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

22a popular Order. It certainly satisfied a people who were uncertain as towhere they stood in their worship, — priests and people, — and who weredemanding more and more release from age-old habit and practice. Itexhibits the marked reaction of a reform movement, which is always aquite natural outcome of such movements, whether there is actual necessityto take as far-reaching steps or not. And. viewed from the standpoint ofreaction, one does not wonder at its popularity; but viewed from thestandpoint of liturgical history and Reformation principles and claims, oneis surprised at the resultant influences.One of the most popular acts of the worship of the common people whichfelt and yielded to the force of the early wave of reform and cleansing, wasthe Litany, rather Litany of All Saints. Its use was discontinued almostfrom the time of Carlstadt’s radical changes, and it remained unused by theEvangelicals for some years. But it was not forgotten. It was one of thecomparatively few activities in worship which the common peoplepossessed. It had become deeply imbedded in their life and practice. It wasa devotion which was cherished. Luther, too, must have cherished it; for hespeaks of it in highest terms, even saying it is the finest prayer underheaven next to the Lord’s Prayer. Of course, the “abominations” thereinwere not included in the praise! — these removed, it was prayer, — in themost glorious Christian sense.The first allusion to the Litany in years comes in a writing of Luther againstthe Turks in 1528, where he speaks of the great necessity for the people tounite in prayer against this calamity, — “in the Mass, in the Vespers, in theLitany.” We do not know definitely, but it is possible that the Litany wasthen in process of reintroduction in the Wittenberg church. But thisnecessity was but one contributing cause; another and probably moreimportant was Luther’s policy of providing the means for a more and morehelpful worship for the common people. This form of prayer waspreeminently fitted to his ends. It afforded opportunity for the inclusion ofpetitions related to the many needs of life. It meant an active participationon the part of the congregation. It had not been forgotten and it still wasloved; and, if cleansed, it was a real treasure house of devotion.Luther dissociated it from the processions, and located its use in the churchin congregational worship. It now becomes one of the high points in theirformal worship practices and a use distinctive of the Reformation.