Luther, who had for a time been concealed by the Elector in Wartburg castle, had made good use of his enforced rest by translating the New Testament into German and issuing the first instalments of his Church Postil, a collec tion of sermons, from which hundreds of min isters learned how to preach to the people. After his return and during the subsequent years the Lutheran Church in Saxony was or ganized along conservative lines. Luther pro vided the congregations with forms of worship and collections of hymns for public service, catechisms for the instruction of young and old and an extensive religious literature. A system of schools of various grades was established throughout the land and an able ministry was educated at the university. The translation of the whole Bible was completed in the course of years. At a second Diet of Spires, in 1529, a majority made an effort to stay the progress of Lutheranism in Germany, and in spite of the protest of the Lutheran members, from which they were called Protestants, these efforts were continued at the Diet at Augsburg, in 1530. Here, however, the Lutheran princes and cities succeeded in presenting to the emperor and Diet and thus publishing to the world a statement of their faith and doctrine, the Augsburg Con fession, which, in the course of time, was adopted as its fundamental creed by the Lu theran Church the world over. In the same year an apology of the Augsburg Confession was framed and published, which also gained sym bolical standing. Although the transactions of the Diet of Augsburg resulted in another pro scription of Lutheranism and the inauguration of measures for its extermination, the political conditions of the empire continued to be such that the emperor and his party could not ven ture to proceed against the dissenters, and while Luther lived the progress and spread of Luther anism continued, not only in Germany, but throughout Europe. Even when, after Luther's death, Charles V marched his armies against his Lutheran subjects and by fraud and force led away into captivity the two foremost of the German Lutheran princes and began the work of stamping out Lutheranism, these reverses, though causing considerable disturbance also within the Lutheran Church, lasted a few years only. The political conditions having once more turned in favor of the suppressed party, the Lutherans, in 1552, by the Treaty of Passau, secured temporary recognition as a church of lawful standing in Germany. This recognition was made permanent by the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. This settlement included the Lutherans only of all those who dissented from the Roman Catholic Church, Zwinglians, Calvinists, Ana baptists and others being excluded. It was thus menacing the religious as well as the political status of Lutheranism, when men of influence in Saxony, the Cryptocalvinists, by clandestine operations endeavored to change the Lutheran Church of Saxony into a Calvinistic establish ment. At the same time a number of doctrinal controversies threatened to vitiate the orthodox character of the Church of the Augsburg Con fession, until, by the united labors of Lutheran theologians and princes, sound in doctrine and deeply concerned about the peace of the Church and the purity of its doctrine, the last of the great Lutheran Confessions, the Formula of Concord, closed the series of Lutheran stand ards, all of which, the Augsburg Confession, its Apology, the Smalcald Articles, Luther's Larger Catechism, Luther's Smaller Catechism, the Formula of Concord, together with the three ancient Ecumenical Creeds of all Christendom, constitute the body of Lutheran Symbols, known as the Book of Concord of 1580.
While Germany was the home of the Luther an Church, Lutheranism obtained a permanent foothold and became the church of the realm in a number of extra-German countries during the period df the Reformation.
In Sweden Luther's doctrine was dissem inated as early as 1519 by two brothers, Lars and Olav Petersen, who had studied at Witten berg. Under Gustavus Vasa, Lars Petersen was made professor of theology at the University of Upsala, and Olav Petersen was the leading preacher at Stockholm.. The Bible was trans
lated into Swedish and at the Diets of Westeras, 1527, at Orebro, 1529, and at Westeras, 1544, the organization of the Swedish Lutheran Church as a national church with an episcopal form of government was effected.
The first Lutheran preachers in Denmark were Peter Lille and Hans Tausen. The or sp.ermizer of the Danish Lutheran Church was John Bugenhagen, pastor of Wittenberg, who came to Denmark in 1537 and prepared the new constitution, which was adopted at Odense in 1539. Soon after Norway and Iceland were also Lutheranized, and thus the Lutheran Church was permanently established without bloodshed throughout all the Scandinavian countries.
In Prussia the Lutheran Church was planted and made the church of this ancient territory of the German knights under John George of Polenz, bishop of Samland. The new and Church-Order was introduced in 1525 and 1526, and the new Lutheran University of Konigsberg was a colony of Wittenberg, of which Sabinus, Melanchthon's son-in-law, was the first rector.
In Silesia Luther's doctrine was preached as early as 1518. John Hess was called as a Lutheran minister by the city council of Bres lau.
In Poland Luther's writings were prohibited. But in 1521 the Bible was translated into Polish. Jacob Knade preached at Danzig. From Dan zig Lutheranism spread to Elbing and Thorn, and by 1548 the Polish Church was atingly Lutheran.
In the Baltic territories, Riga, Dorpat and Reval were Lutheran in 1523, and within two decades the Reformation spread throughout these whole regions.
In Hungary the doctrines of the Reforma tion were promulgated by men who had been Luther's students at Wittenberg. In 1549 five free cities adopted the Augsburg Confession, and under the influence of the Reformation numerous elementary and advanced schools were opened in cities and villages throughout all Hungary. Merchants who returned home from the fair at Leipzig brought Luther's doc trine to Transylvania, and others, who had been students at Wittenberg, promoted its spread. A Lutheran school was opened at Hermannstadt. From 1533 John Honter labored as °Evangelist of the Lord at and the Reforma tion took its course from town to town. In cities and villages and in the open country schools were established, and even in the village schools Latin and Greek were taught. With the schools libraries for the people were connected, and endowments were provided for the support of young men who were willing to study at German universities.
In Bohemia and Moravia a large part of the population embraced the Lutheran faith during Luther's lifetime, and when, after the re former's death, the emperor made war against the Lutherans in Germany, the Bohemian Lu therans refused to take up arms against their brethren in the faith.
In the Netherlands, also, the Church of the Reformation gained headway, principally through the reading of Luther's works. In Antwerp a great Lutheran movement took place, brought on by the preaching of Flacius and Cyriacus Spangenberg, in 1565 and 1566. But it was not long before Lutheran services were prohibited. The Dutch Reformed Church was organized in 1568 and 1571 and proclaimed the church of the realm in 1583. With the Spaniards in possession of Antwerp, in 1585, the Lutherans scattered and founded congre gations in Frankfort, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Leyden and other cities. Even there they had no rest. In Amsterdam they were antagonized and Lutheran services were again prohibited. Still the Lutheran congregations continued to enjoy a rapid and steady growth; so much so that a scarcity of ministers began to make itself painfully felt. The Lutherans in Holland had made the great mistake of neglecting the estab lishing of schools and colleges for the education of ministers, and this eventually brought about their decadence; for the importation of preach ers from foreign countries was accompanied by the introduction of unionistic, syncretistic doc trines and practices.