Luther - Works of Martin Luther Vol. 6 - Righteousness is Love

15as Baptism, were administered here and there in the vernacular, that thepeople might understand both action and teaching. But whatever theseearly attempts, they were at best hesitant and gradual, and looking back onthem from the present day they were often insignificant.However, this group of apparently insignificant attempts became more andmore formidable, particularly as some of the more impetuous personages inthe Reformation Movement threw their interest into their wider-spreaddevelopment. Here one must consider the activities of such a person asCarlstacit, who as early as 1519 began a definite attack on the traditionalworship of the Church with: attempts at reform. Of admitted ability andoccupying a fairly prominent position, his activities gradually assumed theproportions of leadership, especially as Luther did not interfere. Apparentlyfeeling his. way at first, but as the reforms he instituted seemed to meetwith popular favor, he became more and more aggressive, zealous andrevolutionary. His teachings, influence and example fired others; amongthem Zwilling, who with other zealous companions committed scandalizingexcesses in the name of reform. Carlstadt, Zwilling, et al, with their“Evangelical Mass” and wide open altar, their denuded churches andcelebrants in everyday clothes, their sudden and almost completeabrogation of the established and their asserted “freedom” that was onlylicense and excess, were examples of how quickly, hard, and far the swingaway could go. Had Luther felt this possibility and therefore bided his time,moving very slowly? Had the fear of such things caused him to hesitate?But with Carlstadt and Zwilling so zealously and outrageously active at thevery center of things, Wittenberg, Luther did not long hold back.Fortunately there was but one aggressive Carlstadt; but he was not the onlyone interested in these matters. Others acted with more discretion and finersense, but just as earnestly to serve. Kaspar Kantz was one of these, and hehas left an “Evangelical Mass” to testify to his earnest purpose.By the time Luther takes his first formal step in liturgical reform, theappearance of his Von ordenung gottis diensts inn der gemeyne, thechurches espousing the evangelical cause presented a variety of results inpractices and purposes which indicated a fairly widespread feeling for acleansing of the worship of the Church and a practical approach to thesame. This movement was here; here to stay and work its way out. Howwould it be worked out? Who naturally would direct it?