THE HISTORY OF OUR HEIDELBERG CATECHISM: A LEGACY OF FAITH

PART 2

Upon completion at the end of 1562, the Biblical, doctrinal, experiential and practical soundness of the Heidelberg Catechism, combined with its inward unity, harmony, freshness and vitality, was immediately and widely recognized to be the genuine work of the Spirit’s gracious leading. When Frederick called the leading Reformed ministers and teachers to Heidelberg by the hundreds in the early days of 1563 to study and discuss the Palatinate’s new Catechism, unanimous gratitude to God for wisdom granted two Reformers, yet in their twenties, filled the hearts and minds of one and all. After studying the catechism for eight full days and meeting for special worship to celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the ninth day (symbolic of their communion and unity), preachers and teachers alike gathered on Monday, January 18, 1563 in Frederick’s castle courtyard to be addressed by the Elector.

Speaking earnestly to the multitude of Reformed leaders seated before him, the pious Prince announced: “We have been told that you have given your unanimous approval to the new catechism. For this we are grateful and we thank God. It is our wish and prayer that in your teaching and preaching you will always be faithful to the truths set forth in this catechism. Thus, through you the people in our land, and especially the young people, may be led to true faith and godly living for the sake of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ.”

May God grant us likeminded Reformed rulers, preachers and teachers in church leadership in our day, unanimously united on the foundation of Christ Jesus and Him crucified]

The following day Frederick wrote his eight hundred word introduction, which has been sadly omitted from the majority of Catechism printings. In part it reads as follows:

We, Frederick, Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, Duke in Bavaria, by the grace of God, Elector Palatine on the Rhine, present to each and all of our superintendents, pastors, preachers, church officers, and schoolmasters, throughout our Electorate of the Rhenish Palatinate, our grace and greeting….

Inasmuch as we… are bound by the admonition of the Divine word … to administer our office … and government… a-bove all to constantly admonish and lead our subjects to devout knowledge and fear of the Almighty and His holy word of salvation, … and to spare no pains, so far as in us lies … to promote their temporal and eternal welfare … and because we have ascertained that by no means the least defect in our system is found in the fact that our growing youth is … careless in respect to Christian doctrine… and whereas it is essential that our youth be trained in early life, and above all, in the pure … doctrine of the holy Gospel… and the true knowledge of God; therefore we have regarded it… as the most important duty of our government to give attention to this matter….

And accordingly … we have secured the preparation of a summary course of instruction or catechism of our Christian Religion, according to the Word of God, in the German and Latin languages; in order not only that the youth in churches and schools may be piously instructed in such Christian doctrine … but also that the pastors and schoolmasters themselves may be provided with a fixed form … by which to regulate the instruction of youth.

We do herewith affectionately admonish … every one of you that you do, for the honor of God and our subjects, and also for the sake of your own soul’s profit… thankfully accept this … catechism … and that you do … faithfully … explain the same … to the youth in our schools and churches, and also from the pulpit to the common people, that you teach … and live in accordance with it, in the assured hope, that if our youth in early life are earnestly instructed and educated in the Word of God, it will please Almighty God also to grant reformation of public and private morals, and temporal and eternal welfare. Desiring … that all this may be accomplished we have made this provision.

Calling for seal and wax, Frederick concluded: “Given at Heidelberg, Tuesday, the nineteenth of January, in the year 1563 after the birth of Christ, our dear Lord and Savior.” The same hour Frederick’s chief messenger delivered the manuscript entitled, Catechismus, or Christian Instruction, as conducted in the Churches and Schools of the Electoral Palatinate, with the elector’s seal into the hands of the finest printer in Heidelberg.

The Catechism’s Impact Throughout Europe

Little did Frederick, Olevianus and Ursinus realize the profound impact the printing of their little work would assume throughout Europe. Greeted with great joy, the Heidelberg Catechism was welcomed as the best popular summary of Reformed truth ever penned. Distinguished divines from all European countries and languages united in bearing testimony to its merits. To quote only one leading Reformer’s high appreciation of it, Henry Bullinger (successor of Zwingli at Zurich) wrote: “The catechism of the illustrious Lord and Elector Frederick I have read with great interest, and in reading it I have heartily thanked God that the work which He commenced through Frederick has been crowned with success. The arrangement of the book is comprehensive, the doctrines are set forth in their purity and in accordance with the truth. Everything is clear and edifying. Its rich contents are put together in compact form. I am confident that no better catechism has made its appearance. God’s Name be praised for it. May He grant it abundant success.” In short, it was considered the glory of the Palatinate to have presented this catechism to the world. Some went too far by esteeming it the fruit of an extraordinary influence of God’s Spirit, bordering Biblical inspiration. It rose rapidly as an authoritative church standard, was introduced at once in the churches and schools of the Lower Palatinate, and was translated in rapid order into all European and many Asiatic languages. Also among our forefathers in the Netherlands it was highly esteemed, adopted by several particular synods, and finally ratified and officially included in the Forms of Unity of the Reformed Churches by the Synod of Dordt in 1618-19. Whole libraries of paraphrases, commentaries, sermons, attacks and defenses were written about it. Ursinus himself wrote an able apology of his catechism in 1564, but with Roman Catholicism’s label of heresy and “high” Lutheran-ism’s vehement opposition, the newly printed catechism produced a controversial, life-and-death battlefield. Rightly it has earned the title, Martyr’s Catechism, for the blood of significant numbers of its German, Dutch, French, Romansch, Bohemian, Hungarian, Polish, Italian and Spanish defenders was mercilessly shed upon unswerving allegiance to its Biblical truth. As a fruit of, and centering in, the blood of Christ, our Heidelberg Catechism embraces within its scope an unprecedented history of having been introduced and maintained through the priceless blood of countless martyrs. How few in our day would still be willing to uphold it at the high price of bloody martyrdom! Would you and I also be among them?

The battle spread from theological to political ground. Frederick, notwithstanding his appeal to Melanchthon and the Altered Augsburg Confession, was labeled a traitor to the German states since his espoused Catechism plainly testified that he was Calvinistic, not Lutheran, in outlook and conviction. By the peace of 1555 any prince who was not a Catholic must be true to the Augsburg Confession of the Lutherans. “Due to his Calvinistic leanings, Frederick is not true to it,” said his enemies. “Let the imperial diet at Augsburg decide whether he can keep his crown.”

The Catechism Courageously Defended by Frederick

In April, 1566, Frederick was summoned and appeared before the Diet of Augsburg to defend the Heidelberg Catechism, despite the dissuasions of his allies. To his brother, who warned him that loss of estate, crown and possible death awaited him, Frederick replied:

There may be danger in store for me at the diet, but I have a comforting hope and trust in my heavenly Father, that He will make me an instrument for His own power for the confession of His name in these latter days, not in word only, but also in deed and truth before the Roman empire of the German nation … I believe that God, Who has brought me to a knowledge of the Gospel, still reigns; and if it should cost my blood, I would regard martyrdom as an honor for which I could not sufficiently thank Him in this life or in eternity.

It was not until May 14 that the vice-chancellor arose to formally pronounce the charges brought against the Elector of the Palatinate in the imperial decree, summarized as follows:

His Majesty the Emperor accuses this elector of making religious innovations in the Palatinate, using a catechism not in agreement with the Augsburg Confession, and introducing into his dominion the heresy of Calvinism. Furthermore, the emperor decrees that all this must be abolished, that Calvinist teachers and preachers must be removed from the Palatinate, that certain monasteries must be restored to the Catholic clergy, and that the elector himself must pledge to keep the Augsburg Peace of 1555 and show himself a faithful Lutheran. If the Elector of the Palatinate refuses to conform to these demands, he must prepare to be excluded from the peace of the empire.

All eyes turned to Frederick. Calmly the Elector faced Emperor Maximilian from the center of the hushed hall. Beside him stood his son Casimir (whom he called his “spiritual armorbearer”), holding the Prince’s Bible. Frederick spoke:

You Imperial Majesy: I continue in the conviction which I made known to you before I came here in person, that in matters of faith and conscience I acknowledge only one Lord who is Lord of all lords, and King of all kings. That is why I say that this is not a matter of the flesh, but of man’s soul and its salvation which I have received from my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His truth I am duty bound to guard … What my catechism teaches, this I profess. This catechism has on its pages such abundant proof from Holy Scripture that it will remain unrefuted by men and will also remain my irrefutable belief. As regards the Augsburg Confession, your majesty knows that I signed it in good faith at Naumberg, and I continue to be true to that signature. For the rest, I comfort myself in this, that my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has promised me and all His believers that whatever we lose for His name’s sake here on earth shall be restored to us a hundredfold in the life to come. And with this I submit myself to the gracious consideration of your Imperial Majesty.

Silence filled the hall as Frederick returned to his place among the princes. When, since Luther spoke at Worms, had anyone addressed an emperor with such godly courage? The Elector of Saxony placed his hand on Frederick’s shoulder: “Fritz,” he said, “thou art more pious than all of us.” The Emperor himself felt the strong tide of impression in Frederick’s favor; he dared not ask at that moment for a vote against him. As the meeting was dismissed, the Margrave of Baden echoed the feeling of many princes around him when he uttered aloud, “Why do we fight against an elector who is better than us?”

In the end, God’s truth triumphed by grace. Two weeks later, despite considerable opposition from the Emperor and much enmity against the truth, the Diet could not but acquit Frederick. He was even granted permission to use the Heidelberg Catechism in teaching Christian doctrine throughout his realm. Plainly Proverbs 16:7 was confirmed: “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

The demand for the new catechism multiplied throughout Europe. A second and third edition appeared which included, and subsequently enlarged, question #80 concerning the relationship of the Lord’s Supper and the Roman Catholic mass. In imitation of the example set by Calvin’s Catechism, the fourth edition included Lord’s Day divisions to encourage continuous preachings from the Heidelberger on an annual basis.

The Catechism’s Foundation Sufficient for Death

While the Heidelberg Catechism was still gaining in reputation as the Divinely approved catechism of comfort, prince Frederick, professor Ursinus and preacher Olevianus died upon its comforting, foundational truths. Each one in turn found belonging to Jesus Christ to be a more than sufficient comfort also in the solemn hour of death.

Frederick died first at the age of sixty-one. To those gathered around his bed on October 26, 1567, the Elector confessed only hours before he departed this world:

The Lord may call me hence whenever it pleases Him. My conscience is happy and at peace in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom I have served with all my heart. I have been permitted to see that in all my churches and schools the people have been led away from men and directed to Christ alone. I have done for the church what I could, though my power has been small. God the Almighty who cared for His church before I was born, still lives and reigns in heaven. He will not forsake us. Neither will He allow the prayers and tears which I have so often poured forth to Him upon my knees in this room to prove without fruit. I have been detained here long enough through the prayers of God’s people. It is time now that I should be gathered into the true rest with my Savior.

On March 6, 1583, Ursinus died in Neustadt at the age of 49, in the prime of his life and usefulness, leaving a widow and one son. Before he died he reiterated his belief in the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism and confessed that he would not “take a thousand worlds for the blessed assurance of being owned by Jesus Christ.” On his grave in the Reformed Church in Neustadt this inscription was carved:

A great theologian, a victor over errors concerning the person of Christ and the Lord’s Supper, a powerful speaker and writer, an acute philosopher, a wise man, and an excellent teacher of youth.

Four years later, also in the prime of life, Olevianus died in Herborn on March 15, 1587, aged 50. Being asked at bedside if he was certain of his salvation in Jesus Christ, he gave the renowned one-word Latin answer: “Certissimus! Most certain!” With Olevianus’ death the last of the Catechism worthies entered the joy of his Lord; nevertheless, they, being dead, yet speak in their legacy of faith—our precious Heidelberg Catechism. Above four centuries God’s true Church has been taught, inspired and comforted by the catechism of Heidelberg.

Through free and sovereign grace, is the first answer of the Heidelberger also the history of your life to date? Do you also stand in the long procession of true believers to confess with Heidelberg’s prince, professor and preacher:

What is thy only comfort in life and death?

That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with His precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto Him.

May God grant us such a legacy of faith, exercised by grace in daily life and embraced by faith in the hour of death.

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