fair way to the highest rank as a spiritual noble, he gave it all up, sacrificing home, country, rank and friends to become a wanderer for the reformation. He became a reformer in three countries, a fact true of no other reformer, in Germany, England and Poland. He proved to be an organizer equal with Calvin, indeed he was a better organizer of the congregation than Calvin as we shall see. When he came to Emden, he reorganized (1543) the Reformed church thoroughly. He gave it a catechism, which with Calvin's afterwards became the progenitor of the Heidelberg catechism. In 1549 he went to England and became pastor of the foreign Reformed church there. This he thoroughly organized, so that this Dutch Reformed church. of Austins Friars in London, was the first church of the Presbyterian order in the reformation.* But when bloody Queen Mary came to the throne of England, Lasco and his refugee congregation had to flee. Sad was their sailing from Gravesend September 17, 1553. They expected to land at Copenhagen, but the Danes would not permit them to do so (because they were Reformed) and drove

*See Book III, Chapter VII.

them out into the ocean in midwinter and storm. They finally were permitted to land at Lubeck, Rostock and Wismar, but they were not permitted to stay anywhere, because Westphal, the Lutheran zealot of Hamburg, was incensing the Lutherans everywhere against the Reformed. So after long and severe journeyings in winter, snow and storm, they arrived at Emden, and later at Frankford. Lasco soon went to Frankford and from there went back to Poland (1556) where he died (1560), founding there the Reformed Church of Poland. Lasco was called by Erasmus, "a soul without a stain," so beautiful was his character. From Lasco's time to this, the Reformed church of Emden had clung faithfully to the faith once delivered to the saints. And the Coetus, which Lasco found ́ed in 1544 as a sort of a quasi-synod, still has its annual meetings. It, with the Synod of Zurich and the Venerable Company of Geneva, is the oldest organization of the Reformed Church, that has come down to us.

Following the northern coast of Germany eastward, we come to Bremen, the largest seaport of Germany save Hamburg. Though a modern city, it has a most antique, interesting city-hall, an ob

ject of beauty. Bremen and Emden were the two Reformed cities on the north coast of Germany, the two Reformed lighthouses along that coast. Bremen was at first a Lutheran city in the reformation. But when the Lutherans began to split into high and low-Lutherans or Melancthonians, there came to Bremen in 1547 a Melancthonian preacher named Albert Hardenberg, who preached to great crowds in the cathedral. The high-Lutheran ministers bitterly attacked him as departing from the Lutheran faith and there was a great controversy. He gained Melancthon's approval, but was finally compelled to leave in 1561, although amid the tears of the people. But his departure produced a reaction and his friend and supporter, Van Buren, was elected mayor of the city. The low-Lutherans continued gaining influence until in 1580 Peucer was called as pastor of one of the largest congregations, the church of St. Ansgar. had been a Melancthonian and had been driven out of Saxony for it. But by the time he got to Breman he was a good Reformed. He drew up the Bremen confession of faith in 1595, which commits the church to Calvinism.

Pezel

The next important period in the Reformed

church of Bremen was the introduction of Pietism in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Theodore Untereyck, to whom we referred in connection with Mühlheim, came to Bremen in 1670, as pastor of St. Martin's church, and introduced prayer-meetings. His wife also introduced religious meetings for girls and women. Untereyck paid special attention to the catechization of the young; indeed he thoroughly revolutionized catechization. His was a very blessed influence in that worldly city. While he was preaching his earnest pietistic sermons, a young student at the Reformed university came to hear him one Sunday, named Joachim Neander. He came to mock (for he did not believe in Pietism) but he remained to pray. Untereyck's earnest words so completely subdued him that he melted into tears at the prayer after the sermon. And after the service, although ridiculed by his companions, he went to Untereyck's house to find the way of life. He became an adherent of Untereyck and after graduating at the university became rector of the Reformed gymnasium at Düsseldorf. In 1679 he returned to Bremen as assistant pastor to Untereyck. Unfortunately he died the next year at the early age of

30, but not until he had given promise of becoming one of the greatest of the German hymn-writers. He published one of the first and best of the Reformed hymn-books, the "Hymns of the Covenant,” for he aimed to popularize the Federal theology in music. One of his hymns is among the greatest in the German language, "Lobe den Herrn, den machtigen Konig der Ehren." It has been thus translated:

Praise ye the Lord. He is King over all creation, Praise ye the Lord, O my soul, as the God of salvation, Join in the song, psaltry and harp roll along,

Praise in your solemn vibration.

It is somewhat difficult to translate the German, especially the metre and rythm of this hymn, but it ranks among German hymns with "Nun danket alle Gott" (Now thank we all the Lord), of Rinkart, for these two are the two Te Deums among the German hymns.

Bremen also had a Reformed gymnasium, which grew into a university, at which some prominent professors of theology taught. Thus its professor Martinius was a delegate to the synod of Dort. Later came Prof. John Koch (Latinized into