sacrament. No one should be admitted to the reception of the holy sacrament unless he has been examined and questioned beforehand, so that, as stated above, the body of Christ may not be dishonored. Also, until one can bring them into agreement, the many different forms of the mass should not agitate or disturb us very much. Even under the papacy there were many differences and variations in all the institutions. Sometimes three or four masses were being sung at once, so that there was a great hubbub,[5] and yet no one was disturbed by it.

At the time of death, the corpse should be treated properly. A chaplain and a sexton should go with it [to the place of burial] and the people should be admonished from the pulpit to go with them and at the burial sing the German chant “Mitten wir im Leben.” [6]

We also hear reports of unseemly preaching about the six weeks that women keep after childbirth. As a result, some women, despite being weak, have been forced to go to work and are said to have fallen ill and died as a result. Therefore, we have thought it necessary to exhort pastors to speak cautiously about this and similar customs, for the six weeks are ordained in the law of Moses, Leviticus 12[:4ff.]. Now, although that law is superseded, these things, which not only the law but also nature itself teach us, are not abolished, namely, natural and moral things. That is why Paul in 1 Cor. [11:14ff.], as indeed nature itself, also teaches and shows that one is obliged to keep the laws that nature teaches. That is why women should be spared until they have regained their strength, which can probably not happen in less than six weeks. It is not a sin to go out before that time, but it is a sin to harm the body. Just as it is not a sin to drink wine, though one should not give wine to a feverish person because of the disease. So in this case, too, one should consider the necessities of the body, exercise discipline and not use Christian freedom to harm the body or for sexual immorality. For when Christian liberty is abused it is like a prince inviting a herd of pigs to his table. They do not understand such an honor, but only despoil what is set before them, and also defile the prince. When the people hear of freedom, they do not understand what such freedom is, and imagine that they need respect no discipline or proper behavior. This is a blasphemy against God. [to be continued in the next post]

Notes

[1] I.e., of holy days.

[2] I.e., quarreling over improper practices which have been discarded.

[3] A kind of Latin hymn that was sung after the Alleluia. Among the most well-known sequences are “Victimae Paschali laudes” (“Christians to the Paschal Victim”)and “Veni sancta spiritus” (“Come, Holy Spirit”).

[4] The main components of the liturgy of the Mass.

[5] German: “daß ein großes Geschrei entstand.”

[6] The ancient Latin hymn Media vita in morte sumus, was freely rendered in German by Luther in 1524: Mitten wir im Leben sind. (“In the midst of life we are in death’s embraces.” See: LW 53:274-276)