Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/67

 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 55 heavenly Fatherland, they beget in us the fear of hell and the desire of heaven.' Amongst all these religious publications, the ' Plen- aries,' or German ' Handpostillen,' deserve special con- sideration. As many as 102 different compilations and editions of these appeared between about 1470 and 1519. They contained the Epistles and Gospels of the ecclesiastical year, with expositions of the Gospels. A further development was printing the German text of portions of the mass services for all the Sundays and holy days, accompanied by commentaries and illustra- tions calculated to enforce their meaning. Had no other books of instruction been preserved from those times, these ' Plenaries ' alone would afford proof that more was done for the religious instruction of the people in those days than at any other time before or since. In the main they are decidedly superior to similar publications of the present day, and many of them may in parts rank with the best German prose works. From all these books, which were intended for the general us£ of the people, we see how children and grown people were instructed in the highest truths of religion and trained and helped to lead thoroughly Christian lives. Nowhere do we find ' salvation by works alone,' idolatrous worship of the saints, or abuse of indulgences inculcated. It is true that throughout the narratives which occur in the books of devotion, and in the German legends of the saints, there is a vein of superstition which often borders on the childish ; but through the dross there shines the pure gold of faith in an Almighty power which shelters the pious, rewards the virtuous, and, in justice, punishes the wicked.